The Learned Dog

1. The Learned Dog • Class 10: Aversive control of behavior and putting OC & PC into practice

2. Review... • Pavlovian Conditioning or Operant Conditioning)? • Associate sound of clicker with food? • Dog receives a cookie every time he sits • Handler stops every time the dog pulls on the leash • Dog is let out every time he scratches and whines at the door • Dog comes running when he hears jingle of leash

3. Review... • Pavlovian Conditioning or Operant Conditioning)? • Squirrel heads for tree when he hears sound of sliding door • Bruce jerks on poor Scuppers’ leash every time a dog barks at Scuppers in class • Scuppers already sits in response to gesture. Bruce starts saying ‘Sit’ right before he gives the sit gesture • Scuppers starts getting all excited when we pull into Gemini parking lot • Scuppers lies down & stares when he wants to go out

4. Review: its all about associations & prediction • If the association is between performing an action and some subsequent consequence (good or bad), think Operant Conditioning. • Dog predicts if they do the action, they will get a good thing or avoid a bad thing • If the association is between 2 events regardless of the animal’s response to the first event, think Pavlovian Conditioning • The dog predicts that if they observe the first event, the second event is likely to follow.

5. Review: what associations get made? • Those that are easy to make. • Species-specific associative biases, most common of which is the bias to form associations between things that are close in time and space. • Those that provide incremental predictive value • The question to ask: does learning the association & acting on it make the animal any better off?

6. Review: incremental predictive value... • Bruce teaches Scuppers to lie-down by saying “down” and pointing down with his hand at the same time. He does this reliably until he is sure Scuppers knows the commands. What will happen if... • He tries saying ‘sit’ without the ‘down-gesture’ and vice-versa? What are the possibilities and what is likely and why? Is this an example of overshadowing or blocking? • Bruce teaches Scuppers to spin to the left in response to a hand movement. Once he is sure Scuppers knows this trick, he says “left” at the same time as he does the hand movement. Do you think Scuppers will learn to respond to the verbal cue by itself? • Why or why not? Is this an example of overshadowing or blocking?

7. Review: incremental predictive value • Overshadowing • When two cues are presented together, without previous experience with either separately, and they predict the same outcome. • Animal will choose one, and ignore the other. Which they choose will often reflect species-bias: • dogs probably biased to attend to gesture vs. voice. • Other is ignored because it is redundant.

8. Review: incremental predictive value • Blocking • Animal learns that one cue reliably predicts an outcome, then another cue is presented at same time as the first cue, and the outcome is the same. • Animal will ignore new cue. Why? Because the new cue doesn’t tell it anything it didn’t know already. • How do you prevent blocking? • Present new cue before existing cue so that it predicts existing cue. • And/Or vary outcome when new cue is present

9. Review: role of surprise... • Surprise is the mother of all learning... • Learning can be thought of as the process of minimizing the difference between ‘what happened’ and ‘what I expected to happen’. Learning is fastest when... • Difference is big • Difference is reliable • ‘What happened’ matters • Nature biases animals to learn about bad ‘what happened’ very quickly.

10. Review: role of surprise • If you want your dog to learn faster should you... • Use roast beef all the time • Use roast beef some of the time, chicken some of the time, kibble some of the time, string cheese some of the time. • Show your dog what to do & reward all the time • Make sure your dog never has the opportunity to fail

11. Review: learned helplessness • The 3 key questions for a ‘healthy’ animal... • Is the world a good place or a bad place? • How good am I at avoiding surprises? • Is my world a predictable place? • How good am I at getting things I want and avoiding things I don’t? • Is my world a controllable place?

12. Review: learned helplessness • Learned helplessness happens when significant things happen to the animal and the animal does not learn how to control the occurrence of those things... • Consequences don’t seem tied to actions, so the animal acts as if they stop trying to make the connection between actions and consequences in our situations as well. • Happens most often when the consequences are aversive, but can happen as well if the consequences (good or bad) don’t vary based on the action.

13. Review: learned helplessness • Bruce gives Scuppers a treat if he does the jump quickly • Bruce thinks he is rewarding good performance • Bruce gives Scuppers a treat if he does the jump tentatively • Bruce thinks he is giving encouragement • Bruce gives Scuppers a treat when he is sitting before the jump and when Scuppers just sits there staring at the jump • Bruce thinks he is giving encouragement • What is Scuppers learning?

