Mark It!

I posted a blog yesterday that mentioned “marking” the behavior we want from our dogs, so I figured I better not wait too long before making another post about what exactly that means!

To mark a behavior means that you are making some kind of noise or vocalization in the exact moment that your dog gives you the behavior you asked for or wanted. This sound should be extremely consistent, which is why a clicker can be such an amazing tool! However, sometimes we don’t have our clicker on us when we need to let our dog know that she did something well, so we can also use our voice instead. I use a consistent “yes” to mark my dogs’ good behaviors. Other people use different sounds like a higher-pitched “yip” vocalization because its not something that is used in any other instance.

So why do we mark the good behavior? We do this so that the dog knows that what they did RIGHT THEN is what we wanted. For example, when you ask your dog to sit and it sits, you mark at the exact moment that sit becomes complete (when its butt hits the ground). This tells the dog that it was that action and not the glance to the left or the step backwards to prepare for the sit that you liked. Once you mark the behavior, you reward it with food or something reinforcing for your dog (generally this is food but it can also be a favorite toy or a real-life reinforcer, such as being let outside or released to eat their meal).

To associate the marker with the reward, you first need to condition it. This means that you will say the marker word or noise and then give a treat within 1-3 seconds. You do this about 10 times so that the noise, to the dog, means a treat is following. This means that the endorphins released when your dog is praised and rewarded are instead released at the sound of the marker. Think of it like classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning- the dog salivates when it hears the bell ring because the bell is a predictor of its meal. When you mark the behavior with the sound, the dog anticipates the treat, yes, but even without the treat they get those feel-good feelings. This is incredibly helpful because if your dog does something you really like when you are not expecting it, you can mark it even if you do not have a treat handy. This still tells the dog that she did something well without having to treat it right away.

I will clarify that we always want to reinforce as often as possible with an actual reward. In a real-world situation when you don’t have a treat, you have your marker, but if you are actively training, you need to make sure you have your treats so that you can both mark AND reward. I do try to carry treats with me anytime I have my dogs out so that I can reinforce those good behaviors outside of the house, but I know that if I forgot to grab that treat bag, I can use my marker word and they understand it!