Behaviour may alter when the dog is experiencing pain. Describe the symptoms of pain, and indicate how you think pain or illness may affect the dog’s behaviour.
Introduction
I’ll never forget the day when my lovely boy Tabasco was attacked. It was completely unprovoked. There were no warning signs at all. The attacking dog had hold of the fleshy end of Tabasco’s nose in a vice-like grip, and wasn’t letting go. Tabasco didn’t need to tell me he was in pain - the blood from his nose and his ear piercing screams were enough of an indication.
The following essay discusses how dogs ‘tell’ us they are ill or in pain, via both physical and behavioural indicators. In addition, it briefly touches on the effects that old age has on a dog’s behaviour. It also details how we can try to be more aware and take an active approach in preventing illness and disease in our selected dogs.
Physical symptoms of pain and illness
There are a number of physical symptoms of pain and illness that dog owners can identify. These can be the result of a direct physical attack or accident, or something more difficult to diagnose, for example, an allergic reaction to food or the digestion of a dangerous object. The following is a general (but by no means an exhaustive) list of physical symptoms of pain and illness in dogs.
- continuous vomiting
- very loose motions, mucous or blood in stool, or diarrhoea
- loss of blood
- limping or holding leg off the ground
- abnormal breathing, including wheezing, coughing or breathing faster than normal
- rise in body temperature, fever
- unusual, bad odour, including bad breath
- excessive moulting
- oily, flaky, dull hair/coat
- mucous, tears or discharge in the eyes
- wax in ears, chronic ear irritation
- fleas or mites
- sensitivity (to petting or handling)
- licking at paws, scratching face
- unconsciousness
- having a fit or seizure
Tabasco is steadily making his way through this list - cut and bleeding ear and paw pad, insect bite allergy, pollen allergy, seed stuck in ear - and we always seem to need to take a trip to the vets on a Sunday afternoon - which equals emergency vet, which equals expensive.
There are also other occasions when a physical symptom masks the real underlying disease or illness. My cousin’s border collie, Timmy, was showing signs of losing his eyesight. He developed very bad cataracts which had to be operated on. It was later discovered that the cataracts he suffered were in fact a symptom of canine diabetes, a disease which he now takes daily medication for.
Behavioural symptoms of pain and illness
The following is a list of some of the behavioural symptoms you may see in a dog if he is suffering from pain or an illness:
- lethargy, idleness, not wanting to get up
- lack of appetite, digestive problems
- signs of ‘depression’
- lack of patience or general irritability
- phobias (fear of people, loud noises, etc)
- strange behaviour, suspicion, fear
- more frequent barking
- whimpering, crying
In ‘The Dog’s Mind’, Bruce Fogel suggests an explanation for the state of a dog’s mind, and hence his behaviour, when he is ill. The lethargy, dullness and perceived ‘depression’, as mentioned above, could be the way that dogs use a behavioural strategy to fight disease. It may be a dog’s ‘first line of defence against disease...before his immune system has a chance to get into action’.(1)
As a response to infection, a rise in body temperature can be expected. A direct consequence of this is a lack of appetite. A dog will therefore tend to eat less as a result of his fever.
The affects of age-related illnesses, such as hearing and eyesight loss, the onset of arthritis and senility can all have an affect on a dog’s behaviour. A dog who has impaired hearing or eyesight may be more easily startled and may react in an abnormally aggressive way, or he may act suspiciously or fearfully because he is unable recognise certain people, places or objects. A dog living with the constant pain of arthritis may become aggressive, or may whimper or cry more due to the non-ceasing ache. Older dogs suffering from senility can become more impatient and irritable. Unfortunately too, older dogs may begin to suffer from separation anxiety, similar to young puppies, which can lead to excessive barking and destructive behaviour.
Prevention
While it may not be possible to forecast when your dog may succumb to a particular illness or disease, by finding out which illnesses/diseases your dog is most susceptible to could help reduce its severity, and possibly lead to its prevention. For example, I am aware that large breed, deep chested dogs (like my dog Tabasco) are susceptible to ‘bloat’ or ‘twisted stomach’. I know what to look out for should Tabasco exhibit the symptoms, and I am prepared to immediately take him to the vets if necessary.
It is also useful to perform regular physical checks on your dog while grooming him. That way you can watch out for potentially harmful lumps or bumps which require treatment before they get any worse.
