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Learning Theory and Training Techniques:
Staying Informed to Judge “Safety” of Clients’ Trainers
Emily Levine, DVM, MRCVS, DACVB
Animal Emergency and Referral Associates
Fairfield, NJ
Reinforcement
A consequence that makes a behavior more likely to occur in the future.
Positive reinforcement
Something pleasurable is given to the animal (so that the behavior is more likely to occur)
Example
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Behavior desired: Sit
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Positive reinforcement: When the pet sits, the pet is given a treat.
Negative reinforcement
Something aversive is removed/kept away from the animal (so that the behavior is more likely to occur)
Example
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Behavior desired: Sit
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Negative reinforcement: Pressure of a choke collar is removed once the pet sits.
Punishment
A consequence that makes a behavior less likely to occur in the future.
Positive punishment
Something aversive is applied to the pet (so that the behavior is less likely to occur in the future.
Example
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Behavior trying to be stopped/decreased: sit
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Positive punishment: a shock or neck pressure is applied when the animal sits.
Negative punishment
Something pleasurable is removed/kept away from the pet (so that the behavior is less likely to occur in the future.
Example
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Behavior trying to be stopped/decreased: sit
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Negative punishment: the dog is asked for a down command and instead the dog does a sit command. A treat is
withheld until the dog goes into a down position.
Positive reinforcement and negative punishment is used all the time with humane training methods. If any trainer doesn’t understand
that withholding a treat is a “punishment” and claims to only use positive methods, this is an indication that they do not know basic
learning theory. Saying that, trainers may know the difference but advertise as positive only because that is most important message
for the public to know. It is up to you to determine if the trainer knows basic learning theory.
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Generally recommend are: positive reinforcement and negative punishment
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Generally discourage are: positive punishment and negative reinforcement
This is not to say that positive punishment should never be used. For a mentally/behaviorally healthy animal positive punishment
techniques for certain behaviors can be used. If it is used, it should only need to be done once or twice and the behavior should stop.
Examples of situations it is okay to use positive punishment
A healthy cat jumps in the kitchen counter to walk around. When the cat jumps up on the counter a loud sound is emitted from a
motion dection device. The noise causes the cat to jump off the counter.
A dog tries to get into the garbage can but a noise is emitted from a motion detection device and this noise stops the dog from
getting to the trashcan.
Positive punishment should never be used in animal with behavior problems rooted in anxiety, aggression, compulsions, cognitive
decline etc.….see the list of risks of punishment at the end of these notes.
Habituation
The same stimulus is repeated over and over and the animal learns to ignore it.
Example
The dog hears an owner laugh a high pitch laugh and initially the dog may have oriented towards that owner but quickly was able to
process that the laugh is not a relevant noise/stimulus so the dog no longer has any reaction.
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Sensitization
The same stimulus is repeated over and over but the animal’s response gets worse.
Example
The dog hears popcorn being made and each time the popcorn is made the dog shows more and more anxiety. (a dog with normal
processing should be able to habituate to this noise).
Flooding
Constantly exposing an animal to a stimulus that may provoke anxiety/fear without the opportunity for escape until the animal is no
longer anxious or reactive.
Example
A dog is scared of thunderstorms so you play a loud recording of a thunderstorm until the pet is no longer scared.
Example
A dog is reactive to a person wearing a hat so you have someone wearing a hat until the dog stops reacting.
This is a high-risk procedure that is generally NOT recommended. There is a high risk that the dog’s behavior will actually get
worse. In addition, the animal may stop responding due to exhaustion or learned helplessness and NOT because they have learned not
to be scared.
Learned helplessness
An animal is repeatedly subjected to an aversive stimulus that it cannot escape (or change) and thereby “shuts down” “becomes
passive”. This is very detrimental the animal and very inhumane to be put in a circumstance where learned helplessness occurs.
Extinction
Diminishing a behavior when no reinforcement is given after a response that is normally reinforced.
Example
A dog jumps up on people to get attention. Attention is not given (no eye contact, touching, or talking to the dog) and the jumping on
people stops. The jumping has been extinguished.
Extinction burst
The intensification of a behavior when there is no more reinforcement for that behavior. This burst occurs right before the behavior is
extinguished.
Example
Attention is suddenly is not given to the dog when he jumps on the persons so in frustration the dog tries harder (jumps higher) to get
the attention. After this increase in jumping behavior, if the person continues to ignore, the jumping behavior stops.
Classical (Pavlovian) conditioning
A neutral stimulus comes to elicit a reflex response by being paired with a stimulus that regularly elicits that response.
