There is no start and finish to training. Training is happening all the time. Like us, animals are learning and adjusting to their internal and external environments. We are constantly teaching our dogs that C (consequence) happens when B (behaviour) happens because A (antecedent and environment) has set things up for B to happen. If I use Mutley as a demo dog, he will constantly bark at me, and I chuck him a treat, because I need to be able to talk to my client. As you can see, he has trained me.
Dog’s will always do what pays off, what works for them, so we want to give them options that pay off for them and for us. We can do this by rewarding the behaviours we want and ignoring the ones we don’t, but we must learn from them. What were the contingencies and motivators behind these behaviours? How did the environment contribute to these behaviours occurring and what was the consequence for our dog?
Why is he likely to repeat these behaviours? Why would he want to change them, what can we offer to make what we want him to do more appealing, more rewarding and therefore, more likely to be repeated.
When we simply ignore the behaviours that we don’t want, we have to understand that these behaviours may become more extreme through frustration. Because of this it is important that we find an alternative behaviour for the dog to turn to instead that will fullfil their needs.
So, this is me in Florida training dolphins. Great fun. Not much call for a dolphin trainer in North London but hey. The science behind behaviour and training is the same for all animals… it is their learning history, physicality and environment that are different, we have to adapt to accommodate our learner.
I often use a dolphin analogy to explain how frustration can be used for us and against us.
If we want to teach a dolphin to jump, we first pair a marker…. a clicker or a word such as yes, clever, good, …… or a whistle when working with a dolphin…. to receiving a fish. So, we blow the whistle, that means come to the side and I will give you a fish. We then start using the whistle to mark when the dolphin jumps out of the water, and follow this with the delivery of a fish.
If we repeat this several times and then stop marking and rewarding the jumping, the dolphin will try harder and harder to earn the fish, and so the behaviour will become more and more extreme. I.e. the dolphin will jump higher.
We can then do one of two things.
We can continue to ignore the behaviour until the dolphin gives up jumping. This will be because it no longer pays, because we have stopped reinforcing it and making it worthwhile. This is known as an extinction burst.
Or
we can mark and reward the more extreme behaviour, the higher jumps, and therefore we have captured ourselves a higher jump which we can then continue to reinforce.
However, this can go very wrong when we work with dogs. For example, with a dog that barks for attention. We can ignore their barking, but it will get worse as frustration grows. If we give up ignoring them and tell them to be quiet, we have taught our dog to try harder to get our attention in the first place, if in fact that was the reinforcer they were looking to achieve.
Again, it’s important to be aware that reinforcement drives a behaviour to be repeated. If an animal repeats a behaviour, we know it is because it has been reinforced. But reinforcement doesn’t have to be something we would view as a treat or something positive. Feedback is reinforcement.
A squeal or a no or a “down” can be reinforcing to a dog and therefore cause the behaviour to be repeated. The very thing we didn’t want.
It is also worth noting that frustration can lead to rage and aggression.
So, here we have a couple of cute little dogs. One being a landshark and using his teeth nipping and one jumping up. Both common behaviours.
The consequence might be that we say ouch or we push the dog down. But depending on the reason for the behaviour, these reactions might be reinforcing. With the nipping, this could be to start a game in which case that’s what we’ve done by reacting. With the jumping up it might be for attention, and again, that’s what we’ve given.
We might punish our dogs for these behaviours or use what many trainers will now refer to as giving the dog a “correction”.
We might tell the little dog off for nipping but he might be doing that because he’s teething and it’s sore. We might tell the other little dog off for jumping up but he might be looking for comfort because he’s worried.
Correcting these behaviours is not going to help in either of these cases. It’s not going to stop the little dog’s teeth hurting and it’s just going to further upset the little dog that came to us for some care.
Correction and punishment is addressing the wrong end of the behaviour chain. By the time correction takes place the behaviour and the associated emotions have happened. It’s a bit like taking a Nurofen for a sore tooth, when actually what is required is root canal.
We need to look at what in the external or internal environment triggered that behaviour in the dog.
