Let’s Talk About Markers! – Dog Training Information

Let’s Talk About Markers! – What Are They and Why Should You Use Them?

Dog Training Information

Using markers for dog training is crucial for learning, but what are they and how should you use them? Markers are used to pinpoint the exact moment we wish to associate a reward with so that dogs better understand what behaviours are beneficial and would then repeat them again. Positive reinforcement is the most efficient animal training technique and it relies on marking the right moment. This is the only way a dog will learn what the right thing to do was! Otherwise, if you only use a reward, your timing will be off and the dog is left guessing what earned the treat.

Positive Markers

Positive markers mark the right behaviour and the most common markers used are a clicker or a vocal cue ‘yes’. These are both great markers since they are short and fast enough to pinpoint the exact right moment.

Negative Markers

Did you know that there are negative markers as well? Don’t get confused tho, a negative marker doesn’t mean punishment, physical correction, pain, fear or intimidation. It is simply a vocal cue/sound to pinpoint the unwanted behaviour and then what follows is a lack of reward (the behaviour doesn’t get rewarded, it is simply ignored) or if a firmer consequence is required a short time-out can be associated with a negative marker. So a dog learns not to repeat the behaviour since it resulted in the loss of a reward or time-out.

I find a negative marker to be a very useful way of communicating with dogs, all tho I rarely teach this to clients because it requires more advanced training skills and an understanding of canine learning. First, it requires training for the dog to understand what it means, just like a positive marker must be associated with a treat. I do this through the ‘leave it’ command, my negative marker sound ‘A-A’ simply means ‘leave it’. And before I start using it as a negative marker I generalise it with different things such as treats, food, toys, objects, other dogs and people so that the understand of it is solid.

Even then I rarely use this with my own dogs, positive markers are way more important and should be used far more than negative markers. Negative markers are for real situations where you must communicate ‘no’ to your dog, not if they fail to understand how to perform a new trick you are teaching for example.