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"Normal" dog behavior?!
Jan. 20th, 2014 08:22 pmThere was a post a week ago that was more of a rant about living with two dogs that did not belong to the Original Poster, and how to deal with them. The gist of her rant included living with two dogs that:
And I thought: "really?! This is how people think dogs should behave?!"
I expect so much more of our 9-year old dog, Kade.
When Kade was a puppy, he had his share of naughty deeds and mischievous behavior. He stole and ate 3 sticks of butter (and had diarrhea for a day). He dug under the backyard fence and ran away multiple times. He chewed my camera's leather pouch. He pulled on the leash. He barked all night instead of sleeping. He peed all over the house. But by the time he was 6 months old, he was trained. I mean, people still train dogs, don't they? And if they don't, they know to get help, right? Self-help guides, doggy training classes, online videos, etc.?
I don't mean to sound condescending, but is it the case that people don't *see* these behaviors (the four listed above: stealing food, jumping, pulling, barking) as issues in dogs? Or that they don't know how to address the issue in dogs? Because it sounds like the former, and that surprises me!
1. Kade does not steal human food (disclaimer: apparently he thinks cat food is OK, even though I've told him multiple times it is not). We can leave food on a low coffee table and he would not dare. I've told Erika not to leave her snacks unattended, but she occasionally does, and he will not take it.
2. Kade does not jump on people. If he wants their attention, he goes up to them, and sits at their feet. He wags his tail and he may nudge his nose into your thigh, but he does not jump.
3. Pulling on the leash results in the walker heading the other direction. If pulling continues, this can mean up to 30 minutes of walking in a 4-foot radius. He bores of this game quickly. Erika has been able to walk Kade since she was 2 years old because he does not have pulling issues.
4. Kade does not speak in any way (barking, whining, etc) unless instructed to do so with the voice command "speak". The only exception is if someone rings the doorbell or knocks on the door; then he barks until we give the command "that's enough", at which point, he ceases barking immediately.
Other important voice commands that dogs should understand, aside from the basic "sit", "down", and "no", that Kade obeys:
1. "Stay". This includes staying when a toy is thrown, when a treat is presented, or when he is running full speed through a field. This is key if you let your dogs off-leash at all, because this, combined with "come", can determine whether your dog is going to get run over by a car or not. He drops to a down position and waits to be verbally released.
2. "Leave it". This includes poop, dead animals, food, toys, and anything else attractive to a dog. I don't need a tug-of-war game with my dog over this.
Then he knows an assortment of fun commands, like "crawl", "tire", "over", "up", "fetch", "beg", "shake", "high-five", "circle", "over there", and several nouns relating to his toys, such as "kong", "tennis ball", "rope", "stick", and "buoy". He knows words such as "beach", "walk", "woods", and "car" since we use them fairly often around him. One word people find amusing is he knows "dumpster" means the giant trash dumpster in our condo complex.
- Begging/stealing food (including jumping on kitchen counter)
- Jumping on humans
- Pulling on the leash
- Excessive barking
And I thought: "really?! This is how people think dogs should behave?!"
I expect so much more of our 9-year old dog, Kade.
When Kade was a puppy, he had his share of naughty deeds and mischievous behavior. He stole and ate 3 sticks of butter (and had diarrhea for a day). He dug under the backyard fence and ran away multiple times. He chewed my camera's leather pouch. He pulled on the leash. He barked all night instead of sleeping. He peed all over the house. But by the time he was 6 months old, he was trained. I mean, people still train dogs, don't they? And if they don't, they know to get help, right? Self-help guides, doggy training classes, online videos, etc.?
I don't mean to sound condescending, but is it the case that people don't *see* these behaviors (the four listed above: stealing food, jumping, pulling, barking) as issues in dogs? Or that they don't know how to address the issue in dogs? Because it sounds like the former, and that surprises me!
1. Kade does not steal human food (disclaimer: apparently he thinks cat food is OK, even though I've told him multiple times it is not). We can leave food on a low coffee table and he would not dare. I've told Erika not to leave her snacks unattended, but she occasionally does, and he will not take it.
2. Kade does not jump on people. If he wants their attention, he goes up to them, and sits at their feet. He wags his tail and he may nudge his nose into your thigh, but he does not jump.
3. Pulling on the leash results in the walker heading the other direction. If pulling continues, this can mean up to 30 minutes of walking in a 4-foot radius. He bores of this game quickly. Erika has been able to walk Kade since she was 2 years old because he does not have pulling issues.
4. Kade does not speak in any way (barking, whining, etc) unless instructed to do so with the voice command "speak". The only exception is if someone rings the doorbell or knocks on the door; then he barks until we give the command "that's enough", at which point, he ceases barking immediately.
Other important voice commands that dogs should understand, aside from the basic "sit", "down", and "no", that Kade obeys:
1. "Stay". This includes staying when a toy is thrown, when a treat is presented, or when he is running full speed through a field. This is key if you let your dogs off-leash at all, because this, combined with "come", can determine whether your dog is going to get run over by a car or not. He drops to a down position and waits to be verbally released.
2. "Leave it". This includes poop, dead animals, food, toys, and anything else attractive to a dog. I don't need a tug-of-war game with my dog over this.
Then he knows an assortment of fun commands, like "crawl", "tire", "over", "up", "fetch", "beg", "shake", "high-five", "circle", "over there", and several nouns relating to his toys, such as "kong", "tennis ball", "rope", "stick", and "buoy". He knows words such as "beach", "walk", "woods", and "car" since we use them fairly often around him. One word people find amusing is he knows "dumpster" means the giant trash dumpster in our condo complex.
