The Dog Blog
"Go ahead, I’ll sleep while you're gone!” It would be nice if we had the feeling that our dog would say exactly that to us when we leave him alone. I'm lucky enough that my dogs seem to do this when neither I nor my husband are at home. “Luck” is relative, however, because of course we did a lot for it in advance. And I still make sure that each of our dogs is at home alone sometimes, even without the other dogs. In multi-dog households it is often the case that the dogs can stay alone as long as their furry buddy is also lying next to them. But if, for various reasons, the other dog comes along with its owner and one of the dogs is suddenly completely alone at home, this can also lead to stress. But how do you achieve this? Everyone is probably familiar with the idea that you should build up your ability to stay alone slowly. At first you just go outside the door for a short time, then you extend this for longer and longer in more or less small time steps. But I'm missing something crucial in this approach! Our dogs’ need for safety! From a biological perspective, separation anxiety and its symptoms are something that makes a lot of sense . A puppy goes exploring, loses sight of his mom and siblings and suddenly finds himself all alone. What will this little puppy do? At first he will start screaming terribly. This then helps the mother to locate the puppy and bring it back to the group. So the screaming made the puppy successful and is of course functionally reinforced, or to put it another way: the screaming completely fulfilled its function, the mother came back, so next time the puppy will scream like that again.
One of the areas in which I work most with client dogs is reactivity to a variety of stimuli. One dog reacts to other companions approaching him, another to people who want to touch him. It can sometimes drive us to despair when we are out in public with our dog and it barks at everything and everyone who comes towards it. Some may now be thinking: if only it stopped at barking... I hear it every day: You have to really assert yourself, you absolutely MUST not let the dog get away with that. Since in most cases this unfortunately leads to exactly the wrong behavior on the part of us humans and, as a result, to even worse behavior in the dogs, I would like to explain to you why our dogs behave this way in the first place. And in order to do this, we first have to look at what is happening in our dogs' brains.
The dream: our dog flies happily over the fields, is happy to be have the opportunity to just be a dog and we watch him totally relaxed and satisfied. But in order for this to be possible in a relaxed manner for everyone involved, we have to be able to rely on our dog coming back to us if this is necessary. For me, recall is the most important signal we can teach our dogs. The reasons for this are as follows: Safety: A reliable recall can save lives!! It can get your dog out of potentially dangerous situations and back to you. These situations can be diverse: your dog sees another animal and runs after it, while you might be near a road. Your dog is frightened and his first impulse is to run away. Another dog approaches you and demonstrates aggressive behavior. These are just examples; you probably have a few more situations in mind yourself. Only if we can rely 100% on our recall can we be sure that we are not exposing our own dog, but also other living beings in our environment, to danger. Respect for other people and living beings: Not everyone likes dogs. There are even people who are very afraid of dogs. Children playing somewhere should never be harassed by a free running dog. Older people who may be unsteady on their feet could fall if they are frightened by a dog. Other animals should never have to feel frightened by our dogs. And there are also numerous factors why other dogs don't find it particularly pleasant when another dog runs into them. They may be injured or sick and fear pain; they may be old and have reduced sensory perception. This often leads to them not noticing the dog until late and becoming terribly frightened. But it could also be a dog in heat or even pregnant. It is possible that the dog is extremely afraid of others because it has already been bitten before. Let's be honest: it's absolutely irresponsible to let your dog run into other people and dogs if you don't have their prior consent . I always recommend either calling your dog over and controlling it there or putting it on a leash straight away if you see another dog nearby. Then you have already given the other person a feeling of security and can still ask whether the dogs can come into contact and possibly play together. Personally, I am much more likely to agree if I can see in advance that the other dog is trained and that the owner has the opportunity to influence it. Freedom: The previous two points also explain why your dog should only run freely when they have a reliable recall. But if you achieved this, your dog can freely explore its environment and you can both enjoy its freedom without having to constantly worry that he might run away or get into dangerous situations. This promotes the quality of life for both of you and gives him the opportunity to express his energy. A good recall signal helps to build a strong bond and trust between your dog and you . You can rely on your dog in every situation and he will also realize that he is always safe with you. Nothing unpleasant should ever happen to him around you, so you are his safe haven. This promotes trust immensely and your dog will be happy to come back to you when he needs support in a situation.