{"id":2678,"date":"2013-03-26T09:27:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T22:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=2678"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:40:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:10:25","slug":"classical-conditioning-in-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/dog-training-dog-behaviour\/classical-conditioning-in-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Classical Conditioning in Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Classical conditioning’ is a term originally coined by Ivan Pavlov<\/a>. \u00a0This type of conditioning is highly relevant to dog training.<\/p>\n

While using dogs to experiment on digestion, Pavlov noticed dogs had what he called “psychic secretion” of saliva, where the dogs seem to know when they were going to be fed and began to salivate. \u00a0On further investigation, he found that whenever his lab assistant entered the room, the dogs began to salivate. \u00a0Salivation is a reflex, that is, a behaviour outside of the dog’s control, but the dog learnt to exhibit this reflex when associated with an incoming lab assistant. \u00a0Pavlov modified his experiment to further examine this\u00a0phenomena.<\/p>\n

\"Poodle<\/p>\n

From here, the specifics of classical conditioning (sometimes also called Pavlovian conditioning) became published and well known. Basically,\u00a0classical conditioning is where a previously neutral thing becomes paired with the reflexes associated with something else<\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0So, in this example, the ‘neutral thing’ was the lab assistant, and the reflex associated with food (salivating) was associated with the lab assistant.<\/p>\n

Associated with this\u00a0phenomena\u00a0is a bunch of terminology;<\/p>\n

Neutral stimulus (NS)<\/strong> – this is the thing that doesn’t mean anything to the dog<\/p>\n

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)<\/strong> – this is the thing that naturally means something to the dog<\/p>\n

Unconditioned response (UCR)<\/strong> – this is the natural response the dog gives to the unconditioned stimulus<\/p>\n

Conditioned stimulus (CS)<\/strong> – the neutral stimulus, at the end of the conditioning process, becomes the conditioned stimulus<\/p>\n

Conditioned response (CR)<\/strong> – the unconditioned response, at the end of the conditioning process, becomes the conditioned response<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some Examples<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s use the example that Pavlov found – whenever the lab assistant entered the room, the dog’s began to salivate. \u00a0In this case, the\u00a0neutral stimulus<\/span> was the lab assistant. \u00a0The\u00a0unconditioned stimulus<\/span> was the food and the\u00a0unconditioned response<\/span> was salivation. \u00a0At the end of the conditioning process (i.e. after several repetitions), the\u00a0conditioned stimulus<\/span> was the lab assistant, and the\u00a0conditioned response<\/span> was salivation.<\/p>\n

A common use of classical conditioning is to use a clicker (a process called ‘charging the clicker’). \u00a0This is where a click from a clicker is paired with food. \u00a0In this case, the\u00a0neutral stimulus<\/span> is the sound of the click. \u00a0The\u00a0unconditioned stimulus<\/span> is the food and the\u00a0unconditioned\u00a0response<\/span>\u00a0is the\u00a0enthusiasm\u00a0and anticipation associated with food (the ‘yipee emotion’). \u00a0The\u00a0conditioned stimulus<\/span> is the click and the\u00a0conditioned response<\/span> is the ‘yipee emotion’.<\/p>\n

Think about how many dogs are scared of the vet clinic. \u00a0In this case, the vet clinic was once the\u00a0neutral stimulus<\/span> (it once meant nothing to the dog). \u00a0The\u00a0unconditioned stimulus<\/span> is probably a combination of rough handling, painful handling, owner stress and emotion, and being left at the clinic. \u00a0The\u00a0unconditioned response<\/span> is emotion such as fear, pain, stress, and anxiety. \u00a0After several events at the vet clinic (or maybe just one bad one), the\u00a0conditioned stimulus<\/span>\u00a0becomes the vet clinic, and the\u00a0conditioned response<\/span> is fear, stress, and anxiety.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What good is this to dog training?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Real world examples, like those above, hopefully illustrate that dogs are making these types of associations on a day to day basis. \u00a0When you open the dog food at home, you probably have a dog that begins to salivate. \u00a0When the dog hears you pick up your keys to leave for home, your dog probably has some mild anxiety about this. \u00a0When the dog sees you get his lead, it may show enthusiasm for going for a walk. \u00a0When a dog sees another dog on a walk, they may respond aggressively to the sight of another dog.<\/p>\n

All this goes to prove dogs are being classically conditioned on a daily basis, without any direct training plan created by people. But it also means that we can use classical conditioning and create training plans that seek to maximise these associations to our advantage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Ian Dunbar on Classical Conditioning<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Paul McGreevy on Classical Conditioning<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Learning Theory 101: Classical Conditioning<\/a> from Crystal at Reactive Champion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Charging a clicker<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Classical conditioning is related to counter conditioning<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is classical conditioning? And why does it matter in dog training? A concise description of classical conditioning in dog training, with practical examples of its relevance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[254],"tags":[281,683,12,164,11,685,488,684,53],"class_list":["post-2678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-training-dog-behaviour","tag-classical-conditioning","tag-conditioning","tag-dog","tag-dog-training","tag-dogs","tag-ivan-pavlov","tag-learning-theory","tag-pavlov","tag-training"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2678"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2828,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2678\/revisions\/2828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}