Dog Training and Care
108 flashcards by MentisLibrary
Living well with a dog: operant learning as it actually applies, socialization windows, reading body language, the common behaviour problems and what causes them, plus nutrition, grooming, health signs and life stages.
- What are the four quadrants of operant conditioning?
- Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment and negative punishment. Positive means something is added, negative means something is taken away; reinforcement makes a behaviour more likely, punishment less likely.
- What is positive reinforcement?
- Adding something the dog wants immediately after a behaviour, so the behaviour happens more often.
- What is negative punishment, and where is it useful?
- Removing something the dog wants in order to reduce a behaviour, such as attention going away the moment a dog jumps up.
- What is negative reinforcement?
- Removing something unpleasant when the dog performs a behaviour, so the behaviour increases. Leash pressure that stops when the dog moves forward is an everyday example.
- Why do behaviour professionals warn about positive punishment?
- Because it suppresses behaviour without teaching an alternative, and it can create fear of the person, the place or the trigger, and increase the risk of aggression.
- What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
- Classical conditioning links two events so one predicts the other; operant conditioning links a behaviour to its consequence.
- What is a marker or clicker, and what does it do?
- A distinct sound that means a reward is coming. It marks the exact instant the dog did the right thing.
- How quickly must a reward marker follow the behaviour?
- Within about a second. After that the dog is likely to connect the marker to whatever it did next.
- What is shaping?
- Reinforcing successive approximations of a behaviour until the finished behaviour appears.
- What is the difference between luring, capturing and shaping?
- Luring guides the dog with food, capturing reinforces a behaviour the dog offers on its own, and shaping builds it up in small steps.
- When should you add a verbal cue to a behaviour?
- Once the dog is reliably offering the behaviour, and not before. Say the cue just before the behaviour happens.
- How should reinforcement schedules change as a dog learns?
- Reward every correct repetition while the behaviour is new, then move to rewarding intermittently and unpredictably to maintain it.
- What is the Premack principle?
- A higher probability behaviour can reinforce a lower probability one: doing what the dog wants becomes the reward for doing what you asked.
- What is an extinction burst?
- A temporary increase in the intensity or frequency of a behaviour when the reinforcement that used to maintain it stops.
- Why do dogs generalise so poorly?
- Dogs learn a behaviour together with the whole context it was trained in, including the room, your posture and the surface underfoot.
- What are the three Ds in training?
- Duration, distance and distraction, the three ways a behaviour gets harder.
- How do you build a reliable recall?
- Make coming to you the most rewarding thing available, practise on a long line before ever trusting it off leash, and never let the cue predict something the dog dislikes.
- Why must you never punish a dog that comes back to you?
- Because the dog associates the punishment with coming, not with whatever it did before.
- What is a long line and how is it used?
- A light line, commonly 5 to 15 metres, that gives freedom while keeping the dog under control during recall training.
- How do you teach loose leash walking?
- Reinforce the position you want rather than correcting the position you do not, and stop moving forward whenever the leash goes tight.
- What equipment reduces pulling without causing pain?
- A well fitted front clip harness, or a properly conditioned head halter.
- What is the difference between leave it and drop it?
- Leave it means do not pick that up; drop it means release what is already in your mouth.
- How do you teach a solid stay?
- Add a clear release word, then build duration first, then distance, then distraction, returning to reward the dog in position.
- What is hand targeting good for?
- Teaching the dog to touch its nose to your palm on cue, which becomes a way to move the dog without pulling it.
- How should a crate be introduced?
- As a rewarding place the dog chooses to enter, built up gradually with food and comfortable bedding, with the door left open at first.
- How long should a training session be?
- Short, commonly a few minutes, repeated several times a day rather than one long session.
- What is the difference between management and training?
- Management changes the environment so the behaviour cannot happen; training changes what the dog does.
- When is a puppy's main socialisation window?
- Roughly three to fourteen weeks of age, with the window gradually closing somewhere between twelve and sixteen weeks.
- Is socialisation about quantity of experiences?
- No. It is about the puppy having good experiences at a level it can handle, and being able to retreat.
- How do you balance socialisation against infection risk before vaccinations are finished?
- Take the puppy out in ways that limit disease exposure: carry it, use clean private spaces, invite healthy vaccinated dogs to visit, and attend a well run puppy class.