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The Accidental Enforcement of Behaviour in Cats and Dogs

Many people actively train their pets to behave well and to do tricks. These are concerted efforts to produce a desired behaviour, using rewards when the animal accomplishes the correct task. It is highly beneficial to have a dog that will sit and stay, or a cat that knows the kitchen bench is off limits.

However, many times an animal’s behaviour comes not from formal training but accidental reinforcement. This can produce a good trait, or it might create a potential problem for you and your pet. Here is an example of accidental behaviour reinforcement that occurred with my husband’s black Labrador, Wag.

When Wag was a young puppy we took a trip to the local river on a hot summer’s day. As is common to do with a dog, my husband threw a stick for him. Wag’s attention was diverted at the time so he did not see the stick flying, or where it landed. Shane urged Wag to go in after it, and he did so eagerly. But he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing in the water, so he swam around looking for a way to please us. To try and direct him, we lobbed stones at the stick to show him where it was, along with shouts of encouragement as he moved towards it. All Wag saw was a flying stone land with a delightful splash in his playground, the river. Off he went swimming strongly to capture the stone. He totally ignored the stick, which as far as he was concerned, was just an object in the way. Reaching the area where the stones splashed down, he stuck his silky head under the surface and looked for the missiles. Enjoying his antics we laughingly shouted, “the stick, get the stick.” Now Wag knows that any stone has two names – stick and stone. What was a charming and funny incident went on to become a pattern.

At first he would chase after any stone lobbed at the water. It soon progressed to him initiating his own hunt. He didn’t need some human to throw one for him; he is intelligent enough to procure his own. He hunted stones, the bigger the better, and only from under the water, never from the dry banks where the pickings were easy. At almost six years of age, Wag has now refined his art. Without provocation, he will go to the deepest part of the river and dive (yes, dive!) down, completely submerged, pick up the biggest rock he can dislodge and carry it back to shore. In order to dive, he flips onto his back with all four legs stuck straight up to the sky. Arching his back, he begins the dive headfirst. His forelegs disappear, then his back legs. Finally his tail, as the black mast signaling a sinking ship, dipping gracefully beneath the water.

Once he has deposited his ‘find’ on the riverbank, Wag returns to the water and repeats the process. We jokingly say that he is making our swimming hole deeper for us. We indulged him for his cute and funny behaviour, but it has a rather frightening consequence that only become obvious much later.

I happened to notice that Wag’s canine teeth are worn well down and if he continues he could end up with painful dental problems and worse. What was once a fun and entertaining performance, albeit accidentally initiated and encouraged, has become a health hazard for our beautiful boy.

Behaviour can be reinforced through a lack of appreciation of the end results. Eager to please us, Wag read our laughter as praise and encouragement of his stone-fetching. The habit was formed.

Once the health issue was recognised, we had to devise a way to inhibit further damage to his teeth. To replace the undesirable behaviour, deliberate behaviour enforcement is required. We have utilised a long, foam spaghetti – the kind that is used for swimming exercises in a pool. It is soft on his teeth, floats on the water and being bright red, he can not miss it. So far it has been a great success. He carries it around with a proud carriage of head and alert ears. As it is very light, he does not tire of holding onto it. It will take months of this distraction to break the stony habit that was formed over most of his young life. Hopefully we can progress to where he will fetch real sticks, and the stones will become a distant and weighty memory.

This sort of accidental behaviour reinforcement also applies to cats. Again, I will use an example from my cat, Pudi.

Pudi is coming up 12 years of age and the behaviour she has developed happened only last year, proving they are never too old to learn. My husband and I eat our meals on the sofa in front of television with Pudi often taking up position between us. One day she was not getting enough attention, so she innocently stretched out a paw to land on Shane’s lap tray. Thinking this very cute, he reached down to stroke her tabby fur. It was several weeks before she did it again, but again, that unthinking response of a pat happened. Before we all knew it, a behaviour had developed. Pudi learnt that if she placed a paw on Shane’s tray, she would get a pat, and sometimes even a tidbit from his plate. One could even say that she trained my husband.

In this instance, the behaviour is not a problem. She never becomes demanding nor will she use her claws to procure the attention. She does not need to. In addition she is very timid and will not come in when we have visitors, so we need never worry about her being a problem for other people.

It is very tempting when our pets do something cute, to make a fuss over them. Sometimes this leads to the formation of behaviour that may not be desirable, or worse, could be harmful for you or your pet.

These are my suggestions, from personal experience: