05/07/2023
A blurb on positive reinforcement and shaping.
I get asked a lot on that first day with a new client “will he ever do what I say without food?” My answer to that is YES! Positive reinforcement is a way to help you and your dog enjoy training together, it starts with food or toys, but after you put in the work rewarding engagement you become the positive reinforcement!
Every time you yell at your dog to stop doing something, or bop them on the nose you’re creating a distrust between you and your dog. When we switch to positive reinforcement we are building that trust back up, I like to think of it as a bank. Every good interaction puts a coin of trust in the bank, while every negative interaction takes three coins out. When your bank is full you no longer need to use food to gain motivation for your pup to work with you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever give them a reward! I always carry treats with me on any type of outing with my dog Odyssey. If we ever come across something challenging I have that tool to help me get through it!
Shaping goes along with positive reinforcement. But what is shaping? The most simplistic way to explain shaping is by using a staircase. At the top of the staircase is the behavior goal you want to achieve, and each step is a way to get there. So if I were to put sit at the top of that stair case, the steps would be; offer engagement, lower body even slightly, lower b***y, then a complete sit. each step gets rewarded 3 times before moving forward.
What happens if my dog skips a step, or leaps to the top of the staircase? When your dog skips steps it’s a sign that your dog is really starting to understand the game. What if my dog is getting frustrated and we can’t move to the next step? When we see frustration we should not always give in at first, stick with it for at least 30 seconds, if you’re still seeing frustration go back down a step or two, or even start at the beginning of your stair case! There is no harm in going backwards, in fact it helps both you and your dog fully work through the behavior foundations.
Shaping can be used for any behavior. “Any behavior?” Yes any behavior! If you want your dog to sit outside the kitchen while you and your family eat, that staircase may be more elaborate, but by writing out the steps it takes to get there you will easily be having dinner with a napping dog.
Another issue that arises when going into positive reinforcement training is clients not understanding how or what to reinforce with. When training inside your home you should start out using dog food. This means you can’t free feed your pup, measure out the food for the day and decide what you want to use for training and what you want to give your dog as a meal. This prevents you from overfilling your dog on extra calories and makes them work for their food thus increasing engagement.
Reinforcement can be anything your dog finds reinforcing! That means treats, toys, you, outside, running can all be reinforcement! It helps to write out on a scale of 1-10 how reinforcing something is, different types of food can be on different levels. In your own home where distractions are low you can use a low level reinforcement, if you go outside where there’s more distractions you may need a higher level of reinforcement.
