Dogs - Care & Behaviour

We can help you with both training and behavioural problems, do email Christine on petsbehaving@aol.com

Cracking The Canine Code

A dog will always do what is in his own best interests at any one time.
They have no perception of good and bad, as we understand the term.
The key to the Code is quite simple: A dog is a dog - not a horse, or a cat, or a small person.

So what is a dog?
Is there only one k9 personality? Of course not, dogs are all individuals, just as we are. When we think about personality, we are arguably considering a collection of drives and motivations. Each individual has some drives in common with others, but it is the varying strengths of those drives, which shape the individual character.

It's helpful to look away from dogs at this point, and consider how drives work generally and how they affect any individual's behaviour.

Why do some women prefer to raise 2.4 children rather than create a dazzling career?
Why do horses continue to run around the race track once they have dumped their jockey?
Why do cats hunt rodents and birds even though they are well fed?

How any of us choose to behave is all down to our individual set of drives.
A drive is not an action itself, but rather the force, desire, or need behind the action.
It is the compelling herd drive which forces horses to keep up with the others during a race.
It is the varying strength of maternal drive which keeps some women and not others at the kitchen sink.
The prey drive ensures that pampered cats will hunt.

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To help us to understand how to apply the motivations which control these drives and so shape behaviour, we shall look at one particularly annoying behaviour, and how to use the Canine Code to shape it.

Once you have the plot, and understand how to use the Code, you can work out your own plan of action for any behaviour you wish.
Because refusing to recall is the most common training problem I see, we'll use that as an example.

We all have it drummed into us that dogs are pack animals.
Why not use this knowledge to strengthen this drive, and make him desperate to obtain the approval of the pack?
When people tell me that huskies will not return to their owners, I know it is not down to the nature of the dog but to lack of training and conditioning by owners.
Huskies have one of the greatest pack drives in the canine kingdom.
Think about the where they live, and the work they do.
Reliance on the pack is absolutely essential for survival. The Arctic is where the saying 'a three/four dog night 'evolved. This means that if the night is very cold, three dogs are needed on the bed to keep you warm in your igloo.
If the night is horribly cold, four dogs are needed, and so on. How does this equate with cries of 'don't let your dog sleep on the bed, or it will not respect you? Inuits depend for their very lives on their sled dogs, and disobedience, or disrespect would cost lives.
So why would your pet not stay with the pack?

Because in most cases they have not been taught that to disobey the recall command is to be temporarily expelled from the pack and incur the disapproval of the leaders. Constantly calling, 'come here, good dog' leads the dog to assume that you will wait forever, and will continue to maintain communication whatever he does.

There are, however, individual dogs who have little need for belonging, and to whom the leader's disapproval means absolutely nothing.
These dogs are difficult to teach, and so we invoke another rule of the Canine Code.
A dog will always do what is in his own best interests at any one time.
To crack the canine code, then, we must consider the individual dog, identify the strength of each drive, and identify a motivation, which will control that drive.

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Modern training and behaviour shaping is based on the idea that we get our dogs to want to behave in a certain way.
Why would he want to leave the rabbit and return to his owner?
It must appear to be in his own best interests to do so at that time.

Turn away from dogs again, and picture this scene: You are in a car at midnight, on a flat and empty crossroads. Not a car in sight, and the lights are on red.
Will you drive on? No, but why not?
Because your survival drive has programmed you to obey.

When we learn to drive a car, we learn that to disobey the red light means extreme danger.
Clicker training, properly applied, works along the same lines.
The dog is so keen to hear the 'click' that he will try offering the behaviours most likely to make you respond.
Food and verbal reward without the clicker will work too.
Simply use a verbal signal such as 'good'.
This is operant conditioning, as researched by BF Skinner and his contemporaries.

A certain whistle can indicate the imminent appearance of a favourite treat or praise if only the dog can work out what it is you want.
Pavlovian classical conditioning on the other hand, is passive.
The whistle or bell will ring regardless of the animal's behaviour, and the animal responds involuntarily to the signal.
Both of these methods are successful in training because there is no force involved, but rather the dog is lead towards wanting to behave in a certain way .

A dog who has been classically conditioned will return to his owner on hearing his signal, because it means that something which is in his own interest will happen.
A dog conditioned on operant conditioning lines will return because the force within him is so strong he has no choice.
Something in his own best interest will happen when he appeases the leader.

Handler Error

Many of my clients tell me that they have tried clickers, food, etc to no avail.
The reason is always that that do not have the patience or levels of concentration to:

1. wait for a response without repeating the cue (most common)
2. remain emotionally detached throughout the experience.
3. be consistent in giving the reward at exactly the time that the desired behaviour or response occurs.
4. remember that they are dealing with an animal, not a naughty child in a fur coat.

The idea that you can make a dog do something 'because he should' or because you gave him his favourite food today are clearly flawed.
He is a dog.

He has no conscience

He does not feel guilty, although he can do a pretty neat impersonation if he thinks it will get him off the hook.

How do we condition?

First of all we break the recall behaviour right down into small links.

The dog must:

1. acknowledge leader
2. step towards leader
3. keep paying attention to leader.
4. keep an eye on the leader at all times and from all distances in case the recall signal is given and there is an opportunity to impress.

Choosing a quiet spot within your home, arm yourself with your dog's favourite treats, and whatever whistle, or signal you wish to use

Repeat each link of the chain several times until the desired reaction is strong and immediate.

Use a cue or command once only and wait for the reaction.

With each small success, add a link until the behaviour chain is complete.

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In order to maintain the pack drive, establish some simple training routines to work on a daily basis.
Think of these exercises as 'impress me and get the treat'.
The tack to take is 'I have the treat, impress me and I'll give it to you'
Your dog will begin to regard you as a super hero, a leader worth listening to!

Cat, horse and parrot owners should note that this sort of behaviour shaping can work brilliantly on their pets too, but to date, I have had no success with teenagers or husbands!
Whenever you have problem behaviour and want to shape it, look away from the species you are dealing with and plot out how to achieve your goal with a different animal.
This will make you really think about which drives are involved, why the behaviour is occurring, and how to shape it to your satisfaction.
Note down the links of the chain you want to build, and keep copious notes on the results of the work. This will also make you think about your dog's needs as a dog, and not simply your needs as a pet owner. When you can do that, you will have cracked The Canine Code.

Christine Woodall: 01746 764332
email: Petsbehaving@aol.com