Teach a foolproof DROP and COME using Classical Conditioning

There are two types of conditioning we use in dog training: Operant (aka learning by consequence, or "Skinnerian Conditioning") and Classical (aka learning by association, or "Pavlovian Conditioning"). When we teach new behaviors, we tend to focus on Operant Conditioning. In this episode, Annie talks about the differences between these two kinds of teaching/learning, and reveals how, in many cases, Classical Conditioning can produce very reliable behaviors with little effort. Notes - What vending machines can teach us about training "come" & "drop it" - Music: "Time Is On My Side" cover by Toast Garden - Sponsor: Train your inbox using SANEBOX! Get $15 off at Like this podcast? Leave a review on iTunes at or visit us on Anchor at to support it with a monthly contribution of $0.99, $4.99 or $9.99 a month. Thanks!

Transcript

Annie

This is a rebroadcast of an episode I initially posted way back in 2018, when I was just a young 38 year old, on teaching drop it and come using classical conditioning. And, you know, I think it's actually one of my favorite episodes. At least it's one that I know I've shared with a lot of clients through the years. Because it breaks down how to teach these behaviors, which initially, maybe don't seem so similar using nothing but your dog's ability to make quick associations AKA making use of classical conditioning.

And not only does it produce these behaviors in my experience, very reliably and very quickly, but I think it's a good way to sort of help people think about criteria zero. Like starting by rewarding for essentially nothing. Presenting the reward regardless of whether a behavior is happening or not, because we can always build a behavior from literally nothing. And so when you're teaching drop it or come, really the only behavior you're looking for is rewarding your dog for existing.

And I think it also helps one spot these methods of eliciting behavior in our lives too. I talk about sales in this podcast and how our behavior can be motivated by sales in a similar way. But you know, another way that I've explained it to people more recently is that it's not unlike what gets you to look at your phone. You hear your phone ring or beep, you look at it. There is some bit of information there that's going to give you a little dopamine rush. That information is not there to reward you specifically for looking at your phone. The beep got you there because of the repeated associations with that information on the phone that is going to be there, whether you look at it or not.

Anyway. If that doesn't make sense, maybe it will, after you listen to this podcast episode, which I specifically wanted to replay today because we are two thirds of the way into our dog training in 21 day challenge, which we've been running on Instagram. It's been so much fun, big thanks to Leah Wiseman who has been demonstrating every day all the little bits of these challenges, which are just like fun things you can do with your dog, quick exercises. And big things also to Alix Kriss, one of my favorite people in the world who has been doing all the behind the scenes organization and social media.

It's really fun. You can get the whole challenge all at once if you sign up for our dog training in 21 days online course, which we are giving away for free through the end of this month, if you go to schoolforthedogs.com/DT21days, and use the code DT21 days at checkout, you can get all the days, but we're also posting them day by day on Instagram.

And today's challenge is teaching Drop it in this way. So that's why I wanted to air this. Also wanted to mention that if you're doing the challenge, yesterday's challenge, day 13, was the elevator game. And, it's worth checking out the episode I did just a few weeks ago, called in defense of punishment, which talks about the elevator game as an example of how you might use negative punishment, even if you consider yourself a positive reinforcement trainer. So definitely check that one out.

Anyway, those of you who have been doing the challenge, thank you so much for participating. It's been a lot of fun watching all these videos come through, and if you haven't done the challenge yet, go ahead and check it out. You can start any time. It's okay if you haven't kept up with all the days so far, would love to see your progress too. So make sure to tag us on Instagram, or you can also just email me directly Annie@schoolforthedogs.com. Okay. Here is this three-year-old episode with our old intro music:

Episode 26 | Teach a foolproof DROP and COME using Classical Conditioning