If you are responsible for a dog in your care, I cannot stress how important I think it is to keep up with regular health checks, inoculations, worming and flea treatments. In my opinion, all dog owners should be prepared to deal with the cost of their dog’s health and well-being, in additional to their own. And this includes pet insurance. I would be severely more out of pocket without pet insurance, than I am with - regular specialist tests for Tabasco’s heart condition would have cost a small fortune had it not been for pet insurance.
Conclusion
We all have our own pain thresholds, and we all have our ways of dealing with pain and illness through our behaviours. Dogs are no exception. As dog owners, we have a responsibility to ensure our furry friends are given the best opportunity to live a healthy, and pain free long life. This can be accomplished by understanding the symptoms of pain - both physical and behavioural - knowing how certain illnesses and diseases in our dogs can be prevented, in the short and long term.
Works Cited
(1) The Dog’s Mind, ch.13, p.186 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Bibliography
Curly Coated Retriever (Mathis, Phillip 2001)
Introduction to Canine Psychology, Unit 4 workbook
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
The Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog Scheme (Responsibility and Care Fact Sheet)
Owners differ hugely in their perception of problem behaviours. Identify three which are commonly described as being a problem, and briefly describe how some of these views may be due to the owner’s misconception of dog behaviour.
Introduction
The following essay discusses three perceived ‘problem behaviours’ - jumping up, lying on furniture and ‘Small Dog Syndrome’.
Jumping up
One of the popular misconceptions that owners have when their dogs jump up at them, or their visitors, is that the dog is demonstrating and learning dominance. By rising up onto his back legs and assuming an upright body position, he is apparently making his body appear larger as he lunges forward.
Quite the contrary. When dogs assume a dominant body position, they are “stiff-legged, (with) upright posture or slow, stiff-legged movement forward”. Therefore, standing on his back legs isn’t characteristic of dominant dog behaviour.
So what is a dog trying to tell us when he jumps up? Jumping up is part of a greeting ritual for dogs, which also includes the running around excitedly, and licking and sniffing each other. It harks back from a dog’s wolf ancestry where wolf pups greeted adult wolves by jumping up to lick the corners of the adults’ mouths, causing the adults to regurgitate food. Although the regurgitation aspect of the greeting ritual has been bred out of domestic dogs (thank goodness!), the mouth-licking part of it remains. Therefore, because a human’s face is elevated, a dog will jump up to try and reach it. And larger dogs usually hit the target!
A dog will jump up because it has not been trained not to. Dog owners who do not wish their dogs to greet them by jumping up should train the dog to remain on ‘all-fours’ before any greeting is reciprocated.
Lying on furniture
I admit it - I sleep with my dog. And... shock, horror... I allow my dog on the couch! Lying on the furniture is another misconception that some people have where they suggest that a dog is trying to dominate, or increase his ranking in the pack by elevating his position in relation to the pack leader.
A dog will take up residence on furniture because it is many times more comfortable than the cold, hard floor. It’s that simple. Because he is a social animal, he is also comforted by the owners’ smells and touch.
He will also continue to use the furniture as his resting place as long as he can get away with it. It is only when he starts to guard his position on the bed or couch that this can develop into a resource guarding problem.
From my point of view, lying on the furniture is fine, as long as the dog knows that when he is asked to get off, he does so. This can only be successfully accomplished via appropriate training.
Small Dog Syndrome (SDS)
I think I am more aware of what I call ‘small dog syndrome’ due to the fact that it always seems manifest itself whenever my large breed dog and I run into small dogs and their owners during our walks. SDS occurs when owners of small dogs misinterpret the behaviour their dog is exhibiting. Instead of territorial dominance or playful retreat, they assume the dog is demonstrating animosity or fear. This is described in the examples below:
SDS No. 1 - “He doesn’t like big dogs” (on lead)
When out for a walk around the local neighbourhood, Tabasco and I sometimes come across other owners with small dogs who do not wish to walk past us on the same side of the street. They will purposefully cross over to the other side to avoid coming into our close vicinity. Tabasco will usually stare blankly at the small dog who has started barking and growling at him. The other owner will shrug and say “Sorry, but he doesn’t like big dogs”, usually while struggling to maintain a tight grip on an ever more tense lead.
I wonder if the small dog actually has any animosity towards my large dog at all? It is possible that it is in fact the owner who has a ‘fear’ of larger dogs because they are so much bigger than their ‘handbag hound’. The owner may have had a bad experience with a larger dog and therefore his fear is transferred via his demeanour (a tense stance and tension on the lead) to the small dog.
