For me, the most important aspect of balanced dog training that I’ve learned from this course is the critical role of reinforcement schedules — especially understanding how certain behaviors can be intrinsically reinforcing.
One example that really stuck with me was leash reactivity toward people. Some dogs don’t need the person to move away to feel rewarded — the act of barking itself can be intrinsically reinforcing. If we’re not careful and that behavior is allowed to occur intermittently (even accidentally), it can fall onto a variable reinforcement schedule, making it significantly harder to extinguish.
This changed the way I think about behavior modification: it’s not just about what we do to reinforce or correct, but also what the dog finds reinforcing in the environment — and whether we’re unknowingly letting those reinforcers strengthen the unwanted behavior.
Overall, the course deepened my understanding of how to apply balanced training in a structured, thoughtful way. I’ve learned how to transition between different reinforcement schedules, how to avoid common pitfalls in behavior mod, and how timing, clarity, and consistency are essential to building reliable behaviors — not just in training sessions, but in the real world.
- Lautaro Moya on 06/03/2025
I learned that it's important to really think about your reinforcement schedules to ensure that you are able to maintain a behavior you want. Staying on a consistent schedule makes it harder to then later switch to a random reinforcement. Sometimes when you are wanting to eliminate a behavior, there is an elimination surge that you must bare and allow to happen without accidently caving in or else you just put your dog on a random schedule which will make the behavior happen more.
I thought this course was great and very informative. Filled in a bunch of missing information for me to make things click. I would like to see an example or discussion on when the appropriate time to switch to a random schedule vs constant.
- Savvy Rivera on 06/03/2025
This course is sort of eye opening for some details in my dog training, since I am involved in IGP sport and the details are very important in every exercise. There are great advices on how to get dog more excited to perform certain behavior, how to manage his willingness to work, how to deal with no rewarding in trials etc. So much information in such short course, it seems impossible. I also like the part where Michael talks about why using of certain quadrants of operant conditioning in certain situations doesn't work and what should you use. Again great stuff!
- Nenad Todorov on 06/03/2025
Really enjoyed the course - Michael got straight to the point.
Timing of rewards and the ratio to me are the most important takeaways.
I tend to over reward and now I understand the 75%; 50% & 25% rule plus the timing. I also think a journal is another good take away. Highly recommend this course. Excellent!!
Thank you!!
- Jane Doody on 06/03/2025
The clearest example would be the extremes. Where too much positive reinforcement can make your dog only work for the treats. On the other hand, too much punishment on a behavior like reflex barking and your dog will shut down for the lack of awareness of the why.
So balanced training not only means used both ends of operant conditioning, you also have to be aware as a trainer to use treats and leash corrections in a balanced way.
Thank you so much for this amazing content!
- Pedro Ulises Silva Gutierrez on 06/03/2025