animal behavior Archives

What to do if your dogs fight (other than cry)

02•15•17

Emmett and Cooper are thick as thieves.

They just prefer to be together.

In fact, we make an effort to separate them on occasion because, well, Emmett’s not going to be around forever, and Cooper needs to learn to be alone. When we walk one, the other sits at the door and waits. When one wants to go outside, the other goes, whether they needed/wanted to or not.

That said…

They got into a fight Monday night.

Like, a fight fight. And, it’s the second one this month.

Honestly, I’ve waffled about sharing this story for a couple reasons, but let’s first back up a bit…

Way back when Lucas was sick, after his amputation, Emmett and Cooper got in several fights at dinnertime over the span of a couple months. We were shocked because they’ve always gotten along so perfectly. We thought maybe something else was going on, so we talked to our vet, and she gave them the all-clear medically but said that, with Lukey’s illness, it wasn’t all that surprising. She said stress, changes in routine, all of it, could easily cause tensions to flare.

So, we instituted the mat system to keep them separate at dinnertime, and that was pretty much that.

Until now.

It’s sort of the same scenario, though entirely different. Emmett’s mobility diminishes each day.

{{I’m going to write more about that in full in another post. Truth: It’s sort of why I’ve been avoiding writing anything because it’s a lot to process. But… soon…}}

He falls. A lot. He’s wearing boots and a GingerLead almost always. Our routine has changed to accommodate him. And, I don’t know, Cooper is SUCH a sensitive little guy. He is super smart, for sure, but he’s always been reactive… guided by his emotions, not his head.

A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning the kitchen. I had my headphones on listening to an audiobook (Everyone Brave is Forgiven… you guys, after like 11 hours of listening, I didn’t like it. Sigh.). The dogs follow me everywhere all the time, so–of course–they were puttering around my feet.

They were both behind me while I cleaned the counter, and so I have no idea how it started, but in a flash John was running in from the living room and we were pulling them apart.

Neither dog was hurt, thank goodness. But.

It’s always devastating when your dogs fight, you know? We were more shaken than they were because literally within 30 seconds they were totally back to normal, like nbd.

Fast forward to Monday night. John and I were sitting on the couch, watching Friends reruns on Netflix, eating boxes of Girl Scout cookies (yeah… boxes… plural… #noshame). The dogs were puttering around, as usual. Somehow they both ended up between the coffee table and the couch, and I don’t know if it was that Emmett was losing his balance or that we had cookies in hand or who knows what, but again… a flash, and we’re pulling them apart.

This time, Cooper has an injury… sort of a split/fat lip.

Sigh.

And, to be totally honest, I hesitated to write about this because I sort of feel like it’s shameful. Here I am, a pet industry professional, with my own dogs getting into fights. Plus, I’m sensitive about the crowd that crows about them being pit bulls, you know? But, I was talking to a blogger buddy, and she said something like, “You have to write about this because I bet a lot of people who experience this don’t know where to go for help.”

Well, fair enough.

So, here’s a bit of help: Luckily (?) I had the opportunity to research and write about how to stop a dog fight a couple years ago, so I have the tools at my disposal. If you’re facing this in your house, or at the dog park or whatever, go read that piece.

My advice, which I’m trying very hard to take for myself, is to gather some perspective. In our case, I think it’s a matter of perspective, anyway. If your dogs are constantly going at each other or injuring each other, seek a professional, science-based trainer ASAP. Safety is the most important thing, for you and for your dogs, so keep them separate until you can work with a pro.

If you’re like us, where it’s situational, try to identify the triggers. I think we have an overarching stress factor that we can’t really combat right now, but we can be extra cautious when there’s food around since that’s been the consistent trigger for them.

Practice the wheelbarrow technique in the article above, if that makes you feel better. I’ve been thinking about, too, how my siblings and I used to fight. Things that wouldn’t normally push your buttons, on a bad day can totally send you over the edge, and it’s the same for our dogs.

Take deep breaths.

That’s what I’m working on, anyway.

Have your dogs ever fought? Have you ever had to break up a dog fight?

Please do share your experiences in the comments! As my friend pointed out, this community helps us all realize… we’re not alone in our crazy, devoted love for our dogs, even when they behave like idiots.

Why animal behavior studies matter

08•08•16

Have you ever had an MRI?

The sights, sounds, and that uncomfortable feeling of lying still in a noisy chamber…

Shudder.

Greg Berns, a scientist at Emory, trained dogs—all future assistance dogs under a year old—to withstand the stress of an MRI machine. He then used the fMRI to map dogs’ brain activities when exposed to dog and human smells.

In Budapest, another scientist did the same thing: trained dogs to withstand 10 minutes in an MRI machine while listening to 200 different human and dog sounds.

The Emory study found that the dogs’ owners’ aroma actually sparked the “reward center” of their brains. Dogs’ brains showed that they prioritized the whiff of their people over anything or anyone else.

In the Budapest study, researchers isolated the part of the dogs’ brain that registered sounds and found that it works exactly like ours (called “the voice area”), which was only discovered in humans in the 1990s.

Other studies conducted at Yale, MIT, and Duke indicate that the emotional centers of dogs’ brains act identically to those of human toddlers.

So, why does this matter?

What does it really mean that dogs’ brains, their emotional centers, act like ours do when we see people we love? Why does it matter that they recognize happy vs sad intonations and act differently based on which they hear?