I could perhaps be persuaded otherwise if the small dog exhibited a fearful body posture - but they invariably don’t.
I would instead suggest that the small dog is putting on a display of territorial dominance. Small dogs, especially terriers, are more prone to bark than other breeds. This is because they generally have higher levels of excitability and aggressiveness, not because they are scared, or do not like larger dogs.(1)
SDS No. 2 - “He’s scared of big dogs” (off lead)
When Tabasco and I are out for a gallop in the park, it is wonderful to see him playing with other dogs. They have great fun. Tabasco will play with anyone - and that includes dogs who are a ¼ of his size. At the end of the day a ‘dog is a dog’ to them. Size doesn’t really come into it.
As with his larger play-pals, the same greeting and play rituals take place - both dogs will catch sight or smell of each other from a distance, and will then stand rigid or crouch down, before moving quickly towards each other. The smaller dog will then probably start to run away. But before the greeting/play ritual can be fully played out, it’s at this point that the small dog’s owner decides that her dog is ‘scared of big dogs’. What does she do next? That’s it - she picks the small dog up! What does Tabasco do? He jumps up, of course! Now not only is the small dog presumed to be scared, but Tabasco, according to the other owner, is now attacking both of them! Goodness me, what a mess.
Unfortunately, this dog owner has misinterpreted the greeting/play rituals which all dogs perform. In some instances, one dog may initially retreat when first approached by another. This is not an indication of fear, it’s part of the ‘chase me’ aspect of dog play. If given time, the dogs will then stop and sniff each other. Then, one may display a submissive body posture, one may wander away disinterested, or both of them may start a full blown game of rough and tumble.
The dog owner compounded the situation by picking her dog up. The only way Tabasco was then able to adequately sniff the small dog was by jumping up to reach him. If the owner pushes Tabasco away, this may cause him to jump up even more as a dog can interpret touch as a reward. Furthermore, the small dog is also unable to experience greeting/playing with larger dogs because her owner doesn’t let her do so. Therefore, the dog will never learn to communicate with larger dogs, thus making a bad situation worse.
Conclusion
As dog-owning humans we have a natural tendency to ‘humanise’ dog behaviour. I often ask Tabasco “Why are you looking so sad?”. As if expecting a reply from him isn’t bad enough, I’m projecting an emotion onto him simply because his natural facial expression appears to look like sadness in human terms. It’s not surprising then that many other dog owners misinterpret their pet’s natural behaviours and instincts as problem behaviour. They are reading their dog’s actions and reactions in human terms, instead of understanding some of the basics of dog communication. Maybe the dogs should be training us?!
Works Cited
(1) The Dog’s Mind, ch.12, p.179-180 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Bibliography
Dominance: Fact or Fiction? (Eaton, Barry 2008)
How To Speak Dog (Coren, Stanley 2005)
Take The Lead (Watson, Heather 1998)
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Think what you have learnt about “problem behaviours”. Discuss why you think each of these problems happen, and how they might be avoided. Discuss how you would cope with each of these problems if your own dog presented them.
Introduction
The following essay discusses two common ‘problem behaviours’ seen in dogs - food guarding and growling/lunging at an approaching dog. The possible origin of the problem is identified along with how the problem might be avoided, and coped with if presented.
Food guarding
Some dogs are more prone to object or resource guarding (food, toy, position) than others. There are a number of reasons why this may occur - early dominance aggression and competition, routine unchecked behaviour, and lack of training.
Early dominance aggression and competition - very young puppies are constantly in competition with each other for their mother’s milk, and as they grow, the strongest and more dominant individuals will be first in line for the best teat. During the early stages of the socialisation period, young puppies may also exhibit signs of dominance aggression which can ultimately lead to object guarding.
Routine unchecked behaviour - if left by themselves, some dogs will inadvertently become resource guarders because their routine (whether it be eating alone, or sleeping on the same chair every day) has never been disrupted and remains unchecked.
Lack of training - some dogs resource guard because they have not been trained not to. In addition to teaching a dog new behaviour, it is just as important to help him to ‘unlearn’ old behaviour.
Avoiding food guarding
One of the underlying lessons throughout this course has been “Catch It Early”. We have learnt that puppies are like sponges and can absorb training and direction very quickly. Therefore, one of the best ways to avoid food guarding is to stop it before it even starts.
Although it may not be possible to prevent food guarding while still with the litter, when a puppy relocates to his new human home, the only perceived competition he will have for food will be from the humans in the household. Try to ensure you are always in the same room as the puppy when it is his meal time. He should get used to you being there reasonably quickly, as puppies will usually have up to four small meals per day when they are very young.