14. Review: the quadrant...

15. Review: the quadrant, what is what? • What behavior is getting encouraged/discouraged, what is getting added or removed, does it stay the same during the whole protocol? • Bruce gives Scuppers a treat for walking on a loose leash by his side? • Bruce stops in his tracks when the leash gets tight and waits until Scuppers circles back and is by his side? • Bruce turns around and heads in the opposite direction when Scuppers pulls to catch up to a dog ahead of him, and Scuppers is dragged along at the end of the leash?

16. Review: advanced analysis & critique, what is scuppers learning in each case and why? • Scuppers sees a strange dog, bruce throws food down on ground, Scuppers eats food... • Scuppers sees a strange dog, alerts & orients, bruce throws food down on ground & Scuppers eats food... • Scuppers sees, alerts& orients, barks like a knucklehead, bruce throws food down on ground • Scuppers sees dog, bruce says “sit” and Scuppers sits, bruce throws food down on ground • Scuppers sees dog, bruce says “sit” and Scuppers sits, bruce waits & says “ok” then throws food down on ground

17. Aversive Control

18. If dog responds before this point it is “avoiding” If dog responds before this point it is “escaping” çAversive Stimuli Cue Time Difference between escape & avoidance • Avoidance behavior relies on responding to cue that predicts future aversive stimuli

19. Punishment vs. aversive stimuli • A big question for the animal: is the bad thing that just happened contingent on something I did, or is it independent of my actions... • If it is contingent, then it is punishment in addition to being aversive • If it is independent, then it is ‘just’ an aversive stimuli • In either case, the presence of an aversive stimuli suppresses on-going behavior to a greater or lessor extent... • The greater the degree to which the aversive stimuli is reliably tied to the performance of a given behavior, the greater degree to which that behavior will be suppressed.

20. Ignoring side-effects for a minute, punishment is most effective when... • The punishment is intense, and introduced at its maximum intensity. • There is little or no delay between the behavior to be suppressed and the punishment. • The punishment is certain • The prior reinforcement for the punished behavior is “reduced, eliminated, or made available only when an alternative behavior is performed” • When it works it can be very fast, BUT...

21. Those pesky side-effects... • It requires dispassion and technique, and most of us have neither when it comes to our dogs. • The greater the delay between behavior & punishment, the less likely it is that the animal will treat it as punishment for the behavior, and the more likely it is that it will treat it as an aversive stimuli predicted by some CS in the environment... • And that CS could just be YOU! • And if not you, then something else in the environment • When an aversive stimuli is delivered in such a way that the animal can’t & doesn’t learn from the experience, it stops being a lesson and starts being something else.

22. Those pesky side-effects • When effective, punishment creates a behavioral vacuum. And vacuums always get filled. • No assurance that the vacuum will get filled by a more desirable behavior, especially since punishment does not affect the underlying emotional state of the animal. • You may get what you wish for, but not what you want... • Supressing the growl, but not the bite.

23. Avoidance Learning

24. The tricky question... • In avoidance learning, the animal responds to a cue that predicts something aversive, and by doing so avoids the aversive stimuli... • What maintains the behavior, since the reinforcement is the absence of something? • Several theories, but we will focus on just two of them...

25. SSDRs determine ‘early’ response to a threat... • Animals respond to dangerous events, or predictions of dangerous events by a set of species-specific defense reactions... • Freeze, • Flight, • Fight • Form, order and frequency varies • The closer a desired response is to an innate SSDR, the easier it will be for the animal to learn it. SWR’s example of pigeon flapping wing vs. rat standing on head.

