Читать книгу It’s Me or the Dog: How to have the Perfect Pet - Victoria Stilwell - Страница 8

Think Dog understanding your dog

In order to train your dog, you first have to see the world from his point of view. Dogs aren’t human beings, but many people treat them as if they were – and the problems start right there. Your dog may be living with humans in a human world, but his instincts remain pure dog.

Let’s take one example. You take your dog to the park, he runs around for a while, sniffing the ground, and then he stops and rolls in the grass. If you see the scene through human eyes, you assume the dog is rolling in the grass for the sheer pleasure of it. Maybe you think he’s found a new way to scratch his back. Both interpretations may be partially correct, but it’s also likely that he is rolling in the grass to cover himself in a particular, appealing scent (and one that you probably can’t even smell). Experts aren’t entirely sure, but it is thought that wolves cover themselves in scent to reinforce their status within the pack, or to disguise their own scent when hunting prey.

That’s a simple example of misunderstanding dog behavior, and one that has no particular impact on your relationship with your dog. In many other circumstances, however, getting the signals wrong can give rise to more serious problems. Understanding how a dog learns and how he perceives the world will provide you with a solid foundation upon which to base your training, and a means of communicating effectively with your pet.

Your dog may be living with humans in a human world, but his instincts remain pure dog.

The pack

Dogs and people are able to live together so successfully because in some ways the two species are very similar. Like us, dogs are social creatures. In the wild, the wolf, the domestic dog’s ancestor, lives in packs composed of extended family groups. It nurtures its young for a relatively long period, and it communicates with its pack members using a wide range of signals – both gestures and sounds. The pack is structured in a clear order or hierarchy, with a dominant male and female pair at the top of the group and other members ranked lower down, depending on age, sex, and abilities.

Communication is vital for the survival of the pack. It allows members to coordinate attacks on prey, and it plays a key role in establishing bonds within the group. Just as important, it reinforces the pecking order so that each pack member knows its place in the scheme of things. Many people wrongly assume that if left to their own devices, dogs would constantly fight for control and dominance. The reverse is actually true. Violence is an exception in wild dog or wolf behavior; deference is the norm. In fact, the hierarchy in packs is expressly designed to prevent the disruption of fighting, as well as to ensure that in times of crisis, the strongest survives to the benefit of the species as a whole.

Why you have to be top dog

When you bring a puppy or dog into your home, he becomes an important part of the family unit. In order for your dog to thrive, he needs a leader – and that leader has to be you.

You are your dog’s guide to the weird and wonderful domestic environment in which he finds himself. Dogs may have been human companions for thousands of years, but that does not make it any easier for them to live by your rules without clear direction. When you are the leader, the dog will take his cues from you and settle much more confidently into your home.

Some breeds are naturally more dominant than others, as are some individual dogs. But all dogs are happier and better behaved when they have constructive direction and clear boundaries to follow. If they know all good things in life come through you – including food, toys, praise, petting, and attention – they are more likely to listen to you.

Many people wrongly think that punishment is the best way to show their dog who’s boss. In the past, a lot of dog training was overly corrective, using painful choke chains, for example, or the occasional smack. Hurting a dog is always wrong. It is also counterproductive. When you hit a dog, you teach him to fear you, you break his trust, and you weaken his confidence. Insecure dogs are the ones who are more likely to lash out in an aggressive display. It’s understandable – you’ve given them nowhere else to go.

So how do you show the dog that you’re the leader? Well, this is where an understanding of dog behavior really comes into its own.

Calm authority

As a leader you must show calm authority. Think of yourself as the managing director of your company. It is much easier for people to follow a boss who is calm and in control. Dogs pick up every nuance of human behavior. When we’re upset, anxious, nervous, or stressed, our moods rub off on our four-legged friends. Projecting a calm, confident, and happy image will speak volumes to your dog.

