“What you click is what you get!”

This was a common phrase when I worked with animal trainer Bob Bailey and I have never forgotten the importance of WHAT and HOW you reinforce a behaviour, and how it translates into your dog training.  Reinforcement is such an incredible tool if utilized well, but so often I think it is overlooked or misunderstood in the agility world.  When I am teaching I often ask students “what are you looking to reinforce?” or “what did you reinforce? & why did you reinforce in that way?”.  This helps bring some awareness to the how and the why instead of just tossing a toy or pulling out a cookie from your pocket. 

Your dog is ALWAYS learning, and every time you give them attention, whether its a cue, praise, a toy, food, freedom etc., you are strengthening the behaviour they are performing at said time.  The more you become aware of the what and the how of all the reinforcement you utilize, the clearer and more efficient your training becomes, making it much easier for the dog to comprehend.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemy in training, thinking we are reinforcing one thing but ultimately reinforcing something completely opposite just with the way we deliver the reward. 
The first step is knowing the dog you have, in the environment you’re working in and having a really clear idea of what behaviours you are hoping to build.  A huge part of foundation training is simply building up the different rewards you can utilize in training, building boundaries and control around those rewards so that you can use them as effectively as possible.  If your dog cannot ignore the food, or a toy it is going to make using that reward much more challenging.  If your dog does not bring the toy back easily, then you end up never using it, or placing the reward in the appropriate place.  If your dog does not learn to play, it is much harder to reward at a distance, and if your dog does not value food it’s harder to reinforce control positions.
When dogs are learning agility skills I often place rewards to help build commitment, then as I fade those placed rewards I use more tossing of food or toy to still create strong commitment and distance to cues that require them to ignore my motion or position.  When your dog begins to sequence and you are no longer working to reinforce one specific skill, it can often be harder to know when, where and how to reinforce your dog in agility. 
It drives me crazy when a dog and handler finish a sequence and the dog just grabs the toy out of the handlers hand, or maybe they toss it across the field to reward the sequence.  Every reward you give your dogs (especially the high value toys and food) can be used to build better behaviour, so I hate to just give the reinforcement away after a drill is done.  Changing your habits to utilize your reinforcement can really help strengthen your dogs behaviours for the better.  It is a great habit to end your training sequences on a specific skill you need to strength like a tight turn, a hard verbal discrimination, good contact performance or even a newer verbal skill.  For the dogs who need more distance and commitment, tossing or placing the toy on their line or for the dogs who like to work away too much you can reinforce them for coming in close. 
When your dogs are older and have good skills I find it really helps to think about HOW you reinforce in a training drill.  If you have a dog who needs more OOMPH then working on chasing the toy or food from your hand or racing them to the reward will help build the speed and drive.  If you have a dog who has plenty of oomph but struggles to keep their mind in higher arousal then you want to reinforce them in a way that requires self control, thinking, staying calm and regulated. 
For my own dogs, I am always working to reinforce more thinking and listening, they have plenty of drive and speed so I would never reinforce them for chasing me for the tug or letting them race thoughtlessly to the reinforcement.  I need my dogs to be very aware of my movement, always listening to my cues and I really really want them to be respectful of their bodies so I tend to reinforce them in a way that very easily creates those behaviours.  This makes your training sooo much more efficient because you’re working on reinforcing so many different things all at once.  There is no point for rewarding a really good effort of self control by having them race to the toy or chase you down, they have enough natural value for all of those things so its much more effective to reinforce control in a way that continues to build control. 
Training some of these reinforcement cues and tools so your dog knows how to be reinforced in the ways and locations you want them to be will really help bring your dog training to the next level.  It is amazing how so many unwanted behaviours in agility stem from a lack of self control – off courses, bars, weave entries and exits – if your dog is always in a hurry and not able to remain in a regulated state of mind then those things will always be a challenge as they rush and rush on to the next thing.  If HOW you reinforce your dog leads them further and further from being in their own minds then your training sessions will never be efficient. 
Remember that you have to be conscious of the dog that you have in the environment you put them in, be aware of what they need and plan your reinforcers accordingly.  Think before you train – “what am I looking to reinforce?” And “how can I best create the behaviours I want with the reinforcement I have?”.  Sometimes this means going back to foundations to establish more tools and more ways of reinforcing the behaviours we want to see on course.  Push yourself to think more about every reward you deliver both on and off the agility field, build awareness around how those rewards effect behaviour, and remember, your dog is always learning 🙂

Here is some examples how I like to reinforce my experienced dogs in training, have fun!