|
General Dog Information
This section is about basic "dog talk," training and socializing to help you gain a better idea about how dogs think and their drives.
This is NOT a substitute for finding professional help should there be a concern with your dog's behavior. This is just an overview to give you better insight to your dog.
How dogs think:
No matter what we would like to think, dogs are NOT little people in fur coats. Dogs do think and have emotions, but not to the extent of humans. Dogs do not think about
revenge. They do not worry about the future or dwell so much in the past.
However, past experiences help mold our dogs into what they are. This is why training and socializing is so important. (Socializing will be covered further down).
It never ceases to amaze me what dogs can develop fears of: men with beards, people in uniform, people using various moving aids like wheelchairs, children, hats, smells, sounds,
etc. If a dog does not experience something positively, or at all, he may fear it later on. Under-socialized dogs may appear to have been abused - especially if they are low confidence and show fear with new
things.
Humans tend to put human emotions on our pets.
This can lead to trouble understanding our dogs. A common example: owner comes home and Sparky has raided the trash - as he does every day. Owner assumes the dog knows he has done wrong by his actions when the owner steps in the door and gets angry. (the dog responds by hiding, cowering, "acting guilty"). In reality, Sparky has learned that owner comes home and Sparky gets yelled at for some reason. (Sparky has forgotten what he did wrong because the owner did not catch him in the act of trash raiding). Sparky has learned to associate the owner's returning home with bad things happening. This is what Sparky is reacting to and not "guilt." Sparky is cowering from his owner and his learned fear of the owner returning home.
Instincts:
Dogs are born with various instincts. Among them are: chasing, biting, self-preservation, protectiveness/territorialism and a desire to be part of a family.
It is when we fail to work with or understand a dog's natural instincts that we open the door for trouble.
Dogs are triggered by fast movements and high pitched sounds (think kids running and screaming).
Imagine a child racing by a dog. The chase instinct gets triggered. The dog starts after the child. Now, dogs do not have hands. They use their mouths in play and defense. The chasing dog wants to catch and play with the child. The dog gets very excited and next thing you know, Johnny has been bitten. Or, Johnny panics and starts to yell and scream and the dog feels threatened. Instead of running away (flight part of self-preservation) the dog decides to stop the attack (fight part of self-preservation). Johnny now has an attacking dog to deal with. Or, Johnny decides to walk onto someone's property and greet a dog. The dog feels his turf is being invaded and decides he has to protect his home. Johnny ignores that warning signals a dog will often give (barking, growling, tail up or the dog may even stalk the intruder). Next thing you know, Johnny is being bitten. What about pack desires? Sparky is relegated to outside all the time. He never gets walks in the neighborhood, has no idea what good manners are and has had no training. Sparky is socially retarded. When he suddenly finds himself thrust into a social situation, he has no idea how to react. Sparky may panic and self-preservation set in. Sparky may start to play inappropriately with humans and injure someone. Dogs are dogs and driven by nature (heredity). But it is how we nurture that nature that can make a BIG difference in most dogs! No dog regardless of breed is inherently bad. Humans make dogs that way. Most often we inadequately train and socialize dogs. We assume a dog is behaving one way when he is really behaving in another. We ignore warning signs and fail to bring in professional help until it is too late. We do not understand dogs the way we should.
Dog Language:
Dogs do not have words like we do to express how they are feeling.
We expect them to learn very fast how to interact with us and live in our foreign world. Yet, we do little to learn how to understand them. We often misinterpret their language and this can be dangerous. Let's look at some common dog language.
Aggressive
Dog will try to make himself look big - hair on back and shoulders raised and he will be up on his toes
Ears will be pinned back and eyes narrowed
Body will be stiff and tail out straight or raised up slightly
Teeth will be shown with or without snarling
Dominant
Dog will be standing up tall with or without hair on shoulders raised
Mouth closed
Ears erect and forward and eyes wide
May be woofing or growling
Tail raised high and may be slowly wagging
Fearful
Dog will cower down and try to look smaller
Ears will be pinned and eyes averting gaze
May show teeth
Tail will be tucked and dog may back away
Dog may be shivering
Happy/Wanting to play
Ears will be pricked forward and tail wagging
Eyes will be bright and happy and mouth open slightly but teeth covered and dog may be panting excitedly
Dog may be bouncy, circling, yipping, mock growling
Dog may play-bow (lower front end with tail high in the air and wagging)
This is just a brief look at some more common dog body language. Dogs who are acting aggressive of fearful are more likely to bite and should be left alone.
Some dogs can be very overt in their body language while others can be very subtle. If at all in doubt about how a dog is acting, a child should walk away.
Never should a child approach a dog when the owner AND a parent or guardian is not there no matter how the dog is behaving. And for safety sake, NEVER should a child approach a stranger no matter how cute the dog is or how "lost"" the dog is.
Socializing the puppy:
For health reasons, it is said puppies should not leave the home (except to go to the vet) until the final DHLPP booster is given (at about 12 weeks of age).
