The stimulus control in dogs is really useful in dog training. It will help us make the dog respond positively to the commands we teach it, to a specific sound or to physical gestures. Basically, stimulus control allows the dog to respond in a certain way to an indication from us.
Humans also use this system: we answer when the phone rings, we get up when the alarm sounds or we exercise when our coach tells us to.
In this article on our site we will show you how it works, what you need and what advantages good stimulus control has in training. Keep reading:
Stimulus control in dog training
Stimulus control is essential in dog training. All canine obedience commands (verbal or physical) should become stimuli that control certain behaviors of your dog. For example, if you ask your dog to sit, he should sit and not lie down
On the other hand, many situations in everyday life also act as unconscious stimuli that control your dog's behavior. For example: if your dog is on the carpet he should not pee. On the other hand, if he is in the street he can do it.
Karen Pryor proposes in her book "Don't kill him… teach him!" that you can tell if your dog's behavior is under the control of a stimulus if it meets four properties:
- The behavior occurs immediately after the stimulus: In theory, the behavior always occurs after the stimulus, but in practice it can occur situations in which the dog "fails". Even high competition dogs can sometimes fail.
- The behavior does not occur if the stimulus is not presented: This is true, but there may also be other stimuli that control the behavior in certain situations. For example, your dog never lies down at training sessions or on the competition ring unless you tell him to, but he does lie down without command when he's at your house.
- The behavior is not in response to another stimulus: For example, your dog doesn't sit when he hears the command "Down." ". As in the previous case, the command may be the control stimulus in circumstances related to training, but your dog may sit in response to other stimuli in other situations (when he is at his leisure).
- No other behavior occurs in response to that particular stimulus. If you ask your dog to sit, he doesn't jump, lie down, run away, bite you, pee, scratch, etc.
Below you can see a couple of examples of the application of stimulus control in dog training:
What stimuli can we use for training?
Food
When using food to train a dog, it is common to guide the dog with the food. For example, to get the dog to sit, the food is carried above the dog's head and slightly to the rear.
Such procedures are very useful because they allow you to train simple behaviors in a short time. However, many trainers guide with food many times, until it becomes part of the stimulus that controls behavior. So, trainers think that food-trained dogs only respond when food is present.
The mistake is to use food as part of the stimulus on all occasions. To avoid this problem, it is enough that the food stops being part of the stimulus after a few repetitions. Keep in mind that food should be used as a reinforcer and not as an antecedent. Find out more about positive reinforcement.
Words and gestures
This should be our main goal: for the dog to associate an instruction with specific words or gestures. In general, dogs have an easier time remembering when they observe physical gestures, but you can use what works best for you.
In the first loads of the order we will use the food so that the dog "receives his reward" for having fulfilled what we ask of him, but as in the previous case, at some point we will stop using this reinforcement to reward him with affectionate words or caresses.
Because it is important?
Having good control of the stimuli that influence our dog's behavior is very important for its safety Being sure that our dog will obey us in an exceptional situation (being untied, in the middle of a conflict, etc.) offers us security and confidence. Training is also important to mentally stimulate our dog and make him feel useful. It's basically one more way to enrich your day-to-day.
Ideal for dogs…
- Smart
- Active
- Nervous
- Obedient
- Shy
- With behavior problems
