Should Animals Be A Food Reward And The Second Being An Affectionate Reward

(Transition: Have you had conversations with your dog? I do all the time! Have you ever avoided a dog because it looked scary? Most of us know what a relaxed dog and an aggressive dog looks like. What many don’t and should know are the signals that tell you when a dog is transitioning from being relaxed to a stressed, fearful, or threatened mood. Let’s start with stress and fear signals. Let’s go over a some dog body language so you can evaluate your judgments.)

Alper, L. S. (1993). The Child-Pet Bond. Progress in Self Psychology, 9, 257-270. Retrieved March 13, 2014, from the Progress in Self Psychology database.

Although Dominance Theory training is based on an understanding of an animal’s social dynamics and is still in use, most popularly dogs and horses, the observations it is based on are often misunderstood and misapplied, so its use has led to ethically questionable training methods today.

Classical conditioning is often associated with physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with the salivating dog (Hutchinson, 2015). This experiment focused on conditioning the dog to associate food with the bell while salivating, and eventually salivates when the bell is rung even without the presence of food. Operant conditioning theory is changed behavior as the result of a reinforcement (Hutchinson, 2015). In our society, we associate positive reinforcements with compliments, smiles, high-fives in order to encourage a behavior more. Negative reinforcement involves jail, detention, and grounding, and this is to stop a behavior from continuing. A cognitive social learning theory states that behavior can be learned through observations, beliefs, expectations, and imitation of others (Hutchinson, 2015). A major difference between cognitive social learning theory and the others, is a lack of manipulation to encourage the individual to follow through with a behavior. Rather, cognitive social learning theories suggest that a change in thinking can ultimately result in a change in behavior (Hutchinson, 2015).

Pets provide a sense of comfort and purpose in their owner’s life (Bennett). Humans have the basic need to touch, thus, when a person strokes an animal, blood pressure lowers and leaves that person feeling more calmed and less stressed (Robinson and Segal), though researchers believe that cats have a more calming effect on people than other animals do (WebMD). Giving a child a pet is very effective in helping them develop basic motor and social skills, a sense of responsibility, compassion, empathy, stimulate imagination, creativity, curiosity, and even make them feel better about themselves. Furthermore, both children and adults alike become more active when having a pet for a companion (Robinson and Segal). “Horseback riding gives stretching exercise, and helps at regaining balance and building core strength” (WebMD). While multiple studies have shown that walking one’s dog, grooming, and even petting boosts fitness, also counting as weight-loss, strengthens the heart, muscles, immune system, and bones, while improving blood circulation, boosting energy, and slowing the loss of bone tissue (WebMD; Robinson and Segal; Humane Society of the United States) “People who have pets tend to have better levels of cholesterol, cortisol, and triglyceride” (WebMD), moreover, “playing with a dog or cat can elevate levels serotonin and dopamine, which calm and relax” (Robinson and Segal). “In 2001, a study

The author of “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage,” gave me the impression she was a strange person. For starters, she used animal training techniques on her husband. Amy Sutherland was very innovative by trying this technique, but it was very strange and almost obtrusive by doing this. Although, this essay was insightful about the similarities between human and animal behavior. My intellectual curiosity about human behavior opposed to animal behavior skyrocketed after reading this section. Why do animals and human react the same after being put through training, unknowingly? What causes both species to act the same?

Behavioural development in animals undergoing domestication is characterized by changes in the quantitative rather than qualitative nature of responses (Price, 1999). When being ridden McGreevy et al., (2009) found that horses may be that at their most dangerous (e.g., when bolting and bucking), ridden horses have simply reverted to responses within the predator model. This is interesting because it suggests that no matter how ethologically parallel in-hand work may be, a ridden horse can later revert to these counter–predator responses, seemingly confirming that ridden work may not be emphatically within, the horse’s ethogram. It could also suggest that whatever performance enhancing products are used, will the horse just revert back to these behaviours regardless. This shows that when the dialogue between horses and humans is consistent there is a positive correlation with relaxation and rapport. Inter-specific communication may help the horses overcome their fear and therefore reduce the tendency to use counter-predator responses. When the horse shows something of its own intention, it is often seen from a human perspective to be undermining the human-horse interaction. What horse people erroneously consider examples of reasoning in their horses, turn out to be excellent examples of trial-and-error

