Non Compliance

I'm a TagTeach enthusiast. One of my favorite things I picked up from the first seminar I went to 2 years ago was about non compliance.

There are three reasons for non compliance. I've tried to think of more and really couldn't

-The learner is not physically or mentally capable of the task
-The learner does not understand
-The learner is insufficiently motivated

The learner is not physically or mentally capable of the task

This one is fairly straight forward. My dogs can't do advanced math no matter how much I train them. They won't speak English. They just aren't mentally capable of it. My dogs can't jump onto a surface six feet high, even though some other dogs can. They aren't physically capable of it.

The learner does not understand

This is where we either haven't trained sufficiently or are giving poor cues. My dog can do a 5' go out but not a 30' go out. He can retrieve a bowl and a bone and a dumbell and a sock and a clicker, but not a large bucket. He gives me a look of " I can't find something to retrieve."

The learner is not sufficiently motivated

And this is where many people fall into using punishment. Sometimes my dogs give a look that indicates they understand but would rather not. I know I need to step back with my training, build a stronger reinforcement history and address any other variables (distractions, distance, etc) that were a challenge. This is one of the harder categories to deal with, we often tend to not build a high enough history of reinforcement to maintain behaviors.