Association is such a powerful thing for doggies. My behavior clients and I discuss how easy it is for dogs to develop positive and negative associations. Typically, humans do not realize how quickly associations can be formed nor how specific associations can be. For this reason, humans must use great care. Even positive associations can be very annoying to humans because there is so much happy canine excitement that can be involved! Before I go on, I must emphasize that canine behavior is very complex. The examples I will be giving are simple. Every dog, every routine, and every human are different. This blog is for information purposes only. Specific cases should be discussed with a qualified trainer!
Positive Associations
As it relates to positive associations, dogs associate positive experiences (to the dog) with people, other dogs, objects, noises etc. I love to build positive associations as part of my training program! In fact, there are times I build positive associations to attempt to reverse negative associations already made. I will give a few positive association examples below; however, there are many more examples!
Example: Noises
An easy example would be that a dog’s treat jar is kept in a pantry with a squeaky door. The dog knows that when that pantry door opens, there is a good chance, if it is standing right there, the human will give a treat. The dog associates the noise/pantry door opening with receiving a treat. There is that other thing about accidentally rewarding behavior, but we will save that for another blog.
Example: Leash
Some dogs absolutely love going on walks, because dogs love seeing birds, squirrels, people, and doggie friends, etc. If humans live in the city, leashes are almost always part of walks. Many humans keep their leash in the same location, for example on a hook by the back door. For this example, the only time the leash is removed from the hook is for a walk. As a result, when the human puts their hand on the leash, lots and lots of positive excitement happens! The dog made an association with the human moving (sometimes touching) the leash to a walk.
Example: Routine Sequence
A wonderful lady contacted me that had been trying everything to keep her dog calm in the mornings while she checked her work email. In our initial discussion, we went step by step through her morning routine. I quickly learned that my client had a very consistent routine in the mornings. Every morning, as soon as she woke up, she went straight to her desk in the bedroom, sat down, opened the computer, and checked her email. After she finished, she went straight down the stairs for the morning walk with her dog. In this case, her dog associated the morning routine with the morning walk, which he loved. As a result, her dog became over the top excited as soon as her hand was placed on her desk chair after getting out of bed.
Example: People
I will use myself as an example here. Because I am a positive trainer, I use lots and lots of treats and praise! I do my very best to make training fun for the dog. Many of my doggie friends associate me (and training) with lots of wonderful treats, praise, and fun experiences – this includes many of my feisty doggie friends! Many dogs know it is me before I make it to the front door. (They recognize my footsteps or the specific noise my car makes etc.)
Negative Associations
Just like positive associations, dogs develop negative associations to people, other dogs, objects, noises etc. The associations can be even more specific – color of clothing, height or weight of humans, uniforms or hats, objects, places, size of another dog, color of another dog, hair length of another dog, etc. Instead of associating good experiences with something or someone, the dog associates negative experiences to something or someone. Bad experiences can mark a dog for life. I should note that puppies, whether from a breeder or shelter/rescue, are very vulnerable to the development of negative associations.
Sadly, it only takes one bad experience to make a negative association. Sometimes, humans do not realize the negative experience happened or do not realize the gravity of the experience to the dog. Once a negative association is made, it can be very challenging to reverse. Great care should be taken to avoid negative associations from bad experiences. Negative association development is sometimes devastating to pet parents.
I will give just a few examples of negative associations below. Again, I am being somewhat simplistic because canine behavior is very complex. Treatment is not a one size fits all. Understanding how positive and negative associations are formed is so important for pet parents.
Example: People – Children
Canine negative association to children is complex and not uncommon. I work with my clients to understand how this can happen and how to take the necessary steps to prevent it. I will provide a simplistic example below.
Pet parents with a toddler adopt a young dog. The pet parents quickly become concerned their puppy will accidentally push their toddler over. Due to the worry that their toddler could be injured, the pet parents become unusually emotional when the dog is in the room with the toddler. Dogs are very sensitive to human emotion and are masters at reading body language. In this particular example, if the dog believes negative and/or scary things happen every time or most times the child is in the room, it is possible the dog will develop a negative association to the child.
Once a negative association is made, there could be changes in the dog’s behavior. For example, the dog may begin to bark and lunge at the child. I always tell my clients with children that management is critical. The environment matters. The dog and the child need to have wonderful experiences when together. It is important to understand that children can make negative associations to dogs too.
Example: Appearance
I was contacted by a family that rescued a large dog. Shortly after, the family noticed the dog became aggressive with anyone around six foot tall. The dog seemed fine with people under approximately five foot seven, especially women. I am a tall woman and was able to observe the behavior on my first visit. This family did an excellent job observing and identifying the pattern, which is very important. Also, they were able to gather some of the dog’s history. As it turned out, the dog was allegedly treated poorly by a man that was approximately six foot tall before the adoption. As a result, the dog associated anyone around six foot tall with scary things.
Example: Location
Most of the time I see dogs that become extremely excited (in a good way) when someone is at the front door. Unfortunately, there are instances where dogs associate the front door with scary things. I will provide a reasonably simple example below.
A nice couple adopted a dog from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. Shortly after bringing the dog home, the dog started lunging, growling, and even ,on occasion, biting people (male or female) as they walked in the front door. Humans entering through the back door did not receive the same reaction. After some digging, the couple found out that a visitor, at some point in the dog’s previous life, had allegedly kicked the dog when entering through the front door of a previous home. In this case the dog associated bad experiences with a human to humans in a specific location.
It is interesting that in a new house, the dog could associate which door caused the most fear in a very short time. I will say that it is very possible that the layouts of the homes may have been similar. Again, dogs can be very specific.
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This blog is on a topic I believe is so important to understand. I have a real passion for rescue and shelter dogs which can come with different forms of baggage. I also love helping my clients understand canine behavior, so doggies can stay in their forever homes. If you would like to know more about canine positive and negative associations, I would love to hear from you!
All my best,
Dawn
