FREE ESSAY ON BEHVIORAL CONDITIONING

BEHVIORAL CONDITIONING

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.