When you use reinforcements, extrinsic or what is part of the dog’s innate makeup, it’s the dog who decides what floats his boat. What complicates things is that for some dogs that is static—dogs who have a one-track mind, and for others it’s dynamic--what they want most changes from moment to moment. Identifying what your dog wants at the moment is an art, but also one the most exciting parts of owning a dog: you really get to know her.
If you are lucky, like we were with Border Collie Bowie, there is a theme. Here he got ready for a camping trip with friends. (For clarity, the beer and book weren’t his. They were props. All the other stuff, though, he liked.)
If you have a more selectively motivated dog, she has the final say what she finds reinforcing—but you can try to raise motivation to what you had in mind. Here are a few ideas:
End the activity when your dog still wants to continue. He’ll be keen to return to it when asked. For example, if your dog gets bored with fetch after five throws, stop after the third.
Make what you don’t want your dog to access more difficult and second best easy. Example: manage your dog on the leash around wildlife, but invite her to play tag with you each time wildlife shows up. That worked the charms with our Aussie Davie. To be very clear: difficult to access, or to work for, is never a basic need of life. Never. Biological rights are provided without strings attached.
You might have heard about the Premack Principle. What is it? Psychologist and researcher David Premack established that if a lesser liked activity is followed with a desired one, the former becomes more liked at well. In dog training, the aim is that an action the dog wouldn’t do if given a choice eventually becomes reinforcing in its own right. I am not entirely convinced of that. I doubt that the dog required to sit at the closed door before the beloved walk begins will like sitting at the closed door better the next day—just like I hated parsnips for a lifetime no matter what dessert followed (that is purely hypothetical cause, growing up in the 60s and 70s, none ever did). What does happen though is that the previous action is performed fast and accurately. Which is great, but not the same as liking it. A dog who has to heel before released to play might anticipatory feel good, but about the play not the heel—and by extension not about you at that moment or the leash. That all said, you can still use the Premack Principle to your advantage, but apply it selectively. On our morning outings we made Bowie’s toy contingent on him pooping first because, as any decent border collie, he was too busy to poop. Did he, in time, like pooping better? I never asked him but I don’t think so. Another example: a friend made a wonderful video clip how she used the principle to give her old Sheltie medication. She presented him with a glob of raw minced meat in one hand and the pill in the other, gave him the pill, then the meat right after. Brilliant and it worked the charms—and it didn’t matter one bit whether the old fella liked the pill or not. She got the job done just like we got Bowie to poop. However, I would not be premacking in the context of loose leash walking or coming when called. Just in case it’s really only about fast and accurate, I don’t want either action to be something my dog wants to get over with quickly to get to what she really wants. I want that my dog genuinely feels good about being with me, and returning back to me.
Here is a video clip of a friend's young border collie. He was about 5 months old when I first met him, and frenetically yo-yoing between sitting and lying and jumping up on me for attention and treat.
A few moments later he it this: controlling in true border collie style Bowie's movements. No more frenzied behavior as soon as this teenager was allowed to do what nature designed him to do.
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