Canine Destructive Behavior
Destructive Chewing
Chewing is as normal for dogs as tail-wagging. If you have a dog, expect him to chew. Provide him with his own toys and teach him to use them or he will chew anything available, such as your furniture and clothing. Dogs do not chew and destroy your house and belongings because they are angry, jealous or spiteful. They do it because they are dogs. They may be lonely, bored, frustrated or anxious, but they are not malicious, vindictive or petty. Active dogs can become restless when left alone for long periods.
If you always come home at a certain time and you are late, your dog may become anxious. Your dog does not punish you for being late by destructive chewing. The dogs' chewing is a form of occupational therapy to relieve stress and release energy. If you come home and find that your dog has destroyed something, do not punish the dog.
Passive Training to Prevent Destructive Chewing
Until your dog can be trusted not to destroy your home and yard, do not give him free, unsupervised run of your house. Give him a pleasant area or room of his own where he can enjoy himself and relax when you are not home or are unable to supervise him. Literally litter his room with a wide variety of toys. Since he will have no other choice of things to chew, he will learn to chew and play with his own toys.
Make the toys enticing. Soak rawhide and long marrow bones in different flavored soups. Let them dry and give a different flavor to the dog each time you leave him alone. Sterilized marrow bones and Kong toys can be stuffed with liver treats or cheese. The dog will be entertained for hours trying to extricate the treats from the toy.
Active Training to Prevent Destructive Chewing
When you are home, take time to teach your dog to play with her toys and to seek them out whenever she feels like chewing. Always lavish your dog with praise every time you see her playing with or chewing on one of her toys.
Teach your dog to "find" her toys. Scatter several toys in different rooms throughout the house. Tell her to "find it," then immediately lead her from room to room encouraging her to pick up a toy when she sees one. When she does so, reward with praise, affection, play and even a food treat, and then continue the game.
Anticipation Chewing
Most destructive chewing occurs just before the owner returns home. The dog is anxiously anticipating the owner's return and this energy is released by chewing. You can prevent your dog from indiscriminately chewing whatever is handy and instead chew her own toys.
Whenever you return home, insist that your dog greet you with a toy in her mouth. At first you will have to help her by telling her to "find" her toy. Do not give your usual home coming greeting until she has a toy firmly in her mouth.
Within a few days, your dog will realize that you never say hello unless she has a toy in her mouth. Now when your dog starts anticipating your return, she will automatically begin looking for a toy with which to gain your greeting and approval when you do return. If a toy is already in her mouth, she will be likely to chew on it, rather than on the furniture, to release tension.
Chewing Deterrents
If you catch your dog in the act of chewing a forbidden item, you can sternly scold her with a verbal warning. Immediately direct your dog to one of her own toys and praise her for chewing it. This will teach your dog not to chew forbidden items when you are present, but it probably will not discourage the dog from investigating these items when you are not there.
The only way to prevent your dog from chewing these things is to make them inherently unattractive. There are many products in pet stores that are designed to apply to furniture, etc that are safe but repulsive to dogs. Why chew on something that is boring, distasteful or unpleasant when there are plenty of fun, exciting and tasty things to chew on?
Common Sense and Chewing
By far the simplest way to keep your dog from chewing on forbidden items is to prevent access to them. Put your shoes in the closet and shut the door. Place the trash outside. Keep doors closed; keep valuables out of reach. Praise and reward your dog profusely for chewing her own toys.
Coprophagia (Stool Eating)
Why do dogs eat stools? While most cases of coprophagia appear to be purely behavioral, there indeed numerous medical problems that can cause or contribute to coprophagia. These problems must first be ruled out before a purely behavioral diagnosis is made.
What are some of the medical causes? Any medical problem that leads to a decrease in absorption of nutrients, causes gastrointestinal upset or causes an increase in the appeal of the dogís stool, could lead to coprophagia. In addition to a complete physical examination, the puppyís diet and its stool frequency and consistency should be evaluated. Stool testing for parasites would be the minimum level of testing. If the stool is unusually soft or appears to be poorly digested, additional stool or blood tests may be warranted. Feeding a poorly digestible diet, underfeeding, and medical conditions that decrease absorption such as digestive enzyme deficiencies or parasites, could lead to malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and therefore an increased appetite and possibly stool eating. In addition, if the stools contain large amounts of undigested food material, there is an increased likelihood that the puppy would eat the stools
When adult dogs begin to eat stools, it may also be due to mal-absorption of nutrients or nutritional deficiencies. In addition, any condition that may cause an increase in appetite, such as diabetes, Cushingís disease, thyroid disease, or treatment with certain drugs such as steroids, may lead to an increase in stool eating. Some dogs that have been placed on a highly restrictive or poorly balanced diet may also begin to eat their stools. It should also be noted that if a dog develops a taste for a particular dogís stool, that dog should be tested for any type of condition that might lead to poor digestion of the food (and therefore excessive food elements remaining in the stool).