Attention

Dogs, as social creatures, thrive on attention and are miserable when they are isolated. Attention can be a powerful reward for some dogs, so use it wisely in order to reinforce good behavior. Initiate contact on your terms. In the same way, ignoring your dog can help him to calm down if he is overly boisterous when he greets you. Wait until he has settled himself and then reward his calm with your attention.

Relationship

A good relationship is based on cooperation, not dominance. There is still a big trend in the United States to use more dominant training methods such as leash jerks and choke chains to stop pulling, “Alpha rolls” (where a dog is forcefully put on its side in an attempt to make the dog submissive and correct negative behavior), and other harsh punishments such as hitting and shouting. This kind of training has proven not only to be dangerous (many people get bitten as a result) but psychologically damaging (most negative behavior is due to a dog’s insecurity, not dominance, so using harsh punishment serves to heighten that insecurity and make the negative behavior worse). The real sadness, though, is that dominance training teaches a dog to respond out of fear, damaging that important human-animal bond. Harsh punishment has been shown to be detrimental to a child; the same is true for a dog. Positive training methods are much more effective, as a dog will respond to its owner because it wants to, not because of fear. Instead of numbing a dog’s natural and real emotions, positive methods can change the way a dog feels, promoting a deeper level of understanding in both dog and handler. The results are longer lasting, and this creates a happier dog and a happier owner.

Food

Food is a powerful tool in helping to focus your dog’s attention onto you. If your dog is food-motivated, then food can be used as a reward during training. Some dogs will become very protective when around food, and this can cause problems in a household. Limit and control access – never free feed (i.e., leave the food down all day so your dog can pick at it), and if your dog has stolen food, do not challenge him to give it back unless it poses a hazard to him, as this could illicit an aggressive response. (See also “Scavenging and stealing,” here.)

Toys

Many dogs are toy-motivated and love playing. There is nothing better than enjoying a game with your dog to increase the bond between you.

The senses

Much of the information the dog learns about the world, he receives through his senses. As human beings, our dominant sense is sight. We live in an intensely visual world. The same is not true of dogs. The richness of experience that we gain through our eyes is gained by the dog chiefly through his spectacular sense of smell.

The only time I came close to understanding what it was like to have a heightened sense of smell was when I was pregnant. For the first few months, a whole new world opened up to me. Even in my delicate state, I could still appreciate how incredible it was that I seemed to be able to smell everything. Of course, there was a downside to that. For a while I went around wearing a face mask in the hope that a certain smell wouldn’t make me run for the bathroom, but unfortunately I could still smell sausages being cooked in the next city. And that is just a fraction of a dog’s capacity. The dog has forty times more scent receptors in his nasal cavities than we do. The part of the dog’s brain that processes scent information is also much more highly developed than our own. And you expect your dog not to want to be close to you when you’re cooking and eating dinner?

Try putting your favorite food on the kitchen counter. Don’t eat for five hours and then walk past without taking a bite. We expect our dogs to have amazing impulse control when we humans often have very little.

The dog has forty times more scent receptors in his nasal cavities than we do.

Smell

In the wild, the dog’s highly developed sense of smell gives the species a great advantage when tracking down prey and identifying fellow pack members. Where we would size up a new situation with our eyes, dogs explore new environments by sniffing them. When they greet or meet other dogs, they will sniff them in what – to our eyes – are the most embarrassing places, places where odor is most concentrated.

Scent passes on an incredible amount of information to a dog. Scent-marking with urine or by leaving deposits from the sweat glands between the toes is the way dogs communicate and establish their territory. Sacs inside the dog’s rectum also produce a scent that coats the feces. When you’re out walking in the park with your dog, he’s using his nose to pick up who’s been there before him – perhaps a dominant dog, a female in heat, an old dog, a sick dog, or a dog he’s already met. Dogs can smell females in heat who are miles away.

