unterHUNDs Research
Training works when it follows how learning works. These reviews cover reinforcement and extinction, the role of prediction error, why aversive methods carry costs that outlast their effect, and what changes when emotion rather than knowledge is the obstacle.
Looking for practical help with your own dog? Our guides for dog owners put this research into plain, everyday steps.
These articles are written in English and aimed at trainers, behavior consultants and veterinary professionals. Deutschsprachige Beiträge findest du im Hunderatgeber.
A dog sits on the first word in the kitchen and looks straight through the same word at the park. The usual explanations are that the dog is distracted, that it is testing boundari…
Two owners take the same advice for the same problem. Both expose their dog to the thing it fears, gradually, repeatedly, with food. After six weeks one dog is calmer. The other is…
A dog stops trying. It no longer offers behaviors during shaping, no longer investigates novelty, no longer attempts a problem it once solved. To an owner it may look like calm, or…
Two dogs receive exactly the same treat for exactly the same behavior. One gets it every time; the other gets it unpredictably, on average every fourth repetition. After a few week…
A dog watches another dog work out a puzzle and solves it faster afterwards. A puppy hangs back from a novel object until its owner approaches it calmly. A dog trained on a particu…
A dog that stopped jumping on visitors weeks ago jumps on the first guest after two quiet weeks. A dog that had made peace with the vacuum cleaner hides from it again after two wee…
A treat that arrives when none was expected teaches more than the same treat delivered on schedule. A reward that fails to arrive when the dog was certain of it produces something…
When something keeps happening, a dog can respond less each time or more each time. The first is habituation, the second sensitization, and both follow from the same input. Which o…
Why does a dog offer a flawless sit for a visible treat and ignore the same cue when a squirrel crosses the path? Why do some dogs seem to seek out training sessions while others d…
A dog that sits reliably in the living room lunges and barks at a passing dog on the street. A dog that holds a long down at home trembles and hides when visitors arrive. A dog tra…
In canine training and behavioral medicine, few topics are as polarizing as the use of aversive methods. Their defenders point to rapid, visible suppression of unwanted behavior; t…
The use of punishment and aversive tools in dog training — shock collars, prong and choke chains, harsh physical corrections, intimidation — has been argued over on scientific and…
A dog's behavior is not random. It emerges from the interplay of neural, hormonal, and experience-based processes, and over the past two decades neuroscience has begun to make part…
Training advice often ranks rewards as if they had a fixed value: food at the top, then toys, then petting, with praise somewhere in between. The research does not support a fixed…
For dog owners: the unterHUNDs guides cover behavior, training, health and everyday life in practical terms, with the same sources behind them.