Conditioned reflex was discovered by Dr. Ian Pavlov in the first decade of this century. He came upon this discovery quite by accident while working with some dogs in an experiment for human psychology.
He noticed that some of the dogs coming to his research laboratory began to drool in anticipation of the food rewards that were going to be offered during his experiment, even prior to entering the laboratory.
This piqued his curiosity to the point that he needed to see what was going on. He invited some dogs to stay in the lab for this study. No doubt, you have heard of “Pavlov’s’ bell”. If not, surely you’ve heard the expression “that rings a bell”. Well, that’s where it comes from. The dogs were presented with some liver while a bell was struck.
After several occasions of this conditioning, the bell was struck without the promised treat. The dogs naturally got excited anticipating the liver, and began to salivate (drool).
Thus, the discovery of conditioned reflex. * Conditioned reflex is just that.
Conditioning, which simply put means the same stimuli, presented in the same manner, so as to be exact, and reflex, that is to say, a reaction that one has no control over.
Be aware, that in order to successfully meet these criteria, each element must be adhered to precisely. That is to say, the exact same treat presented with the exact same sound, in the exact same manner each time.
Be aware that we are not suggesting that you use any food for our purposes, as it would be contra-indicated.
You can successfully use these methods in your puppy training routine.
Tags: labrador training, training labradors, training puppies