Cognitive Learning and Counter Surfing

Dogs May Understand Human Point of View

Article Reference:
University of Portsmouth (2013, February 11). Dogs may understand human point of view. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 21, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2013/02/130211090840.htm


I think this is pretty fascinating. Both my Shepherds are very food motivated and make great students. They both know NOT to counter-surf, not to trash-dive, but without fail my younger Shepherd takes the lid off the trash can in the bedroom every time we leave him alone for extended periods of time. Now, is this an "out-of-sight, out- of-mind", or should I leave the lights on if we are away after dark? I have to try this now, maybe install a night vision camera. I am interested in testing if he attempts to trash dive with the lights on after being left for a couple hours as well as with the lights off. My guess is that he will take the lid off and investigate either way, but would love to be proven wrong.
I think in this particular instance boredom, as well anxiety, may be a factor in his trash investigation. I also have to take into consideration his feeding times. My GSD's are on a strict feed/walk schedule. If it's 5:30pm and we are not home yet, again without fail we find the trash lid off, is this due to hunger? 9 out of 10 times, he is not destructive, and does not damage the lid or knock over the trash, so we lazily haven't corrected it. This sounds like an excellent opportunity to "fix" the behavior.
My other GSD is given free reign of the full house during our leave. We worked with him a bit more with training, and have experienced this only a few times. They are so random, that off the top of my head I can't think of a possible similarity in circumstances. Could it be the lighting? I know if we are in the room, light or dark he will not even attempt to pull food off of a counter or table. He will investigate the area to ensure we didn't drop any scraps. If we leave the room and go upstairs, he will still refrain from touching the food, whether he has eaten or not. But lighting.....there is the variable I have yet to try.
To my knowledge and experience dogs learn by association. I train using positive reinforcement combined with a newer aged pack mentality based on a family infrastructure. What is the reward for NOT counter surfing? Whatever motivates him the most: food, play, attention, all of the above. The question still lies, does he know he is "wrong" if he table/counter surfs? Do they have a true concept of morality, right or wrong? Or is it as simple as associative training and reinforcement? This article raises many questions as to the reasoning behind the dog's willingness to comply to training. Is it the reward, is it morality, is it associative training, is it the availability of a resource? Time to test this out!