Animal Behavior

1. Animal Behavior

2. What Are We Going To Learn? Common animal behaviors “Wild” animal behaviors Unwanted animal behaviors and how to correct them. Training techniques Researching behavior

3. What is Behavior? • Give me your definition! • Definition: • a : the manner of conducting oneself • b : anything that an organism does involving action and response to stimulation • c : the response of an individual, group, or species to its environment • d: the response of an individual or animal to past experiences and memories.

4. What Are Some Common Animal Behaviors? • Happy • Sad • Anxiety • Hunger • Aggression

5. How Do These Behaviors Relate to Human Behavior? • Humans share all of the same behaviors!

6. What Are Other Types of Behaviors? • Living in herds and packs vs. living solitary lives • Two reasons to live in herds or packs: 1. Protection from predators 2. Hunting packs- more efficient at capturing prey.

7. Solitary Lives: • Why do some animals live solitary lives? • Some animals live alone because there are not enough resources to support more than one animal in the territory (i.e. food, shelter, etc)

8. Other Types Of Behaviors: • Prey vs. predator behaviors • Some prey animals react to a predator very differently from other prey animals. For example: • Rabbits: Freeze in the presence of a predator. • Horses: • Run away from predators.

9. Other Types Of Behaviors: • Predator animals can either live solitary lives or live in packs. • They live in packs not for protection like prey animals, but for easier hunting. • Some predator animals do live in social or family groups (such as a pride of lions).

10. What Are Some Behavior Differences Between Male And Female Animals? • Female animals: tend to take care of the young, some females are the hunters and gather the food for their young and the males. • Male animals: They tend to be viewed as the dominant animal in the pack, they tend to be the protectors.

11. Why Do Wild Animals Have These Behaviors? • SURVIVAL OF THE SPECIES!!!!! • These behaviors aid in hunting and protecting the pack or herd and those two things are vital to the survival of the species as a whole!

12. How Did Animals Get These Behaviors? 1. Genotype - Inherited Traits:These behaviors are part of the animals genetic makeup and are due the evolution of the packs overtime. 2. Learned Behaviors:The animals learn from certain experiences they have had and this can shape how they act when presented with that experience again. 3. Present Environment: The animals must adapt to whatever environment they are currently in, in order to survive.

13. Back to Domestic Animals!Why Do We Care? • Why is it important to recognize behaviors?

14. More Detail on Recognizing Behaviors • Happy- 1. Panting, relaxed expression 2. Excited tail wag 3. Play bow 4. Tail thumping on the floor

15. How Do You Recognize Certain Behaviors in Domestic Animals? • Anxiety in dogs: • 1. One paw raised • 2. Nervous licking • 3. Tucked tail • 4. Barking or whining • 5. Tail drop for curly tail dogs • 6. Urination/defecation • 7. Only wagging the end of their tail. • Anxiety in Cats: • 1. Swishing tail • 2. Growling • 3. Dilated eyes

16. Recognizing Certain Behaviors Cont. • Aggression in dogs: • 1 . Growling/snarling • 2. Snapping • 3. Aggressive barking • 4. Lunging while leashed with snapping • 5. Standing still with a wide-based stance and a low head • Aggression in cats: • 1. Growling/hissing • 2. Swishing tail • 3. Spitting • 4. Swiping at you with their claws

17. Some Unwanted Behaviors in Domestic Animals: • Fear biting:Usually due to the animal being in a state of panic rather than being aggressive.

18. Dog Bites • Who is most likely to get bit? • Children under 15 years of age. • Males • Dog owners. • What type of dog is most likely to bite? • Family pets more than strays • Scared dogs • Aggressive dogs • Hungry dogs • Any dog can bite!!!

19. How To Prevent A Dog Bite: • 1. Keep dog leashed when in public • 2. Socialize your dog from a young age • 3. Don’t take your dog into situations where it might feel unsafe or uneasy • 4. Be cautious around unfamiliar dogs • 5. Teach children to ask permission before they pet a dog • 6. Avoid direct eye contact and do not yell or run. • 7. Keep your arms down at your sides and do not hover over the dog. • 8. When around an unfamiliar animal talk in a calm, soothing voice so as not to upset the animal.