Sight

Dogs see very differently than human beings. Our field of vision is about 100 degrees. If we want to see things to the side, we have to turn our heads; if we want to see things behind, we have to turn around. Dogs have a much wider field of vision, which enables them to see to the sides and the rear. In sight hounds, such as Whippets and Greyhounds, the field of vision may be as much as double our own. While the positioning of the eyes in certain breeds may lessen that field of vision to some degree, all dogs have better peripheral vision than humans.

Contrary to popular belief, dogs aren’t color-blind, but they don’t see colors as well as we do, and find it difficult to tell the difference between certain shades such as red and green. In lower light conditions, they see much better than we do, thanks to a reflective layer at the back of their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. In the wild, this enables the dog to hunt at dawn and dusk, when their natural prey is more likely to be out and about.

What dogs are best at seeing, however, is movement. A dog can detect the slightest movement, which also has obvious advantages when it comes to tracking prey. The dog’s extreme sensitivity to movement means that hand signals and gestures are often much more useful in training than spoken commands, especially if you are working at a distance. Close up, dogs don’t see quite so well, and find it difficult to distinguish an object from its surroundings. If you put a treat on the floor right in front of your dog, he might find it hard to see – he’ll rely on his nose to sniff it out.

Hearing

A dog’s hearing is incredibly acute. Because dogs’ ears are large and movable, they can detect where sounds are coming from more accurately than humans. They can also hear sounds over greater distances than we can – nearly five times as far – and they can hear sounds of a higher frequency that are inaudible to us: hence the dog whistle that is silent to human ears. Dogs communicate through many different vocalizations, from barking to whining.

Taste

Dogs are carnivores but will eat almost anything – including what we would not consider to be food! We may not think that dogs have a very sophisticated palate, but they do appreciate variety and get bored when all they encounter are the same tastes and textures. You can make training more pleasurable for your dog by offering food rewards that stimulate his taste buds. Meat treats are always popular, but cheese can also be very effective.

Touch

Dogs can’t pick up and handle new objects to investigate them. Instead, much like human babies, they put them in their mouths. Mouthing is an important part of exploration for a dog, particularly for puppies. Special sensory hairs grow around the dog’s muzzle, under his jaw, and above his eyes. These are called vibrissae, or more commonly, whiskers, and they also help him gather information about his environment through touch.

Human beings express their affection through touch, but this is not necessarily a natural response for a dog. Dogs have to become accustomed to gentle handling and stroking from puppyhood onward.

Play-biting in puppies is an important way that dogs learn how strong their bite is. If a puppy is separated too early from its littermates, as is often the case with pet store puppies, it may not have had the chance to learn what is called an “inhibited bite” and may be more prone to nipping.

Know yourself

Bringing a new puppy or dog into your home should never be an act of impulse. Before you make that decision, you need to ask yourself some searching questions. Dogs, as the slogan goes, are not just for Christmas, they’re for life.

Just as it’s difficult to appreciate before the event how much things will change when you have a baby, bringing a puppy into your life is a significant undertaking. When I got my first puppy, I was living in a fourth-floor apartment with no elevator in the heart of Manhattan. As a trainer, I knew what to expect, but even so it was quite an effort to go up and down those stairs twice a night so the puppy could have a pee. Nor was it particularly pleasant to walk him after dark on 46th Street!

If you have had dogs before, or if you had a dog when you were growing up, you may already have some idea of what’s involved. If you have never owned a dog, think about the following issues:

Will you be able to spend enough time with your dog?

Once they are past the puppy stage, most dogs can be left for between four and six hours without becoming distressed. If you work full-time and there is no one else at home to look after the dog, you are condemning an essentially social creature to a life of anxiety, boredom, and depression, unless you hire a dog-sitter or enroll your dog at a doggy day-care center.

Dogs need regular exercise

That means a couple of walks and a decent run every day. Cats exercise themselves. Dogs, however, should not be left to stray without human supervision.

Dogs need training

Even the most seemingly docile animal can become a monster without basic obedience training. You need time to do this, and plenty of patience.

