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What You Need To Know About Operant Conditioning & How It Applies To Dog Training
Operant Conditioning (OC) is the basis of almost everything we do in dog training. It is when a dog learns that it can affect its environment through cause and effect. OC is made up of four parts –
Positive Reinforcement (+R)
Negative Reinforcement (-R)
Positive Punishment (+P)
Negative Punishment (-P)
Positive Reinforcement INCREASES Behavior
Positive Reinforcement means you are giving the dog something it likes – food, toys, affection, attention, etc. and in the future the behavior is likely to increase. This can be ANY behavior – good or bad – so one must be careful that they are not reinforcing behaviors that will be undesirable in the future.
Example 1 :
The dog sits on command and it is positively reinforced when you give it a piece of food. The dog will be more likely to perform this behavior in the future. This is the basics of “All Positive Training” & “Clicker Training” (i.e. Big Box Store Training) they stop here and go no further.
Example 2 :
Your cute 4 month old puppy jumps on you and you reach down and pet it and talk to it. You have (probably unknowingly) positively reinforced your puppy for jumping on you by rewarding it with what it desired – attention/affection. Fast forward 5 months and now you have a large 9 month old adolescent with a “behavior problem”. This is when positive reinforcement can go wrong if you are unaware of what you are doing.
Pros:
Positive Reinforcement training works on virtually every dog.
Creates happy working dogs.
Cons:
Behaviors may be unreliable in the event there is no reinforcement visible. i.e. “He only behaves when I’m holding a cookie.”
Negative Reinforcement INCREASES Behavior
Negative Reinforcement means that you take away something that the dog experiences as unpleasant and the result is that the behavior will increase in the future.
Example 1 :
You are teaching your dog to enjoy having his paws held in preparation for nail trims. You hold your dog’s paw firmly and he struggles to get away for 15 seconds. When he calms down and his paw is still for 2 seconds you release his paw. You are taking away the unpleasant sensation of having his paw held as soon as he gives you the behavior you want to increase – allowing you to hold his paw while he is calm. Skip forward a few training sessions and before you know it he now only struggles for 5 seconds and he allows you to hold his paw for 5 seconds – he has figured it out, the faster he calms down and lets you hold his paw the sooner you will let go. The goal is that eventually the dog will begin enjoying these “hand holding” sessions.
Example 2 :
Training through pressure (also known as Escape Training) – You are teaching your dog to lie down and you step on the leash close to the dogs collar. The dog stands there with his head bent toward the ground, you wait… after 30 seconds the dog lies down on the ground and you immediately step off of the leash and release the unpleasant pressure. Next time the dog gets the idea faster and faster. Soon he is plopping down with the slightest pressure on the leash.
Pros:
Negative Reinforcement training works on virtually every dog.
Fast results are undeniable.
Cons:
Some temperaments may do better with a different type of training.
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Positive Punishment DECREASES Behavior
Positive Punishment means you are giving something unpleasant to the dog – a collar correction for example. This is also called Avoidance Training.
Example 1 :
You ask the dog to sit and he ignores you – you administer a collar correction and tell the dog to sit simultaneously and the dog sits. The collar correction would decrease the behavior of ignoring the sit command allowing him to avoid a collar correction in the future.
Example 2 :
Your dog is whining/barking and his electronic bark collar gives a small shock and the dog is startled into ceasing to whine/bark. After a few more repetitions the dog realizes that consistently after whining/barking it receives an unpleasant shock and it is soon a quiet pup in order to avoid receiving a shock when the collar is on the dog.
Pros:
Makes behaviors more consistent and reliable.
Cons:
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Negative Punishment DECREASES Behavior
Negative Punishment is when you take something away that the dog experiences as pleasurable.
Example 1 :
You catch your puppy chewing on your shoe (something he is finding pleasurable) and you yank it out of his mouth and storm off frustrated. The puppy is now unhappy – he has neither the shoe nor you.
Example 2 :
You are at the park allowing your dog to play with other dogs. He ignores your command to come “check-in” with you when he hears your call, looks at you, and decides to go back to playing anyway. You proceed out to the group of playing dogs, grab his collar and take him home. The next time the situation arises he is more likely to obey.
Pros:
Makes behaviors more consistent and reliable.
Cons:
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Conclusion
Some trainers use some or all of the four components of Operant Conditioning. Some components may work faster or have different results on different dogs.
