Conditioning affects all of us in
normal life and as it relates to our dogs. It is important to understand
conditioning and how it works in order to best control it when it comes to our
canine companions.
First, let’s get the technical
“speak” out of the way and then we can talk in more layman’s terms.
There are different types of
conditioning when it comes to behavior. We normally refer to two
types of behavioral conditioning when it comes to our dogs; classical
conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical
Conditioning: Is a form of learning that
involves presentation of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some
significance. The neutral stimulus is a stimulus that does not normally
affect the behavior of the respondent. The significant stimulus is a
stimulus that evokes a natural response. Responses elicited by classical
conditioning are not maintained by consequences.
Operant
Conditioning: is a form of learning during which
an individual learns to modify the occurrence and form of its own behavior due
to the association with a stimulus. This is modification of
voluntary behavior. Naturally occurring consequences can reinforce, punish,
or extinguish behavior and are not always delivered by people.
Classical Conditioning is training
with a marker like a certain word or a clicker. It is pairing something
like a treat, with something that in the beginning is
Classical Conditioning
Not understood or known by the
dog. By pairing something that the dog would naturally want (the treat)
with something that the dog doesn’t really know (the clicker) it conditions the
marker (or the clicker) to mean essentially the same thing as the treat after a
period of time. Therefore the marker can be used to reinforce desirable
behavior.
Operant Conditioning is the dog
learning (sometimes on his own) what is reinforcing and what has negative
consequences in his own environment. This can involve human/dog training
or it can be something that is self-learned.
I believe that both of these types
of training are important. I really like classical conditioning because I
can better control my dog, his learning and his responses.
But, for the purpose of this article
I want to focus on operant conditioning and how it can negatively affect your
training without you realizing it.
Often bad behaviors or behavior
problems start out small. For whatever the reason, your dog finds the
behavior rewarding. He may begin barking and he learns that he enjoys the
sound of his own voice, or he sees the mailman leave after barking threatening
him.
An intact male dog may begin to mark
his territory inside the house.
If you notice the behavior in the
beginning, it is usually fairly quick to change. Instead of the behavior
being rewarding for the dog, you can change the behavior, or restrict the
behavior.
For instance if I have a dog that is
constantly looking out the window and barking I am going to restrict his access
to that window and if I have a dog marking or urinating in the house I am going
to keep him on a leash with me and restrict his access to my house. At my
house these things are privileges that need to be earned.
I am going to Change Bad Behavior
Before it Becomes Habit
But, I do my best to nip bad
behavior in the bud the moment I see it. Even if I think it is a
little cute (begging or tail chasing) I must not encourage the behavior or it
will become harder to eventually fix.
I recently had an older client at my
house with her 4 year old poodle. He was barking incessantly. The
problem was that her husband had originally thought it was cute when he barked
at the front door and at noises on the TV and rewarded the behavior by
encouraging it.
The dog learned that this behavior was
appreciated, so he began to show it all of the time. Soon he was barking
when a leaf hit the ground, or when his owners moved the furniture and
eventually it wasn’t cute anymore.
However, at this point the behavior
had become conditioned. He had been showing the behavior for so long it
has become second nature.
The same is true with allowing your
dog to urinate or defecate in your house for a long time. Instead of
being a behavior problem, it becomes a conditioned behavior.
A conditioned behavior is like a
habit, whether it be good or bad. But, habits are hard to change;
especially well established habits.
Old habits are hard to break and new
habits are hard to form because the behavioral patterns we repeat are imprinted
in our neural pathways.
The basal ganglion (in the brain)
appears to remember the context that triggers a habit, meaning they can be
revived if triggers appear.
This is why it is so important to
create good habits and change the behavior problems immediately when we see
them.
People often ask me “Is he too old
to learn”? To which I vehemently say “NO! Dogs are never too old to
learn!”
But learning is much easier if you
are not breaking a bad habit!
Which means you can probably teach
your 5 year old Chihuahua to “shake” hands a lot faster than you can re-train
him not to bark at everything that moves.
Condition and Reward Good Behaviors
to Form Good Habits!
Make sure that you are conditioning
the good behaviors that your dog shows. Encourage him to lie down, to
come when called, to be quiet, and to potty outside. After a period of
time good behaviors are also conditioned. Wouldn’t it be nice to know
that your dog is “conditioned” to come to you when you call him? But in
order to achieve this you have to put in the work and effort to consistently
reward it.
In order to achieve conditioning or
habit forming, you must be consistent with your reward. You must also
fairly consistently or regularly reward these behaviors. You can’t
condition the behavior and then never reward your dog for it again or the
reward and the habit will extinguish or go away!
Remember that many naughty behaviors
your dog is showing are self-rewarding. He doesn’t need you to reward
them because he is rewarding himself and so conditioning happens very quickly!
Be very careful what behavior you
reward! You may think, initially that you want your dog or your puppy to
bark but I guarantee after a time you will want some quiet and silence on
command. You don’t need to reward barking, most often it is a self-rewarding
behavior, and you do want to reward QUIET!
Be patient!!! It is very
difficult to change a bad behavior that has developed into a habit!
You must be willing to be almost
completely consistent or at least aim for 95% consistency and reaction!
This consistency is what helps to
form a new behavior.
Think of your dog as a former drug
abuser or someone trying to quit smoking. Be patient! Bad habits
don’t change overnight.
Don’t give up! Your dog is
worth your time and effort and he needs you to be resilient and patient!
A favorite quote of mine that
applies to constant, consistent and positive dog training
Comments
Post a Comment
Please do not enter any spam links in the comment box.