3 Ways We’re Wrong About Dogs

Hi Mia!

Very excited to see that the program for the Working Dog Alliance Conference is out! I love conference programs. I think I’m a visual learner because when I try and remember back to a talk, I remember that the talk abstract appeared in

(Source)

say, a blue booklet, and that the abstract was on the right side of the page. Or maybe that has nothing to do with being a visual learner and means something entirely different. Anyway...

I wish I could attend the entire working dog conference (damn you ocean!), but I do have some favorite talks that Im sad to miss. I’m particularly interested in "Racing to retirement, is there a better way?", "Characterizing Dogmanship" as well as Steve White and Nicola Rooney’s talks.
 
You and I are trading places again. It almost time to change the clocks, and it’s getting darker here earlier and earlier. DAMN YOU WINTER!! 

On a happier note, I’m looking forward to speaking at the Association of Professional Dog Trainers next weekend in Spokane, Washington (#APDT2013)!

I’m covering two topics, and summaries are available here:

• Contextualizing Canine Behavior and Cognition Research 
• The Science and Politics of Anthropomorphism

At the last two APDT conferences, I presented posters of my personal research, and I’m looking forward to giving more comprehensive talks this year. 

While preparing for the conference, I found myself remembering that humans are often not spot-on in our interpretation of all things dog.

3 Misconceptions About Dogs

1) Working Dogs Have Good Welfare
I imagine when people hear the term working dog they picture accomplished dogs of war jumping out of planes or sniffing out chemical weapons. Or, people might picture guide dogs for the blind or hearing dogs for the deaf. But those are only the "stars" or "headliners" of the working dog world; working dogs include so many different dogs doing so many things for us and with us. 

Good welfare is not explicitly bound to certain types of canine work and absent from others. And good welfare cannot simply be assumed because dogs are performing a particular job.

This reminds me of an earlier post you wrote -- "The Heat(map) is On: Colours of Canine Welfare." You discussed peoples perceptions of the welfare of different types of dogs. Perceptions and realities are both important, and Im happy to see industry and science coming together to better the lives of working dogs.

(Greyhound at her new job: Source)

As I mentioned, greyhounds hold a special place in my heart. Whenever I see one on the street, I always wonder, “Where did you come from, big friend? What has your life been like?” They never answer, but sometimes their owner fills me in on the details.

2) Separation Distress is Just a Dog Missing its Owner

Research into why dogs show destructive and problematic behavior when owners are out is growing. Motivations are many and could include "fear, anxiety, over-attachment, agitation from outside stimulation and/or lack of appropriate stimulation." 


Mark Evans is a veterinary surgeon and former chief veterinary advisor of the RSPCA in the UK. He now holds informative animal-focused TV shows. For his recent program, he teamed up with Dr. Rachel Casey from the University of Bristol to examine the behavior of 40 dogs when their owners were out of the house. See what they found here, and theyve also highlighted the progress of three dogs: Bruno, Oscar and Max.

Recently, Parthasarathy et al. (2006) examined whether “dysfunctional” attachment styles to owners were related to dog separation issues. They concluded that “separation anxiety is not based on ‘hyperattachment’ of the dog to the owner...” Although they did add that “different attachment style may be present between dogs with and without separation anxiety.” 

Blanket assumptions about why dogs are distressed in owners’ absences arent helpful. Each dog needs to be considered on its own terms.

3) Canine Behavior & Cognition Research Has ALL the Answers! ;) 
This is a direct plug for my first talk at the APDT conference in Spokane next week, "Contextualizing Canine Behavior and Cognition Research."

Science is a way of looking at the world that prioritizes asking questions and devising ways to investigate those questions. This field of study is relatively young. It is continually growing and evolving. Studies build on one another, and in some cases, substantiate earlier findings, and in other cases, not so much. At my talk next Sunday, October 27 (at 8:00 AM!), Ill highlight the idea that our field is best viewed as an evolving process.

Thats me in a nut shell!

Looking forward to more welfare news!

Julie

References 
Horowitz, D. 2010 Separation anxiety in dogs. Veterinary Focus. 20(1), 18-26.

Parthasarathy et al.  2006. Relationship between attachment to owners and separation anxiety in pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 1, 109–120. 

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Dog training Do you get the timing right

Do You Believe in Dog? is approaching our one-year anniversary (Wow! Yay!!!), and in the coming months, we will be opening up the blog to guest posts from other researchers exploring canine behaviour, cognition and welfare. 


Give a warm welcome to our first guest, 
Clare Browne from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

Hi Mia and Julie,

As you both know from the last Canine Science Forum, my PhD investigates dog-human communication and how this communication affects dog training.

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I would like to claim that everyone is New Zealand is a fantastic dog trainer and we all communicate brilliantly with our dogs, but alas, we’re just like everyone else. It turns out that when people give feedback to dogs during training, we’re often a bit slow. Let me explain...

You’re no doubt aware that if we want to increase the likelihood that a behaviour occurs again, positive reinforcement (AKA “rewarding” -- adding something to keep the behaviour going) will achieve this. The types of positive reinforcement that are most commonly used in everyday dog training are verbal praise, food, and patting/petting. My PhD studies investigated two things: a) how fast are dog owners delivering positive reinforcement to dogs; and b) does it matter if owners are slow in providing dogs with reinforcement?

