We all like to be
praised rather than punished. The same is true for your dog, and that's
the theory behind positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement means
giving your pet something pleasant or rewarding immediately after she does
something you want her to do. Because your praise or reward makes her more
likely to repeat that behavior in the future, it is one of your most
powerful tools for shaping or changing your dog's behavior.
Correct timing is essential when using positive reinforcement. The
reward must occur immediately—within seconds—or your pet may not
associate it with the proper action. For example, if you have your dog
"sit" but reward her after she's already stood back up, she'll think she's
being rewarded for standing up.
Consistency is also essential. Everyone in the family should use the
same commands. It might help to post these where everyone can become
familiar with them. The most commonly used commands for dogs are:
- "watch me"
- "sit"
- "stay"
- "down" (which means "lie down")
- "off" (which means "get off of me" or "get off the furniture")
- "stand"
- "come"
- "heel" (or "let's go" or "with me")
- "leave it"
- "settle"
Consistency means always rewarding the desired behavior and never
rewarding undesired behavior.
Using Positive Reinforcement
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 she will
immediately gulp it down and look to you for more. If you give her
something she has to chew or that breaks into bits and falls on the floor,
she'll be looking around the floor, not at you. Small pieces of soft
commercial treats, hot dogs, cheese, or cooked chicken or beef have all
proven successful. Experiment a bit to see what works best for your pet.
You can carry the treats in a pocket or fanny pack. Each time you use a
food reward, you should couple it with a verbal reward (praise). Say
something like, "Good dog," in a positive, happy tone of voice.
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, she should be rewarded every
time she does the behavior, which means continuous reinforcement. It may
be necessary to use a technique called "shaping" with your pet, which
means reinforcing something close to the desired response and then
gradually requiring more from your dog before she gets the treat. For
example, if you're teaching your dog to "shake hands," you may initially
reward her for lifting her paw off the ground, then for lifting it higher,
then for touching your hand, then for letting you hold her paw, and
finally, for actually "shaking hands" with you.
Intermittent reinforcement can be used once your pet has reliably
learned the behavior. At first, reward her with the treat three out of
every four times she does the behavior. Then, over time, reward her about
half the time, then about a third of the time, and so on, until you're
only rewarding her occasionally with the treat. Continue to praise her
every time—although once your dog has learned the behavior, your praise
can be less effusive, such as a quiet, but positive, "Good dog." Use a
variable schedule of reinforcement so that she doesn't catch on that she
only has to respond every other time. Your pet will soon learn that if she
keeps responding, eventually she'll get what she wants—your praise and an
occasional treat.
By understanding reinforcement, you'll see that you're not forever
bound to carry a pocketful of goodies. Your dog will soon be working for
your verbal praise, because she really does want to please you and knows
that, occasionally, she'll get a treat, too. There are many small
opportunities to reinforce her behavior. You may have her "sit" before
letting her out the door (which helps prevent door-darting), before
petting her (which helps prevent jumping up on people), or before feeding
her. Give her a pat or a "Good dog" for lying quietly by your feet, or
slip a treat into a Kong®-type toy when she's chewing it instead of your
shoe.
The Pros and Cons of Punishment
Punishment can be verbal, postural, or physical, and it means giving
your pet something unpleasant immediately after she does something you
don't want her to do. The punishment 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, even seconds
later, your pet will not associate the punishment with the undesired
behavior.
Punishment delivered by you may erode your dog's trust. That's why
punishment is most effective when it does not come directly from you. For
example, after your dog acts in an undesirable way, use a shake can, an
air horn, or keys—but don't draw attention to the fact that the noise
comes from you. If your dog perceives her "environment," instead of you,
to be delivering the punishment, she'll be more likely to avoid the
behavior even when you're not around.
In addition, if you're too late in administering it, punishment will
seem totally unpredictable to your dog. She's likely to become fearful,
distrustful, and/or aggressive, which will only lead to more behavior
problems. What we humans often 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 only positive reinforcement instead. And
never use physical punishment that involves some level of discomfort
or even pain, which may cause your pet to bite to defend herself. Holding
the neck skin and shaking your dog, or performing "alpha rolls" (forcing
your dog onto her back and pinning her on the floor), are both likely to
result in bites. Also, punishment might be associated with other stimuli,
including people, that are present at the time the punishment occurs. For
example, a pet who is punished for getting too close to a small child may
become fearful of, or aggressive to, that child—or to other children.
That's why physical punishment is not only bad for your pet, it's also bad
for you and others.
©2002. Adapted from material originally developed by
applied animal behaviorists at the Dumb Friends League, Denver, Colorado.
All rights reserved.
