Last week I discussed clean loops and why they are so important in training. If you have not gotten a chance to read that post yet, check it out here. One of the reasons that clean loops are important is because they set up the learner to practice the correct behavior at a high rate of reinforcement and success. Today, I want to dive further into this topic and how it impacts training sessions of any length, especially short sessions.
Short Sessions
Clean loops are extremely helpful because they increase the rate of reinforcement and the rate of success in the learner. In other words, the cleaner your loops, the more repetitions you can get from your learner and the more you can reinforce the learner. The more you can reinforce the learning, the faster the animal will build the desire to perform the desired behavior (reinforcement history). Depending on your puppy (or dog), you will probably be doing relatively short sessions at around three to five minutes. I say this is “relatively” short because once you develop the ability to use clean loops, you can shorten that time even more! These short, clean sessions can have a significant impact on the learner’s speed of learning.
Pete and Repeat
Have you ever heard the joke about Pete and Repeat? Just in case, it goes like this. Question: Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who is left? Answer: Repeat. Question: Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who is left? Answer: Repeat. Question: Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who is left? Answer: Repeat. Question: Pete an—okay, you probably get the point, so I will spare you another round. But notice something about this joke. It is a clean loop. This joke has three parts, the setup, the question, and the answer. The three elements of this joke follow a pattern that is never ending until one person decides to terminate the process altogether. This end can be triggered either by the asker or the answerer. This continuous pattern until the trainer stops is how clean loops should work.
The Setup, the Question, and the Answer
In dog training, we have what is often called the “ABCs” of behavior modification. A=Antecedent, B=Behavior, and C=consequence. However, sometimes people get lost in the science jargon, so I prefer to explain each part a little differently: The setup, the question, and the answer. The trainer is responsible for setting up the environment to produce behavior in the learner. The learner asks a question by trying something out to see what happens—the trainer answers by reinforcing the desired behavior.
You might be thinking that the Pete and Repeat joke doesn’t look like it fits this example. I assure you, it does. This joke actually contains a critical element that you need in your clean loops. Here are the steps of the joke compared to the steps of training.
Setup = Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?
Notice that this setup contains all the information the other person needs to respond correctly. This setup is not missing anything at all. With this small amount of data, the answer can be found and given easily. In dog training, the training environment (Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out) and the training topic (Who is left?) need to be clear and contain all the information the learner needs to get the answer correct.
Question = Repeat
In this example, the question does not always come across as a question. If you tell this joke to someone for the first time, the person you are talking to might respond with “Repeat?” Note the question mark. Others will say the answer confidently. This differing level of confidence is also true in dog training. In some situations, your puppy will ask you a question by trying something and offering whatever behavior it thinks might get a response. Your puppy will respond confidently in other cases, such as when working with a trained cue.
Answer = Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?
This answer is crucial to this joke, as it keeps the joke going in a continuous “clean” loop. In this joke, the third step does two things. It both completes the loop and starts a new one. The answer to the question is given immediately, and it sets up the loop to begin again, which is precisely what needs to be done to produce a clean loop. When your puppy asks you a question with behavior by trying something, you respond immediately with a click and a treat, setting up for the process to start all over again with no interruptions.
Applying This to Training - An Example Using a Nose Target
Taking this concept and applying it to training your puppy, here is the clean loop "formula" for a nose target behavior:
1. Setup = Hold out a hand palm up.
2. Question = Puppy touches palm with its nose to see if that is what you want or because it earned it reinforcement previously.
3. Answer = You click and reinforce the behavior away from your hand, setting up the puppy to ask the question again to gain the same reinforcement.
This process can be adapted for any behavior. If you keep these three things going in a continuous loop with little to no interruptions, your puppy will be able to get in a high rate of successful repetitions!
Have you used clean loops before? Let me know in the comments! If you want to learn to use clean loops in your training, schedule a session here.
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