Using the previously saved file some adjustments were made before training Sniffy. The session was adjusted to the Design Operant Conditioning Experiment with the Reinforcement Schedule set to Continuous. The Recorded Shaping Behavior was set to Press Bar in order to begin training Sniffy to press the bar. Sniffy was first rewarded only when Sniffy would rear up facing the wall where the bar and hopper were located. Later Sniffy would be rewarded when he reared closer and

The purpose of this report is the RSPCA has assignment me to create a training manual to be given to people who adopt cats and dogs. The animal I’ve chosen to do for this task is a dog. The creation of this training manual requires a complete understanding of each theory and process of learning which includes providing an informative report with clear instructions for owners to use when training their new pets.

Initially, there are many ways of learning, but in the article, How to Train A Dog To Dance by Kea Grace, it is obvious that classical conditioning is being used to train the dog. Operant Conditioning is learning by the association between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus. In the article it is inferred that when trying to teach a dog to dance, the unconditioned stimulus is the dog treat or food being used to get the dog to stand up on itś hind legs. In turn that means the unconditioned response is the dog standing up for the treat. Then the word “dance” is introduced every time the treat is show to the dog.

Two dogs were picked, and according to Tillberg, et al. (2007), the subject of the study must be at least seven weeks old to be in this test. The subjects of study are a female Siberian husky and a female Chihuahua. The Siberian husky is 10 months old and her name is Wendy. The Chihuahua is two and half years old and her name is Chichi. Both dogs are healthy and active. The dog belongs to close friends of mine, so the dogs are familiar with me being around. The design of the experiment was based on prior experiences with the dog such as interactions, walked the dog, and took the dogs to the park to play. The dogs were tested on a personality test on the website, volhard.com. Jack and Wendy Volhard (2007) created the test the Canine Personality Profile.

I think that working with animals is a challenging job as well working with people. As you said, sometimes people take advantages of the situation. Positive reinforcement works better than a negative one that takes people down and lower their self-esteem. In my opinion rewards works better than punishment. It works well in any situation. The idea is to motivate people to do the right thing not to discourage people and get a negative working environment.

An intriguing experiment was conducted in 2015 by Merola, Lazzaroni, Marshall-Pescini, and Prato-Previde. They coordinated this examination to understand the relationship between a cat and its owner. They wanted to see if the owners' input about an object influenced the cat’s action and behavior towards the object (Merola, Lazzaroni, Marshall-Pescini & Prato-Previde, 2015). The test included thirty-six cats and all the owners were female except for one male owner. Out of these cats, there were different numbers of cat that were neutered and tom cats. As well as, different sexes. Each cat was tested individually in a testing room. The cat was allowed one minute to explore the room at the beginning with the owner in a set position and relaxed.

It is often said that a dog is a man’s best friend. In the last 14,000 years, dogs have accompanied man by helping him hunt, guard, and protect. In our modern world, dogs help us combat in war, search-and-rescue, guide the blind, deaf, discapacitated, rehabilitate patients in therapy, aid law enforcement, and are part of our family as beloved pets (Coren). Although canine superstars such as Lassie, Old Yeller, and Rin Tin Tin portray the perfect dog we all want in our lives, these ideals are far from the truth. Many first-time dog owners expect dogs to know behaviors such as how to walk on a leash, not bite, not destroy the house, and in addition to many others. In reality, dogs must be trained on what their handler wants them to do. It is

As a dog owner, I know how important it is to teach your pets how to behave. Yet, it is important to understand how learning works so that you can develop a strategy to properly and quickly teach your dog. The example of training a dog to roll over is a great model for analysing the aspects of learning involved with this process. Understanding how operant conditioning works and how to reinforce a desired response to that stimuli will help trainers effectively teach dogs. Psychologists, such as Myers (2013), define learning as the process of acquiring new knowledge and behaviors. In this case we are specifically discussing the acquisition of a certain response to a stimulus. The stimulus is the trainer’s command and the desired behavior is the dog to roll over onto his back. These ideas all are based on Edward L. Thorndike’s principle called the law of effect, wherein he stated that behaviors followed by a positive outcomes are more likely to increase in probability. These are all important components of the learning process, especially on the level of training a dog or instilling a simple behavior.