What are some the behavioral reasons that a dog or cat might eat its own stools? Coprophagia is a common problem of some puppies, which usually clears up by adulthood. There have been many explanations suggested for this behavior. When left unsupervised, puppies may simply begin to investigate, play with, and even eat stools as a playful or investigative activity. Since coprophagia may attract a great deal of owner attention, the behavior may be further reinforced. There may also be an observational component (copy behavior) since the bitch cleans and ingests the puppyís excrement in the nest, and puppies may learn to mimic the behavior of their mothers or playmates who perform this behavior. The owner that uses the outmoded, inhumane and useless training technique of ìsticking the dogís noseî in its stool when it has soiled the home may be further encouraging coprophagia. In adult dogs the innate behavior of grooming and cleaning newborn puppies and eating their excrement, along with the well documented fact that dogs tend to be attracted to sniff and lick infection or dischar ge of their pack-mates, may explain some of the motivation for coprophagia. Early intervention can help reduce the possibility that the behavior will become a long-term habit.
Why do dogs eat the stools of other animals? This behavior is akin to scavenging. It is not unusual for dogs to steal food items, raid garbage cans, and chew on or eat non-food items that most humans would consider unusual or even disgusting. Cat feces and those of some other animals often have enough appealing attributes (odor, texture, taste) to overcome the fact that they are stools. In fact, stools themselves are seldom unpleasant to dogs. It is one of the odors that they are constantly attracted to when investigating their environment.
How can coprophagia be treated? Coprophagia can best be corrected by preventing access to stools, by thorough cleaning of the petís property, and by constant supervision when the pet is outdoors. At the first indication of stool sniffing or investigation the dog should be interrupted with a firm command, punishment device* or a quick pull on the leash (this is particularly effective for dogs wearing head halters). If the dog is taught to come to the owners and sit for a special food treat immediately following each elimination, the new behavior may become a permanent habit.
Dogs with medical problems should be treated to try and correct the underlying cause. A change in diet to one that is more digestible, or one with different protein sources may be useful. Dogs on restricted calorie diets may do better on a high bulk of high fiber formula. Some dogs may be improved by adding supplements to improve nutrient digestion or absorption. Specifically, the digestive enzymes in the form of meat tenderizers or food additives may help increase protein digestion, resulting in a less palatable stool. Other published remedies that have never been proven to be effective are to add papaya, yogurt, cottage cheese or CertsÆ to the dogís food, which in some way are supposed to impart a less pleasant taste in the stools. When adding some items to dry dog food, it may be necessary to moisten the food first and allow the product to sit on the food for 10 - 15 minutes to increase effectiveness.
Unpleasant tastes are unlikely to be successful unless the product is suitably noxious as well as odorless (so that the pet cannot detect its presence in the stool). While the dog is out of sight, the stool should opened with a plastic utensil, the taste deterrent inserted into the center and the stool closed and replaced for the dog to find. Most dogs, however, either develop a tolerance for the taste, or learn to avoid those stools that are pretreated. Experimentally, the only form of taste aversion that is consistently effective is when a food type is associated with nauseousness. Since most dogs seem to prefer a well-formed stool, adding sufficient quantities of stool softeners or bulk laxatives will usually deter most dogs.
* Note: A squirt bottle may be used as a humane punishment device.
Fears & Phobias: Noises & Places
Why is my dog so frightened of loud noises such as thunder, firecrackers and loud vehicles?
Phobias can develop from a single experience (one event learning) or from continued exposure to the fearful stimulus. Although some dogs react with a mild fear response of panting and pacing, others get extremely agitated and may become destructive or panicked. These dogs are experiencing a phobic response to the stimulus. These phobias may develop because of an inherent sensitivity to the stimulus (i.e. a genetic predisposition) or exposure to a highly traumatic experience associated with the stimulus (e.g. a carport collapsing on the pet in a windstorm). With multiple exposures to a fearful event a dog may become more intensely reactive if it is reinforced by receiving attention or affection by well meaning owners who are merely trying to calm the pet down.
What can I do if my dog is phobic in those situations?
Dogs that experience phobias often need professional intervention by a veterinary or applied animal behaviorist. These pets are usually at risk of harming themselves or property when faced with the stimulus especially if their owners are not home. If the dog will be left alone in a situation where it may encounter the phobic stimulus, drug therapy may be needed to prevent injury and destruction.
Is there any way I can treat my dog myself?
First, identify the stimuli that evoke the behavior. For gunshots, fireworks or a car backfiring the stimulus might be quite obvious. However, for thunder-storms, it may be the darkening of the sky, a drop in the barometric pressure, or high winds all of which occur prior to the storm. Naturally, the storm itself and the rain, wind, lightening, and thunder can be the stimulus for the behavior. Some dogs even become phobic of going outdoors because of certain sights or sounds that you will need to identify.