It is also useful hand feed a puppy with some of his usual kibble at the start of a meal, and then add the rest of his meal to the bowl. And you can also start to remove his bowl while he is eating.
A puppy should be trained early on to wait for his food before rushing towards it. If an eager eater already has his chops into his dinner, he may not tolerate it being removed in mid munch. Therefore, teaching him to ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ before given the ‘OK’ to go ahead with dinner serves not only to teach him manners under extreme circumstances (he is starving to death after all!), but it also reinforces a calm state of mind.
Coping with a food guarder
My dog Tabasco displayed signs of food guarding - but only the once. When he was about 12 weeks old, I gave him a juicy bone to chew. I decided it was a good time to start ‘food guarding’ training, and went to remove then bone while he was chewing it. He instantly turned into the Curly Coat from hell - bearing teeth and snarling. Although initially shocked at the rapid change in temperament, I immediately took him by the collar and deposited him in the kitchen and closed the door. He stayed in ‘time out’ for a few minutes. Since that time, Tabasco has never displayed further signs of food guarding. Ostracism as a punishment was very effective in his case.
My brother has had a little less success with his Golden Retriever puppy. Although not a food guarder, Sheila will guard toys and also her position if backed into a corner, behind a sofa, for example. ‘Time out’ doesn’t seem to have been the right cure for her. Matthew is instead trying the ‘object exchange’ approach, whereby Sheila is rewarded with a treat when she relinquishes the toy she is guarding. He also plays enthusiastically with another toy at the other end of the room - within eyeshot of Sheila. He does this in order to convey to her that the toy he is playing with is just as much fun as the one that she is currently guarding, and that it’s much better fun to be playing with him rather than by herself, behind the couch. This is still a work in progress - until such time as she is too big to fit under the couch, of course!
Approach from another dog
Dogs may growl, lunge or run away when another dog approaches. These are likely to be responses to either dominance or fear aggression, over-excitement, or fear of the other dog. A dog may exhibit these behaviours for reasons of lack of socialisation, inappropriate training and amplified aggression training.
Lack of socialisation - as mentioned in previous units, socialisation is extremely important in the early stages of a dog’s mental and physical development. An under-socialised dog will not know how to react appropriately when another dog approaches, and may growl (aggressively, with ears pointed forward, tail and hackles raised, or fearfully, with ears held close to the head and tail between his legs), or may simply run away, in fear.
Inappropriate training - if an owner does not control a dog on a lead in a relaxed and calm manner, the ‘signals’ sent down the lead to the dog may cause the dog to lunge. An over-eager or over-excited dog who is constantly being pulled back, will continue to lunge and get more excited, boomeranging this back to the owner, who will pull the dog even harder. Furthermore, any perceived threat the owner sees in the approaching dog may be transmitted through nervous energy or tension via the lead to their dog, causing him to start to growl or lunge aggressively.
Amplified aggression training - some dogs unfortunately have owners who will purposely train them to be aggressive when another dog approaches.
Avoiding this situation
Problem behaviour such as this can be avoided for the most part by ensuring that your dog is adequately socialised at an early age. This includes socialisation whilst still with the breeder, as well as when they move to their new home with their owner. Socialisation can be further ‘pumped-up’ by enrolling your puppy in a puppy socialisation class.
Outside of socialisation classes, it is good practise to introduce your puppy to as many other dogs as possible, either at the park, or whilst on a walk - either off or on lead. It is useful to use either a retractable or long lead in these situations, as this will allow your dog to approach the other dog ‘on his terms’, but you still have ultimate control. The dogs will perform a series of ‘getting to know you’ rituals, and will then either decide to ignore each other, or play (in which case you can either recall him, or detach his lead).
A growling, lunging situation can also be avoided by simply being aware of any other dogs in your vicinity when out on a walk. Your elevated position should allow you to spot another dog and owner before your dog does. In this situation, you can simply turn around and walk in the opposite direction. (I wouldn’t encourage using this technique if you want prevent this behaviour - this is one way to avoid it, but your dog may be permanently without canine pals.)
Unfortunately, as this is a canine psychology course, and not a human psychology course, it is impossible for me to understand why anyone would want to train their dog to be aggressive on demand (unless of course they were trained police or armed forces dogs - but that is a different matter). How can you avoid a dog growling or lunging aggressively? Simple - don’t teach them how to! Or if you do (for what ever reason), ensure they are trained to release. My dog was on the receiving end of a vicious attack, and it was a most traumatic experience for both myself and Tabasco.
