Well, I am rejecting the idea of predatory drift, so I don’t think that you have seen predatory drift in two Basenjis playing together… I do think that you may be seeing a situation in which they may be doing what appears to be playing together, which turns suddenly to aggression (which may also be play, or social status establishment, etc and not predation). As I mention, there are a number of explanations for this type of behavior expression (play turning to aggression or predation), lack of proper communication skills (due to genetics or early experience) being just one that I discussed.

You are correct: communication should be less of an issue between more closely related breeds (ancient or modern European or any branch in between), but communication may not be the issue. In herding breeds, this sort of behavior is often due to the disruption of inhibition in the herding behavior chain… we have “used” the predatory hunting behavior sequence to develop herding behavior, but the dogs are supposed to inhibit the last phase of the sequence: the kill, and if something disrupts that inhibition network in the brain (and there are several mechanisms for this), then the behavior of hunting (=herding) can suddenly go forward to its final steps of attack and kill.

Thanks for your feedback and questions: keep them coming!

Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB

Very interesting article. I have a question about ” predatory drift ” referring to behaviors not being read correctly depending on breed. Is there a breed matching or non matching protocoll then that would lower the risk of this behavior to occur vs just going by size (50%) and hope for the best?

If we see it often in ex herding breeds such as German Shepherds, belgian hurding breeds, knowing that these breeds may be of a more recent descent, what should we take from that? Wouldn’t I assume that these newer breeds have less social communication skills and this “drift” should appear less often than in more ancient breeds such as Basenjis, Shiba Inuh,and mastiff breeds? Where am I going wrong in my reasoning? Matching two newer breeds missing or have less of the “wolf like social hierarcy skills” should have lesser chance of displaying this behavior and so should two ancient breeds playing together? But, we have seen “predatory drift” in two Basenjis playing together, living in the same household. Was that something else? I would greatly appreciate more information on this tough topic.

It sounds like you are entirely on the right track in dealing with this: sounds like anxiety and sounds like you are doing a great job with it!

Cheers,
Jim Ha

Let me fill in some blanks. We picker her up at 10 weeks of age from the breeder. At the time, the breeder told us that she had a problem with cars that surfaced when she took her mom and grandma together with all the pups to the Swiss Retriever “pope” who is also a Vet for examinations. Ours was the only one who had a problem in the car, screaming the whole way and throwing up in the car. She’s one of a litter of 8.

She is unneutered and will remain so, inasmuch as she has a beautiful coat and in brown flatties, many loose their coat quality when neutered. Her last heat went off without a htich and almost no false-pregnancy symptoms. We would re-evaluate this decision iif we determine that she has real problems with her heats, but we have no plans to breed her. We’ve kept in touch with the breeder and with some of the guardians. All guardians have reported to either the breeder or us directly of their dogs being, even for Flatties extremely sensitive and varying in descriptions from nervous to extremely over-friendly.

Your explanation about anxiety/fear would make sense. Usually an enforced but positively introduced time-out usually will help keep the episodes to a minimum. I’ve also noted a marked decrease in the last 6-8 months. She’s now 3.25 years old and can deal with stress situations much better, of course i’ve been working with her using techniques like “Look at me”. Now, when we come across situations of high stress, we seldom need this, I watch her body language and will start this if she’s tense or fixated on something – and she lightens up right away. I suppose such general calming also occur with progressing maturity. OTOH, the reports I’ve received from breeder and guardians NOW is, that we’re miles ahead of her siblings. One gentleman who hires me for computer consulting has her sister and he’s had to stop bringing her to work because she can’t settle and goes bonkers when people enter the office. Mine will respond to attention but will also stay laying at my feet if no one pays her attention. I’m sure, a combination of maturing, but also relaxing protocols and reinforcing calm behavior.

Thanks for your help on this!

greetings

Buzz Cecil and Vela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN9XBVs-gXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-84LNUAwVo
(proud papa alert)

Sorry, I should have been clearer: 90% of the dogs out there are spayed and neutered (thank goodness) and so my comments referred to them. In your case, you are referring to reproductively intact dogs, and the story is entirely different. Your comments and conclusions about sexual drives, the role of high levels of hormones, play behavior in practice for real procreation are all valid interpretations of misdirected copulatory behavior in intact animals, especially groups of intact animals. My comments referred to the majority of cases we see which are neutered animals.

Cheers,
Jim

To make sense of humping I think you need to pay attention to age, reproductive status, persistence, degree of familiarity between dogs, owner’s reaction, history of behavior . . . perhaps breed . . . and perhaps other things as well.

