Animal Behavior

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Animal Behavior

• Ms. Kristin Canga, RVT

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For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and
the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.-Rudyard
Kipling, The Law of the Jungle
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How Do Animals Learn?

• Animals do not have a sense of morals.
• Owners often project what they think on to the
  animals behavior.
• Most animals learn in a similar manner, through
  associative learning.
• Respondent Conditioning
• (Also called classical or Pavlovian
  conditioning.)
• Operant Conditioning
• Relies heavily on consequences

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Associative learning

• Occurs when an animal forms an association
  between two events. (Kind of like cause and
  effect)
• Associations that are highly predictable will be
  learned the fastest.
• Often called Stimulus-response relationships
• Relies on contiguity and contingency in order to
  learn in this manner.
• Contiguity relationship between 2 events in
  both time and place.
• Contingency describes the predictability of the
  association.

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Stimulus-Response Relationships

• What does this mean?
• Something happens that stimulates a response.
• Can also be described as
• Respondent behaviors

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Respondent Behaviors

• Also called Classical or Pavlovian conditioning
• Utilize an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that
  causes an unconditioned response (UCR).
• SCENARIO
• -In cattle Being milked (UCS) causes oxytocin
  release and milk letdown. (UCR)
• After repeated associations between entering the
  milking facility and being milked, the response
  becomes conditioned
• Approaching the milking facility (sights, and
  sounds associated) becomes a conditioned stimulus
  (CS), results in milk letdown as a conditioned
  response (CR).

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Scenario

• Each day, you come home and drop you backpack
  loudly on the kitchen table. Your cat associates
  the fear of the experience and the place in which
  experienced.
• If this happens every single day, the cat will
  associate the kitchen table with fear.
• This can backfire, and the cat can associate YOU
  with fear since you are also a common factor in
  the fear. (When my person comes home, I get
  scared)
• How an animal associates these two things depends
  on the individual animal. (May include
  temperament and prior experiences)

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Other Human Scenarios

• You leave school to drive in Houston traffic.
• When you enter your neighborhood/apartment
  complex, you have a sudden urgency to urinate.
• You go out with your friends and have a little
  too much (Fill in your beverage of choice here)
  to drink.
• Every time you smell or even hear someone mention
  this drink, you feel nauseated.

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Scenario

• A dog is fearful of strangers because he/she has
  never been exposed to them in his or her life.
  When someone rings the doorbell, a stranger
  appears in the dogs home.
• The dog will associate the ringing of the
  doorbell with a stranger appearing and being
  afraid.
• Over time, the doorbell will be associated with
  fear.

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Operant Conditioning

• Important Terms to note
• Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Correction/punishment
• Positive correction/punishment
• Negative correction/punishment
• Extinction

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Operant Behaviors

• Rely on consequences to be effective
• Consequences help the animal increase or decrease
  the frequency of behavior.
• Consequences MUST happen immediately after the
  behavior is performed.
• Consequences can be implemented through positive
  or negative reinforcement OR
• positive or negative correction/punishment.

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Positive Negative

• Punishment and negative reinforcement are NOT the
  same!
• Can be reinforcement or correction/punishment
• SIMPLE math! ?
• Positive ADDING something to the situation
• Negative REMOVING something from the situation
• Positive reinforcement can be over-used
• Positive correction can be used incorrectly

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Scenario

• - A dog jumps up on anyone that comes in to the
  home. Every time the behavior occurs, the dog is
  pushed down, and talked to.
• What is REALLY happening here?
• What would be a more effective solution?
• What would be ineffective to resolve the jumping?

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Extinction of Behaviors

• Defined The process by which an association
  between two events is broken.
• If behavior is no longer reinforced, the behavior
  should stop.
• Extinction practices usually cause behaviors to
  get worse before they are eliminated.
• When reinforcement is stopped, the animal senses
  a certain level of frustration and will INCREASE
  the behavior before it DECREASES!
• Called the extinction burst

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Extinction, continued

• Can be used to eliminate an undesirable behavior.
• Requires 100 compliance by owners and ALL
  members of family in order to truly work.
• Remember that the behavior often worsens before
  it goes away. This is NORMAL!
• Can also result in the elimination of DESIRABLE
  behavior if not consistently reinforced.
• Wife requires dog to sit and stay before feeding
• Husband allows dog to follow to food and eat
  without waiting.

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Redirection during Extinction

• Some animals need to be asked to do something
  else to take their minds off the behavior they
  normally do.
• Be careful not to redirect too quickly
• A jumping dog needs to be calm before touch or
  voice is offered for redirection.
• Make the two behaviors incompatible.
• A dog cant sit AND jump on people simultaneously.

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More slides are coming soon!