My Foster Buddy

Michael Baugh CPDT-KSA, CDBC

The funny thing is, life never seems to turn out exactly as planned. For example, I didn’t really plan on fostering a dog. Tim and I haven’t had much success with it in the past, and frankly I didn’t think he’d go for the idea. As it turns out, Buddy was available as a short-term “holiday foster” and Tim said yes.

My guess is that Buddy’s life isn’t going exactly as he’d planned either (if in fact dogs do any planning at all). The folks from Corridor Rescue Inc. found him in a parking lot, homeless and without a human. He had heartworms (light positive) and probably hadn’t had a good meal in a while. He settled in nicely at a local kennel until the holidays rolled around. The kennel needed his run for the holiday rush, so Buddy came to us. Now, here he is by my side gnawing a bully stick (video) as I write.

I really didn’t expect Buddy to be so amazingly and beautifully – average. Certainly he has the magic and wonder that all average dogs have. It’s not an insult. It’s just that most of the dogs I see day in and day out have problems adjusting to and coping with life with humans. Some have serious problems. Buddy, despite his questionable beginnings, doesn’t. Despite having no place beyond his modest run to call home, despite having nothing – not so much as a collar, Buddy is undamaged – average – just a typical dog – just Buddy.

He renews my faith in life and all its plans gone awry. He hadn’t been in our home an hour before he was playing. It was vigorous and joyful. It wasn’t play for the weary; it was play for the living, for those filled with life. He dodged and chased and hip-checked Stella like he’d known her forever. She tired of it long before he did (and let him know it). Given the chance, he’d have played on. I’m sure of it.

I’d planned on training Buddy. It was my plan to send him back better than I’d found him. It’s clear that there isn’t a hand signal or a verbal cue that registers familiar in his happy little brain. It’s also clear that he’s learned a whole lot about what it takes to survive in our crazy human world without any help from me. Here’s what he’s shown me so far.

Car rides are for sleeping. When the car stops, wake up and begin the next adventure.
Leashes are more comfortable when not pulling. Sniff along the way but not for too long. Avoid garbage bags.
Crying in the crate might work (not at our house). If it fails, sleep in crate instead.
My name is Buddy.
People are safe. Go to them when they call my name.
Chase the ball; bring it back.
Dogs equal play. If a dog doesn’t want to play, keep trying.

Of course, that last one doesn’t always go as planned. A couple of dogs can be great fun. Too many dogs at once can be scary. Buddy didn’t do too well in his first try at dog daycare. He was tense, and sometimes a bit too intense. He didn’t make friends easily or quickly; he didn’t made friends at all really. The stress built; he lashed out; then he got kicked out of the group.

Life is unpredictable, but you can count on one thing. It usually leads us where we need to go. Buddy needed a place to lay his head for the holidays. As for me, I guess I needed a Buddy – a guy who is sometimes a bit rough around the edges with social scenes, a guy who’s learned a lot about life but never tires of learning more.

Buddy is available for adoption immediately. He is appropriate for a household with other dogs who enjoy athletic play, and he is reportedly cat familiar. He’s an excellent training candidate. My dog training services come with him (Houston Metro Only).

The Truth About Humping

Michael Baugh CPDT-KA CDBC

Lots of dogs hump. For people who live with those dogs, it can be embarrassing and upsetting. We humans aren’t comfortable talking about things related to sex, especially when our beloved dogs are being indiscreet in front of guests. For many of us, dogs are cute innocent “babies.” I guess now is a good time to remember they’re also animals, and animals routinely practice behavior related to their own survival. That includes sexual behavior: humping.

What baffles a lot of people is that dogs hump in situations that have nothing to do with reproduction. I have a client whose 4 month old female puppy humped a stuffed animal. We caught our dog Stewie humping his bed. Dogs hump human legs. Doggie daycare professionals deal with humping dogs all day, males and females, neutered and spayed. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. What’s going on here?

I asked trainer educator and author Jean Donaldson (The Culture Clash, Train Your Dog like a Pro). She zeroed in on Modal Action Patterns. Those are the behaviors all dogs share related to fighting, fleeing, feeding and reproducing. She said, “All of the Modal Action Pattern categories are present in play. That’s what play is.” Social animals, including dogs, routinely play fight and play chase. They even pretend to stalk and hunt, so we shouldn’t ignore the idea that humping might be play sex. However, that may not be the whole story of humping.

