Category Archives: Dog Behaviour

12/7/11

Myrtle at 6 Weeks

We are very happy to introduce Myrtle, our newest resident.  Myrtle is 6 weeks old and is the daughter of my Clover, out of a dog in Victoria.  She was born a singleton puppy, and we were lucky enough to find two 9-day-old puppies that have been her siblings.  Myrtle is 3 days younger than her foster-siblings.

This mating has been a long time in the making, and so far, we are quite happy with the result.

So here is a video of Myrtle, at 6 weeks (and 1 day) old doing some training.  It is mostly fun – we are playing tug. I was going to edit out the minute where she goes and entertains herself but that, in itself, is quite amusing.  She pretty much knows ‘sit’ and ‘touch’, but and in this video we practice ‘give’ (the tug toy back) and ‘drop’.

I was happy with this training session. We both had fun, and that’s all I really want at this stage.

12/1/11

McGreevy and Non-Associative Learning

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

 

Paul McGreevy spoke a little about non-associative forms of learning.  I found these particularly interesting, as I have not actively considered these forms of learning before, let alone attended a seminar about them!  Though I had heard of habituation and sensitisation before, McGreevy clarified and solidified my prior understanding.

Mostly, the seminar considered classical and operant conditioining.  In both of these forms of learning, an association is made between one thing and another.  For example, if a dog hears the fridge open, they associate this with food, and start salivating.  Similarly, a dog may associate the action of sitting with a toy reward.

Dogs can learn to habituate to water.

However, training can also be non-associative.  Non associative learning uses a single stimuli (i.e. ‘thing’, trigger).  The two forms of non-associative learning, as McGreevy put it, are habituation and sensitisation.

 Habituation

Habituation is the simplest form of learning.  When an animal is repeatedly exposed to a stimuli, and their response decreases on each exposure, then they are habituating to the stimuli.

For example, a dog may startle at the sound of a door slamming shut in the wind initially.  However, as this occurs once or twice a day, the dog begins to startle less and, eventually, barely responds to the door slams. This dog has been habituated to the door slamming noise.

Habituation can occur at different rates.  It depends on the stimulus, the frequency of presentation, and the regularity of exposure.

The stimulus itself can be benign or more alarming. For example, a rock on the ground is less alarming than a bag blowing in the wind. In this way, the nature of the stimulus (i.e. the stimulus itself) can affect the likelihood of habituation taking place, with ‘boring’ stimuli more likely to be habituated to.

The frequency of presentation of the stimulus can also the rate of habituation.  Clearly, if an animal was exposed only once to an aversive stimuli, they are unlikely to reduce their response in subsequent exposures.  For example, some dogs are alarmed by the smell of predators, like foxes.  A dog exposed to fox smell may at first respond in a hyper-aroused or anxious way.  However, over time, the dog may begin to habituate to the smell of a fox if it was frequent (for example, if the dog was frequently walked along a route with fox smell).

Finally, the regularity of exposure is important.  If an animal is exposed to a stimulus only once a year or once every few months, it is unlikely to habituate.  For example, if the exposure was daily, then they are more likely to habituate to the phenomena.  McGreevy made reference to puppy schools, and how they normally happen on an irregular basis (i.e. once a week) and this is not enough for puppies to become habituated to people and other dogs.

Sensitisation

Sensitisation, on the other hand, is the opposite of habiutitation.  During sensitisation, the animal responds more to a stimulus after repeated exposure.  In this case, the stimulus itself has to be intrinsically aversive.  For example, dogs who are scared of thunderstorms can often get more fearful over time.

Our next posts in the McGreevy series will look at Classical Conditioning.

 

Further reading: Dogs deciding whether something is important or not?

 

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

11/27/11

McGreevy on ‘The Keys’ to Dog Training

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

 

Paul McGreevy wrote a book, Carrots and Sticks (2nd edition to be released soon), where he interviewed a number of animal trainers internationally.  Consequently, he identified two key components to animal training: Timing and consistency.

Photos © Ruthless Photos

Good timing is imperative to effective training.  This means appropriately rewarding and punishing animals, at the right moment. (Or using a marker to do so.)

Consistency was also important to animal training.  He argued that inconsistency impedes training and learning, and increases confusion for the animal.  McGreevy explained that, if different people were training an animal, then the animal would have to generalise the training methods and so confusion could occur.  He also explained the value in isolation, in order to teach the animal to value human attention, and allow the trainer to be entirely consistent when they do interact with the animal.

Timing and consistency are considered important across all species.

