What's in it for me? And Premack's Principle

Lusi, I have noticed recently, responds to my training very quickly in certain instances without food, toy or praise rewards. 


There are times when she can see that the action being asked of her actually leads to something that she really, really, really likes doing. We have started to call her behaviour of figuring out the benefits of complying with a command, the "What's in it for me?" principle or WIIFM? I have since discovered that this behaviour of doing something that leads to a more rewarding activity has long since been documented as Premack's Principle, (go figure!).


Sitting at the front door.

The latest training we did at the front door was a good example of the "What's in it for me?" or Premack's principle.


I ask Lusi to sit at the front door and only when she sits do I open the front door so that we can go out for a walk. Lusi must continue to wait whilst I exit the doorway and then release her. 


It didn't take long for Lusi to learn that there was a pretty good reward for sitting at the front door: The reward for sitting, was of course, the door being opened so that we can go for a walk. (No food, toys or praise rewards needed; well, maybe a little food to start with and a little praise!)


I am going to watch carefully to see what other desirable behaviours or commands are "eagerly" executed in order to achieve a response that Lusi perceives as a "rewarding activity". I am wondering to what extent we can use these activities as ways to promote training drive.


I have looked at Susan Garrett's list of what she calls "activity reinforcements" and her ranking of them. The activities she lists as reenforcing activities are however, mostly behaviours that are negative or undesirable self reinforcing behaviours, (for example chasing the cat, running the fence line) or lower ranking positive behaviours, (for example, a ride in the car). These self reinforcing negative behaviours are behaviours that I would prefer to minimize or eliminate not cultivate. 


I sometimes hear people say, "oh, he taught himself that," and it can be something as intricate as surf boarding! There must clearly be lots of things that dogs really, really, really like doing...but what are they? I know that we have a least two things on our list:

1. Going for a walk
2. Playing catch
3. Agility training; Lusi absolutely loves working on the equipment

I just found an interesting article on how to use Premack's principle in training. It made me realize that using a command such as "go play" could be a way to tap into the more dynamic aspects of what is interesting in the environment as an activity reinforcer.