The Bridge Signal

The Bridge Signal

A bridge signal links a target behavior to a reinforcement, sending the message, "great job - your paycheck is on its way"! It's a "marker", a predictor, and makes teaching our dogs (and helping them connect-the-dots) a far easier activity.

Although there are various types of bridge signals, the "clicker" is probably the most common. What this is, is a little device that produces a sharp, clear "click" when the metal inside a plastic container is pushed. It lets the dog know that the activity is over, the criteria was met, a great job was done, and the reinforcement is on its way (this can come in the form of food, a favorite toy, affection, etc). Hallelujah!

Other bridge signals include : a "Yes!" or "OK!" verbal marker, a whistle (great for long distances), touch, or even our hand moving to our pocket to retrieve food.

Bridge signals will be dependent upon the type of training, of course. In detection training, we use different bridge signals for different procedures. If the dog finds the target odor, we use a whistle bridge, which means: "Well done, now come back to me for your reinforcement!" A clicker bridge in this type of training translates into: "Well done, stay there, and I'll come to you to give you your paycheck!" With obedience training (subscribing meaning to verbal cues and commands), we use a clicker.

We condition bridge signals through using classical conditioning. A clicker, whistle, verbal marker... whatever we choose to become our bridge signal, is a "neutral stimulus" (meaning: it has no meaning to the dog) in the beginning. By pairing it with a primary reinforcer (what a dog is born needing : food, clean water and air, shelter from the elements) using classical conditioning, it becomes a clear signal. Basically, we've got to "subscribe meaning" to the the bridge signal; otherwise, it means nothing and has no signficance.

We'll give an example in how to do so using a clicker.

In a fast and repeating tempo, we push the clicker and immediately give the dog a treat; repeating this until the sound has some sort of relevance (usually in about 30 - 50 repetitions). A good way to check this is if the dog focuses his or her attention elsewhere, then - at the sound of the clicker- turns his or her attention to us. Then we know the sound of the clicker has relevance and its meaning is understood, and we can start using it to effectively "mark" wanted behaviors and pair them with verbal cues and commands.