Coping with this situation
There are couple of ways I could try to cope if my dog presented this problem. There are two things I know - 1) my dog is very strong, and 2) he loves food. If Tabasco was desperate enough to want to reach another dog, I expect that he would be able to pull me over to do so. Therefore, pulling back on the lead when he lunged would not be a viable action to take. I would instead attempt to keep him in a calm state of mind, and reward him for doing so with a food treat, by trying one of the following:
Doggy ‘zen’ game - when another dog approached, I would immediately put Tabasco into a sit position, command him to ‘look at me’ and to pay attention to the sweetie in my hand which I had raised above my head. I would gradually lower my hand towards him, and reward him with the sweetie for keeping all four paws on the ground, for not jumping up and for concentrating on me. I would continue to play the ‘zen’ game until the approaching dog moved away. In this way, I am rewarding Tabasco for concentrating on me and ignoring the approaching dog.
Walk on by - in a similar vein, when another dog approached, I would command Tabasco to walk to heel and to ‘leave!’ (i.e. ignore) the approaching dog. Every time Tabasco completed a ‘leave’ on cue, he would receive a food reward.
Conclusion
An owner’s lack of understanding of natural dog behaviour can sometimes be the precursor to the development of ‘problem behaviour’. It is possible to avoid the onset of problem behaviours before they start, and this is achieved by ensuring that a young puppy is sufficiently (and correctly) trained from an early age. This is further enhanced by adequate socialisation.
Bibliography
Dominance: Fact or fiction? (Eaton, Barry 2008)
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
In this unit and in others, rewards have been mentioned frequently. List those things that you consider the dog will find rewarding. What do you consider to be the best way to reward a dog? Explain your reasons for your choice.
Introduction
According to the Collins Pocket English Dictionary (1986), the word ‘reward’ means “something given in return for good, or sometimes, evil”. As far as dog behaviour is concerned, this doesn’t mean that by rewarding our dog he will either turn into Lassie, or a Hound of the Baskervilles. Put simply, we use rewards to motivate good behaviour, or sometimes, to reinforce bad behaviour.
This essay discusses what dogs find rewarding, and examines the different types of rewards and how they can be used to encourage both good and bad behaviour.
Why reward?
Dogs do not come genetically pre-wired with an inherent desire to please their human owners. They won’t walk to heel, roll over, or fetch your slippers without being trained to do so. We use rewards in dog training to help us to reinforce the response to a requested command or cue. In her book ‘The Culture Clash’, Jean Donaldson suggests that the words ‘reinforcer’ and ‘reinforcement’ are more accurate words than ‘reward’ “because they refer to a ‘reward’ that actually served to increase responding, as opposed to only referring to the intention of the rewarder”.(1)
No training without motivation and reward
“The first task in training any animal is finding out what motivates it. No motivation, no training.”(2)
We are all motivated by different things - money, happiness, relaxation - and the way carry out our daily lives is directly related to the rewards we receive in response to the relative importance of our motivations. For example, I am motivated by money, but only to the extent that I can use it to pay my bills. Society has ‘trained’ me to go to work, to be rewarded by my monthly paycheck which motivates me to pay my bills. I am more motivated by good company than money. So, if I was offered another job, with a higher salary, but with no other work colleagues, I would not be motivated by the offer to change jobs.
Dogs are no exception to the need for motivation. They can be motivated by play, attention, food, the avoidance of pain, the opportunity to socialise with other dogs, and the opportunity to investigate new and unusual smells. We use these motivations to help us train our dogs, and the training is reinforced through the use of rewards.
An example of the different kinds of motivation in dogs is demonstrated each week at the agility class I attend with my dog Tabasco. Tabasco is highly motivated by food, and the more ‘high value’ the food reward, the more likely he is to work the apparatus as requested. Some of his agility classmates are more motivated by playing (via the toy the handler is holding) or by chasing something (via the release of a tennis ball at the end of a set of jumps).
