Dog Behavior Blog

Dogs Can Understand Photographs

2009-11-07T11:34:53-07:00

Even though dogs have been around people for a long time, we still know surprisingly little about their abilities.

We have very little idea of what goes through a dog’s mind when we try to communicate with her. She might turn her head in an endearing fashion when we talk to her, but what does she really understand? Mostly, we have no clue.

Now some recent experiments are starting to untangle the abilities of dogs to form mental concepts when we try to communicate with them.

A recent article looked at whether dogs can understand iconic images (Kaminski, J., S. Templemann, J. Call and M. Tomasello. 2009. Domestic dogs comprehend human communication with iconic signs, Developmental Science 12: 831-837).

Iconic images are things like photographs or things that look like the real object. For example, a photograph of a hamburger is an iconic image of a real hamburger. Similarly, a rubber toy hamburger is also an iconic representation of a real hamburger.

In this article, the authors worked with 5 border collies. Three of the collies knew the names of a variety of objects, and two of the collies had no experience with names. Each collie was presented with either a small rubber toy that looked identical to a larger one that was hidden in another room among a variety of other toys, or was shown a photograph of a toy.

After being shown either the small toy or a photograph, the dogs were asked to go and fetch the large toy.

All of the dogs did remarkably well at retrieving the larger toy when shown the small toy, even though there were other toys in the adjacent room. Also, at least some of the dogs could generalize from looking at a photograph of a toy and go into the next room and bring back the toy that was shown in the photograph.

While it is not particularly surprising that the dogs were able to look at a small toy and bring back an identical larger toy, it is surprising that the dogs could generalize from a two-dimensional photograph to a three-dimensional object. This suggests that dogs can form mental concepts from the information that we give them.

Another study suggesting that dogs can form mental concepts was reported in 2007 in the journal Animal Cognition (Adachi, I. et al. 2007. Dogs recall their owner’s face from hearing their owner’s voice. Animal Cognition 10: 17-21).

In that study, the authors used a variety of different dogs to see if the dogs could form a mental concept of their owner from the sound of the owner’s voice. They first played the sound of the owner’s voice to the dog, and then projected either the owner’s face or the face of a stranger on a nearby LCD screen. Using video cameras, the authors measured the length of time that the dogs spent looking at the screen when they saw their owner vs. when they saw the face of a stranger.

The dogs spent less time looking at the face of their owner after hearing their owner’s voice. When they saw the face of a stranger after hearing their owner’s voice, the dogs spent more time looking at the screen.

This suggests that upon hearing the voice of their owner, the dogs formed a mental concept of their owner and expected to see him or her, but were puzzled or confused when they saw the face of someone else. They spent more time looking to figure out why there was a mismatch between what they heard and what they saw.

So when your dog turns her head to the side when you are talking to her, perhaps she really is trying to understand what you are saying.

--Con Slobodchikoff

A Good “Stay” Means Ice Cream

2009-10-25T19:13:09-07:00

When I lived in New England, I got a new dog and though he was over two years old, his training was so minimal that I was basically starting from scratch. In other words, he knew how to sit on cue in some situations, some of the time. I began working with him on sit, down, wait, heel, come, and stay. The stay command soon became one of my top priorities, though my reason may seem self-serving.

I wanted to be able to cue him to stay so that I could go inside the local Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop. This goal involved a high level stay since he had to deal with distractions and with me being away from him, though still in sight through the store window. It took me a couple of months, but I got to the point where I could tell him to sit and to stay, then go inside, buy my ice cream and come back outside to a dog who was staying without stress just outside the door where he could see me.

This occurred in Hanover New Hampshire, which is a small and very friendly dog town. Most places I have lived, I would not leave my dog outside a store even in my sight because I would be worried that someone would either harass my dog or take him away. Hanover is ridiculously safe so that the risk of any harm coming to my dog was miniscule.

