TRAINING PRINCIPLE: TIMING

This is the first in a series of articles that explain the most important training principles to teach your furry Bichon buddy any trick or behavior.

Using the established basic principles makes effective and efficient training possible. These principles do require thought & planning, but the pay-off is huge, and it makes the training process much more fun for the dogs as well as for their people.

The huge pay-off for using these training principles effectively includes:              
*making the training go much faster,                     
*allowing the dog to learn behaviors accurately,                  
*avoiding learning plateaus (getting "stuck"), and               
*when the training goes smoothly, your furry pal will be having fun and will enjoy the process.  
*Training should be fun for all!

Principle #1:  The  timing of the marker/bridge/ secondary reinforcer.
**The "click" or "marker word" ("YES!") is called the "secondary reinforcer."
**The  "secondary reinforcer" must always followed by an actual reinforcer as quickly as possible.
**The dog learns that this "secondary reinforcer" means that his/her "real reward"  is on the way.  (The "secondary reinforcer"  becomes a signal for the dog that what he wants is coming).  
**To make training quicker, easier, the "secondary reinforcer" is given at the exact instant that a desired behavior is performed by the dog.  The dog learns to pair up what he is doing with this "marker" signal.
**As the dog pairs up the signal with a particular behavior, he will want to repeat the behavior because, in the dog's mind, his behavior "causes" the signal that brings the real reward.
**The marker ("secondary reinforcer") should be given  immediately as the behavior is happening.
**What you click (or "mark" ) is what you get in terms of behavior. 
**Marking early (before the desired behavior) or late (after the desired behavior) is confusing to the dog.  
**Marking a behavior too early or too late slows the training process and results in an inconsistent, sub-standard behavior.
** Marking a behavior as it occurs tells the dog exactly what is wanted and what will result in a reward.  The desired behavior will be repeated more and more as a result of being "marked" while it is happening.
**The "treat/toy/primary reinforcer" should follow the "click" as immediately as possible.

With good timing, your Bichon buddy will know exactly what you want and what he/she must do to earn his/her valued reinforcer.