Most of us have some superstitions

Most of us have some superstitions even if we don’t want to admit them. I won’t walk under a ladder; I know logically that there is no way that walking under a ladder can cause bad luck, but I just won’t do it. I justify it to myself by saying that, “Heck, the ladder might fall so don’t walk under it!”

Most shelters won’t adopt out black cats before Halloween, worrying that some people do horrible things to black cats related either to people being cruel or to cruel people having superstitions.

Animals can have superstitions, too, although it’s usually called superstitious behavior. I decided to write about it here because I noticed Bashir has developed a superstitious behavior and when I mentioned it to a friend, she couldn’t believe that animals develop such things. Or that such a thing existed. But they do and are probably more common than many people realize.

When doors or gates are opened, my husband and I require all three of our dogs to wait for permission to go through them. This helps prevent dogs from dashing out open gates or rushing through doors. Not only does this keep the dogs safe, but it also protects our knees!

For some reason Bashir has decided that his best chance of being given permission to go in the back door is by waiting around the corner of the house. When the other two dogs are crowding the door and being told to back up and wait, he is around the corner of the house waiting to hear the magic words, “Okay, come on in.”

Apparently at some point, he must have been close to the door and not allowed in and then later when he was away from the door – around the corner of the house - he was then given permission to come in. He put two and two together and decided that he would wait around the corner. Each time then that he waited in that magic spot and was allowed in, it was reinforced in his mind that this was the magic spot. This is a superstitious behavior.

Many dog owners who install invisible fences to contain their dogs have found that their dogs developed superstitious behavior regarding these fences. I talked to one woman who had an invisible fence system installed. Within two days of installation, her black Labrador Retriever decided that all lawn areas were dangerous. Because the invisible fence was buried in the lawn and that’s where the collar gave the correction when the dog went too close, the dog decided that safest thing to do was to remain on the concrete patio. This is superstitious behavior.

A friend of mine who has horses has found that her young, three year old gelding has developed a superstitious behavior – one that actually is very common in horses. Her horse paws when anticipating food. At feeding time he will bob his head, paw the ground, and food will appear. Now, this probably started when he heard her come out of the house and begin getting the food ready. In excitement, the horse probably began bobbing his head and pawing. But when food appeared, he – like Bashir – put his actions and the reaction together and assumed they were related. That’s a superstitious behavior.

B. F. Skinner wrote about superstitious behavior in 1948 when he studied pigeon behavior and since that time, many behaviorists and trainers have looked at these interesting behaviors and thought processes. Interesting because the animal has often made a leap to a conclusion that doesn’t make any sense – to us- but obviously does to the animal. Interesting also to those of us who deal with training and behavior because if we can figure out those thought processes, we can become better trainers.

Superstitious behavior is often defined as behavior that the animal offers that is unrelated to the behavior being performed or trained, or unrelated to another action. For example, Bashir hiding around the corner has nothing to do with permission to come into the house. And my friend’s horse’s actions of head bobbing and pawing have nothing to do with food arriving. But the two animals have made a connection.

Some people believe that superstitious behavior may have begun as a survival technique. A prey animal might hear a sound and even though that sound isn’t identifiable as that of a predator, the animal may run and hide anyway. By doing so, the animal survives and continues to run and hide when that sound is heard in the future. Now, the sound may be leaves blowing in the wind but because the animal continues to survive, it will continue that behavior. A predator may do the same thing. One day a specific action may result in a meal. The predator will continue that action even if the action really had no connection at all with catching the meal.

Superstitious behavior can also happen during training. Many times superstitious behavior occurs when the animal (dog, horse, dolphin, pigeion, rat any other animal being trained) misunderstands the lesson. Perhaps the training steps were rushed, the communication wasn’t clear, or the trainer’s timing was off.

A specific superstitious behavior will continue as long as it achieves the animal’s desired results. If a predator who has developed a superstitious action and catches a meal no longer catches anything, that superstitious behavior will quickly disappear. If I stop calling Bashir to come into the house when he hides around the corner, then that behavior will disappear because it’s no longer giving him the result he wants – permission to come inside. If my friend doesn’t feed her horse until he stops bobbing his head and pawing, that behavior will eventually disappear (or become extinguished).

If a superstitious behavior has been positively reinforced over a period of time, however, extinguishing the behavior can take quite a while. After all, animals will continue to do those behaviors that reward them. I know; I don’t walk under ladders and they don’t fall on me so I don’t walk under them. Knock on wood!

So, what superstitious behaviors do your pets (dogs, cats, horses, rats, or goldfish) have? What caused those behaviors to begin? Now that you’ve recognized them, are you going to change them? And how?