Just to give you some idea of how dog friendly a town Hanover is, here are two examples from Dartmouth College within the town. A big benefactor to the school bequeathed a fortune to the school with one major set of strings attached: Dogs must be allowed to roam free (off leash) throughout the campus. And roam they did—big packs of high energy, powerful dogs were regularly observed on campus and in the surrounding town. In the library at Dartmouth, instead of the usual sign on the door forbidding dogs from entering, there was a sign at the water fountain saying, “Please don’t allow dogs to drink from the water fountain.”

In such a town as this where dogs are allowed to be in so many places, a good stay is just part of what a dog needs to be able to do. They also need to walk politely either on or off leash and they need to come when they are called. These are the minimum core skills that dogs must be able to perform in order for them to be polite members of society. And in my case, my dog’s stay was the most important because I need my regular doses of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in order for me to be a polite member of society.

--Karen London

Can People Correctly Identify Dog Behavior?

2009-10-15T06:41:08-07:00

How good are people at interpreting the behavior of dogs? Dogs and people have been around together for perhaps 100,000 years, so you would think that people would be pretty good at it. However, it turns out that people aren't very good at all.

A recent article in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science (Tami, G. and A. Gallagher, 2009, Descriptions of the behavior of domestic dog (Canis familiaris) by experienced and inexperienced people, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 120: 159-169) tested 60 people in the vicinity of Edinburgh, Scotland, on their ability to interpret dog behavior.

The 60 people were divided into four groups: dog owners, veterinarians, dog trainers, and non-dog owners. The non-dog owners had no experience with dogs, while the others had considerable experience. Dog owners had a median of 30 years of experience, dog trainers had a median of 20 years of experience, and veterinarians had a median of 11 years of experience.

The authors of the study first walked a border collie past 8 other dogs on separate occasions and recorded video clips of the responses of the other dogs to the border collie. They then categorized the responses of the dogs as aggressive, confident, fearful, friendly, submissive,, play solicitation, actual play, defensive, or indifferent.

The 60 people were shown the video clips and asked to describe the behaviors. As we can predict from the long association between dogs and humans, both dog-oriented people and non-dog people had similar descriptions of the dogs' behaviors. Except for two categories of behavior (confidence and play solicitation), there were no significant differences in the responses of any of the groups.

The amazing thing is that both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people got many of the behaviors wrong.

Both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people could mostly identify indifferent (90% of observers scored correctly), and friendly behavior (73 percent scored correctly). Fearful behavior was correctly identified by 67% of the observers, and play solicitation behavior was correctly identified by 62%.

However, for the other behaviors, both the dog-oriented people and the non-dog people got things mostly wrong. Aggression was correctly identified by only 38% of the observers, confident behavior was also identified by only 38%, and actual play (as opposed to play solicitation) was correctly identified by only 30% of the observers.

Most of the observers seemed to focus primarily on the movement of the tail, rather than on all of the other signals that a dog was displaying.

This study points out some interesting things. One is the possibility that neither dog owners nor veterinarians necessarily know enough about dog behavior to always correctly identify the behavior of a dog. Another is that being around dogs does not necessarily give people an edge in interpreting the behavior of dogs. A third thing, on a positive note, is that most people can identify a friendly dog, even if they can't identify an aggressive one.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Separation Distress and the Rescue Dog

2009-10-09T10:30:33-07:00

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She will write periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

Separation distress is the term used to describe mild, short lived vocalizations, household destruction and other dependency behaviors. Separation anxiety is considered a medical condition and is usually characterized by extreme expressions of distress that can include shivering, drooling and extreme destruction around doorways and windows. Both are a result of excessive attachment to a place, person or animal. It is not surprising that some dogs adopted from shelters become distressed in this way. Unable to control the environment while being moved from place to place and then going into a shelter, the dog can become confused and frustrated. Once the dog is placed into a home setting, with people who love him, it is easy for the dog to become excessively attached. When distressed, the dog can act out with the tools nature has provided: vocalizing, shredding things and seeking a way to rejoin those who make them feel safe.

