Learned Behavior

What Is a Learned Behavior?

A learned behavior is a behavior that develops or changes through experience and its consequences.

Dogs are constantly collecting information about what works, what doesn’t, and what produces outcomes they value.

Sometimes we’re intentionally teaching them.

Sometimes they’re learning things we never intended to teach.

Dogs Are Learning All the Time

Imagine a dog who jumps on people when they come through the door.

If jumping consistently results in attention, touching, talking, or excitement, the dog may learn that jumping works.

Or consider a dog who pulls toward an interesting smell and eventually gets to reach it.

The dog may learn:

Pulling gets me where I want to go.

Nobody intentionally taught the dog to pull. The behavior developed because of what happened after it.

Unwanted Behaviors Can Be Learned Too

Barking out the window, jumping on guests, pulling on the leash, stealing objects, or ignoring a recall can all become stronger when the behavior repeatedly produces an outcome the dog values.

This is why it’s useful to ask two questions when we’re trying to change a behavior:

How did this behavior start?

And:

What is keeping it going now?

The answers aren’t always the same.

Learned Doesn’t Mean Permanent

One of the encouraging things about learned behavior is that learning can change.

If a dog has learned that a particular behavior works, we can begin teaching them that another behavior produces a better or more reliable outcome.

That doesn’t necessarily happen overnight.

A behavior that has been practiced and reinforced hundreds of times may take time and consistency to change.

The Bigger Picture

Dogs don’t only learn during formal training sessions.

They’re learning during walks, at the front door, around the dinner table, when guests arrive, and throughout everyday life.

Every interaction has the potential to teach something.

The more we understand what our dogs are learning from those experiences, the better we can help shape what they learn next.