Have you ever taught a puppy to sit on cue? After a few weeks of luring your pup into a sit and repeating a cue word, your pup learns if they are told to sit and they do, they will get a treat!
This is called “Operant Conditioning.” It’s different from the Classical Conditioning we spoke of in an earlier post. While classical conditioning works on your dogs subconscious feelings and isn’t controlled by your dog, Operant Conditioning focuses on training your dog to do things within their power to control.
Whenever you teach your pup basic obedience, you are using Operant Conditioning. In fact, any time a dog’s actions are shaped by the consequences of their action, it is operant conditioning.
Here are a few examples:
A dog sits under the table at dinner time and tasty food falls down for them to eat. They sit under the table more often because they know a tasty treat may fall.
An attention seeking dog paws at their owner and is ignored. They paw less often because their action did not get them what they wanted.
A dog steps on a teeter-totter and it wobbles. The dog learns something unpleasant will happen if they get on the teeter-totter, and avoids it.
The 4R’s
On this blog, we primarily use positive reinforcement for training chihuahuas. With that being said, as you explore dog training outside this blog, “The 4R’s” will come up often, and it’s better to understand what is meant, than to be confused. The 4R’s stand for the different types of reinforcement options out there, both good and bad. These stand for:
Positive Reinforcement
If your dog does something right and you give your dog a treat, they are more likely to repeat the desired behavior in the future.
Negative Reinforcement
You want your dog to sit, so you jerk up on the leash and smash down on its butt. When they sit, the pressure on their butt and throat are released, providing relief. The relief of pain is called ‘Negative Reinforcement.’
Positive Punishment
If your dog is barking out the window and you spray it with a water bottle to stop the behavior, this is positive punishment. Hitting and yelling also fall under the category of positive punishment.
Negative Punishment
Negative punishment is when something your dog likes is taken away to discourage the behavior. Imagine your pup is jumping all over you trying to get your attention. Turning your back so the dog does not get that desired attention can discourage the behavior.
How your dog responds to various kinds of reinforcement will vary, and sometimes we use different kinds of reinforcement without realizing it. When training isn’t going the way we planned, sometimes taking a step back and looking at how a dog may be naturally reinforced to behave the way they do can help us solve a problem.
Similar Posts:
- Training Vocabulary: Reinforcement
- Dog Vocabulary: Classical Conditioning
- Dog Vocabulary: Counter Conditioning
- How to Stop Begging at the Table
- Shaping: A Gentle Dog Training Method
