Building a Secondary Reinforcer

There are two types of reinforcers - the primary reinforcer and the secondary reinforcer. A primary reinforcer is the treat itself, which can be paired with a word or sound to create a secondary reinforcer. This week we will work on building the secondary reinforcer.

Tips for Training Success

Find a treat that your dog loves.

• Some tasty treats to try with your dog are hotdogs, bacon, fish, chicken, etc.

• I recommend trying a few different treats to see which one gets your dog most excited.

• You can also use a mixture of their favorites to make things a little more exciting.

• If your dog is not food motivated, you can also use their favorite toy.

Use treats no larger than the size of a pea.

• If you have a small dog, you will need the treats to be even smaller.

• You want to create a high rate of reinforcement without filling your dog up too quickly.

If you have more than one dog, work with one dog at a time.

• Give the dog that is not working something fun to do (i.e., a puzzle toy, stuffed Kong, or a bully stick) in a separate room.

Work in a familiar, non-distracting environment.

• I always recommend starting inside your home and moving outside once your dog has the behavior down.

If you have a high energy dog, take them on a walk or play fetch to get some energy out before training.

Steps for Building a Secondary Reinforcer

Decide on a word or sound that you would like to use as your secondary reinforcer. Here are some that are commonly used:

• A nice, short word to use (i.e., YES!, GOOD!, or taco) - this is what I will be using in my demonstrations

• A clicker (can be found at any pet store)

• A mouth click

• A whistle

With your dog present, say your decided upon word and immediately treat. It’s that easy!

Continue doing this until your dog begins to recognize that the word or sound = treat.

• Your dog will perk up and look for a treat when they begin to associate the word or sound with the treat.

Keep training sessions short (about 5 minutes) and do multiple training sessions throughout the day.