More Animal Behavior Blogs

Hello!

I'm seeing the light at the end of the dissertation tunnel. It won't be long before I complete my final MSc coursework. I won't be blogging here any more, but I want to leave you with links to a few Animal Behavior Science blogs so that you may continue reading about this topic.

• UC Davis Animal Behavior blog - www.theethogram.com
• Dr. Jennifer Campbell-Smith's blog about Crow research - http://coyot.es/thecorvidblog/
• Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education - http://jmicaweactivities.blogspot.co.uk/
• Dr. Terese Hart's Field Research on Congolese Wildlife - http://www.bonoboincongo.com/
• Dr. Georgia Mason's Animal Behaviour & Welfare Lab - https://masonabwlab.wordpress.com/

We can talk to the animals!

This is why I study Applied Animal Behaviour and Animal Welfare! (& why my dissertation is on the complex social behaviour of African birds) I really should be writing and editing my dissertation now instead of posting an extra blog post. I have completed the required number of blog posts as an official blogger for the Veterinary school, but... LOOK AT THIS RESEARCH THAT WAS JUST PUBLISHED! It is really exciting. It totally builds on my last long, convoluted post about people learning from birds & humans and other species living in harmony. It also supports my point that we "Westerners" need to respect the abilities and views of indigenous people much more than we typically do.

A paper was just published in the journal, Science, on the ability of humans and birds to talk to each other. This is not 'parroting' or talking at birds and pretending that they are human, but actually working with and communicating with the birds. 

Look at this cool stuff:

http://www2.zoo.cam.ac.uk/africancuckoos/systems/honeyguides_mutualism.html

Dr. Claire Spottiswoode is my new awesome female scientist role model. 

Dr. Spottiswoode, if you happen to read this, I would like to do a PhD with you.

I really want to go to Africa to do field research. 

Ok, I'm done totally geek-ing out. I'll get back to writing my dissertation now. 

Just Keep Swimming

I took a break from working on my dissertation to go see Finding Dory last week. I really enjoyed it. I don't want to spoil the film for you, especially because it has not yet been released in the UK. In Finding Nemo, Dory sings "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming swimming..." when things are getting tough. Dory's song reminds me of a song from my childhood that went, "Inch by inch, row by row, I'm going to make this garden grow..." Both of these songs are about doing one small thing at a time, especially when things feel overwhelming.

Clinical Animal Behaviourists break behaviours or tricks that they are training into small steps for animals to learn. For example, I am training my dog to target or touch items with his rear feet, so I started by rewarding him for moving toward the target item, then for moving his hind legs in the direction of the item, then stepping backward near the item, then touching any part of the item with his foot, then touching the middle of the item with his foot, then holding his foot on top of the middle of the item for a few seconds. This is shaping and building a behaviour. Complex tricks like running an entire agility course or doing a circus performance can be trained step-wise in a similar way.

Despite my understanding of clinical behaviour and animal training, it is a challenge for me to break my own projects into smaller steps. I used to keep my schedule extremely full and work under extreme pressure at the last minute, i.e. writing a paper the night before it was due. I worked in that way throughout high school and during most of undergrad, but it became very unhealthy. Short-term stress is ok, but long-term stress takes a toll on health. I know not to push my dog too hard by training him for too long because it could make him irritable, stressed and negatively impact his learning. This year, I have been working to develop new, healthier work habits. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for new habits/behaviours to form. My dog will have to practice touching a target with his rear foot many, many times before it becomes a behaviour that he does quickly and reliably without hesitation. The same is true for human behaviour modification. I have learned a great deal during this MSc programme, but I often notice that even when I know something cognitively (for example, I know that leaving writing to the last minute is unhealthy for me), I have trouble converting that information into my behavioural habits. 

It is difficult to break large projects into smaller pieces and to do one piece at a time. I was able to do this when I was preparing for graduate school. Some of my steps toward my post-graduate studies were:

1. Complete a Bachelor's degree in Psychology 

2. Work in an Exotic veterinary practice

 a. excel as a veterinary assistant & learn best ways to handle exotic animals safely and humanely 

 b. gain promotion to veterinary nurse and learn veterinary skills

 c. read a book on Avian Behaviour which referenced studies at Dick Vet

 d. read veterinary journals and behavioural case studies which also cited research conducted in Scotland

3. Work in a not-for-profit veterinary practice with an Animal Welfare mission

a. learn about animal sheltering, TNR, spay/neuter, cat and dog behaviour

4. Take online classes in clinical behaviour, animal welfare and training

5. Clicker-train my dog, friends' dogs, my cat and my chickens 

6. Apply for Edinburgh's MSc AABAW programme

7. Attend the University of Edinburgh in Scotland...(write this blog, etc. etc.)

Now, I am starting to see a bit of light at the end of the MSc tunnel because my dissertation is due in about a month. I still have many, many little steps left. I am reminding myself to do one thing at a time. If I can keep doing on thing at a time (one graph, one outline, one sentence, one paragraph, one page, one section, one citation...) I should end up with a paper/dissertation. If I include the steps of editing, rewriting, proofreading, then I should have a good dissertation. I have already done many of the steps of this project, but I still have writing and more work to do. 

The good news is that, since this is an animal behaviour project, the animals were already behaving or at least had the ability to perform various behaviours. I am just decoding that behaviour and communicating the information in written scientific language (instead of greedily keeping the knowledge in my brain) so that, hopefully, animals will benefit in the future. I hope understanding animal behaviour can improve animal welfare. The focus of this master's degree and the mission of animal welfare science is understanding animal behaviour to improve animal welfare. I know that as my understanding of my dog's behaviour improved, his welfare improved because we were able to work and live together more easily. I know that learning about my chickens' behaviour has helped me promote their welfare, and that modifications to my home that are in line with promoting normal cat behaviour have improved the welfare of my cat. 

