Human values and the world through the eyes of a dog
"I will take in a dog from a shelter. He will thank me for a warm cat and a full bowl"- says "average" a person looking for a dog companion. Nothing more mistaken. Dogs do not follow our values or feelings. It is not enough to keep a dog on the couch, feed him the best morsels from lunch and expect him to be happy. I don’t understand people who expect too much and too little at the same time from their pets.
Too much- because they talk to dogs and assume they understand full sentences. That they can be embarrassed for messing up the house. That they are sometimes vicious or can take revenge. Such feelings are alien to dogs. People often expect that a dog left alone will not destroy anything – and if it does, it is just stupid. And such a trained – is a smart dog.
I always say that my dog was not born like that and every dog could be like that. Obedient, happy, actively cooperating with his handler. They don’t believe. Because their "peece" is left alone – and there are always bitten shoes or furniture. But unfortunately no one "did not convince", that you will always come back. No one left him a tasty bone to chew on to relieve stress. So for this he used the smell of the master – shoes unintentionally left under the dog’s nose.
It is beyond dog’s reasoning that these are expensive, new leather shoes. What matters is that they have helped to endure a separation that is tragic for dogs. And if you come and spank her? Then Pikuś will remember – to take a low pose and hide behind the cupboard in order to calm down the angry people – and "remorse" in Pikusia – ready!
And it would be enough to accustom the dog to staying at home alone, leave a tasty bone or a toy stuffed with treats and clean up everything that could unintentionally fall into the dog’s mouth.
A stolen piece of sausage from the table? Why not. It has paid off once! And the dog is intelligent. If some behaviour was beneficial – the probability of repeating it increases. Pikus’ owner then says that the dog was punished for the deed. My first question is: "when?" Because the punishment applied even one minute after the theft – will not be the punishment for the theft but usually for what happened a moment later – the dog’s approaching the nervous owner. And this is not what we wanted..
Not enough – because we allow the puppy to do a lot without expecting anything in return. He jumps on people funny when greeting, he whines when eating a bone, he pulls on the leash? We do not think that this is a problem – after all, it is still a small puppy. Our thoughts: "He’ll grow out of it over time". And the puppy accepts the rules he finds in his new home as something natural. And later when dog is 20-40 kg we want to change it suddenly.
During training, the most important mistakes are – constant punishment, too little reward (or even none), repeating the commands several times, the belief that the dog should work for the owner. And yet everyone would like to get an attractive reward for his work. Why should it be different with a dog??
But often people teach undesirable behaviors themselves. Recently I met a dog who was guarding his toys, bed, bowl and owner. And it was taught to him by the owners themselves – by taking away toys and food from the puppy – without giving anything in return. A "accidental" Barking at a hand that was reaching for a toy – ended with a quick withdrawal of the hand. The dog succeeded – the behavior was rewarded. The toy stays with the dog.
