This is a different blog than the one I just started writing. I was working on a blog about children and dogs and poof, it became about positive reinforcement. Like my thought process when I am speaking does on a regular basis, it jumped to another subject. I get a thought, something I hadn’t thought of and then I have to go with it; so here is the new blog, now on positive reinforcement.
First what is positive reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is the act of reinforcing by offering a reward for a specific behavior or action. Through association (which is how dogs learn) the acquisition of the object of reinforcement raises the chance of the dog repeating the behavior.
Some people think that it is just all about the food; that is not correct and the reason why people don’t “get” it. If you went into the kitchen and started doing the dishes. Presto!...a piece of your absolute favorite cake appeared on the counter. Hmmmmm? Next time you went into the kitchen to do the dishes…presto, cake appears again. So you start thinking “how the heck did I get that cake to appear?” The next night you walk into the kitchen and stand there waiting for the cake. No cake arrives, more pondering. AH HA (light bulb appears over your head), the dishes! You start scraping the dishes and presto, more cake. By George You’ve Got It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Along with the item of reinforcement comes the behavior marker and timing. Both of these will be discussed in their own separate blogs.
So that’s the basic idea, offer a reinforcement and you up the chance of it happening again. But being that all dogs are different it happens a little differently with each individual. What is required for the reinforcement item is that it be good enough for the dog to work for. If the dog that is being trained hates liver, then that won’t be a good reinforcement item. Food is by far the easiest to utilize but some dogs are not food motivated so you have to find something that your dog will work for.
The idea around using something more than a pat on the head is to offer something that your puppy will really, really want. Most puppies do not care if you use verbal praise or pat them on the head; at least not until they get older. Bring out a good treat and now we’re talk’n.
I love watching puppies figure out how they got a tiny morsel of food. Tiny is the word, food rewards should be very small but large enough for them to know it’s in their mouth. If you give them a big cookie type treat reinforcement you will have to wait for them to chew it up before moving onto the next try. Think small, like cheerio small.
Stay tuned to learn how a behavior marker and timing lead to the fastest learning.