Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning is a training technique that teaches the learner that behavior affects consequence.

A dog that is operant understands that her behavior affects her consequence. “I do this, and then that happens.”

Operant Conditioning usually uses marker words or signals to indicate the behavior and follows those marker words with fitting consequences. Your dog learns that this exact behavior results in this consequence and modifies his or her behavior to create or avoid the expected consequence.