“The animal is never wrong…you get what you reinforce. All behaviour has a function including undesirable behaviour. The question is not, “Why is the animal behaving this way?” but rather, “What’s reinforcing this behaviour?”
This quote is from Susan Friedman and how right she was.
This is a great way to think about our dog’s behaviour and it helps us understand behaviours that are less than desirable, and sometimes really frustrating. Sometimes I hear people say, “My dog knows they shouldn’t be doing that”, implying they believe the dog understands their behaviour and are doing it intentionally. But dogs are not moral; they have no concept of right and wrong. Rather, they view the world as what works and what doesn’t; what’s safe versus what’s dangerous.
So the question we should ask is, “What is the dog achieving from doing the behaviour?”, and, “What is reinforcing it so that they repeat it?”.
For example, a dog jumping up at the table. This probably started when it jumped up and something tasty was within reach; crumbs, cake or a smelly tea towel. The action of jumping up is rewarded by the ‘thing’ they get; jumping up is being reinforced. You may catch the dog in the action of jumping up, tell them off, and they stop doing it (or at least when you are watching) The dog has learnt there is a negative consequence to jumping up while you are watching. However, the behaviour will likely be repeated when you are not home as they have simply learnt that doing that behaviour is dangerous when you’re home (there is a consequence) but when you’re not, it’s safe. They are smart. The behaviour continues to be reinforced if things continue to be left on the table.
Another example would be if a dog is worried about other dogs getting too close, so they start to bark when a dog approaches. Most of the time, the other owner will move their dog away (as barking is intimidating) so now the worried barking dog sees their behaviour as successful. After a few repetitions they have learnt that barking keeps them safe as the other dog moves away. Even if this barking behaviour doesn’t work every time, it works often enough that it is seen to be successful and therefore the function of barking has achieved the goal of making the other dog move away.
Once a behaviour is learnt there is no reason for the dog to change it. It works! Behaviour only changes if the function, the ‘why’ of the behaviour is being reinforced.
If you have got to the point where you need help and support for your dog’s behaviour and to understand their ‘why’ then please get in touch.
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