Lack of Classical Conditioning

I'm not sure why I don't post more in this blog. I think its because I prefer to keep any behavioral advice in sections on my site, rather than in random rantings on my blog. I'm also writing a book on dominance so most of my writing brain goes into that, however I'm going to attempt at least a regular posting once a month on a topic.

One of Ian Dunbar's messages when I saw him in November was that we aren't doing enough classical conditioning with puppies. I couldn't agree more, and I believe its just as important with adult rescue dogs or dogs with other issues (or basically any dog who didn't have this done as a puppy).

What is Classical Conditioning?

From Wikipedia: In classical conditioning two stimuli are presented in close succession repeatedly, until the response given to one becomes associated with the other. If two stimuli are always presented together, eventually the organism will respond to the neutral stimuli in the same fashion as the response to the pair of the neutral stimulus and the paired stimulus.

It's my opinion that most aggression is caused by classical conditioning or lack of socialization. Both of these issues are in fact cured by classical conditioning. Here's an example:

Freyja gets attacked by a Boxer. Now the sight of a Boxer predicts attacks. This may even be generalized to all dogs may predict attacks. The issue here is the classical conditioning of Boxer/dog-->being hurt in an attack.

Classical conditioning is all about pairing. By pairing a clicker with a treat, we teach a dog that when they hear a 'click' they will get a treat. Thus the sound of the click takes on a message of 'treat'. We pair the sight of a leash with a walk, thus dogs seeing their leash come out get very excited. This is all classical conditioning at work.

I see many dogs in the park on walks that have issues with other, usually specific type dogs, people, bikes, sounds and the list goes on, yet no one takes advantage of the use of classical conditioning.

When trainers say you need to do more classical conditioning, this usually means you need to pair stimulus in your dogs environment with positive things (food, toys, games) in order to develop an association that the stimulus is good (and not something to be afraid / worried about).

If you have a dog who is scared, growls, or otherwise has issues with certain types of stimulus, your first stop should always be classical conditioning. You should have rewards with you at all times, in case you encounter your dogs stimulus (if your not setting up specific encounters) to pair with rewards. Anxiety, or lack of information about what will happen, is a huge problem for dogs. If you teach them that the stimulus predicts rewards, the anxiety is gone.

I would even use a clicker for ease and shape behaviors that i liked. Here's an example of something I see all the time:

Bob owns an intact male dog. They walk in Shubie park on a regular basis. His dog has issues with other intact males, but with all other dogs is very social and playful. When he sees intact males he gets stiff and will slowly walk past them. If they approach he will snarl and for now all the dogs just walk away.

Provided there was no history of damage, this dog sounds like a good candidate for classical conditioning. If I was Bob I would start by 'clicking' the dog whenever he saw an intact male. I would heavily reward whenever seeing the intact males and stop once they are out of sight. I would click any social behavior such as looking, sniffing etc. Any encounters would get praised heavily with quick rewards if possible, certainly before and after the encounter. Intact males would be the predictor of really good things for my dog - and pro social behaviors would be huge jackpots.

A good trainer can help you with this, but the concept itself is quite simple. Make the things your dog is scared or afraid of a predictor of good things and the fear will vanish. Make use of Classical Conditioning, don't ignore it!