Exam 2 Review Questions Flashcards
What are common mother dog behaviors before her pups are born? After the pups are born?
Before:
- Changes in behavior close to whelping
- Find a safe place to nest
After:
- Mother licks, removes birth sack
- Cuts cord
- Aids to suckle
What are the 4 stages of puppy behavioral development? What is the timeline for each?
- Neonatal period –> birth-14 days
- Transitional period –> 14-21 days
- Socialization period –> 3-12 weeks
- Juvenile period –> 12 weeks-sexual maturity
Neonatal period primary behaviors
Innate Behaviors
- ** Rooting reflex
- Triggered by maternal licking
- Enables puppies to locate the teat
- Develop nipple preference
Behaviors:
- Vocalizations limited to distress called
- Accompanied by increased activity
- Behaviors don’t change much in the first 2 weeks
- Dependent on mother
- Learning abilities limited
- Early handling may be beneficial
- Long term effects on behavior: accelerated maturation of the nervous system, increased growth rate, enhanced development of motor skills, senses, and problem-solving abilities
Transitional period primary behaviors
- Behaviors begin to transition from neonatal to adult
- Stand and walk
- Tail wagging
- No longer need stimulation for urination and defecation
- Social behaviors start to emerge
- Capable of learning
~ rate of learning reaches adult level at 4-5 weeks - Expose to normal household sounds smells, sights, handle, pet, brush
Socialization period primary behaviors
- Puppies become highly responsive to stimuli
- Increased opportunities to learn
- Form attachments to other animals, people
- Rapid increase in activity
~ More complex behaviors
- Play becomes more complex
- Facial expressions and aggressive vocalizations appear at 5 weeks
- Social structures begin to develop
Moving to new homes
- Usually 8 -9 weeks
Juvenile period primary behaviors
- Refine existing capabilities, increase coordination
- Attention span increases
- Social behaviors develop until 18 mo.
~ increase in urine marking, aggression, roaming, mounting behaviors
Physiological developments coincided with
Neonatal
- Altricial (dependent on maternal care)
- Unable to regulate body temperature
- Primary behavioral goals: acquire food, warmth, and maternal care
- Require tactile stimulation for urination and defecation
- well developed olfactory and tactile systems
- Poor hearing and eyes closed
Transitional
- Rapid physiological changes
- Deciduous teeth erupt - 20 days
- Maturation of sensory organs
~ open eyes 12-14 days
~ About 19-21 d, ear canals open
Socialization
Weaning process
- Start at 3-4 weeks of age
- Completed by 7-9 weeks
Juvenile
- Permanent teeth begin to erupt, complete by 6 mo.
Why is socialization important? When is it important?
When
Socialization period –> 3-12 weeks old, most important period of social development
Why
- Development of species-specific social behavior
- Dog social to its own species and humans
- Prevent development of inappropriate behaviors
Xenophobia: fear of new things
- Approach and investigate novel stimuli
- Unit about 5 weeks of age
- Starting at 5 weeks, puppies become more wary of new things
- Fits with natural development in wild
What are some examples of socialization?
- bring to a vet clinic
- children
- cars
- other pets
- walking on a leash
- different flooring/ textures
- loud noises
- variety in people
- grooming, trimming nails
–> really anything you want them to react well to as adults
What motivates a dog to eat or stop eating?
To eat:
- Empty stomach
- Glucose levels
- Odor
- Taste
- Sight of food
To stop eating:
- Stomach fills
- Satiated
- Glucose increases
- Hormone signals
How do the feeding behaviors compare to those of the domestic dog?
- Ad lib vs. meal fed
- Rapid eating pattern
- Social competition
- Hiding food
- Eat during day
What are the main benefits and drawbacks of ad-lib feeding?
pros:
can eat throughout day, dog can rely on internal cues, easy for humans - requires least effort/ knowledge
cons:
overeating (risk of obesity), food could spoil, habituation, can’t monitor food intake
What are the main benefits and drawbacks of portion-controlled feeding?
pros:
can monitor food intake, can feed based on caloric needs to prevent obesity, catch changes in eating intake, sets routine
cons:
could accidentally feed/ underfeed, requires most owner knowledge/ effort
What are the main benefits and drawbacks of time-controlled feeding?
pros:
can monitor food intake, establishes a schedule, owner establishes dominance, can limit amount of time eating
cons:
can cause them to vomit from eating too fast, may not always eat in time allowed, resource guarding
What are the main causes for overeating in dogs? What is the best way to correct this?
- Palatability
~ Own food
~ Human food
- Boredom
- Inactivity
- Disease
~ Thyroid, overactive adrenal glands, heart or liver failure
Best way to fix:
- Portion control based on caloric needs, provide enrichment, get more exercise
What is pica and why does it happen?
Eating non-food items
~ cords, furnitire, wool, string, etc
Why does it happen?
Boredom, anxiety, curiosity, don’t have access to toys, inappropriate diet
What does the social structure of the wolf look like? How does it compare to that of the domestic dog?
