Positive reinforcement training is based on one single premise: dogs will always, without exception, do what is most rewarding to them.
The focus of your training has to be making what you want the most rewarding option. Your choice has to be, in the dog’s opinion, the best thing available.
To convince your dog, you have to build a history. If your dog always gets rewarded for doing what you want, they’re more likely to continue doing it. They get their doggy paycheck every time they do what you want.
If, however, your rewards are inconsistent or absent, the dog has no reason to do what you want. There’s always something interesting to do. It may or may not be what you want them to do. The environment is your biggest competitor. If a squirrel is a $100 bill and your treat is a nickel, the squirrel wins every time.
Hierarchy of rewards
One of the first lessons of reward-based training is figuring out what’s valuable to your dog. You may want your dog to love the expensive, organic, healthy treats you bought. But you can’t make that love connection happen. In our classes we always have extra treats available for our students. The treats we provide aren’t healthy, good-for-dogs, or expensive. They’re the junk food french fries of dog treats. Because they work. Dogs love them.
We’re not saying you have to buy junk dog treats. We’re saying you have to find the rewards that your dog would (virtually) run through fire to get. Don’t be surprised if it’s something weird. One of our dogs would kill for celery. Another thinks celery is poisonous. It’s not our choice, it’s the dog’s.
Transfer of value
Let’s use Torque, the celery fiend, as our example. If he always gets celery when he does Puppy Push-ups, before long he’s going to get all excited to do them. In his little doggy brain, that incredibly yummy treat is paired with Puppy Push-ups. The value of the treat is associated with playing that awesome game. And he loves doing it.
Once your dog has made that pairing, your reward delivery can become more random. But it can’t go away forever. If it does, the behavior will, too.
Think of it this way: You love every single aspect of your job. Your work is fascinating. Your colleagues are awesome. You even get a catered lunch every day. Are you still going if you don’t get paid? Of course not. Your bargain with your employer is to complete assigned tasks in exchange for compensation.
Your dog gets the benefit of the same deal. Their task is to be a good dog. Their compensation (doggy paycheck) is the rewards you provide.
Just for the fun of it
You don’t have to reward your dog constantly for just being good. If they’re doing something you didn’t ask them to do, just a pat or a “good dog!” is fine, if you notice it.
But if you’ve told your dog to do something and they do it, that good behavior should be acknowledged. That’s good training and living up to your side of the deal.