The Power of Premack’s Principle: How to Use Grandma’s Law to Boost Your Dog’s Training Efforts

Do you remember when you were a child when your grandmother told you that you had to finish your vegetables before you could have ice cream?

If your grandmother or anyone else has ever told you that, then they were using the Premack Principle, also known as Grandma’s Law.

Basically, Premack’s Principle is this: “If high-probability behaviors (more desirable behaviors) are made contingent on lower-probability behaviors (less desirable behaviors), then lower-probability behaviors are more likely to occur.”

Or to put it simply: “You can’t watch TV until you finish your homework.”

So how does this apply to dog training?

The Premack Principle works very well when you are trying to teach your dog to come when called. You see, when your dog is outside, there are more desirable things to do than come back to you.

If your dog is outside and sees a squirrel, the chances of it coming back to you decrease dramatically. Chasing the squirrel is much more desirable than responding to your “Come” command.

Goal…

Since we now understand Premack’s principle, we can set up training situations where your dog learns to respond to the “Come” command before chasing him.

Here is an exercise I teach:

With your dog on a 10- to 15-foot leash, throw a treat about 20 feet away. Let your dog see you throw the treat.

Now let your dog go to the treat, but stop him about two feet from the treat. Your dog will be interested in the treat and will probably ignore your “Come” command. Give your dog a slight tug on the leash and back up a few feet. Once your dog comes up to you, hold your dog’s collar, praise him, and then let your dog run back and get the treat. You just used Premack’s Principle with your dog.

Your dog wants the treat (highly desirable for your dog) but can’t get the treat until he responds to the “Come” command (less desirable behavior), you are now teaching your dog to respond to your commands in distracting situations.

At first, you should be on the leash to get the least desirable behavior to occur, but over time you will find that your dog will begin to respond to your voice command and will need to be on the leash less and less.

Start using Premack’s principle and you’ll be amazed at how much better your dog responds to your commands.