Tips on Positive Reinforcement Training

 (All tips are based on scientifically proven principles)

 

      When initially teaching behaviors, reward approximations if you cannot get the exact behavior.  If effort is not rewarded then it is possible that the dog will lose interest and not want to work.

 ·        Dogs that are trained when hungry are much more energetic and motivated.  If you have a motivation problem then something you might want to consider is skipping a meal before training or cutting down meal portions all together.

 ·        The larger the reward the better the performance will be.  There is a balance to this though.  The reward should be large enough to motivate the dog but not large enough that in very few repetitions the dog will become full and not be motivated to continue working for reward.

 ·        Qualitative differences in reward also effect the dog’s performance. Typically but not always a dog will like a piece of hot dog more then a plain biscuit and they also might enjoy a piece of liver over a hot dog.   A dog also prefers a few pieces of food to a whole piece.  An experiment was done on chickens where chickens ended up performing at higher rate when the reward was a single piece of popcorn cut up in 4 pieces verses one whole popcorn.

 ·        If you are rewarding with 2 different rewards in the same training session, the relativity of each reward changes.  The higher value reward will be even higher to the dog and the lower will be lower sometimes to the point of disappointment due to contrast between both rewards.

 ·        Immediate rewarding for behaviors will motivate the dog to perform optimally whereas if there is a delay in issuing the reward a decrease in performance is possible.  Rewarding 1.5 seconds or more after a desired a behavior eliminates learning.

 ·        Relative reward delays can exist and promote learning if there are cues that predict the event of the reward

 ·        If a dog develops reward expectancy then non-reward elicits an emotional response of frustration, which is thought to be aversive.

 ·        Variable Reinforcement increases your dog’s energy so long as you do not make the variable ratio too high.

 ·        Continuous reinforcement promotes a high and steady performance.