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Eyes on Our Behavior!
What does this quote mean to you?
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14 Replies
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????As the proud owner of 3 EYES ON YOU Aussies… I’m being WATCHED all the time.
????If I exhale and put my coffee cup down – We Might Be Going Outside!
????If I put on THOSE SHOES – We Might Be Going on a Hike!
????If I get out certain treats/treat pouch – WE ARE LEARNING NEW THINGS! GAME ON!
Nothing escapes their attention and they connect the dots really fast. It’s good… and it can be really annoying, because I might just be stretching my legs! HAHA
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Fantastic examples, @catherine . I hope other folk chime in. In addition to many tip-offs for the possibility of positive consequences, there are clues dogs pick up from us that may signify not such good things, too.
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I can’t do anything without my dog noticing. If I am laying on couch and move my leg my dog instantly gets up. I just finished Kim Brophey’ s FDM course. She talks about one of the most important things you can teach a dog is patterns. It is so true Dogs are amazing at putting things together
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@bmacwatt Let’s talk more about patterns… while I do see a strength in being predictable for our dogs, isn’t there also some strengths in breaking routines? One service dog trainer I worked with believed strongly that feeding the dogs “within a three hour window” not at a specific time helped prepare them better for being able to wait and not be stressed by the “change” in routine. I’d love to know your thoughts on whether breaking patterns regularly might help a dog become more resilient?
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Oh, this is a topic I have always struggled with and, have heard the “experts” mention that predictability is a good thing and dogs need it. My thoughts were similar to yours @catherine , that if, we are always predicable, how does a dog learn to cope when the predictable “thing” can not or does not happen? I think we can set up a dog for failure sometimes.
Then, on the other hand, working with Barkley who struggles with anxiety, the vet said “Anxiety loves predictability” and that rings so true and has not left my head!
Since dogs are visual learners and pick up on our environmental cues, it can make it difficult not to do things to predict other things, for sure! I guess for me, it depends on which dog I am with and what they can comfortably tolerate without creating stress and anxiety. For example, Titan can become a bucking bronco when he sees his harness since it predicted getting out of his kennel in the shelter and still predicts going outside (he is so much better though!). Or just now as I am typing he is grabbing a chair cushion. Grabbing a cushion predicts mom will pay (more) attention to me! I can easily put the harness on Titan and walk away for 1-2 minutes to create a delay, a moment of calm before going out and him not get frustrated. For Barkley the harness predicts going out NOW and he will get frustrated right away if we are not moving out a door (even when he was very fearful-it predicted more anxiety- going out). With Barkley I think we are always working on an emotional response level more than operant. With Titan, even thought we are seemingly “unintentionally” working on emotional associations with the harness, he is able to perform operant behaviors in a calm state of mind vs frustration. I think that predictability can trigger an emotional (positive or negative) response or an operant response or both while varying in degrees of each depending on the dog!
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@jenz – wait, are you saying “It Depends!?”
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‘cuz, I agree.
For people, too, yeah?
Some thrive on sponenaity and change. Others need things very much the same.
Why should our dogs be any different? There will be a wide spectrum of needs.
I think it’s really hard for most of us to be less-than-predictable to our very observant dogs. And yet, some dogs need even MORE consistency than others. That said, I believe puppies need to learn to overcome emotional challenges, especially.
I’d love to hear what others are thinking about this topic, too.
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Yes, it depends and with my examples why!
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Speaking of observing us… I thought this article in the BARK was interesting – It was recapping some research about “the Lassie Effect” – those dogs who are so tuned in to us and our emotions they will do anything to help us when we are distressed. The behavioral differences we are observe fall along a spectrum – from “Saving Timmy” to “I can’t save Timmy because I’m too sad!” … and I think they left out the dogs who would say, “Who’s Timmy!?”
So, yes, they are not only watching us, but they are interpreting what we need from them, a lot of the time. Cool stuff.
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The pattern discussion is so interesting. My thought is if you provide structure and predictability this is so much better for the dog. If you proof these patterns with different distractions and environments doesn’t this build resilience in the dog? What do you think?
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Wow – we’ve come a long way already in this discussion but your question, @bmacwatt makes me dig even deeper – love it!
Behavior Vets gets the credit for this lovely “Resilience Rainbow”
They say: The Resilience Rainbow has 7 domains for resilience conditioning. Within each domain are exercises, games, and concepts to support the program. There isn’t a particular order, but rather, each domain is occurring simultaneously, just like each color of a rainbow.
If you want to go even further in…
I found this review of the scientific literature on resilience in dogs.
An exerpt from the conclusion:
It seems that as in humans, resilience in dogs is a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors. There exists already some evidence on several key factors supporting resilience in dogs, where factors in early life such as good maternal care, environmental enrichments and socialization (including adoption age and several positive experiences from the environment) are among the most important ones.
And
There is also some evidence that owner personality, secure attachment and positive interaction with the dog (play, exercise, training, diet) are important environmental factors supporting resilience.
I could read about and talk about this stuff forever. Keep it coming! 🙂
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Ok Catherine. I was going to watch some Netflix but now you got me hooked on this resilience thing. Ha ha. The more and more I dig deep into dog training and not just focusing on the operant model it shows me how little I know. Back to the drawing board. My son just gave me a book called the “Forever Dog”. It talks about a lot of things but does a deep dive on how toxic chemicals effect dog behavior. I can’t keep up. My brain is going to explode Ha ha
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I feel ya! It’s crazy and true – the more I know, the less I’m sure about… So much to learn. We are so lucky to be alive when such enormous strides are being made toward understanding our dogs (and ourselves!)???? Great stuff!
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@bmacwatt Don’t hate me… but look what I just found! A new book:
The Stress Factor in Dogs – Unlocking Resliency and Enhancing Well-Being
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Thanks. I will take a look.
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