Basic Canine Handling, Restraint and Training

Original Editor - Ansi van der Walt Top Contributors - Jess Bell, Kim Jackson, Tarina van der Stockt and Olajumoke Ogunleye

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Communication Between Domestic Dogs and Humans

Communication between two animals is said to take place when an observer notices expected changes in one animal’s behaviour in response to signs from the other animal.

Communication is not limited to members of the same species. It can take place between different species (i.e. inter-specific communication), such as between domestic dogs and humans.

Because dogs have lived in close proximity to people for more than 30,000 years, they have developed skills that allow them to communicate with humans. They are, in fact, considered better at reading human communication than genetically-related species like primates.

Because of these skills, dogs can respond to different signals given by humans, including human pointing, body posture, gaze direction, voice and sounds and touching / marking as cues to find hidden food.

Dogs are also able to signal to humans (e.g. using gaze direction). One study found that when obstacles are placed between a dog and a box with a hidden-reward, and the dog cannot open the box using methods it has been trained in, dogs will establish eye contact with their owners more quickly and for longer than socialised wolves.

Learning

The rest of this page will discuss learning theories in relation to dog training.

It is important to note, however, that a recent review which looks specifically at the effects of these various training methods on canine physiology, welfare, and behaviour toward people and other dogs found that:

• Aversive training methods (e.g., positive punishment and negative reinforcement see below) can negatively affect the physical and mental health of dogs
• There is no evidence that positive punishment is more effective than positive reinforcement–based training

Thus, this review encourages the use of positive reinforcement methods by those working with and handling dogs and methods and suggests that positive punishment and negative reinforcement should be avoided as much as possible.

The Dog Trust also suggests that instead of punishment and negative reinforcement, which can lead to fear, frustration and confusion, as well as behaviour suppression, depression and aggressive responses, positive reinforcement should be used. They propose the following strategies to deal with unwanted behaviour in dogs:

• Reward wanted behaviour
• Ignore unwanted behaviour
• Avoid situations where unwanted behaviour may occur
• Train an alternative, acceptable behaviour when unwanted behaviour cannot be ignored or avoided

Associative Learning

Learning is defined as: “a relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience”. Through learning, animals are able to adapt to changing, dynamic environments. Dogs are capable of learning human gestures. However, the process by which they learn to respond to these gestures is affected by the environment, as well as the consequences of their behaviour in response to the gesture:

• Was there a positive or negative result to their behaviour?
• Is the situation familiar or unfamiliar?

Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a type of learning discovered by Ivan Pavlov. REHMAN Pavlov presented dogs with food and measured their salivary response. He then began to ring a bell just before he gave the dogs their food. At first, the dogs only salivated once they received their food. However, they soon learned to associate the bell with food and began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone. REHMAN