The main differences between Behaviour Modification and everyday Training
- Mark McCormack
- Jul 3
- 7 min read
The two main tasks I get asked to perform as a professional dog trainer are:
working with puppies (which would fall under everyday training), and;
helping people and dogs with behaviour problems (which would fall under behaviour modification).
But how are these two practices different from one another, and why do I charge more for behaviour modification than for everyday training?
This is a very good question -- and the answer tells you a lot about dog training in general -- so that is why I have chosen to devote this blog article to that topic.
The beginning of the answer to this question arises in contemplating the "temperament" or personality of a dog. How does a dog get their personality? Where does it come from?
Temperament is bias, plus management, plus learning. And I will devote sections of this article to discussing each of these. Each one contributes to neural redundancy -- the number of neural pathways that are driving any particular behaviour pattern. The more neural pathways suggesting "behaviour a" over "behaviour b", the more frequently you see "behaviour a" occur. The more a behaviour is repeated, the more redundant pathways are added and the greater the frequency, duration and intensity of the behaviour observed. In order to be extinguished, a behaviour must not be repeated, or even better yet, must not be contemplated, because "if you don't use it, you lose it."
Bias:
No dog comes into the world without bias. Bias arises out of a combination of genetic and epigenetic factors.
As I mention in a couple of different places in this blog I talk about the evolutionary origin of domestic dogs. There is a popular, if incorrect belief that posits that all domestic dogs evolved from the Grey wolf. This is a hopelessly Western idea that ignores the fact that African Wild dogs and early humans evolved together on the African savannah, and then colonized the rest of the world at approximately the same time as each other. Grey wolves have only ever lived in Northern Europe and North America -- the places that were colonized last -- whereas ancient domestic dogs somehow find themselves right alongside humans in places and times such as Australia and Southeast Asia thousands of years before Grey wolves were ever widespread in the North. It is therefore most instructive to consider the types of traits domestic dogs inherited from African Wild dogs -- which are certainly the ancestor of Grey wolves, Coyotes, Dingoes, Jackals, and domestic dogs.
I discuss a suite of "ancestral" behaviours in my blog article about "the Premack Principle". These behaviours include:
- Alarm barking, "mailman syndrome", and barrier frustration; see my blog on this topic here:
- Tug play, possession, wrestling, chase, fetch, and other initiative games
- Digging
- Patrolling, sniffing and scent marking, and;
- Confusing correlation with causation.
These behaviours could be considered to be "self-reinforcing" and "genetically programmed" -- meaning that every dog has a high probability of expressing these behaviours at some point during their lifespan even if there is no other dog present to "demonstrate" the behaviour -- and the more a dog is allowed to freely express these and similar behaviours, the more ingrained they will become.
Therefore the more your request falls within these categories, the more likely it will be classified as "behaviour modification".
The main difference between domestic dogs and other types of dogs such as Grey Wolves, Coyotes, Dingoes and Jackals, is that inheritance of traits among wild species is mostly determined by Natural Selection, whereas domestic dogs mostly inherit traits according to Selective Breeding.
Selective Breeding can occur intentionally or unintentionally. It began unintentionally thousands of years ago, and over the centuries has become more and more intentional. Breed clubs were established in the nineteenth century to breed specific biases into each breed and purpose of dog.
The main sources of bias considered so far could therefore be considered "genetic bias" -- the total of all inheritable traits. These are difficult types of behaviours to overcome. But not all genes are expressed in an individual dog at the same time. Different genes are expressed at different stages of development, and a dog's environment also plays a large role in determining which genes are "turned on" and active and which genes are "turned off" and inactive.
If we take two mother dogs for example, sisters, one calm one that had a good upbringing and lived in good conditions, and one with questionable temperament which might not have been raised perfectly and lived in difficult conditions, we would not expect the puppies they produced to have similar temperaments. The incidence of anxious, obsessive/compulsive, attention problems and other problematic behaviours would be more frequent in the puppies of the mother with poor upbringing living in difficult conditions -- even though as sisters, the two mothers would have passed on very similar genes to their offspring. This is known as "epigenetic bias". It is one of the best reasons never to buy from a "puppy mill" and if you are purchasing a puppy, always insist on seeing the mother and inspect the whelping area for yourself. That way you can be sure the mother is of good temperament and is living in as close to optimal conditions as possible.
Therefore, the more questionable your dog's origin and parentage are, the more likely your request will be classified as "behaviour modification".
