I will not hug your dog

Have you ever heard a young child tell you (or perhaps you were that child!) that they hated having Aunt “X” or Uncle “Y” coming to their home because they would routinely press their cheeks hard and get so close to their faces where they could even smell their breath?

Well it happens very similarly to oh so many dogs. Their owners not being aware of or just not wanting to be rude, allow strangers (from the dog’s perspective) to pat their heads – a big no-no, pat them hard or even hug them.

You see, we as primates love to hug. But the problem is that dogs are not primates and hugging is far from good doggy-manners. In fact most dogs find all that touching and hugging aversive.

I just came back from a client’s who relayed to me how her cute pup had growled at her friend when the friend hugged the dog. My client told me she was confused about how to proceed and feels bad that her friend is referring to her overall-friendly dog as a “bad” dog.

Ahh! Give the dog a break! We hold dogs to such high standards. Not even the most noble of us could really live up to those standards.

So, what is one to do? For starters we could honor - most - dogs wishes and not hug them, pat them on the head, touch their tail or any other area they can’t really see or are sensitive about.

Instead, we could vow to never interact with a dog that clearly has not asked for social contact by approaching us with loose body language, open mouth and soft eyes. In other words, receptive to having a social moment with us.

Second, we could vow to never allow anyone to act like Aunt "X" or Uncle "Y" and impose themselves on our dogs. In essence, we need to become better advocates for our dogs.

It is true that some dogs are fine having their owners love on them by being hugged or other forms of affection. But make no mistake; having your best pal express itself this way is really different than having a stranger do the same. Dogs as social beings also have “friends” in people and dogs that they choose to be intimate with and others that… no thanks!

I invite you then to consider any social grace from the perspective of the dog. When you do that pat yourself on the shoulder for your kindness and understanding. Your dog would if only he/she could.

Can Your Dog Learn From Halloween?

What is the consensus out there, I wonder… can our dogs learn anything (positive, I am hoping) from Halloween?

I remember years back walking Laika around Halloween in Berkeley where we lived at the time. We came across a Halloween decoration and Laika took a step back. Okay, I thought perfect opportunity for Laika to learn about Halloween and “funny pictures”. Dogs interact with the world using all their senses with the sense of smell and sight as their predominant way of “making sense” of their environment.

So when a dog sees something that appears to the dog out of context, or different than the previous “picture” (representation) of that object or even perhaps something completely new to them, it is common for dogs to feel concerned or afraid since they cannot fully understand this new context.

A perfect example of these funny pictures is the quintessential plastic bag flying in the wind. Most dogs have seen plastic bags lying on the ground, on the kitchen counter, etc. But now the bag is flying… Or take, for example, another typical funny picture: someone walking with crutches. Dogs are aware that people walk with two legs and are even keenly aware of our cadence and body language. But now add the third element to the picture (crutch) and the dog has no idea what to make of it.

Dogs constantly have to adapt to our human world. And learning to feel comfortable (non-threatened) by the funny pictures that they see daily is of primary importance. I take every opportunity during walks, for example, to take advantage of the funny pictures we might encounter. To do this, I pair the viewing of the out-of-place object with something really good for my dogs. For the most part, I use a clicker to communicate to either Rio or Deuce that their choice to approach to investigate this object will gain them a reinforcer. The trick here, of course, is to make sure that the dog is the one making the choice to approach, and if so, how close. For the most part, after a few seconds of approach/avoidance – (moving away from the object) both dogs realize there is nothing to fear and they take a final sniff before we move on with one more little victory and a more confident dog.

So, Halloween is a perfect opportunity to look for those out-of-context scenarios to practice confidence building. Do not be surprise to discover that what you thought was indeed scary to your dog does not register as a “funny picture” to him or her. Do not fret, you will find one that will.

I am not much of a Halloween type of gal; the holiday has little meaning for me. But I realize that for a lot of people it is an opportunity to pass along candy to kids in all sorts of costumes. In other words: Funny-pictures galore!

If your dog is friendly to people in general but especially comfortable with children you might try and make this opportunity a learning opportunity for your pal. Here is how: Arm yourself with some super tasty treats. Whenever trick-or-treaters approach your home and your dog seems them, toss your dog a treat away from the door. Do this a few times. If your dog is an escape front-door artist, leash your dog to a heavy piece of furniture where he can enjoy the activities at the front door while he gets a freebie for hanging around all these “scary” looking kids.

However, if your dog has fear related issues towards people and children play it safe by keeping your dog in another room, while enjoying a delicious bone or stuffed Kong. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if our dogs are already super friendly to people and especially children our work is done. But when it comes to people-proofing our dogs the end is never in sight. Take these golden opportunities instead to make sure your dog is SUPER comfortable and happy about seeing people in general and especially children in all sorts of odd situations. Happy trick or treating to you all...