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dog is developing strange habit



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 15th 03, 10:14 PM
Robin
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Default 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


  #2  
Old July 16th 03, 05:42 PM
Dave Harsant
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Posts: n/a
Default


"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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