What is ethology?
Ethology is the study of animal behavior. Scientists, called
ethologists, spend their lives studying and trying to understand
how dogs communicate with each other. When ethologists seek
to understand a behavior, they will ask questions about the
behavior to determine its cause. The questions might include:
- What is the immediate cause of the behavior?
- How did the behavior develop?
- How has this behavior evolved over time?
- What is the function of the behavior?
Seeking the answers to such questions allows ethologists to gather scientific knowledge about the behavior. Scientific knowledge is information that is gathered using very specific rules. The information gathered is that which can be observed objectively, such as the behavior itself and the environment in which it occurred. Observations are made, then verified by repeating the conditions and observing again. Observations that can be predictably repeated are called facts.
Observation of canine communication signals and the interpretation of them are two different skills. If you aren't careful, you can make mistakes in either your observations or interpretations of behavior.
Too often people jump to interpretations without clearly observing and noting what they see. Observations can include things such as, "the dog is standing stiffly," "the dog's ears are forward," "the dog is leaning back," or "There are two other dogs playing and barking nearby." By first noting your observations of the dog and the surrounding environment you will be able to more accurately recognize and interpret different types of behavior.
If you were to observe a terrier named Corky attempting to attack a stranger who came to the front door of his home, and you saw Corky demonstrate this behavior every time a stranger came to the door, you could state as fact that Corky is likely to attack strangers who come to his door. If you saw several terriers demonstrate this behavior, you could say that some terriers, those that you observed, were likely to attack strangers who come to the door, but you could not state that all terriers would do this. Science avoids generalizations that cannot be supported through observation.
If Corky's owner were to ask why Corky tries to attack strangers, an ethologist would apply certain questions to help get the answer. For example:
- What is the immediate cause of the behavior?
- Corky is responding to a stranger at his door. That part is obvious, so more questions need to be asked.
- How did the behavior develop? This question could actually be applied to Corky's particular situation, or dogs as a
whole. In either case, you would have to ask several more
questions that are specific to the situation.
- Might Corky have a genetic predisposition to attacking strangers at the door?
- Has he had experiences with strangers at the door to trigger the behavior?
- Has this become a habit that he does almost without thinking?
- How has the behavior evolved over time?
- Has Corky's behavior gotten more or less aggressive over time?
- Has he been rewarded for the behavior, thus creating the likelihood that it will continue or even increase?
- What is the function of the behavior?
- It might be easy to assume that Corky is simply "guarding his territory," but could he just be trying to keep the stranger away from himself with no real thought about guarding the home or family?
- Does Corky continue the attack once the stranger has entered the house, or is he only aggressive at the door?
As you can see, it isn't always easy to determine why a particular behavior is happening. The good news is that you don't always have to know why a dog is doing something in order to teach him a new behavior to replace the "bad" one. But it does help to know that there can be many reasons to explain why dogs do what they do, and good trainers do not jump to conclusions. At PetSmart, our accredited pet trainers are trained to ask "ethological" questions to help you better understand your dogs behavior and ultimately communicate with her.
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