Behaviours

 Defining Behaviours

Without the knowledge of how we define a behaviour and set the criteria for it, we set both ourselves and our animals up for failure. Once we have an understanding of a behaviour and how to chose the one we need for the situation, the approximations and actual training become much simpler, quicker and easier for everyone involved. 

When we talk ‘behaviours’ in the animal training space, what do we mean? The behaviour is the task or action we want the animal to be able to do when we ask. Common behaviours we often start with could include; stationing, targeting and self-crating. Behaviours can be as complex as our imaginations allow for. With the right training plan and approximations any animal can be trained for behaviours!

Why do we have to define our behaviours? There are a few different reasons we are so specific about what exactly a behaviour is. The first is that it makes it easier for the animal we are training. When we have a very clear and specific definition of what we want to achieve it means as soon as it’s achieved the first time it can be replicated and learned very easily. For example; I may define stationing as “to have all limbs on the station”. Once the behaviour is established, if I go backwards and reward for one, two or any less than all limbs then the following day when I need all of them the animal will get frustrated with me. Yesterday they got the reinforcer for exactly what they’re doing today. Ultimately this can end up in a negative experience of a training session and ‘poisoning the cue’ meaning you have to re-train the entire behaviour to a different cue as there is too much confusion/negativity associated with the original one.

The second is that once a behaviour is established, we often open up to more than just one trainer asking for that behaviour so it can be maintained while we are not working. If I define a target as touching a nose to the target ball for a second, but Kayla defines it as 2 seconds, then the animal will get confused and frustrated with Kayla when they don’t get a reward after 1 second. Ultimately, this can lead to a less positive relationship between Kayla and the animal. Which of course we don’t want! We want our whole team to have positive relationships with all animals on the section and have successful training sessions.

One of the biggest things to avoid is using emotive language when defining a behaviour. The reason for this is it makes it much harder to plan our approximations. If one step involves “animal happily does x” how do we define happily? Since we can’t move on until this approximation is reached, we could end up stuck for a long time. What if during a session a noise distracts the animal, does that mean they didn’t complete the behaviour happily?

Instead of using emotion-based words we might use time length instead. For example: “animal does X for 1 second”. We all know how long a second is and can use this clear measurement for assessing if the animal has achieved and can begin the next approximation. This also allows for animals to be distracted or have emotions without it affecting their training. After 1 second we might increase to 2, 3, 5, 10, and so on. This avoids one trainer defining happily as “does it when asked” and another as “does it without being distracted” and another as “does it at all for me”.

It’s great we want to define a behaviour but what behaviour should we chose when beginning a training plan? Below are a few common behaviours we often train and how they can be utilized by care staff once trained.

Station: Asking an animal to a specific place and to stay there.

Stationing is a great way to teach your whole group to be calm with each other around. It can also be used to move an animal, for example putting the station on a set of scales and then asking for it to get a weight. It can be used to calm an over-excited individual. For example, sometimes excitement and over stimulation can be expressed as nipping or jumping up. When this starts and you ask for a station the animal knows “I need to do this now” and it helps them regulate their behaviour.

Target: Asking an animal to place a specific body part (typically the nose) to a ball on the end of a stick.

Targeting is a great way to move an animal long distance or through areas they are unfamiliar with as it gives them a task to focus on they know well. It’s also useful for holding attention while other things happen. Targeting is often used to keep an animal still for things like x-rays or short physical examinations.

Injection Training: Having an animal voluntarily take an intramuscular injection.

Injection training is great for making things like vaccinations, general anaesthetics and medicine delivery less stressful. Because the behaviour has been trained, when we ask for it the animal knows what will happen and as a result, we know they are aware and still choosing to participate. It also removes the need for us to catch and physically restrain an animal for these things, that’s important as catch ups like that often result in losing trust between the animal and trainer that we then have to spend a long-time rebuilding.

Crate Training: Asking an animal to enter a carry crate and allow the door to be shut on them, or sometimes shut it themselves.

Similarly to our injection training, it helps us avoid manual catch ups and losing trust. It also makes transportation of animals easier and a calmer process as the crate is a familiar space for them with positive associations.

So, what behaviour do you want to train next? The sky is the limit!