#chicken camp

[valiantlytransparcfgjet]

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[dogsandlife7]

Chicken Camp, Final Day (4)

Today was my final day in Chicken Camp I - Discrimination Training. As I've mentioned a million times now, Camp has been so much fun! Attached is a picture of "Spinner" my careful/methodical and exceptionally nice working chicken. She didn't initially offer up a lot of actions and didn't go for luring so she taught me patience and the art of precision. In this picture she's waiting for me to take her out of her cage as she was eager to work once she started learning and had a job to do. In the end, I trained this chicken to peck on a the middle of a target and to spin 360 degrees. It was a great experience for both of us. My next chicken was Discriminator (the white chicken pictured). Discriminator was my discriminating chicken. We used shapes and the hexagon was the 'hot target' or the one we clicked/rewarded for when she pecked on it. Using reward and extinction methods, we were able to get Discriminator discriminating up to 4 different shapes (a hexagon, a triangle, a cross and a square) with over an 80% accuracy rate. It was very, very cool. Once Discriminator was at the 80% marker, we started playing all kinds of fun games like pointing at different shapes (hot or cold targets), removing the hexagon completely, and of course randomly moving the shapes all of the table, including between the chicken's legs. Yeap, we were having a BLAST! It's good to be home and I'm lucky enough to be able to attend the first two days of the Cueing Chicken Camp II on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week before I fly out to South Carolina where I'll be stepping in for another judging who isn't able to make it.

[dogsandlife7]

Chicken Camp, Day 3

I've been asked "What have you learned at Chicken Camp?" First, let me tell you a bit about those attending Camp. They're from all walks of life. Some have dogs, some have cats (and successfully train them), some use Camp mechanics in TAG Teaching for humans, some simply want to be in the know on this science and for some, this is how they chose to spend their vacation. For me, I've been using the methods and mechanics of Clicker Training for well over a decade on dogs. While the animal training concepts aren't new, I'm self taught and came to work on precision, criteria choices, chaining and more. With that said, I'm certainly not bored at camp and love the fact that I have two different types of chicken personalities, not to mention that Terry Ryan is an amazing trainer and teacher. Another added benefit is that we get to coach our partners and be coached by them. It is always good to have an observer and it is a luxury I don't have at home. Looking back on my notes, here were the points that mean the most to me in clicker training/shaping behaviors/luring/discrimination training, etc. from the Chicken Camp I - Discrimination.

All animals/humans come with habits. We teach a new habit with association.

Dog Training is a combination of Science, Art & Mechanical Skills.

You can teach the difference between Discrimination vs. Generalization.

Law of Effect. If the effect is good, it increases the intensity of repetition.

Rewards drive behavior!

Rewarding early is better than rewarding late.

Late rewards are more powerful than missing a click/reward.

Be sure to define your criteria before a training session.

Different types: Capture (wait for action) vs. Shaping (small baby steps).

Three Steps to Success: Timing, Criteria, Rate of Reinforcement.

Do shorter sessions (1 minute for example, set a timer).

Increase Rapid Reinforcement when starting a behavior.

Type of Reinforcement - Rapid Reinforcement, Variable Reinforcement, Differential Reinforcement.

Click for action, feed for position.

Discrimination Training - Hot target, feed. Cold target, don't feed.

Extinction - remove hot target and wait for extinction burst and then reintroduce the hot target.

Once a behavior is at 80%, then increase the criteria.

Premack Principle - behaviors become reinforcers.

Tomorrow is our last day of camp and we'll be moving forward with discrimination exercises. So far one chicken has moved on to spinning in a circle (the brown chicken) and the other has moved on to discrimination exercises.

The discrimination exercises started with us rewarding our chicken for clicking on a circular target. Next we switched to a hexagon (same color as circle) and rewarded all pecks on the hexagon, which will be the rewarded shape. Next we introduced a triangle. If the chicken pecked on the triangle, we did not click and treat. To encourage extinction, if the chicken pecked on the triangle (the cold target), we took the hexagon off of the table (the hot target) and let them peck away on the triangle without reward. It was common to get an extinction burst and afterward we reintroduced the hexagon and rewarded when the chicken clicked on it.

I should also mention that during the entire 1 minute training time we are moving both the hexagon and the triangle randomly around the table. Next we introduced a third shape, a heart. Since this chicken has been used previously, I'm certain it was rewarded for pecking on the heart. That means I'll have to 'undo' the positive association of the heart and use rapid reinforcement to increase the value of the hexagon. Then I should be able to add them all together for a successful discrimination...in theory!

Wish me luck, or is that cluck? : )

[dogsandlife7]

Chicken Camp, Day 1 & 2

Let me start off by saying I LOVE CHICKEN CAMP!  This is the first Camp in a series of 4 and while I was a little figured there would be some stuff I knew, I also came to fill in some 'holes' and to learn even more. That's exactly what's happening.

We started off by receiving our chickens. We each have 2 chickens with different characteristics. For example, I have one white chicken who is a speedy-bird and my brown bird is a bit more of a thinker. I'm thrilled with both birds, but am especially intrigued with my brown thinker bird (who is pictured above). I love animals that work to the beat of a different drummer!

Our first exercise was to get our bird to peck at the white dot in the middle of our black target. White bird quickly and easily did it (I believe this bird has been to a prior camp) and then my brown bird (who is very young) was the last in our class to peck the target. 

Today I felt we were very, very close as her head was now about 2 inches from the target and for the heck of it, we decided to try a different technique. We decided to try putting a piece of food on the spot we wanted her to peck to encourage the wanted behavior and give us something more precise to try.  The result was that my chicken got mad! She knew I'd changed the rules and wasn't so thrilled with that and actually nipped me in frustration . We tried putting food on the table to see if she'd go for that. Yeah, that resulted in a second nip! Terry Ryan quickly swooped in and took my brown girl and several times offered up a new chicken. She even made me try a new one and I was bored because this trial chicken was way too much like my other chicken. I mean who wants to birds of the same temperament? 

So I told Terry I really wanted my bird back because I loved a good challenge. Low and behold, the next working session, my brown girl pecked like maniac. I felt so accomplished for having worked through it with that tough bird! She is my favorite!

My white chicken will go on to discrimination training tomorrow while my brown bird has been given a non-becking task. I had to train her to go in a circle and wouldn't you know, that bird was so in tune to me and is doing amazing circles with little effort. I guess pecking just isn't her thing...

Well, I'm off to bed and looking forward to Day 3 of Chicken Camp!!!

[christinatrains]

Trailer for a DVD on operant conditioning and its applications at chicken camp and zoos in Sweden. Starring Bob Bailey, my mentor's mentor. It's one of my dreams to attend chicken camp while Bob Bailey is still teaching it!!