Now, let me be clear as well: “humping” (copulatory behavior) is, obviously, quite genetic for clear evolutionary success reasons… get it wrong and those genes don’t pass on! But what we are discussing here is inappropriate RELEASE of the behavior. And let me also be clear: (inappropriate) humping is a pathological behavior used as for self-soothing of anxiety, and ANXIETY may (in fact, sounds likely) is genetic in this family line. You speak of extreme anxiety at a young age, in the car, for instance, very unusual. Also, the humping starts at about 9mo, you say: exactly as I would expect if it’s a response to anxiety and fear… 7-9mo is the neophobic critical period at which many fear responses appear in dogs.

So my (admittedly long distance) diagnosis of the humping behavior in this case would be inappropriate manifestation of profound anxiety, probably of genetic origin. Not genetics for inappropriate humping but genetics for anxiety, which is manifesting itself in inappropriate humping. Why humping? One major factor is reproductive status, which I don’t think you mention: unneutered dogs and dogs neutered at too young an age are more likely to manifest anxiety in this way.

Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB

The breeder is one of the best here in Switzerland and that is not something to be taken lightly. Terrific quarters for the pups in her house with dozens of different type of flooring for the pups to get used to, 2 other dogs and three cats in the household, play time inside and outside. change of environment every week or so, meaning tearing down and building up new quarters inside and play areas outside. social walks as a group in town, car rides, people (future owners, family members neighbors school children (she^s a biology and geology teacher). After getting the pup at 10 weeks, despite all of this, the first job was to desensitize the pup to the car, sine she SCREAMED the who way home 45 minutes, even though sitting on lap. now she’s ok with the car. Humping started at approx 9 months. intermittent, depending upon the other dog. Back and forth one after the other with her bros and sisters, None whatsoever with other dogs. Starts within 30 seconds with others. fortunately, if the other dog shows that this behavior is not on, she stops.

1) Interesting, that ALL her bros and sisters show this behavior.
2) extremely sensitive example of a Flat-coated Retriever. Was people and dog reactive (not aggressive, but rather completely and utterly over-the-moon friendly. Look-at-me has gotten this pretty much under control, no longer a problem with people.
3) puppy classes and then 6 months of adolescent dog classes. Well socialized with other dogs – but still typical Flattie with their typical manner of greeting.
4) the fact that, as in all her family, the reaction to the other dog does seem to make a difference as to whether the behavior starts or not and then whether it is continued cannot be ignored. The other dog must be supply some kind of antecedent stimulus, but I am not seeing it. I don’t have your experience or eye for this.
5) I can redirect her about 9095% of the time if she’s not completely into the act. If she is, too late.
6) I really wonder about humping not being genetic, after all, it is, whether meant at that moment or not, an act of procreation, which under “normal” circumstances is necessary to pass on the genes. If it were a learned behavior, not a genetic one, Although I’m not a behaviorist as you are, I do understand the basic mechanics of ABC. There must be some kind of trigger in play that, combined with the successful completion of the act as positive consequence is keeping this alive. But the behavior itself wasn’t learned in the sense that she didn’t know how it goes until someone or another dog taught her.
7) As a humpee she is extremely sensitive to what dog tries it with her. She’s been “raped” a couple times in dummy classes, such that she stopped going after the dummy, because the “rape” happened just as she left the line to get a dummy.

I know you used the term “generally” and that may be applicable. OTOH, if it is a learned behavior, then how does the male dog learn to hump to reproduce? Especially if he’s never been in contact with another humping male? I suppose many are about as successful or unsuccessful as other males of other species. (grin). But then, if it is a learned behavior, it should be relatively easy to “unlearn”, like umping up, either by redirection or substituting an incompatible behavior. Of course, being that it’s a self-rewarding behavior, that makes it more difficult – there’s probably not much I can offer the dog that will exceed the reinforcers it procures for him- or herself by humping. But the fact that it doesn’t seem redirectable once it’s fully started causes me to question this – as if at that moment the brain checks out and a ??? sequence of actions takes over.

Now either I’ve got it all wrong, or there could be some basis to a genetic action being carried out, one anchored in reproduction, but abducted, yes very likely as a result of over anxiety or over arousal.

Or … ?

