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INDIRECT PRESSURE I have had a lot of
questions in reference to “what is indirect pressure?”
The following represents descriptions gathered from a variety of sources
including Mike Lardy in his “Training with Mike Lardy” soft cover book based
on his articles in the Retriever Journal; from Marilyn Fender’s articles on
chaining which were in Online; and from Dennis Voigt in Online.
I strongly recommend subscribing to Retrievers Online Magazine.
It is a tremendous resource regarding training information. You can find out more by
going to www.retrieversonline.com
or writing to Retrievers Online, 1457 Heights Rd., Lindsay, ON Canada K9V 4R3.
As of this date, there are three soft cover books on training by Mike
Lardy and you can obtain information about their purchase through www.totalretriever.com.
Indirect pressure is
correcting a dog (applying pressure) on a known command for not doing another
command. The classic example is when
a dog fails to take a cast correctly and you whistle “sit” and nick the dog
with the e-collar before you cast again. Using
indirect pressure probably makes up about 80% of field corrections after the dog
has gone through the transition stage. The
whistle “sit” combined with a nick is the vast majority of those
corrections. Direct pressure occurs
when you correct a dog on a known command for not doing that behavior.
For example, if a dog is not driving back and you command “back” and
nick, that is direct pressure. The most common indirect
pressure commands are with “sit” and with “here”.
An example of using “here” as an indirect pressure is when a dog who
has failed to go (no-go) is commanded “here” or “heel” and nicked as you
step forward before resending. (heel-nick-heel)
This is indirect pressure for not going.
Direct pressure would be commanding “back” and nicking.
Generally speaking, indirect pressure has less negative side-effects than
direct pressure. Indirect pressure
often resets a chain of behaviors to which dogs respond.
It tends to result in an increase in the desired behavior and thus can be
classified as a form of negative reinforcement.
Both Dennis and Marilyn have written some excellent articles about this
which were published in Retrievers Online Magazine. According to Dennis,
“Direct pressure often compounds a problem. Indirect pressure often solves and
maintains drive and a clear head!!!” A more complex form of this
is when a trainer would apply pressure on one command in one situation in order
to get a better response from the dog on a different command or behavior in
another situation, at another time. An
example would be to do a force into the water sequence in order to improve
control and steadiness at the line. This
sort of indirect pressure can be a much more dangerous form of pressure source
as you are relying on strong side effects to be effective.
This takes considerable knowledge and experience.
Used incorrectly, it can create side effects on other behaviors.
This usually should only be done with the assistance of a knowledgeable
professional. According to Marilyn Fender
in her articles in Online Magazine, “Indirect pressure is another application
of the power of chaining. To define
direct pressure, it is when you correct with pressure a response that is prior
to and different from the behavior where the dog has not responded.
The behavior where you apply pressure has been done correctly in the
original chain. While this may seem
illogical, in reality it makes a great deal of sense.
The chaining of responses is what causes the correction to be effective.
An example: a dog no-go’s
to a mark---this assumes you have always used a consistent sequence to send your
dog. You would go back to the heel
stage of the chain and move forward with heel-nick-heel.
Then you go to the next event in the chain:
sit: put your had down, and then the command to go.
The pressure on heel-nick-heel brings the dog back a few steps into the
behavioral chain and moves them back into a known sequence.
In most cases the dog will go for the mark since their names has become
not only a release to get the mark, but an automatic response to their name in
the learned chain of events. The
results of this sequence will be much more effective than just saying their name
over and over or punishing them to get them to go… It is the same when a dog
refuses a cast on a blind. It is
much more effective to use indirect pressure on sit (whistle, nick).
Going back to a “whistle for sit, then nick, puts the dog back into the
same chain of behaviors they learned on the double T or in the swim-by.
The whistle means to sit and face the handler, followed by the handler
casting and the dog responding correctly… Teaching chains of behavior
to your dog with consistent standards within those chains will increase the
effectiveness of your training.” Another example where
indirect pressure can be used is if a dog freezes on a whistle.
Instead of trying to force back, try to get them to break loose with a
come-in whistle, then try giving a back or over again.
Here you are using goal displacement---once the dog has frozen on the
whistle, your training goal has changed temporarily.
You no longer have to goal of trying to get the blind with the fewest
casts and whistles; you want to get the dog to move. One easily understood
description of Indirect Pressure was given by Jerry Harris on the Retriever
Training Forum. It seems to sum it
up in a nutshell: “You send your teenage son
to the mailbox. On the way he spots
the neighbor’s voluptuous daughter in a bikini (factor).
He immediately starts in her direction (succumbing to the factor). You yell (whistle) Son!!!!!!
(Handle). His eyes get back into
focus and turns toward you and says “WHAT??”
(responding to the whistle) For
the Amish folks, you walk up to him and whop him upside the head!!!
(correction=indirect pressure). You
then say ‘You were told to go get the mail, now do what you were told!!!’ That my friends is Indirect
Pressure and why it works.” ***Amish=a trainer who does
not use an electric collar. |
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