SA Behaviour Flashcards
Why is the social behaviour of wolves different to originally thought?
Wolf behaviour theory was based on captive wolves - dominance hierarchy with an alpha male and female, others subordinate and ranked (= dominance theory)
Actually in the wild are very social - exist in family groups led by the breeding pair (based on leadership), younger wolves learn from older wolves
How can the dominance theory be applied to dogs?
Only used to describe a stable relationship between a pair of individuals in a specific context and time
Depends on the resource holding potential
Feral dog behaviour?
Scavenge rather than co-operate to hunt
More promiscuous than wolves
More fluid relationships
Why are some breeds more likely to get involved in physical fights?
Can’t communicate well visually
E.g. can’t raise hackles well, short tail, droopy ears
So can only show the more intense ‘aggressive’ signals
Can’t warn dogs off
Which breed types show more agonistic signals (repulsion and appeasing)?
Breeds that resemble juvenile or neonatal wolves e.g. pekingese
Dog play signals?
Exaggerated approaches, then withdrawing rapidly wagging tail
Play-bow
Open mouth and exaggerated panting
What could a whimper/whine be to show?
Appeasement Defence Greeting Pain Attention seeking
What could a teeth-chatter be to show?
Play Defence Warning General excitement Anticipation
What could a grunt be to show?
Greeting
Sign of contentment
What could a growl be to show?
Defensive warning
Threat signal
Play
What could a bark be to show?
Defence Play Greeting Call for attention Warning
What could a howl be to show?
Call for attention
To announce presence
Where are social odours produced on a dog?
Facial area Feet Mammary region Perianal region and upper surface of tail base Urogenital region
Communication via faeces in wolves?
Faeces deposited where they are likely to be located by other wolves
Indicate residency without need for the territory owners to be present
Communication via faeces in dogs?
Urine gives information about sex and sexual receptivity and status
Females in oestrus:
- urine rich in social odours that indicate sexual receptivity
- increased frequency of urination to spread it over a wider area to attract a mate
Anal sac communication in dogs?
Individual recognition
Alarm pheromones
Basic principles of feline social behaviour?
Solitary
Social relationships are largely limited to relatives
Fundamental need to be in control
Free and immediate access to resources is needed at all times
Limited co-operation
Avoidance is their preferred strategy
Need ability yo avoid sources of potential stress
Access to privacy and seclusion needed
What are feline social interactions like?
Low intensity, high frequency
Possible consequence of highly cat populated neighboured or multi-cat households?
Chronic low grade stress
Or less commonly, overt conflict
What must be provided in multi-cat households?
Free and immediate access to important resources when required
Provision of privacy
Ability to escape from potential stress
Natural (semi feral) cat social behaviour?
Feline society based on social co-operation between related females
Groups consist mostly of female cats and their offspring
One adult tom breeds the majority of females in his territory
Other males generally not tolerated
Communal den for kittens with communal nursing
Rare and mild overt physical aggression within social groups
But can have intense aggression and injuries between strangers (less so if neutered)
What is allorubbing and allogrooming in cats?
Allorubbing - raised tail will often precede mutual rubbing
Allogrooming - mutual grooming is a reciprocal behaviour, seen post-conflict as a reconciling behaviour
What are the 4 behavioural responses?
Avoidance (flight) - preferred option for cats
Inhibition (freeze) - gather information passively
Repulsion (fight)
Appeasement (fiddle) - gather information actively (very limited in adult cats)
How are overlapping territories used by cats?
Time share basis
Urine used to navigate around each other
What are the different Panksepp motivational-emotional systems?
Social play system = positive interactions with another individual
Desire seeking system = resource acquisition
- e.g. fridge raiding, chasing cats, cats attacking birds
- (predatory behaviour is not aggression)
Lust system = reproductive drive
- e.g. recall/roaming problems
Care system = nurture (mainly maternal)
- e.g nurturing toys when having false pregnancy (don’t remove toys as will frustrate the care system)
Frustration system = failure to meet expectations
- e.g. when holding a cat (lack of control), laser pens with cats
- bengals prone to frustration (need large territory)
Fear-anxiety system = present perceived threat, or anticipation (usually of threat)
Panic-grief system = separation from caregiver
Pain system = perception of physical pain
Which motivational/emotional system causes separation related problems?