Let me respond to several of these comments in one response here:
FAP’s or MAP’s: the terms are being misused in either case, in the example provided by LC. In either case, as pointed out O’Heare, these terms refer to a sequence of behaviors, performed in stereotypical fashion, triggered by a specific and characteristic stimulus called a sign stimulus, and having a strong genetic basis. The term Modal Action Pattern was suggested to replace FAP in 1986 by George Barlow, to imply a less rigid requirement for stereotyped patterns of behaviors, given that we could not identify any behavior sequences that fit the definition of a FAP. Here is the definition from Paul Chance’s Learning and Behavior Sixth Ed.: “A Modal Action Pattern is a series of interrelated acts found in all or nearly all members of a species. Resemble reflexes, and have a strong genetic basis.”

The more recent term which has replaced a FAP or a MAP is simply a stereotyped motor pattern or an even more up-to-date term, a motor pattern with a high heritability. But in the case of humping, this behavior does not fit the definition for several reasons: it does not constitute a sequence of behaviors, there is no triggering sign stimulus, and it is unlikely that there is any genetic basis to the behavior. Just because the behavior is stereotyped does not make it a sequence of stereotyped behaviors or genetic in basis. In fact, it is not likely to be genetic, or most animals of that species would perform the behavior… which they don’t… thank God!

Humping is a pathological behavior, resulting generally from anxiety due to lack of proper early socialization and is used to self-soothe in stressful situations. It’s NOT a FAP or a MAP, but a stereotyped behavior (as most behaviors related to reproduction are) triggered by internal anxiety levels… quite different.

The term “instinctive drift” was coined many decades ago by comparative psychologists, and refers to what we call today phenotypic plasticity. That is, animals are constrained by their genotype and early experience, their biology, in what they can learn and the degree to which they can learn it. Thus, an animal may not be able to learn certain associations, or may not be able to retain some associations as long as others: there are biological predispositions, as we say today, for certain behaviors, including learning. So again, a once-useful term has been updated.

But the real discussion is about “predatory drift.” There is no such concept in ethology, and the term doesn’t even fit with the idea of instinctive drift in my mind. Are the users of this term suggesting that the default behavior for domestic dogs is predation, that when play or social behavior is performed for a while that the tendency for dogs is to revert to predation (as animals are supposed to revert to innate behaviors in instinctive drift)? This whole concept fails for me.

Regardless, there are numerous reasons why a dog might “appear” to be playing or behaving socially and suddenly attack a smaller dog, reasons that may or may not include predation. A major reason is that many (most?) small dogs do not communicate in the same was as more primitive breeds of dogs, a point driven home in Erik Zimen’s excellent work with wolf and poodle comparative behavior (and more recent studies) and reinforced by our modern knowledge of genetic relationships among breeds. When you are interacting with another dog, you throw a lot of body language at them, to check them out, to determine their emotional state, to anticipate their intentions, and when you receive nothing coherent back, or perhaps even (inadvertent) signals of anxiety, aggression, or weakness, a dog of certain temperament might react with defensive aggression… this is just one common example that I have seen in my cases.

I really don’t see how the Bolles work on instinctive drift, or the Breland article popularizing that work, or for that matter, the more modern understanding of phenotypic plasticity (or constraints, if you are a “glass is half empty” type) can support or weaken the compulsion (or confrontational, as we call them in applied animal behavior research) trainers. The concepts would apply equally to any kind of learning…

Now for “calming signals”: another term not part of the animal behavior literature, or certainly not in any form similar to how they are used by trainers and poorly trained behaviorists. I have heard of all sorts of behaviors in this category: displacement behavior, redirected behaviors, reconciliation (the new form of appeasement) behaviors, vacuum behaviors, behaviors intended to reduce anxiety in the performer, behaviors intended to reduce anxiety in the recipient, just an incredible mish-mash of stuff. There is no established use of such a term, and in the uses of the term “calming signals” that I have heard, I have not even detected a clear or consistent understanding of what calming signals are, how they are defined or exhibited. So the term is useless: why not use the terms in standard usage? In some cases, calming signals are displacement behaviors, in some cases they are redirected behaviors, in some cases they are self-soothing behaviors, etc. These are established and well-studied concepts in behavior. “Calming signals” is another good addition to my collection of bad ethology!

So I hope that this reveals a bit more of modern ethology… there is a real science out there, as accessible, or inaccessible, as any other science like genetics, organic chemistry, and ecology. Some evolution of terminology is inevitable but usually reflects new knowledge and new discoveries, and good-quality education, and then keeping up-to-date with ongoing new discoveries, is the key to tapping into that new knowledge to benefit yourself, benefit your clients, and especially to benefit the companion animals on which we are focused.