Backing Together

I mentioned in yesterday's story that Lumi and I were doing some remedial work on a basic freestyle move: backing together with Lumi at right heel. I described the training as a repeating two-behavior chain:

• With Lumi in a wait, I step back so that I'm even with Lumi's lower back
• Then she steps back into heel position

I also mentioned that I was clicking the second of those steps.

That may have been a good way to perform this training over the last few days, but this evening I saw that Lumi was anticipating the behavior that was being reinforced — her move backward — and not waiting for me to step back. The result was that she would get too far behind me unless I cued "wait" every time.

If we're going to get a smooth version of this chain, I decided that we also need Lumi to have a strong reinforcement history for the wait, not only for her stepping back.

So I tried doing it this way. First I say "wait" and step back, then reinforce Lumi for waiting with a spoonful of her raw food.

Secondly, I say "OK" as a release from the wait, and Lumi backs into heel position again. I reinforce that, not with a primary reinforcer, but with another "wait". I believe the wait cue acts as a secondary reinforcer because it's an opportunity to earn another cookie if executed correctly.

I was pleased with the results, at least at the slow speed we were working. To earn her cookie, Lumi remained calmly in place as I took a step back, then quickly came back into heel as soon as I released her. Her level of motivation for the game played this way remained as high as with yesterday's version.

The overall backing move, as the chain is repeated over and over, is still too choppy. But it already has a nice measured feeling that hopefully will eventually be as fast, or slow, as required for a particular musical phrase.