Though it was only mentioned in passing, I think both timing and consistency as a whole could be described by schedules of reinforcement.  Schedules of reinforcement are almost ‘rules’ that explain how varying delivery of reinforcement can product different results in the animal’s response.  Reinforcement can be based either on ‘all or nothing’ (continuous reinforcement, or no reinforcement seeking extinction), or after a fixed or variable amount of time, or after a fixed or variable amount of responses/behaviours.

More McGreevy seminar based posts to come!

 

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

11/22/11

Clover Heelwork – 20th November

I frequently post critiques on other people’s videos around the blogosphere, so I thought I was well over due to upload a training video for others to critique. However, I am probably my own worst critique.

Below is a two and a half minute video of Clover doing some heeling training.

My own comments:

Overall, I am happy with her attitude and willingness to work, especially considering she still has a bit of ‘baby brain’ (her puppy was born 4 weeks ago!).

I am not sure, after watching this video, if I should conduct tug-rewards on this slippery surface. Clover doesn’t seem unhappy about her lack of traction, but I am not sure if it’s great for her body.

I didn’t realise how wonky I am on my feet! There are a few times I look like I’m going to fall over, and my feet go weird ways. Some of this is probably due to the hypermobility of my joints, but I am going to be more conscious of having clear body cues. I think at the moment, Clover has to make some guesses about where I was going next.

I am not quite happy with some of my reward points.I should’ve rewarded her eye contact more, and sometimes she was out of position. Next session will be a food session to help try to pinpoint the heel position.

Keep in mind, we haven’t done any training sessions for at least 2 months! So I am pretty happy with her comeback performance here.

11/19/11

McGreevy on Rewarding Dogs

This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index.

 

McGreevy had a lot to say about rewarding dogs.  Reward training is his preferred method of training for dogs.

Most importantly, to know what a dog wants and likes can help us in our training.  Dogs value a range of things, and each can be used as reward.  However, what a dog wants and likes varies in different contexts.  McGreevy was big on appreciating animals as individuals in order to get the best out of them.

McGreevy believes in allowing dogs to pick their own rewards, and allow dogs to be ‘creative’ in their reward choice.  The speed and strength of a dog’s learning can indicate how attractive the reward is.

Rewards can be innate (i.e. a primary reinforcer) or learned (i.e. a secondary reinforcer).

We can also influence the value of rewards.  For example, if we play with a ball before we throw it, it may act as a greater reinforcer.  Also, by fasting a dog, they have a higher drive for food.

He listed a number of things that could be used as reinforcers.  They are what dogs consider to be resources, and so they value them and will work for them.


Fun, surprises, and play

Dogs like fun surprises, like unpredictable or concealed rewards. Dogs like the ‘fun’ of being rewarded with magically appearing stuff.

Dogs are opportunistic and playful.  They like to play, and it can take time to play with dogs effectively (he mentioned Steve Austin as ‘great at playing with dogs’).  Dogs can value each other as resources and play companions.  (He mentioned Alexandra Horowitz book, Inside of a Dog, for more insights on dog play.)

McGreevy emphasised that, when playing with dogs, we need to avoid dogs putting teeth on humans.  Chasing and using teeth are innately rewarding for dogs, and we need to prevent the opportunity for them to learn that humans are appropriate to chase and teeth.

 

Food

McGreevy called a bowl of dog food “a bowlful of training opportunities”.  He did note that some people, however, are of them the mindset that it is ‘wrong’ to make dogs work for meals and instead the dogs should have an innate ability to please.

 

Other Rewards

Dogs, as a domesticated animal are social, so they can be rewarded with social interaction.

Some dogs can also be rewarded with exercise, training, water, sex, liberty, sanctuary, and comfort.

 

Personal Experiences

I have found so much diversity in my dogs and what they find rewarding. I think this has made me a better trainer, in having to work  with dogs as individuals and not taking a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

With Clover I spent a lot of time with her to ensure that she would work well for both food and toys.  She loves her tennis ball, but she sometimes gets over-aroused and stops thinking when training.  For this reason, I normally use food rewards with her as it keeps her motivated but not over-aroused.  She does, however, receive a tennis ball reward at the end of tracking.

Chip is a dog that I can reward with a pat, praise, and a cuddle. He likes food, and he likes toys, but he often gets over aroused with both of these rewards.  For Chip, when we track, he has a reward of a cuddle and praise at the end of the track.  He must like it, otherwise he wouldn’t track!

So do your dogs find rewarding? What are your more ‘creative’ rewards?

 

Further reading: Ian Dunbar on Reward Training Techniques
This post is part of the McGreevy seminar series. Click here for the index. Continue reading →