Viewing by month: April 2009

The Dominance Label In The Dog World

Have you ever picked up your favorite brand name product at the store, only to find out when you got home, it wasn't what you thought? The labels on the products are similar looking, and most likely they are right next to one another on the store shelf, but they aren't the same. Labels in the dog world can be very deceiving as well.

There are a few labels, that when applied to dogs, are hard to remove. Labels like dominance display and aggression, are misapplied to dogs all the time. Often, the people applying the labels are ill-informed about the ingredients required, to label truthfully, a dog as dominant or aggressive. The unfortunate consequence for many dogs, is the application of another label, euthanasia.

Many of the popular TV shows today would have you believe that a dog is a four legged status seeking machine, constantly looking to challenge his owner and his packmates, for alpha supremacy. Behaviors such as jumping, running out the door, humping, and many others are labeled as dominance displays or flat out aggression. The truth is that the VAST majority of dogs displaying these behaviors are not trying to be dominant or
aggressive. Usually, the labels that should be applied in these cases are, "Relieves Tension," "Nervous Energy," and "Never Been Taught Different!" Even in the face of evidence to the contrary, like this paper from the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, people still use the wrong labels.

So before you let anyone label your dog, be sure they really understand dog behavior. If anyone labels your dog's behavior as a "Dominance Display," get a second opinion. Ask your vet to recommend an animal behaviorist in your area. The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants has a searchable database located here. You can also do a search for certified trainer at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.

Whatever you do, please make sure that the labels applied to your dogs, list the true ingredients contained.

I welcome all comments on this post.

6 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 12:00 AM - Categories: Dogs | Advocacy | Training | Behavior

Do Dogs Think Like Humans?

I often wonder if I do disservice to my dogs, for thinking about them in human terms. When I'm in a training situation, it's easy to think in doggie terms. I am actively participating in communicating with my dogs, and I get instant feedback on how well I communicate, via the dog's behavior. However, when I am not in a training situation with them, and we are just being human and doggie, I often fallback to thinking in terms of human emotions. Words like happy, sad, pouting, mad, and concepts such as humor, revenge, spite, and others, often leap to mind when watching my dogs. I know that they don't experience these emotions and concepts in the same way that I do, but I think many people would argue that they DO experience them, and there is my conundrum. The problem with assigning human emotions and concepts to our dogs, is that it makes it easier for people to attribute human motivations for them as well.

Sundown, a female Aussie of mine, and Midnight, a female cat that shared our home, often had exchanges that seemed to border human expression. Midnight loved sleeping on the bed and always wanted to lay in the center of it. Sundown would often jump on the bed, walk over to the center where Midnight lay, and sit right on top of her! I swear that you could see a smile cross that dogs face when she did it! Normally, Midnight refused to move. Sundown never stayed too long because the bed was usually too hot for her. Sundown liked laying on the floor better, it was cooler and she didn't have to share it with anybody. Midnight would often stalk Sundown as she slept on the floor. She would sneak up to Sundown's face, and nonchalantly smack Sundown with her paw. Sundown would wake up with a start, stare at the cat for a moment, and then go back to sleep. Midnight would just walk away with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.

In doggie and kitty terms, I think that Sundown was just laying claim to her property, and Midnight was just enjoying a toy. But I have no doubt that many people, if able to witness the exchanges between Sundown and Midnight, would use words like revenge, payback, satisfaction, humor, and others to describe them. Here is my problem with that. If a dog and a cat are capable of these emotions and displays, does it mean that they actively plan them? For instance if you punish a dog for a particular behavior, and he continues to display that behavior, is he doing it out of spite? Of course not! Yet many people believe that their dogs engage in such activity. Guilt is an especially heinous concept foisted on dogs. People assume that a dog knows that their behavior is wrong because the dog acts guilty when you catch them in the act. Guilt implies a sense of right and wrong. Yet study after study on the behavior of dogs tells us that dogs have no sense of right and wrong, they are amoral. The guilt display is nothing more than a reaction to a prediction. Punishment is about to happen, because circumstances are right for punishment to occur.