While humping is common in play groups and day care settings, it also occurs in other contexts. Some dogs hump people and inanimate objects. Sugarland Veterinary Behaviorist Dr. Lore Haug says most of the time humping is “merely a nonspecific sign of arousal.” Trainers and day care counselors agree. Dogs get wound up or nervous and they hump. Pamela Johnson is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer in San Diego. Her dog used to hump her leg during training sessions. She videotaped the behavior and noted that the humping was caused by excitement over training and frustration when the lesson got difficult. Still, identifying what sets off the behavior doesn’t fully answer the question: Why humping and why not some other behavior?

We should keep in mind that anything our dog does regularly is reinforced behavior. The dog is getting something out of it. For example, dogs who wrestle or chase during play are reinforced by other dogs who enjoy wrestling and chasing. Similarly, dogs might enjoy the attention they get for humping. Humping may also relieve a dog’s anxiety in an uncertain social situation. It may just be pleasurable. That pleasure, says Dr. Haug, “obviously would come under the sexual category.” So, we’re back to that uncomfortable subject. Regardless, all of this information leads us to some good ideas about stopping humping.

Make humping no fun and not a big deal. This really means we need to control our own behavior and not react when we see our dog humping. Don’t accidentally reinforce the behavior by freaking out.

Control the Dog’s environment. In the case of the client’s dog who was humping the stuffed toy and in the case of our own dog humping his bed, we simply removed the objects of their affection. People who work at doggie day care facilities calmly and gently remove a humping dog from its playmate. In all cases, the dog can’t practice the unwanted behavior anymore.

Teach the dog a better behavior. For the client’s dog and Stewie we replaced humping objects with more appropriate enrichment toys (Kong Toys and other treat puzzles). In daycare, counselors might direct a humping dog to a less disturbing play behavior. Trainer Pamela Johnson greatly decreased her dog’s humping by interrupting it and taking a short break from training. She held and petted her dog until he calmed down, then she returned to training less-frustrating tasks. In all cases, the handler is teaching the dog to do something other than hump.

That’s the bottom line really. Stay calm. Interrupt the humping. Encourage the dog to do something else, anything else. I might choose some of those other Modal Action Pattern behaviors, like a game of tug, or fetch, or even some nice quiet time with a chew toy. The humping one – not many of us really want to see our innocent little dogs doing that. Sure, it’s normal animal behavior. But don’t forget, we’re only human.

Houston Dog Trainer Michael Baugh specializes in fearful and aggressive dog training.

The Case of the Whining Greyhound

Michael Baugh CPDT-KA, CDBC

(from all things dog blog):

I have a situation I’d like to submit for the Ask a Trainer posts. My dog, Desmond, whines nearly all night long.

He’s sleeps in our bedroom, in his own large dog bed, right next to our bed. He has a blanket and a pillow, too. When it’s bedtime, he starts out fine, sleeping away no problem, but a few hours later, he starts whining and doesn’t stop.

At first, we were getting up to see what was wrong. We tried taking him out to the yard to go to the bathroom, but that’s never it. We’ve also tried simply ignoring him to make him stop, but that works only some of the time–and only after quite a while of him whining 45+ minutes. The only thing that makes him stop is when we pet him for a little while and/or recover him with his blanket. Even then, he sleeps for only a few hours and then starts whining again. We’ve also tried a nightlight, but it didn’t change anything.

Sometimes on weekends we let him sleep in our bed withus, and then he almost never whines. We don’t want him in our bed on a regular basis.

What’s his problem? Is he cold? Does he miss us? Is he scared? Is he just not tired enough (He goes out for a 30-minute walk/run every morning and we try to take him out for another 30 minutes after work but sometimes it doesn’t happen. We also play with him in the yard/house.)?

He’s 18 months old. Greyhound mix. We’ve had him almost 6 months. He’s done this almost the entire 6 months! We’re exhausted. Please help us!

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Dear Greyhound owner:

You present an interesting case, and a perfect one for helping us all understand how behavior works.

First, rule out any medical causes. As it turns out, most of the cases I handle don’t have medical causation. Nevertheless, we always want to make sure the dog isn’t in any discomfort or pain.

Second, identify the behavior you want to change. This may seem like a no-brainer, but in some cases it takes a bit of thought. My guess is that in Desmond’s case you want to change the whining behavior. Keep in mind behavior is an action, something your dog is doing. Waking up and whining.

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