It's the Little Things--Part Two

Back in 2019, I wrote a blog titled "It's the Little Things" about annoying little things that drive pet owners crazy. You know, when your dog jumps on people or your cat claws at your drapes?  Those kinds of things.  They aren't horrendous, really, they just drive you nuts.  Well, this column is different.

On Saturday, I had a rare day off and decided to do some gardening.  My dogs were out there with me, as was my granddog, Westley, who most of you know is going through a second round of chemotherapy for lymphoma. All three dogs were enjoying the sunshine, running around chasing bugs, and having my daughter capture their photos while they scampered about.  Those are the little things I want to talk about today, the little things that spark joy for a dog.

While author Marie Kondo did her best to convince us that tidying up our homes, our closets, and our lives would spark joy for us, she's stepped back a bit on her original message, stating now that what sparks joy for someone isn't one size fits all. While the majority of people might like a clean house, for example, how clean is really about perspective.  Now, back to dogs and their perspective.

What sparks joy for a dog?  Little things like chasing bugs, laying in a warm ray of sunshine, sniffing the grass, finding a bone you forgot you buried, and squeaking a toy repeatedly.  They enjoy meal times, and all the snacks in between.  They enjoy walks; some even enjoy running and swimming.  The bottom line is that dogs find joy in the littlest of things.  You come home and they act like they've not seen you for a week when you've been gone just twenty minutes. Those kinds of little things spark joy for them and I love that.  I think we need to be more like that. So, I tried it for myself.

Instead of mindlessly and efficiently digging those holes for my new plants, I put all of my focus into the actual process of digging, really tossing dirt around, laughing at how much fun it actually was.  It reminded me of being a kid and digging in the sandbox with my best friend. Good times.  And the best thing?  The thing that really sparked joy?  Westley came over, tail wagging, to see how my digging was going.  He's not much of a digger himself, but he could appreciate how much I seemed to be enjoying it.  Him checking on me sparked instant joy!

Our whole family knows that Westley's days are numbered.  Lymphoma is a killer, particularly when it strikes a young dog.  Westley was diagnosed when he was five years old, and though he's now six, we're preparing ourselves for the inevitability that he may not see his seventh birthday, though we hope with all of our hearts that he defies the odds.  In the meantime, we're going to help him spark joy every single day.  Saturday, it was garden time, a game of chase with Henley, and some ridiculously smelly salmon treats I bought for the dogs to share. Sunday, he wasn't feeling as well, so he came to my house where I could watch over him while his mom worked.  I wanted to do something that would bring him joy, so I sat with him on my lap and rubbed his belly and his shoulders.  He gave the biggest, deepest sigh and then burped!  I knew, in that moment, that he had experienced a bit of joy (and relief) for sure.

No one knows what tomorrow will bring, so I think it's important to focus a bit more on the little things that spark joy, even if it's just a clean house, a freshly baked cookie, or watching your dog enjoy a bone.  Focus on giving your dogs those opportunities that bring them joy as well. Don't rush their walks; feed them in puzzle feeders and snuffle mats for enriching fun; let them swim if they enjoy water and run if they are able. Show them love and attention without being distracted by your phone or the TV.  Observe them, they'll show you the way to joy in the little things every day. Sit down next to your dog right now and take a deep breath, nose in the air, eyes closed, and feel the joy roll right off of them and into you.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

My sweet granddog, Westley, in my garden.  

I swear he was laughing at me while I dug holes in the dirt for my zucchini plants!

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Naturally, when I typed out that blog title, I started to hum along with the song of the same name by Janet Jackson, but clearly that's not the direction this blog is going!  What I want to talk about today are dogs and what they do for us, in spite of their own misgivings, fears, preconceived notions, and idiosyncrasies.  Interesting topic, right?

There is a viral video making the rounds of a dog getting between a moving vacuum cleaner and a baby playing on the floor nearby.  You might not think anything of this, but if you read the caption, it becomes way more interesting. You see, this particular dog hates the vacuum cleaner (most dogs do) and for this dog's whole life, he's raced off and hidden in another room, or outside, the second the owner turned on the dreaded machine. Since having her baby, however, this dog has positioned himself between the vacuum cleaner and that baby.  He's obviously summoned all of his courage as you can see in the video. He's quite literally quivering, ears back, tail tucked, whale-eyed, barking at the vacuum cleaner, wanting to escape, but continually shifting his body so he's between the vacuum and that baby.  He looks back at the baby, clearly making sure the child is okay, and then quickly returns his attention to the vacuum. The owner, thinking this is funny for some reason, tries to maneuver around the dog, and the dog leaps in the air and pounces briefly on the vacuum and she pulls the vacuum back. End of video with the owner laughing.  Wow.  Just WOW.  Can we stop for a minute and appreciate just what this dog did?  He clearly has a history of fear and avoidance with the vacuum cleaner, but when it came to the baby's safety he cowboyed up, so to speak, in spite of his fear, and protected the child. He went after the vacuum cleaner, not the person pushing it. This kind of stuff doesn't make me laugh, but it does make me send up a thank you to dogs everywhere for putting themselves out there to protect people, even when we're setting them up like this.  One more example.

