By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
Dog trainers are exceptionally good at observing behaviour. We notice patterns, emotional thresholds, timing, and context. Yet even with this level of skill, many trainers still encounter moments that behavioural explanations alone cannot fully account for.
When allowed, dogs choose different strategies
When dogs pause before responding, they are assessing and choosing a different strategy than the one that has been reinforced. Consequently, they may learn faster with one person than another, even when the mechanics are identical. These moments are evidence of cognition.
Dogs are social animals who learn through direct reinforcement, observation, prediction, and interpretation of social context. They are constantly processing information about relationships, safety, expectations, and outcomes. In other words, they are thinking while they learn, or learning how to learn.
Traditional training models often focus on behaviour as an output: what the dog does in response to a stimulus or consequence. While this approach can be effective, it becomes limited when it ignores how dogs make decisions, anticipate events, and adapt their behaviour based on past social experiences.
This is where Social Cognitive Animal Training (SCAT) offers a necessary expansion
Rooted in Social Cognitive Theory, originally developed by psychologist Albert Bandura, SCAT recognises that learning is not a passive process. Individuals, human or non-human, actively interpret their environment, observe others, and regulate their behaviour based on expected outcomes. Learning occurs within a social, emotional, and cognitive context, not in isolation.
In practical terms, this means dogs are responding to more than reinforcement histories. They are forming expectations, reading human attention and emotional states, noticing consistency, and weighing options before making decisions.
This helps explain why behaviour may change when the handler changes, learning may collapse under stress despite strong reinforcement histories, and dogs may offer novel solutions rather than repeating trained responses. From a social cognitive perspective, these are not failures; they are adaptive behaviours.
Training that acknowledges cognition allows us to shift our focus. Instead of asking only How do I get this behaviour?, we begin to ask What information is the dog using to make this decision?
When dogs are supported as cognitive learners, through clarity, emotional safety, and social predictability, learning becomes more resilient, behaviour generalises more effectively, and trainers gain insight not just into what dogs do, but why they do it.
SCAT does not replace behavioural science. It completes it.