Wolf social structure
- Pack
- Small group related individuals
- Work together to raise young, scavenge and hunt for food, protect den and territory
- Important that pack work together to obtain goals
- Social ranking
- Single-sex hierarchies
- Cros-sex dominance relationships
- Dominant male and female
- Maintain pack order and security
- Demonstrate dominant body postures
- Preferred sleeping areas
- Initiate pack activities
- Eat first
Domestic dog social structure
- Need to live in secure, orderly social group
- Consists of human caretakers, other pets
- Dominant dogs: display dominant body postures, steal toys, food
- Initiate social activities and play
- Compete for owners attention
How can we tell the dominant and submissive dogs by looking at body posture and behavior?
Dominant
- Make appear larger in size
- Stand on toes
- Head held high
- Elevated tail
- Tail wagging
- Piloerection
- Forepaw on shoulder of another dog
Submissive
- Body appear smaller
active:
- crouches low
- tucks tail
- attempt to lick face of dominant dog
- raise a paw
passive:
- lie down
- partially on back
- tuck tail
- turn head away
- avoid eye contact
- dribble urine
How does the dog communicate through olfaction? What are the primary signals sent?
- Urine, feces, glands (anal gland)
- Convey information about gender, territory, reproductive status, identity of animal
How does the dog use body language to communicate?
Submissive/ dominant behaviors (in previous flashcard)
Ears and mouth
- Alert/ dominant –> forward and erect
- Submissive –> laid pack against head
- Snarl –> display of dominance and aggression
- Submissive grin
What is the importance of eye contact to the dog?
- Dominant stare
- Dominant animals initiate
~ subordinate will avert gaze first - Occurs when dogs meet for the first time, adult and puppies
- Minimizes chance of aggression
- Friendly eye contact common
~ established groups rarely use dominant eye contact - Greeting, play, social, grooming, attention-seeking
Describe dominant, active and passive submissive, defensive aggression, and play bow body postures.
Dominant
- Make appear larger in size
- Stand on toes
- Head held high
- Elevated tail
- Tail wagging
- Piloerection
- Forepaw on shoulder of another dog
Submissive
- Body appear smaller
active:
- crouches low
- tucks tail
- attempt to lick face of dominant dog
- raise a paw
passive:
- lie down
- partially on back
- tuck tail
- turn head away
- avoid eye contact
- dribble urine
Defensive aggression
- Fearful, threatened
- Fear biting may occur
- Slightly lowered body, raised hackles, growl, or snarl
- Insecure and defensive
Play bow
- Inviting another to play
- Paw with front feet
- Play grin
- Open mouth panting
What are the common auditory signals sent by the dog?
Grunt
- greeting, contentment
Growls
- defensive or offensive aggression
Whines
- Signal hunger, discomfort, loneliness
Barks
- Repetitive barking only done by dogs
- Selected for as a signal
- Defense of territory, play, isolated, attention-seeking
Howls
- Wolves howl frequently
- Dogs rarely howl
- Generally sign of isolation
- Response to environmental sounds
What are calming signals?
a large number of behavior patterns that she says dogs use to avoid conflict, to prevent aggression, to calm other dogs down and to communicate information to other dogs and to people
What is their purpose in nature?
it’s important to have ways of communication that can pacify a potentially tense situation. Ongoing conflicts between the individuals would weaken the pack by increasing the risk for injuries and interfere with potential cooperation.
Why would it be beneficial for dogs to have multiple calming signals?
To apply to many different situations
To be able to communicate with any dog or human
List examples of calming signals and when a dog might use them.
Looking away –> when meeting another dog
Turning away –> To calm down boisterous dogs
Yawning –> to calm restless dogs
Licking –> may lick when bothered by child
Slow movements –> moving fast may be seen as threatening, move slowly when meeting new dogs
Sitting/lying down –> reassured other dog that they are not threatening
Sniffing –> adult dog sniffs ground to distract puppies
Curving –> When first introducing to new dog
Play bow –> invitation to play
Splitting up –> avoids conflict in group of dogs
What is required for training to work?
Consistency, repetition, patience, trust/ relationship building, reinforcers (positive), being able to read behavior cues
What are rewards, lures and corrections? What is a primary vs. a secondary reward? Provide examples. What makes them work and not work?
Rewards –> positive reinforcement, treats, praise, toys, pets. Comes after appropriate behavior.
~ Timing (have to follow immediately after), intensity
not work - bad timing, low food value
Lures –> increases animals interest in performing task, offered before behavior is elicited
Bribe –> not training, want to switch things (toy for show)
Primary reward –> item inherently rewarding (food, praise, petting)
Secondary reward –> animal learns that it is reward (clicker)
What factors affect the effectiveness of reward or lure training? How do each of these work?
Timing: is really important
- rewards need to occur within a few seconds of performing behavior
- lure shown to the dog before performing
Intensity:
- Should match degree of difficulty
- Should decrease with increased training
- Dependent on dog’s perception of intensity
- Affected by frequency of use
Variety:
- More variety will increase response
- Don’t know what to expect
- Use variety of senses if possible
Frequency and scheduling:
- Rewards for every task
- Random rewarding
- Changes in frequency as animal learns tasks
~ chaining
What are the pros and cons of clicker training?