So now you see why I worry about humanizing my dogs. It is a natural thing to do because after all, we are human. But just remember that while these emotions may be accurate in describing a dog's behavior from a human point of view, the reasons behind them are purely doggie in nature, and most likely have nothing to do with their human equivalents.

2 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 8:45 PM - Categories: Dogs | Humor | Training | Behavior

Please Ignore the Dog Behind the Curtain

I was reminded today that any dog can bite, even yours, even mine. Gavin, my male Aussie, wasn't socialized nearly enough when he was a puppy. He is protective of his family and he is generally suspicious of strangers. However, if ignored by strangers, and allowed to investigate them at his own pace, he warms up quickly.

Normally when strangers come into my house, I ask them to ignore the dogs, especially Gavin. I tell them that if they want to meet him, just ignore him and in a few minutes he will come over on his own and say hi. I give them a few treats, to give him when he does come over. It helps him to associate meeting new people with something good. The tactic works very well, and Gavin is very polite to people if they are polite to him. But sometimes people don't listen.

My house is for sale, and was recently shown by an agent who had never been here before. Before letting everyone in, I told them about the dogs, "Please ignore the dogs, and they will ignore you and won't get in your way as you look around the house." When they came in the house, the agent, who was a dog lover, saw Gavin and let out an "Aw he so adorable." and then bent down, RIGHT IN HIS FACE, despite all the growling! I called Gavin over to me and he came, but she followed him all the way. Luckily, he did not bite her, and I put him in another room while they looked at the house. Then tonight, I had a teenager come over to see a guitar I had for sale. I told the kid about the dogs, and he seemed to listen. Nevertheless, while I was helping him carry stuff out of the house, he passed by Gavin and quickly bent down to pet him, hand outstretched, looking Gavin directly in the eye. If he had not been a teenager, with quick reflexes, he probably would have gotten bit!

In both these cases, even though I had warned the people beforehand, It would have been my fault if they had been bitten. However, it's not the people that I feel bad about. Both times, because of bad judgement on my part, I allowed my dog to be put into a situation where he could bite. It's my responsibility to know my dogs and their limits. I need to make sure that my dog doesn't get put into a position where he feels he needs to bite. That means, if I even suspect someone won't follow my rules about the dogs, either I don't let them in the house, or I put the dogs away before they come in.

It's our responsibility as dog owners, to make sure that other people aren't hurt by our dogs, and that our dogs aren't hurt by the ignorance of people, including our own!

0 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 11:53 PM - Categories: Dogs | Training | Behavior

Tosha's Training Diary - Part 1 - Evaluation and First Steps

Let me start by saying that I think everyone who considers bringing a new dog into their home, should start their search at a local rescue or shelter. There are just too many dogs out there and not enough homes for them. Even if you are looking for a purebred dog, you can probably find one at a shelter or rescue that is within a reasonable distance. You can find a list of shelters and adoptions sites here.

As I have written in some of my previous posts, I have just welcomed a new dog into my pack. Tosha, a female Aussie, is joining my other Aussie, Gavin, a male, and Annie, a female Springer Spaniel mix.

Tosha was surrendered by court order. The lady that owned her was a hoarder and had an outrageous number of dogs and cats living in bad conditions, some with serious health problems. The court placed Tosha with Helping Paw Mountain View Rescue, where we adopted her a few months later.

Today is my third day living with Tosha, and I am already starting to see some of the effects of her previous home. She has mastered the art of the body block. She slings her body around to clear space around her when she is competing for a resource. She is overweight and very out of shape. I think this is because she spent a good deal of time in a crate or cage. She displays some guarding behavior, although not too extreme, and she will try to push her way into another dog's food bowl if given the chance. Surprisingly, she is well socialized with people, but I think her view of us is a bit skewed. She does not seem to respond to her name very well, and views us as back scratchers, and a source of food. She does not seem to have any training at all. She does not know, or doesn't want to respond to commands for sit, down, or stay, and she likes to bolt out the door.

