LIFESTYLE NEWS - Is your dog driving you up the wall with behavioural issues?

Qualified local animal behaviourist George van Huyssteen (DipCABT, CCAB, CABTI, MHERA) of Neuro Paws can give you advice.

As part of an educational drive, he will answer readers' questions once a week, either in George Herald or on the Neuro Paws website and their social platforms. This way it could also help others facing similar problems with their pets.

Describe your challenges in a short email and send it to neuropaws@gmail.com. Every week, he will select a question to answer. 

Here are the answers to questions Van Huyssteen received this week.

Some people have been asking about how to "discipline" their dogs. One person recently shared that she believes in disciplining her dogs using traditional methods because she thinks it's effective for children. 

She believes that the lack of discipline in children is contributing to the state of the world today, and she intends to continue disciplining her dog when he doesn't listen. She advocates maintaining a firm hand when training her dog

How can a person respond to that? This question prompted me to write this article. First, let me explain why comparing a dog to a child is not a valid and sensible way of thinking without using anthropomorphism. 

Comparing a dog to a child is like comparing a lemon to the moon. They are completely different, but let's put that aside for now.

Next, consider the reasons why children get punished. I am not referring to abused children but rather children in general. At school, they may get punished for not completing homework. At home, parents spend years teaching and nurturing a child. 

Once the child fully understands what is expected of them, they may face punishment for deliberate disobedience, failure to do chores, or not completing homework. There may be various reasons for punishment, but it only comes after the child has learnt what is expected and then deliberately disobeyed their parent. 

It's important to note that physical punishment, such as hitting or spanking, has been proven to have a significantly negative impact on a child's mental and emotional well-being, and I will not delve deeper into that in this article.

Let's examine why dogs get punished. They are often punished for behaviours that their owners don't approve of, such as barking, digging, jumping, begging, running, pulling on a lead, growling, biting, and chewing. These are all normal dog behaviours, surprisingly. 

So, the question I always ask is, have you taught the dog not to do these things? Have you made an effort to prevent your dog from barking, such as teaching them to bark on cue or providing them with another activity when they're likely to bark? 

Often, we don't want to put in the effort to train our dogs, so punishment is seen as a "quick fix."

Now, let's consider a two-year-old child. What would happen if I gave the child a complex maths problem without any explanation? Would the child be able to solve it? 

Now, think about it. If you gave the same maths problem to a child who has never studied maths and punished them every time they got it wrong, do you think such a child would ever like maths? Would they even learn to solve it? Most importantly, would it be fair to the child? Similarly, when we bring a puppy home, they don't know the rules of our household. 

They need our guidance to adjust and fit in. We need to teach them appropriate behaviours, just like we would with children. Every time we teach a dog a new behaviour, it's like giving them a new problem to solve. 

They won't get it right without being taught how to solve it. Once the dog understands, we have a trained dog. Just like with children, the more they learn, the easier it becomes. Unlike children, however, dogs don’t have the advanced cognitive ability to be spiteful or deliberate.

When your child does well in school or on an assignment, they receive praise or sometimes even a present from their parents. However, our dogs often get nothing for behaving well. This creates a problem because our kids are constantly rewarded for good behaviour, which reinforces their drive to please us and do better. 

But when our dogs behave well, they are usually ignored. If you ignore your child's efforts, they may stop trying to achieve good grades or do their chores, and you might resort to threatening them with punishment. Similarly, if we don't acknowledge our dogs' good behaviour, they may not learn what is expected of them.

Dogs are not human and should not be treated as such. 

However, the way they learn is quite similar to the way we do. For example, we learn by making associations between things (classical conditioning), and we learn that actions have consequences, either good or bad (operant conditioning). 

Behaviours we enjoy or that get rewarded will be repeated, and it is the same with our dogs. So, why not reward our dogs for all those perfectly appropriate behaviours we usually ignore instead of always punishing them for what they are doing "wrong"? Many behavioural problems will vanish just by starting to reward our dogs when they do something we really approve of, just like with a child.

Why resort to all sorts of devices to "teach" our dogs? 

Dog training has come a long way since the '90s, thanks to people like Dr Ian Dunbar. We now have many great ways to teach dogs using positive methods. Why stick to old, outdated, damaging training methods that might break down the bond we should have with our dogs? Is education still the problem? Maybe ignorance? 

Dogs are pets and part of our families and should be treated with respect and understanding. There is a wealth of information out there regarding science-based training methods. "I did not know" should not be an excuse in this day and age. 

Punishment creates fear, and some dogs can handle this better than others. Some dogs might revert to even worse behaviours, while other dogs might totally shut down.

Punishment-based training systems focus on stopping problem behaviours rather than addressing the root cause of the issue. For example, if a dog barks and lunges at other dogs while on a walk, many owners immediately ask how to stop the barking. However, a better question to ask is why the dog is barking in the first place. Is the dog fearful or over-excited? Understanding the underlying cause can lead to more effective solutions. 

Understanding the root cause of a behaviour is essential for creating an effective training plan to reduce or remove that behaviour permanently. Simply punishing your dog for barking at other dogs may silence them temporarily, but it doesn't address their underlying feelings and won't help them learn to cope with their fear or frustration. This means the behaviour may come back even stronger in the future. Suppressing a behaviour is not the same as changing it.

When dogs are punished, they may stop a specific behaviour temporarily to avoid punishment. Still, they do not receive any guidance on what better behaviour would be to replace the "bad" behaviour. As a result, the dog is likely to eventually go back to the "bad" behaviour or come up with another unwanted behaviour. For example, many dogs like to jump up to greet their owners when they come home. 

Yelling at the dog to get off or trying to knee them when they jump might temporarily stop the behaviour, but it does not communicate how you would like to be greeted instead. Additionally, the dog may have been reinforced for jumping on you because they received attention (which is what they wanted), making them more likely to try it again the next time you come home.

To help your dog understand how to behave in different situations, it's essential to demonstrate what you want. One effective way to do this is by asking for specific behaviours and rewarding the ones you like. 

Instead of punishing your dog for jumping, try asking them to "sit" as soon as you come in the door. Once they do, reward them with a treat and a calm greeting. 

If you consistently follow this routine, your dog will learn that sitting is the best way to greet you, and they may even do it without being asked. This approach works because your expectations are clear, and your dog realises they will be rewarded when they behave well. No punishment is necessary! Let’s do what is best for our dogs.

Article by George van Huyssteen (DipCABT, CCAB, MHERA, CABTi, CAPBT)