Could be:
- panic
- anxiety
- frustration
- desire seeking
Which motivational/emotional system causes mounting behaviour?
Could be:
- lust
- fear (anxiety)
- frustration
What is emotional stability?
Normal emotions being triggered by appropriate contexts and resulting in appropriate behavioural responses
Depends on animal having adequate emotional capacity
What is emotional capacity? What is it determined by?
The amount of emotional challenge an animal can withstand before there are significant behavioural consequences
= size of sink
Determined by:
- genetics
- experiences <7-8 weeks old
- experiences during the first year of life
What is emotional resilience? Drainage behaviours?
Ability to reduce arousal after a trigger
Helps maintain a low level of residual emotion
= drainage
Drainage behaviours:
- Sleeping
- Chewing
- Grooming
What are displacement behaviours?
High level of emotional arousal - full sink close to flooding
= Normal behaviours in an abnormal context
E.g. yawning, stretching, licking lips, sneezing
When is there a risk of emotional ‘overflow’?
Low emotional capacity
Emotional disorder (negative emotion when not justified)
Inappropriate physical or social environment (negative emotion when justified)
High arousal
Poor emotional resilience
People don’t recognise or act on species specific signs of impending overflow
What is emotional intelligence?
The capacity to be aware of, control and express one’s emotions and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically
What type of newborns are puppies and kittens?
Altricial
= Born helpless - deaf, blind, unable to move except crawl
Totally reliant on mother to survive
How often should puppies and kittens nurse after birth?
Every 2 hours
What are the phases of development of puppies and kittens?
Pre-natal phase (conception-birth):
- learn about chemosensory cues
- important for olfactory development post-natally
- maternal stress can affect pre-natal development of the HPA axis
Neonatal phase (0-2 weeks):
- dependent on mother
- eyes and ears open at the end
- mother starts to withdraw attention, causing them to become more active
Transition phase (end of neonatal to beginning of socialisation period):
- more responsive to environmental stimuli
- begin walking and start exploring
- start to notice each other
- begin to eat solid food
Socialisation phase (3-12 weeks):
- seeks non maternal interactions
- play
- interact with people
- important learning stage (e.g. experiencing normal stimuli of a domestic environment)
Juvenile phase (end of socialisation phase - sexual maturation):
- sexual maturation at 6-12mo in dogs
- 5-8mo in cats
What can affect the adult temperament of a dog/cat?
Genetics
Pre-natal stress
Level of maternal care as puppy
What are the maternal and paternal influences on a puppy/kitten?
Maternal
- adult temperament
Paternal:
- ‘boldness trait’ - friendliness, reaction to confinement and novel objects etc (catteries, vet environments)
What do you have to be careful of when socialising and habitation a puppy/kitten?
Often done inappropriately
Fine line with sensitisation (developing a negative perception of a situation)
Animal needs to be in control
How to influence a cat’s ability to live comfortably with humans when they are a kitten?
Touch kittens all over, lift frequency and gently restrain (multiple short sessions to make up to 1hr per day of handling is beneficial = high frequency, low intensity)
Presence of littermate shown to increase confidence and increase benefits of human handling (and poss mother, not if feral)
Multiple people to avoid acceptance of only one or two people
Helps prepare them for physical interaction which owners expect
Benefits of neutering?
Prevention of unwanted breeding
Prevention of use of dogs with unsound temperament passing genes to future generations
Reduction of RTA’s due to male dogs seeking out mates
Prevention of dog fights related to bitches in season
Avoidance of inconvenience of bitches in season
Reduction in inter-bitch aggression in multi dog households
Prevention of frustration in entire males associated with cycling females in the neighbourhood
When do dogs become socially and behaviourally mature?
Social: 12-24 months
Behavioural: 18-36 months
When do cats become socially mature? Behaviour changes?
