Rocky Pavlov and Classical Konditioning.
Again, life is learning. All the time. Always.
Classic conditioning creates a link.
In our example, by the sound of the bell shortly before food appears. After some time, the bell announces the food, and Rocky starts to drool – whether he wants it or not. That’s classical conditioning.
Of course we can use this for our toolbox!
The most common tool in our toolbox for classic conditioning is the clicker or marker, which we associate with rewards. The dog learns, everytime he hears the CLICK, something great will follow – and this does NOT have to be only food! Anything the dog likes or that satisfies a current need he has, can be used!
As we ALWAYS link emotion with classical conditioning, we get anticipation on board as well.
But there’s a catch, due to the emotions… Frightening stimuli are also linked by classical conditioning. New Year’s firecrackers – that is acoustic shocks – with getting frightened and – in the long run – with fear of the noise, the location, the situation, etc.
Depending on severity, even one single event might be enough.
From a biological point of view, this makes perfect sense: We don’t have to grab a hot plate twice, to learn that this is not a good idea …
Further links on this topic [in German]:
SprichHund: Klassische Konditionierung
Spektrum.de: Pawlow Iwan Petrowitsch
TeamSchule Blog: Die klassische Konditionierung – Dein Freund und Helfer
Hundeherz.ch: Lerntheorie Hund, wichtigste Lernprozesse, Teil 2
