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How Dogs Learn
Classical Conditioning
The most common example of classical conditioning is that of Pavlov’s dogs. Ivan Pavlov, the Russian physiologist, discovered that dogs automatically salivated when presented with food. He trained his dogs to associate the ringing of a bell with the presentation of food and was eventually able to make the dogs salivate at the sound of a bell.
You may have already applied the principles of classical conditioning to your dog. If your dog enjoys going for walks and associates seeing his leash being removed from it’s usual spot, he may become excited just by seeing the leash.
Another example of classical conditioning occurs when a new puppy owner takes his pup for a walk. You may encounter another dog and instinctively tighten your hold on the leash. The unintentional result can be your that dog will begin mirroring your tense, protective behavior when he sees another dog on a walk.
The scientific principles of operant conditioning, developed by behavioral scientist B.F. Skinner in the 1950s, apply to all creatures with a central nervous system. While the terminology initially can be confusing, if you remember the following definitions it’s really quite simple: Positive: Means something is added. Negative: Means something is taken away. Reinforcement: Behavior is likely to increase or strengthen. Punishment: Behavior is likely to decrease or extinguish.
Positive Reinforcement
The dog’s behavior makes something good happen. “Positive,” in behavioral terms, means something is added. “Reinforcement” means the behavior increases. When your dog sits, you feed him a treat. His behavior (sitting) made something good happen, something was added (the treat). As a result, your dog is more likely to offer to sit again, so the behavior increases. Positive trainers use positive reinforcement a lot. Example: The dog sits, he gets a treat; dog is more likely to sit again, perhaps faster. When adding punishment, think about when you were punished as a kid. You may not have really stopped the behavior but just looked for ways of not getting caught where as if you were rewarded for small things, you would do more of those things to increase your chances of a payout.
Positive Punishment
The dog’s behavior makes something bad happen. (Positive means something is added, punishment means the behavior decreases.) Example: When your dog jumps on you you knee him hard in the chest. He gets off. His behavior (jumping up) made something bad happen; something was added (your knee in his chest). As a result, your dog is more likely to think twice before jumping on you again. This is also what happens when applying shock, stim, or buzz collars. Let’s say a dog barks at something outside. You apply a shock until the barking stops and eventually (quickly) the barking stops but it can also be generalized to whatever he saw at that moment being something that causes pain. He may not associate the collar with the the pain but what it is he’s looking at. “Positive trainers” do not use positive punishment very much, if at all. Positive punishment seems to work quickly in many cases but can cause more underlying issues in the long run.
Negative Punishment
The dog’s behavior makes something good go away. (Negative = something is taken away; punishment = the behavior decreases.) When your dog jumps up, you turn your back and step away. His behavior (jumping) made something good (your attention) go away. Positive trainers use negative punishment as a mild negative consequence for unwanted behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
The dog’s behavior makes something bad go away. (Negative means something is taken away; reinforcement increases the behavior.) Example: It can also be very reinforcing for a dog to bark at the door. Example-the mailman/stranger etc, is scary but if I bark it will make him go away so the dog will continue to bark at the scary thing every time it is near the door.