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Hi Mike!
Thank you for your thorough answer. It’s by no means confusing. As far as variable ratio reinforcement is concerned we’ve been using it for a long time now and it works great unless the lure of the distraction is more attractive than the possible reward. As far as the fixed punishment ratio is concerned it seems obvious but no one had told me that before so thanks for the enlightenment 🙂 I have a few new questions and observations:
1. There are times when my dog comes when called but does everything to prolong the coming. He won’t return in a straight but rather ‘meandering’ line. Here and there he’ll stop for a very short moment to sniff something or squeeze out a droplet of pee. And of course he’s not as fast as he could be. How do I use the remote in such a case? Or do I use it at all? I mean, he’s on his way back and I don’t want to punish him for it. I know some positive techniques which help but perhaps there’s something else I could do?
2. There are days when I don’t even have to say the ‘no’ but on other days he’s very stubborn and I have to turn it up for him to react. We castrated him chemically in March with deslorelin. It was supposed to work for six months. However, his testicles are only now beginning to reach their normal size and for a month or so he’s been clearly experiencing testosterone peaks. To what extent is his reaction correlated with his testosterone level? Or is there a different reason which would explain the variations in his responsiveness? He’s a 20-month-old border collie. It once happened that I thought that I had turned on the collar when in fact I hadn’t. I called him but he had found something more interesting, so at first I said ‘no’ and then repeated ‘come’ and started pressing the button. He, of course, didn’t feel anything but I kept calling and he finally came. Is it possible that that one incident when the ‘correction’ didn’t work was enough to cause him to start testing whether he really has to come?
3. How do I use the remote when he starts chasing roe deer or a cat? It seems reasonable to call him as soon as possible because the longer the chase the higher adrenaline level. However, when I start low he gets far away before I reach the level which he can actually feel. So, in this case, do I need to start at a higher level?
That’s it for now.
