Dog training has seen many trends over the years, with some methods claiming to be purely “science-based” by focusing almost entirely on one approach to how animals learn.
While learning principles are valuable, an over-reliance on them—without considering a dog’s built-in instincts and natural behaviors—can lead to skills that look good in controlled settings but don’t hold up in real life.
True effective training comes from blending solid learning tools with an understanding of animal behavior in natural conditions. This respects dogs as evolved creatures with innate drives, rather than treating them as blank slates to be programmed step by step.
Dogs inherit powerful instincts shaped by their ancestors—things like chasing prey, retrieving objects, or navigating social relationships in groups. These are not random; they are adaptive sequences that help survival and bonding. When training taps into these, the results become more reliable, enthusiastic, and resilient because they align with the dog’s biology. In contrast, building complex skills solely through incremental rewards can create fragile chains that require constant maintenance and may falter under distraction or stress.
The Value of Natural Drives in Everyday Skills
Consider a common task: teaching a dog to retrieve an object. Many modern approaches break this down into tiny steps, rewarding each small action until the full sequence emerges. This can produce a clean-looking retrieve, but it often lacks the natural motivation that makes the behavior enduring. This can fall apart in a real world application.
Dogs have an innate predatory sequence—orienting, chasing, grabbing, and carrying—that evolution honed for hunting and survival. When we encourage retrieval by triggering prey drive, the dog engages wholeheartedly, resulting in a faster, more joyful performance that generalizes better to different environments. It is also trickier to teach if all you are used to doing is an approach commonly called successive approximation: often called “shaping” in dog training, is the process of building a new action gradually by rewarding small steps that get closer to the final goal. Instead of waiting for the complete skill to happen by chance, you reinforce each tiny improvement along the way.
Using natural predatory play sequences, like chasing, allow dogs to express instincts safely, but since many innate behaviors, such as prey drive, are open programs which involve instinctive elements but allow significant flexibility for learning and modification through experience—such as prey drive providing the basic motivation, while training (via games like fetch) refines it into a structured sequence (wait, fetch, return, hold, release, sit).
My BASSO METHOD primarily relies upon this approach for all training, however many pet dogs do not have sufficient drive to teach everything this way, so I have to blend approaches at times.
A Behaviorally Informed Approach
Learning principles, such as reinforcement, are essential tools for clear communication and motivation. However, when they overshadow biological insights, training can become disconnected from what makes dogs excel. Pioneers in the study of behavior emphasized observing behaviors in context to understand their causes, functions, and survival roles. Integrating these with practical learning methods creates robust outcomes: dogs that perform reliably because the tasks feel innate, not imposed.
Trainers and owners benefit from precise language and evidence-based frameworks that honor both science and nature. This avoids oversimplifications and promotes methods that enhance welfare and performance over the long term.
Bibliography
- Lorenz, K. (1981). The Foundations of Ethology. Springer-Verlag. Explores innate behaviors and instincts in animals, foundational for understanding natural drives.
- Tinbergen, N. (1951). The Study of Instinct. Oxford University Press. Analyzes behavioral sequences, functions, and evolutionary adaptations.
- “Ethology in Training and Behavior – Why Does it Matter?” Science Matters LLC. Discusses integrating evolutionary insights into practical training.
- “Understanding Ethology Animal Behavior.” CBT Dog Behaviour. Covers instincts and natural patterns in canines.
- “50 years of the Nobel Prize to Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Frisch.” Frontiers in Ethology. Reviews contributions to behavior studies.
- Basso, S. (2025). Dog Enrichment for Behavior Problems Explained. samthedogtrainer.com. Applications of ethologically informed enrichment.
- Basso, S. (2025). Unraveling the Pack: How Dogs Build Harmony in Your Home. poochmaster.blogspot.com. Natural dynamics in multi-dog settings.
- Basso, S. (2025). The Importance of Precise Terminology in Dog Behavior and Training. samthedogtrainer.com. Emphasizes accurate concepts in ethology and learning.