I Don’t Care About Actual Behaviours. Why Do You?

Jonathan Edwards wrote Freedom Of The Will back in 1754 I believe and he made a statement to the effect of – we know about our behaviours, but not about their causes. And that is humanitys very problem today. We don’t understand our own behaviours – therefore – we cannot understand other animals like the dog. We don’t understand our own aggression – how can we understand the dogs? When our dogs show aggression and reactivity – we don’t understand it – so we fear it. That’s all fear really is at its core – lack of understanding. Let me give you some understanding.

When I walk into a back yard – I truly don’t care about the dogs behaviours. I don’t care about the barking, the lunging, the bluff charging – I need to understand why the behaviours exist in the first place. I’m not there to fix the behaviours – that’s not possible. Behaviours are not conditions at all – let alone something fixable or “shapable”. All of your behaviours are symptoms – the outcome of a cause.

And I can see all the same behaviours from any animal that is in fight or flight – humans included. That aggression and reactivity are the very fight and flight response that all animals have.

All of these behaviours are the result of the animals emotions – instincts. When you feel the instint called Joy – you have certain behaviours as a result – usually a fight response – moving forward. When your dog is happy – joyful – what behaviours do you see? If you have the instinct called disgust – you will have certain behaviours as a result – probably a flight response. When your dog is disgusted – what behaviours do you see? When you suffer fear or anxiety or anger – these are instincts that can drive the behaviours of fight and flight. What behaviours do you see from your dog as a result of anger, fear or anxiety? See how it works?

Why would I focus on the behaviours – when there is a understood cause?

Ladies – if you slapped your fellow across the face? I would ask you why you slapped him. Could you even answer that question? Probably not. Could it be due to the fact that suddenly felt angry – and your behaviour of slapping your fellow was the result of it. See how it works? It’s your instincts that drive your behaviors and anger is an instinct.

Ever have the hair stand up on the back of your neck? Danger imminent? Ever think about that response? Your body is detecting danger imminent – and your mind is playing catch up trying to figure out why. Your mind is always playing catch up to your behaviours. Could you control the hairs standing up on the back of your neck? Those are your animal hackles. Now – when the dogs hackles go up – do you think that they can control it – or is it like you – your bodies response to something in the environment that you deem negative?

Again – what is a behaviour? It’s your bodies instinctual response to something in the environment – nothing more. You are not in control of your behaviours – and Skinner himself would tell you that you are not responsible for your own behaviours. As messed up as that sounds – why are we trying to punish behaviours and wonder why it doesn’t work?

We are all products of our environment. Your dog is a product of your environment. Now ask yourself – is your environment positive or negative for your dog? If you are controlling and managing all of your dogs behaviours – do you think that’s a positive environment for the dog? Or is it negative – because it’s Negative Reinforcements that generate behaviours to fight and flight.

Your behaviours – once you understand them – are not an internal act of free will – they are driven by the environment.