Jean Donaldson makes another interesting comment about motivation and training. She suggests that dog trainers relish the opportunity to conform those dogs who are highly motivated by food, attention, or the opportunity to meet other dogs, for example. These ‘hi drive’ chaps are more likely to respond to rewards that fuel their motivations. On the other hand, the laid-back lad who doesn’t steal food, get overexcited when you arrive home, or who doesn’t pull on the lead to reach his doggy pals, is more challenging for a trainer, and harder to train. The ‘lo-drive’ individuals are not motivated by any rewards on offer - they are simply too chilled to be bothered.(3)
Types of rewards
Jean Donaldson and Bruce Fogel both have comprehensive lists of items/activities that dogs find rewarding.(4)(5) The list below identifies these and offers examples of how they can reinforce good and bad behaviour.
1. Food
Good: A very useful, and potent, training aid. Highly food-motivated dogs will be the most responsive to food rewards.Tabasco must always go to his bed and wait before he is allowed to eat breakfast/dinner.
Bad: Leaving the Sunday roast on the kitchen counter to cool is too strong a temptation for a highly food-motivated dog. Jumping onto the counter is instantly ‘rewarded’ by eating the contents of the roasting dish. Leaving food within easy reach therefore encourages bad behaviour in this case.
2. Touch
Good: Stroking or petting a dog has a calming effect which is rewarding for those dogs who are motivated by touch.
Bad: If a dog is displaying fear or anxiety, however, perceived reassurance through stroking by the human only serves to reinforce and reward the anxious dog.
3. Sound
Good: Positive praise, such as saying “yesss!”, following quickly by a food reward or a pat, is a useful secondary reinforcer during a training session, and can be introduced into everyday activities with your dog.
Bad: Shouting at a dog with an angry voice if he jumps up translates as praise to the dog, even though that was not the intent of the owner. In this case, the owner is actually reinforcing bad behaviour.
4. Play or other enjoyed activity
Good: Exciting play, for example, tug-of-war, ball chasing, or rough-and-tumble is a great reward for those dogs who enjoy physical activity.
Bad: Chasing a squirrel while out on a walk, or a jogger, cyclist, or swan (in my dog’s case) is also extremely rewarding.
5. Owner attention, and attention and access to people
Good: I have taught my dog to ring a bell by the back door when he wants to go outside. He has learnt that the door is only opened by me when he rings the bell.
Bad: Tabasco also unfortunately has the art of food begging and looking mournful down to a tee. When my parents visit, my dad is always the first to fall for his ‘feed me, I’m starving!’ technique.
6. Chewing
Good: Chewing can be rewarding because it has a ‘subduing effect on the dog’s state of arousal’.(6) Chewing on a bone or a chew-stick can keep a dog content for hours.
Bad: Leaving your precious Jimmy Choos (or should I say Jimmy ‘Chews’) lying around for an afternoon munch is as much a reward for a dog as a chew toy.
Reward values
Like humans, dogs assign value rankings to rewards. The more valuable the reward, the more quickly they are likely to learn.(7) Moreover, these rewards are likely to become more potent after a period of deprivation.(8)
Tabasco helped me to prove both of the above points at a recent agility class. A simple sequence - 2 jumps, tunnel, 2 jumps - was laid out. (Tabasco is highly food oriented, so I always reward him with food during the agility class. All I had with me were a few pieces of Schmackos - ok, but not as good as chicken!) Tabasco had no problem with the jumps, but, unusually for him, failed at the tunnel. I upped the anti, and swapped the Schmackos for cooked chicken. Instead of luring him with the chicken in my hand, I let him know it was safe in my bum-bag and sent him round the course again. Eventual success! Offer of a higher value reward, withheld until completion of the course, did the trick for Tabasco. (I should mention that the following week, he completed the same set of apparatus three times in a row! Clever boy!)
What is the best way to reward a dog?
As previously discussed, all dogs are different. Like humans, they have different motivations. And they also have different levels of motivation. Therefore, what may be rewarding for one dog, may not necessarily be rewarding for another.
I consider that the best way to reward a dog is to understand what is most rewarding for them, i.e. food or play, and reinforce it with a secondary reward, i.e. praise or touch. My dog will always finish a set of agility jumps because he knows there is a tasty treat coming his way, followed by an enthusiastic “good boy!” when he does so. Polly, the border collie in our agility class will finish a set of jumps just because she loves the activity of doing so, plus, she a quick chase of a tennis ball at the end, followed by an exuberant “what a good girl!”.
Conclusion
Rewards are used in dog training as a way to positively reinforce good behaviour. However, they can also reinforce bad behaviour if not used in the correct way. As dog owners, we should be aware of what our dogs are motivated by and this can help us to identify how to best reward them during training for everyday life with us.
