To understand the reasons why dogs exhibit undesirable behaviour, we ask the question to, “Why does my dog <insert behaviour>?” The answer invariabley is because, it is a dog. Much of what we regard as problem behaviour is usually the dog exhibiting its natural instincts in the wrong place or the wrong time.
Behaviours like:
Biting people or other dogs – biting is a natural instinct for dogs to protect themselves or their pack.
Barking at neighbours or dogs – barking is a natural instinct for dogs in warding of intruders alerting other members of the pack of possible danger
Growling – again, n warning to intruders to beware or to retreat.
All common behaviours that dogs do, but displayed in a home environment, can be termed problem behaviour. To understand why dogs exhibit these behaviours, we can look at its ancestor, the wolf. Studies indicate that 90% of behaviour exhibited by the domesticated dog, all but 19% were present in the wolf.
What a wolf does naturally, we can easily accept. When our pet dog behaves the same way, we think it has a behaviour problem. In most cases, the dog hasn’t got a problem at all, its just being a dog. All we have to do is stop it being a dog at the wrong time. To why the dog is doing what it is doing and to prevent undesirable behaviour, we must think like a dog.
Undersirable or Abnormal Behaviour
If our dog is displaying behaviour we find unacceptable, we must first ask ourselves,
“Is what the dog is doing normal for a dog to do?”
If the answer is yes, then we should be planning ways of re-directing the behaviour, not trying to stop it altogether. Stopping what is instinctive is a near impossible task. Herding, barking, digging, chasing etc are all perfectly normal instinctive behaviours, but with some dogs these dogs are accelerated and become a problem for the owner.
Usually, more stimulating off-territory exercises can improve the behaviour at home. More or less, wearing the dog out by talking it for walks often or vigorous activity can help lessen the behaviours.
If however, the behaviour is sudden and onset, especially in an adult dog, then it can be termed as abnormal for that particular dog. We should then be considering recent extrinsic or intrinsic changes that have occurred and which might be influencing the dogs usual behaviour.
Things like:
- structure changes in the family, the addition or a new baby perhaps, someone leaving, long term visitors, illness or bereavement
- job changes may have disturbed the usual routine.
- changes in the dogs diet or a medical condition
- perhaps there is a bitch in season nearby
All of these factors and may more should be considered before a course of action can be embarked upon.
Throughout the following days, I will put a short description of the most common behaviours exhibited by dogs, how this behaviour relates to the domestic dog and to it’s ancestor the wolf and possible remedies for the unwanted behaviour.
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Yeah. And I hope everybody will train thier dogs to make it safe to the people especially to the children. Because most children like dogs, and even older ones. As what they say, “Dog is man’s bestfriend” Yeah, It is true. But we dont have to depend on that saying, we should trained our dog for the safe of everybody.
Got a great deal from reading the information on this site, with a bit of hard work and a lot of consistency my beautiful girl is really going to benefit from it. Thanks
Connie becomes incredibly agitated by the over head fan starting up. Once it spins at full speed, she calms down.
It has gotten so habitual now that she will run and bark at the fan (spinning or not) every time she enters the room. any suggestions?
Hi Connie’s mum. There are two schools of thought on this one. You could go for the quick fix, which is an aversion technique, a loud no, throw some chain or keys in a metal pot to startle her and interrupt the behaviour, however, if you truly want her to calm down, you will need to recondition her that the fan is a good thing, not a bad. Using food is the way to go. However, if your dog is not a food lover, or is picky, there will be a problem.
Usually, if you are going to do some conditioning techniques, I would turn your dog into a food hound, feed her once a day, half her portions. If she loves food…good. Make the fan a part of her daily feeding routine. Also, use food that she LOOOOOOVES like some tasty salami or ham or cheese. You start in baby steps.
1. You touch the fan control…if she is come, you reward her.
2. Repeat that a few times.
3. Switch it on, then immediately turn it off….if she is quiet…reward her
4. If she barks at any of these stages…just a gentle ‘ah ah’ then go back a step, maybe to just touching the fan control, quiet behavior, reward.
5. You progressively make the time you leave the fan spinning longer and longer.
6. This may take up to 5-10 sessions of doing this. Make each session only 5 minutes.
7. Always finish each session on a win. When she has been calm at any stage of the turning on of the fan.
8. Don’t be in a hurry to progress to fast. If for your first session, you only get to touching the fan, then finish on that.
9. You might not even get to touching the fan, she might start barking as soon as you touch it. If that is the case, go back even further and just motion towards the fan and reward her for the times she is quiet, then progress further.
I hope that helps connie’s mum. This process is a simple conditioning process and will work on any dog. It just takes patience.
Good luck.
Glen