Clean Run - August 2017 - 18

The most common payouts are $5 and
$10. As you are gambling, someone
regularly strolls through the casino, taps
you on the shoulder, and hands you a
$100 bill. Do you stop and accept the
free money, or do you turn away and
concentrate on your lever? Of course
you take the money! Your machine will
still be there after you pocket the cash.
(Although you may decide to follow
around the money guy instead!)
We are walking around in a world full
of free $100 bills for our dogs. Being a
slot machine putting out random $5's
and $10's on a thin schedule is not good
protection against them.
Instead, if we are rich and consistent
providers of a variety of reinforcement
for our dogs: food, play, fun, and social
companionship, we have a better chance
against those tempting $100 bills.
The agility ring environment is a controlled one. Yes, there are plenty of

loose $100 bills in there, but we can proof for many of them. And if we have made
agility a source of invigorating, partnering fun for our dogs, we can drive it up towards the $1,000 range.
All in all, I'd rather be the much-maligned vending machine. I do plan to carry
around the treats forever. I want to be a consistent source of fun and goodies for my
dogs. Real life will teach them that occasional brief dry spells of one type of reinforcement are not the end of the world. My goal is not to get the most behavior out
of them for the cheapest payout on my part. My goal is for them to have fun, enriching lives and fit into our human world with the most ease possible. Being generous
with all sorts of reinforcers works beautifully for agility and daily life. D

Sources
Binder, C. (1996). Behavioral fluency: Evolution of a new paradigm. The Behavior
Analyst, 19(2), 163-197.
Herrnstein, R. J. (1961). Relative and absolute strength of response as a function of
frequency of reinforcement. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 4(3),
267-272.
Mowrer, O. H., & Jones, H. (1945). Habit strength as a function of the pattern of
reinforcement. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 35(4), 293-311.
Nevin, J. A., Mandell, C., & Atak, J. R. (1983). The analysis of behavioral
momentum. Journal of the Experimental analysis of behavior, 39(1), 49-59.
Schwartz, B. (2002). Psychology of learning and behavior, fifth edition. WW Norton & Co.

Eileen Anderson writes about learning theory, her life with three dogs, and training with positive reinforcement. Her book, Remember Me? Loving and Caring for a Dog
with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction won a Dog Writers Association of America Maxwell Award for 2016. She holds bachelors and master's degrees in music performance
and a master's degree in engineering science. She can be contacted through her website http://eileenanddogs.com.

The Handler's Choice
Practice Tunnel
Handler's Choice Practice Tunnels are excellent
medium-duty agility tunnels for training, and the vinyl
used is heavier than training tunnels sold by other companies.
It's made from 16 oz./550 GSM (grams per square meter)
vinyl that is UV-, rot-, and mildew-resistant. The tunnel is 24"
in diameter and comes in 10' or 15' long, with an 8" pitch.
Most North American organizations require a 4-pitch tunnel for
agility competition, however, an 8"-pitch tunnel is half the weight because half the amount of wire is used.
This tunnel weighs approximately 25.2 lbs., making it much easier for backyard trainers to move it around.

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