Most Likely Behavior… Chasing Squirrels

I was talking to my sheepherding trainer, Mary, about Deuce and his lack of “flexibility” in training and her response was: … “that’s a Border Collie for you”… she continued, “I would not say that he lacks flexibility… they are just focused." This leads to the discussion of “labels.” Pick your own (unflexible,
focused, etc.) but in reality, as I said before, labels really do not tell us much about the dog or the behavior the dog is doing. So I decided to move away from my label of “flexibility” and instead put my trainer’s cap on.

The goal here is to work with Deuce so that the list of his reinforcements expands.

By having Deuce interested in working for other “stuff” I can reward him for desirable behaviors with food (something is not that keen on in the context of training) or other activities besides herding sheep, playing tug or kicking a ball for him.

In order to achieve the above, I will make use of the Premack principle. Named after Premack principle  a psychologist who has done much to advance the field of comparative psychology, our understanding of the animal mind as well as human cognition. If you want to learn more about David Premack click here:
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/~premack/About.html

In essence, the Premack principle is about using a more likely behavior, for example, a dog chasing after a squirrel to reinforce a less likely behavior - say dog giving you eye contact when in the presence of a squirrel.

In my example of a dog loving to chase squirrels, chasing squirrels is at the top of the list for the dog. Thus making it more of a likely behavior that the dog will engage in when squirrels are around. I can then teach my dog that if she sits and gives me eye contact first (okay, these are two behaviors not one) then I will release her to chase the squirrel. Once the dog has learned the contingency: sitting and looking with attention produces an opportunity to chase, I can use this new pairing to have some “say” as to when my dog gets to chase squirrels. How fantastic is that?!!

I use the Premack principle often in my own training with my dogs and when designing training plans for clients. Savvy trainers understand that making use of Premack really opens up the possibilities of using environmental distractions as powerful ways to obtain a more desirable outcome (behavior) from our dogs… But, but, you might ask: do I really want a dog chasing squirrels? Well indeed this is not the “end of the story”… I will write more on this topic later as there is so much more to explore!

Your Dog Is So Smart

I have noticed with amusement how one of the best compliments I can pay my clients is to tell them that their dog is smart. Not beautiful, funny or that the conformation is exactly per the dog’s breed. What they love to hear most is that their dog is smart!

It begs the question as to how do we define “smart” and how can we “test” for smartness? There are ample studies that have tackled these questions. The research of Dr. Raymond Coppinger and Lorna Coppinger comes to mind. In their book Dogs, they make the case (among other really interesting facts) that there is not “one” way to be intelligent. Just like with people, dogs have different aptitudes or was of what could be called “intelligence." For the authors, it is really about the conformation of the dog (its size, shape, etc.) plus their “breed-specific behavior conformations” – how their brain is “wired” that determines a breed’s aptitude for a certain “job” or specialization.

What's more it's not only the breed that will determine if a dog excels in an activity, but it goes down to the individual’s genetic predisposition and the environment (learning) that molds “smartness” in the dog.

It comes by no surprise that Brian Hare PhD & Vanessa Woods latest book: The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think, has created an enthusiastic curiosity amongst dog guardians and (some) pros in the field of behavior. However, the “conversation” between the two camps of cognitive scientists and behaviorists is not a new one, it spans back a few decades.

Rioja attempts to bring a bag of charcoal through the doggie door. Lucky for us the bag was too big to fit through the door!

Now back to their book… a few years ago I heard Brian and Vanessa (a husband & wife team) speak at  the National Association for Professional Dog Trainers Conference (APDT) so I bought and read the book as soon as it came out. From the very beginning the book reads like an engrossing story, with Brian’s narration as a blend of personal stories of discovery with his dog “Oreo” and his professional findings. Brian’s background is in evolutionary anthropology; a discipline that is very much in line with my interest (besides all doggie-things) so perhaps this is also why I enjoyed the book so much.

There is another aspect of the book/research that is worth mentioning. As part of their ongoing research, they have created what they called Dognition - a series of science-based games to help reveal how your dog sees the world. Taken from their website, Dognition is "about discovering which skills your own dog relies on to navigate the world — the ones your dog excels at as well as the challenges. Knowing your dog’s “cognitive style” can help shed light on where your best friend is coming from — and the new places your relationship can go.” www.dognition.com

I must admit that the idea of finding more about the difference in my own dog’s learning style interested me until I learned how long and tedious some of these games can be. I was also uneasy with the idea of having to pay a monthly subscription while at the same time contributing to their ongoing research. Shouldn't they be paying participants for helping them with their research?

However, when I got to Chapter 10: Teaching Genius, I almost drop the book from my lap by Brian’s comments in regards to the application of Skinnerian conditioning in the field of dog training & behavior. Granted that his “issues” with Skinner are ones that trainers and behaviorists employing his methods – (with success in the field not only in a “lab” setting) have heard before.

I give points to Dr. Hare for apologizing and clarifying the remarks made in his book in the May 2013 edition of the Whole Dog Journal where he states …"I actually do think trainers are using a cognitive approach … and it is not that operant and classical conditioning don’t work- of course they do... It’s perhaps a miscommunication about definitions."  - P.g. 20

What I would like to say in closing is that as it stands today, trainers that subscribe to behaviorism are not denying the existence of the mind or emotions in their client’s dogs- as if the pet was an automaton. Instead, we are applying the methods of Pavlov and Skinner while working with our client’s dogs (or our own) as individual learners.

Should you invest your time and money in Dognition? I say why not as long as you keep in mind that what you might learn about your dog’s cognition is still not the last word!