Tag: Dog owners | Page 6 | The Canine Behaviourist

Dog owners

27 September 2015

The angry dog owner!

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Dogs that, sometimes, misbehave should not be met with all out aggression. Of course, this is all too often the case, particularly with men.

Whilst out with Ziggy (my shaggy dog) and Sue (my wife — not a shaggy dog), we witnessed yet another example of the results of an unpleasant encounter.

Approaching us was a woman with two labs — one on the lead, the other off. She told us that her lab, on the lead, had began ‘humping’ dogs sometimes. He was 11 years old, arthritic and of a good nature. I encouraged her to let the dog loose, telling her, I would deal with any inappropriate behaviour.

Of course, the dog, behaved impeccably, whilst his pal romped with Ziggy.

We met the lady a little later — the dog was back on the lead. This time she told me that another dog was approaching from behind; she was worried that her dog may misbehave. I, again, got her to let the dog off the lead – we then saw a number of dogs come and go — on one ocasion the dog showed a little too much interest; a simple ‘come’ took his mind of the other dog.

This lady had become, excessively, nervous of letting her dog off the lead because a man had become aggressive with her and her dog, after the dog had tried to mount his dog — he had threatened to kick her dog. There are a couple of points her: first, how very brave of the ‘man’ to behave in such an aggressive manner with the unfortunate lady. Second, let’s be clear — this is a fairly normal behaviour in an intact male dog. We should not over-react but, simply get the dog under control (which, by the way the lady had done , during the original incident).

I would also say that if your dog has begun to exhibit inappropriate behaviour, with no apparent cause, take the dog to the vet for a thorough checkup — there may be a medical issue that needs dealing with.

For those dog owners out there, who have experienced this type of thing — do not let it influence your behaviour — get the dog back off the lead (let it enjoy it’s walks) — tell other owners that he might misbehave — keep your eyes open and deal with any issue BEFORE it happens (you will learn to recognise any signs).

In this case, we see just a mild behaviour — no aggression or danger to other animals — therefore, for goodness sake — keep calm, do not over react and, for those aggressive human males out there — BEHAVE yourselves!

27 August 2015

Recall — if you only teach your dog one thing — make it this

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Many dog owners pay little attention to properly training their dog.

While walking in the woods with my rescued dog, Ziggy, my wife and I came across a woman, yelling, frantically, for her dog. The dog, a labradoodle, had disappeared around a bend and then disappeared (this was a densely wooded area).

I asked the lady if the dog had any recall. ‘No’ came the answer, he never comes back and, she had made no real effort to get the dog trained in the recall.

My wife and I helped this lady to find her dog (it eventually returned). However, it was not seen for quite some time — this dog may have run into a road or drowned in the river for all we knew.

I cannot stress enough, the importance of training your dog in the recall — it could save his life…