For all the dogs who've touched our hearts

Ignoring a Dog’s “Bad” Behaviour?

Ignoring a dog’s “bad” behaviour used to be common advice, but there are kinder and more effective ways to deal with the things you don't like.

What is positive reinforcement?

I ask this at the beginning of each new training class.

“Giving food or other stuff the dog wants for behaviour we want.”

Pretty good answer.

The next question is a bit tricker:

“So if you don’t use punishment, how do you deal with the things you don’t want?”

“Ignore it”

Hmmmm…… It’s not that simple.

Reinforcers are everywhere

A common misconception is that we control all the reinforcers and punishers in our dogs’ lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. Behaviour is anything and everything that animals (including humans) do, and it's about controlling access to things we want and avoiding things we don't.

This is happening all the time and is as inescapable as gravity.

Even if we ignore behaviour, there are usually other reinforcing consequences at play.

Just to name a few!

Ignore a jumping dog?

Take the example of jumping up to say hello. Why do dogs do this? What do they get from the behaviour? Most of the time they want to say hello, get attention, be near us. Even if we ignore the jumping, simply touching us can act as a reinforcer.

Behaviour – jumping.

Potential reinforcing consequences:

Eye contact – with love or with annoyance
Physical contact – patting, pushing away or touching us with their paws
Proximity – just being close
Being spoken to – in any tone

Ignoring "bad behaviour" can cause stress

All behaviour happens for a reason, it's what gives us some control in our lives.

All animals need to feel this sense of control in order to live a well-adjusted life. Failure to consistently achieve things we desire, or to avoid things we fear, can lead to anxiety, stress and even mental disease.

If the behaviour has been previously reinforced, ignoring it can cause frustration and escalation. The behaviour may even reach frantic levels before the dog gives up – in an event called an extinction burst. There's a great deal of stress associated with extinction bursts – not to mention how hard it is for us to ignore it!

If you ignore your dog to get rid of a behaviour, what do they really understand? Just that their efforts aren't working. As positive reinforcement trainers, we want our dogs to be motivated learners, which means they need to feel confident that we will listen to them.

The danger of intermittent reinforcement

Humans are very bad at ignoring behaviour, too often we accidentally reinforce what we don’t want. Even worse, we reinforce it every now and then (intermittently) which makes the behaviour significantly stronger.

Just like a gambler at a slot machine, intermittent reinforcement keeps the animal betting that their behaviour will work soon.

Example: a crying puppy

We put pup in a crate and close the door. Confused and alone, she begins to cry. We don’t want to reinforce crying, so we ignore her. Then the phone rings and we can’t hear over the crying, so we walk to the crate and “Shh” her.

The pup wiggles in excitement to have us near, is quiet for a moment but starts crying louder when we walk away. We ignore her for a short while, shoot her an annoyed look and toss her a handful of biscuits to keep her quiet. The pup eats happily but when finished cries even louder.

Behaviour: crying

Reinforcing consequences:

Proximity – you walk near her
Eye contact – you look at her
Speaking to her – “Shh”
Feeding her

From the puppy's point of view

Crying = nothing

Crying louder = person approaches + person speaks + person looks – Crying louder works!

Crying louder = nothing

Crying even louder = person looks + person approaches + person feeds – Crying even louder works!

If at first you don’t succeed, crying louder and for longer gets you what you want!

This is a perfect example of how intermittent reinforcement can inadvertently cause escalations in behaviour, even if we feel like we’re doing a good job of ignoring it.

Don't ignore "bad" behaviour, make it easy to succeed

Our job is to make it easier for dogs to choose behaviour we need. What can we change, what can we add, what can we take away? How can we affect the environment so our dogs have less chance of making mistakes?

This management is an essential part of a positive reinforcement training program and is technically called antecedent arrangement. Getting this right allows the behaviour we want to be practised while preventing what we don’t want with minimal, if any, need for punishment.

It means thinking ahead and planning for what an uneducated dog can’t handle; using leads, baby gates, chews, toys and pee mats. It means choosing when and where we take puppy out so she is not overly excited or frightened. It means sometimes saying no to a well-intentioned stranger because you know she will jump on him.

So think about daily life with your dog, are there any areas of conflict? If there are, challenge yourself to find a way to change your dog’s environment to make it easier and kinder for both of you.

Sturdy chew toys can help save the furniture from sharp puppy teeth!

If you're learning how to live with and teach a new puppy or dog, it can be helpful to find a good positive reinforcement training class or private instructor.

Ask lots of questions about how they teach and pay particular attention to handling “misbehaviour”. If they combine punishment with reinforcement, politely decline and go somewhere else.

See the previous article Should you use food to train your dog? for why this is important.