On the one hand, longtime dog owners scoff at all this research. Why spend a tremendous amount of time, money, and manpower to test something that dog owners already KNOW about the fur under their feet?

On the other hand, though, is the harsh reality of our animal culture. Even among animal lovers and dog owners, lots of people consider an “outside dog” no big deal… but no one would EVER have an “outside toddler.” Their brains process loneliness and loss and love the same way, so what’s the difference?

That right there is why animal studies matter.

A parent in Maryland letting her kid walk a mile to the park? Outrage and calls to Child Protective Service.

But outright, substantial abuse to animal? Often nothing.

Several years ago, a woman in a nearby county was reported by her neighbors for animal hoarding. There were no services in place to either help her or punish her, but 24 dogs were removed from her trailer home. She still got to keep more—around 6, though her neighbors said when she found out that an animal welfare organization was coming, she started ferrying dogs to a friend’s house. The plywood floors in her trailer were so urine-soaked that they squished underfoot.

I helped with those dogs. Their nails were so long, they curled under. They had rotten teeth and ear infections and fleas.

All but one of the dogs were able to be placed in shelters to await their fate.

The woman?

Nothing.

Not one thing happened to her because there weren’t really enough resources to do much of anything and… after all… they’re just dogs.

That is why animal behavior studies matter.

If we can get proof—hard data—to show the depth and intelligence and emotional capacities of dogs, then maybe… just maybe… the justice system can catch up, can use that data to actually prosecute in a meaningful way.

There’s more—so much more—about this topic… about how animal abusers usually use animals as their gateway victims before turning to human victims, so stiffer animal abuse punishments might actually prevent human abuse down the line…

About how researchers have redefined the timeline of human evolution based on a redefined timeline of canine evolution…

About how—if it weren’t for dogs becoming our hunting partners and dwelling protectors—we’d probably have evolved quite differently…

Animal behavior research matters.

If you think so, too, you can always enroll your dog in one of the many ongoing studies—just google “citizen science and dogs” to find possibilities. I recently completed this course (it’s free and fascinating)!

Or, if nothing else, give your dog a hug and a good, long walk. Science has proven that he loves you for it.

What is wool sucking? This weird thing Newt does…

01•26•15

Hang with us, dog buddies! Today is a post about our feline friends, inspired by something Newt has been doing almost daily: wool sucking and kneading.

As you know, I’m a cat novice. Newt is the first cat I’ve ever shared a home with, so it’s been a huge learning curve. Everything she does is new and, oftentimes, baffling! This was one of those head scratchers, so I reached out to a dear friend, Lauren Bowling, DVM, who focuses on feline medicine and behavior. Now, before I get to Dr. Bowling’s advice, for those of you who aren’t familiar with this behavior, here is 30 seconds of Newt’s daily ritual:

Newt: wool sucking and kneading from Maggie Marton on Vimeo.

Odd, right? Not sure if you could hear, but she’s a purring machine the whole time she does that behavior. There are very few parallels that I’ve seen between cat and dog behavior, but this, to me, looked like an obsessive behavior. I found confounding information on the internet (of course), and the two books I consulted said opposite things. So, I turned to an expert!

Here’s what Dr. Bowling had to say about wool sucking and kneading, “Cats display this behavior when they have been separated from their mother at an unusually young age. The kneading and sucking mimics nursing. It is an auto-soothing response similar to toddlers and children sucking their thumb.”

For Newt, that makes sense. We don’t know her history before she showed up on John’s door. She was about four months old and not in too bad of shape, other than worms, but there were tons of stray cats in southern Louisiana, so who knows?

My big concern, though, was if the behavior was problematic. Like, if it is an obsessive behavior, do you need to step in?

“It is generally harmless; however, if your cat gets into it to the point where they are eating the fabric or tearing holes in it, then it needs to be addressed with a veterinarian or behaviorist. And I don’t mean that the holes happen because he’s been periodically sucking on it for years, I mean if holes come up in 1-2 sessions of sucking,” Dr. Bowling said.

Well, that hasn’t happened for her yet, but Dr. Bowling suggested training a distractor cue, like with the clicker or a cellophane bag rattling, and reinforce with a treat when the behavior is stopped. Around here, Newt is typically stopped by the dogs – one will bark or come over to sniff and see what she’s doing, and she walks away. However, she responds really well to the clicker (and shaking treat bags), so I’m going to test that out.

Dr. Bowling also mentioned that most cats will develop a substrate preference, which is totally true for Newt. She only does the wool sucking and kneading on the blanket on my office chair (in the video above), a throw blanket in our bedroom, and one of the fuzzy dog beds. She suggested that, if you know the preference, leaving that blanket or item out only where your cat can be supervised. The blanket in the video used to be on our bed, actually, but it got annoying when Newt would start doing that in the middle of the night!

If you’re worried about your cat’s behavior, you should always check in with your vet. “A trip to the vet is warranted if they are increasing the time and aggression of the behavior or if they start chewing holes in the blankets,” she said. “This is not an easy behavior to eradicate, so if you feel it is a problem it needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later.”

As for Newt, now that I know so much more about this particular quirk (thanks, Dr. Bowling!!) I’m going to let it go, though I’ll periodically check the blanket for holes, just in case.

Cat folks, does your cat do any of this wool sucking and kneading? I know the kneading thing can happen exclusive of the sucking part, and I’ve heard that lots of cats knead their owners (not something Newt does). Have you experienced this with your cat? Have you had to step in? Or let it runs its course?

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