If you have been reading this blog, you have heard about Louie, the shelter dog, who has been staying with us off and on for weeks now. The first weekend that Louie was here, he had not been neutered. We decided to keep things clean and be proactive by placing gorgeous white garbage bags on the back of any surface - such as our sofas to catch any incident of male marking. Our little strategy worked! For the most part…how can you place trash bags the length of the walls???
So I took it upon myself to manage the heck out Louie. Either he was outside with our dogs or when inside he was on a leash attached to me or to the table where I was working.
I took Louie back to the shelter to be neutered and then brought him home again. Ahh, suddenly the markings diminished. Wow! I know that neutering diminishes marking in male dogs, but so soon?
To be clear, Louie appeared to be house-trained when he first came to stay with us. He would pee when given the opportunity to go out; this took place especially if Laika or Deuce took a pee first.
Now get this, John because of his job travels a bunch. So, he was in for the first few days of Lou (as we call him sometimes thanks to our friend/fellow trainer Deb) being with us, then thereafter John came and went. It is really hard to keep up with the demands of his job so I am doing my best of keeping the calendar straight here.
Anyway, on one of John’s days at home, he took it upon himself to work on the washer which suddenly stop spinning… oh no!!! More drama in the home… I have this vision of John sort of hugging the machine as he was trying to troubleshoot while moving the machine in and out of its place of rest.
Then Monday morning came and John was gone again. Louie had marked not once since he came back after being neutered and on this morning… ta-da… Louie took a pee ON THE WASHING MACHINE!!!
Wow, after a quick cleaning I pondered about the “coinkydink” of his marking exactly on the object where John worked on over the weekend.
What does this mean? I will not amuse you with all the crazy thoughts that came to mind. I even floated some of my “theories” with Deb when she came to walk the dogs because of my inability to do so.
There is SO much about dogs that we really don’t know… We can spend ample time wondering, guessing and that is okay as long as we recognize that we really don’t know a lot of the times what the motivation for a given behavior might be.
As humans we can’t help but try to understand and explain the world from our own perspective so it is frequently that we attribute to our canine companion's attributes and “labels” to describe what we see. For example, one of the labels that I hear a bunch of times from my clients is that their dog is “stubborn” because their dog does not want to do "x", "y" or "z" when requested to do so, or that their dog is “dominant” (or alpha), mad etc. The problems with “labels” like the ones above and “labels” in general is that they really do not tell us what the dog is actually doing! I.e.: the behavior.
In the behavioral sciences we subscribe to observable facts instead of "interpretations" or labels as to why a dog is engaged in a certain behavior. Moreover, when we look at the facts, the behavior itself can be modified if we wish to do so with a more desirable one. Another advantage of describing behavior by being factual is that everyone can agree as to what the dog did. So in essences, we abstain from interpreting… i.e.: I think the dog did “x” because of “y” reason(s) and just stick to the facts. Just describing what the actual behavior is does not do our job as behavior consultants & trainers. We also strive in looking very closely at the antecedents that gave way to that a behavior. And yes, we do hypothesize as to what the motivation behind a given behavior might be. Our hypothesis will remain as such until we can “prove” it.
So here is a couple of challenges for you that are actually a lot harder than you might think: Next time when you are describing what your dog is doing… make an effort to stick to what you can observe - challenge # 1. Secondly, decide for yourself what you would like to have your dog do instead. If the present behavior is unsafe, inappropriate or just plain annoying, you can be proactive in reaching your goals by rewarding your dog for engaging in the specific (observable) behavior. There is, of course, more to this equation than our burning desire to have the “perfect” dog that now barely resembles a dog.
At the end of the day we must remind ourselves that dogs are... well dogs… and we need to understand and respect their nature. One more important consideration (and a challenge) in the daily dance of co-existence with a species of the “doggy” kind.
So I took it upon myself to manage the heck out Louie. Either he was outside with our dogs or when inside he was on a leash attached to me or to the table where I was working.
I took Louie back to the shelter to be neutered and then brought him home again. Ahh, suddenly the markings diminished. Wow! I know that neutering diminishes marking in male dogs, but so soon?
To be clear, Louie appeared to be house-trained when he first came to stay with us. He would pee when given the opportunity to go out; this took place especially if Laika or Deuce took a pee first.
Now get this, John because of his job travels a bunch. So, he was in for the first few days of Lou (as we call him sometimes thanks to our friend/fellow trainer Deb) being with us, then thereafter John came and went. It is really hard to keep up with the demands of his job so I am doing my best of keeping the calendar straight here.
Anyway, on one of John’s days at home, he took it upon himself to work on the washer which suddenly stop spinning… oh no!!! More drama in the home… I have this vision of John sort of hugging the machine as he was trying to troubleshoot while moving the machine in and out of its place of rest.
Then Monday morning came and John was gone again. Louie had marked not once since he came back after being neutered and on this morning… ta-da… Louie took a pee ON THE WASHING MACHINE!!!
Wow, after a quick cleaning I pondered about the “coinkydink” of his marking exactly on the object where John worked on over the weekend.
What does this mean? I will not amuse you with all the crazy thoughts that came to mind. I even floated some of my “theories” with Deb when she came to walk the dogs because of my inability to do so.
There is SO much about dogs that we really don’t know… We can spend ample time wondering, guessing and that is okay as long as we recognize that we really don’t know a lot of the times what the motivation for a given behavior might be.
As humans we can’t help but try to understand and explain the world from our own perspective so it is frequently that we attribute to our canine companion's attributes and “labels” to describe what we see. For example, one of the labels that I hear a bunch of times from my clients is that their dog is “stubborn” because their dog does not want to do "x", "y" or "z" when requested to do so, or that their dog is “dominant” (or alpha), mad etc. The problems with “labels” like the ones above and “labels” in general is that they really do not tell us what the dog is actually doing! I.e.: the behavior.
In the behavioral sciences we subscribe to observable facts instead of "interpretations" or labels as to why a dog is engaged in a certain behavior. Moreover, when we look at the facts, the behavior itself can be modified if we wish to do so with a more desirable one. Another advantage of describing behavior by being factual is that everyone can agree as to what the dog did. So in essences, we abstain from interpreting… i.e.: I think the dog did “x” because of “y” reason(s) and just stick to the facts. Just describing what the actual behavior is does not do our job as behavior consultants & trainers. We also strive in looking very closely at the antecedents that gave way to that a behavior. And yes, we do hypothesize as to what the motivation behind a given behavior might be. Our hypothesis will remain as such until we can “prove” it.
So here is a couple of challenges for you that are actually a lot harder than you might think: Next time when you are describing what your dog is doing… make an effort to stick to what you can observe - challenge # 1. Secondly, decide for yourself what you would like to have your dog do instead. If the present behavior is unsafe, inappropriate or just plain annoying, you can be proactive in reaching your goals by rewarding your dog for engaging in the specific (observable) behavior. There is, of course, more to this equation than our burning desire to have the “perfect” dog that now barely resembles a dog.
At the end of the day we must remind ourselves that dogs are... well dogs… and we need to understand and respect their nature. One more important consideration (and a challenge) in the daily dance of co-existence with a species of the “doggy” kind.
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