At the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS), we adopt out many dogs every week. A small percentage of these dogs, at some point, may exhibit distressed behavior when left alone. BEBHS helps people to prevent separation problems with their new dogs through careful counseling. Odds are if the adopter stays committed to the program there will be a successful outcome.

Dogs that over-bond show this tendency in a number of subtle ways. It is important to recognize these early signs. The dog might refuse to leave the house or to go out with anyone but the chosen person. The dog may shadow their chosen person, following them from room to room, panting. In a worst-case scenario, the dog could start guarding the chosen person, threatening or snapping if others try to touch him. The dog may vocalize continually when unable to join the person. Dogs that are having significant separation issues may also drool excessively when confined, such as in a dog crate, as well as shiver uncontrollably. If left alone with the run of the house, the dog might continually go to doors and windows and destruction will usually occur around these openings. Attempts to escape the crate may result in injuries to teeth and gums. If it comes to this point, the dog will require professional medical and behavioral help.

Preventing separation problems is largely a matter of providing a structure in which the dog can learn to feel safe while left alone. Prevention from day one is the best way to keep over-bonding (or, as it is called in the lexicon of behavior, "hyper-attachment") from occurring. Since the cause of dependency is usually abrupt change rather than gradual growth toward independence, setting the dog up with a routine so that he is left alone for a short and tolerable period of time is a good beginning. Using an indoor tie-down with a pen or crate will allow the person to go from room to room in your house without the dog following.

Get the dog to enjoy chewing items, such as bully sticks or food-stuffed rubber toys before confining him with them. When the chew toy is placed into the confined space, sit near it for the first few sessions. Encourage the dog to chew. Once the dog is using the chew toy, start walking away for a short time (about a minute). Upon return, praise the dog in a soft soothing voice and release him for play time. As the days go on, the dog will become more comfortable with his family being in another room or outside the house for a longer period of time. Other routines that will help the dog to gain independence are to ask for simple obedience skills when the dog solicits affection and attention. Keep returns and greetings quiet and calm instead of happy and exuberant.

Simple little routines along with an awareness of dependent behaviors can make a big difference in the adopted dog's long-term adjustment.

The Dangers of Silent, Stealthy Aggression

2009-09-24T17:06:30-07:00

Many behaviors associated with aggression are threat displays. The most common aggressive threats are growling or barking, a stiffening of the body, baring the front teeth in what’s called a “tooth display” and giving an offensive pucker which is when the corners of the lips (commissure) are pushed forward so that the mouth becomes O-shaped. Another behavior associated with a dog with an increased likelihood of behaving aggressively is when the dog’s eyes change from the usual warm liquid look to appearing icy cold and hard. However, many dogs do make threats with one or more of these signals without ever causing injuries.

Ironically, these threat displays can function to thwart serious aggression, which is why many of them occur without ever leading to injurious behavior. By showing their weaponry or signs of strength, dogs are communicating that it would be unwise to challenge them. Two or more dogs can assess each other, and often one or more decide that to proceed would be unwise. Dogs can use these signals to communicate the equivalent of “I have teeth and I am willing to use them” which is sometimes enough to convince another dog not to tangle with the first dog.

Dogs who give threat displays are sometimes willing to avoid aggression depending on the other individual’s response to their display. That is why dogs who never give any warning before behaving aggressively are the most frightening and potentially dangerous. Dogs who attack in full stealth mode with complete silence have no intention of avoiding aggression and are the ones most likely to deliver uninhibited, seriously injurious bites.

Similarly, the most scary and dangerous dog fights are the silent ones in which all the dogs’ energy is focused on the attack rather than the loud ones in which a lot of energy is going towards barking and growling. They are the ones that are most likely to lead to serious injuries or even death. Much less likely to cause serious damage are the ones that sound, to use a phrase that is descriptive if not pretty, “like dogs in a blender.” These are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It is ironic that the threat displays indicating that injurious aggression may follow can function to lessen the probability of physical confrontation and potential injury.