Works Cited
(1) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.128 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(2) The Culture Clash, ch.1, p.15 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(3) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(4) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
(5) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.101 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(6) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.102 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(7) The Dog’s Mind, ch.7, p.101 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(8) The Culture Clash, ch.5, p.129 (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
Bibliography
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Identify the three periods of development in the puppy, and describe the puppy’s development in each of these.
Introduction
The three periods of development in a puppy are the Neonatal Period, the Transitional Period and the Socialisation Period. In terms of elapsed time, the three periods are defined as starting at birth and ending at twelve weeks of age(1), as illustrated in the following chart:
| Neonatal period | Transitional period | Socialisation period | Socialisation period |
| | to dogs | to humans |
| 0-2 weeks | 2-4 weeks | 4-6 weeks | 4-12 weeks |
NB: It should be noted that each pup is also a product of his own prenatal environment, and that even before birth he is ‘already under the influence of his own genes as well as his mother’s hormones’.(2)
The following essay addresses the physical, mental and behavioural aspects of each stage of puppy development.
The Neonatal Period
The first two weeks of a puppy’s life is defined as the Neonatal Period.
Physical Characteristics
At this age, the puppy resembles a wriggling ball of fluff. His brain is still developing along with his sensory abilities. At this age he is blind and deaf, and his feeling of touch is not well developed - only his head has a touch reflex. ‘He has a slightly developed sense of smell, and he also has a heat receptor in his face which enables him to locate his mother.’(3)
During the Neonatal period the very young puppy is unable to eliminate urine and faeces without the help of his mother. Because his gastrointestinal tract remains poorly developed his mother will lick his anogenital area to stimulate elimination. The mother also licks the puppy to wake him from his long periods of sleep in order to stimulate him to suckle.
The puppy is unable to walk at this stage, and should the mother want to relocate to a different nesting spot, she will carry the puppy by taking any part of his body in her mouth and carry him to a new nest site.
Mental Characteristics
Despite the limited development of the puppy’s brain during the first two weeks of life, the perceived insignificant experiences he has during the early stages do have a ‘tremendous impact on the mind of the pup’.(4)
When a new litter is born, the mother will lick the pups clean. Continuing to lick the pups to stimulate elimination, waking up and suckling, helps to deliver (via the smell of her saliva) a vital message to the puppy’s developing brain - “I am your mother”.
Human handling during the Neonatal period is also beneficial to the new born puppy. Not only does it help him to be aware of the human scent, but it also serves to create minor mental stresses which aid the development of the puppy’s early mind.(5)
Social Characteristics
Virtually all social interaction during the Neonatal period is with the mother.
The Transitional Period
The next important phase in a puppy’s life is the Transitional Period - from two to four weeks of age - when many rapid changes take place.
Physical Characteristics
Most of the puppy’s sensory faculties start to develop during the Transitional period:
Sight - the eyelids open and he begins to see dimly, with increasing responsiveness to light and movement.
Hearing - the external ear canals open and he will respond to loud noises.
Eating - the teeth erupt and he can start to eat semi solid food. He will also start nursing on his own, without the need for stimulation from his mother.
Balance - the balance reflex starts to develop during this period, and the puppy is able to start to orient and readjust his body to balance properly.
Motion - by two weeks of age the puppy has touch reflexes in his front legs, and by three weeks develops touch reflexes in his back legs. Hence he can sit at two weeks of age and stand at three. Shortly after this, he will start to walk and run.(6)
Pain - by the end of the Transitional period the puppy will be able to feel pain to a similar extent as an adult dog.
Other - tail wagging and barking will start.
Mental Characteristics
A puppy’s mind is developing at a rapid rate during the Transitional period, and it is during this stage of mental development that his world becomes significantly bigger - he is more aware of his littermates, his environment and humans. Therefore, as in the Neonatal period, it is important for the puppy to continue to have human contact to further aid mental development via small stresses. Furthermore, the introduction of various toys in the pen, with their associated tastes and smells, also helps to stimulate the puppy’s developing mind.
Social Characteristics
Although still dependant on the mother to an extent, the puppy will start to develop socially and will begin to play with his littermates during the Transitional period. At this stage he is clumsy, with poor coordination, but as he moves into the Socialisation period, puppy play will become more intense, and will form a more important part of his learning and development for later life.
The Socialisation Period
A puppy will enter the Socialisation Period from four weeks of age. This period in puppy development has two overlapping aspects - the socialisation to other dogs at 4-6 weeks, and the socialisation to humans at 4-12 weeks.
