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Common Training Errors 101: Confusing Consistency With Predictability
© Copyright 1997 By Diana Guerrero

One of the most common training errors is to confuse with predictability. What is the difference and why is it a problem or challenge? To the new trainer there may not appear to be any difference, however it can make a very strong difference in your results or degree of success and communication with an animal. Here are the formal definitions for you technically oriented types:

con-sis-ten-cy (n): ability to be asserted together without contradiction; harmony of conduct or practice with. (Training meaning would be: where you will use the training principles in the same manner with appropriate adaptations to maintain the criteria.)

pre-dict (vb): pre-dict-abil-i-ty (n):to declare or indicate in advance; foretell on the basis of observation, experience, or scientific reason; anticipating eventualities being usually concerned with certainties. (Training meaning would be: where you will always approach things and do things the same way without changes; often the animals/co-workers will know your pattern.)

Consistency is something we as trainers strive for. We want to make sure we are fair and maintain the same criteria required from the animal for the desired behavior and for reinforcement. It helps us to be clear and gives the animal some guidelines. However, sometimes we have to be more persistent than the animal in order to obtain these results and maintain this criteria!

Consistency is in relation to the level or degree of performance and the reinforcement related to it. In this sense it does not refer to consistent ratios or schedules of reinforcement. Some examples would be in order here.

Consistency in training a dog to sit, for instance; once you have shaped the final behavior, you will require a square sit in a certain position, with eye contact, and it should be held until the animal is released ALWAYS even if the behavior is acquired in different areas.

If you accept a crooked sit on a hip, you become inconsistent, and may loose the particular parameters you originally set up. You will always ask the animal for the behavior in a certain way, always give a certain amount of time to respond, and not accept substandard behavior. Eventually you will expand the location and degree of distraction paired with this sit as the variables. You will also reward in some capacity, although the reward ratio and schedule will be variable.

Predictability is when the animal can anticipate your movements. This can be in relation to the sequence of a show (accidental "chaining" or linking behaviors together in the same sequence so the animal does them all together in a specific order). You may also have certain patterns that the animal links to the training session.

In the same example of the dog and a sit behavior, this predictability would be present if you always did the sit behavior in the same sequence or perhaps in the same location at the same time. People very often do this around feeding time, where the dog is fed in the same place and has to sit first.

Another common error is to ask for a sit behavior followed by a down. The down becomes chained and the two behaviors combined create a loss in the stability/performance of the original sit. So, every time you ask for the sit behavior, the dog lays down following the sit without directives.

In a show example, this can be seen in a couple of ways: first,. the trainer may always do the behaviors in the same sequence or secondly, the trainer may always do the same behavior in a certain location rather than varying the area of performance. Many times rewarding a behavior is done with a primary reinforcer when it is not needed or even deserved. For some reason the give-the-animal-food thing is a common trap even some animal training professionals fall into.

Unpredictability in this sense is more desirable. It means that the animal has to pay attention to you, is more interested and stimulated, and has to actually think about what is transpiring. Of course, this all applies to the trainer too! Verbal feedback, variances in rewards, and in rewarding/reinforcement schedules should be unpredictable BUT consistent. I.e. the right response, the highest degree of response, the fastest response are always rewarded. It gets complicated when you move into a different area with higher distraction but that is another topic!

Combining both consistency and unpredictability is how you get a good performance from the animal. In this way the animal will never know what is going to transpire but does know the parameters of the variables that could be presented. i.e., low performance will not be rewarded and things will be interesting (variable or varied). Hope this helps you understand the difference between the two!

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A Dressage Horse Dreams
By Lesley Ann Taylor

A rider on a grey horse walks around the dressage arena. The rider is waiting for the 'new trainer' to arrive. Eager to learn more tricks and secrets from yet another expert to persuade this 'difficult' horse to perform. The horse, resigned to another struggle to obey a confusion of signals from his rider. He must detach himself from the discomfort he knows he will feel in his body, shut down, close up where it is safe. Somehow ignore the demanding insensitive hands that pull on his sensitive mouth. Somehow cope with the spurs and the tortuous contraptions that pull his head into positions that nature never intended. "Forgive them for they know not what they do" He will try, as he always tries, in the hope that one day his rider will acknowledge the effort. But there is no such recognition. No real communication between them now. But then, *you* walk towards this disconnected partnership and they walk towards you. The horse looks into your face and at some deep level he knows that you are not like the others that come to stand in the middle of the arena to shout and parade. His deep dark, honest eyes search for and find.... your clear blue eyes and is held in a gaze And in that gaze is a touching of souls. He is alone no more. The horse breathes in your light in a long whispering breath. There is love in these eyes and the love is for him and in this love is carried wisdom, integrity, respect and a message from your soul to his that tells him.....

I see your struggle, I feel your pain, I am here now and together we will teach this rider to let go of the fear that creates the need to dominate and treat you so harshly. The horse feels his heart open and swell with a long forgotten pride, and bathed in your light, carried by your love and a renewed awareness of his own magnificence, The horse carries his rider forward......

And dances.

THE DIRECTOR - camera and action

Hello all With the birth of the new classic list and the usual chaos that is my life, I have been a little remise on getting out the NEWS. The new year is quickly coming upon us and it promises to be a very busy year.

My schedule is going to be increasingly more insane. As it stands now, this spring will bring a clinics in Canada and Sweden. There are several clinics pending in the United States as well. Riding intensives are become popular at the NSAE and we are looking forward to meeting many of you in our intensive program.

We are hoping to publish a translation or two this coming year so stay tuned. If you are thinking of coming for an intensive or a clinic with me, please book your session ASAP so you can be sure of getting the dates you want. That all for now. Enjoy your holidaysŠ.

Craig

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