Behavior Chains: Are You Teaching Your Dog to be Bad to be Good? #42

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What if I were to tell you that your dog’s worst behaviour could very likely be there because you have been unintentionally reinforcing it? It might be your dog jumping on guests, barking, getting on the furniture, counter surfing, not wanting to leave the park, lunging, not bringing back a ball. All of these frustrations and many others are things you could be accidentally rewarding your dog for doing. How does this happen? It’s got everything to do with behaviour chains.

In the episode you'll hear:

• How to recognize a behaviour chain and how they work. • About the reinforcement of social attention for dogs. • How your words can be associated with rewards. • About your dog and patterns of reinforcement. • How your dog learns “gotta be bad to be good”. • Why your dog doesn't want to leave the park. • The ways to fix your inadvertent behaviour chains. • How important reinforcement is and why treats are just one form. • The example of a simple behavior being turned into a chain with repeated cues. • How to set up your dog for success. • About rehearsing the correct end of a behavior chain.

Resources:

• Podcast Episode 2: Reinforcement-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/2/ • Podcast Episode 33: How Do I Stop My Dog Counter Surfing?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/33/ • Podcast Episode 19: One of My Biggest Pet Peeves in Dog Training-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/19/ • Podcast Episode 29: Understanding and Preventing Reactivity and Aggression in Your Dog-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/29/ • Podcast Episode 39: Is a Resistant Dog a Stubborn Dog?-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/39/ • Podcast Episode 40: Using a Head Halter on a Dog, Why My Approach is so Different-https://dogsthat.com/podcast/40/ • Home School the Dog-https://dogsthat.com/home-school/ • Recallers-https://recallers.com/ • DogsThat.Com-https://dogsthat.com/