We often wonder what motivates a dog to do what she does. At Bark Busters we understand that dogs repeat behavior which produces, from the dog’s perspective, positive outcomes. For example, a frenzied dog chased her tail in circles each time the postman came to the door. Doing so always succeeded in limiting the perceived invasion to noise and some harmless letters and magazines – the mailman himself always retreated.
The dog may also sense that she is doing the job her owners want her to do. Often clients greet me, or a Bark Busters colleague, at the door holding their little terrier in their arms. The terrier is barking furiously. This is stressful for all three of us – but especially for client and dog. Dogs respond to fear with fight or flight – a dog held in one’s arms no longer sees flight as a possibility and believes that anxious posturing wards off aggression on the part of the scary visitors her owner is “asking” her to confront.
When encountering another dog during a walk, some clients try to make their fearful dog sit, in order to avoid her lunging and snapping at the other dog. In this situation as well flight is not an option; she believes the owner is too slow. By asking the dog to sit, the owner has asked the dog to show submission in the face of a threat. Not only is this suggesting a tactic that makes no sense to the dog, it is also validating her sense that the threat is something unusual that requires a strategic response.
For a dog, ignoring distractions is more dominant than responding to them. Teaching the dog to ignore the perceived threat in these situations promotes the dog’s stature. Dogs learn easily that postmen don’t enter uninvited, that humans are quite willing to decide if a visitor is welcome, even without the dogs vote, and that we can safely ignore passing dogs. Teaching the dog to do so relieves stress for all the actors, human and canine.
Please send your dog training questions to Peter Levy at: midpeninsula@barkbusters .com
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