A user-friendly guide to understanding negative reinforcement in dog training – and the three alternatives you should know about. Photo: Angyalosi Beata /Shutterstock If you are new to dog training, or want to understand some of the language of dog training, this article is for you. It covers the technical definition of negative reinforcement in dog training, examples of how it is used, what research tells us about negative reinforcement, and alternatives that you can use instead (along with some common mistakes people make, so you know how to get it right). This article is part of a series of guides that also covers positive reinforcement and positive punishment in dog training. Let’s start with the technical definition. What is negative reinforcement? Negative reinforcement is one way to train dogs (and other animals). Negative reinforcement means taking something away that increases or maintains the frequency of a behaviour. The ‘negative’ part refers to something being removed, ...
Opportunities to use the nose and make choices in nosework are good for dogs’ welfare. Photo: KM-Photography/Shutterstock We all know that dogs like to sniff. Is it possible that providing opportunities to find food in nosework can improve dogs’ wellbeing? New scientific research by Dr. Charlotte Duranton (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz (Barnard College) finds that dogs who participate in nose work have increased optimism compared to dogs that took part in heelwork instead. Importantly, both activities involved perambulation, as well as food rewards as positive reinforcement . The difference is that in nosework the dog has the opportunity to use their nose and to exercise choice in what they are doing. The study used a test of optimism – also known as cognitive bias – in which dogs were first trained that a bowl in one location would always contain food, whereas a bowl in another location never did. Then the test involved an empty bowl placed in an ambiguous location, ...
Everything you need to know about the use of positive punishment in dog training. Photo: JJ Photographer/Shutterstock If you are a new dog owner, or even if you’ve been around dogs for a while, this article is for you. It covers the technical definition of positive punishment, examples of what it is, what we know about the risks of using it and what professional organizations advise. Let’s get the technical definition out of the way first. What is positive punishment in dog training? You’ll have noticed I said positive punishment instead of just punishment. In everyday language, we often say punishment when what we technically mean is positive punishment. We can also have negative punishment, but that will be the topic of another post. Punishment means something that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour happening again i.e. the behaviour goes down in frequency. And positive means that something is added. So positive punishment means adding something after the dog did a behaviour ...
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