Date: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 17:58:55 -0400 From: karen pryor pryork@karenpryor.com Subject: Re: Kathleen's puppy >>Message Sent by: karen pryor pryork@karenpryor.com >>See http://www.ListService.net/clickerlist for faqs, links and other info > But I'm having to work two things in the same session right now -- click if > I say, "Marcie, Come" and she does. -- she wanders off some and I don't > want to use a leash. > And click if Marcie puts her butt down in a sit. > Will that screw her up? One is a cue, and one isn't right now. Of course not. She's finding out that there are MANY ways to make you click. The more the better. You don't want to shape two *criteria* at once, i.e. "I'll only click if you come straight" and "I'll only click if you come fast," because you might get one but not the other, and thus not click, and thus lose the criterion; so that's why you get one criterion established before going for the next, on a given behavior.  But as far as clicking behavior a and behavior b and behavior c etc. in the same session, it's fine. What do they care? You're just building each behavior click by click. If one behavior starts to get in the way of the others, i.e. the dog is throwing too much at you, then it's time to put those high-frequency behaviors on cue, so you can comb them out of your sessions on other things. Otherwise, the more the better. My son Mike had a kitten, in his loft in New York, that he reinforced for anything that he thought was "cute." The cat became a real personality kid, always doing amazing new things. KP

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