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Hippocampus is a small
specimen of the sea fauna. How does it
relate to dogs and dog’s education? Through a brain limbic cortex structure which looks a
bit like a sea horse and that’s why got the
name of hippocampus. There are various scientific ideas and opinions relating to how this structure works, however
an integrated opinion was developed that among other functions it is
responsible for emotions and memory, and plays a dramatic role in the
capability of a dog to be taught and trained.
It is a well known fact that the very process
of education will be more successful if it is accompanied with emotions. What kind of emotions? It depends
upon the method of training. Briefly, we
can identify two main approaches in
dog’s training: the one which is based on a punishment for an undesirable
behavior, and the other which is based
on tips for a desirable behavior (of
course, the first variant does not exclude tips, as well as the second one does
not exclude some kind of punishment). The first one – let’s call it “the old
school” – was developed mostly in the first half of the XX century in the army
and police and applied for service dogs. It’s application was - and is - justified
taking into account the particular purposes and terms of training. One of the
valuable outcomes of this training is that it produces highly reliable and
responsible dogs. However, this training can be successful if the teacher
himself is a highly qualified professional who really love dogs.
The second approach was launched about forty
years ago and got impetus due to valuable works of Karen Prayor, Cesar Millan
and other outstanding biologists and cynologists. This method presumes that - while
teaching dogs - the accent is made on positive stimulation of a desirable behavior, which is much more practical for millions of amateurs
and dog lovers.
Here we come to a role of the hippocampus. To
develop a desirable behavior through positive stimulation has deep physiological roots, as lessons linked to
favorable emotions are properly fixed in the brain due to hippocampus.
As it was already mentioned, it is the limbic
cortex - and hippocampus in particular - that are responsible for dog’s
intellect (taking into account that shaping different “spheres of
responsibility” is rather vague as the brain works as a unique system). While
being trained a dog constantly meets with situations that are new to him/her. Each
time he/her has to decide whether to fulfill a command or an exercise or to follow the instincts. It is no easy
task for a dog to make such a decision as
in most cases the instincts tell quite opposite. The outcome of such “brain storm”
depends upon what is in the other scalepan. If the dog is offered a tip in an adequate amount he/she will ignore
his original intentions and chose completing the command. After repeating
this practice several times we can put dog’s behavior under our control (to
some extent) and obtain fulfilling a particular command. If the dog has a pause
in completing this very exercise he/she can forget it. It’ll be necessary to
repeat the exercise from the very start. It happens not because the dog is not
clever enough. The reason for it is the nature of this part of a brain – it is
responsible for a short term memory. That’s why it’s only natural if your young
dog after a week vacation forgets some command, try not to get annoyed but be tolerant
and repeat them quietly.
The other variant of training is when in the
other scalepan the dog can find a punishment for a fail to the exercise. Stresses
that feels your dog the moment he is punished are fixed in his brain. One can think
“What’s wrong with it? The dog will know what not to do”. However, it not so simple,
particularly if the dog is young. If this kind of practices is repeated one can
have a depressed creature as a result with an inadequate reaction to a command.
We can not completely avoid punishments in the
teaching process. But what kind of punishment should be applied? Too strict punishments
(cries on a dog is also a punishment) are better to be avoided. For dogs-pets
to stop playing or being ignored by his master for a few minutes are rather
serious scourge.
For a conclusion.
In training of dogs-pets it is better not to rely
on the effectiveness of punishments. It would be much practical and enjoyable
to make an accent on tips and games as it gives more fruitful results, supports education
and- what is very important - has psychological grounds.
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