Nothing is perfect, but a little by little, we can create positive change in the world. 

Positives and Negatives

The main thing that I have learned during the taught portion of this course and during my time living independently in Edinburgh is that things are not just black/white or good/bad. It is important to remember that life is complex. Occasionally animal rights campaigns focus very specifically on a single, very emotive issue. It is easy to look at these campaigns and think that there are very clear right/wrong, good/bad sides in the debate. Usually, once you take the time to look more critically and talk to the parties involved, you will realize that the issue is more complicated and nuanced. We all have a psychological predisposition to categorize things, often into "good" or "bad". This categorization can occur very quickly in our minds, often as the result of our emotions or limited information. It is important to be aware of this tendency because black and white thinking can lead to a lot of problems.

I am a "clicker" trainer. I studied animal training with Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. and the Karen Pryor Academy before applying for this MSc course. I also have a Bachelor's degree in Psychology (which included a course on animal training). The way that I train animals is often described as "force free", "science-based", or "positive reinforcement". Like most phrases in language, these descriptors don't fully explain or capture the entirety of my training methods and often cause confusion. 

Scientists are wonderful because they analytically and critically break down concepts and give these concepts names or labels. For example, entomologists give names to insects. We often say that these scientists, "discover" insects, but really, the insects already existed on Earth and contributed to the ecosystem and would have continued to live their lives regardless of whether they were ever seen by scientists. Scientists just describe them and give them names. 

Often, the names that scientists come up with have limitations. When Psychologist, B. F. Skinner named components of learning/training he gave them the names "Positive Reinforcement" "Negative Reinforcement" "Positive Punishment" and "Negative Punishment". For Skinner, Positive simply meant adding something and Negative meant removing something. Reinforcement simply meant causing a behaviour to increase and Punishment meant causing a behaviour to decrease. All of the four components are part of learning. None of them are inherently Good or Bad. Unfortunately, the words that Skinner used are emotionally charged and have other meanings. Many people see those labels and think that Positive is good and Negative & Punishment are bad. That isn't actually the case within Skinner's learning theory. 

I strive to be an ethical, scientific, respectful animal trainer who has a strong interest in promoting good animal welfare. It is ok to say that I do "Positive Reinforcement Training", but if I am teaching a dog to sit  - shaping that behaviour by giving treat rewards as the dog bends his rear legs and moves his rear closer to the ground (Positively Reinforcing the sit) - and the dog offers an unwanted behaviour like running toward me, I will not reward that running behaviour. The running behaviour will be Negatively Punished because I will put my treats away, removing them. 

A horse-trainer who taught us told me that she wishes Skinner had chosen the words "Additive" and "Removal" instead of Positive and Negative. I think she had a good point. 

Now, to make things more interesting - lets get into the debate over training devices...

Scotland is considering banning Electronic Dog-Training Collars (which deliver an electric shock) because they are thought to be bad for dog welfare. I once saw a husky with infected wounds on his neck that were  in the shape of the metal electrodes of an Electronic collar. This dog's owner had not noticed these wounds and appeared not to have noticed that the level of electric shock delivered to the dog was inappropriate and inhumane. Unfortunately, I don't have proof that these wounds were definitely from an electronic collar as the collar was not on when I saw the dog. I do have access to a few studies that have shown that owners and professional dog trainers often deliver shocks inconsistently using these collars (inaccurate timing and inappropriate level of shock). I also know that I could not use an electronic collar to train a bird. A primary interest of mine is training pet parrots and I choose not to spend my time practicing training methods that I can't apply to all species. 

The Kennel Club in the UK is calling for a ban on electronic shock collars. Veterinarian, Heather Bacon from the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education has also made a statement against electric collars and in favour of the ban. My MSc programme is affiliated with The Jeanne Marchig Centre for Animal Welfare Education, and I personally support banning electronic collars.

However, I have learned to read scientific literature and to think about welfare topics critically during this course. I have also interacted with people who I respect who train dogs using electronic collars. If you had asked me about dog training at the very beginning of this course, I would have said, "I am a positive, force free trainer and I am in opposition to trainers who use shock collars" and had a heated, emotional argument about why the type of training I had studied with Susan G. Friedman and The Karen Pryor Academy was Good and why other types of training were Bad.

Now, I have read the scientific studies of dog training and welfare. I have learned that there are too few studies on this topic, and the existing published studies are imperfect. I have also learned that if a shock is delivered at the exactly appropriate time and at a low level, it may not cause the dog to suffer. I have learned that electronic collars have been used to train dogs to avoid endangered animals in conservation programs (Dale et al. 2013), and I can see the benefit to the welfare of the endangered species in those cases. My view has changed from thinking that electronic collar training was all Bad to thinking that it is a more complex issue. I still support the Scottish ban because I think that there is potential to cause harm by using electronic collars inappropriately. One study (Cooper et al. 2014) indicated that even professional dog trainers who were chosen by electronic collar companies used the collars inconsistently and, in my opinion, incorrectly. 

It is important to read scientific literature, think critically, talk to people who have different opinions on animal welfare issues to prevent your good intentions from having unanticipated consequences.

References:

Cooper, J.J. et al., 2014. The welfare consequences and efficacy of training pet dogs with remote electronic training collars in comparison to reward based training. PLoS ONE, 9(9).

Dale, A.R. et al., 2013. The acquisition and maintenance of dogs’ aversion responses to kiwi (Apteryx spp.) training stimuli across time and locations. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 146(1-4), pp.107–111. Available at: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0168159113001020.