The three outcomes

The learning process that has evolved in dogs and other mammals is very straightforward. Inside your puppy’s brain, the consequences of every single action he carries out are recorded and allocated to one of three categories. Those categories are:


-Good (things just got better)
-Bad (things just got worse)
-Indifferent (nothing changed)


Which of the three categories those consequences fall into will determine how your puppy will behave next time he is in the same situation. Let’s look at some examples.
If your puppy pokes a tennis ball with his nose, it is quite likely to roll along the ground. If there is a bit of a slope, he may even get to chase after it. Things just got better for the puppy and his brain records a good consequence. Next time he sees a tennis ball, he will be likely to poke it again. On the other hand, if your puppy pokes a wasp with his nose, he may get stung, in which case things just got worse for him. A bad consequence is recorded and the puppy’s brain will look out for similar situations in the future. Next time he sees a wasp he will probably leave it alone.
Timing is a crucial factor in this process. If your puppy pokes a wasp and it flies away, then returns and stings him later, he will not connect the two and will probably poke a wasp again in the future. The consequence, good or bad, must accompany the puppy’s actions or follow very closely in order to have any effect.


This is all pretty obvious and applies to people, too. If what we do is followed by a bad thing, we don’t do it again. If what we do is followed by a good thing, we do it more often.
But what about our third category of outcomes? What if the outcome is registered by the puppy as ‘indifferent’? What happens if nothing changes? If your puppy pokes a large rock with his nose for example, rocks being what they are, he is unlikely to get a reaction. His brain adds the experience to the indifferent category.


But here is the interesting part. If there is no outcome, if nothing changes following the puppy’s actions, his behaviour is less likely to occur in the future. The effect is, in fact, the same as if the puppy had been punished. If repeated, this lack of outcome results in a process called ‘extinction’ because over time, the behaviour that it follows will die out. Here is a summary of our three outcomes and their influence on your puppy’s future behaviour.


-Good outcome = increased behaviour
-Bad outcome = diminished behaviour
-Indifferent outcome = diminished behaviour


The way in which these three outcomes control your dog’s future behaviour is no accident. The ability of your dog to record, and act on, the consequences of past behaviour has evolved to make sure that any behaviour that is beneficial to the dog will increase. Any behaviour that is not beneficial to the dog dies out, enabling the dog to preserve his time and energy for more productive activities. Puppies do what works for them.