#Dog Behavior

[maybe-im-dark]

Do you think everytime he takes a shower, Logan shakes himself violently to dry himself off like a dog? Like obviously he also uses a towel but beforehand he gotta shake that water off some?

[darkwood-sleddog]

The dog world is so allergic to “management” as a concept like “my dogs are fighting!” Separate them. “My dog runs off!” Leash them. “My dog is aggressive!” Muzzle him. “My dog destroys my house!” Put him in a secure area he can’t destroy stuff in. It is literally that easy.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

My dog is generally not super cuddly, but after she eats, she often comes and snuggles right up to me and falls asleep. Based on a brief online search, this seems to be a pretty common dog phenomenon. I have seen it suggested that this is how dogs say thank you for giving them a meal. Or that a dog got cuddles after a meal one time and has internalized that as routine. My hypothesis is that the dog just wants to be somewhere safe and protected by their "pack" while they rest and digest. Why do you think dogs like to snuggle after a meal?

I think it's probably going to vary by every dog! But it makes sense that a combination of things could be coming into play, including your idea: digestion uses a ton of energy and tends to make animals sleepy, and having a warm/safe/comfortable place to relax while it happens sounds lovely. It also could be a routine you've built up over time - they came to you once after a meal, you reinforced it, and now it's just a Thing the two of you do.

I would say it's not likely to be a "thank you" as some of what you saw suggested - that's a fairly extreme attribution of a human social behavior to a non-human animal. Your dog knows you provide food and trusts you to provide it and is happy when it appears, but when acknowledging that veers into "and is engaging with primate-normative behavior to communicate with me" it gets a bit anthropomorphic. (Anthropomorphism is important to identify because when it takes over, it kind of... supplants our understanding of what an animal actually thinks/intends/is doing with what we, as humans, would like the answer to be).

Enjoy your snuggles! That sounds like a lovely ritual you both enjoy, regardless of the original cause.

[instacrew]

[allthings-acorn]

I’m considering trying behavioral meds for Acorn. I’d love to hear about from dogblr folks who’ve experienced putting their dog on meds for behavior— whether you ended up continuing meds long term or not.

Rambling under the cut—

After three years of working on Acorn’s leash reactivity with few results to show, I decided to start working on with a behavior consultant. She’s helped me realize how much is his reactivity is because he quickly goes into a frustrated, high arousal state, and has a lot of trouble self-regulating. This is mostly triggered immediately by seeing dogs from a distance or the presence of prey animals— but even seeing a human walking towards us can sometimes produce whining and staring.

Part of me feels stupid for not realizing all of this on my own. I’ve basically done everything right! I only walk him places where I can avoid dogs so he won’t have a reaction (he’ll still stare and whine but he won’t bark and lunge) worked on look at that, etc. He also has some possible issues with minor compulsive behaviors—story for another day—which she rightly pointed out as more evidence that he may benefit from meds.

So I am probably going to make an appointment to talk about this with my vet. I like to think I’m past the stigma of medicating behavior, but I guess I’m not because I am struggling with this a little. The thing is that he’s a really easy dog to live with! He is! I manage the compulsive stuff very well, and I don’t walk him where he’ll get triggered, and we have a pretty nice life together. So it was hard for me to see the whole picture, I guess. If I didn’t have bigger goals—going to an agility trial or being able to get his CGC— I would probably be fine with this status quo. And I’m ok if we never reach those goals. But I told myself I would give one more try, get an outside opinion, and do what I can for the reactivity before giving up. So here we are.

Anyway, I guess I’m hoping to hear some stories to give me more of an idea of possible outcomes. Thank you to everyone who read all of this!

[maisietheyellowlab]

Does anyone have any good resources on dog-dog resource guarding in multi-dog households?

I'm looking for force free resources of any kind, so videos, podcasts, books, blogs, whatever, as long as it's sensible and useful. Please, and thank you!!!

Navi has always been a typical little herding dog who takes it upon herself to "enforce rules" and it was usually not problematic at all, it was moreso a quirk. However, she's tried to guard her bowl and a cardboard box (love that for her) in front of Maisie and a friend's dog in the past month. I'm pretty convinced this is linked to her being in heat, since it's been a tough one for her, but I think we'd benefit from working on this regardless. Don't want it to escalate and create conflict with other dogs and I also don't want her to feel unsafe with her food etc. I already do a lot of things to manage it, and I know how to work on resource guarding between dogs and people, but I honestly don't have that many resources on dog-dog resource guarding and how to effectively manage or solve it.

[halodogcollar]

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[toyastales]

Soaking up the sun 🌞

[bisexualbaker]

[Alt]

Oh come on, the joke wasn't that bad!

[hashtag-xolo]

Dog buttons upholding Proper Verbal Communication as the one and only true valid form of communication with humans is the bane of my autistic, poor auditory processing, tonally flat, occasionally nonverbal existence. And as the parent of an ADHD kid whose primary mode of communication is not spoken words.

If my fiance can tell I'm happy because I'm flapping my hands, and I can tell what my kid is saying with a gesture and squeak, then you too can learn that your dog staring deep into your eyes and then walking towards something is clear communication of "I want a thing"

[darkwood-sleddog]

If dog buttons have one hater I am that very hater.

Communicating “in the same language for the first time” through dog buttons as Christina Hunger describes in her book is a failure of the most human proportion, putting too much value on the human (English) spoken word and ignoring that every detail, movement, twitch of our dogs is an act of communication itself. They are already communicating with us, just as human and primitive dog first did thousands of years ago. Just how we have shaped each other’s evolution by our very relationship. The dog understands you without buttons. If you can’t understand a dog without buttons, or “speak the same language” without human spoken language that is your HUMAN failure.

[grison-in-space]

blatantly stolen from the Working Australian Cattle Dog Group:

For fun, and to share opinions. What's your definition of a biddable dog? What about an independent dog or independent thinker? Can those two things be synonymous or do you have one or the other?

[instacrew]

[sweetlittlepuppie]

Really cute puppy girl art by the great and talented puppy girl on Instagram: Mimiwoofz

[vampiric-valentine]

Erm actually. I’m a lapdog, but I still bark and bite. Maybe you should muzzle me, just to be safe.

I’ll be decently well behaved though. I sit at your feet, and sleep at the end of your bed, and I’ll fetch when you say so. I’m relatively good at following instructions.. I just get a little over excited sometimes :( I can’t help it :(