My Sidekick and Me: Associative Learning

By Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC– Pet Behavior Columnist

Associative learning. What is it and how can understanding it help you to have a “better behaved” pet?

All of us, including our pets, are constantly learning from our experience how we should or would feel, think or behave in certain situations. Associative learning simplified means we are learning associations with people, things, the environment based upon what happened in and around them in the past. We learn to increase the frequency of a behavior or strengthen it if that causes valued outcomes. We also have a reflexive kind of learning. Our heartrate may increase if there is an expectation that something unpleasant or overly exciting happened the last time we were in that situation.

Understanding and remembering this is valuable when it comes to developing positive approaches to solving behavior issues.  Remember, behavior does not occur in a vacuum. Past consequences are predictors of future behaviors.

Here are a few real-life examples.

Dogs and puppies may back up from people who reach over their head, bend over the dog or give the dog a bear hug. With repeated occurrences (even with just one experience), there is a high likelihood that the dog will begin to come to or interact with those people less frequently because that dog is predicting coming near people means having those unpleasant things happen. Staying away avoids any chance of that outcome.  The dog may also begin to pace, have an accelerated heart rate, tense its muscles or tuck its tail in the presence of the person who has done those things to the dog (classical conditioning).

If a dog had an unpleasant visit to a groomer, that dog could begin showing those reflexive responses (accelerated heart rate, tense muscles, etc.) when arriving at the groomer. And actually, as associations are generalized that dog could begin showing those responses in the parking, in the car, or even at home when approaching the garage door in anticipation of those things leading up to having to go into the groomer.

With any of these situations, analyzing the environment surrounding and impacting the specific behavior is the first step toward coming up with a positive and least intrusive actionable behavior modification plan.

There are many ways to approach it. They involve looking at the function a specific behavior serves the animal (such as, whether it is helping the animal move toward something positive or away from something negative) and managing the environment so as to prevent practice of the unwanted behavior while teaching new associations and behaviors.

For the dog that backs away from people who put their hands and body in places that make the dog uncomfortable, those people can teach their dog new, more positive associations with moving toward people by learning to understand and heed dog body language and avoid putting their hands that would cause their dog to back away or show other signs of stress. Instead, if their dog approaches they can practice less intrusive communication with their dog such as simply talking to their dog or waiting for their dog to initiate physical contact and only scratching or playing with their dog as their dog tells them through body language that it is comfortable. They could also teach their dog to hand touch with positive reinforcement and ask their dog to touch their hand when the dog approaches. They could also work to teach their dog a different, positive emotional response to being petted by pairing petting with high value food.

Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, FFCP, FDM, CPBC, with So Much PETential was voted 2024 Cincinnati’s Best Community Choice Award winner in pet training. She is a certified dog trainer, a certified Family Dog Mediator, and the first trainer in Hamilton County to earn Fear Free certification. She is also a licensed Family Paws Parent Educator. She is committed to using and teaching the most positive, science-based approaches to changing behavior. For more information, visit www.SoMuchPETential.com.