Operant Conditioning (OC) is the basis of almost everything we do in dog training. It is when a dog learns that it can affect its environment through cause and effect. OC is made up of four parts –
Positive Reinforcement (+R)
Negative Reinforcement (-R)
Positive Punishment (+P)
Negative Punishment (-P)
Positive Reinforcement INCREASES Behavior
Positive Reinforcement means you are giving the dog something it likes – food, toys, affection, attention, etc. and in the future the behavior is likely to increase. This can be ANY behavior – good or bad – so one must be careful that they are not reinforcing behaviors that will be undesirable in the future.
Example 1 :
The dog sits on command and it is positively reinforced when you give it a piece of food. The dog will be more likely to perform this behavior in the future. This is the basics of “All Positive Training” & “Clicker Training” (i.e. Big Box Store Training) they stop here and go no further.
Example 2 :
Your cute 4 month old puppy jumps on you and you reach down and pet it and talk to it. You have (probably unknowingly) positively reinforced your puppy for jumping on you by rewarding it with what it desired – attention/affection. Fast forward 5 months and now you have a large 9 month old adolescent with a “behavior problem”. This is when positive reinforcement can go wrong if you are unaware of what you are doing.
Pros:
Positive Reinforcement training works on virtually every dog.
Creates happy working dogs.
Cons:
Behaviors may be unreliable in the event there is no reinforcement visible. i.e. “He only behaves when I’m holding a cookie.”
Negative Reinforcement INCREASES Behavior
Negative Reinforcement means that you take away something that the dog experiences as unpleasant and the result is that the behavior will increase in the future.
Example 1 :
You are teaching your dog to enjoy having his paws held in preparation for nail trims. You hold your dog’s paw firmly and he struggles to get away for 15 seconds. When he calms down and his paw is still for 2 seconds you release his paw. You are taking away the unpleasant sensation of having his paw held as soon as he gives you the behavior you want to increase – allowing you to hold his paw while he is calm. Skip forward a few training sessions and before you know it he now only struggles for 5 seconds and he allows you to hold his paw for 5 seconds – he has figured it out, the faster he calms down and lets you hold his paw the sooner you will let go. The goal is that eventually the dog will begin enjoying these “hand holding” sessions.
Example 2 :
Training through pressure (also known as Escape Training) – You are teaching your dog to lie down and you step on the leash close to the dogs collar. The dog stands there with his head bent toward the ground, you wait… after 30 seconds the dog lies down on the ground and you immediately step off of the leash and release the unpleasant pressure. Next time the dog gets the idea faster and faster. Soon he is plopping down with the slightest pressure on the leash.
Pros:
Negative Reinforcement training works on virtually every dog.
Fast results are undeniable.
Cons:
Some temperaments may do better with a different type of training.
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Positive Punishment DECREASES Behavior
Positive Punishment means you are giving something unpleasant to the dog – a collar correction for example. This is also called Avoidance Training.
Example 1 :
You ask the dog to sit and he ignores you – you administer a collar correction and tell the dog to sit simultaneously and the dog sits. The collar correction would decrease the behavior of ignoring the sit command allowing him to avoid a collar correction in the future.
Example 2 :
Your dog is whining/barking and his electronic bark collar gives a small shock and the dog is startled into ceasing to whine/bark. After a few more repetitions the dog realizes that consistently after whining/barking it receives an unpleasant shock and it is soon a quiet pup in order to avoid receiving a shock when the collar is on the dog.
Pros:
Makes behaviors more consistent and reliable.
Cons:
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Negative Punishment DECREASES Behavior
Negative Punishment is when you take something away that the dog experiences as pleasurable.
Example 1 :
You catch your puppy chewing on your shoe (something he is finding pleasurable) and you yank it out of his mouth and storm off frustrated. The puppy is now unhappy – he has neither the shoe nor you.
Example 2 :
You are at the park allowing your dog to play with other dogs. He ignores your command to come “check-in” with you when he hears your call, looks at you, and decides to go back to playing anyway. You proceed out to the group of playing dogs, grab his collar and take him home. The next time the situation arises he is more likely to obey.
Pros:
Makes behaviors more consistent and reliable.
Cons:
Some people may have values that may conflict with this type of training.
Conclusion
Some trainers use some or all of the four components of Operant Conditioning. Some components may work faster or have different results on different dogs.
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