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Post by Aussienot on Jan 15, 2010 19:10:54 GMT -5
It's commonly believed that dogs are relatively linear thinkers who do not generalize ideas well. If a dog learns to sit in on the kitchen tile, the first time you ask the dog to sit on grass it will look at you as if you are speaking Martian.
You need to teach sit in a variety of locations and a variety of surfaces, and under a variety of distractions until sit becomes a generalized command. A dog that is house trained in one location will not be house trained in a new location. It needs to be re-taught.
It's easier to help a dog generalize a learned behavior than to teach it the first time, but it still needs owner direction to be generalized for the dog to understand.
I've seen this inate failure to generalize in dogs, and teach obedience classes to work in different locations and different surfaces at least one a week.
However, I've also noticed that dogs do generalize some things very well. If a puppy is attacked by a white dog, it can develop a lifetime fear of all white dogs. If a dog has one fall on a slippery surface, it may avoid any slippery surface in future. If a dog barks at a stranger and the stranger moves away, the dog will generalize that all strangers will move away if barked at.
So, why? Do dog generalize environmental fear issues as an instinctive survial tactic? Learned behaviors are not a matter of life or death, so not generalized?
That's the best explaination I've come up with, any other ideas?
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Post by amber on Jan 20, 2010 0:31:04 GMT -5
I do think you're right that generalising fears is a survival tactic. Wolves that were slow at learning how to avoid dangerous things probably didn't often survive to breed. In other words I think there was a premium on genetics that allowed wolves (and other animals!) to learn about dangerous things, without having to put themselves in too much danger.
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