Primary to Secondary Reward Value Transfer with Forrest Micke

Value transfer is our ability to influence our dog's perception of value into the places, experiences, and behaviors of our choosing. It's a fundamental principle both in 'everyday' training and in sport dog work. After we've taught our dogs to willingly transfer between primary reinforcers (from one toy to another of equal value), we can begin working on primary to secondary transfers. This is when our dog will leave the toy to rejoin us in obedience behavior in order to earn back the toy. While it seems like a simple concept, many dogs, especially those who are predisposed or have been encouraged in possession, struggle with this 'mentality.' Spending the time to build a healthy and cooperative foundation in value transfer has many benefits. We teach our dogs the value of working through us and with us – blurring the lines between 'work' and play. We overcome common obstacles of toy preference and value bias. We lay ground skills in protection sport scenarios in lower states of arousal which will allow us to more cooperatively build complete exercises as our dog progresses, also making it easier for us to avoid commonly accepted methods of compulsion to gain behavior. By prioritizing the fundamentals such as this, we will find that our sport and everyday life training becomes a series of opportunities versus a series of challenges.