What a missed opportunity!

I am sitting at a local eatery waiting for a friend to arrive.  A group shows up with a dog and sits almost in front of me.  I like the fact that the owner of the dog immediately positions the dog next to her and away from foot traffic.  Nice!  I think to myself. Someone is paying attention.
The dog, which I cannot fully see, now is quiet; I guess just lying down next to his owner.
Suddenly someone moves something and the dog begins to bark loudly. The owner just moves the dog away from the service people and that is the end of the outburst.

A few minutes later, a member of the restaurant staff is emptying ice into a bucket making quite a bit of noise. Now the dog is barking loudly.  At this instance the owner, which I am assuming was embarrassed by her dog's disturbance, begins telling the dog to be quiet and says loud enough that I can hear it that the dog clearly needs more discipline!

What?????  It is obvious to me that this woman clearly cares for her dog but she learned somewhere that barking as her dog did just now is a matter of “bad manners” nothing else.

Here is what I wish every dog owner will learn about their dogs. When a dog barks as a result of a stimulus such as a sudden and loud noise - in this case ice being poured into a bucket it is not because the dog has bad manners or is trying to embarrassed the owner it is because it has been wired  in them.  Dogs have done this for millennia when, from their point of view, there is something wrong and that concerns them.

Ah!  I think to myself what a lost opportunity for teaching the dog that noises like this are not to be of concern but instead mean good stuff will show up. Truly, it is seldom the case that a dog is “behaving badly” when they bark at something that startles or scares them.
 
This owner’s response was to blame her dog.  More than anything because she wanted to save face with the people around her.

To her credit, I noticed that she had some treats in her pocket and actually delivered a treat after she asked her dog to sit, popped it gently on the nose (why? I don’t know!) and when the dog sat she delivered the treat.

It is always sad and concerning to me when I witness events like this where the dog is blamed for very normal and adaptive behaviors. When, perhaps, someone like this lady is trying to work with her dog but she has clearly not understood basic principles of learning and counter-conditioning.

Dogs are not people in furry coats!  Our world is just a borrowed-experience. They are animals and as such there is much about our world that frightens them.  If we are really going to help them get comfortable in it, it really behooves us to see how our world and our decisions, and how they interact in this world affect them.

I wish that every owner would reflect hard before blaming their dog for behaving.  Dogs will most definitively have better lives once we choose to see their experience from their unique perspective instead of blaming them for our shortcomings in understanding them, in training them well or just the madness in our world.

Missing The Bigger Picture

It has been two Sundays in a row where we have been having breakfast in Santa Fe and another patron has brought their dog with them.

I am not talking about the dog lying comfortably next to his and/or her owners in the shade with perhaps a water dish or some tidbits tossed here and there. These two dogs were tied outside while their owners, in one case, continued to ask the dog to lie down or sit every time the dog decided to check-in on them. On the second occasion, the owners actually sneaked in a super cute King Charles Spaniel into the restaurant.

It was only a matter of minutes when another patron asked them if their dog was a service animal. The woman responded "no". The gentleman then asked them to remove the dog while at the same time a staff member did the same.

The owner marched the dog outside and I began to feel my chest tighten. It was already hot - high 70's and I was really worried she would “stick” her dog in the car.

Our dogs, were hopefully sleeping in the car… but the car was parked in a covered parking lot. We had taken our customary Sunday walk and decided on this particular restaurant because I knew we needed to park inside a lot.

I realize both of these set of owners meant “well” by including their pet in their daily lives. The problem is that there are truly missing the big picture!

Parking dogs on the sidewalk without supervision - even if it is “just for a second” is a terrible idea! Besides it is illegal.

It is actually a welfare issue folks. When a dog is left unattended attached to an object the dog is completely vulnerable. Dogs have basically three choices when they feel threatened: Flee (can’t do), Fight (will do), or Freeze (a coping strategy when the other two choices are not available).

The perhaps friendly dog is now put in a situation where if by chance it is approached by another dog, he/she will not be able to even say “hello” in an appropriate way. Do you wonder why so many dogs (it is truly an epidemic!) lung and bark – even growl when they are on leash and they spot another dog? It is precisely because they are feeling vulnerable and frustrated at their inability to say hello to a dog they have never met in a safe manner.

In many instances it only takes one encounter of this type to have the dog generalize their discomfort and sense of threat to all dogs when she/he is on leash!

Once, long ago in a distant land … I too tied up my two very friendly Springer Spaniels, Inca and Chaco (for whom my business is named after), to a pole. I promised that I was only going to be a minute… and before I could blink my two dogs were barking hard at a dog that was passing by.

When I heard my dogs barking furiously I ran outside and found them all tangled up on the post. And yes the other dog was friendly!

I vowed to never to do this again. But I guess I did not really learn my lesson… one day I walked with Laika to the copy shop. I tied her to a tree in front of the window where I could see her and I could go to her rescue should she need of my help, but she appeared to be doing fine just watching me inside making copies… all this while my eye caught a car slowing down in front of Laika with two passengers inside - a man and a woman. I began to feel as though something was not right as the couple were eyeing Laika and the woman began to get out of her car.

I immediately came out and stood beside Laika. The woman quickly closed the car door and they sped away. Call me crazy but I think they were ready to snatch Laika. With this one incident I really learned my lesson.

As we left the restaurant this past Sunday, I spotted the King Charles Spaniel tied outside the restaurant in the sun, with little-to-no-protection. I could not believe it! Her owners inside enjoying a meal. I thought to myself: 'Why don’t they come and have their breakfast outside with their dog?' As there were some chairs and tables available? Ahh, because it is too hot to eat comfortably outside… still their dog remained in the sun while the couple finished their meal… A typical case of good
intentions coupled with very little afterthought for the wellbeing of the dog.