Rewards

In this unit and in others, rewards have been mentioned frequently. List those things that you consider the dog will find rewarding. What do you consider to be the best way to reward a dog? Explain your reasons for your choice.

Introduction
According to the Collins Pocket English Dictionary (1986), the word ‘reward’ means “something given in return for good, or sometimes, evil”.  As far as dog behaviour is concerned, this doesn’t mean that by rewarding our dog he will either turn into Lassie, or a Hound of the Baskervilles. Put simply, we use rewards to motivate good behaviour, or sometimes, to reinforce bad behaviour.

This essay discusses what dogs find rewarding, and examines the different types of rewards and how they can be used to encourage both good and bad behaviour.

Why reward?
Dogs do not come genetically pre-wired with an inherent desire to please their human owners.  They won’t walk to heel, roll over, or fetch your slippers without being trained to do so. We use rewards in dog training to help us to reinforce the response to a requested command or cue.  In her book ‘The Culture Clash’, Jean Donaldson suggests that the words ‘reinforcer’ and ‘reinforcement’ are more accurate words than ‘reward’ “because they refer to a ‘reward’ that actually served to increase responding, as opposed to only referring to the intention of the rewarder”.(1)

No training without motivation and reward
“The first task in training any animal is finding out what motivates it. No motivation, no training.”(2)

We are all motivated by different things - money, happiness, relaxation - and the way carry out our daily lives is directly related to the rewards we receive in response to the relative importance of our motivations.  For example, I am motivated by money, but only to the extent that I can use it to pay my bills.  Society has ‘trained’ me to go to work, to be rewarded by my monthly paycheck which motivates me to pay my bills.  I am more motivated by good company than money.  So, if I was offered another job, with a higher salary, but with no other work colleagues, I would not be motivated by the offer to change jobs.

Dogs are no exception to the need for motivation.  They can be motivated by play, attention, food, the avoidance of pain, the opportunity to socialise with other dogs, and the opportunity to investigate new and unusual smells.  We use these motivations to help us train our dogs, and the training is reinforced through the use of rewards.

An example of the different kinds of motivation in dogs is demonstrated each week at the agility class I attend with my dog Tabasco.  Tabasco is highly motivated by food, and the more ‘high value’ the food reward, the more likely he is to work the apparatus as requested.  Some of his agility classmates are more motivated by playing (via the toy the handler is holding) or by chasing something (via the release of a tennis ball at the end of a set of jumps).

Jean Donaldson makes another interesting comment about motivation and training.  She suggests that dog trainers relish the opportunity to conform those dogs who are highly motivated by food, attention, or the opportunity to meet other dogs, for example.  These ‘hi drive’ chaps are more likely to respond to rewards that fuel their motivations.  On the other hand, the laid-back lad who doesn’t steal food, get overexcited when you arrive home, or who doesn’t pull on the lead to reach his doggy pals, is more challenging for a trainer, and harder to train.  The ‘lo-drive’ individuals are not motivated by any rewards on offer - they are simply too chilled to be bothered.(3)  

Types of rewards
Jean Donaldson and Bruce Fogel both have comprehensive lists of items/activities that dogs find rewarding.(4)(5)  The list below identifies these and offers examples of how they can reinforce good and bad behaviour.

1. Food
Good: A very useful, and potent, training aid. Highly food-motivated dogs will be the most responsive to food rewards.Tabasco must always go to his bed and wait before he is allowed to eat breakfast/dinner.

Bad: Leaving the Sunday roast on the kitchen counter to cool is too strong a temptation for a highly food-motivated dog. Jumping onto the counter is instantly ‘rewarded’ by eating the contents of the roasting dish. Leaving food within easy reach therefore encourages bad behaviour in this case.

2. Touch
Good: Stroking or petting a dog has a calming effect which is rewarding for those dogs who are motivated by touch.

Bad: If a dog is displaying fear or anxiety, however, perceived reassurance through stroking by the human only serves to reinforce and reward the anxious dog.

3. Sound
Good: Positive praise, such as saying “yesss!”, following quickly by a food reward or a pat, is a useful secondary reinforcer during a training session, and can be introduced into everyday activities with your dog.

Bad: Shouting at a dog with an angry voice if he jumps up translates as praise to the dog, even though that was not the intent of the owner.  In this case, the owner is actually reinforcing bad behaviour.

4. Play or other enjoyed activity
Good: Exciting play, for example, tug-of-war, ball chasing, or rough-and-tumble is a great reward for those dogs who enjoy physical activity.

Bad: Chasing a squirrel while out on a walk, or a jogger, cyclist, or swan (in my dog’s case) is also extremely rewarding.

5. Owner attention, and attention and access to people
Good: I have taught my dog to ring a bell by the back door when he wants to go outside.  He has learnt that the door is only opened by me when he rings the bell.

Bad: Tabasco also unfortunately has the art of food begging and looking mournful down to a tee.  When my parents visit, my dad is always the first to fall for his ‘feed me, I’m starving!’ technique.

6. Chewing
Good: Chewing can be rewarding because it has a ‘subduing effect on the dog’s state of arousal’.(6) Chewing on a bone or a chew-stick can keep a dog content for hours.

Bad: Leaving your precious Jimmy Choos (or should I say Jimmy ‘Chews’) lying around for an afternoon munch is as much a reward for a dog as a chew toy.

Reward values
Like humans, dogs assign value rankings to rewards.  The more valuable the reward, the more quickly they are likely to learn.(7)  Moreover, these rewards are likely to become more potent after a period of deprivation.(8)

Tabasco helped me to prove both of the above points at a recent agility class. A simple sequence - 2 jumps, tunnel, 2 jumps - was laid out.  (Tabasco is highly food oriented, so I always reward him with food during the agility class. All I had with me were a few pieces of Schmackos - ok, but not as good as chicken!) Tabasco had no problem with the jumps, but, unusually for him, failed at the tunnel.  I upped the anti, and swapped the Schmackos for cooked chicken.  Instead of luring him with the chicken in my hand, I let him know it was safe in my bum-bag and sent him round the course again. Eventual success! Offer of a higher value reward, withheld until completion of the course, did the trick for Tabasco.  (I should mention that the following week, he completed the same set of apparatus three times in a row! Clever boy!)

What is the best way to reward a dog?
As previously discussed, all dogs are different.  Like humans, they have different motivations.  And they also have different levels of motivation.  Therefore, what may be rewarding for one dog, may not necessarily be rewarding for another.  

I consider that the best way to reward a dog is to understand what is most rewarding for them, i.e. food or play, and reinforce it with a secondary reward, i.e. praise or touch.  My dog will always finish a set of agility jumps because he knows there is a tasty treat coming his way, followed by an enthusiastic “good boy!” when he does so.  Polly, the border collie in our agility class will finish a set of jumps just because she loves the activity of doing so, plus, she a quick chase of a tennis ball at the end, followed by an exuberant “what a good girl!”.  

Conclusion
Rewards are used in dog training as a way to positively reinforce good behaviour.  However, they can also reinforce bad behaviour if not used in the correct way.  As dog owners, we should be aware of what our dogs are motivated by and this can help us to identify how to best reward them during training for everyday life with us.


Works Cited
(1) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.128 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(2) The Culture Clash, ch.1, p.15 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(3) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(4) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(5) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.101 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(6) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.102 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(7) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.101 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(8) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)


Bibliography
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)