Well, hello there. Welcome to drinking from the toilet. I'm your host, Hannah Branigan,

bringing you your weekly dose of positive reinforcement training

in the real world.

This week, we're going to talk about what makes a good reinforcer.

So in a recent video call with my zero to CD mentorship group, we were talking about what

makes a good reinforcer in our training. We had a chance to hang out with

my friend and friend of the pod, Shade Weitzel, and we were talking a lot about toys and play

because that's really Shade's specialty and how we can practically incorporate using play

into our training sessions as reinforcement. And then we got kind of a little bit geeky as we do,

and we got a, Doug started digging a little bit into what makes a good reinforcer. And of course,

that's totally applicable to using any kind of play or toys in training, but it's also

applicable in a more general sense,

too. And I thought that would be a fun thing to explore a little bit in a podcast. So traditionally,

we talk about how a reinforcer is something that the learner wants. So it's something that your dog

wants and something that he wants to earn, something that he's

willing to work for. And that's true, but it's also maybe a little bit limiting if we stick

with that definition. I think it's really important, as I talk about often, to remember that

reinforcement is a process.

And it's a process that's defined by its results.

And sometimes that means there's a space,

there's a gap between what maybe me as the trainer

intends to be a reinforcer

...