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Thread: Some Basic on animal training and Dog clicker training.

  1. #1
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    Default Some Basic on animal training and Dog clicker training.

    Ok so now, here is some basic information that I learned in my college class ( Animal Behavior) about animal training. First of all, everybody should know that every animal can be trained! How? With a lot of time and patience. (careful, don't misunderstand training and taming.). There are a few base that people should know before starting.

    A. The reptilic Brain

    Every animal have this part in their brain. Even us, the human, do have a reptile brain. The goal of the reptile brain is to create a very fast response to a danger/predator/thread that could happen in the wild. Here are the 4 defenses, that the animal can react against a thread.

    1- Freeze
    2- Flight
    3- Fight
    4- Fool around


    1.Freeze: is one of the first defence made by the animal.The animal will stop moving (freeze) looking directly and carefully the predator. Of course, in captivity, the freezing is rarely working, because the trainer will handle the animal without fear.

    2.Flight: Quite simple. The animal run away from the danger (most of the time you).

    3.Fight: Sometime the last strategy, painful bite.

    4.Fool around: This can be complicated, because some animal will use it on the third step before fighting. Here are the common sign of the "fool around" defense method: Hiss, spit, regurgitated,tail whip, scratching, defecation, intimidation and many more.

    But why should we know this information? Very simple. The reptilic brain works with natural or logical response during an attack. Example no1, if everytime, you are going to handle your little gecko, and that he/she freeze, and look at you. If your first response is to retreat and go away, the animal will repeat this method each and everytime that it will works. If you do not retreat, the gecko will try another method. For this case, the flight. Example no2: If you are going to reach your Tegu in his cage, and that he/she bites you. If your first reaction is to retreat your hand and cry a pain sound, then the animal will understand, that everytime you reach him/her, all that it will have to do, is to bite you again, and repeat it until it doesn't work anymore.

    So how could you train your animal to not bite you anymore? By letting him bitting you!!! Yes, if everytime the animal bites you, and that you are not retreating your hand and stay perfectly calm. Then the animal will understand that bitting will be useless against you. So, he/she will give up, and try another method. (If bitting doesn't work, most of the time, fool around doesn't work too.).

    I strongly recommand to buy gloves, to protect your hand, from a painful bite and to reinforce the animal behavior more easily. Of course, don't think that the animal will try to bite you only one time, he/she can try this method many time.

    B. Reinforcement Method.

    There are many ways to train an animal using different reinforcement method. Here are the 4 kind of reinforcement.

    1- Postive Reinforcement
    2- Negative Reinforcement
    3- Positive Punishment
    4- Negative Punishment


    First of all, do not think that the two words negative and positive say that the reinforcement/punishment is good or bad. These words have a very different meaning that most of people think.

    The word Positive means Adding something.
    The word Negative means Removing something.
    The word Punishment means minimizing the possiblility.
    The word Reinforcement means maximizing the possibility.

    Now, let me explain what are each punishment and reinforcement.

    1.Positive reinforcement: The positive reinforcement is one of the best method to train an animal. The method consist to maximize the possibility of a good action by adding something. (example a reward).
    Example: Everytime that the Tegu poop in a little box, I give him a treat to reinforce this behavior.

    2.Negative reinforcement: The negative reinforcement is rarely use even if people associated it with the positive punishment. Negative reiforcement doesn't mean that it is "bad". This method consist to maximize the possibility of a good action by removing something.
    Example: You are making a pressure on the back of your dogs so that he/she sit down. You want to maximize the possibility of a good action by removing the confort of the dog.

    3.Positive Punishment: The positive punishment is used many time in the animal training. Even if this method work, it can be very barbaric and create a very bad relation between the owners and his pet: The positive punishment consist to minimize the possibility of a bad action by adding something (example a slap).
    Example: Everytime that your monitor bites you, you give him a big slap on the face to make it stop.

    4.Negative Punishment: The negative punishment is rarely used and is complicated, but it can work easily on intelligent animal. The method consist to minimize the possibility of a bad action by removing something.
    Example: Everytime that your dogs jump on you, you move out of the way before he/she jump on you, so he/she will fall on the ground. By moving away from the jump, you will reduce the possibility of the pet to jump on you by removing the pleasure of the animal to be excited and to be pet by jumping on you.

    Of course, the best method to use with animal is the Positive reinforcement. By using reward, this method will not only made the learning period easily and rewarding, but will also create a great bond between the owner and the pets. The pets, will associate every good action with food. And whos giving the food? You!