- No punishment
- Complex behaviors trained
- Can wear off clicker
- Must be used correctly
- Consistency important
What is the Koehler Method? What are some concerns with it?
- Uses leash/collar corrections
- Verbal praise, not treats
- Goal: off-leash work in 10-13 week course
concerns:
- relies heavily on leash corrections
What is target training?
- Animal learns to touch a target and follow it
- Common with zoo animals
- Expanded to companion animals as well
- Generally implemented to get animal to go to certain location
What are the pros and cons of using a head halter?
- Hard to over-correct
- Doesn’t require as much strength
- Less owner training
- Won’t work with some breeds
- Must start early
- Some dogs will try to remove
- “Is that a muzzle”
How does selective breeding alter behavior?
Specific behaviors selected for
- lowered aggression
- higher trainability
- lowered reactivity
How do physical differences between breeds and breed variation affect communication and behavior among breeds?
Communication tools:
- Body posture
- Tail
- Facial expressions
- Eye contact
~ thick coat ~ ears low on head with pendulous pinnae ~ curled tails, docked tails ~ cropped ears ~ excess skin folds on face
Spitz general behavioral characteristics
- Work in groups
- Minimal hierarchical behaviors
- Independent
- Low to moderate trainability, aggression, reactivity
Mastiff general behavioral characteristics
- Protection and guard dogs
- Territorial, dominant
- High reactivity, moderate to high aggression
- Bond strongly to one owner or family
- Highly trainable
Sight Hound general behavioral characteristics
- Speed
- Predatory chase instinct high
- Grabbing and killing bite
- Independent
- Silent
- Can be gentle and quiet when not working
Scent Hound general behavioral characteristics
- Endurance vs speed
- Low level of reactivity
- Low aggression
- Low to moderately trainable
- High amount of vocalization (howl)
Terrier general behavioral characteristics
- Find/kill small rodents/pests
- Worked with little to no direction from handler
- Kill game immediately
- Low to medium trainability
- High reactivity
- High aggression –> inter-dog and predatory
Gundogs/ Hunting general behavioral characteristics
- Indicate and retrieve
- Highly trainable, reactive, and low aggression
- Hunting eagerness heritable
- Grabbing bite, but not killing bite
Livestock Herding general behavioral characteristics
- Form of predatory behavior, but grabbing and killing bite inhibited
- If nip or bite, should not be selected for breeding
- Highly trainable
- Strong bond with human caretaker
- Highly reactive
Livestock Guarding general behavioral characteristics
- Imposing size and presence
- Show little to no predatory behavior
- Low to moderate reactivity
- Low trainability
- Moderate aggression
Toy general behavioral characteristics
- Developed strictly as companions
- Some retain traits of larger breed
- More subordinate
- Bond strongly to humans
- Puppy-like behaviors throughout life
- Highly trainable
How does a breed’s original purpose affect how dog owners train and manage them as pets?
Trainability and aggression can be inherited. Knowing what dog was originally intended for may influence different training techniques implemented
- Some behavior traits are breed-related (excitability, tendency to snap at children, excessive barking)
Why is there so much research being done in aggression and temperament heritability?
- High interest
- Limited amount of information available
~ German Shepherds high in territorial and nervous aggression
~ Cocker spaniels –> low aggression threshold
From the studies discussed, what are some inherited temperament traits? Why would this be important to a breeding program?
- Breeding program for training guide and service dogs
- Upon selection of successful dogs for breeding
~ success rate increased from 30 to 60%
Heritability of traits
- Nervousness in guide dogs:
~ Between 0.47-0.58
- Sounds and body sensitivity most highly heritable traits in
dogs selected
- Cross fostering didn't change traits
What is one of the top reasons dogs end up in shelters each year?
Behavioral issues
Does a dog breeds exist that cannot be trained? If so, what makes the breed unable to be trained?
No. Only if they were not socialized at all during socialization period
When solving any behavior problem what is the important question you should ask?
Has there been any change what is causing the behavior?
How do you prove your dog in training to ensure it will perform the task anywhere?
Do it in many different environments
Due to a lack of control in dog breeding and the randomness of genetic combination, should each dog be approached in training using the exact same method?
No, there is no spot fix treatment for training dogs
When seeking professional help with behavior why is it important to research the provider and observe the trainer’s dog?
To make sure that they are using appropriate training techniques and are qualified.
The dog industry is unregulated –> anyone can call themselves a dog trainer. This puts the consumer at risk.
Does Dr. Jill Morstad advocate reinforcement (rewards), corrections-based training, or a combination of both?
More positive reinforcement
Every dog is different, not a one size fits all option. Is going to depend on dog
Even though, you may never compete with your dog or use it as a working dog, what are some reasons training is essential when you own a dog?
Dogs are first and foremost a public health nuisance.
–> buting, loose dogs, poop, etc
- Should know basic commands for public safely
