Life with Fido

... by Cathy Hughes

Have you noticed that some households always seem to enjoy their pet dogs and never seem to have any serious problems with them?  There are also households that seem to constantly attract the dogs from hell as their pets. The remaining households are somewhere in the middle, living with dogs that are great companions the majority of the time.  What determines what kind of dog will be living in your house? 

Do your homework before you pick your puppy!

Pre-ownership research is valuable when selecting a dog.  During the process, it may become apparent that any dog is a high maintenance pet. Depending upon the specific breed and background, some dogs may have more specialized needs than others.  Even with research and preparation, you may find some of your dog's antics surprising or threatening. Where did we go wrong?

Dogs are different! and P.S. — they are not wolves!

Many troubled relationships between people and their dogs start with generous helpings of erroneous information and assumptions regarding dog behavior that have little basis in fact.  This makes sense.  How many of you understand the behavior of all your relatives and neighbors?  Some of the behaviors displayed by our fellow humans are baffling. Trying to coexist with a creature that has a different genetic make-up to our own would certainly produce the occasional raised eyebrow! 

One of the misconceptions that can get the average dog owner in trouble is the belief that dogs behave just like wolves and should be managed as such. Some researchers believe that the dog began its journey to domestication hundreds of thousands of years ago.  This would mean that selective breeding of the dog has been in existence an incredible length of time.  With this in mind, how could today's dog have retained the extensive predatory drives and the intricate social skills wolves need to exist in a pack?  Man has selectively bred for traits that in many instances go against the pack way of life.  This may help explain why many dogs react with fear and aggression when approached by some dogs or why there is serious quarreling, occasionally leading to serious injury or death, among dogs in the same household.

Let us imagine for a moment that the "dogs are wolves" theory is correct.  Watch a couple of hours of wolf pack footage and begin to learn how a wolf pack actually functions.  Some believe that the "Alpha" is a presence lurking inside every pet dog, ready to take over their owner's household should the owner let his guard down.  Observion of wolves may clear up who or what this Alpha actually is.  In the wolf pack, the Alpha wolf is Alpha for reasons beyond his control.  He did not campaign or strategically worm his way to the head of the pack.  He does not get up every morning planning how he is going to keep all the other pack members in their places in order to retain his breeding rights and be first in line at the moose buffet.  He gets those things just because he happens to be bigger, smarter, and possesses good communication skills.  His experiments with his environment have ended well for the most part, and he has learned from the ones that didn't.  No scheming, backstabbing, or conscious planning was involved. 

Always watching

What is your dog then?  He is an excellent student of his environment!  He is continuously experimenting with it, learning what works and what doesn't, and he does this without malice.  If only we knew as much about our dog as he knows about us!  We are often oblivious to these experiments that are in progress or what the early findings are.  By missing these we are also missing the precursors to what eventually become unwanted behaviors, and our reactions to those behaviors tend to be inappropriate partly because we are taken off guard.

Management, management, anticipation, management

The pet dog is a complex individual who has likes, dislikes, and fears that may change on a daily basis and in various circumstances.  These individual traits often do not make sense to us.  When addressing disturbing behaviors it is important to remember that what we perceive as normal is not important.  It is important to take the dog's reaction to any given situation at face value, knowing that he did not make a conscious choice to react that way. It may make no sense to us to be afraid of the phone ringing, but the terror to the dog that has 'ringing phone phobia' (a phobia often shared by the author!) is real and he did not wake up one morning deciding to be afraid of a ringing phone!  So saying "oh settle down, there is nothing to be afraid of" is not helpful to this dog.  A better approach would be to manage the dog's environment, help the dog learn to cope with this fear and accept the fact that you may not eradicate the fear completely.

So what are things that exist in the happy dog's household that make life seemingly easier than life with dogs in the other households? Management plays a big part in keeping order in the happy household.  It is important to deny dogs access to situations or things they are not mature enough or have not had sufficient training to be able to handle appropriately.  It is the owner's responsibility to provide pet dogs with the environment and training that will keep them safe and the furnishings intact.

Ease off on assumptions

Keep expectations realistic and try not to assume anything.  Assumptions such as "My dog loves all people, dogs, animals, etc." can have catastrophic results.  Do you love everyone and everything all of the time?  How fair is it to assume even the friendliest Labrador should?  It is unfair to expect a dog to love everyone, human or animal, in a given household all of the time.  Anyone who has shared a bedroom or back seat of a car with siblings should be able to relate to the possession and space issues that can arise among those who live together.

What effect is the environment currently having on your dog?  Ask this question when interacting with your dog and try to make appropriate adjustments depending upon what you observe. 

Be proactive!

Bill is sitting near the front door at the veterinarian's office as his normally friendly Corgi gazes through the window.  A big, shaggy, exuberant Airedale is bringing his owner from the parking area to the door.  Bill observes his dog stiffen and stare at the approaching dog, the stare becoming more intense and her body leaning more forward, the closer the shaggy fellow gets to the door. 

Before the door opens, Bill happily moves his dog away from the door and start asking her to do some of her favorite tricks or rewards her for doing a sit stay as the other dog bursts into the room. Bill's quick thinking has prevented his Corgi from initiating a history of reacting in an overly defensive manner in the vet office. This proactive owner has also avoided changing the emotional state of the Airedale and his owner at the vet office by observing his own dog and taking action to prevent a nasty scene.  Bill used observation, management, and training to turn the situation into a positive one for his dog. He has also learned that his normally friendly Corgi has a space issue when in the vet office, something he will remember for future visits to the vet. 

Given the same situation, many owners would have remained firmly seated by the door.  When the exuberant Airedale made his entrance and the inevitable scrap ensued, the poor owner of the shaggy dog would have gotten an earful on how he should get his dog under control.  The visit to the vet would have been miserable for everyone, and both dogs would have learned inappropriate behaviors that could repeat in the future. 

Your dog is his own "dog"

Finally, owners would do well to accept their dogs as individuals.  It is your responsibility to learn what the dog likes, what might frighten it, and how your reaction to various situations may affect the dog.  Does your dog have social sensitivities and need to be let outside before you get irate with a tele-marketer?  Which dogs enjoy physical interaction and which dogs are uncomfortable with it?  Asking questions like these can help owners to be more effective trainers, prevent possible problems, and provide a less stressful environment for the dog.  Dogs need plenty of exercise and individual attention. Invent games that involve a combination of things they love, the access to which is controlled by you.  Set some time aside just to watch your dogs being dogs without getting involved. You may find their interactions revealing as well as entertaining. 

Management, training, reasonable expectations, acceptance and actually knowing your dog are skills that will serve you well when sharing your LIFE WITH FIDO.  A sense of humor comes in handy as well. 

May you and your dogs share many laughs for years to come!

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