behaviour Flashcards
how can you prepare horses for future veterinary visits
- Skin pinches
- Syringes
- Touching neck/head
- Raising jugular vein
- Training (eg clicker)
- Use tasty flavoured pastes in worming tubes (icing sugar with water, honey, yeast extract, molases, apple sauce)
- Experience novel tastes - add flavours to damp chaff/hay soaked in herbal tea
- Provide different forage types
how can you prepare dogs for future veterinary interactions
- touching body parts
- muzzle training
- lifting onto tables
- visits to the vet practice for fun
what are behavioural signs of stress/illness
- lethargy
- inappetance
- weightloss
- isolation
- abnormal vitals
- drooling
- trembling
- wide eyes
what should you look for before aproaching an animal to assess musculoskeletal normality/abnormality
- conformation
- behaviour
- body language
- BCS
- posture
- gait
- environment
- muscle tone
- symmetry
- coordination
- spinal curvature
what is stress
any situation whihc tends to disturb the equilibrium between a living organism and its environment
what are the 2 key components of the stress response
- fight ot flight response (rapid response = acute)
- hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) (slow response pathway=chronic)
how can you prevent behaviour problems
- breeding and good physical/mental health
- selecting an appropriate pet for lifestyle
- ensuring that sufficient and appropriate social and environmental experiences occur throughout the animals development to behavioural adulthood
- use of appropriate methods and experiences to train the animal how to behave and live in the environments we keep them in
- apppreciate the world from the animals perspective
- meet behavioural needs
- prepare animals to cope with the environments we put them in
- recognize communication efforts and body language
- considerate handling and methods of restrains
- avoid negative experiences or forming negative associatation
- work to strengthen human-animal bond
what is behaviour modification
changing the behaviour of an animal
what is habituation
the process whereby an animal is exposed to environmental stimuli and learns to ignore them (traffic, CDs help)
what is systematic desensitisation
repeated, gradual exposure to the stimulus that evokes a negative emotional response
what is counter conditioning
Counter-conditioning means changing the pet’s emotional response, feelings or attitude toward a stimulus. For example, the dog that lunges at the window when a delivery person walks by is displaying an emotional response of fear or anxiety. Classical counter-conditioning would be accomplished by pairing the sight, sounds and approach of the delivery person with one of the dog’s favored rewards to change the emotional state to one that is calm and positive.
what is flooding
exposing the person or animal to a stimulus that is likely to trigger the adrenaline release or initiate a fear response in a manner that there is no such physical consequence.
what is reinforcement
eitherpositive or negative where an animal learns to associate a desired behaviour with a command or stimuli over time
what is punishment
a negative response to an action that discourages repeat response (physical, verbal, withholding treat and attention)
what is associative learning
a style of learning that happens when two unrelated elements (for example, objects, sights, sounds, ideas, and/or behaviours) become connected in our brains through a process known as conditioning.
what is desensitisation
the process of reducing a response by presenting the trigger in its least intense form and gradually building up the intensity over time.
what is sensitisation
Rather than getting used to something over time
(habituating), a dog reacts more strongly each time it
encounters a stimulus, even if it has no direct effect on them.
Example: A dog becomes increasingly fearful of
firework ‘bangs’ each time it hears them.
what is aversion
a strong dislike or disinclination
what is pheromonatherapy
using pheremones and chemical signals to reduce anxiety, aggression and can help (particularly with cats) to stop soiling, cat-cat aggression and fear
What is clicker training
trainer uses a clicker as a positive signal (usually associated with a reward) and eventually dog will become conditioned to be excited when they hear the clicker regardless of if another reward is offered
what are genetic influences
a dogs parents will influence behaviour (nature and nurture)
what is prenatal behavioural development
behavioural tendencies influenced in utero (stressed mother = more reactive offspring)
what is neonatal behavioural development
(0-2 weeks)
can learn simple associations, stimulation/handling can produce more confident dogs
what is transitional period of behaviour development
(2-3 weeks)
open eyes, ear canale, startle response, show interest in solid food, social behaviour with other puppies
what is the sesitive period of behavioural development
(3-12 weeks)
particularly sensitive to learning about new objects. many associations formed here based on positive and negative experiences, learns how to recognise and interact with the species with which is cohabits (humans, other dogs, cats)
what is the juvenile period of behavioural development
(12 weeks-sexual maturity)
exploration of environment increases and behaviour responses refined
what is the social maturity stage of behavioural development
(reached later than sexual maturity)
learning continues, formation of stable relationships with various species
what is socialisation
the process whereby an animal learns how to recognise and interact with the species with which it cohabits (puppy classes can help)
what is classical conditioning
the process in which an automatic, conditioned response is paired with specific stimuli
what is operant conditioning
a method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior
what is social learning
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Animals learn from others
what is positive reinforcement
encouraging a behaviour by giving a reward
- eg. giving treats after a dog sits when asked
what is negative reinforcement
encouraging certain behaviours by removing or avoiding a negative outcome or stimuli
- eg. walking a horse, adding pressure to head collar and when horse walks, pressure is released to encourage continuation of movement)
