To use positive reinforcement effectively, a trainer must thoroughly understand what reinforcement means. Too often, we equate positive reinforcement with a piece of food. While this works in many cases, it’s useless when an animal is too full, frightened, or aroused to eat. Food is also a somewhat contrived reinforcer; our clients don’t always wear bait bags around the house. Many trainers talk about “life rewards,” those everyday goodies such as the opportunity to go outside, to sniff a tree, or to greet an approaching dog, which can be used to reinforce desired behaviors. This approach is similar to the Premack Principle, named after animal-learning researcher David Premack, but doesn’t fully take advantage of his revolutionary insight. Premack said much more than, “If you eat your vegetables, you can have dessert” (a paraphrase of his principle commonly used in the dog-training community). Learn how Premack’s laboratory-derived theory can help you and your clients expand your animals’ motivational menus. Throughout, we’ll take a look at real-life training applications of this scientific principle. You’ll be inspired to think about positive reinforcement more creatively and to develop additional reinforcers for your students.

Sponsor:dog-ibox.com
Speaker(s):Kathy Sdao

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 Web: http://www.dog-ibox.com/