So where do you start with a dog like Tosha? I think one of the best ways to work with her, is to establish the TANSTAAFL policy. For those of you who don't know, that stands for "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch." It means that Tosha is going to have to work for everything she gets. The two behaviors I've decided to start with are, bolting out the door, and not responding to her name.

Her bolting behavior is easy enough to deal with. Both of my other dogs know the wait command and are very good about it. When I take the dogs out as a group, I issue one group wait command, I crack the door open a little and then using her own technique against her, I simply put my body between Tosha and the door, and gently move her back in line with the other dogs. I slowly back off and open the door, if she stays, I release them, and then praise. If she moves before I release them, I simply block her back into place and try again. She seems to be catching on really quick.

Building a better response to her name, should be straightforwardl, and works on the TANSTAAFL plan as well. I simply hand feed her. I call her name and wait for a response. If she looks me in the eyes when I call her name, she gets a piece of kibble. It's that simple. When she starts to focus on me entirely without taking her eyes off me. I will distract her with a piece of kibble from one hand and then say her name again. When she looks me in the eye I feed her kibble from the other hand. I am willing to bet that within a few days of this training, she starts to respond to her name much better and with more interest in me and what I am doing.

There are three things I need to keep in mind, to make these training sessions successful.

1. Patience - For instance, if Tosha keeps rushing the door when I take her out, I just need to reset and try again, no matter how long it takes.
2. Realistic Expectations - Say for example I call Tohsa's name and she refuses to make eye contact, then what? I am probably asking more than she can do at this point. So I start to reward any movement of her head towards me. Then, I can start rewarding when she is looking anywhere at me. Then I can demand eye contact. This is known as shaping.
3. Consistancy - Making sure that I ask her to wait each time we go through the door, and only letting her through the door after she has complied. In addition, my wife has to do the same exercises with her and reward in the same way that I do.

This is going to be a great adventure, and and we are all in it together. I will follow us with other posts, to let you know how we are doing, and the next steps we'll be taking.

1 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 12:00 AM - Categories: Dogs | Adoption | Rescue | Training | Behavior

Are Dogs Born With a Sixth Sense About Shoes?

It's an interesting question, and one that I believe, deserves scientific study. As Mars Blackman said, "Money it's gotta be the shoes!", and I think most dogs agree.

If you've ever had a puppy or a young dog, you've probably lost a pair of shoes to them. What interests me is not the fact that they chew and destroy shoes, it's which shoes they choose to chew and destroy. Your old tennis shoes, boots, and other assorted footwear, used to take the dog outside to play, are never touched. But a brand new pair of tennis shoes or work shoes, not worn when playing with the dog, are targeted for termination. I smell a conspiracy here and it smells a lot like puppy breath!

I've done my own informal scientific survey, I've listed the shoes my wife and I wear, their relevance to my dogs, and their likelihood of destruction.

Old Sneakers Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Excited anticipation. These shoes predict a walk or some playtime in their immediate future.
• Probability of Destruction - Low

New Sneakers Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Feigned indifference. These shoes hold the promise of future walks or playtime, but not at the present.
• Probability of Destruction - Depends of the price of the shoes. The more expensive, the higher the probability!

Dress Shoes Belonging To Me Or My Wife

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Obvious distaste. These shoes predict the immediate departure of all sources of food, play, and bathroom breaks.
• Probability of Destruction - Terminate with extreme prejudice. If our dogs could talk to us, they would tell us it's the leather smell that attracts them, but we know better.

My Beat Up Moccasins

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Depends on their bladder. These shoes are for short bathroom breaks.
• Probability of Destruction - Very low. They have holes in them to begin with, but that doesn't stop them from licking the insides, ensuring a nice soggy moccasin to put my foot into.

My Wife's Flip Flops

• Dogs Attitude Towards Them  - Worship. These shoes are for one thing and one thing only. Filling up the sacred doggie pool.
• Probability of Destruction - Zero. If my dogs had opposable thumbs and could use a hammer, they would build an alter for them.

So there you have it. My highly scientific study of dogs and shoes. If you have your own hypothesis, leave a comment and let us know.