Not really Clares gumboots

To answer the first of these questions, I put on my gumboots and spent many evenings at my friendly local dog clubs, filming owners training their dogs in beginner classes. I collected 1,810 instances where commands were given to dogs. I then went slightly mad and spent months watching videos of people training their dogs. Figure 1 shows how all the dogs responded to their owners, and 44% of the time, dogs did not respond to their owners at all. This one result made me feel like I wasn’t wasting all these years of my PhD – there clearly is a need for research into the efficacy of dog training!

I used some fancy computer software and measured very precisely (down to 25 frames per second) the time between when the owners said the command and when the dogs performed the behavior, like laying down or sitting. I found that owners varied a lot in the time it took them to deliver positive reinforcement to their dogs. Some owners were almost instantaneous with their praise and then the treat followed quickly, whereas others took ages – the longest time was over 6 s! (That might not sound long to you, but try imagining that you’re a Labrador and having to wait 6 s for a treat, all of a sudden it’s a much more serious situation.) 

But does this even matter? Had I gone mad watching videos in my darkened office for no good reason?

To answer this second question, I had to run an experiment. 

I had each dog work inside a large pen, and I sat in the neighbouring pen. A screen in between us prevented the dogs from seeing my body language. I held a pre-training session where the dogs learned that a “beep” sound came just before a feeding device delivered a food treat into their pen. (This “beep” is analogous to us saying, “Good dog”). Once the dogs were comfortable with this, they were taken out of the pen while I set up the equipment. I put two boxes into the pen. These boxes had held dog treats (but were emptied just prior to the experiment) so that they smelled alluring to the dogs. Each box had an open top, and infrared (IR) beams criss-crossed the top surface of both boxes. These IR beams were connected to a computer, so that whenever they were broken (i.e. when a dog sniffed inside a box), the computer delivered a “beep” and then a food treat came from the feeding device. 

Click to enlarge image

There was a catch: when the dogs sniffed inside the ‘non-target’ box, nothing happened. But when they sniffed inside the ‘target’ box, the positive reinforcement food reward was delivered. The dogs, essentially, were being trained to stick their heads inside one of the two boxes (perhaps not necessarily something every owner wants their dog to do, but a good example of a simple behaviour!). 

Twenty dogs received positive reinforcement immediately, as soon as they sniffed inside the target box – there was no delay. However, for another 20 dogs, as soon as they broke the IR beams, the computer started a timer and positive reinforcement (“beep” + treat) was delayed by 1 second.

The results were really interesting! Of the 0 second delay dogs, 60% learned the task; but of the 1 second delay dogs, only 25% learned the task – less than half as many with no delay.  

Check out this video of a dog learning the task with a 0 s delay:

This suggests that timing of reinforcement is important when training dogs to do something new – so be fast with your praise and treats!!

A question that always gets asked about this research is “Isn’t 1 second a really short time?” Yes, it is a very short time. But if you really watch a dog (I recommend filming them) – see how much, how fast, how far they can move – a lot can happen in 1 second. In real-world, dog training, in 1 second a dog could be across the room, it could have moved out of position, or we could have reached into our pocket. 

Finally, I suspect as trainers, we often get away with having sloppy timing because dogs are just so good at attending to our body language. I hypothesise that we are continually giving unintended feedback to dogs – that this feedback may be acting as conditioned reinforcers (much like a body-language-version of the “good dog”). That’s what I suspect anyway ... 

Overall, the take home message is be fast with your feedback!

Sending warm regards from Wintry New Zealand,

Clare

Clare with her dogs, Flint & Apple

Further reading:

Browne C.M., Starkey N.J., Foster T.M. & McEwan J.S. (2013). What dog owners read: A review of best-selling books, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 8 (4) e38. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2013.04.040

Browne C.M., Starkey N.J., Foster T.M. & McEwan J.S. (2013). Delayed reinforcement – does it affect learning?, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 8 (4) e37-e38. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2013.04.039

Browne C.M., Starkey N.J., Foster M.T. & McEwan J.S. (2011). Timing of reinforcement during dog training, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 6 (1) 58-59. DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2010.09.058

More about Clare

© 2013 Do You Believe in Dog?

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Choosing the Right Toys for Your Dog

By Lisa Mason

Your dog will become bored playing with the same old toy day after day. The toy will lay there untouched and he will look at you mournfully. This means he has lost interest in that toy and needs another one. Multiple toys of different shapes, materials and textures will allow your dog to choose the right toy for his mood.

Every Dog Needs a Chew Toy

Chew toys are a must for your dog. Sometimes a dog just wants to chew, and if he doesn’t have a toy, your furniture and shoes may be in trouble. Chew toys will satisfy the need to chew, and it will also exercise your dog’s jaws and help clean his teeth.

Make sure to pick a chew toy that is appropriate for your dog’s size. If the chew toy is too large for your dog to get a good grip on, he will get frustrated and find something else to chew on. If the chew toy is small, a large dog could choke on it.

