CAPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY
2320
Positive Reinforcement: Training Your
Dog Or Cat
With Treats And Praise
Copyright
Denver Dumb Friends League and Humane Society of the
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 the door (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 your 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.