On the serious side, if you have a dog or a puppy that chews your shoes or other valuables, here are a few simple things you can do to remedy the problem.

1. Put your shoes out of the reach of the dog.
   
2. Find some toys that your dog enjoys chewing on, and have some of these toys in each room the dog has access to.
3. If you your dog is chewing on something inappropriate, like your shoes, don't yell at him. Simply give him something he is allowed to chew on and praise him when he chews on it.

Chewing is necessary for developmental health, and is a stress reliever as well. If your dog excessively chews on the wrong things, you may want to contact your vet or a qualified trainer.

3 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 11:08 PM - Categories: Dogs | Humor | Behavior

Thank Dog It's Friday

Yep, it's the weekend. And not only is it the weekend, but it's the weekend before Easter. Spring is busting out all over and so are we. Ready to shed our winter clothes and get outside again. Our dogs are ready too! Not that they don't get a chance to go outside and play in the winter. But, if you're like me, their play time is generally a bit shorter in the winter depending on the wind chill. The ground is frozen hard, there is no grass to eat, and no fresh mud puddles to play in. So with the weekend and spring almost upon us, I thought I would post a few links for some fun stuff to do with our dogs. After all, nothing makes me smile like a dog lost in play!

• Doggeek.com - Dog Parks Dog Runs from Doggeek.com - Clickable map by state of dog parks and dog runs.
• TheDogPark.com - Search for a Dog Park in Your Area  - Searchable by City and State.
• Dog Park USA - Nice site all about dog parks. With articles about having fun in them to an Interactive Google map of over 1250 parks.
• PetPlace.com - Teaching Your Dog to Love Frisbee.
• Watch and Train.com - Teaching Your Dog to Retrieve and Play Frisbee
• Play With Your Dog (Dogwise Training Manual) Pat Miller - Great book with tons of ideas for playing with your dog.
• Play Together, Stay Together - Happy and Healthy Play Between People and Dogs - A book devoted to play written by two top behaviorists and trainers, Karen London and Patricia McConnell

If you have any other links you would like added here, just leave a comment with the link! Cheers!

0 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 12:12 PM - Categories: Health | Dogs | Play | Training | Behavior

Bringing a New Dog Into The Pack

The past few days have been really busy around here. We've brought a new member into our little pack. This isn't new to us, we have fostered a dog or two in the past, and we have always liked having at least two dogs in the house to keep each other company. But for the first time, the number of dogs in the home exceeds the number of humans. It was something we had to think about for a while before we did it. The dynamics and the demands can really change when you exceed the one dog per person to handle them, ratio. Add to that the fact that our new girl, Tosha, is coming from a hoarding situation, plus we now have two female dogs, and we could be in for an interesting break in period.

For the most part everything is working out fine. The two girls are going to have some issues, but it is something they will be able to work out on their own (yes they are both spayed). I can already see some behavior in Tosha that is a result of her coming from a hoarder. She has mastered the art of the body block to clear space around her, and she is a bit of a guarder. She has almost zero training. I don't think that she has ever been on a leash before, and she has no sit, down, or stay. But she is well socialized to people and other dogs, and she is housebroken. Even though there will be some challenges with Tosha, they are not unexpected. My wife and I knew to expect things like this before we adopted her, and we are committed to keep her in our home for the duration.

So when you make the commitment to add to your pack, make sure you do your research, have a plan for introducing your new family member, and above all get ready to enjoy!

Here are some links to help you plan bringing your new packmate home.

• Introducing Pets to a New Dog - The Humane Society of The United States
• Bringing Your New Dog Home - The Humane Society of The United States
• Introducing a New Dog Into Your Home - PetPlace.com
• Introducing a New Dog To Your Resident Dog - Dumb Friends Leauge
• Introducing a New Pet - animalhealthchannel.com
• Introducing a New Dog to Your Cat and Other Small Animals - ASPCA
• Introducing Your New Dog to Your Other Pets - Sacremento SPCA

If you know of other good information on this topic, just leave a comment with a link to the resource.

0 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 4:15 PM - Categories: Dogs | Adoption | Rescue | Training | Behavior