Superstitious Dog?

[Jeff Corey]

As you may know, Skinner (1948) showed that hungry pigeons demonstrated "superstitious" behavior when given access to some grain every 15 s. This is termed noncontigent positive reinforcement.
My mix Malamute-Shepard barked at thunder from the day we got her. I thought that her barking might have noncontingently negatively reinforced.
Even though the barking had no effect on the storm, the storm eventually went away. Sort of like, "If we do this rain dance long enough, the semi- great spirit will hear us and end this feschluginah drought."
Now Molly barks when she sees lightning. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

 

[Goshawk]

I have encountered this twice in my own dogs. They bark at the thunder/lightning because they get reinforcement from you.

Thunder.
Dog barks.
You give dog your attention. "What's the matter, girl?"
Dog learns she can get your attention by barking when she hears thunder.

We had a dog when I was growing up who always had panting, slobbering hysterics during thunderstorms. We kids took turns sitting there with her, comforting her, telling her, "There, there, it's only thunder", until the storm was over.

It wasn't until I was an adult and understood about behavioral reinforcement, and encountered the beginnings of panting, slobbering thunderstorm behavior in my own dog, that I understood that we had been reinforcing her behavior all those years. She had discovered that by panting and slobbering during a thunderstorm, she could get a kid to sit with her and pet her for a nice long time.

So when my own dog started freaking out during thunderstorms, I made a point of completely ignoring her, literally turning my back on her and not responding to her in any way, and after a couple of thunderstorms, she quit doing it.

And she didn't used to do it--we had her for several years before she tried it on, so it wasn't some trauma she brought from her previous owner. She probably worked her way up to it gradually during a couple of thunderstorms, although I don't remember, probably panting a little and acting nervous, and then I probably reinforced that by giving her a little bit of attention, like, "What's the matter?" so then she escalated it until it got to the point where she was acting really freaked.

So Molly now barks at lightning as well as at thunder because she has learned that barking at lightning will get your attention as well as barking at thunder.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Actually I guess that Molly started barking at thunder because it was an unconditional stimulus. Since it was reliably preceded by lightning (the conditional stimulus) by a few seconds, Pavlovian (or respondent or classical) conditioning occurred.

Does your dug bite?

 

[BillyJoe]

So Molly now barks at lightning as well as at thunder because she has learned that barking at lightning will get your attention as well as barking at thunder.

Well, I think Molly is a very smart dog who has made the connection between thunder and lightning. She now no longer waits to hear the thunder but barks as soon as she sees the lightning thereby getting her attention as long as five seconds earlier.

 

[uneasy]

I had a dog that hid and trembled in the basement when there was thunder. It never barked at anything though. Is your dog just scared of the thunder like my dog, but just expressing it differently? Unless the situation is controlled, there's not much to figure out real reasons why individual dogs do some stuff.

 

[Jeff Corey]

Fourth of July?
No fun.
Also, gunshots.

 

[uneasy]

Yes, my poor dog would cower with fear for most days around Fourth of July. So set off some explosives, and report what your dog does.

Where's a good pet psychic when you need one?