Behavioral Conditioning Essay, Research Paper

What I want to do is train my dog to shake with either paw upon request. If I

say ?right? I want him to raise his right paw and the same for the left. I

would use operant and classical conditioning to reach the goal of teaching this

trick to my dog. I must condition the dog to shake by using positive

reinforcement. The dog (Max) already puts his paw on me when I grab his head so

I will act like I am going to reach for his head and when he puts his paw on me

I will say, ?shake.? Every time he puts his paw on me after I say shake I

will give him a liver treat. Once I have conditioned him to shake it will then

be time to differentiate right from left. I want the words, ?shake right?

and ?shake left ? to be the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the raising of the

appropriate paw to be the conditioned response (CR). I will condition the

unconditioned response (UCR), shaking; the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), tapping

his leg, by using operant conditioning and liver treats as positive

reinforcement. Day 1: I began by acting like I was going to grab Max? head.

Just as I suspected he put his paw on my arm. I tapped his leg and I gave him a

treat as a positive reinforcer. I am using operant conditioning at this point in

order to establish an unconditioned stimulus (taping Max? leg) and an

unconditioned response (putting his paw in my hand). Once I have shaped this

behavior I can then go on to the second phase using Pavlov?s classical

conditioning. Day 2: After two days of fixed ratio reinforcement, Max is

beginning to give a conditioned response every time I tap his leg. Every time I

tap his leg we exchange a paw for a liver treat. I am using continuous

reinforcement today. Day 3: I have switched to using variable interval

reinforcement. I will only give him a liver treat whenever I feel like it. Max

is now learning that when I tap his leg he is to give me his paw. I am actually

conditioning an unconditioned response. I am still using variable interval

reinforcement but I only gave him two treats the whole day. Day 4: It is now

time to switch over to classical conditioning. I have the active ingredient to

do a Pavlov classic experiment. My UCS is now the leg tap and the UCR is Max

shaking. I no longer have to use any reinforcement. Every time I tap Max? leg,

he shakes. Day 5: I now introduce the words ?shake right,? the neutral

stimulus (NS), as I tap the appropriate leg. I am beginning to get the

conditioned response, which is lifting the appropriate paw. Day 6: I now

introduce the words ?shake left,? as I tap the appropriate leg. I now have

to reintroduce positive reinforcement. I am afraid Max might be forgetting the

CR. He is not wanting to cooperate. Day 7: The NS alone now produces a

conditioned response, thereby becoming a CS. I must use variable interval

reinforcement to insure the CR continues. I will use this schedule of

reinforcement so that Max won?t know when to expect a treat. I figure that if

he doesn?t know when to expect a treat, he will give the CR to the CS more

often than not. Day 8: When I say, ?shake right,? Max will lift his right

paw. When I say, ?shake left? he lifts the left paw. I will continue to use

the variable interval reinforcement to maintain the behavior. This was a lot of

fun and my dog just got smarter. I think I got smarter too. I think I could

teach Max to do whatever I want him to as long as I follow the simple steps of

conditioning, classical and operant.