Like Human, Like Dog?

Dr. Linda Aronson, DVM, tells us about her adventures in veterinary behavior, helping pet owners understand just how aware our furry friends are of human behavior and movement.

While most humans are blissfully unaware of the rich body language of their canine companions, dogs are keen observers of us.

When a new puppy or kitten comes home we usually imagine a rather idyllic lifetime together. But so often something happens and upsets this picture. It is estimated that 6 to 8 million animals end up in shelters each year and only about half of them will make it out alive.

While the economy is pushing up the number of animals in shelters, many of them are there because of behavioral issues which disrupted their relationship with their families. Prevention is good medicine and catching and changing those behaviors before the bond has been broken will hopefully keep these dogs and cats in the families where they belong. That’s where I come in as a veterinarian with a behavior referral practice called PetShrink.

Many of the problems that arise between owners and their pets are the result of cross-species misunderstandings. While dogs have been domesticated longer than any other species, they aren’t people in fur coats. From a strictly canine point of view, our attempts to hug and cuddle them more closely correspond to an aggressive act and our smiles could be construed as a growl or snarl. Most dogs have learned however not just to accept but to enjoy our forms of greeting and affection, with some even going so far as to adopt their own toothy grins in imitation of our own.

While most humans are blissfully unaware of the rich body language of their canine companions, dogs are keen observers of us. They are the only species that can watch our faces and gestures and pick up clues as to where we might have hidden a treat.

It’s unreasonable to expect an animal to be obedient if we haven’t done a good job of explaining the task. They may not want to foul their own nest, but they don’t instinctively include the whole house as the “nest.” We have to keep taking them to the designated spot and praising their efforts, while not giving them the run of the house until the behavior is firmly established. Just as yelling at a non-English speaker won’t suddenly make our meaning clear, repeating “sit” to a dog over and over (and often louder and louder) will not convey to him that we want his butt on the ground.

Until relatively recently few dogs lived in human homes. Now they are expected to adapt to all manner of unnatural living arrangements. In some ways it is perhaps more remarkable that the majority of them do adapt to life in high rises and busy cities without an apparent hiccup.

Humans may obsessively check to make sure they turned off the appliances or repeatedly wash their hands, while dogs may endlessly chase their tails or snap at imaginary flies and cats groom themselves bald. Some will suffer in relative silence, at least for a while.

Many of the dogs and cats that come to me are re-homes. Even a well-balanced and well-behaved animal can start to develop issues when incarcerated in a shelter, just as human prisoners will be changed by the experience. The most intense learning period for an animal is the first 16 weeks of life. Yet few animals arrive in the new home until they are at least half way through this critical period. During this time we want to expose the animal safely to as many positive experiences, different surfaces, people, animals and other learning experiences as we can. During this time the puppy and kitten learn to interact with the environment. It will learn to speak human, but it also needs to learn to speak its native language. This is particularly important for dogs. Cats may live in the human home and never again meet another cat, but dogs go out into the world. Good dog manners diffuse inter-dog aggression, reducing the incidence of reactive behavior and out and out dog fights.

Many behavior problems can be addressed by acting as a translator between owners and their animals. It can be a matter of training, behavior modification – teaching a new response to a stimulus or introducing a new behavior that makes it impossible to do the wrong thing. Sometimes the unwanted behavior is a response to a medical problem and addressing that resolves the issue. Psychoactive medication may be needed to help patient and owner change the bad behavior and establish a desirable one in its place. The goal is usually to wean the patient from the drug once the new behavior/response is established; though, in some cases drug treatment will be needed for the rest of the patient’s life. But the goal is always the same: to give humans and their animal companions a good relationship for life.

Massachusetts-based Dr. Linda Aronson received her bachelors and masters degrees in physiological sciences from Oxford University, and her DVM from Tufts University. She breeds and exhibits champion bearded collies and is a lifelong rider. She writes a monthly column on horse behavior for Practical Horseman, and has contributed many articles on behavioral topics to both lay and professional journals. Learn more about her at www.petshrink.com.