It occurs to me (belatedly) that you meant barking-when-strangers-come.

Is that what you meant, rather than excited random barking?

ok, so I'm here with Layla...and she's been barking a little. I let her bark....I say "quiet" and wait for the quiet moment then I reward the quiet behavior. Do I also say "yes", which is my marker, right before I give the food reward?

Connie, do you think using "yes" as the marker is not as good as using a clicker?

Chuck

I use "yes," but opinions vary. Can you keep your "yes" always the same?

Did you load the marker by giving it and then rewarding? Did you do this enough to demonstrate clearly to the dog what the marker means (it means "Correct! Reward coming!")?

You do give your marker the instant the quiet happens. This means "Reward coming" if you have loaded/charged the marker first. It gives you a couple of seconds to produce the reward (which has been out of sight of the dog).

I'm keeping my "yes" the same...and I will continue to load the "yes" today...

she "seems" to be responding...

I say "quiet"....when there is quiet...I say "yes".. Layla looks right at me expectantly...and I give the food reward immediately.

This is very cool actually. Time will tell, of course. I'll continue reporting

CHuck

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

It occurs to me (belatedly) that you meant barking-when-strangers-come.

Is that what you meant, rather than excited random barking?

I mean excited, random barking

hi and good morning to all

I am working on charging the marker with some small yummy treats. I am also working on training Layla to stop barking by utilizing Connie's technique of waiting for a silence, then marking the behavior with a "yes" followed a second later by a food reward.

When can I add the word "quiet" as the "command" for the no bark?

Thanks for your comments and continued support. This is fun!

Chuck

You don't want to do both at once, Chuck. You want to charge the maker before any other use of it.

You want the dog to want that marker, knowing that it means "reward coming."

Does the dog now look eagerly for the treat when you give the marker? That is step 1, and you have loaded/charged the marker.

Then if you mark and reward for quiet, I would ask whether the dog has started offering quiet.

I am thinking that when I taught no-bark, way back at the beginning of learning about marker training, I might have named it before it was long enough of a quiet period and before the dog offered it on his own, and so I later had to kind of re-do the training so that "no-bark" could become a longer behavior.

So now I would gradually extend the "quiet" or "no-bark" after I knew that the dog was offering it to me in hopes of a marker/reward, by gradually counting in my head to three. I'd start to mark/reward at the count of one until that went well, then wait to a count of two, and so on. I'd do this step a few times, increasing the amount of time to wait for mark/reward by two seconds on each repetition.

I'd really take my time with it, cementing each length of time and watching for the dog to offer the behavior. "Quiet" (IMO, anyway) is less simple than, say, "stay."

QUOTE from http://www.clickertraining.com/node/185
...as soon as the .... behaviors begin to look the least little bit "operant" to me, that is, I see the dog beginning to do them with some awareness, THEN I will ... use the hand signal .... as a prompt .... as a cue for "mouth shut," meanwhile shaping slightly longer "mouth shut" duration as I go. END

I'd say again, Chuck, that you want to be sure that your marker is loaded and that the dog knows what it means, and I really would try a very simple behavior (like eye contact) to hone your skills.

No bark is more like "stay" in that you are looking for an extended behavior, and also it replaces a behavior that's self-rewarding (bark).

You can do it. I'm just saying that I'd practice a bit on more simple behaviors.

P.S. Marker work IS fun, isn't it?

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Does the dog now look eagerly for the treat when you give the marker? That is step 1, and you have loaded/charged the marker.

>>>Layla is starting to exhibit this behavior. We've been doing this marker training only since yesterday; three times yesterday for about 3 minutes each time.

Then if you mark and reward for quiet, I would ask whether the dog has started offering quiet.

>>>Yes, she has. It's interesting to watch if she is distracted and if so, how long it takes her to turn her attention back to me. Actually, it's not too long.

We're going out into the yard right now for a few minutes, to work on it. :-)
Oh, we have another dog, Bosco, 7 y.o. lab mix. He comes out with us. Of course, he'd also like the food rewards. Does this detract from what I'm doing with Layla.

Thanks!

Chuck

The other dog can probably watch but not intervene, IME.

OTOH, is the other dog a big distraction? If so, then I'd keep him inside for now and then gradually introduce his presence as a distraction (to proof for distraction).

Is the other dog getting his turn too? He could start on his own, too, with loading the marker for him (very important) and then maybe a simple behavior like sit or eye contact.

There's no reason for any dog not to have marker training for ob, IMHO.