The Steps of Reinforcement
For Demanding Behaviors
As we are setting boundaries in our home, dogs who crave attention will often seek it by displaying undesirable behaviors. Those could include: Barking, pawing at you, pawing at the crate door, or jumping up on you. These are behaviors are often accidentally reinforced by the way we respond to them. Dogs will always repeat a behavior if their actions result in their desired outcome. In many cases, this is any engagement at all, even if it’s pushing them off of us when they jump up or even just giving them eye contact when they bark. To them, the pushing could be similar to playing or the eye contact could be a step in the direction of getting you to come over to them.
It’s up to us on what behaviors we deem to be okay or what we deem to be inappropriate and when. For example, I will not give my dogs any attention if they are nudging at me for pets. It’s cute at first, but not when I’m trying to do something. So I don’t acknowledge it and they just walk away and give me space. However, they will come over and stare at me when they need to go out to potty. It’s a subtle demanding behavior, but one I am completely fine with giving in to because I want them to let me know!
When setting these boundaries on when a behavior is okay for them to continue practicing and when it’s not, we want to be very clear on what is never allowed, what is sometimes allowed, and what is allowed all the time. I don’t tolerate barking at me for attention, so even if we are playing, if either of my dogs bark at me to continue playing, I stop playing. I like that they are enjoying themselves, but we live in an apartment building and their barks are incredibly loud. If either of my dogs come and sit or lay on my feet, asking gently for some petting, I will usually oblige. This is a behavior I find to be sweet and don’t mind repeated.
Think about how I said I will usually oblige. This is enough to keep the behavior going. If you want to know about that, I go over rates and schedules of reinforcement on the “How Dogs Learn” page.
If these behaviors have been reinforced before and now we are no longer reinforcing them, this is known as extinction. With extinction, there will inevitably be an extinction burst. This is an increase of frequency and/or intensity of the unwanted behavior. This means it will get worse before it gets better. You are not doing anything wrong. It’s part of the process!
My best analogy for this is a vending machine. If someone is used to putting money into the machine, resulting in receiving a snack, the day that machine stops dropping snacks will usually lead to the person shaking and hitting the machine. If no matter how hard they shake the machine or in what place on the machine they hit, if the machine never drops any snack, they stop wasting their money on that machine. However, if they find out that they just have to shake it at a certain angle and/or sometimes it will pop out a snack when they put money in, it is likely worth it to keep trying. So be the broken vending machine and stay consistent!
Before going in how these steps are applied, let me mention that these steps are only for behaviors dogs practice to get attention from us. They are not affective if we do these steps and they are demanding attention from someone else, unless that person also follows the steps as well. They are also not useful in situations where your dog may be exhibiting these behaviors, but not to demand attention, such as barking at someone at the door.
That said, these are the steps in the simple form (if you are out of sight of your dog, switch 1 and 2):
Eye contact - When they have been quiet or have backed off for about 5 seconds, you can give them direct eye contact. or pop back into the room if you were out of sight.
Verbal praise - If they have been quiet for about 5-10 seconds and start to show signs of settling, offer them verbal praise ("good dog"), but keep it in a calmer manner. Being too excited may amp them back up again.
Physical affection - If they have been quiet and have decided to lay down, you can come over and give them calm pets. If your dog doesn’t enjoy being touched or this isn’t what they are seeking, you can skip this step.
Reinforcer - If they have disengaged from you and are either resting or busying themselves with something else (genuinely relaxed), you can walk over and place a treat by them and walk away. If your dog isn’t food motivated, you can replace it with another reinforcer such as play or being let out.
If at any time during these steps your dog does the demanding behavior, start at the beginning!
Let’s break these down using the example of barking because they want you to throw their ball.
Extinct the behavior through the removal of engagement
Your dog barks at you. We don’t throw the ball and we disengage completely.
Step One
Your dog is quiet for about 5 seconds, so you are now giving them eye contact.
Step Two
Your dog continues to be quiet for about 5-10 seconds, so you verbally praise them.
Step Three
This is technically Step 4, as our dog in this example is not seeking affection and wants to play instead, but we’re going to keep the numbers simple. As they start to settle, you can throw the ball for them.
Step Four
Your dog has been playing on their own or has come over to you and politely offered you their ball, so you throw the ball for them to reinforce these polite behaviors.
It’s important to note that although the behavior might stop with you, there are instances in which the behavior will continue. It is likely your dog will try these unwanted behaviors with other people. If they also follow the steps, the behavior will continue to be extinguished. There can also be what’s called a “spontaneous recovery”. Extinguished behaviors may be stopped, but are not forgotten. As we are doing something that can be connected to their past behavior, it can trigger the unwanted response. An example could be that us walking through the door may trigger your dog to jump up on you for attention after they have been really good about keeping their feet on the ground as you come home. As long as you keep consistent and continue to follow the steps, this behavior will go away again.