ANSC 378 Final - Dogs

Submission

• Animal tries to make itself small

• In dogs, these include: 

  • Crouching 

  • Tail wagging 

  • Rolling over on the back 

  • Overall – looking small 

    • Tuck in, down to the ground

Arousal

• Animal is excited

• Could be good or bad

• Animal activated/energized to do something 

• Generally being bigger

• If a dog is aroused, it may: 

  • Become aggressive 

  • Put its ears back 

  • Put its tail up 

  • Begin to snarl 

  • Show play-soliciting behaviour

Fearful

• Drooped facial features

• Ears pinned to head - made small

• Eyes averting gaze, looking at the ground

• Muzzle and hair down

• Submissive

Assertive Aggressive

• Hair sticking up

• Teeth barred, mouth open

• Ears up and slightly forward

• Eyes wide open

• Head posture up

• Eyes open

• Mouth open

• Tail up - arousal

• Trying to look big

• Animal moving forward

• Hair up

Fear Aggressive

• Mixed messages coming from dog

  • Dog in motivation conflict

• Ears halfway back

• Eyes closed

• Hair sticking up

• Mouth open, teeth showing

• Submissive posture - body small

• Not going forward, holding back

• Teeth barred

• Could be whimper and growl

• Tail down

• Natural tendency for dogs to attempt to be dominant 

• Breed and sex predispositions

Causes of Dominance-Related Aggression

• Follow safety guidelines 

• Avoid triggers of aggression (try to figure them out)

• + Reinforce the obeying of commands 

• If one family member has trouble with the dog, all members of the family should ignore the dog except the person having the trouble 

• Castrate males 

• Desensitize triggers

Prevention of Dominance-Related Aggression

• Dog develops dislike of baby since baby takes attention (-) 

• Owners punish dog’s unfriendly behaviour toward baby (baby = -) 

• Owners give affection and treats only when the baby is absent (absent baby = +) 

• Baby becomes an aversive stimulus (baby = -)

Causes of Aggression Towards Children

• Follow safety guidelines 

• Withhold affection for the dog when the baby is absent (absent baby = neutral) 

• Give affection and treats only in the baby’s presence (baby = +) 

• Implement social punishment (isolation as a form of negative punishment) if the dog growls

Prevention of Aggression Towards Children

• Fear of people to whom dog has not been socialized 

• Mistreatment by subgroup member 

• + Reinforced when aggression repels people

Cause of Fear-Related Aggression

• Follow safety guidelines 

• Implement social punishment (isolation) for aggression 

• Desensitize and countercondition to subgroup 

• Avoid spontaneous approaches of subgroup 

• Avoid physical correction for aggression 

  • Will make it worse and cause an association with O

Prevention of Fear-Related Aggression

• Follow safety guidelines 

• Remove the source of the pain 

• Desensitize and counter-condition

Resolution of Pain-Related Aggression

• Absence of habituation to visitors 

• Breed and sex tendencies (based on artificial selection)

Cause of Territorial Aggression

• Habituate dogs to visitors using a distance gradient 

• Bring the dog under owner control 

• Can teach mutually exclusive behaviour

• Counter-condition stranger visits with food and affection

Prevention of Territorial Aggression

• Left alone for the first time 

• Lack of prior habituation to absences 

• Following a long period of being together (eg. During time off work) 

• Change in owner’s work schedule, family routine or structure 

• After a traumatic event (from the dog’s point of view), such as a period of boarding or at a shelter 

• Lavish affection prior to departure and upon return

Causes of Separation Anxiety

• Keep arrivals and departures low-key 

• Leave your dog with an article of clothing that smells like you 

• Desensitization techniques for severe cases 

  • Successive approximation with positive reinforcement

• Never punish your dog for separation anxiety! 

Resolution of Separation Anxiety

• Breed predisposition 

• Secondary to separation anxiety 

• Acquired because of positive reinforcement 

• Provoked by environmental stimuli 

• Social facilitation

Causes of Excessive Barking

• Eliminate or treat cause as appropriate 

• Discontinue positive reinforcement of barking 

• Screen off provoking stimuli 

• Positively reinforce non-barking 

• Remote punishment (use cautiously)

Prevention of Excessive Barking

• Not classified as an abnormal behaviour, more of a training problem

• Dogs naturally pull harder in the other direction when you pull against them

Causes of Leash Pulling

• teach your dog to walk at or near your heel, keep pace with you and sit or stop when you stop

