Reinforcement is defined by its effect on behavior, not by our intent.
Reinforcement, by definition, is a consequence which increases or maintains a behavior. If I am trying to reinforce my dog, but he doesn’t like what I’m doing to him, I am not going to see that behavior increase. I might even see it start to crash; some of the things we intend to be reinforcement are actually punishment to our dogs. As you try out different potential reinforcers - praise, petting, different treats, play, access to other dogs, etc - watch your dog’s behavior. Is the behavior you are trying to reinforce getting stronger? Or is it getting weaker?
I see this over and over with my clients petting their dogs. They really want petting to be reinforcing for their dog. Their dog gets something right, something they’ve been struggling with, and they are enthusiastic in their reward. They give a treat, and then they immediately follow it up with a two-handed full-body rubdown, or a vigorous ear rub. And I watch these dogs in the next few trials and I notice that the behavior isn’t getting any stronger. In many cases, it even gets weaker; the dog is more and more reluctant to perform the behavior. Some dogs even start to lose their motivation to eat; they stop taking treats, or take them reluctantly, spitting them out several times before finally eating it. For these dogs, the intense petting is so aversive that it is not only acting as a punisher, crashing their rate of responding, it’s also building a negative emotional response to treats! Because their treats are being immediately followed by rough petting, over and over, they are learning that food presented in this context is a predictor of awful things, and the food itself is becoming aversive!
No matter how much we might want it to be, petting is not a reinforcer for all dogs. Praise isn’t a reinforcer for all dogs. Play isn’t a reinforcer for all dogs. Every dog is an individual, and your first task as their trainer is figuring out what motivates them. If you don’t take the time to answer this question first, you’ll find your training crawling along at a snail’s pace or even heading backwards!
To determine what your dog will work for, test out different reinforcers with a behavior your dog already knows. Before you start training something new with a novel reinforcer, test it out by practicing ten reps of sit, down, high five, or whatever your dog is fluent at. Watch their response and see if it changes from rep one to rep ten. Are they seeming more enthusiastic? Is their response to your cue getting faster, more reliable, or more energetic? Or do they seem to be losing steam? Are they slowing down their responses, thinking it over before doing as you asked, weighing whether the “reward” is worth the effort? Do they stop responding all together by the tenth trial?
If the stimulus you are trying to use as a reinforcer is, in fact, a reinforcer, they will perform at least as well on their tenth repetition as they do on their first. If it’s a good reinforcer, you will actually be seeing better responses. Faster sits, speedier recalls, etc. If your dog’s performance is fading away by the end of your little training session, on the other hand, they don’t find what you are using reinforcing. Try something else!
areudirty
amandla
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
titsay
dailybridgerton