Dogs need stimulation

Just like us, they get bored without challenges, fun, and games.

Do you have children?

Have you got a dog already, or another pet? Settling a new canine arrival within a family can sometimes be difficult, especially if not everyone in your household is as overjoyed as you are at the prospect.

Which breed to choose?

Once you have satisfied yourself that you are prepared to meet the challenges that a dog will bring into your life, the next question is, which dog? Humans have been selectively breeding dogs for centuries, accentuating certain innate characteristics or aspects of appearance. While all dogs are individuals, each breed tends to have certain traits in common. Some need more exercise than others; some require more grooming. Some breeds are naturally more protective; others are more sensitive to noise.

The great advantage of choosing a purebred dog is that you will know to a certain extent what to expect. Use this to your advantage and do your research thoroughly beforehand. Read books and magazines, talk to breeders, and ask friends about their experiences with their dogs. Don’t choose a dog on the basis of its appearance or because the breed is in fashion. Many people who rushed out to get a cute little Dalmatian after seeing 101 black-and-white spotted puppies cavorting in a Disney film found themselves owning a dog with substantial needs for exercise. Dalmatians were originally bred as “carriage dogs”; that is to say, they were bred to run alongside carriages and scare off footpads and thieves. They need exercise – tons of it – and careful, confident handling.

Choosing the right breed is choosing the breed that is right for your situation. If you want a laid-back, easygoing pet that will be a good companion for your children, a Terrier, which is a particularly active sort of dog, wouldn’t be the most sensible choice. Labradors and Retrievers, on the other hand, are naturally good-tempered and sociable, which makes them ideal for families with children. However, they do need a lot of exercise. If you are not prepared to devote considerable time to training and exercising, don’t choose a working dog such as a Border Collie, who will go crazy without sufficient stimulation. Greyhounds and Whippets, although bred to be very fast, paradoxically don’t require vast amounts of exercise. The guarding breeds, such as German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans, Chows, and Akitas, are intelligent and loyal, but they can be over-protective and tend to be one-person dogs. It is important to know that while taking breed characteristics into account, every dog within that breed is an individual with his own unique personality and temperament.

Aspects to consider:

Size

How big will the dog grow? And how much will he eat?

Noise

Some breeds are naturally more inclined to bark and yap than others. Some breeds are more sensitive to noise.

Activity level

How much exercise does the dog require? Working breeds, bred to herd sheep, need serious workouts.

Temperament

Terriers are naturally bossy and tenacious. Spaniels, Setters, and Retrievers generally have friendly, affectionate natures.

Coat

How much time (or money) will you need to devote to grooming?

Weaknesses

Because of inbreeding, some breeds suffer from congenital problems. Dalmatians, for example, can have hearing problems. British bulldogs can suffer from breathing problems. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels can have heart ailments.

Mongrels

Unlike acquiring a purebred dog, taking on a mongrel is necessarily more of a leap in the dark. Mongrels or crosses (dogs bred from two purebred parents) will have characteristics of different breeds in their makeup, and you may not be able to tell which characteristic will come to the fore. It may even be hard to gauge how large the dog will grow. The size of a puppy’s feet may give some indication of how big he will get, but that is not an infallible guide.

On the plus side, many mongrels are good all-rounders. Many are particularly long-lived and, because they have a mixed gene pool, they are much less likely to suffer the congenital problems that result from inbreeding.

Where to find a puppy

Always acquire puppies from good, reputable sources. In the case of purebred animals, that means going direct to a breeder. No self-respecting dog-breeder would ever sell a litter to a pet store. My grandmother knew each of the Beagles she bred by name, and she took the trouble to visit them in their new homes.

You can find a reputable breeder by seeking advice from a national organization, such as the Kennel Club, or by contacting a breed’s organization. Alternatively, you could ask for a recommendation from friends. You will know you have found a good breeder when he or she asks you more questions than you ask them. A good breeder will only sell a puppy to someone they think will treat him properly and give him the care that he needs. They’ll want to know if you will be home during the day, if you have a garden, if there’s a park nearby where you can exercise the dog. They’ll give you advice on training and diet. They may want to come and see you at home. Only when they’re satisfied that you will make a good dog-owner will they sell you the puppy.

