Learning
Environment
Genetics
Self
Wild Card
100

This part of the L.E.G.S. model considers the dog’s experiences and education in life.  

What is learning?

100

This part of the L.E.G.S. model includes all of the external conditions for the animal.

What is environment?

100

Considered a 'natural dog', these fluffy dogs with blue-black tongues that originated in China are often free spirits, independent, and logical, but can also be suspicious and self-preserving. 

What is the Chow Chow?

100

When assessing a dog, looking at what the dog experiences as an individual means you are taking this into account.

What is a dog's 'self'?

100

The scientific discipline which studies animal behavior, usually under natural conditions, with an emphasis on understanding behavior as an evolutionary trait.

What is ethology?

200

The belief that organisms learn from the consequences of their behaviors.

What is operant conditioning?

200

The answer to whether or not an animal, when taken out of their natural habitat, can easily adapt to any other environmental conditions. 

What is false?

200

Selectively bred for dependency on humans, this breed group was once used as flea magnets but is now commonly known as “purse dogs”.

What are toy dogs?

200

A term used for dogs that have not been spayed or neutered.

What is intact?

200

This activity is thought to express otherwise functionless actions and displays; often seen in juvenile animals during development.

What is Play?

300

The process in which an automatic, conditioned response is paired with specific stimuli. For example, Pavlov's dog salivating when it hears a bell.

What is classical conditioning?

300

Both of these are equally important influences on behavior. 

What are nature and nurture?

300

This breed's ancestors were once used for gladiator entertainment in the sport of 'bull-baiting', now they often show high levels of arousal.

What are bull dogs?

300

This term refers to short nosed or flat faced dogs and can result in health problems such as breathing issues or skin infections.

What is brachycephalic?

300

A specific pattern of behavior that dogs exhibit in response to a stimulus such as chasing a fast-moving furry object.

What are Modal Action Patterns?

400

Between domestication and tameness, this is the result of an individual's learning process.

What is tameness?

400

This scientific term is a place where an organism or a community of organisms lives, including all living and nonliving factors or conditions of the surrounding environment.

What is a habitat?

400

Selectively bred for cooperation with humans, this breed group was used for moving livestock in an organized fashion. Often these dogs now show “behavior problems” like chasing, barking, or nipping.

What are herding dogs?

400

Hormonal changes in a female dog that result in a maternal behaviors and even physical signs of pregnancy, though she is not pregnant.

What is a false pregnancy?

400

Reproductive, Foraging, and Hazard/Avoidance are the “Three Categories of Behavior” created by this famous expert in dog behavior.

Who is Ray Coppinger?

500

Redirecting a dog from an “undesirable behavior” to a more “desirable behavior” and then reinforcing the dog can sometimes reinforce the “undesirable behavior” as well as the “desirable behavior” creating this term. 

What is a behavior chain?

500

How animals in nature survive when faced with both pressures and opportunities in their environments.

What is adaptation?

500

This type of aggression displayed in nature is intended to avoid full altercations and injuries.

What is ritualized aggression?

500

A state of physiological alertness and readiness for action (flight, fight, or freeze).

What is arousal?

500

This scientific term is a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to respond to environmental stimuli without involving reasoning.  

What is instinct?