What Is Positive Reinforcement In Dog Training?

You may have heard the terms “positive dog training,” or “purely positive training” before. Often referenced by social media influencers, dog training videos, books and online articles, the term purely positive has become a buzz word within the dog training community over the past decade or two. So, what exactly is positive dog training?

When individuals reference “positive” dog training, they are most often referencing positive reinforcement based training techniques. Many modern day trainers claim to use positive reinforcement exclusively when training, but learning does not exist in a vacuum and positive reinforcement is a technique which can be used often, but virtually always occurs alongside other types of learning – either intentionally or unintentionally. In order to fully understand positive reinforcement and how to best implement it into your dog training, it is imperative to first explain learning theory and positive reinforcement’s place within this greater topic.

What is learning theory?

Learning theory is a concept often referenced in psychology when describing the way that humans learn and retain information. In dog training, learning theory is commonly used to refer to the different types of associative learning. Associative learning refers to the concept that dogs learn through association. Scientific research has demonstrated that learning in all mammals, including dogs, is quite a bit more complicated than this; however, associative learning techniques remain a very powerful – and effective – tool in dog training.

The two primary types of associative learning used in dog training are operant and classical conditioning. Positive reinforcement is a quadrant included in operant conditioning, and at its most basic, the premise of operant conditioning is “action equals consequence.” Whereas classical conditioning refers to two stimuli being consistently paired, operant conditioning focuses on the outcome of behaviors and what the animal learns from those outcomes.

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning was developed by psychologist B.F. Skinner in the 1930s, where he performed experiments on animals by putting them into a “Skinner Box” and testing how various consequences of behaviors influenced the learning and future behaviors of these animals. Operant conditioning is also referred to as Instrumental Conditioning or Skinnerian Conditioning.

Operant conditioning contains four distinctive quadrants:

Positive Reinforcement: A desirable consequence is attained. For example, if a dog sits after being asked to do so, they receive a treat. The sitting behavior was rewarded.

Negative Reinforcement: An undesirable stimulus is removed. For example, a dog is stressed and barking in their crate, so someone lets them out. The undesirable situation was removed after barking.

Positive Punishment: An undesirable consequence is attained. For example, a dog who dislikes water is barking at the Amazon delivery driver so someone sprays them with a spray bottle. The dog’s barking behavior gained an undesirable consequence.

Negative Punishment: A desirable stimulus is removed. For example, a dog is resource guarding their toy from another dog so the toy is taken away. The desirable stimulus (toy), was lost as a consequence of their behavior.

In operant conditioning positive does not equal good, and negative does not equal bad. Positive means that something is gained, and negative means that something is removed.

What exactly is positive reinforcement?

As previously mentioned, positive reinforcement refers to a desirable outcome resulting from a specific behavior. This can be intentional, such as when giving a dog a treat after accurately performing a cue – or unintentional, such as when a dog successfully locates food on the counter when counter surfing. Since learning is occurring nearly all the time, it is important that we try to use every possible opportunity to positively reinforce the behaviors that we like while eliminating the opportunity for dogs to practice the behaviors that we want to eliminate.

Positive reinforcement occurs during play, treat based training, exploration and during normal life activities. The more often a dog is positively reinforced for something in a way that is meaningful for them, the more often the behavior will occur. If your dog loves to chase small animals and often experiences the thrill of chasing your cat, then this behavior is positively reinforced and will likely occur more frequently. If your dog is often reinforced with palatable food that they never receive outside of training, then the behaviors which you are teaching them will likely occur more often, more reliably, and with greater enthusiasm.

How to use positive reinforcement in dog training

Positive reinforcement can be an incredibly powerful tool, and when used correctly often results in significant behavioral changes. This being said, there are a couple of things to remember when using positive reinforcement to teach new behaviors:

Timing is paramount. When you reinforce a behavior, it is almost as though you are taking a photo of that behavior and stamping it into the dog’s brain as an important memory. In order for operant conditioning to be effective, the consequence must occur immediately after a behavior. If you ask your dog to sit, but they get excited once your hand is nearing them with the treat so they stand and receive the treat while standing… what exactly have they learned? If you ask your dog to stay and they do, but then move towards you once you are three feet away and are rewarded, which behavior was reinforced? In both of these instances, it wasn’t the one which you intended to reward. Poor quality timing can sabotage training efforts, cause confusion for the dog, make training take significantly longer and is often incredibly frustrating for handlers.
The dog needs to be the one to choose the reinforcer. Dogs are individuals, each with very different likes and dislikes. Oftentimes people base their dog’s treat options off of trivial factors such as calorie quantities, convenience or even their own preferences such as not liking the feel or smell of a certain dog treat. They then wonder why their dog doesn’t seem motivated by whatever they are attempting to feed them. If cheesecake was much higher value to you than two year old graham crackers and you were constantly being fed the graham crackers, would you be excited to receive them? When working to select training reinforcers, try as many things as possible. Is there a specific human meal that you make which has your dog going crazy as soon as they smell it? Maybe that’s a good place to begin (as long as it is safe for your dog to eat).
Some dogs prefer play. Some dogs were specifically bred to be highly toy motivated, which means that certain toys and play can be significantly more rewarding than food. If your dog goes crazy when they see a tennis ball, but could take or leave your hamburger, then you should definitely consider using the toys which they prefer most as reinforcers during training.

The more often you can reinforce (with something valuable) a behavior that you are trying to teach, the faster your dog will learn how to perform the behavior. Just as with any type of training, you want to keep positive reinforcement based training sessions relatively short and fun so your dog is excited to work next time. Even very exciting things can lose their novelty once a dog is exhausted.

Positive reinforcement is most beneficial when attempting to teach your dog new behaviors, when teaching your dog alternative behaviors and when working to boost engagement, enthusiasm or reliability of cues.

A word of caution…

Positive reinforcement is an incredibly powerful tool. Used to teach everything from agility to disaster SAR and beyond, positive reinforcement has enabled humans to teach dogs incredible things. This being said, it is beneficial for survival when animals can gain as much positive reinforcement through living as possible. The mammalian brain is wired to love rewards, and dogs are no exception. If your dog is regularly able to bolt out the front door when it is open, chase small animals or bark at delivery drivers, they are self-rewarding. The more often these behaviors are practiced, the more deeply engrained in your dog’s brain they become. Over time, they will typically occur faster, will become more intense and can even begin to transfer onto other things. If your dog is regularly performing a behavior that you are trying to change, it is crucial to stop them from practicing the behavior.

Remember: your dog is always learning – so what are they learning?

In conclusion

Positive reinforcement isn’t just a buzz word. It is a very useful training technique which you have at your disposal to teach your dog how to do virtually anything physically possible. In order for it to work, however, it must be done correctly and used consistently. The more a behavior is practiced and rewarded, the more it will occur – so make sure that the behaviors which your dog is practicing are the ones that you’d like to see repeated. Of all the available quadrants of Operant Conditioning, positive reinforcement has been proven to have the least amount of risk involved and the best outcomes when attempting to teach new behaviors.