canine
Predictive Detective Work Anna Bradley looks into why dogs do what they do with a focus on predictive cues and the need to identify the most subtle of environmental triggers
© Can Stock Photo / ChandraSekar
© Can Stock Photo / buchsammy
A dog’s anxiety may begin to heighten long before his guardians’s departure, becoming confirmed when the door is closed and he is left alone
Dogs form links and associations which can lead to predictive behavior that may not always make sense to their guardians
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ing on how one feels about one’s job!), we may feel a little sad at leav ing the weekend behind, depressed at the thought of a long week ahead or possibly delighted at the prospect of all the challenges. Bound within the physical aspect of what we predict we will actually do, there is a huge element of how we will feel, and it is just the same for dogs.
often hear my clients say they don’t understand why their dog is doing this or that, or that there’s no reason or cause for the behavior at all. But of course, there is always a cause for a dog to behave in a certain way, no matter how perplexing it may seem. Sometimes, to get to that root cause, we have to don our best de tective gear because it’s not always easy to figure it out. In this article, I’m going to focus on one such behavior, often described by my clients as “bizarre” or as having “no apparent cause,” firstly because it seems to occur so often (dogs are quick to link cause and effect), secondly, be cause it actually amazes me how outlandish some of these connections can become, and thirdly, because my young dog has tried and tested some of these connections herself recently. What I’m referring to is how dogs form links and associations, and ultimately engage in prediction. Many of us follow a pattern in our daytoday lives in that we may go to work Monday to Friday, for instance. On Sunday, then, we can pre dict that on Monday we’ll be back to our usual routine and may spend some time preparing for the upcoming working day, like finishing off some paperwork, deciding what to wear, or filling the car with gas. What we must also remember is the emotional context. What do we feel when we engage in these behaviors? On Sunday evening (depend
...the sight of a guardian gathering their things and engaging in a specific leaving routine can quickly become linked to feelings of anxiety. This anxiety may begin to heighten long before the guardian’s departure, and is confirmed when the door is closed and the dog is left alone.
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BARKS from the Guild/May 2021
Example Behaviors Let’s now look at some of the behaviors that can be attributed to pre diction. Something we probably all see is the dog who becomes incredi bly excited at the sight of the leash. Sometimes just putting on your coat or picking up the house keys becomes linked with picking up the leash and taking pup for a walk. Things like this can get connected very quickly and become predictive cues, resulting in commonly encountered behaviors of jumping, bouncing, vocalizing etc. that are symptomatic of the dog’s excitement at the impending walk. Consider, though, a contrasting emotional response, like what we may see in cases of separation related disorders. Instead of excitement, the sight of a guardian gathering their things and engaging in a specific leaving routine can quickly become linked to feelings of anxiety. This anxiety may begin to heighten long before the guardian’s departure, and is confirmed when the door is closed and the dog is left alone. Re sulting symptoms can include urination, defecation, vocalization, de struction, hypervigilance etc. (see also Alone Training on pp.32‐33). In my experience, examples such as these are frequently encoun tered and commonly reported yet are detached from the actual cause. A dog’s guardian may report that their dog “acts weird for no reason” when they leave the house, or their dog “goes nuts whenever we go for a walk.”
