· By Minou Tpain
Author: Denise Partlow
Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas
A reinforcer is used in order to increase the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.
Positive reinforcement means, I want to reinforce your behavior by adding something you like. This is the one that many people recognize. An example would be- I ask my dog to sit, he sits, I reward him with a tasty treat.
Negative Reinforcement means, I want to reinforce your behavior by taking away something you find unpleasant. This can be removing leash pressure or the stim from an E collar, or even removing them from something they find scary, like a stranger.
With both of these, timing is crucial. It must occur at the same time the dog carries out the action or one second later. The dog must understand what behavior is being reinforced. In addition, they don’t have to be used in isolation, they can be used together – you could apply negative reinforcement and then positive reinforcement right after or vice versa.
But it is important to remember that what one dog finds to be reinforcing (positively or negatively) may not be the same for the next dog.
In the next post we will discuss punishers, both positive and negative and how it relates to dog training.
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