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.
