How to Train Your Dog Simple and Complex Tricks
Leah Christian
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Not every dog owner has a background in psychology or animal training. Not every dog owner can afford expensive multi-week training programs at the local dog academy. Despite apparently lacking the ne 
cessary education to train a dog the reality of dog training is quite simple. Any individual with patience, time, and a brief introduction to principles of conditioning and dog behavior can teach their dog crowd pleasing tricks.
Principles of Conditioning
In the field of psychology, animal training is encompassed under the headline operant conditioning. This phrase has become something of a buzzword among the hundreds of self-proclaimed animal trainers lurking in every community. Despite its common usage, operant conditioning is largely misunderstood.
Operant conditioning is not, as commonly thought, related to Ivan Pavlov's experience with his salivating dog. Unlike Pavlov's experiment, which dealt with reflexive responses to a stimulus, operant conditioning refers to learning a behavior based of the consequences of that behavior. The most important idea related to operant conditioning is this: individuals will tend to repeat the behavior that is most likely to result in pleasurable consequences.
The principle guiding operant conditioning is manifested in the concept of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is adding something to the individual's environment that will increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant stimulus from the animal's environment as a reward for the desired behavior. Corrections are used to discourage an undesired behavior from reemerging.
Principles Guiding Canine Behavior
Principles of Conditioning
In the field of psychology, animal training is encompassed under the headline operant conditioning. This phrase has become something of a buzzword among the hundreds of self-proclaimed animal trainers lurking in every community. Despite its common usage, operant conditioning is largely misunderstood.
Operant conditioning is not, as commonly thought, related to Ivan Pavlov's experience with his salivating dog. Unlike Pavlov's experiment, which dealt with reflexive responses to a stimulus, operant conditioning refers to learning a behavior based of the consequences of that behavior. The most important idea related to operant conditioning is this: individuals will tend to repeat the behavior that is most likely to result in pleasurable consequences.
The principle guiding operant conditioning is manifested in the concept of reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is adding something to the individual's environment that will increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant stimulus from the animal's environment as a reward for the desired behavior. Corrections are used to discourage an undesired behavior from reemerging.
Principles Guiding Canine Behavior