Updated January 2nd, 2018
If you’re not sure why your dog is following some of your rules and ignoring other ones, it’s time to take a look at which parts of your dog training you are reinforcing and which parts of your training you are undermining.
One of the simplest concepts of training a dog is that you get what you reinforce. This goes for positive behaviors as well as negative behaviors.
One of the dogs my neighbor had was a hyper-intelligent grey boxer, who learned quickly that if he jumped up on my friend and stole what she was eating, he would be met with laughter and praise.
She was young at the time and he could easily reach the ham and cheese sandwiches she was holding.
Because it was comical to watch, we would usually laugh and give him a head scratch.
Of course, he learned that it was not only okay, but encouraged for him to steal food and he started stealing it not just out of our hands, but off of the table, too. In just a few months, he became totally unmanageable.
We had reinforced this negative behavior because it was “cute” the first time he did it and that had taught him that it was okay.
No matter how smart your dog is, he still sees things in very simple binary terms. Things are either right or they are wrong.
If you are seeing a huge variety of behaviors, both good and bad from your dog, it is probably because you are reinforcing those behaviors, either actively or by simply not correcting your dog when he does something you do not want him to do.
For example, your dog, when he first arrives in your home, probably has no understanding of whether or not it is okay to jump on the furniture. To find out, he jumps on your bed.
If you scratch his head and sit down next to him, he will think it is okay. If you don’t react in any way, he’ll think it is okay.
If you tell him to get down and remove him from your bed, he’ll think he is not supposed to jump on your bed. No matter what you do you are reinforcing a behavior, which means that you have to think about how you are reacting to what your dog does.
One of the biggest issues many owners face is that they change the criteria by which they evaluate their dog’s behaviors.
For example, it might be perfectly fine in your mind if your dog wants to jump on your bed, but you do not want him to jump on your expensive couches in the living room. This lack of consistency can confuse your dog, as they will not understand the difference between your bed and the couches. They are both soft places where they can jump up and lay down.
Why is one okay and the other not okay? By allowing one and forbidding another, you’ll be constantly having to teach and un-teach your dog a behavior, because you are reinforcing the same behavior differently at different times.
Understanding the principle of reinforcement and how it affects your dog will help you understand how to properly train your dog. If you are noticing that your dog is starting to slip in a behavior that she has already learned, it is probably because you have stopped reinforcing that behavior in the way you were previously.
