One way we do this is by providing our dogs with attention or other rewards when they are doing things we don’t want them to. Our dogs are highly tuned in to us, and this makes it easy to accidentally reinforce behaviors. Without intending it, you reinforced that behavior over time. With the barking example, the yapping behavior was getting reinforced with attention. Sometimes the things we reinforce from our dogs aren’t necessarily behaviors that we want. But dogs aren’t sitting because “they want to”, rather they are likely sitting because it is a behavior that has been consistently reinforced, and as a result dogs offer it as a default behavior.Īny behavior we want to see more of is behavior that we want to mark and reinforce to our dogs. For example, many dogs automatically sit when they approach someone or when a treat is held out to them. When thinking about working with your dog through training challenges, it’s useful to take a step back and consider what part of the behavior has a history of being reinforced. ![]() Reinforcement history can also work to our disadvantage if we’re not thoughtful about what behaviors we are reinforcing, as we can reinforce behaviors we don’t want unintentionally. This can be used to our advantage for training everything from basic manners to advanced sports. Dogs thrive on routine and reinforcement, so the more they rehearse a behavior, or the more times that behavior has been reinforced, the more likely it is to be repeated. Reinforcement history refers to the frequency or number of times that a particular behavior your dog does has been reinforced. ![]() whatever it is that your dog wants like attention) to decrease the likelihood of behavior we don’t want.įor this purpose, we’re focusing on what is positively reinforcing to our dogs, as in what will encourage the behavior to continue, and how a history of reinforcing behavior will drive both positive and negative behavior in the future. There is also negative reinforcement, which is referring to taking away the reinforcer (i.e. Positive reinforcement means adding something (food, praise, toys, play, etc.) that our dogs find reinforcing or rewarding to increase the likelihood of behaviors we want. When working with dogs, there are two main kinds of reinforcement: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Any behavior that gets reinforced is more likely to be repeated, so we must be careful to try and only reinforce behaviors that we want. Your dog doesn’t understand what you’re saying, they just know that when they “yell”, you “yell”, and now everyone yells, which is a very fun reinforcing game for your dog. In that case, the dog’s barking is reinforced by the owner’s yelling. ![]() This happens in training scenarios but also in real life-like the above doorbell example. After a few repetitions, most dogs will begin to sit on their own without treats because the behavior has been reinforced. Every time they do so, they get rewarded. For example, when you’re teaching your dog to sit, you want to use rewards like treats to teach your dog how to get into the sit position. When thinking about dog behavior, it’s important to recognize that any behavior that has been reinforced is most likely to be repeated. That’s why understanding reinforcement history is so important. The dog isn’t barking to frustrate their owners, but rather they keep barking because this behavior has been repeated and reinforced. This is a common situation where many owners get stuck and frustrated by a bahevior, but the dog has no idea they have done anything wrong.Īs an unfortunate result, the next time the doorbell rings the above scenario is more than likely to repeat again and again. Then, the barking prompts the owners to start yelling, and instead of stopping-the dog just barks more! Sound familiar? If this scene resembles your house, you aren’t alone. ![]() The doorbell rings, which in many houses prompts the dog to start barking.
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