There is one last source of bias, and that is learned bias. As mentioned above, the more a behaviour is repeated, the greater the neural redundancy driving that behaviour in the future. The definition of temperament as bias, plus management, plus learning, is in fact, circular.
It is important to also consider the age of the dog in question as well. Younger dogs learn faster and deeper than older dogs, and their lessons last longer due to rapid increases and decreases in neural redundancy. Unfortunately, there currently isn't much data on how many new nerve connections dogs are capable of making, but we do have pretty good answers for people. In a human embryo, new nerve connections can be made as rapidly as 15 million per hour. In the first five years of life, it drops to 700 - 1000 per minute, and in adults, it drops again to about 700 in a day. That offers an insight to how critically important good early learning is for dogs -- and why it can be so difficult to change ingrained behaviours as an adult.
Therefore, the older your dog is, and the longer the issue has remained unaddressed, the more likely that your request will be classified as "behaviour modification".
Management
I have described management and training in another article, so I will only speak briefly on them here.
"Management" is the set of all things we must do as owners to promote the health, longevity, and contentedness of our dogs. This includes:
how we teach safety, security, confidence and trust,
how we discipline,
how we care for veterinary needs,
how and what we feed,
how we groom,
how we play,
how we exercise, rest, sleep and snuggle, and;
how we use equipment, tools and resources.
Both/either management or training can be intentional and/or unintentional, but the dog is learning 24/7 whether we try to teach it or not. Better to be intentional and deliberate.
Management does not tend to have a deliberate learning goal attached to its practice, but dogs eventually come to expect thing to continue to occur as they have done according to their experience. If your dog is under-exercised and frustrated as a result, and this occurs more or less regularly from day to day, then your dog comes to expect to be frustrated -- and therefore will seek to find ways to alleviate their frustrations. Barking at a door or window is a popular choice in this case.
I have a previous blog article on this topic. Please check it out if this applies to you.
The more a dog practices alleviating its own frustrations, the more the behaviour is reinforced, the less humans are involved in its daily routine, and the more difficult it is to train your way out of.
Therefore the more your dog has experienced less-than-ideal management, the more likely your request will be classified as "behaviour modification".
Learning
Learning is occurring 24/7 whether you are teaching or not. Best to take advantage of as many opportunities as you can. Learning is more difficult depending on the age of the dog, as discussed above, as well an on how much bias and learning are at play. As mentioned above, temperament is neural redundancy. The more neurons we are fighting, the more difficult it becomes to make deliberate changes, and the more important it becomes to avoid re-activating the behaviour patterns we are trying to change. Don't forget what we said above either, that the longer the behaviour issues has remained unaddressed, and the older the dog is, the more learning and therefore the more neural redundancy we are fighting.
Each dog has a unique set of biases and experiences due to management and learning -- all leading to a unique temperament. There are several factors that govern the adoption and ingraining of behaviour;
The conditions the dog is learning under; see my blog article here: https://www.poochperfect.ca/single-post/thorndikes-principles-of-learning
The degree to which the dog finds each aspect of their behaviour reinforcing; see my article here: https://www.poochperfect.ca/single-post/the-premack-principle-and-the-spectrum-of-reinforcement-by-preference
The rate of reinforcement; see my blog article here: https://www.poochperfect.ca/single-post/the-rate-of-reinforcement-the-simplest-and-most-applicable-training-tool-you-ve-never-heard-of
Why does behaviour modification cost more?
Above, we have explored all the more ingrained behaviour problems necessitate a greater investment of time and energy on the part of the owner as well as on the trainer during behaviour modification. The following factors all help to justify the increased price:
A greater attention paid to ongoing behaviour assessment, as well as ongoing assessment of management and training, including anticipating and adapting to the unexpected,
A longer list of management and training interventions that need to be maintained, tracked and adjusted over time,
A greater necessity for ongoing communication, including an increased frequency and depth in conversations, and a greater complexity of communication -- including additional research, reading, and resources that need to be shared,
A longer timeframe, a greater number of step, and a greater customization are all required for resolving the issue,
A greater likelihood that the trainer or dog may be injured during the process, and;
A greater involvement of advanced skills and experience on the part of the trainer needed at every stage of the process.
Because of the greater investment of time and energy involved, each behaviour management case I take on occupies more time and energy than an everyday training case -- meaning an opportunity cost where I can take on fewer other clients.
There are of course additional details that I may have missed. Please let me know if you see any errors or wish to discuss anything you read. Happy training!
Sources:
Epigenetics
Age-related learning
Selective breeding
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