Reinforcement
- Reinforcement drives behaviour.
- Your dog decides what is reinforcing.
- The key to motivating your dog is understanding their needs, desires, and values and then tailoring approaches that resonate with them.
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Play
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Barrier Access
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Rest
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Chewing
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Walking on
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Cooperative games
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Affection
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Water
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Social interactions
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Enrichment
What is reinforcement
Reinforcement is something that your dog perceives as valuable. All behaviour reoccurs because it is reinforced in some way.
Primary Reinforcers—"Primary reinforcers are those with innate reinforcing qualities. They are not learned. Some examples are Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things. "(Introduction to Psychology – Lindh)
Secondary reinforcers—"Secondary reinforcers, also called conditioned reinforcers, do not occur naturally and need to be learned. Money is an example of a secondary reinforcer. Money helps reinforce behaviours because it can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, clothing, and shelter (among other things)". Very Well Mind.
A conditioned Marker acts as a secondary reinforcer and when paired with multiple types of reinforcement that your dog finds reinforcing, A well timed marker helps your dog understand what they need to do to get the reinforcers that they want.
In the real world, multiple reinforcers often compete or work together. Understanding and using different reinforcement effectively allows us to identify these reinforcers and sometimes even use them to build desirable behaviours or decrease undesirable ones.
Functional reinforcement
Functional reinforcement drives behaviour. Another term is 'Functional Rewards' or "Life Rewards". When a behaviour repeats itself, it's because it has been reinforced by a functional/life reward, which we may have no control over.
If you identify why your dog is doing a particular undesirable behaviour, you can teach them an alternative, desirable behaviour that fulfils the same function in a more desirable way.
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