For all the dogs who've touched our hearts

How dogs learn: what is behaviour?

We want our dogs to "behave", but what does that mean? Learning theory has a different meaning of behaviour to that of every day speech.

What is behaviour?

When you start learning to teach your dog, you’ll hear words like behaviour, reinforcement, punishment, and consequences. At first glance these terms seem clear and easy to understand, but their meanings in learning theory, the science behind modern positive dog training, are a little different to the common vernacular.

Oh behave!

In everyday speech to “behave” means to behave well. We say things like “Please behave”, or “just behave!”, but in learning theory to behave is anything observable and measurable an organism does to affect its environment.

What does this mean?

Behaviour is what allows us to function comfortably in the world. If it’s hot we take off a jacket, if it’s cold we put one on. If we’re thirsty we drink, if we’re lonely we ring a friend.

These are large, obvious behaviours but there are tiny ones too, such as shifting our weight, twitching our nose and holding our breath.

Understanding the learning theory definition of behaviour is essential because there’s no judgement about what a behaviour is, no good or bad. Behaviour is simply something animals (including human animals) do to interact with and influence the world around us.

Two dogs biting at a hose - how dogs learn what is behaviour?

The behaviour of biting the water from the hose is practiced often by Merlin and Bonnie!

Behaviour & consequences

Behaviour is created and maintained by consequences: if taking off your jacket makes you more comfortable, you’re likely to do it the next time you’re hot.

All animals use behaviour to gain access to rewards to avoid aversives, it’s a constant experiment to see what behaviour works and what doesn’t. This is how we learn.

Desired consequences increase, improve, maintain behaviour – reinforcement.

Disagreeable consequences decrease, reduce or get rid of behaviour – punishment.

If a puppy pushes their nose towards your dinner but the food is taken away, they’ll stop doing it even if you don’t say anything. The function or reason for the nose moving forward was to investigate the food, but if that behaviour causes the food to disappear, there’s no point continuing to do it.

Beware however, of leaving your pup and your dinner unattended, if they grab unsupervised leftovers, even if only once, they’ll certainly use that behaviour again!

No value judgements

The real significance in understanding this, is in removing value judgements about behaviour. This allows us to see what’s actually happening when our dogs do things we don’t like.

We can break the undesired behaviour into parts, examine why it happens, and then rearrange the circumstances that trigger it and the consequences that maintain it. The behaviour can be changed without seeing the dog as wrong, flawed, bad or naughty.

The dinner sniffing puppy isn’t “naughty”, they’re just using their behaviour to see what works and what doesn’t in their doggy world.

Beagle dog stealing sliced sausage from a table - how dogs learn what is behaviour?

This dog’s behaviour is working and will be repeated the next time they get a chance!

Do we teach behaviours?

We train dogs in order to teach them behaviours – but do we really?

A dog already knows how to sit, lie down, run, lift their paws and stand up; we only refine the actions and put them on cue.

When you decide to teach your dog something new, spend time observing them as they go about their daily life. Do they do the behaviour you’re wanting to teach them? What does it look like? What causes it to happen? What do they get from doing it?

The answer to these questions will help you get the teaching started and tailor it to suit your individual dog.

Behaviour in bits

What’s in a behaviour?

What we call a behaviour is often comprised of smaller behaviours. This is important if you’re interested in teaching an excellent movement.

Let’s look at sit.

Most people, even those new to training, manage to teach their dog to sit roughly on cue, but did you know there are 3 ways a dog can move into a sit from standing?

The rock back sit – the back paws remain in place, the rump folds down to the ground, while the front legs move backwards.
The tuck sit – front legs remain in place, rump folds to the ground while back legs move forward.
Shuffle sit (my name) – both front and back legs move together as the rump folds down.

Each movement has distinctive motor patterns and is initiated by a different shift in weight. Most dog sports utilise the tuck sit, so if you’re wanting to compete, this is the one to teach.

Having said that, it’s a good idea to teach both sits. We can keep our dogs strong and flexible by guiding them through a range of actions. The old Puppy Push ups – sit, stand, down – are very useful for this, and moving between positions from different sits works different muscles.

Different breeds, age and size of dog sitting - how dogs learn what is behaviour?

The way each dog chooses to sit will depend on age, learning and physical structure

Behaviour changes

Behaviour is individual and ever changing.What our dogs do, and the way they do it, varies between individuals, and changes as they age. Motivations change, strength increases and declines, physical, mental and emotional needs are constantly adjusting.

Behaviour always adapts to meet these new needs, and that’s a wonderful thing.

Refining the tuck sit behaviour

Merlin is the sweetest dog, but was not blessed with great coordination. I wanted to do dog sports, so I spent time helping him develop the strength and coordination to do a beautiful tuck sit.

This video illustrates the evolution of Merlin’s tuck sit, as he grows from an uncoordinated puppy to a strong adult dog. I hope you enjoy it.