The vocalizations and visual displays that often accompany dog fights are a form of communication. As long as the dogs are attempting to communicate with one another, there is some possibility that they are seeking to end the conflict, and that there is a chance of arriving at a peaceful solution. If the dogs have no interest in working out the conflict or to de-escalate the aggression, then the dogs are most likely serious about injuring each other. That is why the most dangerous dogs who are aggressive are those who attack in a stealthy way. They are like hit men: “This is nothing personal; it’s just business.” Quiet fights and quiet attacks involve individuals who are most likely actually trying to cause injury, rather than trying to reach a resolution.

--Karen London

A Dog's View Of The World

2009-09-14T06:41:53-07:00

I just finished reading a delightful book, Inside of a Dog, by Alexandra Horowitz (2009, Scribner, NY). In this book, Horowitz discusses what the world is like for dogs.

As a scientist with a Ph. D. in animal behavior, Horowitz brings in a considerable amount of information from experiments that have been done with dogs. However, she writes with an engaging, light-hearted style that kept me reading, turning over page after page to see what she would say next.

Many sections start with anecdotes of Horowitz interacting with her dog, Pumpernickel. Each of the anecdotes is short, but illustrates the point that Horowitz brings us in that section.
The anecdotes also show the profound feeling that Horowitz has for dogs. Unlike many animal behaviorists who view their study animals with a dispassionate eye as “subjects,” Horowitz clearly likes dogs and honors dogs for who they are.

Although one would think that dogs have been studied to a great extent by now, the actual fact is that there are relatively few scientific studies of dog behavior, compared to studies of other animals such as rats. Horowitz has contributed to scientific dog knowledge with her studies of dog theory of mind. In case you are not familiar with the concept of theory of mind, it asks the question: does an animal (or a human for that matter) understand that other individuals have minds of their own? In her work, Horowitz found that dogs have what she describes as rudimentary theory of mind, i.e., understanding that there is something going on behind the actions of other dogs and people.

This book provides a very readable entry into what science knows about dog behavior and dog senses. However, rather than presenting the information from a human’s point of view, Horowitz strives to present the information from a dog’s point of view: what is important to a dog, how a dog relates to humans and to other dogs, and how dogs are neither little humans in fur coats nor wolves one step removed from hunting elk on snow-swept plains.

I found this book to be both entertaining and informative, a rarity in most books. I enjoyed the sound of the words in my mind as I read, and I enjoyed the descriptions of experiments boiled down to their essence, free of circumlocutions and mind-numbing jargon. Most of all, I enjoyed the balanced presentation of what we do and do not yet know about dogs.

All told, a great read.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Help…My Dog Won’t “Come!”

2009-09-02T15:20:45-07:00

The advice line rings many times during the day at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. At least once a day I hear the dreaded lament, “I have a great dog and we love him. But, he does not “come” when he is called and today he really scared us.” Usually the dog has run into the street or taken off after another dog or a squirrel, disappeared for a couple of hours and generally frightened or outright humiliated the person who loves him the most. That mad chase across the beach might have been funny in the movie “Marley and Me”, but it is not a laughing matter when it happens in reality.

Often, the root of the problem is that the dog’s person has not laid enough of a foundation on the dog’s obedience. The foundation of the dog’s learning is made up of many successful and rewarded repetitions of a behavior that cause the dog to integrate the behavior into his training. However, it is only human to want things to happen right away. So what does the person do?

A lot of words and gestures are usually thrown at dogs, rewarded sporadically, and produce some correct responses. When people do not get a response often a change in tone occurs and sometimes the dog is willing to try again. This hit-or-miss approach does not allow the dog’s training to become strong enough to hold up under distractions or stress.

Training one’s dog to have a solid, reliable “come” under distraction requires the person to start small, work in a way that ensures success for every single drill and reward generously for every successful performance. Rewards can include food, play with a toy, “tug” games and being released to experience freedom. One of the best rewards to give a dog is a period of free play at the end of the training session.

