Operant conditioning – the amazing invisible fence

This is not the dog mentioned in the story

This morning while out walking with my dogs, we passed a house by which we have frequently walked in the past. In this house lives a young black and white border collie. Usually when we pass the dog is waiting by the front fence to bark a hello to any passers-by. As the front fence is made of vertical metal bars, the dog can easily see what’s going on outside and gets excited and barks accordingly.

After passing the front of this house and saying hello to the dog, we continue up the laneway that goes along the side of the property. The dog has never bothered to follow us up the laneway because the side fence is solid colourbond that the dog cannot see through.

This morning however, I noticed as I rounded the corner that a portion of the side fence was missing, possibly blown down in a recent storm. So I wondered to myself as we approached the missing section whether we were about to be joined in the laneway by a border collie or if she would at least come for a look.

I couldn’t see a small furry head poking through the gap and as we walked past I looked through to see what the dog was up to. As it turned out, she was just strolling nonchalantly across the yard in the opposite direction, completely oblivious to the two dogs and a human standing only metres away, completely unfenced and exposed.

It would seem that this dog enjoys her current lifestyle sufficiently that escaping has never been a consideration. Nonetheless it illustrates the power the conditioned response has over a dog’s behaviour. In the past the dog has had no interest in the side fence because she couldn’t see through it or interact with anything behind it. She has therefore learnt that there is no enjoyment to be had in that area. Once this behaviour is learned, the dog will continue to ignore this area and so the fence continues to hold the dog even though it’s not there.

While I’m not suggesting that we should all knock our fences down, once we understand the conditioning process it can be a very useful training tool. Obviously an action or behaviour that reaps no reward – food, attention, excitement – for the dog will eventually be extinguished.