In order to set up an effective retraining program you will need to be able to reproduce the noise. Finding a means of reproducing and controlling the stimulus is one of the most difficult aspects of the retraining program. A recording or video might work for thunderstorms. Unfortunately, as discussed, many dogs are afraid of other components of a storm that are difficult to recreate. Therefore it may be possible to treat some, but not all aspects of the phobic response. Recordings may be useful for desensitizing dogs to the sound of fireworks, and the visual stimuli can be minimized by confining the dog to a brightly lit room with light proof shutters or shades.
For gunshots, recordings of a starter pistol set inside 4 or 5 nested cardboard boxes might be a way to reduce and control the stimulus. Sometimes, increasing the distance from the stimulus or finding some relatively sound-proofed room to do the training might work.
If a recording is used, you will first need to ensure that it does indeed reproduce the fear. Then, to begin to desensitize the pet you will need to begin retraining with the recording at a low enough level that it does not evoke the response and the dog is rewarded lavishly for good (non-fearful) behavior. Retraining should focus on the use of rewards and training the dog to lie quietly in a favorite resting area to receive these rewards. The resting area should help to comfort and provide security for the dog, and the rewards are intended to teach the dog to associate nothing but positives with the low levels of the stimulus. Gradually, the volume is increased so that the dog learns to tolerate the "storm".
Another reason that it is extremely difficult to overcome fears and phobias, is that while you are attempting to desensitize and counter-condition the dog to the noises, the dog is likely to be exposed to a recurrence of the actual event (e.g. a thunderstorm). During these times, do not reinforce the fearful and phobic responses with petting and reassuring vocal intonation. This would serve as reinforcement for the behavior and make it continue. For some dogs, placing them in their favored resting area in a room or area that has been sound-proofed and playing some calming music may help to decrease the dog's reaction. Drug therapy may also be useful in some cases.
Why would my dog become frightened of certain places?
Lack of early exposure to the sights, sounds or perhaps odors of a particular location, or one or more traumatic experiences associated with that location could lead to fear. The fear is aggravated by an owner who tries to calm the dog down with affection or verbal intonations. This only reinforces the fearful behavior. For example, dogs may be frightened of traveling in the car because they become car sick or because the car ride is always followed by an unpleasant experience (such as boarding or a veterinary visit). Your dog may also become fearful of the veterinary hospital if it is always associated with unpleasant experiences, or of a particular room or area of the house (such as a basement or a cage) if an unpleasant event has occurred in that area. Some dogs even become frightened of the outdoors, because of unpleasant experiences that have occurred there.
How can I treat my dog's fear of places?
It is necessary to place the stimuli along a gradient, as well as carefully observing what the dog does. For example, the dog may walk into the garage okay, but begins to get agitated when approaching the car. Or, the dog may be okay approaching the car and only upset when forced to get in.
Desensitization and counter-conditioning are used to retrain the dog. Begin with good responses to obedience commands such as 'sit' and 'stay' for favored rewards. Then train and reward the dog in situations where the fear is very mild. With a fear of car rides, the dog might first be rewarded for not showing fear when it is 8 feet from the car, then 7 feet and so on until the dog can approach the car without showing signs of fear. Eventually the dog should learn to take rewards when it enters the car, and at further sessions the dog should learn to relax in the car with the door closed, and then when the motor is turned on. In much the same way it could take a few more sessions until the dog learns to take rewards in a moving car.
For the dog that is fearful of the veterinary office you might begin by taking the dog to the veterinarian's parking lot and doing some training exercises for food rewards, and progressing to the front walkway or into the waiting room. It may take many visits to train the dog to enter the examining room for rewards, be greeted by the staff or sit on the examining table. Similarly a dog that is fearful of a cage or particular room, may need to be taught to lie in the doorway for food and rewards. Then proceed a step or two into the room, or a little farther into the cage, to receive the reward at each subsequent training session.
In treating fears you must have sufficient control of the pet so that there is no chance of injury, the pet cannot run away or escape from the stimulus, and the pet will calm down and accept that the stimulus will cause no harm.
Obedience training for rewards is a positive way to ensure that you gain control. Begin in situations where the stimulus is not present, because if your dog will not respect your control and take rewards in non-threatening situations, you will not be able to control and settle your dog in problem situations.
Often a leash and head collar is the best way to maintain control and ensure that your dog will perform the desired behavior in the presence of the stimulus. The leash and halter prevents escape from the stimulus; helps build the dog's confidence; controls the head and nose so as to get the desired behavior (e.g. sit, heel); allows the owner to redirect the head away from the stimulus and toward the owner; prevents the possibility of a bite or injury; and provides a reward or release for each proper response. It is also necessary to control the stimulus because it must not be removed until your dog calms down and realizes that it will cause no harm.