Motivating operations are conditions occurring before the behavior that make the reinforcement more or less valuable to the animal. Taking Sam for a long walk before our dinner served to temporarily decrease the value of his 
bumping of my mom’s leg (begging at the table behavior) while increasing the value of his laying down and resting.
Are you REALLY using positive reinforcement in your dog training?
You may think you are using positive reinforcement, but if your dog or other pet is not motivated to do more of the behavior, then you may not be reinforcing the behavior.
