Midterm 2: Additional Problem Behaviours in Dogs Flashcards
Leash pulling in dogs
- what type of problem is it
- what happens when dogs feel restraint
- what to do
- TRAINING PROBLEM
- when a dog feels restraint, it naturally pulls harder, trying to break free
- instead, teach your dog to walk at or near your heel, keep pace with you and sit or stop when you stop
Why do dogs chew? When does it become a problem?
- Dogs start chewing as puppies to relieve the pain
- Becomes a problem when a dog does not grow out of it and it becomes destructive
- Dogs will chew when they are bored, lonely, anxious or stressed, or linked to activity levels
How to can you treat chewing in dogs?
- Puppy-proof home
- Re-direct the behaviour to an acceptable chew toy
- Use a deterrent to make unacceptable chew items unappealing
- Supervise
- Don’t allow puppy to chew objects that resemble “off-limits” items
- Praise good behaviour
- Provide adequate physical activity and people time
Why do dogs dig?
- to escape
- to find a cool spot
- to bury a bone/object
- frustrated or bored
- to seek an object or prey
- attention seeking
What are the recommendations for digging?
- recommendations based on the cause
- reinforce good behaviour or where digging can be redirected
- not helpful to punish after the fact
What is escape behaviour in dogs? Causes? Resolutions?
- as creatures of habit, dogs accept and learn a consistent routine; confined dogs are often subjected to erratic routines
- wild canids have a home hunting range of several square miles that may include several den sires
Causes
- enviro outside is rewarding
- inconsistent outing schedule
- enclosure not secure
Resolution
- make enclosure secure
- schedule routine outings
- do not give attention for escape behaviour
- remote punishment
What are the causes and resolution for roaming behaviour?
Causes
- attraction of distance places
- no reward for staying home
- look for pattern: why and when the dog roams
Resolution
- eliminate distant attractions
- neuter
- remote punishment R+ for staying home
Aside from housetraining issues, what are 5 other causes of soiling?
- medical
- Submissive/excitement urination
- Territorial urine-marking
- Separation anxiety
- Fears or phobias
What is inappropriate elimination in adult dogs? Causes? Resolutions?
- Dogs have an instinctive tendency to keep den and rest areas clean, need to generalize that to entire house
- common acts of punishment hinder house-training
Causes
- medical problem or behavioural senility
- disturbance of normal house-training
- weak den sanitation predisposition
Resolution
- treat medical or primary behavioural cuases
- reinstate house-training
- schedule frequent trips outside
- clean soiled areas
- remote punishment
What is submissive urination? Causes? Resolution?
- In the ancestral wolf pack, this type of behaviour has the fxn of inhibiting aggressive approaches from dominant individuals
- if an owner scolds the dog for submissive urination, a vicious cycle begins
Causes
- natural response to preclude aggression by dominants
- punishment exacerbates
- prominent during greetings
Resolution
- tone down greetings
- desensitize by staging multiple greetings
What is attention-seeking behaviour? Causes? Resolution?
- Behaviour results in a payoff (attention, affection, social contact)
- Attention seeking behaviours almost defy categorization (chasing shadows, barking at light, snapping at imaginary flies, vomiting, lameness etc.); always rule out medical reasons first
Causes
- attracts attention from owner
- competing pets
- may stem initially from medical problem
Resolution
- no attention for problem behaviour
- social punishment when the behaviour occurs
- attention only for good behaviour
What are 3 common reasons for jumping in dogs?
- want to greet at face level
- seeking attention
- testing whether their position in the group is dominant or subordinate to yours
*be consistent, don’t give attention to the behaviour, use incompatible behaviours, prevent when possible
What is gorging behaviour? How do you resolve it
- Like wolves, most dogs eat rapidly
- Can be socially facilitated
- More likely in competitive enviros; dom animals get larger portion, subordinate at risk of becoming undernourished
Make sure there is plenty of food spread out in separate areas. May use enrichment tools to slow down eating behaviour.
What are 4 problem feeding behaviours?
- Gorging
- Conditioned food aversions
- Eating grass
- Coprophagy
Conditioned food aversions
- food likes and dislikes can reflect acquired aversions as well as acquired tastes
- an acquired aversion may derive from a food that made the dog sick in the past = GARCIA EFFECT (an aversion to the food last eaten before being sick)
