How Dogs Learn

How Dogs Learn

In common with people, dogs learn through association; this is called learnt behaviour. Unlike us they do not reason, work out, or imagine consequences in the same way that we do and that's the crux of most problems for dog owners. We tend to think that if we have shown a dog something like a slipper it has previously chewed and shout “No” - it makes the connection - because we would. Well it’s unlikely to. In other words unabashed confidence we treat a dog like human and it can only react like a dog.

Be a good teacher

The most sensitive time for dogs to learn is between 5 and 12 weeks of age and this is a short fast track learning period, training commands and reward techniques during this time, in other words they have been conditioned to respond for all future advanced training, positive manners and behaviour which is acceptable. Puppies should be socialised with people and animals and exposed to as many experiences as possible, like household appliances, other dogs, other animals and the environment, if they are to develop normally.

What They Inherit

Dogs inherit certain drives/behaviours. This is influenced to an extent by the dog's breed, for example a border collie has strong herding instincts - an acute eye for movement. When such a dog doesn't have the usual stimuli or exercise to satisfy its energetic instincts it may relieve its frustration in another way, perhaps by chasing cyclists or joggers - a ball is often used to re direct such behaviour. Temperaments prone to anxieties can also be inherited, but they are more often than not exacerbated by unwitting owners. Dogs have a plethora of wolf like natural drives and these are designed for survival in the wild, not in your home. So redirecting these innate drives is very important otherwise they will find a way to use that dive more often than not which pleases them not you. If you want to avoid conflict teach first not later.

Inherited behaviours cannot be removed. They can be altered and lessened or redirected to less aggravating behaviour. However, you'll have to accept that terriers will always be more highly triggered and prone to bark, and hounds more prone to follow scents and appear deaf to commands. But do not despair! In most cases poor temperament, for example fears and phobias, is generally due to lack of socialisation as a puppy, and this sort of behaviour can be improved. Some breeds have more robust temperaments than others.

Voice tonology - levels

Words in themselves are meaningless to a dog. If you watch a good dog trainer what they have is an ability to use voice tone with great flexibility a word (sound) should be delivered clearly and crisply in short sharp one or two syllable words. Praise and confidence building words when spoken in whispered tones mean so much to a dog in communication.

Reward

As we've already mentioned, dogs learn by association. Praise, whether verbal, stroking or food, is a potent bonus for a dog and when used in training it produces excellent results. If we command our dog to sit and effusively praise him simultaneously, the dog will quickly learn that this action is rewarding for it. Repetition will reinforce this and produce a good result. Food, toys, even exercise or time with you can act as powerful reinforcement when teaching a dog new ideas, rewards when used with good timing produce a well-trained dog.

Un Rewarding Just as a reward is effective in teaching a dog to do something, so an unpleasant experience is effective in discouraging a behaviour. Punishment is the word often used by me you cannot punish a dog in the sense you can with a human. There is no moral or guilt factor from the dog -punishment implies retribution and that in my view is not transmittable to a dog. If the dogs experience is unpleasant unrewarding this has an effect in stopping the behaviour in contention. There are many ways to show a dog he's doing something undesirable: saying No looking into his eyes etc. For example, if a dog playfully nips your hand then take the dog by the collar, simultaneously command No, stare into the dog's eyes for a few seconds (Don’t with Aggressive dogs). Dogs dislike this and soon find nipping and the resulting Alfa (leader) stare unpleasant.

Unfortunately human nature and impatience mean that people use punishment immensely far more often than necessary. It is possible to train a dog using little punishment. Rather than hit a dog for jumping up, teach it to sit and stay, command sit when the dog is about to jump up. This positive attitude is much better. Don’t weaken to the darker side of human nature. It’s worth remembering that dogs did not evolve to fit into our lifestyle despite this, it’s extraordinary that they do manage to get along with people so well in general considering how little we know about dog communication.

Timing

Timing is critical to all training, commands and actions. If you want a dog to learn, the praise or punishment must be given within two seconds of the action taking place. Whether its encouragement or discouragement, waiting too long means you may as well not bother. So a dog told to sit and praised immediately will get the message quickly.

Consistency

If everyone who's involved with altering your dog’s bad habits is consistent then the dog will learn much more quickly. If however someone is inconsistent, especially where a bad behaviour is embedded in the dog's mind, you will make little progress. This is not dissimilar psychology to child rearing. You will end up with a dog that sometimes obeys and sometimes doesn't.

An example of human’s inconsistency is our inability to self criticise. Nearly all people who see me come out with the same lines; he won’t listen, I’ve told him ten times, he just won’t learn and so on. I then film them trying to instruct the dog and play the tape back to them bearing in mind that they have been told what you are reading.

This is what they now hear “Oscar sit, sit down, sit here, stop it - just sit Oscar, Oscar sit down you bad dog” and on it goes. Now what sort of nonsense is that? The command was “sit”. The poor dog has to recover. It can be quite amusing and we can laugh about our human foibles.

Guilty or Not

Many people describe their dog as looking guilty when it's urinated on the carpet or chewed the leg of a chair. They infer from this that their dog knows it has done wrong. In most cases the dog looks guilty not because it feels any regret, but because it's learned to read your body language or tone of voice and it associates these with your anger and subsequent punishments. Dogs do not feel guilt as we do. .

Don't expect your dog to value material possessions. It can't tell the difference between designer clothes and a pair of old worn out jeans and to a dog there's no such thing as your food and his food, it's just all food, until it's taught differently

IGNORE - A Powerful Leader Statement:

If your dog tries to dominate your life style by excessive attention seeking (domination techniques), e.g. barking, jumping up, nudging, pawing, whining then introduce the IGNORE response to your dog. This is not always easy, but if you persevere and are consistent, few dogs repeat a behaviour which is unrewarding.

E.g.: A dog keeps pestering you. You say “get down-Stop it” or push the dog down physically or give the dog eye contact. Many dogs see these actions as rewarding, even if accompanied by an aggressive voice. The art of IGNORE psychology is to be aloof, imagine your dog isn’t there even though he’s driving you mad - after a week or so of you dog trying to gain attention and you ignoring him, the annoying behaviours begin to naturally extinguish.