Clean Run Magazine - April 2009 - 67

Changing Consequences: Controlling Toy Reinforcement By Jenny Ruth Yasi, photos by author except where noted Assuming your dog has a reinforcement marker signal (I click with my tongue) and basic targeting skills, toy games can go far beyond boring fetch games to become powerful reinforcers of complex behaviors and amazing demonstrations of canine intelligence. Dogs naturally play with objects. This activity stimulates brain development, and promotes the ability to solve problems and to work around distractions. Toys help dogs gain controlled experience with things that go squeak and crunch. Toys expose dogs to new colors, sounds, and scents. They also provide the perfect opportunity to practice verbal cues. Imagine, from the dog’s perspective, what it must be like to conceptualize Get It or Go and apply one cue to so many different situations. It’s amazing that dogs can discriminate different cues, such as Ball, Frisbee, and Kitty. Still, we all know that verbal cues can be tricky for dogs. Responding to verbal cues in toy games is sort of an ear-training exercise for dogs. away means the tail is always wagging, even if I am taking away a beef bone. I play this way with retrieving games, too, but I don’t always trade one ball for another tossed ball. Sometimes I reinforce delivery of a ball with food. If we make a habit of reinforcing a retrieve only with another retrieve, some dogs might feel disappointed, as though the ball is a cue that the hot dogs are being put away. their toys or chewies. Dogs need to crunch, tug, rip, and tear, and so we provide plenty of dog bones and plastic bottles tied into knotted socks. Our dogs respond to familiar sock-bottles with enthusiasm. The secret ingredient to controlling toy reinforcement is about controlling your games. Don’t just throw balls, especially not for dogs that demand it. As dogs develop more interest in toy games, they should perform harder for each retrieve. Shaping Interest in the Toy Put a toy on the floor. The dog will (hopefully) glance at it. Click and treat. If he glances again, sniffs, bats, mouths, or picks the toy up, click and treat each interaction. If he ignores the toy and stares at you, release with a cheerful O.K., All Done, pick up the object, and walk away. Try again later. You can use a new object each Trade ya? Just before Charlie started fishing this bone out of the pool, he threw a ball at the other dogs. Toy Basics We can’t control toy reinforcement in the exact way we control food reinforcement. For one thing, dogs are too good at inventing their own toys. Whenever I try to hide all the stuffed toys, Charlie and Tigerlily start playing tug of war with my hat, or with each other’s tails! Dogs need toys. Dogs get tired, but they don’t get satiated with toy play in quite the same way that they become satiated with food. Over time, the more they play, the more they seem to want to play. What does diminish toy interest is punishment. Toy games are a sort of canine commerce. I like the way Sue Ailsby explains her commitment to always trading and never just snatching things away from her dog (Ailsby’s training blog at www.dragonflyllama.com). When I have to take a stick, ball, or my daughter’s mouth guard away from my dogs, I’d rather have the dogs hand the item over willingly than growl or run. Trading or paying generously when I take something time if you want. Try experimenting to see how quickly you can catch the interest of your dog with a toy, and then start clicking and reinforcing his interactions. Some dogs seem to have a superstitious belief that stationary objects aren’t allowed as toys. In this case, try putting your hand target to work. Holding the toy in your hand, deliver a new cue, Ball, and then the old cue, Hand. The dog will attempt to nose-target your hand, but the ball will be in the way. Click and treat. Play this game in many locations. Try holding the ball against your leg, the wall, or set the ball on the floor with your hand right next to it. See if he’ll target the ball when your hand is closed, but nearby. Move We might also inadvertently punish toy interest when we scream at the dog for destroying our possessions, like the Magic Marker pen. From the dog’s perspective, everything is a toy. Controlling toy reinforcement means setting the dog up for success by using management techniques. Keep the hamper covered, shoes in the closet, backpacks on the hook, Magic Markers in the drawer, and provide a plentiful supply of acceptable toys. Young dogs always manage to destroy something (in our house it’s pencils and underwear), but mostly they choose April 09 | Clean Run 67

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Clean Run Magazine - April 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - April 2009