Other Great Choices for Dog Toys

Balls and Frisbees should be next on your dog’s toy list. Even a small dog will enjoy chasing a ball or a Frisbee, and its great exercise for them. Small dogs that don’t play outside a lot will enjoy rolling the ball around the house and trying to capture it. Give the dog several balls in varying sizes. A ball should just barely fit in the dog’s mouth for him to carry it, or it should be larger for rolling games. Never let a large dog play with a tiny ball as he may choke on it.

Also choose a few comfort toys for cuddling. At times a dog just wants something soft and cozy when he takes a nap. Rope toys and soft plush toys are great for this. They also serve double duty as toss and fetch toys in the house. When your dog gets tired, he will grab one of his soft, cuddly toys and take it to his bed to lie down with.

Training Your Dog to Choose Toys

Dogs learn by word association, so you can easily teach him to fetch the right toy. Teach the dog the word “ball” by playing a game of fetch and repeating the word ball. Switch the toys and teach him “rope” or “bunny.” Now line up all of the toys and tell him to get a specific one. It may take a while for him to figure out which toy is which. Don’t give up. It is a fun game that will stimulate your dog’s brain.

If you are concerned about so many dog toys lying around the house, provide him with his own toy box. You can make a game of teaching him to pick up all the toys and put them away. Make sure to reward a job well done by giving your dog his favorite CANIDAE treat. Offering a variety of safe dog toys will keep your dog from becoming bored and unhappy. In the end, a few extra toys may save your table legs or shoes!

Top photo by Oakley Originals
Bottom photo by M. Anima

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How to Find the Right Dog for Your Lifestyle

By Linda Cole

Finding the right dog isnt always easy. There are nearly 500 dog breeds recognized by kennel clubs throughout the world. With so many choices, purebred and mixed, how do you find the right dog for your lifestyle? Basically, its a combination of common sense, doing your homework on breeds, and understanding that some dogs can be harder to handle.

Purebred or Mixed?

You want to feel comfortable around your dog. The first thing to consider is why you want a dog. Secondly, do you want a purebred or a mixed breed? If cost is a consideration, visit your local shelter or rescue groups for purebreds and mixed breeds, or contact breed specific rescues for purebred dogs. Buying from a responsible breeder is more expensive, but you will learn about your pups history and health, see his parents, and have someone happy to answer all of your questions. They will have questions for you, as well.

Energy Level

Do you want a dog that watches you toss a ball and then gives you a look that says, “Youre the one who threw it over there. Im not going to get it,” one who is eager and ready for a five mile run, or something in between? Regardless of size or breed, all dogs need some daily exercise and some need more than others. How much exercise are you willing to give your dog each day? A bored dog can be destructive if he isnt given an outlet to get rid of pent up energy. A daily walk adds stimulation to your dogs mind. We would get bored doing the same thing every day, and so do dogs that never get outside their enclosed area.

Living Space

Size can matter when it comes to space inside and outside your home, and so does the location of your home. Do you live in an apartment, small house, large house, the suburbs, a small town, downtown, or in a rural area? Is there a spacious backyard or one just large enough to justify owning a lawnmower? Is there a fenced-in secure area? How close are your neighbors?

Size of the Dog 

If you have an apartment that reminds you of a closest, a Great Dane might not be your best choice, although as long as you provide him with plenty of exercise on a daily basis, it might work out if you dont mind having furniture rearranged when you get home. Your biggest consideration when it comes to size is can you control the dog and will he be comfortable in the space youre asking him to live in? Getting the right sized dog to fit your comfort level makes it easier for you to control him and keep him safe if you have a family that likes to rough-house. Size also matters when it comes to mealtime. A premium quality dog food like CANIDAE Life Stages is less expensive in the long run than lower quality brands because it doesnt take as much food to fill him up.

Coat Type

Some breeds require more time spent on grooming than others. A dogs coat can be wiry, long, short and with an undercoat, or single coat. Some coats need to be trimmed and some dont, and some breeds shed more than others.

Time for Training

All dogs should be taught basic commands, which gives you better control and helps you keep him safe. They all need to be socialized with other pets, people of all ages, and in different environments. Its not difficult to train a dog if you work with him on a daily basis until he learns what you are teaching and then reinforce it so he remembers. You might be surprised how quickly most dogs learn commands when youre consistent, dedicated, patient and respectful. Five or ten minutes a day is all you need. Its important to be able to handle your pet. Not all dogs are easy to control, and certain breeds should not be owned by someone who doesnt understand how powerful and strong willed they are.

Other People in the Home 

Do you have young children or an elderly person living with you? No matter what kind of dog you decide on, young kids and dogs should never be left together unsupervised. Some dogs may not get along with older people who dont always interact well with them. Its important to make sure everyone in the home is comfortable with the size, breed, temperament and energy level of a dog before you bring him home.

Choose a dog wisely, for the right reason, and for your specific lifestyle. Its worth the time and effort when your perfect pet snuggles next to you on the couch, happy you picked him.

Top photo by Sadie Hart
Bottom photo by Jon Hurd

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