Mongrels and crossbred puppies, which are less sought after than purebreds, are less commonly found in pet stores, but it is just as inadvisable to acquire a mongrel in this way as it is a purebred pup. While the puppy may look cute and appealing, buying him from a pet store may leave you with an animal that has health problems or with one that has been affected by poor handling. Instead, look at advertisements in reputable magazines, or at the vet’s, and visit the puppy at home before you decide to take him home.

Contrary to what pet shop proprietors may tell you, puppies in pet stores are more likely to come from puppy mills or farms. While there have been efforts to control this despicable practice, it still carries on.

Rescue dogs

An alternative source for both puppies and adult dogs is to visit a dogs’ home, shelter, or rescue agency, and adopt a dog that has been abandoned. Rescue dogs have poor reputations, and many people consider that they are too unpredictable or too scarred by past ill treatment to be successfully re-homed. That is far from the case. Dogs end up in shelters for a wide variety of reasons. An unwanted litter may see the puppies abandoned; older dogs may be taken in if their owners are too elderly or sick to care for them. Greyhounds that have been raced professionally may be taken in by rescue agencies to prevent them from being put down when their racing days are over. Naturally enough, puppies are generally re-homed very quickly, while the older and more difficult dogs can take considerably longer to place. If you are considering giving a home to one of these unfortunate creatures, consult the shelter staff and be guided by their appraisal of each dog’s characteristics and what it needs in the form of support.

A large proportion of dogs that are in shelters are there due to behavior problems; that is, behaviors that are natural for the dog but unacceptable in our society. It is easier to blame problem behavior on a dog’s character than to look at how the environment we have created might be affecting it. Most of these problem behaviors can be modified with a little time and understanding.

Many people consider rescue dogs too unpredictable or too scarred by past ill-treatment to be successfully re-homed—that is far from the case.

Here’s an all-too-common scenario:

Lily is a typical puppy who, like a human baby, needs constant stimulation and guidance from her human pack for healthy development. Instead, she finds herself in a home where this support is lacking, and in an environment that is physically and mentally isolating. In order to cope with her insecurity, Lily begins to demonstrate increasingly desperate, attention-seeking behavior, which changes this picture-book puppy into an unwanted presence and a time-consuming menace.

Struggling to understand her human world, Lily has no idea that she is living on borrowed time, until she finds herself at the doors of the local shelter. She enters a bizarre world where she experiences high levels of stress in response to the new sights, sounds, and smells surrounding her.

The routine changes. She is fed strange food, which she doesn’t feel like eating. Her new home is cramped and smells of disinfectant. She senses tension emanating from the dogs around her, and endures a constant stream of strange faces passing by her pen. In order to cope with these pressures, Lily hides under a security blanket of self-preservation, her true behavior numbed by this alien environment.

However, fortune favors her when she is adopted by a new human pack. She responds well to their attention and they, in turn, are pleased with her response. Her world changes again, but this time the environment is calmer. The bed smells good and the food is tasty. The pressures of shelter life begin to fall away.

For the first weeks, the numbness that protected Lily at the shelter keeps her from showing her true colors, but renewed confidence awakens previous patterns of behavior that soon challenge her new owners. Their attempts at control cause confusion and turmoil. Unable to cope with their “problem,” the new owners take Lily back to the shelter. This time she is not so lucky. Her unpredictability is deemed a liability for prospective adopters, and her life is ended by the vet’s needle.

This is not a sob story. This is the reality for millions of dogs each year. According to the Humane Society of America, between six and ten million dogs are put down in American shelters every year, and only 5% of these for medical reasons. In Britain, a nation of dog-lovers, the figures are a vast improvement, but there is no cause for complacency. Around 20,000 unwanted and stray dogs are put down each year, and that’s still 20,000 too many.

