Why we throw food at barking dogs

If your dog barks when another dog comes too close in class, I’ll recommend feeding them. I want Trigger o bake and so when she does I reward her with a toy.

We feed one barking dog and the barking disappears. We reward another barking dog and the barking increases.

Makes no sense, huh?

We have to get a bit geeky here, so bear with us.

Let’s say your dog barks at other dogs because they’re worried. Worried is an emotion. Barking is the dog’s reaction to that emotion. They’re using it to tell the other dog to stay away.

If we throw food at this dog it’s called non-contingent rewards - meaning we don’t actually require the dog to be barking. We pay attention to what causes the dog to bark and we feed regardless of the behavior. Dog sees other dog, considers barking - food. Dog sees other dog and barks - food.

Let’s look at training a dog to bark. Usually we show them a reward and get them all jazzed for the reward and then don’t let them access the reward. Now the emotion is frustration. I wait until I hear a bark and mark the behavior and reward.

The function of the bark is to access the reward.

Because the behavior matters, this is called contingent rewards.

Why would the first barking dog not bark more?

Because the purpose of the bark is to change the environment and drive the other dog away.

We are not paying for the barking. We are changing how the dog feels about the other dog.

By adding food, and assuring the dog that they’re safe, over time we change their emotion about the presence of the other dog. Their anxiety decreases. With it, so too does the purpose of the bark - building space.

In the case of the other bark, frustration is the emotion. The function of the bark is to receive the reward. When we reward the dog for barking, the dog learns that the bark made the reward happen, especially if we only pay for the behavior of barking.

This is why it’s so important to understand the function of our dog’s behavior. And this is why, even though it seems counterintuitive, we throw food at dogs that bark at other dogs in class.

We aren’t rewarding the barking. We’re changing the reason the dog is barking in the first place.