Sit. Stay. Learn.: How My Pets Schooled Me in Psychology

     In the preface to our Psychology of Learning text, the author shares how a student once objected that she “wouldn’t do this” to her budgie, seeing reinforcement as manipulative or cruel. The author notes that reinforcement is not something we impose, but something that happens whether we intend it or not. Reading this made me reflect on my own life with animals, realizing how deeply learning psychology has always been present in the relationships we build with them, whether we are aware of it or not.

     Last month, just before this course began, I was in the kitchen playfully poking one of my cats who rarely plays with me, preferring a different human in our household. He ignored my overtures as usual, and, as I always do when playing with my cats, I made my habitual “popping” noise with my mouth.

Almost immediately, Catticus Maximus, Gladiator, the cat who typically plays with me, came running into the room. At the time, I thought he looked annoyed that I was playing with another cat, but this course reframed that moment entirely. By consistently pairing the popping noise with play, I had unknowingly created a conditioned stimulus (CS) through classical conditioning, with the sound becoming associated with play and eliciting an anticipatory response even without toys or additional cues.

     Living with five German Shepherds in Boston taught me even more, years before I had the terminology to explain it. One of our dogs exhibited displaced aggression on walks, snapping at his packmates when he saw other dogs or cats. We consulted Dr. Nicholas Dodman at Tufts, who explained that fear based aggression could be managed by systematically exposing the dog to triggers while providing positive punishment (a sharp shake of a can of coins to interrupt the behavior) and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) by immediately cueing and rewarding “sit, down, stay.” This approach aligned with learning psychology principles emphasizing stimulus control (learning to respond calmly in the presence of triggers), reinforcement of alternative behaviors, and timing in behavior modification. Dr. Dodman emphasized that “helping your dog feel safe can reduce the need for aggression,” reminding me that effective behavior change is not about punishment alone, but about teaching and reinforcing new, safer responses.

     Attending Karen Pryor’s early clicker training seminars provided another window into operant conditioning and shaping. We trained one of our dogs to “target” by presenting a butter lid smeared with

hotdog juice while saying the word “TARGET.” Each time she touched the lid with her nose, we clicked and treated, creating a clear association between the cue, the action, and the reward. Over time, we increased the criteria until she could “target” on command without the butter lid, using the verbal cue alone as a discriminative stimulus (SD) and the clicker as a conditioned reinforcer. The course text describes shaping as “a useful procedure for developing new behaviors that an animal would rarely or never exhibit otherwise,” and this was evident as we transferred targeting skills to agility, flyball, and obedience, showing how carefully structured reinforcement and cues can build complex behaviors from small, clear steps.

     My experience with cadaver and water search and rescue training deepened this understanding even further. We began with large scent samples to ensure the dog’s early success, using shaping by reinforcing successive approximations of the alert behavior when detecting human decomposition scents. Correct alerts were followed immediately by positive reinforcement, aligning with Thorndike’s Law of Effect, which states that behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated. As the dog’s skill increased, we reduced scent size and complexity, transitioning from continuous to intermittent reinforcement to increase resistance to extinction, critical for operational reliability.

     Deploying the dog in water required training her to work from a boat or shoreline, sniffing for scent columns rising from submerged remains, and to signal with a trained alert behavior, which was immediately reinforced to ensure clarity and reliability. Spectrum News explains that “Cadaver dogs are trained to detect the scent of human remains and can find bodies even if they are buried or submerged,” while AKC notes that “Cadaver dogs can locate bodies on land and water, sometimes pinpointing remains that are buried or hidden under rubble or debris.” This work required stimulus control (responding only to the correct scent), generalization (recognizing the scent in different environments), and discrimination (ignoring irrelevant scents), all of which are foundational in learning psychology.

     Training also relied on secondary reinforcers, like clickers and verbal praise, allowing precise marking of correct behaviors even in distracting or noisy environments, a concept consistent with Skinner’s emphasis on reinforcement timing. Working with a dog in cadaver and water search and rescue showed me how learning psychology principles are not abstract theories but practical tools that transform a dog’s instincts into reliable, skilled actions that bring closure to families and communities while engaging the dog’s mind and maintaining welfare.

     Our journey did not end there. I also explored sheep herding training, where the trainer emphasized building on the dog’s natural instincts rather than suppressing them, consistent with Mother Earth News noting, “A good trainer uses the dog’s instincts to develop control rather than to suppress it.” Here, I saw how operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules interact with instinctual behavior, shaping

the dog’s responses to the sheep’s movement and reinforcing correct positioning while using the environment as part of the learning process. This was a clear example of positive reinforcement in conjunction with the dog’s natural drives, using systematic cues and rewards to refine complex behaviors within the working environment.  (I also had to train myself to stand perfectly still when the sheep naturally ran to me- I never knew how BIG sheep are!)

     These stories reflect what our course preface emphasizes.  Conditioning happens whether we recognize it or not. If we fail to understand these principles, we risk inconsistency and confusion, leading to frustration for ourselves and the animals we care for. When we apply learning psychology thoughtfully, it becomes a language of trust, clarity, and cooperation, aligning behavior with effectiveness and mutual understanding.

      Far from being manipulation as the course text preface suggested, reinforcement is the language of connection we share with animals. The principles I have learned in this course have deepened my respect for the learning processes I have witnessed across decades of living and working with animals. 

From the cat who came running at the sound of play, to the dog who found the lost so others could find closure, to the working dog in a field of sheep responding to subtle cues all were living what they learned. This course has also provided me with the understanding and foundation for why the methods I followed under the guidance of trainers and behaviorists worked, revealing the scientific psychological principles in which much of that work was grounded. If our work, our lives, and our relationships are about connection, we owe it to those we share them with to understand how they learn, feel, and act.

Check Out some Dogs in Action (dog sports that employ Learning Psych Principles):

             

This video has a segment with Dr. Dodman discussing fears & phobias in cats

Sources:

https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2022/10/20/what-goes-into-training-a-cadaver-dog

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/family-dog/cadaver-dogs-how-canine-noses-help-find-dead-bodies/

https://www.iro-dogs.org/en/latest/newsdetail/facts-about-the-search-and-rescue-dog

https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/sar-dog2.htm

https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/training-a-sheep-dog-zmaz87sozgoe/

http://www.herdingtraining.info/beginning-herding.html

https://researchoutreach.org/articles/improving-dog-welfare-helping-owners-decode-dogs-behavior/

https://stevedalepetworld.com/blog/dr-nicholas-dodman-on-dog-behavior-issues-anderson-humane/

https://blog.halopets.com/2015/05/11/fear-aggression-in-dogs/

     I want to add that I had been thinking about this post for several weeks, designing how I would write it, and it kept lingering in the back of my mind. After finally posting it, I still felt there was something I had not yet articulated. The realization came quietly this morning when my cat woke me by touching my arm once gently, immediately followed by a second pass with slightly extended nails. Each of my cats uses this same method to demand attention, and it works every time.

     When the cats were kittens, I would tell my children that their lives are short and that we should give them attention when they seek it, since cats are not known to be overly demanding of affection. By consistently responding to their gentle taps, we inadvertently trained them to seek pets by using this behavior. This, I realized, was at the root of what drew me to write about this topic in the first place.   Learning occurs whether intentional or not. Every interaction carries potential for reinforcement and shaping, and every behavior we respond to, we teach.

     With this in mind, we need to be mindful of our own behaviors and the ways we interact with others, human and animal alike, as we are constantly teaching and others are constantly learning from everything we do.