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
The Oxford Dictionary defines reinforcement as the action or process
of reinforcing or strengthening. The Oxford Dictionary defines reward as a thing given in recognition of one’s service, effort, or achievement.
Everyone talks about positive-reinforcement training, sometimes calling it reward-based training. The basic understanding is that when the dog does something good, he gets a reward. This starts very early in a puppy’s life when we give him a biscuit because he followed a command or pottied in the appropriate spot.
We tend to think of reinforcement and reward as the same thing, and maybe that is true, but if we take a closer look, perhaps we can use reinforcement and reward somewhat differently in training our pups. In building your relationship with your pup, reinforcement and reward go hand in hand. Here’s how that works.
Reinforcement Should Affect Behavior
If reinforcement makes things stronger, in dog training, proper use of reinforcement should have a direct and relevant effect on behavior. It increases the response (behavior) in frequency, duration, or intensity. In the potty-training example above, the biscuit is a reward. Again, is there a difference that would make communication clearer to the dog?
My example of reinforcement is earning a paycheck for doing my job. The paycheck is delivered on a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule and is crucial to maintaining the criteria of showing up and doing my job. If, however, I get a bonus, I would consider that a reward in recognition of exemplary service.
How can we communicate our intentions to our dogs in training? We can develop good timing. Reinforcement comes directly on the heels of behavior, within a couple of seconds maximum so as to impact the future performance of that behavior. For example, in a short (30-second) training session for not jumping, you might have 20 to 30 opportunities to reinforce the criteria of keeping four paws on the ground. At the end of that 30 seconds, you might reward the dog by tossing a toy, taking a romp outside, or something else the dog enjoys.
Beyond the Cookie
What can we use for reinforcement and/ or reward? Lots of things besides treats or cookies. There are so many life rewards — pats and belly rubs if your dog likes that, playing fetch, snuggling, or going for a car ride. Dogs are great at letting us know what they absolutely love, if we are paying attention. Every pet owner should be able to come up with a list of things — reinforcement and rewards — that the dog loves.
Our pups love hearing our voices. If you’re anything like I am, you talk to your pups a lot. Using our words and voices is reinforcing and rewarding to our pups. Dog trainer Kim Brophey of Family Dog Mediation has a training tip she calls Mister Rogers, inspired by the television show.
Brophey describes this as, “Mister Rogers mastered the art of gently addressing the difficult situations children might find themselves in and giving them good simple strategies to cope with those situations. We can do this for our dogs too, as they have
incredible receptive language abilities that are often underutilized in our interactions, communications, relationships, and efforts to modify behavior.”
Here’s an example of how this works. “Windy, we’re going to see your friend Dr. M. today. Let’s put your harness and leash on and get in the car.” This type of communication helps to increase a dog’s sense of predictability in life experiences, and therefore the dog is better able to comprehend and anticipate events.
Clicker Training
Clicker training (operant conditioning) is a positive-reinforcement training model used with all sorts of mammals. The sound of the clicker (or whistle) serves as a bridge between the behavior and the reinforcement. The animal hears the sound and knows the reinforcement will follow.
Clicker training is widely used with zoo animals to train them for medical procedures such as blood draws, hoof and paw care, and other husbandry tasks. They get something as a reinforcement, and at the end of the session, they are rewarded in various ways such as returning to their friends or even having an enrichment activity. For some animals, the reward is allowing them to retreat. By reinforcing the target skills or behaviors, the animal chooses to return and reengage with trainers because of his sense of predictability in the experience.
Can you wrap your head around the concept of reinforcement instead of reward? Regardless of what you call it, just remember to add something desirable to the dog as a consequence for the good behavior. Sometimes what we intend as reinforcement or reward is actually aversive or undesirable to the dog. A friend of mine would jump up and give her dog a bear hug, intending to communicate her pleasure at the amazing thing the dog had done. The dog’s expression seemed to portray that he thought, “Boy, I don’t want to do that again!”
