Joined
·
93 Posts
Thought the group may find this interesting. I got it from the Pet Connection Blog:
------------------------------------
In dog training, less may be more
By Christie Keith
July 31, 2008
It’s true, I’m lazy. That’s part of why I have sighthounds, because no one really expects you to do obedience or tracking or anything requiring, you know, serious training with a sighthound.
Which isn’t to say my dogs aren’t well-behaved. They walk quietly on a loose leash, they don’t bark, go to the bathroom in the house, or eat the sofa. And I can easily train a dog to the extent required to trot around a show ring and stand pretty for the judge.
But I happily confess I don’t have much interest in more formal training, and so I’ve been pretty happy sharing my life with a type of dog who doesn’t, either.
Now, researchers in Denmark have discovered that at least one other breed of hound, the Beagle, learns best when he learns least often. In an article published in Applied Animal Behavioral Sciences, the authors found that dogs trained once a week learned specific behaviors better than dogs trained five times a week.
In a nutshell, 18 laboratory beagles were divided into two groups. The dogs were all trained by the same person, in the same unfamiliar room. The training was done using so-called “positive” methods, including shaping and clicker training.
The results of the study show that dogs trained once a week learned the shaping exercise in significantly fewer training sessions than dogs trained five times a week. In addition, weekly trained dogs tended to have higher success rates at the different steps of the shaping exercise than the dogs trained five times a week. The dogs trained five times a week completed the shaping exercise in significantly fewer days than the weekly trained dogs. It is concluded that for dogs learning a given skill, weekly training results in better learning performance than training five times a week, when performance is measured in the number of training sessions required to reach a certain training level.
My sighthounds approve of these findings about their scenthound cousins. You can read the whole article here (PDF).
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
In dog training, less may be more
By Christie Keith
July 31, 2008
It’s true, I’m lazy. That’s part of why I have sighthounds, because no one really expects you to do obedience or tracking or anything requiring, you know, serious training with a sighthound.
Which isn’t to say my dogs aren’t well-behaved. They walk quietly on a loose leash, they don’t bark, go to the bathroom in the house, or eat the sofa. And I can easily train a dog to the extent required to trot around a show ring and stand pretty for the judge.
But I happily confess I don’t have much interest in more formal training, and so I’ve been pretty happy sharing my life with a type of dog who doesn’t, either.
Now, researchers in Denmark have discovered that at least one other breed of hound, the Beagle, learns best when he learns least often. In an article published in Applied Animal Behavioral Sciences, the authors found that dogs trained once a week learned specific behaviors better than dogs trained five times a week.
In a nutshell, 18 laboratory beagles were divided into two groups. The dogs were all trained by the same person, in the same unfamiliar room. The training was done using so-called “positive” methods, including shaping and clicker training.
The results of the study show that dogs trained once a week learned the shaping exercise in significantly fewer training sessions than dogs trained five times a week. In addition, weekly trained dogs tended to have higher success rates at the different steps of the shaping exercise than the dogs trained five times a week. The dogs trained five times a week completed the shaping exercise in significantly fewer days than the weekly trained dogs. It is concluded that for dogs learning a given skill, weekly training results in better learning performance than training five times a week, when performance is measured in the number of training sessions required to reach a certain training level.
My sighthounds approve of these findings about their scenthound cousins. You can read the whole article here (PDF).
------------------------------------
