Not specifically related to fearful dogs, but to dog behavior in general. Yesterday while out walking with my neighbor and her pup we noticed something. Regardless of who called the pup she more often than not ran up to me and sat waiting for a treat. Was it because the dog liked me better? Doubtful. The owner is wonderful and the dog visibly enjoys being with her. Were my treats better? Maybe, but the pup seemed just as enthusiastic about what her owner had. Does the owner sometimes punish the dog when she comes to her? Nope, weve talked about that one a lot. Hmmmm..... Here are my guesses. 1. This was the 5th time the dog had joined me and my dogs for a walk in the woods and only the 2nd time the owner had joined us. In that environment the dog had more of a history of running back to me for treats. It was a habit the dog had developed. 2. The matching law was in effect. Even though the pups owner uses treats in training the percentage of times the dog gets treats for coming to me is higher than she does from her owner. Its not that her owner is being negligent its just that she lives with the pup and likely has more interactions with the dog that are pleasant enough, but do not necessarily include a primary reinforcer. Her owner may have actually given her more treats for coming when called in total but I win when it comes to the percentage of times recalls are reinforced with food. The matching law tells us that a behavior reinforced 50% (or 20, or 90) of the time is likely to be repeated when cued 50% (or 20, or 90) of the time. What do you think? Its not that the dog is doing the math in their head anymore than we need to be thinking about the laws of gravity to keep from flying off into space. Behavior is lawful, and when we understand that, and know something about those laws we can use them to our advantage. Or at the very least entertain ourselves thinking about them.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 23:50:54 +0000
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