The Power Of The Premack Principle - How To Use Grandma's Law To Boost Your Dog Training Efforts

Do you remember as a kid when yourSince we now understand the Premack Principle,
Grandmother would tell you that you had to finishwe can set up training situations where your dog
your vegetables before you could have any icelearns to respond to the command "Come"
cream?before taking chase.
If your Grandmother or anyone else has everHere is an exercise that I teach:
said that to you, then they were using theWith your dog on a 10 to 15 foot leash, throw a
Premack Principle, also known as Grandma's Law.treat about 20 feet away. Let your dog see you
Basically, the Premack Principle is this: "If highthrow the treat.
probability behaviors (more desirable behaviors)Now let your dog go to the treat but stop her
are made contingent upon lower probabilityabout two feet from the treat. Your dog will be
behaviors (less desirable behaviors), then theinterested in the treat and probably ignore your
lower probability behaviors are more likely tocommand "Come." Give your dog just a slight tug
occur."on the leash and back up a few feet. Once your
Or to put it simply: "You can't watch TV until youdog comes to you, hold your dog's collar, praise
finish your homework."your dog, and then let your dog run back and get
So how does this apply to dog training?the treat. You have just used the Premack
The Premack Principle works great when you arePrinciple with your dog.
trying to teach your dog to come when called.Your dog wants the treat (very desirable to your
You see, when your dog is outside there aredog) but can't get the treat until she responds to
more desirable things to do than to come back tothe command "Come" (less desirable behavior),
you.you are now teaching your dog to respond to
If your dog is outside and sees a squirrel, theyour commands in distracting situations.
chances of coming back to you decreaseAt first you need to use the leash to get the less
dramatically. Chasing the squirrel is much moredesirable behavior to occur, but over time you'll
desirable than responding to your commandfind that your dog will start to respond to your
"Come."voice command and you'll need to use the leash
But...less and less.