Assignment 1 – Animal Behaviour
Task 1 – Canine Behaviour Article
Introduction
The way canines behave is individual, depending on the breed, age, and past experiences. Canine
behaviour is the internally coordinated responses of groups or individuals of domesticated dogs to
internal and external stimuli. As a result of social and physical evolution, dog behaviour has been
modified by their lifestyles and human contact. Naturally, dogs are playful, social animals enjoying
play with humans, other dogs, and playing with toys accompanied by other dogs. However, if there
is a change in behaviour, this can be an indication that their internal factors are abnormal (ill health)
Normal Behaviour
Behaviour is what ensures reproductive and survival success and what the animal can alter and
control the environment to allow homeostasis.
Dogs acquire normal behaviours through instinctual and observational learning, by simply observing
and mimicking other individuals. This occurs with no outside reinforcement; such as non-associative
learning. Natural, instinctual behaviours that are commonly expressed include digging, chewing,
barking, whining, howling (for specific breeds howling is more common) sniffing, nesting, scent
marking, playing with toys, chasing things, fetching, retrieving items, and tail wagging. All behaviours
to an extent, are genetically inhabited and is the response to internal/external environments.
External environments contain other animals and weather conditions (rain, heat, cold) Whilst
internal environments contain hormones, disease, and parasites. The internal factors are age,
hunger, hormones, and physical health, whilst external factors contain the day length, temperature,
sound, and sight. External stimuli give animals information about their surroundings and internal
stimuli influences the animal's behaviour.
, Moreover, some of these natural behaviours are thought to be ‘bad behaviour’ in domestic
environments, but they are in fact just behaviours that occur naturally due to the internal factors of
a dog driven by their instincts.
The socialization of dogs is critical between the age of new-born pups up to sixteen weeks. During
this period, it will determine how the dog reacts to internal and external stimuli; the dogs brain
mechanisms are most influenced and determines the nature of the dog overall. The individual genes
and hormones from the pup's mother will highly influence the characteristics of the dog. Once they
become older during the weaning period, the mother will induce educating them where they are
taught the first lessons of dog behaviour, learning their functions.
Abnormal behaviour
Abnormal behaviours are behaviours that happen outside the normal behaviour pattern of an animal
that are performed in inappropriate circumstances and excessively. An example of this would be
screeching in parrots; seen as abnormal behaviour when no threat is apparent, or when no
intraspecific communication is happening.
Behaviours that occur when people are absent, although typically occurring in the presence of
people, serve no obvious purpose, and are highly repetitive are known as ‘stereotypies’ only
occurring in captivity.
These stereotypical behaviours in dogs are thought to be a way of coping mechanisms when situated
in unsuitable kennel environments.
Abnormalities in a dogs’ behaviour can occur for multiple reasons:
Breed – Some dogs are poorly bred making them suffer from unstable temperaments
inherited from their parents, manifesting during the preliminary stages of puppyhood and as
a result the modification of behaviour is rarely successful. For instance, dogs purposely bred
for protection such as the Doberman commonly bark at members of the family as the insight
of a threat. Other breeds of dog can exhibit increasingly higher natural canine instincts, for
example, the beagle was bred as a scent hound making them develop unhealthy obsessions
for food.
Health problems – Injuries and disease can result with aggressive behaviour to express they
are in discomfort and pain when approached or touched. The forms of aggression are
managed through visual (body posture such as tense muscles, quickened movement, and
facial expressions such as snarling, exposure of teeth) and auditory (vocalization such as
barking, growling, and howling) intraspecific communication toward other dogs and
interspecific communication towards humans.
Neglect of Welfare needs – The five welfare needs are essential to the welfare of all animals
habited in domestic environments and must be provided. The five welfare needs or ‘five
freedoms’ are the need for suitable environment, need for suitable diet, need to be able to
exhibit normal behaviour patterns, need to be housed with or apart from other animals, and
the need to be protected from pain, suffering, and injury. The Animal Welfare Act situated
under section nine specifies the five welfare needs must be met to comply with the law.
Trauma – When a dog has had an encounter with an abusive environment/situation, they
can suffer from both physical and mental traumas resulting in cases of PTSD (anxiety
