YES, I forgot to say that too, timing is everything!!! Not to toot my own horn but I'm very good at timing whether it's a marker, a reward, or a correction. Often at club, I am clicking the clicker for someone else, or tapping their remote, or even line handling their dog. It can be very difficult for people to grasp. Part of it is that most people do not break down behaviors into small enough steps. For example, say you have a dog like my Coke that is very bad at coming when called. With this dog at the beginning of training a recall, you do not wait until the dog has come back to you to mark the good behavior and reward. The first step would be to mark as soon as the dog turns his head from far away and acknowledges your command to "come!".
Backchaining refers to training a complex behavior (usually a sequence of behaviors) and breaking it down into steps which are basically taught in reverse. For example, in Schutzhund obedience we have to perform three formal dumbbell retrieves. This is my full article (with video links) on backchaining a retrieve:
http://www.dutchbingo.net/personal/How to Backchain the Formal Retrieve.pdf Many dogs retrieve willingly but not with the level of precision that this routine requires. So for those like me who backchain the formal retrieve, the first step is to train the dog to hold the dumbbell sitting in front, then you train the dog to come towards you with a dumbbell in his mouth and sit in front, then you add more and more distance, then you training the dog to go out and get the dumbbell (it's actually a LOT more steps than that, but you get the idea). Another example is something I am working on right now with a dog in the protection phase. We have these "blinds" which are like a triangle tent where the "helper" (decoy who gets bit) stands. The first exercise is to send the dog into the blind. The dog has to bark at the helper for a period of time, then the handler comes around, walks up to the dog, and commands him to "sit" (which in this case also means to stop barking). I was having an issue where my dog would go in and bark good but when he could see me coming his way he would get slightly distracted and look at me between barks. I suggested to my helper that we backchain this. In this example that means we start with me standing next to the dog in the blind while he is barking. Then as we progress I move farther out of the blind until I am standing where I would be in a trial.
Freeshaping is something often paired with backchaining. It's a "purely positive" form of training where you are using a marker (a word or click) and reward. Most positive training is either freeshaping or lure/reward type training. Freeshaping is not as common b/c it requires a LOT of patience, impeccable timing, and a dog that has a knack for it. Basically it is what it sounds like, you allow the dog to be "free" and "shape" the behavior you want. It's easier to grasp with an example. Go back to the formal retrieve. As I said the first step is usually to train a dog to hold a dumbbell. That alone can be a challenge since a dumbbell weighs 5lbs and the dog must hold it tightly while focusing intently on your face and is not allowed to loll the dumbbell or "chew" on it. But how do you get a dog to take a dumbbell in the first place? I usually freeshape my "hold" (we call this behavior the "hold") using a clicker. I start with a dowel not a dumbbell (dumbbell is too weird and heavy at first). I just hold it out to the dog. If the dog sniffs it, I click/treat. I c/t sniffing the dowel ten times because the dog has no idea what I want and cannot be expected to take and hold it, so I am first shaping a positive interaction with a dowel. Once the dog gets that, I up the ante so now the click/treat only happens if the dog tries to put his mouth/teeth on the dowel. From there we shape biting, then taking and biting, then taking, biting, and holding correctly, then holding for longer and longer, then holding for a long time while I make distractions, etc. This is freeshaping because I am letting the dog decide what to do, just only rewarding the choice *I* want the dog to make. By contrast, I could simply pry the dog's mouth open and shove the dowel in, or I could wave it around like a toy to entice the dog to bite on it. But those are not freeshaping, those are examples of luring. I like to freeshape certain tricks because it makes for a more pro-active, thinking, problem-solving dog than a dog that is certainly obedient and willing but needs to be constantly directed what to do.
By contrast, many people train a formal retrieve using compulsion (also known as pressure or escape training). On the operant conditioning diagram this is negative reinforcement (NOT positive punishment as some might think). If you want to use -R to train a dog to hold a dowel, you would apply discomfort until the dog opens his mouth and takes the dowel. Immediately the discomfort turns off and the dog quickly desires to hold that dowel.