The first priority in teaching a solid “come” is to obtain a successful response to build upon. There are several ways to start the process. One of my favorites is to teach a dog to play hide-and-seek…first indoors, then outdoors. Dogs are always delighted to find their people. Delicious food rewards can make it even more fun. Start inside by slipping around a corner or ducking behind a piece of furniture and calling him to “come” and then giving him a treat. Be sure to hide when the dog is not paying attention. As the dog catches on to the game, hide in progressively difficult locations (always loaded with good food). When the dog gets to the point where he finds his people every time or just will not leave them alone, move to a safe outdoor location and start the hide-and-seek process again. People find that the dog starts keeping an ear cocked in their direction because he figures they might just disappear at any time. This is a game for the entire family to play throughout the dog’s life. It never gets old!

Bring a long line and flat collar or harness to the park or on a walk. A long line is a leash about 20 to 30 feet in length. The leash can be homemade from a rope or purchased and should not be a retractable leash which has tension on it at all times. The long line gives the dog an opportunity to start hearing voice commands from a distance and gives the person more control over the result. The person should go to the chosen location loaded with food and toys. Spend a few minutes at the beginning of the outing and allow the dog to sniff around at the end of the line and be sure to call him about every 10 to 15 seconds. Most dogs can tolerate up to about 10 repetitions but some will quit responding to even less, so be careful to quit while the dog is still having a good time.

And what if the dog does not respond? The power is found within holding the long line. Walk quickly away from the dog without jerking the line. When the line gets tight the dog will come along. The moment that happens, begin to praise the dog in a happy voice and keep praising until the dog arrives. As soon as he arrives, reward him with nice treats or a fun game with a toy. To do another repetition, just give the dog the “OK” and let the leash out again. If he starts hanging around too closely, consider the session a success and let him run around and play.

There are a couple of important items to remember when teaching a dog to come. Vocalization should be big and clear, not quiet or vague. The voice should sound the same way every time. Always precede “come!” with the dog’s name. Moreover, do not use the dog’s name or the word “come” when the response cannot be controlled by the long line. In those cases, just go and get the dog instead of trying to call him unsuccessfully. When the dog is responding without having to bring him in, he is close to having a reliable recall. At that point, practice everywhere, but always with the control line.

Often, students at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society’s K-9 College ask me how long it takes to teach a dog to “come” and to feel as though the dog can be relied upon. It depends upon how frequently the person practices with the dog and whether or not the person allows for failures to happen during the training period. To “come” is one of those behaviors that will take life-long reinforcement. The world is a fascinating place to a dog and the person needs to test and train him in each new location until everyone involved is truly in tune with the word, “COME!”.

Imprinting And Dog Aggression

2009-08-28T14:33:28-07:00

Not too long ago, one of my friends mentioned that the she had heard about problems at a dog park. It seems that someone was bringing an aggressive dog who was trying to pick fights with the other dogs. The people who brought their dogs regularly to the park were up in arms. Talking to the aggressive dog’s person was proving to be useless, because his attitude was that dogs should be able to work these things out among themselves, and he was not going to intervene in something that he saw as normal dog behavior. The owners of the smaller dogs were particularly terrified. The aggressive dog was big and could potentially hurt a little dog. No one knew what to do to solve this problem.

I mentioned that I have seen such dogs before. In my experience, a dog who is aggressive toward other dogs has not be socialized properly. This often happens when people get a puppy who is 4-5 weeks old, before the puppy has had a chance to imprint on other dogs.

Imprinting is a form of learning that happens at an early age and lasts the lifetime of the animal. The first person to thoroughly investigate the imprinting process was the Austrian ethologist, Konrad Lorenz, who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his contributions to animal behavior. Imprinting takes place during a relatively brief period of time called the sensitive period, after which the information learned during the imprinting process either cannot be or is very difficult to reverse.

