Learning without reinforcement
For many years it was thought that dogs were nothing more than a mechanical
process, you give it food or smack it on the nose, and the dog would learn to or not to
do something. There is no argument that this trial and error learning occurs all the
time with our dogs but do we honestly believe that this is the only way dogs learn
about the world in which they live.
Learning theory has been studied for many years and like many aspects of animal
behaviour theories are taken from human psychology and tested on other species.
However it is not always easy to compare learning abilities as our priority of needs
will vary, as will the way we prioritise individual senses.
The ability to learn without direct reinforcement isn’t a new concept in animals and
much of the research was done with rats and pigeons as early as the 1930’s (Tolman
& Honzik 1930) however it seemed harder for pet dog owners to accept that dogs
could learn something and use that information later in life when it deemed it
necessary or that dogs have the ability to learn about things that predict future events
occurring.
Habituation, the simplest form of learning, involves no reinforcement and
unfortunately isn’t always given enough attention by owners and therefore may well
produce a large number of the behaviour problems we see with our dogs today.
Habituation is a vital learning tool and if done well will prepare your dog for living in
an often confusing world. Habituation is the waning of the original response after
repeated presentations of a potentially threatening stimulus. If the dog is presented
with the potentially threatening stimulus too quickly, or if it is reinforced for showing
a fearful response, sensitization may occur and the response increases instead of
waning, creating a reactive dog which may generalize, causing it to become neo
phobic.
Instead of a having a list of items to “habituate” a dog to and literally pointing them at
these items one after the other, it should be considered how dogs habituate to things in
their environment in the wild. Habituation is an important component of "not crying
wolf" when non-threatening animals, people, vehicles etc come close. A poorly
habituated dog will be more vigilant and suffer from startle behaviours. This may
lead to a reduction in normal exploratory behaviours, potentially impacting on the
dog’s maintenance behaviours which are the basic needs of a dog i.e. eating, sleeping,
urination, defecation, mobility, social interaction and of course safety.
One area with no compromise in the wild is that, as juveniles, they are never alone.
This ties in with another type of learning without reinforcement called Observational
Learning. If you are taking your puppy out in to the world for the first time it makes
perfect sense to have him with another dog to observe this dog’s reaction to the new
stimulus and learn and take comfort from the fact that the adult dog isn’t worried by
the things going on around him.
However we don’t have to stop with puppies; I have used observational learning
countless times whilst working in the rehoming centre environment. Dogs that are
cautious of approach or have handling issues due to previous learnt associations can
benefit greatly with observational learning. Often it removes so much of the pressure
from them and allows them to observe another dog being handled or interacting with a
person whilst avoiding the conflict that occurs so often with dogs that have had a
tough time around people. In my time at Dogs Trust I have heard many stories of dogs
going to homes and either learning from the existing dog in the home or teaching that
dog something new which is fantastic when it’s something good and not so good
when it’s something less appropriate. My Lurcher never used to dig up the flower bed
until my Newfy cross came to live with us, what a fun game!
I mentioned at the start of this piece that people sometimes find it hard to accept that
dogs are capable of learning something early on in life and then using this information
when it becomes relevant. If we were to ask these same people what is more
intelligent; a rat or a dog? Most would plumb for the dog. If we look at Latent
learning and the Tolman & Honzik experiments in the 1930’s proving that rats have
the ability to learn about a maze even if there was no direct reinforcement, does this
mean rats are more intelligent? Could Latent learning be responsible for the “out of
nowhere” behaviours reported by owners? As behaviourists, vets and rehoming
centre’s are we not in the Latent learning business?
Latent learning occurs when an animal stores information in its long-term memory
and displays this knowledge when reinforcement is provided. We use Latent learning
when we are setting up behaviour modification programmes. If we have planned in
advance and set up a situation where the dog will feel safe and secure then the lead up
to the actual training is learnt by the dog as a precursor to a positive experience. Even
though going to a certain location with a certain person isn’t directly reinforced a
learnt association is formed and this is what helps us achieve a faster response from
the dog and an increased ability to take on new information.
There are plenty of stories about dogs predicting your next move or knowing that you
are on your way home before you even pull into your road, but are we dealing with an
extra sense or just an animal that is super observant and able to discriminate between
stimuli.
So why is it so important to be able to discriminate between stimuli? Well if we
reacted to every change in our environment we would never get anything done. So if
we learn what is important to us and what stimuli are good predictors of certain
events, then we become more efficient and our chances not just of survival but also of
thriving in our environment increases. The use of Perceptual learning is a key part of
forming associations with the world we live in. However we must remember that we
all have different values to certain resources and when we put a high value on
something we become very aware of all the associated stimuli around that resource.
For example a dog that has an attachment problem, let’s say insecure attached, every
thing associated with that dog being alone has a huge value to the dog and therefore
he becomes an expert in knowing when he is going to be left. This is why it is so
important to recognize all the compound stimuli when working with these types of
behaviour cases.
We can use Perceptual learning to our advantage when devising behaviour
modification programmes by giving clear items to predict training and using them
consistently to create a positive anticipation when the dog sees or smells these stimuli.
A major part of successful discrimination lies with finding something the dog is
interested in and as a species can learn about without too much difficulty. For
example if you were to walk into a room and saw a gun on the table there would be an
instant reaction, albeit probably negative, the stimulus is very easy to understand as it
is part of our world but if a dog walked into the same room he would be unlikely to
have the same reaction to a cold metal object.
An example seen in dogs at our rehoming centres is the logo that is on all of our
staff’s uniform. When dogs see this logo they will have an expectation of food, walk,
interaction, play, so generally the reaction is a positive one but it has been reported
that staff members going in to walk dogs on their day off are not instantly recognized
without the logo to discriminate.
When we consider the dog and how their senses are developed then it shouldn’t come
as any great surprise that there are dogs picking out people stood in large groups and
finding the individual that has a substance on or even in their body with such a high
success rate and all for a bounce of a tennis ball! Remember if it’s important to the
individual and available to learn as a species then Perceptual learning can be a great
asset and if we are dealing with problem behaviours then we must remember all the
compound stimuli.
When training, rehabilitating or just having fun with your dogs remember they are
always paying attention (even if it seems like they are not) and learning from you,
their four legged friends and their surroundings. So give it some thought and you may
be able to use this to your advantage or at least have a greater understanding why your
dog has suddenly learnt the joy of digging up the garden.
Steve Goward
Deputy Head Canine Behaviour & Training