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DE: Doggy Dogginess! Who’s the doggiest? Share a photo!
@David posted a great snap of Lido yesterday in our DE (Daily Enrichment). Let’s roll with that and talk about Species Specific Behavior: digging, shredding, gnawing, pointing, chasing. What does your dog do, that is super “doggy”?
Capture a photo or video of them being a dog, today. Share it with us! Here’s my girl, Joy, creek stompin’ and stick chompin’! She has no idea she’s 10yrs old.
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28 Replies
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@Catherine Here’s my client, Charlie, finding a very choice squirrel he wanted up in a big tree in his yard. Side note: Sometimes, Charlie catches the squirrels! Once he did with his owner and once with me…on both occasions, he let the squirrel go when asked. And the squirrels seemed no worse for wear. Thank goodness.
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Oh! such a doggy-dog thing to do! ????
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I probably shouldn’t be, but I am always surprised when pet dogs catch wild squirrels or rabbits which are so quick and seem to always have great escape options nearby (trees, brush). Groundhogs I can understand – they are not fast. But squirrels and rabbits are so quick.
I am fascinated by the hunting instincts that are still so strong in our pets – I’ve even seen Havanese be successful chipmunk hunters. For those who have or know dogs that catch squirrels – what is their winning technique? Is it patience? Trickery? Speed? All three?
If anyone is asking how trickery can be a thing, maybe that word is humanizing it a bit, but I can tell you I’ve seen versions of it. Hazel uses our hill and our shed in the yard to launch surprise attacks on groundhogs and it works. Thankfully, she will release them once I get close.
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@David – ooh this is a fun question. Years ago, I had a sweet golden retriever mix who developed a winning squirrel strategy. She would sit, stock still, at the bottom of the tree. The squirrel would scold, and scold and scold. Meagan would just sit there; you could hardly see her breathing. She would be looking right at the squirrel, but like a golden statue. And the squirrel would get lower, and lower, confident that he could yell at her loud enough she’d leave. Sometimes, they would scurry back up the tree and go on about their business. But other times… well, let’s just say we had fewer squirrels in our yard than the neighbors did. She LOVED this game and was very, very good at it.
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Wow, it looks like patience is a major theme here.
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@David with Charlie, it’s a verrry sloooow stalk, almost unnerving to watch…then suddenly, he’s on the target.
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Ah, so his movements don’t scare off the squirrel until it’s too late I guess?
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Please excuse the house mess in this video (just pulled out the decorations to get started on) but I thought I would share it anyway. Stella often will all of a sudden run to a toy and play with it, or even do a head first jump into her pile of toys that are kept in a bed in the family room. I haven’t caught her play on video before as she does it randomly and always makes me laugh. I also get on the floor with her to play and rub her ears and back. It is her hunt and catch instinct in a very humane way lol.
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@HHPS I REALLY want to see her jump head first into her toys! LOL – that’s internet gold, right there! ???? She is simply adorable. You observation about this being a hunting behavior is spot on, too. After all, what were Dachshunds bred to do?
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Thanks Catherine, I have been trying for years to capture her toy dives and they happen so spontaneously and quickly I have yet to be filming her in the moment for one lol.
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This is Red’s nightly activity.
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Nice share, @Reddog ! What is the function of that behavior? Does he do this only on his mat? What happens if you give him a fluffy blanket?
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Na Mr Red does it just about any place that he is about to lie down. The function, I think is something like fluffing pillows for him. ????????
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I thought that might have something to do with it. The short-coated dogs I’ve lived with (even the great big, tough lion-hunting Rhodesian Ridgeback) always want to be in a big pile of blankets. When I saw your video, @Reddog , I wanted to give him a fluffy blanket! Warm that puppy up! ????
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Ya he loves going to our bedroom and putting all the bed coverings in a pile so he has something to lean on. I was also thinking it could be some self soothing as well because he will lightly chew his blankets.
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Hazel does this as well, chewing the edge of towels that she lies on. She has done it far less since having a house mate she loves in Lido so I think you may be on to something with the self soothing there. In Hazel’s case, having a house mate is a huge form of enrichment. (That does Not mean that every person with one dog should bring in another! Raising a housemate that was a good fit for Hazel was very carefully orchestrated.)
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Yes we would love to add another dog to the family and have been working on finding the right fit for years. Red is extremely submissive to guest doggies that have visited in the past. So much so that he would sleep in the living room instead of coming to the bedroom at night ????. He doesn’t seem to enjoy the company after a while. So we are listening and not pushing anything.
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Good listening to the dog, @Reddog ! That’s a perfect example that not every dog dreams of having another in the home. Some shelters offer great “overnight” trial options. Maybe that’s a way for you to see if there’s an ideal match out there for Mr. Red. Or maybe he likes being a solo dog. By letting your observations of his behavior and body language tell you the answers to that, I feel you are handling it in a great way.
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Thank you ????
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I hope I can get a video soon, David. It is truly something. Have you seen a video of lions stalking prey? That’s what he reminds me of. Yes, that’s exactly right, slo-mo and then, too late! But, he has never killed or seriously maimed the squirrel. Truly amazing!
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Here’s another client who I boarded last week, during Thanksgiving. Olive is a 3 year old border collie and she cracked me up when I had her outside in my back yard on a tie-out hoping to play fetch. She was much too happy to chase my shadow, not her own or the ball. So funny!!! It was a bright and sunny day, just after noon in Illinois.
Enjoy her doggie-ness!!!
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Great video, @Bernerlabreclectus and on one level, super cute. I want to throw out a word of caution though: shadow chasing can become a compulsive behavior and very hard to treat. Here’s a great article to learn a bit more about that.
https://thebark.com/content/behavior-unhealthy-obsessions-dogs
Years ago, I was looking for a Vizsla puppy and visited a litter where the mama dog was compulsively chasing lights, reflected from my watch. I passed on that litter! OCD has a genetic component, to be sure.
If you think about it, shadow chasing and light chasing are not really “normal” dog behaviors, are they? What would be the function, for a normal, feral dog? When you say in the video, “She’d rather do this than…” that’s a key phrase that is also concerning. A border collie should want to chase and play with toys, right? This may be worth a conversation with the pet parents to discovery how much she is doing this at home, and to gently lead them toward more enriching activity for this dog. Time to break out that Canine Enrichment in the Real World book!
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Thank you, @programdev , I had no idea it could become a compulsive OCD kind of behavior.
That makes sense, though…for Olive also enjoys chasing and lounging and barking at cars, but I’ve been working on this with her using a “default behavior” to get her attention when a car on the street is going to pass us on a walk…I say, “Sit”, (which she can do, but she prefers to settle) into a Down. Then we watch as the car passes and if she quietly observes, instead of the barking and lunging (BarcaLounger, that reminds me of), she gets a treat and praise. She LOVES that! So, it is new to her to be able to offer a different behavior and stay calm.
She does enjoy playing frisbee! Her owner does that lots at the dog park with her. I guess it was an effect of an extremely bright sun that day…
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Great Paula, I’m glad to help. I’m glad she is getting other activities – and it would be something to watch out for in future. I’m looking forward to seeing how your new views on enrichment (from the book) can help this dog. I learned so much yesterday from the chat (and will be posting it soon!)
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This is the best, love how you play with her and just went with what she had fun doing instead of trying to get her to fetch.
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Super cute – such a DAWG – and the perfect body for rollin’ in the grass. ????
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He IS a DAWG! Crazy Ralphie! He loves to drink out of the spray hose, as well.
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