Prior to this, the immunity level of the pup may still be weak and the pup more susceptible to diseases like Parvo Virus (which can often be fatal). If you cannot take puppy off the property, how can you socialize when young? Get creative!
Have different people come over and visit the puppy.
Start teaching the puppy manners from the get-go. Good greetings do not mean nipping and biting or jumping. Get puppy used to people wearing hats, uniforms, beards, carrying bags and umbrellas. What ever pup can encounter in the world, try to mimic it at home. Play different types of music. get toys that make noise and move. Walk the puppy over different surfaces like low trays with a little water in them, wood, hardware cloth, bubble wrap! When the pup is old enough, enroll in a good puppy training program (see
Finding and Obedience Program) and get the puppy out and playing with other dogs
and learning how to be a dog with his own species but also how to interact with humans and other animals.
Ideally you and your pup should take classes before the puppy reaches five months (start as young as safely possible).
Repeat classes as a younger adolescent 8 - 12 months. Take a refresher when the dog is an adult. This will help keep you in practice, work the pup through the testing phase of adolescence (when that sweet pup may suddenly become a brat or seem like all he has learned fell out of his head). Also, practical application of lessons into daily life is very important. No matter how well a dog works in class, lessons are useless if not applied practically at home or in public.
Even adult dogs need socializing. Again, a good training program will help guide you.
Dog parks are great places for dogs to get together and be dogs. The average dog is greatly socially deprived especially when it comes to his own species. Social deprivation and lack of training can increase a dog's likelihood of biting. If you have ANY concern about your dog's behavior, consult a professional before things get worse. Rarely do behaviors just work themselves out. Undesired behaviors often require training, behavior modifying and working through. Ignoring and failing to address issues could lead to trouble.
Dog Play:
To the undereducated observer, dog's playing can look rough - almost like fighting. Some dogs will race and chase each other while others will roll and wrestle.
Dogs have great control over how they use their mouths but need to learn just how hard is too hard. If you watch puppies play: one nips too hard, the other will yelp, leave, and the game stops. If you play nice, you can play with me. If you do not play nice, I will tell you off and leave the game. A well socialized pup will alter the play tactics and not be as aggressive the next time. However, we humans tend to misread things like a dog nipping and snarling at a roughly playing dog. We may think that the dog doing the posturing and snarling to stop rough play is being mean. In actuality, he may be telling the other dog "Hey, back down, this is too rough!" It is when the dog being the rough player fails to back down or the dog doing the telling off does not stop once the rougher dog backs down that problems can arise. But well socialized and good temperamented dogs know how to communicate with each other and know when things are getting too rough.
It is NOT appropriate to let dogs play with humans in the same way dogs play with each other. We lack fur to cushion teeth. Our skin is softer.
We move slower and are often pretty moronic when it comes to knowing how dogs interact. It is important that dogs learn biting humans is not a good idea. When puppy put his mouth on you and applies pressure, give a loud, yelping ouch and see if puppy releases. Most puppies will. Do this several times a day. Now progress to as soon as puppy put his mouth on you, yelp and stop playing. Puppies need to learn that mouths on humans are not good at all as we hurt. Allowing the pup to apply pressure teaches jaw control. Then we must teach no mouth on humans AT ALL. Puppies have sharp teeth but lack the jaw strength of an adult dog. Adult dogs have duller teeth but stronger jaws. It is vital to teach jaws can hurt and should not be placed on humans. Now, with this in mind, avoid games that encourage dogs to bite or in other ways try and get the upper hand with humans. Tug of War can be a very fun or very bad game if not played properly. Dogs may not play this game until they learn to take drop an object on command. Humans will start the game. If dog brings a toy and tries to initiate the game, he must work (some basic obedience) before the privilege of playing is granted. Humans will frequently stop the game before the dog gets to rowdy, do some training and then the game can resume. Human stops the game before dog gets too riled and out of control. Children will not play tug with the family dog. But there are many games you can play with your dog that do not encourage besting the human!
CLICK HERE TO SEE GOOD GAMES TO PLAY WITH DOGS
Tolerance Levels:
Dogs have different tolerance levels - what they will allow to happen before they act out.
For example, some dogs will allow toddlers to hang all over them, crawl on their backs and yank ears before showing any signs of discomfort. Other dogs will nip if an ear is touched. Just because your dog has never bitten anyone, does not mean the potential is not there. All it means is that the breaking point of the dog's tolerance level has not been found yet and the owner is lucky.
Tolerance levels can vary day to day. A dog may be less tolerant of things if he is uncomfortable, tired, aging, sick, hurt, just having a bad day, etc.
We can help build up tolerance levels through training, body handling (getting the dog used to having his body touched and gradually increasing pressure on toes, etc.) and really
rewarding a tolerant dog. Tolerance is good! Some dogs may never be tolerant due to training and socializing (or lack of it) or just their own personal nature.
As dog owners, it is our responsibility to try and increase tolerance, know what can set our dogs off and know the warning signs our dogs give when they are being stressed. Even in the same breed, dogs may vary greatly as individuals as to what they will or will not tolerate.
|
