I'm posting a clip here that's rather long. And the film technique is terrible, for which I apologise in advance - Penny's not even in the picture some of the time.
It's six minutes of Penny offering different behaviors in an attempt to earn treats. I put a chair in the middle of the room (and set up the camera pointing at it) and waited to see what she would do. She knows that if I'm holding a clicker, treats will appear if she eithe does what I direct her to do or if she can do something original.
It's probably not the way free-shaping is supposed to be done, because I didn't offer her any encouragement along the way, but it was interesting for me to see her working on it, and I think she enjoyed it.
Showing posts with label free shaping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free shaping. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
dogs CAN think!
I tried some free shaping the other day. I've read about it on other blogs and wondered what Penny would do if I sat down with a clicker and a pile of treats and placed an empty cardboard box on the floor near her.
Well, it was fascinating to see!
She pawed me (she never paws, but she's been taught to touch me with her left and right paw as a preliminary to learning to march);
she backed away (ditto knows how to back on command);
she looked at the box;
she sat;
she dropped;
she touched the box with her nose - click! treat!
she touched the box a couple more times and was rewarded, but then I stopped rewarding.
So she put one foot into the box - click! treat!
A few more of the same.
Then I raised the bar again.
So she put two feet into the box - click! treat!
As far as I'm concerned, that's thinking.
I was glad to see a philosopher, Dr. Michael LaBossiere from Florida A&M University, writing a blog post about canine cognition. We 'dog people' recognise the obvious truth that dogs think - and feel, but that's another story - so it's good to see this truth acknowledged in the wider world.
He writes about Descartes, famous for saying 'I think, therefore I am'. It was Descartes who did animals a terrible disservice when he argued that animals do not have true minds because they do not use true language.
Well, it was fascinating to see!
She pawed me (she never paws, but she's been taught to touch me with her left and right paw as a preliminary to learning to march);
she backed away (ditto knows how to back on command);
she looked at the box;
she sat;
she dropped;
she touched the box with her nose - click! treat!
she touched the box a couple more times and was rewarded, but then I stopped rewarding.
So she put one foot into the box - click! treat!
A few more of the same.
Then I raised the bar again.
So she put two feet into the box - click! treat!
As far as I'm concerned, that's thinking.
I was glad to see a philosopher, Dr. Michael LaBossiere from Florida A&M University, writing a blog post about canine cognition. We 'dog people' recognise the obvious truth that dogs think - and feel, but that's another story - so it's good to see this truth acknowledged in the wider world.
He writes about Descartes, famous for saying 'I think, therefore I am'. It was Descartes who did animals a terrible disservice when he argued that animals do not have true minds because they do not use true language.
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