Why don’t dogs “unlearn” commands once they stop receiving treats?
In: Biology
Who says they don’t? If I ask mine to do any of the more challenging tricks like play dead, theyll first have a look to see if I have any treats before they follow through
It’s called conditioning, and it can be done with pretty much any animal, humans included; leaving behind a long-term or potentially permanent link.
When the dog follows your command and you give it a treat, it learns that doing a certain action (a trick) after hearing a certain sound (a command) results in a reward (a treat). When you then repeat that process time and time again, the dog’s brain eventually learns to associate that process will result with the positive reward, and while that positive reward is now gone, the brain has so tightly linked the action to the outcome that it will make up the outcome on its own.
The opposite metric, as an example, can be used to prevent something. Rather than train the brain to associate the action with a positive reward, train it to associate the action with a negative reward. The brain then learns to link the 2 and while the negative reward is no longer being used, the brain will manufacture it’s own negative reward which then makes it want to avoid the initial action. (One example of this would be humans’ unfortunate use of conversion therapy).
The vast majority of dogs are very much eager to please their owners. There are stubborn dogs of course who will understand the command but refuse to do it, however most dogs tend to be obedient since they were bred for many generations to be that way.
We have a goofy boy that wants to please. He’ll do whatever because it makes us happy.
We also have a scheming little girl that knows when she’s owed, and will follow us around giving us the hairy eyeball and occasional bark until she gets paid.
Short answer – they do. Or at least, they stop responding to that cue unless incentivised.
Behaviour that gets reinforced is more likely to be repeated. Behaviour which isn’t tends to stop. What’s reinforcing to a dog can be very varied – eg if your dog wants to go outside and you ask it to sit and then let it out, or if your dog wants attention and you ask them to shake hands and then cuddle them once they do, then those behaviours have been reinforced.
If the only reward your dog gets for a cue is a food reward, and then you stop the food rewards, your dog will pretty quickly stop responding to that cue. It’s a VERY common mistake people make when training their dogs, and they then complain that their dog will “only listen when there’s food”.
A dog sitting there in a situation where treats *could* happen has nothing better to do than try to make treats happen. It’s not like they have chores to get to or something like that, you know?
Plus, getting rewarded with some quick lovin’ from your owner isn’t the worst thing in the world, and doing the thing the command means isn’t physically difficult. As long as it works sometimes, it’s worth trying.
TL;DR it depends on the intelligence of the dog
They will forget commands if unused. This will take place faster if (many) other commands are taught and repeated to replace the existing one.
Stopping the receiving of treats is only so important. My dog knows many commands. He hasn’t received a treat for sitting for many years. Still he knows he will receive many commands in a day and many he will receive treats for.
This is how training actually works. “I am the bestower of treats and obeying my* commands is how you will receive said treats”
*Having other people give commands and treats is how you get your dogs to obey anyone and not just you
Because appraisal from their owner releases more endorphins than a getting a treat from their owner does.
Source: trust me, bro! (I am just too lazy to search for the paper, it was fairly recent)
Latest Answers