Glossary

Classical conditioning

Learning that links two events so that a dog reacts to a signal in the same way it reacts to what the signal predicts.

Also called: Pavlovian conditioning, associative learning, learning by association

Ivan Pavlov showed that dogs that heard a bell before every meal came to drool at the bell alone. The dog does not decide to respond; the response is automatic and emotional. Any neutral signal that reliably predicts something good or bad can come to trigger the same feeling.

Owners use it without noticing. A dog may bounce at the sight of a leash, or cower at the sound of a nail clipper, because of past events. Clicker training works partly this way, since the click is first paired with food.

It explains how fears form and how they can be changed, but it does not describe learning that depends on what the dog does. That is operant conditioning, which works alongside it.

Last reviewed November 8, 2026

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Related terms

Operant conditioning Learning in which a dog changes its behavior because of the consequences that follow it. Desensitization and counter-conditioning A training plan that exposes a dog to a fear trigger at a level it can handle while pairing it with something good, to change how the dog feels. Clicker training A reward-based method in which a small device makes a click at the instant a dog does the right thing, followed by a treat. Marker word A short word, such as "yes", said at the instant a dog does the right thing to tell it a reward is coming.