by Trish King

Having a happy relationship with your dog means learning how to work together. If there´s a topic you´d like to see Trish cover, email editors@fetchthepaper.com.

Much of my job at the Marin Humane Society is solving canine behavior problems. Dog (and cat) owners who have issues call us to make appointments. Our consultants spend about 75 minutes discussing the problems, then come up with recommendations for "fixing” them. If you have a dog problem you’d like to solve yourself, you might like to know the progression we go through to help our clients.

First, we gather whatever information we can about the dog. We try to get a behavior history first: what is happening now and what was the dog’s behavior in the past. We also ask about her daily routine, family members and other pets, number of children, type of food she eats, her vet and health history, and what the guardian has done to try to solve her dog’s problems.

Tentative Cairn Terra

Some of above data may prove to be irrelevant, but often what appear to us to be minor events in a dog’s life, can actually be major and thus must be addressed. Here’s an example from my own family.

My parents had two female dogs, a Cairn Terrier, Terra, and an Australian Shepherd. They’d had the adopted adult Aussie for the last couple of years, and the Cairn since she was a pup. Recently, my 87-year-old dad was hit by a car and had to be hospitalized. He then went through a relatively long rehabilitation period. My parents decided that my brother was a better guardian for the Aussie, who was very energetic and too much for them (this was an excellent decision!). A few days ago, my parents called to say that Terra was no longer affectionate toward my dad. In fact, when Dad would call her, she would run away! Dad hypothesized that he must smell different since the accident or maybe Terra had forgotten him. Dad was feeling rejected and confused and was trying to force Terra to pay attention to him, which of course didn’t work.

The history in Terra’s case is very important. Though my parents had Terra for 10 years, she was never the dog my dad wanted. She is a normal terrier, feisty and independent, affectionate on her own terms. Bella, the Aussie, was a normal Aussie, affectionate and demanding, always close to Dad, and very jealous indeed. For two years, whenever Terra approached Dad, Bella would force her away, often with a display of aggression. Terra learned to stay away.

My dad’s personality is also very important in this case. He is (of course) a wonderful man, but he is demanding and can be peremptory, often ordering the dogs around. This can be frightening to a dog, who then may tend to avoid situations involving the scary person. My dad also believes in giving treats sometimes, but not spoiling his dogs by giving too many. Thus poor Terra didn’t have a clue whether she was going to be rewarded for approaching him, or whether she was going to be unceremoniously picked up and petted, no matter what she wanted! She would go into conflict, approaching and then retreating and finally escaping.

Oh, my tooth! Go to your room!

The dog’s health history can also be extraordinarily important. One of my current clients has two male dogs who have been fighting. They didn’t fight all the time, and my client didn’t have to be near them in order for fights to begin (generally, dog fighting within households takes place in close proximity to the guardian). In fact, these two are usually pretty laid back and tend to like each other. So, what was going on?

In this case, there were several variables, but one of the most important was that one dog, the one that seemed to initiate all the fights, appears to have had several moderate health problems, including tenderness around his spine. In the fight I witnessed, the well dog bumped into the tender dog, who quickly turned and attacked. Pain can be a catalyst for aggression; imagine having a toothache, then having to deal with a demanding child. You definitely might have a tendency to snap! At any rate, by addressing the tenderness issue we appear to have eased the problem, giving my client new hope.

So, what did you do today? What, again!?!

The dog’s routine is also relevant: when and where she eats, when exercise takes place, and what form it takes. For instance, we will often use food for reinforcement. A dog that is free fed can be much more difficult to motivate; she already has as much food as she needs and wants. The type of food is also important. A high quality diet will help a dog’s health, and a healthy dog is less likely to have some behavior problems.

Then there’s exercise. All dogs need exercise but if, for instance, the dog is aggressive on or around his own territory, then walks that start at the owner’s house might not be the best idea. And dogs who have tended to play roughly or have gotten into a few fights should probably not be exercised in dog parks.

Besides all that, there’s the relationship the owner and family have with the dog, how long the dog is left alone each day, any potential traumatic events in a dog’s life, and so on. If you add all this up you may find you have quite a complex situation with few easy answers. How in the world does one proceed?

Woof, I thought I was the boss!

What we do is break everything down into three major areas: management, relationship, and training. We manage by attempting to control the environment so that he doesn’t get a chance to practice any bad behavior. This could mean we add fencing, keep him indoors, use tie-downs to interrupt poor behavior, and possibly walk in unfamiliar areas. Then, we do relationship work by teaching the dog that the owner will keep him safe and will be in charge of everything important. Lastly, we work on training. Though many people want to work on that first, training actually falls into place much better if environment and relationships are taken care of first.

A beautifully trained dog may still exhibit major behavior problems, perhaps protecting his territory or guarding his owners. By and large, behavior problems are actually normal behavior taken to an extraordinary level. Our job is to identify what all the factors are and make sure our “clients” have no chance to practice, because we all know that practice makes perfect!