ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR - Companion and Domesticated Animal Behaviour Flashcards
What are three of the most common behaviour related problems that prompt owners to bring their animals to the vet?
Aggression
Anxiety
Attention seeking
What are the two leading causes of behavioural problems in companion animals?
Social/environmental causes
Clinical causes
How long is the socialisation sensitive period for puppies?
Between 4 - 16 weeks
How long is the socialisation sensitive period for kittens?
Between 3 - 9 weeks
List eight social/environmental causes of behavioural problems in dogs?
Lack of socialisation
Attitude towards resources and control
Trauma
Frustration
Breed tendencies
Handling
Learned/trained behaviours
Over/understimulation
How can attitudes towards resources and control cause behavioural problems in dogs?
When dogs feel as if their resources (i.e. food, toys, attention) are limited or threatened, they may exhibit behaviours such as resource guarding, aggression, or anxiety. Similarly if the dogs feel a lack of control over their enviornment and routines, it can lead to stress and behavioural issues
List four social/environmental causes of behavioural problems in cats?
Inappropriate/breach in core territory
Trauma
Change
Relationships with owners and other animals
What is core territory in regards to cats?
Cats will have a core territory within the home where they feel secure enough to rest, toilet, eat, play and carry out self-maintenance behaviours
List six components which can help to make a cat’s core territory feel more secure
Heights
Comfortable sleeping area
Litter tray
Scratching posts of the correct height
Cat flap (kept seperate from other entities)
Food and water kept a room’s distance away from each other
What is the most common clinical cause of behavioural problems in companion animals?
Pain
List nine examples of clinical causes which can result in behavioural problems in companion animals
Pain
Hormonal
Pseudopregnancy
Neurological
Urogenital
Gastrointestinal
Hepatic
Sensory
Iatrogenic
What are five key indicators which suggest that behavioural problems may have a clinical cause?
Sudden onset of behaviour with no environmental changes
Unpredictable behaviour
Extreme behaviour for the animal’s usual temperament
Disproportionate response to eliciting stimuli
No reasonable explanation for the behaviour
Which factors should you keep in mind when taking a history for an animal brought into the clinic for behavioural changes?
- Assess the temporal relationship between the beginning of the behavioural problem and the proposed eliciting cause
- Assess the animal’s experiences (i.e. have they been well socialised, exposed to people, noise etc)
- Assess the context of the potential eliciting cause (i.e. it wouldn’t make sense for a dog to be aggressive towards people but not dogs after being attacked by another dog)
Which two associated learning techniques are often used in dog training?
Instrumental learning
Classical conditioning
What is instrumental learning?
Instrumental learning is when you notice a spontaneous desired behaviour and reinforce it with a command i.e. the animal naturally sits and you give the action a command, creating a connection between the action and command
What is classical conditioning in terms of animal behaviour?
Classical conditioning is a behavioural process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement
What is habituation in terms of animal behaviour?
Habituation is the diminished effectiveness of a stimulus in eliciting a response due to repeated exposure to the stimulus
What is sensitisation in terms of animal behaviour?
Sensitisation is when an animal becomes more responsive to a stimulus after being exposed to unusually strong or painful stimultation
Why is it important to begin companion animal training with continuous rewards and then transition to intermittent rewards once the behaviour is established?
Starting companion animal training with continuous rewards helps the animal to quickly associate the desired behaviour with the reward. Once the behaviour is established, transitioning to intermittent rewards helps to maintain the learned behaviour over the long term, keeping the animal motivated to perform the behaviour and reduce the dependence on constant rewards
What is the motivation that drives dogs to jump up on people?
Dogs greet other dogs face-to-face so when they jump up this is a normal care eliciting behaviour to try and greet humans face-to-face. This behaviour can become reinforced and become attention seeking
What advice would you give owners to address jumping up behaviour in dogs?
It can be effective to passively ignore the unwanted behaviour (jumping up). Redirection can also be helpful through using a series of commands (i.e. sit, stay etc.) for which the dog can receive praise and attention. This can teach the dog to carry out these desired behaviours instead of the jumping up
What advice can you give owners to address ankle biting behaviours in puppies?
It can be effective to passively ignore the unwanted behaviour (ankle biting). It can be helpful to advise the owners to wear wellies to help reduce any verbal or physical reactions they may have to the ankle biting which the puppy may interpret as positive reinforcement
What is the motivation that drives puppies and kittens to mouth people?
Exploration
Instigation of play
Lack of inhibition (i.e. usually puppies/kittens will receive a vocal response from their siblings/mother if biting too hard, however if they don’t receive this they will not have this understanding)
What advice would you give owners to address mouthing behaviours in puppies?
When puppies are mouthing, discontinue any play and remove your hand from their mouth followed by ignoring them/actively withdrawing attention.Be careful not to inadvertently reinforce the behaviour through verbal or physical responses which the puppy may perceive as positive reinforcement. Before they begin the mouthing behaviour in the future, redirect them to a desired behaviour (i.e. sit) and provide them with a reward for the desired behaviour
Why does passive ignoring not work to deter mouthing behaviours in puppies?
Passive ignoring of mouthing behaviours would require the owners to allow the puppy to continue mouthing them, which would provide the puppy with comfort and reward, thus failing in deterring the behaviour
Why does redirecting with a toy sometimes not work to deter mouthing behaviours in puppies?
Redirecting puppies with a toy can sometimes teach puppies that mouthing initiates a game, thus failing in deterring the behaviour
Why does squealing/yelping as though you are a sibling puppy sometimes not work to deter mouthing behaviours in puppies?
When a puppy is beyond their sensitisation period, squealing/yelping from their siblings would not be a normal behaviour for them to see (as in the wild they would usually be weaned and independent by then) and thus puppies can perceive this behaviour as attention, driving them to continue the mouthing