Dog Behavior Blog

A Good “Stay” Means Ice Cream

When I lived in New England, I got a new dog and though he was over two years old, his training was so minimal that I was basically starting from scratch.  In other words, he knew how to sit on cue in some situations, some of the time. I began working with him on sit, down, wait, heel, come, and stay. The stay command soon became one of my top priorities, though my reason may seem self-serving.

I wanted to be able to cue him to stay so that I could go inside the local Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop. This goal involved a high level stay since he had to deal with distractions and with me being away from him, though still in sight through the store window. It took me a couple of months, but I got to the point where I could tell him to sit and to stay, then go inside, buy my ice cream and come back outside to a dog who was staying without stress just outside the door where he could see me.

This occurred in Hanover New Hampshire, which is a small and very friendly dog town. Most places I have lived, I would not leave my dog outside a store even in my sight because I would be worried that someone would either harass my dog or take him away. Hanover is ridiculously safe so that the risk of any harm coming to my dog was miniscule.

Just to give you some idea of how dog friendly a town Hanover is, here are two examples from Dartmouth College within the town. A big benefactor to the school bequeathed a fortune to the school with one major set of strings attached: Dogs must be allowed to roam free (off leash) throughout the campus. And roam they did—big packs of high energy, powerful dogs were regularly observed on campus and in the surrounding town. In the library at Dartmouth, instead of the usual sign on the door forbidding dogs from entering, there was a sign at the water fountain saying, “Please don’t allow dogs to drink from the water fountain.”

In such a town as this where dogs are allowed to be in so many places, a good stay is just part of what a dog needs to be able to do. They also need to walk politely either on or off leash and they need to come when they are called. These are the minimum core skills that dogs must be able to perform in order for them to be polite members of society. And in my case, my dog’s stay was the most important because I need my regular doses of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in order for me to be a polite member of society.

 --Karen London

Can People Correctly Identify Dog Behavior?

How good are people at interpreting the behavior of dogs? Dogs and people have been around together for perhaps 100,000 years, so you would think that people would be pretty good at it. However, it turns out that people aren't very good at all.

A recent article in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science (Tami, G. and A. Gallagher, 2009, Descriptions of the behavior of domestic dog (Canis familiaris) by experienced and inexperienced people, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 120: 159-169) tested 60 people in the vicinity of Edinburgh, Scotland, on their ability to interpret dog behavior.

The 60 people were divided into four groups: dog owners, veterinarians, dog trainers, and non-dog owners. The non-dog owners had no experience with dogs, while the others had considerable experience. Dog owners had a median of 30 years of experience, dog trainers had a median of 20 years of experience, and veterinarians had a median of 11 years of experience.

The authors of the study first walked a border collie past 8 other dogs on separate occasions and recorded video clips of the responses of the other dogs to the border collie. They then categorized the responses of the dogs as aggressive, confident, fearful, friendly, submissive,, play solicitation, actual play, defensive, or indifferent.

The 60 people were shown the video clips and asked to describe the behaviors. As we can predict from the long association between dogs and humans, both dog-oriented people and non-dog people had similar descriptions of the dogs' behaviors. Except for two categories of behavior (confidence and play solicitation), there were no significant differences in the responses of any of the groups.

The amazing thing is that both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people got many of the behaviors wrong.

Both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people could mostly identify indifferent (90% of observers scored correctly), and friendly behavior (73 percent scored correctly). Fearful behavior was correctly identified by 67% of the observers, and play solicitation behavior was correctly identified by 62%.

However, for the other behaviors, both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people got things mostly wrong. Aggression was correctly identified by only 38% of the observers, confident behavior was also identified by only 38%, and actual play (as opposed to play solicitation) was correctly identified by only 30% of the observers.

Most of the observers seemed to focus primarily on the movement of the tail, rather than on all of the other signals that a dog was displaying.

This study points out some interesting things. One is the possibility that neither dog owners nor veterinarians necessarily know enough about dog behavior to always correctly identify the behavior of a dog. Another is that being around dogs does not necessarily give people an edge in interpreting the behavior of dogs. A third thing, on a positive note, is that most people can identify a friendly dog, even if they can't identify an aggressive one.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Separation Distress and the Rescue Dog

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She will write periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

 

Separation distress is the term used to describe mild, short lived vocalizations, household destruction and other dependency behaviors. Separation anxiety is considered a medical condition and is usually characterized by extreme expressions of distress that can include shivering, drooling and extreme destruction around doorways and windows. Both are a result of excessive attachment to a place, person or animal. It is not surprising that some dogs adopted from shelters become distressed in this way. Unable to control the environment while being moved from place to place and then going into a shelter, the dog can become confused and frustrated. Once the dog is placed into a home setting, with people who love him, it is easy for the dog to become excessively attached. When distressed, the dog can act out with the tools nature has provided: vocalizing, shredding things and seeking a way to rejoin those who make them feel safe.

 

At the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS), we adopt out many dogs every week. A small percentage of these dogs, at some point, may exhibit distressed behavior when left alone. BEBHS helps people to prevent separation problems with their new dogs through careful counseling. Odds are if the adopter stays committed to the program there will be a successful outcome.

 

Dogs that over-bond show this tendency in a number of subtle ways. It is important to recognize these early signs. The dog might refuse to leave the house or to go out with anyone but the chosen person. The dog may shadow their chosen person, following them from room to room, panting. In a worst-case scenario, the dog could start guarding the chosen person, threatening or snapping if others try to touch him. The dog may vocalize continually when unable to join the person. Dogs that are having significant separation issues may also drool excessively when confined, such as in a dog crate, as well as shiver uncontrollably. If left alone with the run of the house, the dog might continually go to doors and windows and destruction will usually occur around these openings. Attempts to escape the crate may result in injuries to teeth and gums. If it comes to this point, the dog will require professional medical and behavioral help.

 

Preventing separation problems is largely a matter of providing a structure in which the dog can learn to feel safe while left alone. Prevention from day one is the best way to keep over-bonding (or, as it is called in the lexicon of behavior, "hyper-attachment") from occurring. Since the cause of dependency is usually abrupt change rather than gradual growth toward independence, setting the dog up with a routine so that he is left alone for a short and tolerable period of time is a good beginning. Using an indoor tie-down with a pen or crate will allow the person to go from room to room in your house without the dog following.

 

Get the dog to enjoy chewing items, such as bully sticks or food-stuffed rubber toys before confining him with them. When the chew toy is placed into the confined space, sit near it for the first few sessions. Encourage the dog to chew. Once the dog is using the chew toy, start walking away for a short time (about a minute). Upon return, praise the dog in a soft soothing voice and release him for play time. As the days go on, the dog will become more comfortable with his family being in another room or outside the house for a longer period of time. Other routines that will help the dog to gain independence are to ask for simple obedience skills when the dog solicits affection and attention. Keep returns and greetings quiet and calm instead of happy and exuberant.

 

Simple little routines along with an awareness of dependent behaviors can make a big difference in the adopted dog's long-term adjustment.