What can we do to help adopted shelter dogs adapt to their new lives? First and foremost, rescue dogs take time and patience. The type of training outlined in subsequent chapters of this book can be used to address certain types of problem behavior that shelter dogs may display. Equally important, it is necessary to understand why dogs behave the way that they do, to see the world from their point of view. This is always important, but it is even more critical when a dog has been ill-treated or abandoned.

The effort is worth it. With renewed confidence, the shelter dog can develop into what he was always meant to be: a happy and healthy companion that deserves our time and respect for coping with all the pressures that human life has thrown at him.

It is easier to blame problem behavior on a dog’s character than to look at how the environment we have created might be affecting it.

Should I have my dog neutered?

The short answer is “yes,” but there are some factors that should be taken into account. Having a dog “spayed” (removing the ovaries and uterus) or neutered (removing the testicles) is an important part of dog ownership. Your dog could be healthier, more contented, could live longer, and have more of an even temperament without hormones confusing the picture. However, there are many different opinions about what age to neuter and if it is right to neuter a dog in order to “cure” various negative behavior problems. Many people are reluctant to have their pets neutered because it seems unnatural. But if you do not intend to breed your dog, what is more unnatural, allowing him to suffer tugs of instinct he cannot fulfill, or removing the urge completely?

Whatever confusion there is about when and if to neuter, there is no dispute that neutering our dogs is the most significant way we can reduce the huge pet overpopulation problem in this country. Millions of dogs are taken into shelters every year and many are put down because there is no room and too few homes to adopt them. Perhaps you imagine that letting your dog have just one litter wouldn’t make much of a difference. Think again. If you placed all the puppies of that litter in the homes of people who thought the same, and they did likewise, your dog could be responsible for the birth of 200 puppies in a single year.

If you are making a decision to neuter your dog because of a behavior problem such as aggression, you should be aware that neutering must never be seen as a “cure” for that problem. Neutering always needs to be done along with a solid behavior modification plan in place, and in some cases neutering may exacerbate the problem. Advice on what age to neuter should be sought from your veterinarian.

Medical Pros of Neutering

 Eliminates risk of testicular cancer in male dogs

 Lowers incidence of disease of the prostate in male dogs

 Reduces the risk of perianal adenomas in male dogs – tumors that occur around the rectum in later life

 No possibility of fathering a litter and adding to the pet overpopulation problem

 Eliminates risk of pyometra – a potentially fatal infection of the uterus in female dogs

 Eliminates risk of uterine cancer in female dogs

 No heat cycles or risk of pregnancy in female dogs

 Reduced chance of female dogs developing breast cancer in later life

Behavior Pros of Neutering

 Male dogs are less likely to roam

 Male and female dogs are less likely to scent “urine” mark

 Reduced likelihood of sexual aggression and mounting in males

 Removal of testosterone can make many dogs less reactive to other dogs

 Improves a dog’s attention to human owners

Medical Cons of Neutering

 Early neutering – i.e., before puberty – increases the risk of a puppy not maturing properly, delaying the closing of growth plates in the long leg bones, which increases the risk of orthopedic disorders

 Weight gain, due to a larger appetite and slower metabolic rate (this can be managed with regular exercise and a good diet)

 A neutered dog can sometimes develop hormone-responsive alopecia (hair loss)

 Potential risk of incontinence in both sexes

Behavior Cons of Neutering

 Dogs neutered before puberty can show pedomorphic tendencies – puppy-like behaviors into adulthood, such as higher excitability

 If dogs are serial humpers, then neutering might not reduce this behavior since it is not just sexually driven

 In some cases, lack of testosterone can lower confidence levels and make male and female dogs more aggressive

 Spaying an aggressive female in order to lower the aggressive response can make her more aggressive, as many calming hormones such as progesterone are greatly reduced