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Positive
Reinforcement Training
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Training your Dog or Cat with Treats and Praise
Positive reinforcement is the presentation of
something pleasant or rewarding immediately following a behavior. It makes that
behavior more likely to occur in the future, and is one of the most powerful
tools for shaping or changing your pet’s behavior.
Correct timing is essential when using positive
reinforcement. The reward must occur immediately, or your pet may not associate
it with the proper action. For example, if you have your dog "sit," but reward
him after he’s already stood up again, he’ll think he’s being rewarded for
standing up.
Consistency is also essential. Everyone in the family
should use the same commands. It might be helpful to post these where everyone
can become familiar with them. The most commonly used commands for dogs are
"watch me," "sit," "stay," "down" (means lie down), "off" (means off of me or
off the furniture), "stand," "come," "heel," (or "let’s go" or "with me") "leave
it" and "settle." Consistency means always rewarding the desired behavior and
never rewarding undesired behavior.
For your pet, positive reinforcement may include food
treats, praise, petting or a favorite toy or game. Food treats work especially
well for training your dog. A treat should be enticing and irresistible to your
pet. It should be a very small, soft, piece of food, so that he will immediately
gulp it down and look to you for more. If you give him something he has to chew
or that breaks into bits and falls on the floor, he’ll be looking around the
floor, not at you. Small pieces of soft commercial treats, hot dogs, cheese,
cooked chicken or beef, or miniature marshmallows have all proven successful.
Experiment a bit to see what works best for your pet. You may carry the treats
in a pocket or a fanny pack on the front of your belt. There are even special
treat packs available in many pet stores. Each time you use a food reward, you
should couple it with a verbal reward (praise). Say something like, "Good boy"
in a positive, happy tone of voice.
Note: Some pets may not be interested in food treats.
For those pets, the reward could be in the form of a toy or brief play.
When your pet is learning a new behavior, he should be
rewarded every time he does the behavior (continuous reinforcement). It may be
necessary to use "shaping," with your pet (reinforcing something close to the
desired response and gradually requiring more from your dog before he gets the
treat). For example, if you’re teaching your dog to "shake hands," you may
initially reward him for lifting his paw off the ground, then for lifting it
higher, then for touching your hand, then for letting you hold his paw and
finally, for actually shaking hands with you.
Intermittent reinforcement can be used once your pet
has reliably learned the behavior. At first, you may reward him with the treat
three times out of four, then about half the time, then about a third of the
time and so forth, until you’re only rewarding him occasionally with the treat.
Continue to praise him every time, although once he’s learned the behavior, the
praise can be less effusive - a quiet, but positive, "Good boy." Use a variable
schedule of reinforcement, so he doesn’t catch on that he only has to respond
every other time. Your pet will learn that if he keeps responding, eventually
he’ll get what he wants. If you have a dog who barks until you reward him by
paying attention to him, you’ve seen the power of intermittent reinforcement.
By understanding reinforcement, you can see that
you’re not forever bound to carry a pocketful of goodies. Your pet will soon be
working for your verbal praise, because he really does want to please you and he
knows that occasionally, he’ll get a treat, too! There are many small
opportunities to reinforce his behavior. You may have him "sit" before letting
him out thedoor (helps prevent door-darting), before petting him (helps prevent
jumping up on people) or before giving him his food. Give him a pat or a "Good
dog" for lying quietly by your feet or slip a treat into his Kong toy when he’s
chewing it, instead of shoe.
Punishment, including verbal, postural and physical,
is the presentation of something unpleasant immediately following a behavior
which makes it less likely that the behavior will occur again. To be effective,
punishment must be delivered while your pet is engaged in the undesirable
behavior, in other words, "caught in the act." If the punishment is delivered
too late, your pet will feel "ambushed." From his point of view, the punishment
is totally unpredictable, and he’s likely to become fearful, distrusting and/or
aggressive. This will only lead to more behavior problems. What we humans
interpret as "guilty" looks, are actually submissive postures by our pets.
Animals don’t have a moral sense of right and wrong, but they are adept at
associating your presence and the presence of a mess, with punishment.
If you’ve tried punishment and it hasn’t worked, you
should definitely stop using punishment and use positive reinforcement instead.
Physical punishment usually involves some level of discomfort or even pain,
which is likely to cause your pet to bite, as that is the only way he knows to
defend himself. Scruff shakes and "alpha rolls" are likely to result in bites,
especially if the dog doesn’t perceive you to be his superior. Also, punishment
might be associated with other stimuli, including people, that are present at
the time the punishment occurs. For example, a pet that’s punished for getting
too close to a small child may become fearful of or aggressive to that child.
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