TulsaPets Magazine September 2022

42 TulsaPets • September / October 2022 ABCs for Canines Positive Reinforcement Promotes Thoughtful Dogs by Mary Green CPDT-KA: Certified Professional Dog Trainer Knowledge Assessed, CDBC: Certified Dog Behavior Counselor CNWI: Certified Nose Work Instructor K9 Manners & More, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma P ositive reinforcement training goes by many names, including R+ train- ing, clicker training, reward-based training, force-free training, and purely positive training. It is overwhelming sometimes to understand it all and how to use positive reinforcement to train your pup. R+ training (positive reinforcement) is one of the four quadrants of the oper- ant conditioning model. The “operant” means the behavior. “Conditioning” means repeated exposure to a stimulus and response pattern. “R” stands for reinforcement, and “+” means adding something. Also known as instrumen- tal conditioning, operant conditioning is a method of learning credited to B. F. Skinner. Following Skinner’s method, the consequence of a response (behavior) determines the likelihood of that response being repeated. For example, we want to discourage our pup from jumping up on us. We would rather she sit. So we introduce a cue for “sit,” and we give the pup a treat and praise her for sitting. She quickly figures out that this behavior gets her treats, which results in more sitting than jumping up. The ABCs of Training There are ABCs in the behavior chain. “A” is for antecedent (what happens before), “B” is the behavior, and “C” is the conse- quence. In the example above, A is the cue to sit, B is the behavior of sitting, and C is the reward. We can easily manipulate A and C to train our pups to offer behav- iors that we find more acceptable than other behaviors they might choose. The reinforcement history of a dog’s particu- lar behavior is how we get reliable results throughout the dog’s lifetime. Reinforcement makes things stronger. In dog training, proper use of reinforcement will have a direct and relevant effect on be- havior. It increases the response (behavior) in frequency, duration, or intensity. Teach yourself to think in terms of reinforcement rather than reward. If you don’t see an increase of frequency, duration, or intensi- ty of the response, you are just feeding the dog a treat. I think this is the disconnect for some people. They don’t understand R+ training, and they believe it to be just cookie push- ing. Positive reinforcement training works for the life of the dog because the dog chooses to offer responses that have been rewarding in the past. He is thoughtful, clever, and engaged with his people. As your dog is learning (acquiring) new responses or behaviors, the rate of reinforce- ment is high. Initially, it might be 1:1. You can manipulate the ratio as well as the rate of reinforcement. Once the dog is thought- fully offering a response that you consider desirable, you might find that you can ran- domize the reinforcement in many ways. For example, now that our pup knows to sit rather than jump up, I would like for her to sit and stay for a minute. By manipulating the reinforcement ratio, I can help her to understand that she can maintain the behavior and wait for the reinforcement. I just delay the response a little at a time as the behavior increases in duration. Throughout the life of the dog, she will randomly receive rewards for the behav- iors that I want or need to be solid, such as coming when called. Some behaviors will be rewarded more frequently than others. In my house, my dogs will race to their kennels any time they are asked because they have received a treat for that almost 100 percent of the time. Reinforcement That Your Dog Loves Dogs are great at letting us know what they absolutely love. Every pet owner should be able to come up with a list of things the dog loves. This is a reinforce- ment inventory for your dog. Life rewards are the best. What do you always have with you that is cheaper than dog toys or treats? Praise! Dogs love to hear happy, encouraging words delivered by their favorite people. There is no reason to be stingy with praise. Praise your dogs abundantly for good behavior. Does your dog like to be touched? Where? How? Does she prefer pats or strokes? Does she like to have her ears rubbed or her chin scratched? Or maybe she likes scritches at the base of her tail. Those touches can be reinforcement. What are your dog’s favorite toys or games? Does she like to play fetch or tug? Does she like to play with a toy by herself or with you? (I hope she wants to play with you.) Playing a game with your pup is also reinforcement. I love to watch professional detection dogs getting their toys after a search. Their handlers enjoy it as much as the dogs. Take a good look at what your dog loves, and develop your positive reinforcement strategy. You will love watching her make thoughtful choices and, as we like to say, “using her powers for good.” TRAINING TIP