Physical Characteristics
By the time a puppy is four weeks old his senses have matured. His brain is well developed and is able to process information more readily. From five weeks he can easily recognise his mother or owner from a distance.(7)
His body will continue to grow, and his physical strength, dexterity, balance and coordination are all developed and improved through playing with his littermates and mother. Play at this age is likely to be quite vigorous, and it is during rough play that the puppy learns to develop a soft mouth (bite inhibition).
Other physical activities such as walking and running together are also formed during the Socialisation period.
During this period a puppy does not have the physical capacity to hold his motions for long. The bladder muscle is the last to develop, and he will need to eliminate every couple of hours.
Mental Characteristics
It is during this period of his life in which the puppy’s mind is most malleable and absorbent. He is able to bounce back more quickly from perceived threats and he has greater confidence. The more experiences he has in this short window, the better prepared he is for a less stressful adult life.
The puppy will also experience a period of fear, from about eight weeks of age to eleven weeks of age.(8)
During the Socialisation period, a puppy achieves a relative amount of independence from his mother. However, this independence does come at a small cost as the puppy will have to cope with some amount of frustration as his mother starts to prevent requests for suckling as she starts the weaning process.
Certain feeding behaviours are also imprinted in a dog’s mind during the Socialisation period. Dogs are competitive feeders because they are pack animals. Puppies will compete for the ‘best teat’ whilst in the litter, and they will also learn to beg their mother for food during weaning.(9)
A puppy is capable of learning at this age, but his brain won’t finish developing until he is twelve weeks old. And although it is not possible to train a puppy at this early age, all interaction does have an affect, and a puppy can learn through play.(10)
Social Characteristics
The bond that the young puppy forms with his mother starts to evolve in the Socialisation period. Where in the Neonatal and Transitional periods the puppy was wholly dependant on the mother for maternal care giving, the mother now starts to move away from the puppy when he tries to feed, and many also be more aggressive and dominant towards him. This would usually happen at about four or five weeks of age. ‘The care dependency relationship evolves into one of dominance-submission’.(11)
Despite this, it is during this time that the puppy also develops a more sophisticated repertoire of signals to communicate with his mother. These displays of care seeking behaviour can come in the form of tail wagging, whining, yelping, pawing, jumping up, licking his mother’s face, nose and lips, and never leaving his mother’s side.
Social interaction with littermates starts to intensify during the Socialisation period. A puppy will start to learn to communicate with his brothers and sisters through playful activity.
Communication through play teaches a puppy ‘play cues’ and invitations to play via the ‘play bow’. Puppies quickly learn how to build on their natural predatory instincts by inventing games of ‘chase’ and ‘tug’. And their in-built inquisitiveness is amplified by embarking on adventures with littermates.
‘Play affects and moulds adult social behaviour’(12), and is a good indicator of future dominance behaviour. Through play is it easy to identify which individuals will be more dominant or more submissive as adults.
It is during the final stage of the Socialisation period (from eight weeks of age) that the puppy will leave his litter and begin life with his new human family. As responsible dog owners we take over from the mother and littermates to provide a social outlet for the puppy. He relies on us to introduce him to a myriad of new sights, smells and sounds (be it the vacuum cleaner, bearded Uncle Bob, or the cat next door) to help him cope less fearfully with the outside world.
Conclusion
In the course of twelve weeks a puppy evolves from a ‘wriggling ball of fluff’ into a ‘pint-sized pooch’ with a good deal of the physical, mental and social characteristics of a full grown adult dog. That’s a lot to fit into such a small amount of time. It is these initial twelve weeks - the Neonatal, Transitional and Socialisation periods - that form the major foundation for his ongoing development and will underpin his behaviour as an adult.
Works Cited
(1) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.69 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(2) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.70 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(3) Introduction to Canine Psychology Unit 3, Course Notes, p 2
(4) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.71 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(5) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.74-75 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(6) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.76 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(7) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.76 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(8) Introduction to Canine Psychology Unit 3, Course Notes, p 3
(9) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.89 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(10) Puppies For Dummies, ch.14, p.209 (Hodgson, Sarah 2006)
(11) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.81 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
(12) The Dog’s Mind, ch.6, p.83 (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
Bibliography
Puppies For Dummies (Hodgson, Sarah 2006)
Puppy Behaviour and Training (Heath, Sarah 2005)
The Dog’s Mind (Fogel, Bruce 1990)
The Culture Clash (Donaldson, Jean 2005)
