negative reinforcement examples in dog training

Although effective, negative reinforcement teaches avoidance behavior as the animal learns to avoid the behaviors that elicit the uncomfortable consequences. Think of a time when you had discomfort and obtained relief either through medication or some other therapeutic intervention. Relief from discomfort is a powerful motivator. The shock is discontinued once the animal performs the desired behavior.

The forced retrieve, taught by pinching a dog's ear until he takes a dumbbell in his mouth is a perfect example. Negative Reinforcement Negative reinforcement increases the likelihood a behavior will be repeated by taking something away. Examples include verbal corrections, leash corrections, corrections with electric shock, etc. Positive Punishment Positive punishment on the other hand means adding something to decrease the likelihood a behavior will be repeated. Food treats, praise, petting, play or going for a walk are all commonly used positive reinforcers, or 'rewards.' Positive Reinforcement It follows that positive reinforcement is adding anything that increases the frequency of a behavior. 'Punishment' is something which serves to reduce the frequency of a behavior, and 'reinforcement' is something which serves to increase the frequency of a behavior. 'Positive' is a descriptive term which means to add something 'negative' is a descriptive term which means to take something away. To understand these options it is necessary to first understand each of the terms. These options are 1) positive reinforcement, 2) positive punishment, 3) negative reinforcement, and 4) negative punishment. More than simply punishing or rewarding a behavior, operant conditioning consists of four basic options that can be used as consequences of an animal's responses to mold its behavior.

This sounds quite simple until you examine the possibilities for manipulating a dog's responses in a training situation. They repeat behaviors they find rewarding and cease to repeat behaviors that are either punished or not rewarded. In operant conditioning animals - and humans interact with their environment to discover what is rewarding and what is not. It is part of a model of learning called operant conditioning, first described by B.F. Positive reinforcement is just one of several ways to influence behavior. It was the Brelands who first coined the term, 'bridging stimulus,' also known as a marker signal or event marker produced by a clicker or other auditory signaling device. A decade later dog trainer, Gary Wilkes and marine mammal trainer, Karen Pryor introduced clicker training to the dog training community when they presented a seminar to a group of dog trainers in San Francisco.Ĭlicker training was originally pioneered by Keller Breland, Marian Breland Bailey, and Bob Bailey in the early part of the last century based on the work of American psychologist, B.F. Ian Dunbar changed the way we train puppies by introducing his Sirius puppy program, an off leash group class for young puppies emphasizing early socialization and positive reinforcement training. Prior to 1982 puppies were not trained until they were 6 months of age, well past their critical periods of socialization and rapid brain development. It was Skinner in the middle of the last century and Edward Thorndike, John Watson and others before him who advanced the idea of reinforcing desired behaviors to facilitate learning and behavior change. However, the idea of positive reinforcement training has been around for over a century. Photos Right - Coutesy Ori Teper, Below - Teresa KofskiĬorrection-based training techniques rose in popularity following the two world wars as pet owners adopted the training techniques taught by ex-military dog trainers. Positive Reinforcement Training is Not a New Concept

Negative reinforcement examples in dog training