A key concept of dog training is Operant Conditioning, this can help you understand the different methods you can use to teach your dog. Operant Conditioning contains four different concepts: Positive Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, Negative Reinforcement, and Negative Punishment. Most dog trainers, would advise the use of only Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment, the two most friendly options.
Operant Conditioning Terms
You may find the words Positive, Negative, Reinforcement and Punishment all confusing you with these theories but once you get to know what these words mean regarding Operant Conditioning, it can really help with your knowledge of training dogs.
Make sure that you keep in mind that when used in Operant Conditioning ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ are not meaning ‘good’ and ‘bad’. So don’t let the word ‘negative’ turn you away from using Negative Punishment.
Positive: In training lingo, ‘positive’ would mean to add something.
Negative: As the opposite of ‘positive’, you will find that ‘negative’ means to take away something
Reinforcement: In dog training, ‘reinforcement’ means doing something that increases the behaviour
Punishment: Again, as the opposite of ‘reinforcement’, ‘punishment’ means doing something that decreases the behaviour.
Positive Reinforcement
A term that you might have heard many times, Positive Reinforcement is the most friendly approach to dog training and is a very popular training method.
Positive Reinforcement simply means ‘Adding something that increases the behaviour’. Most of the time, this is seen as a treat, short play with a toy, or just affection and praise. This had been found a great way to do training due to some dogs’ treat and/or toy motivation or just simply the love for affection.
Some dogs however, they just enjoy the opportunity to put their minds to work and learn new commands.
Positive Punishment
Along with Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment is a method of dog training that Practice Paws does not recommend and instead strongly suggests the use of Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment.
Positive Punishment is simply ‘Adding something that decreases the behaviour’. This may be something like a short spray from a harmless water pistol or a small tug of a prong collar (we strongly suggest you do not use prong collars).
When you give your dog an experience like being splashed, it makes their behaviour that they are doing less likely to happen because they would (most likely) not like getting sprayed.
Negative Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement is ‘Taking Away something that increases the behaviour’. This would generally be taking away something that is unpleasant to your dog once they do the right thing.
If you are keeping the lead and collar tight by pulling up on it when the dog is not doing the right thing and then you release the pressure once you they have done the correct behaviour, this would be an example of Negative Reinforcement.
Negative Punishment
Negative Punishment is the other quadrant of Operant Conditioning, that Practice Paws highly recommends. It might sound a bit rough with the terms ‘Negative’ and ‘Punishment’. But just remember that these words just mean ‘taking away something that decreases the behaviour’.
This would be commonly seen put into place with Positive Reinforcement. If you are training with treats as rewards then when your dog does the wrong thing you just don’t give them a treat.
Negative Punishment is not only used in training but also in every day life with a dog, and especially in puppyhood. This concept of Operant Conditioning is seen when an unwanted behaviour is shown from your puppy (or dog). For example, they might be jumping up on you so to prevent this, you just ignore them and give them no attention. Then once they stop you give them attention (The Positive Reinforcement part of this situation), this discourages the puppies jumping because they learn that jumping up doesn’t bring anything fun compared to standing on four legs.
So What Should You Use?
As stated a few times, Practice Paws highly recommends that you use Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment. These two quadrants of Operant Conditioning are the most friendly options and they make dog training a positive and fun experience for you and your dog.
In training, remember to always be patient, some dogs are faster learners than others. Also make sure you are keeping sessions short to around 15 minutes (depending on your dog) as dogs have a short attention span.
One of the most important parts of dog training is that it is fun for you and your pooch. Watch your dogs body language, maintaining a positive experience for them by using Positive Reinforcement and Negative Punishment.
What a brilliant explanation! Thank you! Now I understand these concepts much better.