OR learning that one event (bell) predicts another ( food) that causes an instinctive response (drool).
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Neutral stimulus: bell
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Stimulus that regularly elicits drool: food
So if a bell is rung and then food is presented, the dog will learn that the bell predicts food coming. Therefore, the sound of the bell
will cause a dog to drool.
* Note with classical conditioning, no one is asking the dog to do any specific behavior. This is the main difference between
classical and operant conditioning.
Operant (instrumental) conditioning
This is also called trial and error learning. Learning as a result of ones actions. Animals learn that their behaviors are associated with
certain outcomes.
Counterconditioning
A process whereby an animal is trained to perform a behavior or response that is incompatible with the problem response when the
animal is presented with the problem invoking stimulus.
Example: A dog is trained to do a relaxed down stay as opposed to pacing when there is a storm.
Classical counterconditioning
Uses an unconditioned response such as eating or playing.
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Operant counter-conditioning ( a.k.a response substitution)
Uses a conditioned response such as a sit stay as the training goal.
It is common to use both classical and operant counterconditioning in order to achieve a dog who can engage in a relaxed down
stay while it is raining instead of pacing.
Stimulus discrimination
When certain cues (commands) elicit a certain response. If this occurs, the behavior is said to be under stimulus control.
Desensitization
Presenting a stimulus that causes an aversive response and presenting it in a manner such that the intensity of that stimulus is low
enough that it does not elicit the aversive response.
Thunderstorms can be an aversive stimulus to many dogs. If you record a thunderstorm and play it at very low levels such that the dog
does not show any or minimal aversive responses, this is an example of desensitization.
Desensitization is often combined with counterconditioning for treating certain behavior problems.
Blocking
Failure of a stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus (CS) when it is part of a compound stimulus that includes an effective CS that
has been previously learned. The effective CS is said to block the ineffective CS.
Example
A dog has been taught that a certain hand signal means the dog should sit. A person now uses a hand signal AND a verbal cue. The
dog only sits however when the hand signal is shown. The hand signal, which the dog previously learned, blocks the dog from
learning the verbal cue.
Overshadowing
Failure of a stimulus to become a CS when it is part of a compound stimulus that includes an effective CS. Both of these CS’s are new
but one is more salient than the other so that it is the CS the animal pays attention to.
Example
A dog is being taught to sit for the first time and the person gives two cues at the same time, a hand signal and a verbal signal. The dog
pays more attention to the hand signal because it is more salient to the dog. The hand signal is said to overshadow the verbal signal.
Risks of punishment are as follows
1. Difficult to time correctly. If not timed correctly, punishment will likely induce anxiety/aggression.
2. Can strengthen undesirable behaviors (aggression/anxiety).
3. Identifying the appropriate intensity is difficult. If the intensity is to low, punishment wont work, if the intensity is to high,
punishment could make aggression/anxiety worse and could physically harm the animal.
4. Regardless of strength of punishment, it can cause some individuals to become extremely fearful and this fear can generalize
to other contexts.
5. Facilitate or cause aggressive behaviors.
6. Can suppress behavior including those that warn that a bite may occur (e.g. punishing a growl).
7. Can lead to bad associations.
8. Does not teach more appropriate behaviors (does not teach the animal what we want them to do).
More can be found at www.avsabonline.org
Risk of using treats
1. Timing. If the timing is not done correctly, the dog may not be learning what we want them to learn.
2. Gaining weight.
3. Client is not educated on the difference between using treats as “lures” vs. “reinforcers” and so no real learning occurs.
4. May be to distracting to use as a reinforcers so the dog doesn’t pay attention to the learning task at hand.
5. Client does not progress from a continuous rate of reinforcement to a variable rate of reinforcement; thereby the dog may
not retain the desired behavior and or is not given the time to develop ideal coping skills.
6. Client does not fade out treats when appropriate so the dog may depend on getting that treat to perform the desired behavior.
7. Random or excessive treats just because the dog is cute may lead to anxiety in some dogs if there is no stimulus
differentiation. In other words, the dog has no idea when or why he is getting reinforced.
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Good references for learning theory
BSAVA Manual of Canine and Feline Behavioural Medicine 2nd ed. Edited by Debra Horwitz and Daniel Mills.
Excelerated Learning by Dr. Patricia McConnell
How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves by Dr. Sophia Yin
Learning and Behavior by Paul Chance
(this is not a clinical book but rather a more in depth and detailed book about learning)
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