The notion that dogs should do stuff JUST TO PLEASE YOU, is quite outdated now. We know so much more about dogs than we did a few decades ago. The way praise was often (not always) used in the past and how this was interpreted as ‘pleasing us’ is now understood as the dog learning to avoid punishment. For example, a dog pulling on lead would be pulled harshly back and jerked around the neck until the dog walked without pulling. When the dog was walking ‘nicely’, praise would be given. What people would see this as was the dog working for praise and enjoying that praise. However, what is actually happening here is the praise is a signal to the dog that they have avoided punishment; the true “reinforcer” is relief/avoiding something aversive.
Fast forward to now, where there is far more understanding of praise and how to make it into a secondary reinforcer to be used in positive based training. When we look at what we can use to reinforce dogs, there are PRIMARY reinforcers which are naturally reinforcing and not dependent on associations (food, water, sex, safety, and some would add in social time and play here too). Then there are SECONDARY reinforcers which can be anything that is paired with a primary reinforcer, as long as the pairing is strong enough the secondary reinforcer essentially takes on the value of a primary one.
So while we’re talking about praise let’s look at how praise works when paired with a primary reinforcer. Praise it not something your dog is born to work for and love, however when done right, you can see the shift in body language to a dog who looks utterly joyous and chuffed when being praised, because it’s a predictor of good outcomes. If done wrong, it can either mean nothing to your dog, or occasionally can even be a predictor of something negative about to happen.
If you want your dog to enjoy praise and work for praise some of the time it needs to have meaning. A really simple way to do this, is to pair praise (and tactile/touch) with food. Below is a small video of how you can do this.
The important thing to remember here is that just like ANY secondary reinforcer, if it is not paired and maintained with a primary reinforcer some of the time, it will stop being reinforcing. If you are constantly praising your dog and over using praise without any significant outcome, your dog will habituate to praise (essentially rendering it useless).
Lastly, bear in mind that ANY reinforcer can down shift value depending on what’s going on with the dog and the environment. If they have just eaten loads of food, then food may not be as reinforcing for the time being. If your dog has been with you giving them attention and praise all day long but they haven’t seen another dog for a week, then your praise and attention will be less valuable as you see the dog down the road they love to play with.
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