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Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network
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Intrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Reinforcers
When an activity is in and of itself, rewarding, it is said to be intrinsically rewarding, or intrinsically reinforcing, which means that the person or dog involved did not need to learn to value that activity, because just due to the very nature of that thing, your subject finds it desirable.
Thus, for your dog, the opportunity to run, chew, eat, swim, play, retrieve, go outdoors, or be with the ones he loves, may be intrinsically reinforcing, in that you don't have to reward your dog to get him to do those things. Rather, to many dogs, all of those activities are rewarding unto themselves.
Intrinsic rewards - which are called intrinsic reinforcers when they serve to increase the frequency of the target response - always have to do with the satisfaction of some physical need or deeply rooted genetic drive.