OB155: Power Foundations: Building Confidence & Resilience

REINFORCEMENT

Reinforcement provides motivation. You should have a hierarchy of value based on what THIS dog prefers. Not what you want. Or you think the dog should want. What they want. I had a student that was really struggling to get her dog to tug. The dog was just not interested. But the dog loved food and worked beautifully for it. Why did she need to tug? Because she thought she should. But the reality is she didn’t. THIS dog did not need to tug. The harder she tried the more the dog felt pressure. And their training sessions suffered. So she stopped trying and she and the dog were much happier. And their training sessions became fun and productive. That’s just one example.

I know what each of my dog values from least to highest with respect to food and toys. And what delivery of food and toys they prefer. A cookie chase game is higher value than just handing a cookie. Tossing a toy is more valuable for Zayna than tugging. But Zesty prefers tugging over chasing. Different dogs. If I want a higher value reinforcer, I throw the toy for Zayna. If I want a lower value, I feed her one cookie.

Reinforcement should equal effort. If my dog does a simple behavior, I’m not going to give them three pieces of food. Or a high value reinforcer. Why? They don’t need it. All I’m doing is creating an expectation to get paid a lot for a little. What am I going to do when they put in more effort? How will I fade all that reinforcement for the ring? I’m always thinking about how I can get more work for less reinforcement.

Having said that, for sure I’m going to give a bigger reinforcement when the dog gives me lots of effort. And sometimes I will give higher reinforcement if I’m building value for a certain behavior. The key is to be mindful. Don’t just click and treat. Reinforcement is communication. Use it thoughtfully and mindfully. If I ask “why?” did you give THAT reinforcer, you should be able to tell me. Always ask yourself “why”.

Reinforcement also provides CRITICAL information. It tells the dog when they are correct. And that matters. Because they want to be right. They want to understand us. They want to figure out what we want. If you suddenly significantly reduce reinforcement, the dog is super confused. And then they will stress out. Or if you teach your dog a chain, and once they know the chain only reinforce at the end, the dog will start to lose confidence with the pieces in the beginning and middle of the chain.

I will often ask a student, “why did you give that reinforcer”. The most common answer, “I don’t know”. You should be able to answer that question. “This is what I’m trying to achieve and that’s why I chose this.” Great!! That’s mindful and productive training. Your reinforcer is there to serve a purpose.

When we go in the ring, we generally have no reinforcement, or very little. What we do have is us. We need to be relevant. Our praise needs to matter. That won’t happen if we mechanically mark and reward. We must get in the habit of inserting praise. Mark, praise, THEN get the reinforcer. For some reason people think they must get the reinforcer to the dog IMMEDIATELY. You do not. Marking matters. Timing is everything when it comes to marking. But reinforcement? No rush. You have plenty of time. I can be in my yard, mark, walk to the other end of my yard (my yard is pretty big) and get the cookie there and reinforce. And that’s perfectly fine. So take the time to praise your dog. Play movement games. If your dog likes it, insert some personal play. If you haven’t done this, your dog will be confused. They expect that cookie/toy NOW! But they will figure it out if you are consistent with inserting play/praise/motion. And as you build value for it, it becomes reinforcing on its own. And that you can take in the ring!!!!