Training Tips

Reactivity and Aggression – Nature or Nurture?

Reactivity and aggression are often used interchangeably to describe a dog that barks/growls/snarls/lunges at a person or another dog. These terms don’t mean the same thing.

The Animal Humane Society indicates that reactivity in dogs is an “overreaction” to a particular trigger, such as barking at the sight of another dog, running away or hiding from a sudden loud sound, or staring pointedly at a person who looks “different,” such as a very tall person or a man with a lot of facial hair. By comparison, the AHS states that dog aggression arises as a result of a dog’s need to defend itself from the perceived trigger. For instance, Dog A may bark at Dog B in the distance because it perceives that Dog B intends to invade its territory.

An overreaction may occur from past trauma, it may have been inadvertently reinforced, or in some cases, it can be attributed to genetics. To characterize a specific dog breed as reactive or aggressive isn’t fair; a dog from a breed considered to be calm, good around children and generally non-threatening can still be aggressive if the factors are present, i.e., traumatic event, genetics, environmental influences, etc.

Behavior Modification

You may have heard or read about the terms positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment with regard to dog training. These terms refer to behavior modification; in other words, how animals, including humans, learn based on enjoyable or unpleasant consequences. In this context, positive and negative don’t mean good and bad. Think of these words in a mathematical sense. Positive means adding something; negative means taking something away. Following are definitions of these terms and examples of how they’re used:

  • Positive reinforcement – adding something enjoyable to encourage the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.
    • Example: You want your dog to sit. When he sits, you give him a high value treat (something he really likes). The likelihood of him sitting again are good if he knows he’ll get the high-value treat.
    • Breaking it down:
      • Positive – you give him a high-value treat for displaying a desired behavior.
      • Reinforcement – he wants to display the desired behavior in anticipation of receiving the high-value treat.
    • Negative reinforcement – taking away something unpleasant to encourage an appropriate or alternative behavior.
      • Example: your dog likes to counter-surf. She’s put her paws up on the counter and taken food, kitchen utensils and other items. To discourage this behavior, your dog trainer tells you to set up a motion sensor that makes an obnoxious sound as it detects movement. When your dog puts her paws on the edge of the counter, the motion detector sounds the alarm, scaring her and, ideally, deterring her from jumping on the counter.
      • Breaking it down:
        • Negative – you take away the unpleasant sound.
        • Reinforcement – due to the chance that your dog might hear the unpleasant sound, she’s less likely to put her paws on the counter again.
      • Positive punishment: adding something unpleasant to decrease the likelihood of inappropriate behavior.
        • Example: your dog loves to be taken for a walk but she pulls on her leash. To change this behavior, your dog trainer tells you to stop walking every time she pulls. You don’t continue walking until she loosens the tension of the leash. Once she’s loosened the leash, you continue walking. Each time she pulls, you stop. Eventually, she learns that when she pulls, she’s not allowed to go any further. Chances are good that she’ll avoid pulling so that she doesn’t have to stop walking.
        • Breaking it down:
          • Positive – you add something unpleasant when she pulls (not being able to walk).
          • Punishment – your dog doesn’t get to continue walking if she pulls.
        • Negative punishment: taking away something pleasant in order to decrease an inappropriate behavior.
          • Example: your dog jumps on you. Usually, you make eye contact, use an excited voice, pet him, or you may say “No!” or “Down” sternly, all of which inadvertently reinforce this behavior. To discourage him from jumping, your dog trainer tells you to take your attention away from him, something he really likes.
          • Breaking it down:
            • Negative – you take your attention away from your dog.
            • Punishment – he dog doesn’t get your attention when he jumps on you.

In my experience, dogs respond best to positive reinforcement (i.e., food rewards, praise, affection) when you want to increase a desired behavior. I’ve also found that negative punishment (i.e., ignoring your dog) is equally powerful when trying to decrease an unwanted behavior. I don’t believe in using devices that administer punishment, such as electronic, choke or chain collars. Hitting, slapping or kicking a dog is abusive. A trainer who says striking a dog “shows it who’s the boss“ is not an ethical trainer.

 

Dogs are Opportunists

 Dogs will take advantage of anything they can reach! No matter how well a dog is trained, if something it wants is accessible, often it cannot resist. For example, let’s say you prepared roast beef for dinner. The aroma of the beef has lured your dog, “Pogo” toward your dining room table where you just set down the uncovered dish. None of your other family members are near, and you don’t ask one of them to watch Pogo because you don’t give a thought to the possibility that he would get into the food. He’s been through training and you trust him, period. You go back into the kitchen to bring another dish to the dining room and you see your dog up on the table, eating out of the roast beef dish! No matter how much you trust your dog, don’t assume it will be able to resist food or another off-limits item within its reach. Put up baby gates to prevent your dog from accessing areas of your house you don’t want him in. Assign a family member to distract your dog while you prepare dinner. Parents “baby-proof” their house to keep their young child safe and away from valuable items. With a dog or another pet, you need to “animal-proof” it for the same reasons.

Dogs are Really Just Hairy Toddlers

You’ve probably seen your dog acting goofy sometimes (aside from the “zoomies”) such as jumping up and down like a kangaroo or making odd sounds with his voice. You’ve also noticed he has poor impulse control – it doesn’t matter that you commanded your dog to get off the furniture umpteen times, there he is again. These are the same behaviors of a human toddler; the difference between a dog and a toddler is that a toddler’s brain goes through several levels of development that lead to becoming a human adult with higher-thinking capability, whereas a dog doesn’t develop beyond the toddler stage. This doesn’t mean dogs aren’t smart – we know they’re very smart!

But, like toddlers, dogs are opportunistic: a toddler will take a toy away from another child because he wants it at that moment, just as a dog will take food off an unguarded plate on a dinner table because it’s there and it smells delicious. And, like toddlers, dogs live in the moment: a toddler can feel elation at playing with a coveted toy then immediately feel frustration when that toy stops working, just like a dog can feel pure joy at playing with its owner then immediate sadness when the owner ends the play session. And, like toddlers, you have to repetitive and consistent: you’ve told your toddler many times not to touch hot surfaces, but he does it anyway and learns a painful lesson, just as you’ve trained your dog not to run out into the street, but he does anyway and sustains serious injuries.

In all these scenarios, the toddler will grow and develop into an adult who can use critical thinking to examine the consequences of potential impulsive actions and decide whether or not to proceed, whereas a dog doesn’t have the ability to think through what will happen when he acts upon his impulses. This is why it is so important to continue working on and strengthening training commands with your dog.

Board and Train

A lot of dog trainers offer a “board and train” option as a method of dog training. This involves a dog trainer taking your dog home with him or her to live for 1-2 weeks while the trainer teaches your dog all of the basic obedience commands or works on behavior modification. Once the trainer has finished training your dog, he or she brings it back to you and shows you how he or she trained it and teaches you the cues it taught your dog. However, keep in mind that, when your dog is with the trainer, it’s learning to respond to and getting reinforced by the trainer, not you. When the trainer returns your dog, it will take some time for your dog to take direction from you. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this and for busy people, sometimes this is the only way to get your dog trained.