At the end of last summer, my family bought a new golden retriever puppy to add to the family.  Our old golden retriever had been the most well behaved dog around so it was only right to get another retriever.  My family loves teaching our dogs tricks so they can show them off to neighbors so it did not surprise me that the training started within a few days. It was not until taking psychology that I realized the psychological discoveries and aspects that are used in everyday life.  Operant conditioning and shaping helped me understand how our dog came to learn these ticks and how it happened so quickly.  Operant conditioning is when an association is formed between behaviors and resulting events.  Giving the dog a treat for their good behavior is commonly and widely used.  We also used shaping without even realizing it.  Shaping is guiding behavior closer toward the desired behavior.  This was necessary to get the puppy to do tricks that are more advanced.

With our dog, we were able to place a treat on her nose and have her sit there until we said “okay”.  Then she would flip the treat up in the air and catch it in her mouth on the way down.  We had to shape her by teaching her to catch the treat normally first and how to sit.  When our new dog got home everyone so excited to teach it that trick because it seemed to woo everyone.  To me, that was our old dog’s trick and this one needed a new one.  I came up with the idea to teach our dog to play dead on one single command and began my efforts without the family knowing.  I would give the dog a treat every time she got the desired behavior right, which I know was an example of classic operant conditioning.  Teaching a dog to play dead seems simple but it was more work than expected.  That is where the shaping came into play.

First, my family taught the dog to sit down. Easy enough. Then from there we had to teach her to lay down.  She picked that up easily with the help of me pushing her down a couple times.  Then I when they were not around I would proceed the shaping in the ultimate goal to get her to play dead on one command.  Next, I had to get her to roll over which was even harder than the first two commands.  All these commands took a different word to get her to do so now I needed something to link all three together.  After she was able to roll over every time I said it, she would go all the way back to her upright position, but I needed her to stay on her back.  During the last stage, I held her on her back and would give her the treat while she was still facing upwards so she would learn she has to stay in that position to get the treat.  From her sitting position, I would push her over onto her back in one fluid motion, hold her there and then give her the treat.

Soon enough with a little time, commitment, operant conditioning, and shaping; I was able to point a finger gun at my dog and say bang, and she would fall to the floor and lie on her back.  My parents and siblings were impressed with the trick and got a good laugh out of it too.  Playing dead became my new dog’s signature move so my parents could woo the guests.  So far, the audiences have not been disappointed.   While learning this in psychology, I found it interesting how people everywhere already use these methods and may not even know the details behind conditioning and shaping and unconsciously know how they work.  I thought it was interesting how psychology can tie into and exhibited in everyday life.

Above is a quick video I uploaded of my sister performing the completed trick with my dog so you can see how the intended, final trick is performed.  poor quality but achieves its intended purpose.  The dog did it flawlessly and the conditioning worked well despite the dogs lethargic attitude.