This is Molly. She was my sister’s dog when we were kids. She joined our family as a tiny puppy when my sister turned 6. We were told she was a Chow and Golden Retriever mix. She was a lovely dog.
When we were kids, our dogs lived outside. We lived in the country and had lots of space and they always had access to the garage. My sister and I spent lots of free time outside playing with the animals and exploring our property. But back to Molly. She was a very laid back dog. Most of the time she just enjoyed laying in the yard or patrolling the perimeter. And as you can see from this photo, she had a LOT of hair. In the winter she grew out that Chow Chow coat. It was thick. We would brush that dog (well…my mom would…) all summer and just about the time she started looking more like a Golden Retriever it would start to get cold again.
Aside from chewing the front porch pillars as a puppy, the one struggle we had in sharing our lives with Molly was digging. She would uproot my mom’s shrubs and just dig and dig. And then she would rest in the “hole” she created. My mom realized that she was seeking a cool spot. We had a stock tank that functioned as a doggy pool that the other dogs enjoyed, but Molly was not a fan.
So, my mom started leaving the cellar door open that went to our basement. The house we lived in was very old and the cellar was closed off from the rest of the basement. It had a dirt floor and brick walls and it was always nice and cool in the summer. After that Molly started spending her summer afternoons dozing in the cellar. And no more digging.
When I stumbled upon this photo the other day this was the memory that came to mind. And I realized that this is a perfect example of antecedent arrangement. In other words, it is an example of making a change to the environmental set up in order to change a behavior. By offering another cool resting place, Molly no longer had to create her own via digging.
Antecedent arrangement is a really useful tool for changing behavior. It is usually low-stress for the animal. And it is usually less work for the teacher, too. In this example, my mom only had to open the cellar doors rather than train Molly to dig in another place or rest in another place.
Do you have any examples of times where you have changed the set up of an environment to change behavior?