We need to understand what the function of that behaviour is to be able to help the dog and build new behaviours that give the dog an alternative that is better for them and for us. Correcting the behaviour does nothing. It just reduces trust.
As I outlined earlier, it is much better to build and reinforce a different and incompatible behaviour to the one we don’t want that we can positively reinforce so that it is much more likely to be repeated than the behaviour we don’t want.
It is much better to set up the environment so that behaviours we don’t want never occur, never become practiced and are therefore never accidently reinforced. Cater for the little dog before they have to ask us to.
Are there certain behaviours that we don’t want that we can pre-empt? If we know the motivation or the function for the behaviour i.e. what the dog is trying to gain or change about their environment, we can set the environment up so the behaviour is not necessary, before the behaviour occurs so that it becomes extinct. We can give them something acceptable to us for them to do that fulfils the same function for the dog, and perhaps make what we want them to do instead even more rewarding for the dog.
A chew for the teething dog. Take the worried little dog out of the environment or reward a sit before they have a chance to jump up, practice this until it becomes the go to behaviour.
So, I love this illustration. It is so true for all species including humans. We are all individuals and have our different strengths and weaknesses. Being different doesn’t make you wrong.
Punishment may very well stop a dog in its tracks at that one particular time, but there many things it doesn’t do.
It doesn’t take into account the why? Why did the dog do that? Or why didn’t the dog do that.
Why is the dog refusing to come back? Why doesn’t the dog jump that fence when I ask it too? Why does my dog just stop and refuse to walk any further when they get to the edge of the park? Why wont the dog jump into the boot of the car?
What if that dog just can’t. If we look at certain breeds some are better at running than others, some are bred to retrieve. Some are bred to wriggle down a hole and bring out a badger. If you throw a ball for a collie you are likely to cause that collie to get very frustrated. They are bred to stop movement and as soon as they stop the ball we throw it again.
Is our dog not doing what we want because of the environment, does the dog feel uncomfortable or in pain. Is there a visual block. Are we being clear as to what we want the dog to do. Are we offering a big enough incentive. Why should the dog want to do what we want them to do. Is it really difficult for them and why. Is it just not on their radar.
Is the dog physically able to do what we expect them to be able to do? 80-90% of sudden changes in behaviour or onset of behaviour issues are due to pain or medical issues.
We may have to change our expectations, or start off with making things much easier for the dog or much more rewarding to gain their trust and investment. Telling them off is not going to make them want to do much for us at all, and may even cause them to shut down and stop offering us behaviours at all.
All species, are designed to remember the bad stuff. Bad stuff sticks. If all we remembered was the good stuff, we would all be running around throwing caution the wind or worse.
The bad stuff keeps us safe. The more the bad stuff affects our emotions the more it sticks. Therefore, we must avoid dishing out punishment.
By the time punishment is given the dog may not associate it as a consequence of the behaviour we are punishing so to the dog we are adding frustration and fear. It doesn’t build trust with the human producing the punishment. It can cause mistrust, anxiety, and cause more issues down the line particularly if the why of the behaviour is rooted in fear or confusion in the first place.
Without knowing why, the dog is doing or not doing something we can’t help the dog to get it “right” in inverted commas, in future.
What we see as being punishment in our human world may well be reinforcing for the dog and what we believe to be reinforcing or a treat might be punishing. For example, some dogs don’t like being touched in certain places or hugged and restrained.
Just by changing the harness we use or by changing the lead or the way we hold it can make our dogs feel different sometimes better sometimes worse.
By rewarding our dog for doing things we do want them to do we are more likely to see them repeat those behaviours. By using food, we are rewarding them with a primary reinforcer, something the dogs requires and something that makes them feel good. Over time we build up positive associations between the new behaviour and the reward until the behaviour itself feels rewarding.
This is not bribery. We are rewarding a behaviour. The behaviour is not contingent on the reward being there, the reward is contingent on the behaviour happening. We are paying for a preferred behaviour. We are paid to work. The harder the job the higher the rate of pay should be for our pet animals.