Have you seen the video of the little girl, playing on her driveway with a ball, three big dogs laying around the driveway, clearly staggered in position watching the street while she plays?  As her ball starts to roll away, the dog at the end of the driveway gets up and turns toward her, stopping the ball with his nose.  The dog that was closest to the child also stands up, but walks casually behind her.  That third dog remains in position watching the street.  She gets her ball and goes back to playing and the dogs resume their positions.  At that point a man enters the picture, walking on the sidewalk. As he gets to the driveway and turns toward the girl, all three dogs stand up.  As the ball rolls toward him, the little girl goes for the ball, but now there's a big dog, walking right alongside of her.  Which dog?  That dog who'd been in the middle position that whole time.  There's music over the video, so I can't hear it, but I'm pretty sure the dog nearest the ball is growling at the man who is reaching for the ball. At this point, the child's father walks down the driveway, says something, and the dog near the ball stops and stands still.  All three dogs look to the man as he approaches the stranger.  They shake hands and the little girl collects her ball and all three dogs go back to their original positions. My personal feeling is that these dogs would guard anything on that property, but clearly they've been taught to keep watch over the little girl when she's out there. They aren't overtly friendly with her, but they clearly understand the assignment and she's not afraid of them. While I appreciate the fact that these dogs take their jobs very seriously, I feel like this video makes it seem like this is a good idea, when it's not. This girl cannot control these dogs, but she sure as heck could get hurt if she somehow got between them and a stranger.  Me? I'd rather have a barking dog on the driveway!  They'll alert everyone to a problem!

Those of you who know me, or who have read my memoir, know that our first rough collie was a lovely dog named Cooper. Cooper was the quintessential collie; he loved his family, he protected our home (he barked to alert), and he was a gentle playmate with my young kids and others.  Cooper did not like raised voices and he most certainly did not like it if I was stern with my children.  If I scolded one of them and he was in earshot, he's come over and stand between me and the kid in question.  He wasn't being aggressive with me, no, he was letting me know that he was there to moderate this interaction.  The kids would often put a hand on him to comfort themselves during the scolding which is why I think he was there; emotional support.  However, one time I observed the husband of a friend raise his voice at the kids (his two were playing with my two) when they were playing outside.  Cooper did this same thing, but I noticed something different.  Cooper was between the kids and the man, but now he was staring at the man.  He never growled, he never moved, but it was clear to everyone that the man should stop right there and quit yelling.  I walked over, gave Cooper a love and told him to go play with the kids, which he did.  At that point I checked to see what my friend's husband thought.  He said he thought the dog was going to take his arm off!  Ha!  Cooper had made his point; there was no reason to be yelling at the kids who were just having a good time.  And, more importantly, I think Cooper felt that the man had no business correcting the kids at HIS house.  That was my job, lol. When the kids were older, I would send Cooper down the hill to the school with them to shoot hoops.  They hated taking him because he wouldn't let anyone else get in on their game, body blocking, and barking if need be, almost as if to say, my kids, my basketball court. So embarrassing, mom!  But I knew they were safer with him there.  Again, he wasn't aggressive, but he was a big, protective collie. Not a threat, but taking his job seriously. He was a herding dog after all. My kids were his sheep!

Dogs do a lot for us, some things we ask them to do, other things they do naturally and we are able to capitalize on that.  Many perceive loud noises and strangers as potential threats and respond accordingly, whether those loud noises or strangers are upsetting to them or not. The bottom line is this: Don't test them or tease them.  They will step up if the situation calls for it, no need to turn it into a funny video for likes on social media. Do right by your dogs, raise them to understand what a real threat is, sure, but mostly just raise them to understand love, trust, care, and bite inhibition.  Their inherent desire to do right by us will do the rest.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's a cute picture of Cooper at about 11 weeks old.  That's Jessica watching Cooper while he watches my 4 year old son who is running around in a Batman costume nearby!

