This page on Dog Training Basics is part of the Beginners Course of the
D.S. Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network
A Point of Clarification
It should be noted that in behavioral science, it is customary to avoid citing inner events, like thoughts and feelings, as being the driving force that is causing one's subject to behave as he does.
Rather, the emphasis is always on identifying the factors in the environment that form and drive the various behavioral procedures.
Therefore, to speak in proper behavioral terms, instead of saying that "joy was the reinforcer" driving the barking behavior, one should say that it was the neighbor's dog, barking back in response, that actually served to reinforce the dog's barking behavior in the story just related.
However, it amounts to about the same thing, since I am just saying that it was the reinforcement drawn from the answering barks of the neighboring dog that created the joy the dog felt as he was engaging in the problematic barking.
To be sure, we are splitting hairs at this point. But then again, that's what behaviorists do. That's what science is all about.
I hope my behavioral colleagues can forgive the momentary lapse.