As positive reinforcement trainers, “rewards” of various kinds are an integral part of our training. The best trainers are great at applying not only the fundamentals of criteria-timing-rate of reinforcement, but also at using reward deliveries and reward placements to their advantage. Our training community as a whole has become very skilled at figuring out reinforcers that’ll work for each individual and for each instance of training, and at building and maintaining great reward procedures. Marvellous – Now let’s keep developing all of this and add to it by turning our attention to an aspect that hasn’t yet gotten the attention it deserves: The very end of each reward!
Join Eva and Emelie as they zoom in on working with “reward ends” as a starting point for the next behavior. The Swedish duo will demonstrate how you can make use of this precious moment in the training loop to prevent problems, resolve existing issues, and create smooth and seamless training.
Imagine if you always knew where to start when working on a new behavior and always had a place to go back to if needed? If unwanted or unhelpful behavior never got any room to seep into your training? Further, imagine if you as a trainer were always ready to do your thing? All your gear was where it was supposed to be, you knew what you were looking for, and you had your act together when it came to direction and delivering the reinforcer? And how about if your dog was ready to go, in the right spot and in the right direction at the right moment? How about if all cues, prompts, and targets were always presented at the exact moment where they benefit your training the most? Wouldn’t that be AWESOME?
These are just some of the things you’ll get in this lecture… Are Eva and Emelie going to lecture on a magic pill for trainers ™? Nope, they are going to share with you their love for this sweet spot in the training loop, a sweet spot with special potential – the instance just as each reward ends.