Prevention of Leash Pulling

• Normal in teething puppies

• Bored, lonely, anxious, stressed

Causes of Destructive Chewing

• Puppy-proof your home 

• Offer an acceptable chew toy to re-direct the behaviour 

• Use deterrents such as Bitter Apple® to make unacceptable chew items unappealing 

• Supervise your puppy 

• Don’t allow your puppy to chew objects that closely resemble “off-limits” items 

• Praise good behaviour 

  • Teach them what you do want

• Provide adequate physical activity 

• Provide plenty of “people time”

Prevention of Destructive Chewing

• To escape 

• To find a cool spot in the summer 

• To bury a bone or other treasured object (to cache something)

• Out of frustration or boredom 

• To search for an object or prey 

• Seeking attention 

Causes of Digging

• Recommendations based on cause:

  • Overall, reinforce not digging/alternative behaviour, redirect digging elsewhere

Prevention of Digging

• Environment outside rewarding 

• Inconsistent outing schedule 

• Enclosure not secure

Causes of Escape Behaviour

• Make enclosure secure 

• Schedule routine outings 

• Do not give attention for escape behaviour 

• Can try remote punishment for escape attempts (use cautiously)

• Want to try to make wherever animal is really nice, nicer that where they want to escape to

Prevention of Escape Behaviour

• Attraction of distant places 

• No reward for staying home 

• Look for pattern: why and when the dog roams 

Causes of Roaming Behaviour

• Eliminate distant attractions 

• Castrate intact males 

• Install buried perimeter wire (remote punishment) 

• + Reinforce for staying home 

  • Make home a positive place

Prevention of Roaming Behaviour

• Medical problem or behavioural senility 

• Disturbance of normal housetraining 

• Weak den sanitation predisposition

• Submissive/excitement urination

• Territorial urine-marking

• Separation anxiety

• Fears or phobias

Causes of Soiling/Inappropriate Elimination

• Treat medical or primary behavioural causes 

• Reinstate house-training 

  • Start with one small room or small enclosure 

• Schedule frequent trips to the outdoors 

• Clean soiled areas 

  • Dogs have very strong sense of smell, just bcs you can’t smell it, doesn’t mean they can’t

  • Could smell like somewhere they go to the bathroom now

• Remote punishment near previously soiled area

  • First try to block off area where they often soil

  • Try all other solutions first

Prevention of Soiling/Inappropriate Elimination

• Natural response to preclude aggression by dominants 

• Punishment exacerbates 

• Prominent during greetings

Causes of Submissive Urination

• Tone down greetings 

• Desensitize by staging multiple greetings 

• Desensitize greetings (by practicing) or make greetings neutral

Prevention of Submissive Urination

• Attracts attention from owner 

• Two (competing) pets 

  • Important to figure out context

• May stem initially from medical problem

Causes of Attention-Seeking Behaviour

• No attention for problem behaviour 

  • Neutralize the issue

• Leave the dog alone when the problem behaviour occurs 

  • Social punishment 

  • Time out – negative punishment

• Attention only for good behaviour only

  • Positively reinforce staying calm, using manners

• Use mutually exclusive behaviours

  • Ex. ask them to sit, bcs they can’t jump up when sitting

Prevention of Attention-Seeking Behaviour

• Want to greet you at face level 

• To get attention from you 

• Testing whether their position in the group is dominant or subordinate to yours 

• Which one is the cause of your pup’s jumping depends on your pup.

Causes of Jumping

.Don’t give attention to behavioural (neutralize, so there isn’t a payoff)

• Use mutually exclusive behaviours (reward for sitting)

• Prevent whenever possible

Prevention of Jumping

• Likely socially facilitated 

• More likely by subordinate animals in competitive environments

Causes of Gorging

• Slow down eating

  • Eg placing a ball in a bowl, using a ‘food ball’ or puzzle box, spread out over multiple meals (if feasible)

Prevention of Gorging

• Tends to be in dogs that are confined, due to den sanitization

• Considered an attention-seeking behaviour

Causes of Coprophagy

• Lacing fecal droppings with an aversive substance (eg. Deter™) is the most frequently used approach to stopping the behaviour 

• May have to be repeated

Prevention of Coprophagy

• Onset can sometimes be related to confinement, boredom, conflict, and/or isolation 

• Skin disorders or disorder of grooming control in acral lick dermatitis 

• Neurotransmitter abnormality 

• Learned behaviour from endorphin release (+ reinforcing) 

Causes of Acral Lick Dermatitis

• Alleviate stress, conflict and boredom 

• Allow wound to heal and licking restraint in acral lick dermatitis 

• Structure environment and interaction with caregiver 

• Consider drug treatment

Prevention of Acral Lick Dermatitis