Let's Talk Paychecks

Two years ago, I was up for a promotion with a big raised attached. They way my little branch of the government works, you have to show that you are doing the level of work required for the promotion before you get the promotion. Because of this set up, I worked my tail feathers off trying to get this raise - I joined committees, took on special projects, kept every note of thanks or appreciation, meticulously recorded every time I went even a hair above my current pay grade.

So when I got the letter saying I didn't get the promotion, I totally started slacking off. My attendance at meetings was hit or miss. I stopped jumping on extra projects. My notes and records started collecting dust. I threw myself a great big pitty party, complete with chocolate and whining to anyone who would listen.

I mean, if they weren't going to pay me for the work I was doing, why do it?

Photo by Paige.

In order to get excellent work, we must have excellent rewards. I don't usually pay a great deal of attention to our environment when I'm walking Rubi - I watch her like a hawk, and she tells me what I need to know. So when her ears pulled tight and she went up on her tippy-toes on a walk last week, that's when I noticed the white dog across the street in full on pointer stare-and-stalk mode. At us.

I stopped walking. Rubi looked up at me. "Good choice!" I exclaimed and dropped half a can of cat food down her throat. Once she'd finished swallowing, I gave her our emergency retreat cue, "Run away, run away!" And we jogged away from the scary, staring dog until I knew Rubi would be well under threshold.

This was a huge reward for Rubi! She got tons of yummy food, she got to leave a tense situation, and she got to run - just for looking at me! The thing is, looking at me instead of screaming at a really intense, fairly close other dog is really hard work for Rubi. And she did it without any real cuing from me. If I want her to continue to do this in the future, I need to make sure the reward she received was not only memorable, but also more fun than the behavior she would normally do (and Rubi thinks flipping out at other dogs is just about the Most Fun Ever).

Photo by Paige.

I don't get to decide which behaviors or rewards are valuable to Rubi. My boss doesn't get to decide that I will work just as hard for a "good job" (which is what I got) over a raise (which is what I didn't get). I decide how hard I work, and my boss decides how I will be paid. In order to keep Rubi performing difficult behaviors reliably, I have to make sure that I pay her in proportion to the amount of work she's doing. If she's working really hard, I need to give her a really big reward. Otherwise, she may decide to "slack off" and do what is intrinsically rewarding for her - like screaming at other dogs.

I eventually got my act together, retried for the raise/promotion, and received it last year. I knew that if I kept working hard, eventually I would get the reward I was looking for. I don't have a way of telling Rubi that if she keeps working hard, eventually I'll get around to giving her a good paycheck. All she has to go on is what she's experienced in the past. And right now, she knows that if she works her tail feathers off for me, she'll get a great big bonus paycheck. As a result, I have faith that Rubi will continue to work as hard as she is able to for me - as long as the pay is there.

Photo by Paige.