Humphrey Recycles

Show him an empty beverage can, bottle, or crumpled piece of paper, and ask, “where does this go?” and Humphrey will immediately locate the nearest recycling bin, and eagerly deposit the item. This “trick” is popular when he visits offices and workspaces, since he is able to identify a blue bin, even if it’s his first time at the location. Indeed, if he hears a person taking their last sip of soda, he will sit at their feet, excited, begging for the chance to recycle the can.

Humphrey's 3-step Recycling Process

Nobody “taught” Humphrey to recycle. Rather than training, it was a skill he developed by curiosity and observation – this is called “social learning” in the biz. As a puppy, Humphrey spent a lot of time keenly observing people. He noticed certain patterns. A person takes the last sip of soda from a can, producing a certain noise. They take the can to a particular blue bin in the kitchen, and deposit it. He began to predict trips to the blue bin when he heard the last-sip sound, running to the bin, using his nose to point to the spot for depositing the waste.

Recycling was not the only pattern in which Humphrey has become accustomed to participate in. He's heard certain dog walkers ask of him, “is that the dog who has to throw away his own doody?”

He also participates in loading the washer and dryer (also self-taught), accurately predicting which machine will accept the clothing based on the context (clean or dirty).

A pattern emerges in Humphrey’s interest. Clearly, he has a preoccupation with items put into receptacles. And each of these tasks follows a particular routine or pattern, which he picked up on by observing the repetitive events. His proficiency in knowing what’s garbage or laundry, and where each goes, is purely learned by him, not taught by people – though he’s offered opportunities to watch and do.

By allowing him to experiment with putting things into receptacles, Humphrey gained a greater understanding of patterns, and was eventually able to correctly discern what types of objects (paper, cans, bottles, clothing) went into certain types of containers (the blue box, the washing machine, etc.). He came to understand some “rules” (for example, about dirty versus clean clothes, and so forth). The complexity of his understanding about these things point to learning rather than training.  And that learning is “social learning” because it all comes from actively participating in social contexts – watching, helping, experimenting.

To learn more about social learning in dogs, see Zsofia Viranyia, Friederike Range &Konrad Lorenz (2009).How Does Ostensive Communication Influence Social Learning In Dogs? Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 4, No. 2: 47.