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Dog Training Article's
Name: How Dogs Learn
By Picture Perfect Pets
Although it may be hard for some of us to resist the temptation to think of our dogs as our “kids,” when we set out to train them to live in the human world, we must keep in mind that they really aren’t furry little people. They aren’t born understanding our language or our culture. In fact, their instincts are often much different from what humans consider good manners and common sense. We must actually teach them how to coexist in a human home.
It is important for us to understand how our pets learn so that we can effectively discourage them from behaviors we do not like and encourage behaviors we’d rather see in place of those. You’ve probably already learned about the work (dating back to the 1950’s) by such scientists as Pavlov and Skinner. Thanks to their work and the work of many others, our understanding of how best to communicate with and train the animals we live with has become much more sophisticated. Today we realize that shaping the behavior of our pets doesn’t need to involve harsh aversives, and that in some cases, use of harsh aversives may actually hinder the learning we’re trying to instill.
Simply put, dogs do “what works”: When an animal’s behavior is followed immediately by a pleasant consequence, they are likely to repeat that behavior.
If a certain behavior is never rewarding to the animal, or is followed immediately by unpleasant consequences, the behavior eventually dies out. It’s just a waste of energy.
You must catch the animal in the act in order to encourage or discourage a behavior. It is possible to condition a marker such as a word or a noise to bridge the gap between behavior and consequence in order to buy yourself a few extra moments. We’ll talk more about these reward and no reward markers later.
Punishment after the fact simply does not work, and may only cause your pet to mistrust or even fear you. If you find evidence of problematic behavior, think of ways to prevent your pet from having the opportunity to do the behavior next time you’ll be unable to supervise the dog. Also think of what you’d rather have them do when they get the urge to do the problematic behavior, so next time you DO catch them in the act, you’ll be prepared to redirect them to an incompatible & more acceptable/rewardable behavior. Set your pet up for success!
Of course, it is important to determine what constitutes a pleasant or unpleasant consequence from your own pet’s perspective—not all dog’s respond the same way to various things humans consider rewards or punishments. Also realize that some behaviors can be rewarding in and of themselves (like chewing on material with a certain texture.) We are not the only sources of rewards in our pets’ world.
We'll rely as much as possible on positive reinforcement in this course, so our goal is to set our dogs up to easily perform behaviors we like so that we can be the “good guy” most of the time, and simply catch/shape and reward “good” behavior. Dealing with behaviors we don’t like is a bit more complex, so we’ll save that for later. First, let’s focus on the good. |
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