20. More Unwanted Behaviors: • Urinating in the house: • 1. Fear • 2. Submission • 3. Separation anxiety • 4. New addition to the family • 5. Marking territory • 6. Lack of proper housetraining

21. How To Prevent Urinating In The House • 1. Basic housetraining • Be sure the dog is outside when it is going to need to eliminate • Go out with the dog to be sure it does eliminate • Reward the appropriate behavior • 2. If a dog is submissive urinating, never scold it for doing so. Stay calm, try to identify the action that caused the animal to submissive urinate, and avoid it in the future.

22. More Unwanted Behaviors: • Excessive barking: 1. Alert/warning 2. Attention seeking 3. Boredom 4. Lonely 5. Anxious

23. How To Prevent Excessive Barking: • 1. Stay calm and do not shout “no” at the dog. • 2. Get their attention and make them sit or lie down, this will sometimes relax them. • 3. Do not hug or try to comfort your dog when they are barking, this will just reinforce the unwanted behavior. • 4. If they are barking to get your attention, ignore them until they stop and then pay attention to them. • 5. If they are barking because they are bored, give them more enrichment activities such as toys and chew bones to keep them occupied.

24. More Unwanted Behaviors: • Jumping on people • Attention seeking • Excited • Asserting dominance (least likely)

25. How To Prevent Jumping On People • 1. Teach them from a young age that jumping is unacceptable. • 2. Never cuddle or hug your dog when they jump on you, this sends mixed signals to your dog when you scold them for jumping on someone else. • 3. When your dog jumps at you, turn your body to the side to make them miss you, and then ignore them so they know they don’t get attention for jumping.

26. How To Train a Dog • There are 2 ways to train an animal: • Classical Conditioning- A conditioning stimulus is applied and the unlearned behavior is then performed. • Operant Conditioning-Uses consequences to modify the occurrence of a learned behavior. • Training

27. Clicker Training • Is a form of operant conditioning • The clicker is much faster than saying "good dog" and it can be used with treats to reward a dog for good behavior. • How to: • 1. Get a clicker and a handful of your dog's favorite treats. • 2. Click the clicker and then immediately give your dog a treat, repeat this several times. • 3. Try using the clicker when the dog is not paying attention to you and if he looks at you give him a treat. • 4. Finally, when your dog follows your command or does something that deserves a reward, click the clicker and give him a treat. This makes the dog more likely to repeat the action in the future.

28. Crate Training: • Why should I crate train my dog? • 1. To provide a safe way to transport them. • 2. To provide a way to keep them confined when you are gone, if need be, so they don't destroy furniture, walls, etc! • 3. If there is an emergency and they need to be evacuated or boarded they will already be used to being in a crate. • How to • 1. Select a crate that is large enough (should be large enough for him to stand up and turn around in.) • 2. Put the crate in a place where the dog spends alot of time. • 3. Encourage the dog to go into the crate by dropping treats in there. • 4. Feed the dog his meals in the crate. • 5. Gradually increase the time you keep the dog in his crate (start with 5-10 minutes at a time and work your way up).

29. Other Training Tools • Many different kind of collars, each for a specific purpose. You should talk to a trainer to know which one to use and how to use it correctly: • Choke collars • Pinch collars • Shock collars • Muzzles • Halters • Gentle Leader • Head or chest and body

30. Researching Behavior • Anti-Bark Collars • Citronella Spray Collars vs. Shock Collars

31. Researching Behavior • A group of dogs that barked excessively were studied. • The owners were given both a shock collar and a citronella spray collar to try out for two weeks. • Citronella Spray Collar vs. Shock Collars • Which of the two methods of training do these collars use? • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning

32. Researching Behavior • Results: • Most of the owners preferred the citronella spray collars. • Half of the owners reported the shock collar had no effect on the dogs at all. • One owner reported liking the shock collar better.

33. Why is Research Important? • Research is vital so that we can better understand how to train and correct behavior in our pets. • Also, some of the research done on animals carries over into you and me!

34. What Did We Learn Today? • Common animal behaviors • “Wild” animal behaviors • Unwanted animal behaviors and how to correct them. • Training techniques • Researching behavior