26. Cognitive theory explains why avoidance behaviors persist... • Basic tenets of Seligman & Johnson theory • CS precedes shock • Animal prefers ‘no shock’ to ‘shock’ • Animal forms expectations that are strengthened when confirmed and weakened when disconfirmed. • Respond to cue -> no shock • Don’t respond to cue -> shock

27. Cognitive theory explains why avoidance behaviors persist... (cont) • Basic tenets of Seligman & Johnson theory • Probability of an avoidance response increases as animal becomes more confident of its expectations... • Animal undergoes fear conditioning to CS associated with the shock • Fear is extinguished when CS is not paired with the shock

28. Cognitive theory explains why avoidance behaviors persist... (cont) • The entire picture... • Pavlovian conditioning causes CS to become associated with the aversive stimuli. • Animal performs SSDR biased behaviors and variants and forms expectations as to their efficacy with respect to avoiding the aversive stimuli. • Self-confirming & conservative. Every time animal performs response and avoids aversive, become more confident in expectation so more likely to do it. They don’t experiment (geez, I wonder what would happen if I don’t respond...). This is why they persist in the absence of feedback

29. Cognitive theory explains why avoidance behaviors persist... (cont) • The entire picture... • Only if they are forced into a situation that disconfirms their expectations will they alter their behavior... • For example, prevented from performing avoidance behavior and do not experience aversive...

30. Avoidance learning is key!!!! • A cognitive explanation is the easiest explanation of what one sees, and that is cool... • Animals form expectations associated with the consequences of their actions and use these expectations to guide their behavior. And that is a big deal.

31. The Learned Dog – class 10 • Dog Training & Operant Conditioning

32. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – OC review • reinforcement increases behavior • punishment decreases behavior

33. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Lure – Reward • Capture • Shape • Target • Combinations of above

34. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Other • Model • Negative Reinforcement • Negative Punishment • Positive Punishment

35. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Lure – Reward • Use an object of attraction the dog wants that becomes the reward • Place the lure where you want the dog • Give lure to dog when behavior is accomplished

36. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Lure– Reward Pro’s: • Easy to get basic behaviors started if dog is interested in the lure • Quick results early on

37. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Lure– Reward Con’s: • Easy to get hung up and stuck on the lure • Can increase fear or create mistrust if used in fearful situations • Dog afraid of the lure • ? what is learned or more accurately how quickly is it learned with a lure • example: car/ directions

38. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • LURE-REWARD VIDEO • Kodi - Spin, Sit, Down, Stand • Kodi – Feet on box

40. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Capture – simply + reinforce (click/treat) when the dog does a behavior in its repertoire • Example – set it up to teach down • Bring dog in a small room such as the bathroom with a clicker and treats, and a book if you want! • Wait (do absolutely nothing) and be ready to click the dog lying down, and treat • Toss a treat when you release with ok to get dog up again to start over

41. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Capture – • More exotic examples: • Sneeze • Play Bow (stretch) • Tail Chase

42. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Capture Pro’s: • You start with a completed behavior the dog does readily • Easy – just takes being ready

43. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Capture Con’s: • Limited to behaviors offered regularly or that are easy to elicit the full behavior like a down in a small room

44. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Shaping • + Reinforcing small pieces of a behavior in successive approximations • “Shaping” the behavior into what you want it to look like • Break a behavior into pieces, reward the pieces and then put them together • Simple to complex behaviors can be shaped

45. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Shaping • Hot and Cold game, ok so I am dating myself… • Reinforce when getting closer (hot) and ignore when not on track (cold) • Keep a high rate of reinforcement to keep the behavior on track • Place reinforcement to give you maximum benefit • Remember those chickens!

46. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Shaping Pro’s • Engages the animal – they control the consequence • Best method for fearful situations; dog stays in control of choices – much quicker and sometimes the only way to get over a fear • Can be a great way to tire a dog’s mind and body will follow

47. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Shaping Con’s • Requires some mechanical skill practice • Getting a behavior may be slower in beginning but quicker in the end • Less behavior repair later • Smaller slices of behavior when learning • More reinforcement history along the way

48. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Target – teaching dog to go to and touch an object • Can use multiple objects • hand • yogurt lids • target stick (dowels work well) • almost anything can be a target

49. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • Target Pro’s: • Fun easy behavior • Eliminates need for lures early on • Use the target to teach other behaviors • Target Con’s: • Need to fade (pretty minor)

50. Dog Training & Operant Conditioning • Dog Training Methods – Positive Reinforcement • SHAPING and TARGETING VIDEO • Kodi - Shape nose touch lid target and target stick • Steiff – Shape feet on the box • All first sessions