We don’t necessarily need to use food as a reinforcer for that behaviour for the rest of their days, once we have built the association and the dog has practiced the behaviour enough it becomes a natural go to. Practice makes permanent. I am not still rewarding my children at the ages of 21 and 17 for toileting on a potty.
The type of treat can make the dog feel different. We can use crunchy treats, or chewy treats, and give them opportunities to lick. All these different textures make them feel relaxed and give them different experiences. Licking can really help them to feel calm. If we throw crunchy treats, we may encourage them to be more excited and motivated.
We can add value to the treats in how we deliver them.
If you are in a situation where your dog isn’t happy taking food as a reward, consider, is the environment making your dog feel uncomfortable and stressed.
If your dog isn’t doing what you want them to do, think. They are not being stubborn, they either don’t understand what you are trying to communicate or they are not in an environment they can cope in right now, or they are unable to do what we want them to do. They might just need to practice that thing because if feels different.
To explain how just small things and movements can be difficult and feel different, I would like you to Cross your arms….. now cross them the other way…. Which was easier? This could be why your dog does one thing rather than the other…
We must look at the root cause of the behaviour and not be so concerned about the behaviour itself. Without root canal, pain killers will change nothing about the pain in the tooth.
No matter what you call it, correction or punishment, we are looking at the wrong end of the behaviour chain. We need to look at the why? The root of the behaviour instead of focussing on the behaviour and how we can correct it. Is the animal behaving very badly or are they behaving the only way they know how to get back to a place of balance in themselves.
Then there are problems that we create without realising we are doing it.
For example. ON LEAD AGGRESSION.
Many people are scared to let their puppies off lead and so they grow up on lead and not really learning how to communicate freely.
Leads can hamper body language and limit the dog’s ability to make choices. Not just this but a dog that is never off lead to run freely and sniff and play can become very frustrated, and frustration, leads to rage.
More-over, dogs that aren’t often off lead tend to pull on the lead. They are in a hurry to get to where they want to go, where they want to sniff and they have bags of energy that isn’t being burned freely.
If we then start to decide that we want “control” and the way to do this is to correct them with a tug on the lead, we are potentially adding pain and discomfort to frustration.
If we are then tugging at them when they are going to say hello to another dog, or we happen to do this when someone is passing us by, we can create emotional associations. The dog will associate other dogs with pain in the neck and a lack of ability to make choices of their own.
We can also become a cue for the behaviour, through tensing up in anticipation that the dog might react.
Another example is RESOURCE AGGRESSION.
We all resource guard, this is why we have garden fences and car alarms. But aggression again comes from frustration.
When we bring our puppies home, we spend the whole time running after them removing things from their mouths.
Our dogs are intrinsically driven to hold on to these items which to them are perhaps important finds.
The more we pull the harder they hang on. Some dog breeds have been bred to find objects and parade with them and hang on to them for dear life. These breeds, such as spaniels have a high propensity to guard.
THE DOMINANCE THEORY, PUNISHMENT AND CORRECTION:
Science and research provide us with more reliable and ethical solutions to help smooth out the dog human relationship. Lack of control creates anxiety and at its worse level learned helplessness.
Although ultimately, I’m in control, my dogs have lots of control in their lives, both real and perceived.
Animals need control to reduce stress and maintain their mental wellness. At the same time, my dogs can gain access to reinforcement and support if life gets challenging.
Life is so much happier if we can focus on what we can praise and reward our dogs for rather than focusing on what we don’t want them to do. We can live in harmony with them.
Afterall didn’t we take these dogs into our lives for all the right reasons, as a companion. We should try to get to know them and their individual personalities rather than expect them to fit into our expectations and beliefs of what they should be.
As humans we love a good hierarchy and sadly, I have been to many houses where family members have been bitten and dogs are on the verge of being rehomed or put to sleep because they have been following a dominance/pack leader approach and the dog is defensively biting them.
With better information getting out there to families we can really make a big change for these loyal animals and the lovely families that care for them so much. Please read my blog “Dogs are Pack Animals”.
