I have been conditioned to respond to my dogs' actions. They bark, I yell. They pull, I yell and yank on the leash. They nudge my hand, I pet them.

In speaking with a local behaviorist, he brought to my attention that many of the responses that people have to their animals' actions are conditioned responses.

For example, a person is walking his or her dog on leash when the dog starts barking and lunging upon seeing another dog down the block. The person yanks on the leash in response to the dog's behavior. The yank momentarily stops the lunging and barking--which results in the human having a positive outcome to his or her behavior.

More than likely, the person will respond the same way the next time the dog lunges and barks because the response provided a temporary respite from the dog's unwanted behavior. However, if the dog has the same reaction upon seeing another dog, the person's response did not train the dog.

And so the cycle repeats itself. And becomes more ingrained with time.

I see similar scenarios between owners and canines and certainly between my dogs and me. So, it begs the question, who really is training whom?

Actually, I think the response to my dogs' actions is an example of operant conditioning, whereas Pavlov studied classical conditioning. Or perhaps the positive reinforcement I receive from my innate reaction to my dog's fixed action patterns means that....the two trains meet at noon in Chicago. But then, I was never very good at math.

But I do know that my animals have me exactly where it suits them best.