How will you change your future behaviour this New Year?

I don’t know about you, but I’m always relieved when the Christmas holiday period is over.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas, the decorations, the music, the magic, the food, the friends and family get togethers,  but I’m equally merry clearing all the clutter away at the start of January. Now that I think about it, I like clearing the cognitive clutter of the previous year away too and look forward to the future year ahead like a blank canvas where opportunities and possibilities seem infinite.

Perhaps now is an apt time to explain my business name ‘Future Animal Behaviour’. Obviously it is the future behaviour of their dog that I want to help people change, however for me there is more nuance to the name.

As a dog trainer and behaviourist I am always observing canine behaviour. I can’t know exactly what my dog is thinking or feeling. I can certainly make an educated guess, and for sure, that my dog is in a positive emotional state is hugely important to me. However, where I can only guess at internal feelings, I can objectively see what my dog is doing and the environment they are doing it in.  When analysing an unwanted behaviour or making a plan to teach a new behaviour there are many things I need to consider. However a good place to start and crucial to any behaviour are its consequences. As the great Dr Susan Friedman (2005) writes ‘the consequence for a behaviour today forms the motivation for doing, or changing, the behaviour tomorrow.’ 

During a training program, do I find the behaviour I want occurring more readily? If yes, then the behaviour is being reinforced. Bingo!  In fact any behaviour that is happening with regularity is being reinforced somewhere, somehow. 

Now it might seem straightforward, when training a dog, for us to choose something to reinforce (or reward) the behaviour with. Labradors like food, right? However, it’s not always (in fact seldom is) that simple.  Our dogs are individuals living in a dynamic world. What is reinforcing for one dog, in one context,  for one behaviour may not hold true for another dog or even for the same dog in a different context. It is only by observing the rate of future behaviour that I know that I am using an effective reinforcement strategy for the dog in front of me. 

While we’re talking about this, another element to consider is if the dog is getting reinforcement frequently enough for a given behaviour. If I set my expectations too high and the dog can’t or doesn’t perform the behaviour then there is no behaviour to reinforce. In this scenario, at best we both end up looking blankly at each other. At worst it’s a highly punishing and frustrating situation for the dog.  Selecting part of, or a lower level of the behaviour, and arranging the context so the dog can successfully achieve the behaviour we want, allows them to access the reinforcement. This increases the likelihood they will repeat the behaviour in the future. So watching future behaviour carefully helps me evaluate how well I have set up my training session, that I haven’t made too many presumptions and I’m truly watching my dog’s communication with me.

If we think about consequences driving behaviour, perhaps positively reinforcing our own New Years resolutions would help our future behaviour! What can you reward yourself with that will make you more likely to perform a behaviour regularly in the future? Are you arranging the context to make the behaviour achievable so you can gain that oh so important reinforcement?

Happy New Year Everyone!