The Power of Observational Learning

I had a really nice conversation with a long time client about her new puppy.  She has three dogs, one is ten, one is almost 5 and the puppy is 3 months old.  She reached out for help and advice as she's having a terrible time getting the puppy to listen to her; all he wants to do is follow her two adult dogs around, ignoring her! This really isn't all that unusual, although I could see why she was irritated! Have you ever experienced this as well?  There's a very good reason for this and it's all about observational learning in dogs.

Dogs have the ability to learn in several different ways.  They learn by watching us, the words we use, the way we move our hands, and how that relates to their ability to get us to do what they want us to do.  So, for example, you might be teaching a puppy to sit when asked.  You move your hand in such a way that his head comes up and his bottom goes down as he follows that hand with the treat in it.  While you are doing this, you are telling your puppy to sit at the same time.  When his little bottom hits the ground, you mark the behavior in some way ("Yes!," "Good boy!," etc.) and give him the treat.  The next time he approaches you, he'll be watching you to see if you move your hand that way again, saying that word, and if he does it, he'll be looking for that treat!  Basically, the puppy learns to sit by observing you while you shaped that behavior.  Now, you could certainly try to just mark the sitting behavior any time you see your puppy do that, but that's a much harder way to get the behavior consistently.  And, watching you sit isn't effective in getting your puppy to sit as well. But, you know what is?  Your puppy watching your other dogs sit when you ask.  And that, my friends, is the power of observational learning.

If you call your adult dogs to you and ask them to sit, I'm sure they'll do it immediately. In the case of my client's dogs, they are excellent listeners; they come when called, and almost always sit before asked.  The puppy follows behind the adult dogs, watching them closely as they happily wag their tails and sit instantly.  He dances around them, oftentimes earning him a grumble or a snap from one of the adult dogs, almost as if they were saying "Sit down, goofball, and she'll give you a treat too!" Then, he plops into a sit, still watching those adult dogs, and lo and behold, they all get treats.  The next time she calls the dogs over, even the puppy sits before being asked.  The power of observational learning!  It's actually much stronger than you teaching your puppy anything.  It's almost as if puppies trust the process more if they see the behaviors in action first from adult dogs they share space with.

So why is this even a problem given that it seems like her adult dogs are doing all the heavy lifting in training this puppy, so to speak?  It's a problem because he doesn't listen to her at all!  My suggestion was simple.  Crate her adult dogs with bones or Kongs in the other room and shut the door, keeping the puppy with her.  Put the puppy on leash and reward a simple follow, dropping treats for him to pick up.  Add in his name so he looks at her, then drop another treat.  Step away from him, say his name, and offer a treat as he approaches.  Then, see if she can get a sit when he's asked, without those adult dogs around to cue off of. She kept me on the phone with her as she did this and, lo and behold, her puppy sat as soon as he approached her!  He had indeed learned the sit, AND he was able to do it without the adult dogs there to use as his guides.

I told my client that she needs to work with her puppy one-on-one several times a day so she's sure he's understanding the importance of listening to her and bonding with her.  But, frankly, her adult dogs can help her with so much of the training this puppy needs once she's got him a bit more bonded to her than he is to them.

I also told her how lucky she was as there is one big pitfall to observational learning in dogs.  What if the adult dog(s) in your home aren't all that perfect?  What if they themselves have some significant behavior problems?  What if your adult dog is aggressive, fearful, or has separation anxiety? You most certainly don't want the adult dogs teaching those behaviors to your new puppy!  So, again, the solution?  Get those issues treated in your adult dogs before you add in a puppy.  Then, be sure to work with your puppy one-on-one, away from your adult dogs, to make sure that puppy listens more to you than to his cohorts.

I've always been fortunate to have really good adult dogs when I brought a puppy into my home.  Desi raised Ozzie and Westley, and Ozzie and Westley raised Henley.  Desi was still around when Henley was a puppy, he was just quite the senior by that point and spent a lot of team sleeping rather than interacting with him.  Henley did love Desi and would lick his face or gently pull his tail, always careful not to run into Desi or step on him when he was racing around like a crazy puppy.  He saved the shenanigans for Ozzie and Westley and then tolerated a lot from Henley as they taught him the ropes.  He still looks to them even now that they are all adults together.  Why?  Because observational learning is still strong, even in adult dogs.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

I love these two pictures, taken a couple of weeks 

apart. In the first photo, Henley is mirroring Desi's 

behavior. In the second photo, he's mirroring

Westley, while Desi hangs back, something he did

more and more as Henley got bigger and more active.