Outline ___________________________________ 2 - PDF document

Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes October 23, 2014 ___________________________________ 1 ___________________________________ BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION FOR CATS ___________________________________ IN SHELTERS AND FOSTER HOMES ___________________________________ Sara L. Bennett, DVM, MS, DACVB ___________________________________ VCA Chicago Behavior Service VCA Berwyn Animal Hospital ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Maddie’s Institute Thursday October 23, 2014 ___________________________________ Outline ___________________________________ 2 ___________________________________  Types of learning ___________________________________  Habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning  Quadrants of operant conditioning ___________________________________  Requirements for effective use  Welfare implications ___________________________________  Behavior modification ___________________________________  Counter conditioning  Response substitution ___________________________________  Systematic desensitization ___________________________________  How to put together a behavior modification plan ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Fallacies of Learning ___________________________________ 3 ___________________________________  Animals do not reason  Can form simple abstract concepts ___________________________________  Do not act out of spite ___________________________________  Animals do not feel guilt or remorse ___________________________________  Are not jealous ___________________________________  Competitive for attention  Animals do not get bored ___________________________________  Frustration: motivated to do something without the ___________________________________ appropriate releasing stimulus ___________________________________ 1

Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes October 23, 2014 ___________________________________ Types of Learning ___________________________________ 4 ___________________________________  Habituation ___________________________________  Modify response to stimuli  Classical Conditioning ___________________________________  Form associations between stimuli ___________________________________  Pavlov  Associative Learning ___________________________________  Operant Conditioning  Form associations between stimuli and responses ___________________________________  Skinner ___________________________________  Trial and Error ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Habituation ___________________________________ 5 ___________________________________  Definition: ___________________________________  Animal’s response to a novel, neutral stimulus weakens after repeated exposure to stimulus ___________________________________  Neutral: non harmful and non threatening  Animal learns stimulus has no consequence ___________________________________  Doesn’t mean or predict anything  Active learning process ___________________________________  Not just forgetting ___________________________________  Occurs in:  Systematic desensitization ___________________________________  Flooding ___________________________________ A.U. Luescher ___________________________________ Classical Conditioning ___________________________________ 6 ___________________________________  Definition: ___________________________________  Previously neutral stimulus attains meaning/ becomes a predictor (now a conditioned stimulus) for something ___________________________________ after it was paired with an inherently meaningful (unconditioned) stimulus ___________________________________  Making association between two unrelated stimuli  Involves involuntary visceral responses ___________________________________  Emotional responses ___________________________________  Blood pressure, heart rate, salivation  Excitement, fear responses ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 2

Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes October 23, 2014 ___________________________________ Classical Conditioning ___________________________________ 7 ___________________________________  Learning fastest if: ___________________________________  The two stimuli are always paired together, and never not together ___________________________________  The neutral stimulus becomes a perfect predictor ___________________________________  Cat carrier is inherently neutral  Only time cat put in carrier is to go to vet ___________________________________  Trip to vet is frightening ___________________________________  Cat carrier predicts trip to vet  Cat carrier elicits fear ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Chzlolcats.wordpress.com ___________________________________ Classical Conditioning ___________________________________ 8 ___________________________________  ALWAYS OCCURRING! Whether the handler ___________________________________ intends it or not  Animal will associate a situation with the experience ___________________________________ they had (vet office) ___________________________________  Sometimes, only takes one exposure to the paired stimuli ___________________________________  Classical conditioning can interfere with operant ___________________________________ conditioning ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Operant Conditioning ___________________________________ 9 ___________________________________  Operant Conditioning ___________________________________  B.F. Skinner  Trial and Error ___________________________________  Form associations between stimuli and responses ___________________________________  Learning that a particular behavior has a particular consequence ___________________________________  Associate responses with stimuli that are not naturally associated with each other ___________________________________  Create behaviors that are not naturally occurring ___________________________________ ___________________________________ 3

Behavior Modification for Cats in Shelters and Foster Homes October 23, 2014 ___________________________________ Law of Effect ___________________________________ 10 ___________________________________  Behavior resulting in pleasant consequence strengthened / Increases in frequency ___________________________________  Behavior resulting in no consequence is weakened/ ___________________________________ decreases in frequency ___________________________________  Behavior resulting in unpleasant consequence ___________________________________ weakened/ decreases in frequency more quickly * ___________________________________  Interpretation of consequence based on cat’s perception, not ___________________________________ ours! ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Operant Conditioning: ___________________________________ Important Definitions 11 ___________________________________  Reinforcement  Anything that increases the probability of the behavior ___________________________________ occurring ___________________________________  Punishment  Anything that decreases the probability of the ___________________________________ behavior occurring ___________________________________  Positive  Add something to situation ___________________________________  Negative ___________________________________  Take something away from situation ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Operant Conditioning: ___________________________________ Important Definitions 12 ___________________________________ Positive Negative ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Reinforcement Food presented Threat retreats ___________________________________ Punishment Shout or throw Attention ___________________________________ something withdrawn ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ A.U. Luescher 4