Back-chaining

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April 27, 2015

A behavior chain is an event in which units of behavior occur in sequences and are linked together by learned cues. Back-chaining, which means teaching those units in reverse order and reinforcing each unit with the cue for the next, is a training technique. We use this technique to take advantage of the intrinsic nature of the event.

Thanks to Karen Pryor, from her Clicker Training website: www.clickertraining.com.

This was my chain:

1. I received an email from Tammy with the dates of our next monthly visit to the UP prisons. That was my initial "cue."
2. I accompanied her on the long drive north.
3. We worked with the inmate raisers and their puppies, and sometimes furloughed puppies.
4. I took photographs and notes.
5. I returned home to process the photographs and notes.
6. I wrote and published blog posts.

Each event in my chain was cued and reinforced by the previous event. Getting Tammy's email meant that soon we'd be meeting on I-75; driving north meant we'd soon be working with the guys and puppies; taking photos and notes meant I was getting ready to return home and process them; getting that work done meant I could write and publish my posts.

MY CHAIN IS BROKEN.

Here are some breaks in my chain:

Step 1. Emails from Tammy stopped after September 2014, when Leader Dogs for the Blind stepped in to get a handle on what was happening in the growing-too-fast program. While it is true that I received emails from Leader Dogs (I was, after all, allowed to accompany Deb during her October and December 2014 visits, and later, Tammy and I were asked to cover the January and March 2015 visits), communications were not consistent. I have no clear definition of what to expect in the future.

Step 5. Too often when I returned home life got in the way and I was unable to get right at the photo and note processing.

Step 6. I was not consistent in publishing posts! The more "behind-er" I got the more overwhelmed I felt; the more overwhelmed I felt the less motivated I felt, even though I challenged myself a few times to catch up.

So, I'm going to try "back-chaining" to build myself a new chain. I'm going to start at where we are today, and work backwards until I bring things back to where I left off in 2014.

Here we go...wish me luck!