What is a Marker?

At Teach Dog we use Markers to help dogs understand what behaviour we would like and why we are rewarding them.

I am sure you will have heard of “Clicker Training”? Clickers are a marker and can help get your training really precise. At Teach Dog we don’t often use clickers, as they become just another thing to remember, instead we use a “Marker Word”.

Luring your dog into a sit with the use of a treat in the hand.

The Marker Word is a signal to your dog that the thing they just did was what we wanted. It is a really short word, to help pinpoint the exact moment the dog performed the behaviour. Lets look at an example to make this clearer.

Imagine you would like to teach your dog to sit. You have decided that your marker word is going to be “yes”. You bring a treat to your dogs nose (as in the image above) and then slowly lift it upwards and backwards, to lure the dog into a sit. The moment their bottom hits the floor you say your marker word, “yes”, and then you give them the treat. The timing of your marker word tells your dog the exact moment they are doing the thing you want. To build on this training - you would do this same sequence four more times. Then you would do the same, but you would leave the treat in your treat pouch, and just lure with your empty hand. When your dogs bottom hits the floor you say “yes” and then give a treat from your treat pouch. After a couple of these you start to say the cue “sit” as you lure with your hand. Steadily you move your hand less until over a few sessions you should be able to say “sit” and the dog will sit, even without any hand movement. Every time you say sit, and the dogs bottom hits the floor, you say your marker, “yes”, and then give your dog a treat.

Some important things to remember about markers

1. If you use a marker word you must pay your dog with a treat. The marker word is like a payslip - it always goes with a pay cheque. Imagine if work gave you a payslip, but then didn’t pay you!!

2. Marker words should be short and not a word you generally say to to your dog in another context. At Teach Dog we don’t recommend the word “good”. This is because people tend to extend the word to “goooooood” or “good boy” and therefore the word is not short any more. The shortness is important. If we think about the sit lesson discussed above and instead of the short marker word “yes” we said “gooooood boy” by the time we get to the end of the “boy” the dog may have stopped sitting. The dog then won’t know that it was it act of sitting that they are getting the reward for. Studies have been done on this and short markers are the best.

3. Once you have chosen your marker word, stick to it. Also ask anyone else, who trains your dog, to also use the same marker word.

4. Why can’t I just give my dog a treat? Because sometimes the dog won’t be totally sure what they are getting the treat for - as fumbling around in your pocket or treat pouch takes time. If you have used your marker word it won’t matter if it takes a few seconds to get your treat out - you will have communicated to your dog what they are being rewarded for.

5. Make sure you get the right order. Once you have faded the lure the correct sequence is:

   Cue - ask your dog to do something

   Mark - when the dog does the action

   Reward - don’t reach for the reward until after your have marked the behaviour

The correct use of Markers will be discussed in ALL of the Teach Dog training courses and as part of any behaviour modification plan.

If you have any questions about Markers or anything else you can contact Teach Dog through our contact form.