By Diana Logan
It’s August already?! I hope you and your pups have been able to revel in summer activities and stock up on these long, hot days of northern sunshine. It’s hard to believe Labor Day is just around the corner!
For those of us who live in Maine but aren’t so keen on its winters, summers may be a form of positive reinforcement for us. Like a cruel “eat your veggies before you can have dessert” strategy (“Grandma’s Rule”), we suffer through winter knowing summer will return and once again make up for what we were subjected to.
“Positive Reinforcement”
We toss this term around loosely, but what does it really mean?
Positive reinforcement is when a learner receives something valuable for a behavior, resulting in the strengthening of that behavior.
Simple, right? Not so much, and it’s usually due to operator error. When we are working with our dogs, the reinforcer must be immediate and relevant in that moment in order for the dog to associate the behavior with great stuff, and it must strengthen the behavior and make it more likely to recur. If it fails at any of these things, it’s not PR (or “R+” in trainer lingo). Simply giving a dog a treat is not positive reinforcement, though it might be for us. Reinforcers include much more than treats, though, and we too often underestimate their power and how creative we can be.
Any time your dog wants something is the perfect time to train
Does your dog want to go out (or in)? Great! What small behavior can he do that will earn him the privilege of having the door open for him? Does she want the toy in your hand? Cool! Wait for a bit of eye contact, then offer it. Does he want to sniff the p-mail over there? Awesome! Life is replete with opportunities to positively reinforce behaviors. Let’s take advantage of them!
New Puppy, New Reinforcers Discovered!
You may recall that the Logan household welcomed a new puppy a few months back. Delilah is now pushing 6 months old, and she’s already well into that terrifying territory called Adolescence. Unexpected and expected challenges aside, it has been a world of fun learning who she is and what she values in the world. How can I strategically incorporate those things into her life as positive reinforcers and build even more?
WATER, WATER, SHE LOVES WATER!
This discovery was a wonderful surprise, especially with her high level of enthusiasm for it. But how to use it as a reinforcer?
THE HOSE
Chasing the water from the hose was immediately identified as being at the TOP of her List of Wow. I didn’t want her to be one of those crazed dogs who lost their minds around it, however, so I quickly had to establish some rules.
Examples of behaviors I would reinforce by turning on the hose: Eye contact and targeting my hand with her nose, coming into heel, a spin, weaving through my legs…. Really anything we’d been working on. I employ a verbal marker and a release cue, so 1) she knows precisely which behavior will get paid and 2) she won’t have access to the stream of water until she hears her release cue. This exercise alone strengthens her skills and helps cultivate patience, self-control and frustration tolerance. If she breaks position or tries to access the stream of water before I release her, I just turn it off.
SWIMMING/FETCHING
I invite Lilah to do the same behaviors as above before I release her to fetch the toy I’ve tossed into the water (or in the yard).
LEARNING TO BOOGIE
We have a kiddie pool at home and a little boogie board that fits inside it. Lilah loves to dig at the nozzle of the hose when it’s on. I reinforce her with this privilege only if she can maintain all four feet on the gradually rising boogie board. She picked up this rule very quickly because of the WOW factor of the hose. I know I would not have had as much success using treats as a reinforcer.
What does your dog value? What’s on her “List of Wow?” How can you use things on that list as reinforcers? What behaviors might you request of your dog to be granted access to that reinforcer?