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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• Always do right. This will gratify some people
  and astonish the rest.
• -Mark Twain-

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How do Animals Learn?There are two primary types
of learning

• _____________________ conditioning.
• Relies heavily on
• ________________________ and _____________________
  _.

• ___________________ conditioning sometimes known
  as _____________________ conditioning.
• Is formed through ________________________________
  __________________.

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How Do Animals Learn?

• Animals do not have a sense of ____________.
• _____________ often project what they think on to
  the animals behavior.
• Most animals learn in one of two ways
• _____________________ /____________________
  conditioning or
• ______________________ conditioning.

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Classical/Pavlovian Conditioning

• Occurs when an animal forms an _________________
  between two events. (Kind of like ___________ and
  __________________)
• Associations that are highly _____________________
  __ will be learned the fastest.
• Often called ________________-_________________
  relationships or ____________________ behaviors.
• Relies on contiguity and contingency in order to
  learn in this manner.
• _________________________ relationship between
  2 events in both time and place.
• ________________________________ describes the
  predictability of the association.

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Stimulus-Response Relationships

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

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Classical Conditioning through Respondent
Behaviors
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Respondent Behaviors

• Are reactions to Classical or Pavlovian
  conditioning
• Utilize an _______________________ stimulus (UCS)
  that causes an ___________________________
  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, at approximately the same time, you
  come home and drop your 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 escalate, 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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Scenario

• A dog is fearful of strangers because he/she has
  never been exposed to them. 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 sound of the doorbell will be
  associated with fear.

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Scenario

• A cat with a painful urinary tract infection goes
  to the litter box to urinate.
• When the cat passes urine, it is painful. This
  happens each time the litter box is used.
• What is the UCS and UCR in this situation?
• What is the CS and CR??
• What will happen when this association is
  formed???

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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 urge 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 cat is woken from a peaceful sleep and placed
  in its carrier. The cat then is taken, in the
  car, to the vet where it experiences a painful
  vaccine/blood-draw.
• Over time, the cat will become fearful of his/her
  crate because every time the crate comes out,
  they go to the vet and experience pain.

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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 _______________________ to be effective
• Consequences help the animal increase or decrease
  the ___________________ of behavior.
• Consequences MUST happen ___________________
  after the behavior is performed.
• Consequences can be implemented through positive
  or negative _________________________ OR
• positive or negative ___________________/_______
  __________.

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Positive Negative

• Negative ____________________ and negative
  ____________________________ are NOT the same!
• Can be reinforcement OR correction/punishment
• SIMPLE math! ?
• Positive ___________________ something to the
  situation
• Negative ___________________ something from the
  situation
• Positive reinforcement can be over-used
• Positive correction can be used incorrectly

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Four Categories of Operant Conditioning

• Positive Reinforcement
• Adding something the animal wants in order to
  increase the likelihood that behavior will occur
  again.
• Negative Reinforcement
• Removing something aversive in order to increase
  the likelihood that the behavior will occur
  again.
• Positive Punishment
• Adding something aversive to decrease the
  likelihood that the behavior will occur again.
• Negative Punishment
• Removing something pleasant to decrease the
  likelihood that the behavior will occur again.

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Test Yourself! ?

• Loose-leash walking is an example of
• Choke chain usage is an example of
• Hiding a favorite toy and allowing dog to play
  with it when found is an example of
• Lovies or treats when training are an example of
• Stopping play when it gets too rough is an
  example of

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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 Operant Behaviors

• Defined The process by which an
  _______________________ between two events is
  _____________.
• Inappropriate behavior MUST be correctly
  identified
• If behavior is no longer _______________, the
  behavior should stop.
• Extinction practices may cause behaviors to get
  _____________ before they are ________________.
• When reinforcement of _________________ behavior
  is stopped, the animal senses a certain level of
  frustration and will _______________ the behavior
  before it ___________________!
• Called the __________________________

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Extinction, continued

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

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Accomplishing Extinction

• Can usually be done through one of three methods.
• __________________________________________________
  __
• __________________________________________________
  __
• __________________________________________________
  __

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How to Accomplish Extinction

• 1) Systematic desensitization
• The process of changing an animals
  ________________________ response to a stimulus.
• Start at a level that does not cause fear
• Gradually increase exposure
• Exposure time is increased until no fear response

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Accomplishing Extinction

• 2) Counter-conditioning/Counter-commanding
• Some animals need to be asked to do something
  else to take their minds off the behavior they
  normally do.
• The process of ______________________ an
  _____________________
• Most animals are ____________ motivated
• Enjoyment of food is incompatible with fear from
  stimulus
• Use very small, special treats as long as dog
  exhibits no fear.
• If dog stops ______________, you have gone too
  far in exposure

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Accomplishing Extinction, cont.

• 2a) Counter-commanding
• This is similar to the counter-___________________
  ____ technique mentioned earlier.
• If a dog barks at unknown people, ask the dog to
  sit, and give a constant stream of small, special
  rewards to reinforce the sit, rather than the
  bark.

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Accomplishing Extinction, cont.

• Be careful not to counter-condition/command too
  quickly
• A jumping dog needs to be _______ before touch or
  voice is offered for ______________________.
• Make the two behaviors ______________________.
• A dog cant sit AND jump on people simultaneously

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Accomplishing Extinction, continued

• Flooding/Response blocking
• Exposes animal to fearful stimulus with no
  opportunity of __________ until animal is no
  longer fearful.
• Should be _________________ as treatment for most
  pets.
• Can cause additional behavior issues if animal
  acquires _________________ _________________.
• Animal believes that it has no control over
  response and stops responding to anything. (Shuts
  down)

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Reasons Extinction Fails

• Reinforcement is not properly ___________________
• The owner believes one thing is reinforcing
  behavior but its actually something else.
• Reinforcement is coming from more than _____
  ________
• There is more than one __________ or ________
  reinforcing the animal. This means that the
  animal has no _________________ when we are
  trying to extinguish the behavior.
• The animal is ____________rewarded and is
  _____-reinforcing
• The animal is ____________________ or
  __________________ rewarded for the behavior.
• These cases are more difficult to extinguish
• MUST find an equally rewarding reinforcement that
  is appropriate.

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Extinction Failure, Continued

• Many unwanted behaviors are rooted in ___________
  or ____________.
• Thunderstorms
• Fireworks
• Other animals
• Unknown humans
• These are more difficult to extinguish, but it
  CAN be done!

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PREVENTION is best medicine!

• 5 simple steps!
• Elicit/Reward _______________________ behavior
• ________________ or _______________ inappropriate
  behavior
• Meet pets __________________ and
  _____________________ needs
• Use ________________ reinforcement correctly to
  encourage appropriate behaviors.
• Use _________________ correction/punishment to
  discourage inappropriate behavior.
• Minimize ___________________ correction/punishment
  and only use it (correctly) when absolutely
  necessary.

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Sources

• Yin, S. (2009). Low Stress Handling, Restraint,
  and Behavior Modification of Dogs Cats

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More behavior is coming soon!