The Washington Post has an interesting article on the bomb-sniffing dogs in the Metro. Before getting a single bite to eat, the dogs must find the explosives that their handlers have planted. I knew that toys are used as a reward for finding whichever odor it is they are trained to seek, but I was unaware of the use of the heavy-duty pairing of a successful seek with every meal. One police handler even said her dog's meals are hand-fed. That's as extreme as classical conditioning can get - there's no trick left in the bag after that.
These dogs are the Marines of the working-dog world.
(Avoid possible registration nonsense by clicking here.
There's a neat multi-media slideshow that goes with the article as well.
Tail-tip to Bill for saying to look at the Post.)
Just saw them doing that at the Metro across the street (Eisenhower Ave Station) a couple days ago. Beautiful dog, looks like my pup, Thor.
Posted by: greg at August 12, 2005 03:28 PMThere's a world of conditioning that most people don't have to use. Pairing the desired behavior with toys or treats is good enough for most things.
But if you want to ratchet up the conditioning, you pair the desired behavior with meals. An even further ratcheting would be the hand-feeding of those meals.
I just hadn't realized they had the bomb-sniffing dogs' conditioning cranked up full-throttle. That's really something.
Yes, that is a beautiful dog. And trained to the max.
Posted by: Donnah at August 12, 2005 03:49 PMI love classical conditioning. It's great. :-) How long do you reckon we have before politicians start using it on us?
Posted by: Dumb Brit at August 12, 2005 04:09 PMI thought they already were, in the form of welfare.
Posted by: Donnah at August 12, 2005 04:56 PMTwo countries divided by a common language. :-) How do you mean via welfare?
Posted by: Dumb Brit at August 13, 2005 05:58 AMI was being facetious. A check is a reward. A reward reinforces a behavior. What behavior does a welfare check reinforce?
The government didn't plan to create a class incapable of helping itself, and yet it did.
Ahhh, I see. Similar to the underclass theory? Makes sense, really.
Posted by: Dumb Brit at August 13, 2005 03:59 PMWhat's the underclass theory? I bet I thought of it first with my dog training extrapolations.
Posted by: Donnah at August 13, 2005 06:29 PMLol. I think the guy who came up with it was a sociologist called Murray. I'll look it up on Wikipedia.
Ah! There he is!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Murray_%28author%29
Posted by: Dumb Brit at August 14, 2005 06:32 AM