#Dog Behavior

[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.

[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?

[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.

[classycookiexo]

It pisses me off so bad…….I hate a lustful dog 🤢

[ahedderick]

Comfy! Cozy!

Trying to salvage something out of this day. We have all been a little distressed at this:

Ridiculous dog made of pipe cleaners and silly putty. When she curls up on her bed it's very cute, when she sprawls, it's . . disturbing. So I had a piece of upholstery fabric on hand, and thought I'd create a little bolster to augment the bed. Simple! Easy!

Ok . . you just need to . . lean sideways . .

Oh for Pete's sake!!

[askgildaseniors]

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[shadowisabean]

Not even one 👀🤣

[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.

[darkwood-sleddog]

What the fuuuuck:

I’m sorry but comparing force free dog training to neglect because you aren’t willing to accept that not all dogs are behaviorally stable enough to live with people is so asinine.

The “balanced” folk will literally say anything negative against R+, force free, and other positive reinforcement heavy training methods but always they fail to do anything about actual abuse, heavy handedness, and actual aversive trainers parading themselves around as “balanced” (like I cannot take these folks seriously as balanced until they are actively doing something and speaking up).

My dogs aren’t “force free”, I’m LIMA (Least Invasive Minimally Aversive) trained but I believe heavily in R+ and that if R+ methods are what animal behaviorists are using for tigers, hyenas, and other dangerous non-domestic animals for cooperative care behaviors that this can AND should apply to dogs as well.

Dogs do not languish in shelters because of R+ and/or force free training methods. They languish there because many rescues are hoarding situations, because “adopt don’t shop” has done irreparable damage to people’s perception of ethical dog breeders, because so many dogs in shelters are BEHAVIORALLY UNSAFE for the average person, because we view euthanasia as a cruelty instead of a necessity to reduce behaviorally unstable dogs from society or a kindness from a cruel and scary life. There are worst things than dying. All the “balanced” training methods in the world will not change those things.

[dog2heaven]

as the sun beat down

[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!

[halodogcollar]

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[mywaysthehighway]