The Role of Reinforcement (Reward)

Right now two of my dogs are in the office with me.  Sheba is laying under my desk, and Tyler is curled up right beside my chair.  Both are in they early morning stages of being part asleep, part awake, and the only reason anyone got up was to come in the office with me.   I put my fooot down and stroked Sheba with it.  She ignored me.  I reached over and stroked Tyler.  He rolled over and went back to sleep.  I'd say that right this minute their desire for affection is low.

The fact that I use food treats in training certainly doesn't negate the need for affection nor does it lessen the GIVING of affection.

Creeping back to the confused corner now......

DPU

Kim_MacMillan

The dog most certainly decides what makes a good or bad reinforcer, or what is the best vs. a mediocre reinforcer. The dog also decides what is most reinforcing at that time - the highest reinforcer in the bedroom is not necessarily the highest out in the field, is not necessarily the highest in the backyard. So context is key.
Obviously the human decides which reinforcer to use *G*

I am not sure how a "Reward" thread drifted into a discussion on Punishment.

Anyway, I don't disagree with the above quote and I will go so far as to agree with the statement.  I believe this is a very common mistake by trainers by not recognizing that reinforcers are fleeting in the dog, that is their prize value changes because of the natural tugs of deprivation and satiation.  Of course, affection is never fleeting in a dog.
 

DPU, I was with you until the last sentence.  Affection IS fleeting in the face of a more powerful reinforcer.  The dog that is starving will surely forego affection for food.  And, if, as you say, reinforcers are fleeting in the dog, that should make some sense to you;-)) 

I've got the urge to swing my velvet hammer, once again. If a series of yelps, since the first one didn't stop the nipping permanently, result in lesser and lesser nips until a playful mouthing is achieved, what does one call an aversive that results in what is an essentially shaped behavior? If +P results in a cessation of behavior on the first application, any future reference to that would be, what?

Could it be -R?

Oops, I did it again.

As I have really come to understand, thanks to a few other threads in really parsing out what is going on, the dog learns by reinforcement, whether it is + or -. I think even -P doesn't train, per se. When the dog exhibits the proper behavior, such as not biting, and you return with affection, reward, whatever, that desired behavior is going to be reinforced. To put it another way, there is no -P without a follow up R, - or +, by simple reason that the dog does what works. For example, a dog tangles with a porcupine. And receives all kinds of pain that stops the play with the porcupine at that instant.With a strong enough connection of the pain with the porcupine, the dog will later avoid the porcupine to avoid the pain. So, the removal of future pain causes the dog to steer clear of the beastie. -R.

The dog defines what is R and always learns in R.