Why Bad Habits Stick: How Adverse & Reactive Dog Behaviours Are Conditioned

What Causes A Dog To Be Reactive?

Have you ever wondered why one bad (and sometimes good experiences!) experience can change your dogs' behaviour?

Dogs' behaviours, both good and bad, are conditioned through a process of learning, and a part of their brain called the reticular activating system (RAS) plays a significant role in how they react to their environment. Understanding this can help you better manage and change your dog's behaviours.

What is a conditioned emotional response in dog training?

The Two Types of Conditioning

Adverse behaviours are conditioned in dogs primarily through two learning processes:

• Classical Conditioning: This involves a dog making an unconscious association between two things. An adverse behaviour can be conditioned when a dog repeatedly associates a neutral stimulus with a negative experience. For example, a dog that is frequently startled by a loud noise (negative experience) whenever it sees another dog on a walk (neutral stimulus) may eventually associate other dogs with fear and react with aggression or barking.

• Operant Conditioning: This type of conditioning is based on consequences. A dog is more likely to repeat a behaviour that leads to a desirable outcome and less likely to repeat one that leads to an undesirable outcome. An adverse behaviour can be unintentionally reinforced this way. For instance, if a dog barks aggressively at people passing by and their owner quickly pulls them away, the dog may learn that barking successfully makes the perceived threat (the person) go away. This "reward" reinforces the aggressive behaviour, making it more likely to happen again.

The Reticular Activating System's Role in Behaviour

The reticular activating system (RAS) is a network of nerves in the brain stem that acts as a filter for sensory information. It controls a dog's level of arousal and alertness, essentially deciding which stimuli are important enough to pay attention to.

• Filtering Information: The RAS helps a dog focus on a specific task by filtering out irrelevant sensory input. For example, when a dog is focused on a command, its RAS helps it ignore minor distractions like a bird flying by.

• Over-Arousal: When a dog becomes over-aroused or stressed, the RAS can be overwhelmed. It loses its ability to filter information, and the dog becomes hyper-aware of every stimulus, making it easily distracted and unable to think clearly or respond to commands. This is why a dog might struggle with training in a new, stimulating environment.

• Impact on Adverse Behaviours: For dogs with a history of adverse behaviours like reactivity or fear, their RAS may be hyper-vigilant. It might be conditioned to perceive common, non-threatening stimuli (like another dog or a person walking by) as a threat, triggering a fight-or-flight response. This makes it difficult for the dog to stay calm and learn new, positive associations.

By understanding how these systems work, you can manage your dog's environment to prevent negative conditioning and use positive reinforcement to build new, healthy behaviours.

What Is An Example Of A Conditioned Emotional Response?

If one day you are on your usual walking route and suddenly a dog flies out of a house barking and scares your dog. Next time you walk that way, the dog begins to avoid going toward the house. They may slow down or down right refuse to go anywhere near the area. This is how fear is conditioned. The event has made an impact on the brain, promoting attention and alerting to a potential threat. Depending on the experience, the body will react in a certain way to help them cope with the situation.

How To Stop A Conditioned Emotional Response.

Helping the dog to be comfortable around triggers and giving them space to decompress. It is likely that they may need counter-conditioning techniques implemented by a behaviour professional to help the negative emotions that have been formed in the neural pathways.

Rovers Return offers reactive behaviour assessments and buddy sessions to help dogs overcome behaviour problems