Quote:
Originally Posted by james1
There are hundreds of things dogs do naturally, they only do them more when reinforced by humans, if a dog isnt getting that reinforcement it wont continue to do it for too much longer
Self reinforcing / self rewarding - unless its a ferral animal that utilises these natural intincts in order to survive on a needs basis then it is doubtfull the reinforcer will be that strong for it to persist.
The only thing it is satisfying it is drive, its not pursuing/hunting/chasing as there is no food received as the end result and once the strongest marker has gone it moves onto the next it doesnt stay glued on it - therefore the actual reinforcer is small. If you only got out into the open world two or three times a day for a few minutes, wouldnt you want to explore?
Once drive is cut out the problem is solved and this basically comes from the owner telling (reinforcing) it whats wanted.
I doubt very much whether having them obsessed with a toy they like will really do anything, as once it gets it .. it will more than likely run off as it has not realised the importance of coming back. It will probably be thinking ive got my favorite toy off you and im going to enjoy it.
You need to reinforce when it does come back that you require things (obedience) and having it learn what you require will stem its drive and replace it with a 'loyalty' (for want of a better word)
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Okay, firstly apologies to OP as I'm going slightly off topic here, but just trying to explain something. But hey you never know, you might find it interesting anyway
Here's is an example of self-rewarding/reinforcing behaviour:
A dog is bored at home alone and barks to relieve the boredom/stress, this is a self-rewarding behaviour. No human is around, the dog hasn't got much to do, so he barks. The act of barking is self-rewarding because it relieves stress.
All dogs behaviour is driven by motivation. In the example above the motivation is to relief boredom/stress, the act of barking enables the dog to achieve its motivation therefore the behaviour of barking is self-rewarding.
Does this makes sense?
Another example:
A dog pulls on a leash to get to stuff, whether that stuff be another dogs butt, a tree, or simply an opportunity to sniff something, explore.
So the motivation is to get to stuff, if the dog achieves this by pulling on leash, then this is self-rewarding behaviour (I'm most certain the human hasn't rewarded this with praise, treats etc). This dog doesn't care what you are doing, as long as he/she gets access to stuff then he/she is happy. The act of pulling has rewarded the dogs agenda. This is how all pulling on leash starts, and why it is then so difficult to resolve.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that dogs only more likely to repeat behaviours that have been reinforced by humans. "Life Rewards" are available 24/7
With regards to the OP, I'm not suggesting that Blitz should just expect her dog to know how to play the game of frisbee. This will have to be taught, of course.