One of the many wonderful things about dogs is the endearing habits they come up with. Sandy Pawz likes to wander around with a baby sock in her mouth about 15 minutes after eating each day, and Leia likes to a little “eating dance” to coerce me into feeding her a little early.
Yet some doggy habits aren’t quite as fun as others. When a dog has a habit of jumping all over you with muddy paws, we tend to wish that is one that would disappear forever.
Sometimes, doggy habits actually do disappear. When a behavior that was previously rewarding to a dog isn’t rewarding anymore, the behavior slowly disappears. Eventually, the dog may never offer the behavior again. When a behavior disappears forever in a dog, the training term for it is called “Extinction.”
Sometimes, this is a bad thing. If a dog has learned to sit but never gets rewarded for it, they may eventually refuse to sit on command ever again. Sometimes, it is a good thing. If the dog finds jumping up on their owner rewarding, and the owner suddenly starts turning their back when the dog does this to make it less rewarding, they may stop.
It’s very hard to get an extinct behavior back if it is never rewarded, so caution may be needed when attempting to cause extinction in a behavior.
Trainers should also be aware that before a behavior becomes extinct, there is often something called an Extinction Burst. This is where the dog goes all out in the behavior trying to make it work for them.
If jumping used to work to get the attention they wanted and suddenly doesn’t, they may go wild with jumping and maybe add nipping and barking too to try and get the attention they seek. These extinction bursts can make it feel like extinguishing the behavior isn’t working when it is.
Similar Posts:
- Shaping: A Gentle Dog Training Method
- Dog Vocabulary: Operant Conditioning
- Training Vocabulary: Reinforcement
- Dog Vocabulary: Counter Conditioning
- Dog Vocabulary: Capturing
