Reinforcement in Dog Training #2
Shaped by Dog with Susan Garrett
DogsThat
4.8 • 679 Ratings
🗓️ 19 June 2020
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
Visit us at shapedbydog.com
We are talking about the number one most important thing in dog training. Actually, it's the one thing vital for all species. It is of course, reinforcement, and it is critical to understand for training all animals.
In the episode you'll hear:
- Why there are times your dog might find something more reinforcing than food.
- Activities that your dog will find reinforcing.
- Reinforcers to avoid.
- How to grow the value of a reinforcer
- Transfer of value.
- Reinforcement and dopamine release.
- How dogs predict patterns of reinforcement.
Resources:
What's a Reward for Your Dog? List of Reinforcers - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/10/reward-list-of-reinforcers/
How to Create a Motivating Toy - https://susangarrettdogagility.com/2018/09/how-to-create-a-motivating-toy/
Shaped by Dog Podcast Episode 2 Post - https://shapedbydog.com/2/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody, welcome to Susan Garrett's shaped by dog. I am Susan Garrett. And today, |
| 0:15.5 | we're going to be talking about the number one most important thing in training. It doesn't matter what you're training. I have |
| 0:24.8 | been blessed with the opportunity to train many different species of animals. Of course, |
| 0:30.3 | dogs. I've trained cats. I've trained a lot of my formative understanding of shaping behavior came from training chickens in several |
| 0:41.4 | workshops with my mentors, the late Marian Bailey and her husband, Bob Bailey. Also, most recently, |
| 0:49.3 | I've trained sea lions, manatees, and dolphins. The number one, most important part, the most important |
| 0:58.1 | aspect to training. Um, if you haven't guessed it, it is reinforcement. Because as the great B.F. Skinner |
| 1:06.5 | identified, reinforcement builds behavior. And so, because it's such an important part of |
| 1:13.9 | training any animal. And of course, here on Shape by Dog, I'm talking about not just the |
| 1:20.9 | behavior of dogs, but the behavior of your kids or the behavior of your coworker, your spouse, your, all the people who you interact with, |
| 1:30.3 | you are shaping their behavior by the use of reinforcement, whether you're aware of it or not. |
| 1:38.0 | And hopefully today, we're going to become far more aware of it. |
| 1:40.7 | So, I'd like you to think about your dogs, whether you have a puppy or an adult. What? What are their reinforcers? Um, you might be saying, oh, well, this is, |
| 1:52.0 | this isn't, this isn't pertaining to me because my dog just loves all food and that's, that's all I can |
| 1:56.1 | use. But even if your dog just loves all food, I bet there are other things that reinforce |
| 2:00.8 | them. |
| 2:01.4 | And you're going to be surprised by the end of this how much more understanding you have |
| 2:07.5 | in the food. So, animals, let's say our dogs, have generally three general areas of reinforcement. Food, you nailed it. |
| 2:23.6 | Activities, we'll get more to that in a minute, and toys. So, toys could be activities. You could say |
| 2:31.3 | Susan they can't, yeah, maybe, maybe not. But there are other |
| 2:34.2 | activities that don't involve toys. Food obviously is a primary reinforcer because they need food |
| 2:43.3 | to survive. That by definition is a primary reinforcer. And toys and activity become secondary |
... |
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