    The negative punishment rarely work on wild animal, because they don't understand most of the time.

    Finally, it is NOT recommanded to use the positive punishment and the negative reinforcement, because these method can stressed and hurt the animal. Also, most animal that are trained with negative reinforcement and positive punishment don't trust at all their owner, because the keeper is associated with painful and stressful reward.

    C. Training the animal with a Dog clicker

    The dog clicker was mainly created as a "human clicker" but many ethologist and animal trainer learn that it was also working on animal. What is a dog clicker? It is a very small piece of plastic that will create a clear clicky sound. Here is a photo of a dog clicker :

    http://www.training-dogs.com/image-f...s-iclicker.jpg

    But how can I train my herps with a dog clicker?
    With time and patience. Compared to dog and other very intelligent mammals, reptile will learn much slower. It is important to respect all the step and have a great timing.

    D. The important points for a good training.

    1. Use small and delicious reward. (give the animal a lot of tiny and delicious reward that he/she love. Like piece of meat or good fruits. If the rewards are too big, it will takes more time for the animal to eat it, and will lost the association (good action - good reward).)

    2. Timing. ( The click and the reward must be made under 1 second maximum. If it takes more than 2-3 seconds, it's too late, no association has been made)

    3. Use the good reward. (Giving the same thing that he/she eats in general is not rewarding because you are going to feed him anyway. Careful of using the "petting" reward, some herps, don't care to be scratch or pet.)

    4. Be patient. (The animal doesn't asked to be train, so be tolerant and calm.)

    5. Cheer him. (Cheer the animal with a calm/soft and encouraging voice, this will give bonus point for the training)

    6. Divide the training into small step. ( If the training is hard, you have to divide into step, so it will be easier for him to learn)

    7. Make many small training period. ( Do not train the animal for a complete hour. It's preferable to make 5 training period of 5-10minutes. Learning tricks for an animal is very hard and exausting. If the period is too long, it will be to hard, and the animal risk to be bothered by the training.)

    8. Have fun. (training is suppose to be rewarding and fun. If you have in mind to train it, only because it's "cool", then training isn't for you.)

    E. The dog clicker step.

    Here are the steps to do during dog clicker training.

    1-Charging the clicker
    2-Testing
    3-Give the order
    4-Clicking
    5-Reward
    6-Break
    7-Jackpot


    1. Charging the clicker: Ok, what you have to do, is to associate the clicker with reward to your pet. He/she doesn't have to make a trick. Just do this; Click, then reward. Repeat this 10 times. (be sure that the timing is good. The time between the reward and the click must be under 1 second.)

    2. Testing: Now that the pet associate the clicker with reward, make a little test. If everytime you click, without no reason, you see that the animal raise his head, or turn alert and look for something, then the animal has understand the association. If there is no reaction, return to step 1. (it can be very long, so be patient).

    3. Give the order: Now what you have to do, is to wait until the animal make the action that you are looking for. Be very CAREFUL. You have to look the animal with a perfect attention. Because, if the click/reward is made 2 seconds late, then it's over, the association can't be done.

    4. Clicking: Right after that the animal has made the action you are looking for, click immediatly. If you click 2 second after the action, it's too late.

    5. Reward: Right after the click, reward the animal with the treat. Be quick, again, if it's 2 second after the click, it's too late. Also, use small reward. If the treat are too big, it will takes to much time to eat, and he/she won't understand the association.

    6. Break: Give a little break, 10-20 seconds is perfect.

    7. Jackpot: right after the training, let the animal made a easy action. Click and give a big reward to conclude the training. (don't forget to cheer the animal).

    Here are some example that I have made with THE BASIC INFORMATION. It doesn't mean that it will works, but you can try it! Remember, training is suppose to be a fun time! Not a task!

    F. Example one: Training the tegu to learn his name.

    Goal: Training the tegu to learn his name, and to crawl up to you.

    Step1: Take your Tegu and bring him into a small and clear room. (no furniture only a clean floor). Remember, you have to be all alone with your Tegu to reduce stress and to have his perfect attention.

    Step2: Charge the clicker

    Step3: Repeat his name clearly and loudly many time.

    Step4: Repeat his name until he/she comes to you (it can be very long, but don't give up.).It can only be a pure luck. But with a reward, this "luck" will happen many time lol. You can be very near at the Tegu for the beginning. So it won't be too long.

    Step5: Once he/she is very near of you (close to your feet, or on you) click and reward in one second.

    Step6: Change position, go somewhere else in the room, with a bigger distance.

