Treat Me Right: The Power of Reinforcement- July Newsletter

Hearing parents tell their children, “Oh, too bad school is starting soon,” and watching parents take their child out of school for the day as a “treat” frustrated me as a teacher.  The underlying implication was that school, and by default learning, was something unpleasant and even punitive.  Students came to school expecting misery and the failure of any lesson to be entertaining confirmed that belief.  In contrast, most people come to dog training classes excited and optimistic, expecting “school” will make their puppy or dog the pet of their dreams.   For owners, dog training is a good thing.  As a primarily positive reinforcement trainer, I want my dog clients equally enthusiastic.  Regardless of species, eager students make teaching fun and challenging.  When training is pleasant and successful, everyone wants to continue with the process.

In training classes, our dogs must work in a place with many attractive distractions.  Verbal praise becomes white noise, especially since dogs don’t understand English.  For most creatures humans included, public displays of affection are rarely appreciated when trying to focus.  Food rewards provide immediate feedback and high value food gives the handler top priority. When tasty morsels are only offered during training, an association between learning and pleasure develop. 

According to Dr. David J. Linden, a neuroscientist who specializes in addiction, tiny portions further reinforce the pleasure/training connection – the dog must participate in more training to receive more "pleasure".  It's making the dog want more that keeps him or her interested in the session and that longing becomes connected to you and training.  Click here to hear Dr. Linden’s explanation (5-6 minutes into the interview).  Rewarding at a variable rate (rewarding sometimes - which means not at all, a little, or jackpotting at random times) makes a behavior even stronger, once the behavior is established (happens at least 80% of the time on command).  Think of a slot machine.  If it paid all the time in huge amounts, people would only go when they needed money.   If it never paid, what would be the point of playing?  If there are a multitude of possibilities (win nothing, a little, or a jackpot), it makes it more interesting and optimism keeps people playing.

Learning also requires confidence.  Rewarding the correct response encourages exploration, in comparison to punishing the wrong behavior, which creates hesitancy and fear.  Remember the teacher who made students sink into their seat whenever a question was asked? Pop questions rewarded with extra credit or candy usually encouraged much livelier responses, especially when wrong answers only got "good try!"  Our dogs should be the literal teacher’s pet.

The issue of excess calories frequently comes up where food rewards are concerned.  Using food rewards does not necessarily equate to an obese pet.  The size of the portion, as mentioned, is a major issue.  How tiny is tiny?  For medium sized  to large dogs, a treat portion is about the size of half of a pea.  Don't worry.  Dogs will taste it.  Adjust down accordingly, with toy sized dogs getting portions about the size of a grain of rice.  A jackpot is NOT one large piece, but many small pieces.  Dogs somehow understand number or repetitions rather than size.  Ask a three year old human if they prefer one large quarter or ten pennies.  It's the same idea.  Soft treats, rather than crunchy, work better so the dog isn't distracted by chewing. And a training session shouldn't last more than 3-10 minutes, depending on the number of behaviors being taught and your dog's attention span (classes are usually longer to train the humans, not the dogs).  So, figuring the rate of reward with the portion size, treats during training shouldn't make pets obese.  To practice already established behaviors or if the dog is super motivated by any food, train during breakfast using breakfast kibble with a couple extra treats added.  The video below is Rennie working for part of his breakfast.

Must food always be used as a reward?  Of course not.  Toys and privileges can also be used but are distracting and inefficient when a behavior is first being established (“Sit”, throw the ball, wait for dog to return with the ball and drop the ball before repeating).  However, it’s important that the reward is rewarding to the dog.  Brussel sprouts might be healthy, but they don’t do much for motivation.  Cheese, hot dogs, last night's leftovers, even rinsed canned beans are more interesting.  Be creative!   Experiment. With an eager learner awaiting what’s next, the sky’s the limit!