Collins Good Dog Behaviour: An Owner’s Guide

BRED FOR fighting other dogs

ACTIVITY LEVEL:

CHARACTERISTICS: courageous, tenacious, fearless

Staffordshire Bull Terriers are courageous and fearless.

10 YORKSHIRE TERRIER

BRED FOR killing rats

ACTIVITY LEVEL:

CHARACTERISTICS: alert intelligent, spirited

Yorkshire Terriers are spirited little dogs which enjoy playing.

11 CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL

BRED FOR companionship

ACTIVITY LEVEL:

CHARACTERISTICS: affectionate, friendly

12 BOXER

BRED FOR hunting bears and boars

ACTIVITY LEVEL:

CHARACTERISTICS: lively, strong, loyal

Boxers are affectionate, exuberant and boisterous. They can make lovely pets providing they get enough play and exercise.

MONGRELS AND CROSS-BREEDS

Mongrels contain elements of their various ‘pure bred’ parents. They will have a real mixture of genetic traits which can be accentuated or played down by their owners as they are raised. They are good ‘all round’ dogs and often make excellent pets.

Cross-breeds (from pure-bred parents of different breeds) contain a mixture of the characteristics of both breeds. They have the advantage over pure-breeds of having fewer health problems associated with inbreeding. The most successful crosses are often those where a breed with a gentle, placid nature is crossed with a breed with a more reactive temperament.

THE RIGHT DOG FOR THE RIGHT SITUATION

When looking at the characteristics for each breed, you should realise that there is a negative side to each quality if it is incorrectly channelled. For example, it may be beneficial to have an ‘alert’ dog that responds to all your requests quickly, but a dog that is alert and responsive to every little noise outside would become very tiresome. Similarly, it may be nice to have a ‘lively’ and ‘energetic’ dog if you have a high activity level yourself, but on days when you have no desire to be very active, this energy may emerge in unwanted activity and bad behaviour.

Exercise requirements are not always dependent on size. The giant Irish Wolfhound, for example, is often less active than other smaller dogs.

Any surplus energy in active dogs can be channelled into energetic games with toys.

Choosing the characteristics that best suit your requirements is essential to achieving a happy partnership.

YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS!

The old saying that ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’ is simply not true! One of the requirements of a hunting/scavenging existence is that you need to be adaptable. This trait has been handed down to our domestic dogs and they remain flexible in their behaviour and open to change throughout their lives. Unacceptable dog behaviour can be channelled into more acceptable avenues and new patterns of behaviour can be developed. With a better understanding, many owners can have dogs that are well behaved and can change their dog’s behaviour for the better.

Older dogs may take more time to learn new ways because you will be working against established behaviour patterns. However, all dogs will readily pick up new ways of behaving if it is to their advantage to do so.

Although it is relatively easy to change the way in which a dog behaves, it is unlikely that you will be able to change a dog’s character fundamentally once he is mature. A shy, submissive dog, for example, is unlikely to become a super-confident extrovert. Being realistic about how much you can change the way your dog behaves is important, but, with knowledge, understanding and some effort, even the most unruly of dogs can be tamed.

THE PERFECT PUPPY

If you take on a puppy, you start with a relatively clean slate. Raising a puppy takes a lot of time and effort but at least the mistakes, or lack of them, will be all yours.

Most ways of achieving good dog behaviour are common to both adult dogs and puppies and are covered elsewhere in this book. However, a most important area that relates specifically to puppies is that of socialization. One of the primary requirements of a pet dog is that he is friendly with people and other animals. This will depend on the quantity and quality of social contact he gets with them as he grows up.

The early weeks of a puppy’s life are very important, particularly up to the age of twelve weeks. During this time, a puppy will approach anything unfamiliar without caution. Meeting plenty of people, including children, as well as other animals, makes it more likely that he will be unafraid and sociable with them in later life.

As a puppy gets older, he becomes more apprehensive of the unfamiliar and, as a result, socialization becomes more difficult. For this reason, it is essential that a puppy is obtained from a source where every care has been taken to ensure that the socialization process is well underway before he reaches you. Never be tempted to buy a puppy from someone who will deliver him or who has numerous litters of puppies, often from different breeds, for sale. Only buy from a place where puppies are kept in a home environment or where each puppy has been given enough individual attention to make him confident and outgoing.

It is unwise to buy a puppy that is older than eight weeks unless he has been well socialized with humans.

VACCINATIONS VERSUS SOCIALIZATION

You will also need to protect your puppy from contagious diseases until such time as he has developed sufficient immunity against them. Consult your veterinary surgeon for information on the disease conditions in your area and how to keep your puppy safe. There is always a balance to be found between keeping your puppy protected from disease and preventing him from growing up shy and unfriendly because of a lack of social contact. With care, it is possible to reach a compromise and keep your puppy healthy while ensuring that he socializes enough to become confident and friendly towards people and other dogs.

Take particular care if your puppy is shy or sensitive, and give him more opportunities to overcome his fears.

It is also unwise to buy a puppy that is older than eight weeks unless he has been kept separately from other dogs and has learned to relate well to people. Obtaining a puppy that has spent a long time playing with other dogs rather than people can result in a dog that is less than ideal as a pet.

Once you have collected your puppy, you will need to continue the important socialization process that has been started (or make up for lost time if it has not). Take your puppy out and about as much as possible, meeting a wide variety of people of different ages and characters. Take care not to overwhelm your puppy with too much at first and allow him to make all the approaches. Socialization will need to be continued until your puppy has become a mature adult to ensure that he remains friendly and interested in people throughout his life.

Take particular care if your puppy is shy or sensitive, and allow him more time to come out of his shell. Make sure that every experience he has with people and other animals is pleasant. Watch his body language (#u6645184f-9368-4afd-b22d-e8b643bab51e) to determine whether or not he is enjoying the experience and take action if he is not. Try to think ahead and prevent him from having any unpleasant experiences. If all of his early life is happy and enjoyable, he will grow up with a view of the world as a safe, comfortable place. This will allow him to be friendly and outgoing.

Having plenty of happy times with children and adults helps a puppy grow up into a friendly adult.

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CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_83d35170-e508-57cc-afdc-ad7ce0ed3a07)

SPEAKING YOUR DOG’S LANGUAGE (#ulink_83d35170-e508-57cc-afdc-ad7ce0ed3a07)

The reason why dogs make such popular pets is that they are so like us in many ways. However, their similarities to us can often deceive us into thinking that they are just like us in all ways; that they are a less complicated, furry version of ourselves or our children. We often expect them to think and act like small people. They cannot. All they can be are dogs. What is frequently overlooked is that they are members of a completely different species and, as such, often have surprising differences which can be the cause of problems between us. Understanding what dogs can and cannot do, and knowing their physical and mental limitations, is essential to having realistic expectations about their abilities.

THEIR PHYSICAL WORLD

It may seem too obvious to say that dogs experience things at a different level to us. But imagine what it must be like to live in a world where you cannot see the faces of the animals you live with when they walk around and where most of the interesting things they do, such as eating, take place way above your head. What must it be like to live in a house where you cannot see out of the windows without making a special effort and where most of the focus of your world is at knee height? Getting down to their level and looking at things from their perspective gives a surprisingly different view of the world we both inhabit.

Dogs need to adapt their behaviour when living in a world designed for humans.