Lorenz found that ducklings and geese have a sensitive period shortly after hatching, where they respond to visual and auditory cues by following whatever object that is making sounds. Usually that is their mother. In ducks and chickens, this sensitive period is somewhere between 12-48 hours after they hatch. Through this kind of imprinting, birds learn who their mothers are, and ducks, geese, and quail learn to follow their moms.

The following response is not limited to birds. Imprinting has been shown in a number of mammals as well. The nursery rhyme, “Mary had a little lamb/Its fleece was white as snow/And everywhere that Mary went/The lamb was sure to go,” describes a lamb who was imprinted on Mary.

But another important feature of imprinting is learning what species an animal belongs to, and who to mate with in the future. This phase of imprinting is sometimes known as sexual imprinting. Among social animals, the imprinting tells a young animal not only who its future mating partner is likely to be, but also who to socialize with when the animal starts to grow up.

With birds, such imprinting can be a problem when someone takes a young bird out of a nest and the youngster imprints on humans. I know a person who rescues birds. She has a turkey vulture that she cannot release back into the wild because the vulture imprinted on humans at an early age, apparently because someone took him out of his nest and raised him. Now the vulture thinks that he is human, and directs his courtship behavior at people instead of at vultures. Vulture courtship behavior includes, in part, regurgitating the rotten food that he has eaten at the feet of his intended beloved.

Dogs go through an imprinting process too. In dogs, the sensitive period lasts roughly between a puppy’s 4^th and 12^th weeks of life. During that time, puppies learn who their mother is, and also learn about future mates and their social group.

If a puppy is taken away from her mother at week 4 or 5, she does not have a chance to imprint on dogs as social partners. She does imprint on people, and subsequently thinks of herself as a person rather than as a dog. So when she is placed in the company of other dogs, she has neither the social skills to know how to interact with them, nor even very much interest in going through dog greeting protocols. She sees herself surrounded by alien beings, and responds aggressively.

Fortunately for the dog-human bond, dogs can imprint on both dogs and people during the sensitive period of imprinting. If a dog is allowed to be with his mother and littermates from about week 4 to about week 8, he will imprint on dogs and will learn dog social skills. If the dog is then placed in the company of people during weeks 8-12, he will imprint on the people that he sees around him.

While the effects of imprinting can sometimes be reversed, it takes a lot of work. A dog who was not imprinted on other dogs at an early age can be socialized, but it requires a lot of patience and effort on the part of the dog’s people.

A much better solution is to let puppies imprint on other dogs at an early age, and only take them away from their mothers and littermates when they are around 8 weeks old.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Surrendering Your Dog: Is It The Only Option?

2009-08-13T20:30:52-07:00

When you work at an animal shelter you encounter people on a daily basis who are struggling with the dilemma of having to give up their beloved pet. Among the main reasons people come up against this decision are the following: housing changes, unaffordable medical problems, behavior problems, and lifestyle changes of various kinds (i.e. age and lack of lifestyle fit). Every one of these reasons is valid when looking to surrender your pet. I find most people really do not want to give up their dogs but are faced with no-win situations. Some people are able, though, with a little extra effort to keep their pets.

Housing changes are one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome. Dog friendly rental housing is hard to find and often comes with size and breed restrictions, as well as prohibitive deposits. The best line of defense in this case is to have a truly well-mannered dog with no history of house soiling or destruction. These are traits you develop from the moment your dog comes to live with you. If you have a well-mannered dog, do your best to get references from the landlord and neighbors as well as from your veterinarian, trainer and boarding kennel. When you move into a new place, show an exceptionally high-level of courtesy and responsibility.

When you have to search for new housing, give yourself a lot of lead time. In the event you absolutely can not find a place for your dog, there might be an opportunity for an organization, such as the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS), to successfully re-home your dog. As long as you have one of those stellar pooches with no major problems.

