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The Quadrants: Why Positive Reinforcement?
If you already know what the quadrants of learning theory are, then you can skip to the next paragraph. They can be confusing and a hard concept to grasp. The quadrants consist of the four ways of learning: Positive reinforcement (R+ as it’s abbreviated scientifically), negative reinforcement (R-), positive punishment (P+), and negative punishment (P-). It’s key to be aware that positive means adding something -like in arithmetic- whereas negative means removing something. Reinforcement simply means that it makes something more likely to happen again, or strengthen a behavior. Punishment, in it’s behavioral science definition, simply means it makes something less likely to happen again, or weaken a behavior. So let’s talk it out…
Why are they so important? To put it frankly, all living things on earth learn the same way. That means through the means of any of the quadrants, you, me, your dog, a fish, even a tree, all learn to repeat, increase, or stop behaviors based on the consequences (punished or reinforced) that follow it. The more immediate the consequence, the more effective. For example! If you take your puppy outside to go potty with the intention of potty training, but you have to come back inside to the treat jar waiting at the door before they get a treat, it’s more likely that they are associating coming through the door with the treat rather than the going potty outside! You can test this theory by observing your puppy’s behavior when they come inside whether they’ve gone potty or not. Are they looking on to you in earnest for a treat? Your puppy will learn faster and easier if you can deliver that reinforcement within just 2 seconds!
The more times you reinforce a behavior, in different environments, with varying distractions, and increasing difficulty, the stronger the behavior becomes, and the more likely the chances of it happening when it’s cued. This is how we get reliability in our dogs - we set up situations for them to get successful repetitions, and strengthen that behavior until it’s dependable. So if you’re asking why your dog won’t stay on their bed for very long, or if they sit at home but not when they’re outside, or if they come when called at home but not at the dog park, you might need to be reinforcing more frequently!
Something more to consider…
If this learning theory were true, then how come you see dogs lunging and barking even if it means they get reprimanded verbally/physically by their owners? We have to consider the facts. If the behavior does not stop, then it is NOT being effectively punished, by definition. So the yelling, the choking, from the dog’s POV? Might just be egging it on! On the other hand, maybe it DOES stop the lunging and barking. The behavior has stopped, but the reason for the behavior will not go away, so it repeats. The reaction the dog is displaying is reinforcing, a lot of times, because the main thing the dog wants here is for the thing it’s yelling at to go away, which it always does. There are more factors at play here, like past learning history, fear, anxiety, pain, environment, medical issues, and perhaps most importantly, relationship. When we fail to recognize that our dogs are more than just furry-barking-eating-pooping-machines and are actually sentient beings with unique desires and emotions, we do them a grave disservice by limiting their capacity for a meaningful and enriched life. That’s why behavior is communication, and “misbehavior” is a misnomer. When punished instead of understood, we can see a manifestation of issues like aggression, avoidance, generalization of fear, reduced overall activity, and apathy. Consider rewarding for calm behavior, before the reaction even happens.
FUN FACT: Positive reinforcement can be used to indirectly decrease unwanted behaviors
Deeper still… a critical thinking exercise for you.
As you may have realized by this point, something that gets reinforced has an increase in likelihood of being repeated. Think about what happens when someone effectively yells at, claps hands at, or even uses force or a tool to stop (punish) a dogs behavior. So when someone behaves in a manner (yells at, claps hands at, or even uses force or a tool) and that gets the desired result (to stop a dogs behavior), what happens to the person? You get one guess. Their own behavior of punishing the dog is reinforced. It’s a harmful perpetual feedback loop in which someone continues to punish their dog because they get the results they want. What happens to the dog? The dog is punished into compliance rather than shown what to do instead, or helped through a challenging situation.
With punishment all you get is compliance With reinforcement you get participation
Treats forever?
One question that comes up frequently - Do I have to give them treats forever?
coming soon! check back in a bit
What are labels?
Label: The concept of assigning a personality trait, stereotype, ego, attitude, judgement, or rationality to a dog’s (or human’s!) behavior. The key word here is concept. At the risk of coming across super duper nerdy, in behavior science, we work with measurable and observable evidence, the stuff that can be quantified and is considered tangible. A label is a concept which is intangible. Here’s an example…
There’s an anonymous dog who is refusing to walk. Their paws are firmly planted on the ground and they wont budge! Stubborn! Defiant! Bad! Disobedient! Rude even! But here’s the tangible evidence - last night fireworks went off around that corner, and doggo is having an experience that we cannot conceive! Here’s even more evidence - in the opposite direction, there is an apple tree that is dropping tasty crisp morsels on the ground, and that sounds way better to doggo than going towards a potential threat.
Here’s another example…
Anonymous dog is always snarling and snapping at other dogs! Any time another dog gets close, they snap like a popsicle stick! That dog is aggressive! So now, wait a second… Is the dog aggressive because they snap…? or do they snap because they’re aggressive…? The harm in calling this dog aggressive lies in the disregard of tangible evidence. Consider, this dog was attacked at a young age, consistently punished instead of taught appropriate behaviors, or has a cervical injury, which is very painful! Calling this dog aggressive doesn’t do them any favors. It can create that feedback loop of perpetual reasoning, the dog snaps because aggressive because snaps because aggressive because snaps because because because blah blah blah. When you label something in this way, it can inadvertently cause inaction by the teacher (human) because they’ve already concluded something. In this particular anonymous situation, the truth is that dog needs therapy!
So, is a label bad then? That’s not the right question. The right question - Is this label helping or hurting? A helpful way to infer might be to say, this dog is struggling. Or, remove the label entirely and say, this dog snaps when other dogs get into their bubble. Or, instead of saying this dog is stubborn, we could say, this dog is asking for something, and I am not sure what it is!
I encourage you to get curious about your dog’s behavior and ask the questions that don’t include labels. In this way we can start to gather evidence and make a behavior plan!
The pitfalls of “balanced” dog training.
Just the word “balanced” is a label. It’s easy to interpret based on your own inference, and it’s widely vague at the same time.
Current interpretations (in case you didn’t know there is currently a huge battle between conventional and modern dog training) are that “balanced” implies that the trainer uses all four quadrants, often without the methodical consideration of risks of fallout associated with aversive techniques.
It can be harmful because factors such as pain, trauma, individual sensitivities, genetics, learner history, discomfort, relationship, skill, age, antecedents, consequences, value, valence, time of day, diet, substrate even, are all things that can impact a training plan.
A safe rule is to look for some ones certifications or related information that lets you know they are active in the modern digest. It is generally accepted in animal training to adopt a “Least intrusive minimally aversive” (LIMA) framework, to preserve the well being of the animal. If you’re ever in doubt, ask them about LIMA!
The point is that welfare, well being, satiety, contentment, safety, shelter, nutrition, exercise, enrichment, clean water, relationship, and so on, are examples of needs that should be assessed first!