    Step7: Repeat Step2 to Step6. Don't forget to extend your distance between your Tegu and you.

    Step8: Don't forget to make many short period of training everyday, with great reward.

    *Warning: If your Tegu have a long and complicated name, it will be longer for him to learn his trick.

    G. Example two: Potty train

    Goal: Train the Tegu to poop in a cat litter, or box. This training is difficult, it will take a lot of time and many good reward.

    Step1: Bring your tegu in a very small and clear room (no furniture).

    Step2: Put a cat litter box, in the room.

    Step3: Here is the hard part. If you see the Tegu, shaking his butt (going to poo) put him/her immediatly in the cat litter. BE PREPARED, YOU NEED TO HAVE YOUR REWARD CLOSE TO YOU!

    Step4: Right after the last "piece" of poop, click and reward.

    Step5: Let the poop in the cat litter. The smell could help the Tegu to associate the poop with the cat litter.

    *Warning: This is very hard, it can takes many month of training and don't forget to charge the clicker (if he already knows it, you don't need to do it again.)

    So thats it! I hope that this info/tips could help you to train and understand some basic of animal training!

    If there is other information/correction/comment/question to ask, please send me a Private message.

    Don't Forget, HAVE FUN!

    Thanks to:
    Serge Nadeau (Teacher in Animal Behavior at Lionel-Groulx College)
    Rick Sisco (Tegu breeder for his Taming tips)
    Patrice Robert (Animal trainer)
    Ben
    0.1.0, 2007, Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
    1.0.0, 1999, Hermann Tortoise (Tama-chan)
    0.1.0, 2007, Redfoot Tortoise (Kame-chan)


    Got msn? If you want to talk to me just leave me a private message !

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Cool information, thanks! I'm gonna have to try that out
    0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu (Dante)
    1.0 Paraguayan Red Tegu (Azshara)
    0.1 Ball Python [100% Het. Albino] (Persephone)

    Florida Death Metal - SledgegrindeR
    www.myspace.com/sledgegrinder

  3. #3
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    No problem! Give me news about the training!
    Ben
    0.1.0, 2007, Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
    1.0.0, 1999, Hermann Tortoise (Tama-chan)
    0.1.0, 2007, Redfoot Tortoise (Kame-chan)


    Got msn? If you want to talk to me just leave me a private message !

  4. #4
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    I definitely will. I'll probably get a dog clicker soon and hopefully my tegu's not going to start hibernating so I can start soon :P
    0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu (Dante)
    1.0 Paraguayan Red Tegu (Azshara)
    0.1 Ball Python [100% Het. Albino] (Persephone)

    Florida Death Metal - SledgegrindeR
    www.myspace.com/sledgegrinder

  5. #5
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    Good luck with the training! :wink:
    Ben
    0.1.0, 2007, Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
    1.0.0, 1999, Hermann Tortoise (Tama-chan)
    0.1.0, 2007, Redfoot Tortoise (Kame-chan)


    Got msn? If you want to talk to me just leave me a private message !

  6. #6
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    8O wow Ben .That is some great info.You put allot of work into writing this.Good job :wink: .Thanks for the pm.

  7. #7
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    No problem for the PM.

    Thanks for the kind comment ...it tooks me a lot of time to translate this french information in english! :lol:
    Ben
    0.1.0, 2007, Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
    1.0.0, 1999, Hermann Tortoise (Tama-chan)
    0.1.0, 2007, Redfoot Tortoise (Kame-chan)


    Got msn? If you want to talk to me just leave me a private message !

  8. #8
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    all the hard work payed of :wink: .

  9. #9

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    i'm gonna give it a shot. any chance i can get groxy to crap in the same place is something worth working for.
    1.1.0 Arg B/W Tegu Joker n Groxy
    1.0.0 Australian Water Dragon "Spyro"
    1.0.0 Red Eared Slider "Turdy"
    0.0.0 White Dwarf Hamster "MiMi" R.I.P.
    1.1.0 Black&Albino Kingsnakes "Pearl & Hannibal"

  10. #10
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    yes, but like I said on the tutorial, training an animal to poo in a litter can be very hard, because they do not poo like 10 times a day.

    However, I hope that my tutorial would work, I'll probably, train my next pet his/her name. :wink:

    Good luck with the training, give me some news about it.
    Ben
    0.1.0, 2007, Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)
    1.0.0, 1999, Hermann Tortoise (Tama-chan)
    0.1.0, 2007, Redfoot Tortoise (Kame-chan)


    Got msn? If you want to talk to me just leave me a private message !

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