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How Dogs Learn

Linda Martuch — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:51:46 +0000

It’s difficult for us humans to understand what dogs think. We can’t actually get inside their heads to see what they comprehend. However our knowledge of brain structure and observations of how dogs learn leads us to believe there are things dogs can’t understand and other things they appear to be very good at.

One of the things they don’t understand is ‘concepts’. They can’t conceptualize because they have very small frontal lobes. The frontal lobes are the part of the brain that processes higher reasoning and concepts. Since they lack this part of the brain, we’re pretty sure they think in very specific terms and their abilities to draw some types of conclusions are limited. This assumption is supported by observations about how dogs learn.

What Dogs Know

Humans understand the ‘concept’ of ‘sit’. If someone asks us to sit, we can sit inside or outside, on a chair, a step, at a table or on a log, it’s all the same to us. They can ask us to sit, take a seat, rest a moment, take a load off or put our feet up and we understand all of that in the larger concept of ‘sit’.

Dogs don’t have the ability to take a concept like ‘sit’, and apply it to differing circumstances. We call this global thinking, humans can globalize, dogs are specific.

How To Train A Dog

If you trained your dog to ‘sit’ and only practiced in the house, you might be surprised to find that he didn’t seem to understand that command outside on the lawn. With the change in surroundings and/or circumstances, it’s a different situation to them. Most dogs won’t recognize the signals because those signals only apply to the situation in which they were taught. I say most because some dogs, like guide dogs, which are specifically bred for this ability, have some limited abilities to globalize.

Once your dog understands ‘sit’, you would need to teach another command to get him to jump up and sit in a chair. For dogs, sitting in a chair is different than sitting on the floor. And chairs are different too. An upholstered chair is different from a kitchen chair, to a dog it’s not the same thing. Dogs think in very specific terms.

Training Dogs With Consistency

Many highly trained dogs that compete in agility, or do police work, will only work for one trainer. They won’t work with any other person. Even with the same words, commands and requirements, it just doesn’t add up when someone else is giving the signals. It’s too different because dogs are so specific in their thinking, and perceptions. In their minds, commands come from their trainer, they don’t come from other people. They don’t understand those commands because they didn’t come from the correct source. The good news is that we can easily show dogs that their commands work in all situations simply by practicing in different locations.

How Dogs Think

The thinking that dogs do well, I call ‘connect the dots’. They’re experts at ‘what comes next’. Here’s some examples that I’m sure you’ll recognize. You pick up the car keys and the dog knows you’re leaving. The rattle of the car keys, predicts that you’ll be going out the door. If your dog likes the car and wants to go with you, he’ll run to the door because he’s hoping that ‘what comes next’, is he gets to tag along. You never taught the dogs that the keys mean you’re leaving, he observed it and put one and one together.

What Dogs Remember

Some more examples, the can opener predicts dinnertime. The leash predicts a walk, the doggie shampoo predicts a bath. In each of these cases, your dog has done simple addition 1 + 1 = 1.

One thing, plus one thing, equals one thing. The car keys alone don’t predict that you are leaving. It must be YOUR car keys. If a guest picks up her keys, your dog knows the difference. If someone who never takes the dog with them picks up the keys, your dog won’t respond. So it’s not the keys alone which triggers a response. It’s you and your keys together. Here’s some more equations:

Mommy + doggie shampoo = I’m getting a bath
Daddy + car keys = daddy is leaving the house
My dinner bowl + on the kitchen counter = I’m eating soon

Dogs are experts at this kind of addition, which is very specific thinking.

Doggie Math

Dogs pay attention to food and fun. They’re happy to perform to get the goodies. So we’ll use food and play to get them doing the math we want. Here’s our basic equation that we’ll be adapting to meet our needs:

Mommy (or Daddy) + “What” = Good things for me

All you have to do is show them the ‘what’. With training (experience) the equation can become anything you want, for example:

Mommy says ‘sit’ + my rear meets the floor = treats for me.
Daddy says ‘come’ + I go to Daddy = playtime for me.

All their thinking runs along these lines, their thought processes are that simple. They can add two things together to predict a result and they can do that extremely well. Dogs are expert problem solvers and solving this kind of math is what they do extremely well.

Dogs Need Specifics

The reason I told you about how specific dogs are is because you need to know that to a dog, ‘come’ and ‘come here’ are not the same. ‘Sit’ and ‘Sit Down’ and ‘Good Sit’ are not the same thing either. Dogs do very simple math, the following equation is too difficult for them to process:

Mommy says ‘sit’ and/or Mommy says ‘sit down’ and/or Mommy says ‘please sit down’ and/or Mommy says ‘Sau IT!’ + I sit down = treats.

Dogs can’t do that math. Eventually they might learn all the permutations of the ‘sit’ word separately without your realizing it. But this kind of training will take much longer than being specific and consistent. Using one word, every time, in exactly the same way will allow your puppy to be a star!

