Learning about habits has been an exciting experience, and learning about the limitations of designing habits has been a humbling one. Undoubtedly, I need to refine my awareness of habits and the skills required to overwrite them. It has been difficult enough to work with habits for myself, let alone attempt to apply habit manipulation to others. However, it may be the case that modifying habits is easier when it isn’t self-modification.
Dog Training as Habit Manipulation
I’ve noticed that training my dog has been an exercise in habit manipulation. In hindsight, it’s rather obvious that it roughly follows the format of cue, routine, and reward. For example, when training my dog to sit, I issue the command as a cue, guide him to a sitting position to teach him the routine, and reward him with a treat. Repeated exposure to this sequence of stimuli leads to the formation of a habit, and a dog would be considered trained to sit on command. Importantly, for the dog to remain trained, the cue and routine should not change. However, the reward should most certainly change. It would be impractical to reward the dog with a treat every time it sat, so luckily Pavlovian conditioning replaces the need for a tangible treat once the conditioning has been established. Of course, some aspects of dog training do not necessarily apply to the habit formula. For example, training a dog to heel has more to do with establishing a leadership hierarchy with the walker being in the dominant role. Most simple behaviors, however, can be boiled down to the habit formula. I’ve recently found a solution for a recall issue with my dog. He has a bad habit of instigating dogs that walk by my house. I’ve begun to heavily reward him for recalling after instigating, which initially seemed to be rewarding him for instigating. Surprisingly, the habit has been overwritten. He now barks once, then whines at the front door while he waits for a treat.
Facilitating good habits in dogs can help to improve their lives. Earlier this year, my dog dislocated his leg during an altercation at the fence with another dog. We very nearly had to put him down, and he is at great risk of repeating the injury. Now that I’ve overwritten his bad habit, I hope to see him live a longer and happier life
Now… What else can habits help us with?