Editor’s Note: If your dog had two ways to get treats and only one of them involved enduring something that they don’t like (aka getting their hair brushed), why would they ever choose the option that involved something they didn’t particularly enjoy? Because giving your dog the gift of choice AND control is magical (it is actually a primary reinforcer)! We are big fans of start buttons when it comes to working with our dogs. Recently, we were having a conversation with one of our friends, Logan Buie, and she talked about adding a second behavior option (in addition to the standard start button) that doesn’t result in us doing anything to the dog to help ensure that your dog actually has full choice and control (R+ can be coercive if the only way for the dog to access reinforcement is by doing something they really don’t feel comfortable with). Our co-founder, Christie Catan, was very intrigued and thought she would try this out with her dog, Otis. Watch the video above to see their real life cooperative care/start button training session, and keep reading for all the steps she followed to see how choice based dog training can help with grooming your dog.

A Little Background On Cooperative Care and A “No” Behavior

Cooperative care is rooted in empowering animals to be willing participants in their own care. In practice, this means we give them a way to "say” yes or no. We give them a way to say yes by turning a behavior into a start button. Practically speaking, this means we only take our action after the dog offers the specific start button behavior. The dog learns that if they don’t give that behavior, the the thing we are doing to do to them doesn’t happen. Therefore, they are in control! As you may have guessed, cooperative care hinges on the ability for your dog to “say” no. As with human relationships, anything other than a clear yes is a no (and no’s get rewarded too!). Let’s say your start button behavior for brushing your dog is your dog lying down on a mat. When they lie down, you brush them. If they don’t go lie down on the mat, it is a no, and it is important that we honor and reward that no. Sometimes our hopes for a training session can lead us to push for yes even though our dog is saying no, so the experiment I tried was to give a definitive “no” behavior to compliment the “yes” (start button) behavior. You can find information about how I set this up below.

My Experiment to See How Choice Based Dog Training Can Help With Grooming

Step One (Pick Your Activity): I picked an activity that Otis isn’t super fond of: Combing. Prior to this session, Otis did not have a start button for combing.

Christie Catan combs her dog, Otis's, hair during a training session for how choice based dog training can help with grooming.

Step Two (Present Your Dog With Two Options for Reinforcement): We presented Otis with two options for accessing reinforcement (treats): A) Touching a target; and B) Lying down on a mat. (Note: This is a mat Otis has never seen before, so he doesn’t have a big history with it.)

Step Three (Shape and Reward Your Dog for Interaction With Both Objects): We shaped and rewarded him to interact with both the mat and the target right before we started filming to create a little history of reinforcement.

Step Four (Add the Start Button Element): Then we added the start button element: If he laid down on the mat, we combed him and then gave him a treat. If he touched the target, he just got a treat tossed away (did not get combed). We never once cued him to lie on the mat. We did cue him a couple of times to touch the target to ensure that he knew that he could access reinforcement without having to be combed. (You may also have spotted some reset tosses done to get him off the mat or if he hesitated.) We know the science, but watching it play out is still so thrilling. He picked the mat time and time again. This is also the best body language I have seen from him around a comb.

More Reflections on the Importance of Choice in Cooperative Care

Pretty cool, huh!? Control is a primary reinforcer, and sometimes we forget that. Give your dog a choice and reward them for saying no...and watch how much more they will say yes!

By the way, I tried very hard not to bias Otis toward one behavior with my own body language, but I very well could have shown more excitement over the mat knowing where I was going with this. It wouldn’t have been intentional but that doesn’t rule it out 😂. Otis definitely gets MORE treats on the mat since it’s a duration behavior (though I toss treats off a lot to make it clear that I’ll reward him even if he leaves), and that is intentional. This is a dog who really doesn’t like being combed, so to see this much more excitement for the mat given all the other ways I am reinforcing him off the mat is a big, big win!

I had fun adding this second behavior option and can see how it would be helpful. I think if you have good communication with your dog and established trust, you likely won’t need it, but if I am honest, I think I made more progress by adding the target as an option. You can play around and see what you think!

Have you tried adding a second behavior option to cooperative care? If you try this, let us know how it goes! Don’t forget to tag @tailsofconnection on Facebook or Instagram and use the hashtag #tailsofconnection.

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