Mark My Words
Monday, April 6, 2009
By: Audrey Tucker

Yes, you too can have a brilliant dog...with a little work!

As much as we may believe that our dogs understand every word we say, the truth is that dogs don’t speak English.  However, they do learn to sort through our endless ramblings to pick out words that give them a clue as to what we might want them to do.  For example, “Cheyenne, could you please sit near me” causes Cheyenne to key on the one word in that sentence that makes sense to her, “sit”.  When she performs that action, we not only “know” how brilliant she is, we also “know” that she understands English because she performed a task that was requested within the context of a complete sentence.

OK, the reality is that Cheyenne is brilliant.  She is able to sort through a language that makes little sense to her in order to perform an action that will get her a reward.  However, brilliance doesn’t happen by magic.  First, Cheyenne has to learn that “sit” means that her furry buns need to end up on the ground whenever we say, “sit”. 

The positive reinforcement training technique that helps Cheyenne to learn the meaning of specific words is the concept known as a “marker” or “bridge word”.  This technique employs the use of a special word that is only used to “mark” the moment the dog does the task requested, and this same word “bridges” the time between the performance of that task and the reward.  In our training classes, we use the word “yes” as our marker since this particular word is used so infrequently. 

The first thing that needs to be done is to “load the marker”.  The word “yes” has to be something that the dog wants to hear.  If Cheyenne gets a yummy piece of liver every time she hears the word “yes”, then she is going to want to make me say “yes” as much as she possibly can. 

In order to make the word “yes” valuable, take that yummy piece of liver in your hand, say “yes”, and give that treat to your dog within two seconds.  Training your dog to understand the value of “yes” needs to be done in many locations (the living room, the driveway, the pet store).  You need to practice uttering this word when you are in different physical positions (sitting, standing, kneeling).  Finally, you need to practice while your dog is in different physical positions (sitting, standing, lying down).  When loading the marker, it is important that the word “yes” be generalized to all these situations and more.  We are not yet trying to use the word in context but are simply trying to make it valuable from the dog’s perspective.  By working consistently, you will quickly see a difference in your dog’s reaction when you say the word “yes”.  Your dog will perk up and be very attentive “knowing” that somehow she has gotten you to say that magical word again.  When you start seeing that reaction, you are ready to begin using the word in context as a marker.

In practice, using a “marker” looks like this:

Owner:  “Cheyenne, sit.”
Cheyenne puts her furry buns on the ground.
Owner:  “Yes” is said the MOMENT Cheyenne’s buns touch the ground.  The yummy liver treat   follows, IMMEDIATELY.

As Cheyenne gets better at the sit command, the treats and the marker can be phased out.  The subject of eliminating the reward is a topic unto itself.  Don’t ask your dog to go cold turkey!  Take it slow so that the performance of the command doesn’t suffer.  If your dog ever “forgets” what “sit” means or becomes slow at performing the command, go back to rewarding intermittently so that it becomes a task that is worth performing once again.

Audrey A. Tucker
Canine Behaviorist
Pet Education and Therapy, LLC