Consider how a family dog might learn his behaviour.
When considering how a family dog might learn his behaviour there are two main factor that need to be evaluated, these are Nurture and Nature.
Nurture
Behaviourists such as J.B Watson and B.F. Skinner have argued that the behaviour of Canis lupus familiaris (or domestic dog) can be explained by classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning was discovered the Nobel Laureate Ivan Pavlov during his investigation of the gastric function of dogs. He learnt that dogs would associate a certain cue with food and therefore would trigger a response in the salivary glands. This has been noticed in one of my own dog that has been inadvertently conditioned to the scrunching of his treats bag and will salivate on hearing the sound of the bag.
Operant conditioning is based around the principles of punishment and reward, the example given in the course text was a rat is rewarded with food for his position in that cage once learnt, the rat’s learning is further stretched by rewarding when he stands next to a bar, then further by touching the bar. Due to the difference in communication methods of dogs and human, the human using operant conditioning as part of dog training must give the reward to the dog quickly after the event, failure to do so may mean that the dog associates another action with the reward and therefore inadvertently conditions himself to another behaviour. Operant conditioning is seen as part of the positive only training system, Cesar Millan discusses his views on operant training “The issue with many in the ‘positive-only’ schools of behaviour training have with me is that they believe I should be using treats and clickers to redirect some of the behaviours that I choose to correct with energy, body language, eye contact, and physical touch” page 44 [1]. However Cesar is still adding something and therefore his training is still akin to the positive only system.
Both classical and operant conditioning are used by dog trainers. For example to teach a dog to sit a trainer will use food as a reward to be given when the dog does what is required. The trainer will then introduce a hand signal as a visual cue to the dog, once learned the trainer will introduce a verbal command to sit. And eventually begin to phase out the food reward. However, the dog still needs to be rewarded at intervals but this reward can be by touch, look, praise by voice or food.
Nature
A school of thought called Ethology has a contrasting explanation of a dog’s behaviour. Ethologist such as Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl Von Frisch would argue that much of a dog’s behaviour is innate or instinctive. Ethologists have classified four strategies as the basis for their study: Sign Stimuli, Motor Programs, Drive and Programmed Learning.
Sign Stimuli are the important signals that enable an animal to recognise significant object such as parents and food. These can come in the shape of scent, sight audio, tactile and to a much lesser extent taste stimuli.
Motor Programming is the automatic response to a set of circumstances or sign stimuli, the text example was the goose that rolls back an egg that has rolled from the nest. It could be argued that when Pavlov’s dogs were salivating this was a motor program in response to a sign stimuli, the sign stimuli being the bell rung by Pavlov. Another example of motor programming is when a dog vomits “Vomiting is common in dogs. All vomiting is the result of the activating the vomiting center[sic] in the brain. The vomiting center is well-developed in dogs, so dogs vomit more readily than most other animals. As a dog perceives a need to vomit, he becomes anxious and may seek attention and reassurance. He then begins to salivate and swallow repeatedly. ” [2] page 239
Drive is the dogs’ behaviour that is switched on and off during certain times for example mating and rearing young pups. A bitch will seek out a mate and act accordingly when in season and an unneutered domestic dog will act unusually when he senses a bitch in season. His drive to procreate is triggered by the scent of the bitch, acting as the sign stimuli, which in turn is triggered by the environment around her such as season, availability of food etc.
Programmed learning is similar in some respects to operant conditioning however in contrast to conditioning, programmed learning can only take place in a defined period of time, usually from birth, and for a short time, this is known as the “critical period”. In a further divergence from conditioning programmed learning requires no reward. Programmed learning does have a genetic element to it, for example, it is impossible for genes to carry an exact image of the parents for the young animal but due in part to the fact that the young have little or no contact with other animals they are genetically primed to accept the first presentation of their species that give them the correct cues.
Another important learning step for a dog is the pack environment in which he is born into and develops within. A dog or wolf pack is highly organised and structured. “A hierarchy or a rank-order is a dominance-submission relationship established and maintained by means of ritualized [sic] behavior. Its structure depends on: (1) species, (2) individuals, (3) available resources, (4) the constitution of the group, and (5) the environment.” Page 2[3]. Pups will imitate the actions and behaviours of the older and established pack members. This would be the case in a wolf pack, however latest research by Barry Eaton, suggests that domestic dogs do not create a pack, feral dogs also do not, it is more akin to a social group and not a pack like wolves. “Bear in mind though that the rules [of training a dog] are based on how wolves behave and not how our domestic dogs behave.” [4]
In conclusion a family dog will learn much of his behaviour from a mix of ingrained learning or imprinted behaviour, those other animals in his pack or social group (in the case of a domestic dog his pack may be a motley crew of humans, cats and other dogs) and conditioning both Pavlovian and operant.
The family dog therefore learns its behaviour by means of imprinting, socialisation with the pack, natural drives and programming behaviours. It is unlikely that motor programming could be considered as these programs are not by definition learned but ingrained into the dog as part of its ancestry and evolution.
Conditioning the family dog is an important part of his behaviour and training a dog is a pack animal and modern living means that most dogs are away from the environments that they were breed for and with the absence of a strong pack leader the assertive dog will lead the pack however he will be existing in a world that he does not understand and is unable to control. This can go some way to explain separation anxiety as the dog has no idea of where the human is however the dog feels, as pack leader, that he has responsibility over the pack.
References
[1] Be the Pack Leader, Cesar Millan. Publisher Hodder & Stoughton 2008.
[2] Dog owners Home Veterinary Handbook James M. Griffin & Liisa D. Carlson. Howell book house 2000.
[3] The Evolution of Canine Social Behavior-Dog Language, Roger Abrantes, internet article Wakan tanka 2005
[4] Dominance: Fact or ficions, Barry Eaton, Internet article