Social: 2-3 years
Adults have reduced motivation of desire-seeking in relation to social contact, play, care etc
More solitary - less compatible with owner expectations
What are the 5 pillars to environmental optimisation for cats?
Provide a safe place
Provide opportunity for play and predatory behaviour
Provide positive consistent and predictable human-cat social interaction
Provide an environment that respects the importance of the cat’s sense of smell
Provide multiple and separate environmental resources: food, water, toileting areas, scratching areas, play areas and resting or sleeping areas
How long do cats spend in the wild acquiring/consuming food?
6-8h per day
Only successful in 10-15% of expeditions
100 attempts per day
What is Feliway?
Feliway classic:
- analogue of the F3 fraction of the facial pheromone complex
- indicates the territory is safe and secure
Feliway friends:
- analogue of feline appeasing pheromone
- produced from the intermammary sulcus of lactating queens
- ‘harmony marker’
- increases sense of personal safety
What are the 5 welfare needs?
Provide:
- a suitable environment
- a suitable diet
- for the need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns
- for the need to be housed with or apart from other animals
- for the need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease
What is involved in providing a dog with a suitable environment?
Comfortable, clean, dry, quiet, draught free rest area
Safe and clean
Protection from hazards
Somewhere to avoid things that frighten it
Checked on frequently if kenneled/tethered to check not in danger or distressed
Access to somewhere away from its resting area which it can use to toilet as regularly as needed
Large enough for effective ventilation and temperature control and so dog can move around
Comfortable and safe during transport
Not left unattended for any period of time that is likely to cause it distress
What is the difference between a behavioural problem and disorder?
Behavioural problem = defined by people e.g. the owner (may be a normal justified behavioural response)
Behavioural disorder = emotional responses which are not proportional or appropriate to the situation or where the behavioural response is not justified or acceptable in reaction to that emotional response (not always detected by owner if doesn’t cause them a problem, or can be a normal justified behaviour but at abnormal intensity or duration)
How to assess emotional health when dealing with a behaviour disorder? What to determine?
Assess:
- the emotional motivation for behavioural response being reported
- the influences on that emotional motivation including genentics, early life history, current and previous physical or social environments and physical health
- the level of emotional arousal
- the level of emotional resilience
Determine:
- is animal emotionally stable?
- do alterations in its environment cause it to feel uncomfortable?
What are the 3 things to determine when a patient is showing behavioural indicators of negative emotion? What to do in response?
Determine whether:
- The emotion is justified by the context
- The behavioural response is justified by the emotion
- The behavioural response is proportional in intensity and duration
If no, identify which emotional motivation is involved and its triggers
If the emotional motivation is inappropriate in relation to the triggers:
- initially either prevent exposure to the trigger or ensure animal has ability to express and respond to the emotion
- work to alter the emotional response using behavioural medicine tools
If yes, check if social and physical environments are meeting animal’s needs, or if any evidence of frustration, emotional conflict or inappropriate learning
What is classical (Pavlovian) conditioning? Example for puppy?
Involves involuntary or reflex responses
No reward
E.g. Pavlov’s dogs
House training:
- unconditioned stimulus = full bladder/bowel
- unconditioned response = urination/defecation
- conditioned stimulus = substrate and location
- conditioned response = urination/defecation
(Problems arise because owners find it difficult to pair the stimuli consistently due to frequency of urination)
- can use external reward to increase positive associations with owner but don’t need to
What factors affect the success of house training a dog?
Owner availability
Lack of easy access to outdoors
Use of interim conditional stimuli (newspaper, puppy pads) due to ‘blocking’
Use of punishment (can lead to negative associations with people in the presence of urine/faeces -> not toiling in front of people, eating faeces)
What is ‘blocking’?
The learning phenomenon whereby the establishment of an association between an unconditional and a conditional stimulus is blocked by the pre-existence of an association with an alternative conditional stimulus e.g. puppy pads for house training (blocks the formation of an association with grass, so puppy might wait to urinate until back inside on pad)
