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dog is developing strange habit
"Nikolaus Hiebaum" wrote in message om... Hi - My parents recently got a new dog. He, i.e., the dog, is already five months old (they bought him at that age), and he does his "things" outside, but lately he has developed a habit of defecating *on* the table while alone at home! My parents work during the day and either one of them is coming home briefly during the day to take the dog for a walk and then leaves again. I don't think it's an issue that the dog doesn't have a chance to defecate outside, plus, the place where he defecates is too odd. I think the dog wants to "punish" my parents for something. My question is how to brake this habit and what to do? CU, I have heard before that defecating in the owners bed, or some other personal area is a sign of separation anxiety. When the owner leaves home, the dog perceives them as being lost, and is simply laying out the scent to help them find their way home. Kind of sweet if you look at it that way. Robin |
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"Robin" wrote in message news:J8_Qa.71752$ye4.48331@sccrnsc01... "Nikolaus Hiebaum" wrote in message om... Hi - My parents recently got a new dog. He, i.e., the dog, is already five months old (they bought him at that age), and he does his "things" outside, but lately he has developed a habit of defecating *on* the table while alone at home! My parents work during the day and either one of them is coming home briefly during the day to take the dog for a walk and then leaves again. I don't think it's an issue that the dog doesn't have a chance to defecate outside, plus, the place where he defecates is too odd. I think the dog wants to "punish" my parents for something. My question is how to brake this habit and what to do? CU, I have heard before that defecating in the owners bed, or some other personal area is a sign of separation anxiety. When the owner leaves home, the dog perceives them as being lost, and is simply laying out the scent to help them find their way home. Kind of sweet if you look at it that way. He he, unfortunately dogs are not human and do not have the same view of the world. It appears to be a less complex viewpoint, and they have a different mix of sensory input with much better hearing and far more sensitive sense of smell. But we do know they are very unlikely to have the concept of "punishment" . Certainly sounds liek a form of separation anxiety to me .. when I first brought my pup home at 8 weeks (he's now just over 2 years), the first couple of times I shut the toilet door with him on the wrong side he promplty left a message on the other side of the door. The worst thing you can do in trying to interpret your dog's behaviour is to anthropomorphise, i.e. interpret their behaviour using the human framework, because while there may be some similarities, they are not human. They cannot perform complex reasoning in the way we do, and they are driven much more by immediate responses to stimuli. However, they are very observant, and can pick up very subtle signals to which we may be totally oblivious. So, similarly, when you come home and find the dog has wreaked havoc and think "oh, the dog looks guilty", he is NOT acting guilty, he is reacting to your body language, and you interpret his reaction to YOUR behavioiur as guilt. |
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