Links to Puppy Class 101 articles:

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Vision – The Dog Language

Linda Martuch — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:10:40 +0000

Dogs don’t have spoken language capability. They naturally read body language. They can tell if we’ve had a bad day, if we’re stressed, happy or anxious by looking at our faces or the set of our shoulders. I expect they can read tiny changes in our expressions that even other people miss. But we train our dogs to respond to verbal commands, because we’re verbal.

What Comes Next

Fortunately for us, dogs are experts at ‘predictors’, which is trainer speak for connecting the dots or figuring out ‘what comes next’. So when we say “Sit” and the puppy sits, it’s because he’s learned that when he hears that sound and he sits, he gets a cookie. It wouldn’t matter if you said scratch or sniff instead of sit, if you pared those words with a sit and a cookie, he’d sit. But he doesn’t understand language, so you have to teach him specific words.

Don’t Be Deceived

Your dog may love the sound of your voice, but don’t confuse interest with communication. Explaining things in words won’t get the message through. But because they seem to understand our words, and we’re so dedicated to language, it can be hard to understand what really happens when we try to communicate with our dogs. I’ll make up a story to illustrate how dogs trick us into thinking they’re know what we’re saying.

Keep Your Eyes On The Prize

Let’s say, for example, that a student and her puppy are learning the sit command. The puppy has been lured into the sit position 5 or 6 times and has made the connection between sitting and getting a treat. The student says “Sit” and the puppy responds and receives the treat. It seems obvious that the puppy has very quickly understood both the concept of “sit” and the word his Mommy used to ask for the behavior. That’s pretty good for a creature that’s been on the planet for a few short weeks, eh?

Not So Fast

After class, our intrepid team goes home to show off their new skill, “sit” says his mommy and the puppy jumps up for the treat. They try again and the puppy leaps for joy. ‘What’s wrong with my puppy?,” the student is now wondering. He’s already forgotten his lesson! He understood it an hour ago, what happened?

What Really Happens

The puppy had been watching his mommy and the treat and he wasn’t listening to the words she’d said. His mommy stood and held the treat in exactly the same way each time they’d practiced. He’d noticed her movement and body position, but his mommy thought he was listening.

At home, he’s in a different place and mommy is holding the treat differently so he doesn’t recognize the signals. At class he’d tricked his mommy into thinking he understood her words, but he earned his treats by watching her movements. Now that’s dog smarts!

The Biggest Hurdle

We don’t have to train silently, but it’s easy to talk too much. Ideally the only words we would speak while training would be our dog commands, or better yet we’d use dog hand signals.

You may have noticed that while I’m talking to class I use hand signals to communicate with my dogs. I use hand signals because they offer my dogs a clear sign they can read without sorting through the mountain of words they don’t recognize and because hand signals are a language they innately understand.

Vision, The Dog Language

Dogs do learn to respond to words, with time and repetition. But the fastest way to teach your dog is with visual clues because his brain has the ability to recognize and remember them. Vision is the language of dogs, and offering a visual signal with your verbal command will help him to learn faster and remember better.

Links to Puppy Class 101 Articles:

Links to Helpful General Knowledge Articles:

Puppy Class Homework Week 2

Linda Martuch — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:00:07 +0000

Reading dog language

Keep an eye on your dog, gauge their response to situations. Get more excited to keep his attention, or move to a safer place if they’re intimidated. Your dog’s body language will tell you what he needs in order to focus on you and your commands. Get ahead of your dogs actions by knowing what they’re likely to do next and countering their reactions.

The Release

You must have a release word so your dog knows when it is appropriate to move after he obeys a command. Always use your release word after a sit or down or stay. Clear communication is critical for your dog to understand your needs.

Time Out

Use time out consistently or not at all. It is critical that you stay emotionally neutral. No matter how upset or excited you are don’t let your dog know. Time out must be a place without distractions, entertainment or excitement. 5 minutes is plenty of “think time”. All memories of the infraction will be forgotten after 5 minutes.

Handling your dog – working towards your CGC

Examine your dogs, ears, backside, toes, eyes, and mouth. Full body exams will get your dog accustomed to being handled. By the end of class your dog should be comfortable with other people handling their bodies. This will reduce stress during medical treatments and build trust with you.

This Week

Sit – move treat over head using the “sit” word.

Down – move treat slowly at ground level using the “down” command.

Come – use dog’s name, high pitch voice, get excited.

Walking – with a sit at the halt, dog remains at side while walking. Pace is quick enough to match the dogs natural pace.

Handling your dog – each day examine one dog ‘part’ continue for a lifetime

Watch your dog – learn from their body language, stay ahead of their actions and

reactions. Control the situation before it happens.

Time out – use as necessary or required.

5 X 5 Practice 5 times a day for 5 minutes.

Or 2 repetitions of each exercise 5 times a day. = 10 sits, 10 downs, 10 recalls and 30 releases in total per day. And handle each dog part at least once this week. Once per day would be optimal.

Recommended reading

Time Out

Vision the dog language.