Lifestyle and housing changes share similar problems. New roommates, fiancés, spouses, and babies can make it difficult to keep a dog. I have received many requests for behavior advice from people with new roommates/spouses. Generally, they find they must change their own and their dogs’ habits to accommodate the new situation. To do less is a formula for failure and strife.

In the case of new babies you have nine beautiful months to change your dog’s habits. With adequate preparation and a dog that you are really committed to, you can subtly change the dog’s habits and apply additional training so the dog is manageable during this most stressful time in your life. If, on the other hand, your dog is not well socialized or is poorly socialized (specifically with children) you may not have a choice about keeping the dog in your home. There is abundant information on the internet about preparing your dog for a baby. Your local humane society, like BEBHS, may offer classes and counseling on preparing your dog for this life-changing event.

Behavior and medical problems are areas that seem to cause people the most anguish when it comes to their dogs. Some behavior problems are easily resolved by managing the dog. House soiling, mild food guarding and a few others fit into that category. Fixing those often means your dog will have to lose some freedoms to which you think he or she is entitled. But, if it resolves the problem and makes everyone more comfortable – it’s worth working on. Aggression and separation distress are the two that are most invoked for giving up a dog. And they are the most difficult to deal with.

In the case of medical problems it is often the cost or the time needed to care for the animal that makes people think about a new home as a possible solution. With these cases, we encourage people to find a friend or relative who has a suitable situation and is willing to work on a treatment plan for the dog.

Very few (if any) shelters are able to take dogs with significant behavior or medical problems. But it is worth taking the time to talk to staff at the shelters to explore the possibilities. You can often get good advice and referrals from experts who can help if you choose to work on the dog’s behavioral issues. There are pretty much four universal choices you can make for dogs who have these problems:

1. You can live with the problem and manage the dog in a way that the behaviors

do not happen.

2. You can try to change the behavior or seek alternative treatments.

3. You can give the dog away to someone willing to handle the dog’s problems.

4. You can euthanize the dog.

The best way to get to the right solution is to be informed. Have your dog evaluated by a qualified professional to see if the issues are surmountable. Expert evaluation can present you with an idea of what might be involved in rehabilitation.

Surrendering your dog is not always the only option. Do not be afraid to be creative and do not give up at the first obstacle. If, however, you come to the conclusion that your dog must go, know there are a number of valid reasons for re-homing a dog and that you have done everything possible for your dog.

Dog Walkers Make Good People

2009-08-06T10:50:21-07:00

I used to have a neighbor in New Hampshire who was not universally adored. For the sake of community harmony, I’m resisting the urge to go into specifics. However, let me be clear that nothing he did was horrific, but rather just a bit annoying. All of his offenses fit into the category of the usual space and noise concerns that any of us who live around other people must learn to tolerate.

This man was not always as thoughtful as possible, and his actions definitely inconvenienced me multiple times. Secretly, I was quite pleased that he lived around the corner and down the street a bit, as the distance shielded me from the worst of his transgressions.

Still, I saw him frequently when he took his dog for long walks several times a day, every day. There were other neighbors who walked their dogs regularly, but none were as consistent as this man was.

He was like a postal worker whom neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night (all of which regularly occurred in New Hampshire) could keep from the completion of his appointed rounds. When it was blazing hot, he was out walking the dog with a water bottle they shared. When it snowed, he was suited up with coat, hat, gloves and boots while they walked together.

How could I feel anything but respect and affection for a man who cared for his dog in this way? I suspect that the regularity of those walks at least partly accounted for the dog’s perpetually cheerful face, look of complete contentment and overall glow of health. This polite, happy dog, unlike his human companion, would easily have won a neighborhood popularity contest.

This man changed my philosophy of neighbors. Rather than dwell on the problems, I embrace the idea that we should all love thy neighbor, especially if thy neighbor always walks his dog in fair weather and foul, several times each day. However much my other neighbors might have disagreed, he seemed like good people to me.

--Karen B. London