Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Reinforcers

Dog training can be explained by psychological concepts.  Most people can readily understand the four quadrants.  There is positive (adding to environment) and negative (subtracting from environment).  Then there is reinforcement (increasing likelihood of behavior) and punishment (decreasing likelihood of behavior).  This post is going to be about the what positive trainers mostly focus on:  reinforcers.  Reinforcers are anything that increase the likelihood of a behavior.  In layman's terms, it is anything that the dog likes.  There are primary, secondary, and tertiary reinforcers.  Mastering the concepts behind what these mean is important if you want to master the use of reinforcers in general.