Chewing

Written by Caz Irving Veterinary assistant
 
Dogs, especially puppies, are extremely playful and love to explore. While play with people and other dogs is an important part of socialisation and social development, exploring and object play are important ways for dogs to learn about their environment. It is a normal behaviour for puppies to investigate their environment by sniffing, tasting and perhaps chewing on objects throughout the home. 

There are various reasons why dogs chew, for example some may be scavenging for food (as in raiding dustbins), others playing (as in the dog that chews on objects that releases feathers or foam such as cushions or sofas), teething (dogs 3 to 6 months of age that chew on household objects), or satisfying a natural urge to chew and gnaw (which may serve to help keep teeth and gums healthy). Some dogs may chew because they receive attention (even if it is negative) or treats from the owners each time they chew, and the owners are inadvertently rewarding the behaviour. Chewing and destructive behaviours may also be a symptom of anxiety. Dogs that are confined in areas where they are insecure or frightened may dig and chew in an attempt to escape. Dogs that are in a state of conflict, high arousal or anxiety may also turn to chewing and other forms of destructiveness as an outlet for their emotional responses.
Arriving home and punishing a pet for chewing that has occurred in your absence will only serve to increase your pet’s anxiety and cause more problems with its behaviour.

How can chewing be treated?

 First, it is important to determine the cause and motivation for chewing. If the dog is a puppy or young adult that is chewing at a variety of objects in the household, it is likely that play and investigation (and perhaps teething) is the motive. Dogs that raid bins and steal food off counters are obviously motivated by the presence and smell of food. Some dogs are attempting to escape confinement while in others chewing may be an outlet for anxiety. Directing the chewing into appealing alternatives, providing sufficient play and exercise, and preventing inappropriate chewing are all techniques used in dealing with this problem. In addition you must ensure that you are not inadvertently rewarding the behaviour by interacting with your dog when he is chewing. If the dog is still a puppy the chewing behaviour may decrease in time, provided you direct it into proper outlets. In the case of dogs that are raiding bins or food stealing the behaviour itself is self-rewarding and booby trapping the bin or food with an unpleasant stimulus, such as taste or sound, may be necessary. Close supervision and prevention of access are obviously also needed. Dogs that are destructive in an attempt to escape confinement must learn to become comfortable and secure with the place where they are to be confined. Dogs that are destructive as an outlet for anxiety, will need to have the cause of the anxiety diagnosed, and the problem appropriately treated.

Encourage correct chewing.

Before considering how inappropriate chewing might be discouraged the real key is to provide some appropriate outlets for your dog’s chewing “needs.” Begin with a few toys with a variety of tastes, smells, and textures to determine what appeals most to your pet. Although plastic, nylon or rubber toys may be the most durable, products that can be torn apart such as rawhide or pigs ears may be more like natural prey. Coating toys with liver or cheese spread may also increase their desirability as may soaking the toy in meat juices. Durable chew toys with hollow centres are ideal as their appeal can be greatly enhanced by placing a piece of cheese or liver inside and then filling them tight with biscuits. This encourages the dog to "work" to get its reward. You can also place soup or meat juices into these toys and freeze them.

To ensure that your puppy is encouraged and rewarded for chewing on its toys, and discouraged from chewing on all other objects, it must be well supervised. Whenever supervision is not possible, you must prevent access to any object or area that might be chewed.

Increase play and exercise.

The needs of most working dogs are usually satisfied with daily work sessions (retrieving, herding, sledding, etc.), while non-working house-pets will require alternative forms of activity to meet their requirements for work and play. Games, such as retrieving and catching a ball or Frisbee, and exercise, in the form of long walks or jogging, are often acceptable alternatives to work, allowing the dog an opportunity to expend energy and benefit from the attention of their owner. Obedience training, agility classes and simply teaching your dog a few tricks provide some stimulation and "work" to the dog's daily schedule.

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Obsessive Barking

Obsessive Barking -

Written by Caz Irving

Dogs communicate by using ten different types of sound, ranging from whimpering to growling.
Barking is normal and a very useful means of communication, in excess it can be a nuisance for the humans who live in the dog’s pack, and for their neighbours.
When a dog barks, owners very often respond by shouting in order to silence the dog. The dog assumes the owners are barking too, so they continue undeterred and very often louder. Other dogs find their owners give them attention when they bark.
Here are some examples
1) A dog barks in a car due to being excited, the owner shouts at them to be quiet but the dogs hears them barking back so continues to bark, the owner shouts louder, the dog continues to bark but gets louder as there is now a barking game between the owner and dog.
2) A dog starts barking when the postman comes to the door, the postman delivers the letters and leaves. The dogs sees this as they have done a great job in chasing them away, not realising they didn‘t want to come in anyway! This is reconfirmed every day and also when people pass the front of the house.
3) A dog barks when it hears people passing by and the owner tells them to be quiet, the dog soon learns when they bark they get the owners attention. Their barking now becomes obsessive and they learn to exploit this to the point where the dog barks at nothing at all, just to get a response from the owner.
The golden rule when trying to modify any behaviour problems is Ignore the behaviour you don’t want to see and Praise the behaviour you do want.
One of the simplest ways of stopping your dog from barking is to teach them to bark on command. Start by finding a way of getting your dog to bark out of excitement in a controlled situation for example, have someone hold the end of your dogs lead and with a little friendly teasing with a toy or food try and get your dog to bark. When they do lots of praise and use the command ‘speak’ try to read your dog giving the command ‘speak’ just as they are about to bark. Once you have reached the point when they bark on command you want to teach the command ‘quiet’. This is done whilst the dog is barking, give the command ‘quiet’ and produce a toy or titbit. The dog will soon learn it is rewarding to stop barking on command.
What can I do to correct my dog's barking problem?
1) Ensure that the dog is not being rewarded inadvertently.  Some owners in an attempt to calm their dog down will actually encourage the barking by giving attention, play, food or affection.
2) Sometimes the home environment can be modified so that the dog is kept away from the stimuli (sounds and sights) that cause barking.  Exposure might be minimised by confining the dog to a cage or room away from doors and windows, alternatively windows might be covered so that the dog cannot look outside.  Solid private fencing may be helpful for dogs outdoors.  Dogs that bark when left alone outdoors may have to be kept indoors except when the owner is available to supervise. 
3) Once you have sufficient control and the dog responds to obedience commands and handling, it should be possible to train your dog to cease barking on command.  Over time the behaviour should be shaped so that the dog is required to stay quiet for progressively longer times, before a reward is given.
4) It may then be possible to begin a retraining programme in the presence of the stimuli (people, other dogs) that lead to barking. The stimulus should first be presented in a mild form to the dog from a distance (e.g. children riding bicycles slowly on the street while the dog stands well back), and the dog given a quiet or sit-stay command. Training sessions are then repeated with progressively more intense stimuli.  This type of training can be effective, but progress can be slow and time consuming.
5) Pets that are barking for other reasons e.g. fear, or separation distress will require treatment for the underlying problem.
How can barking problems be prevented?
Socialisation and habituation — get puppies used to as many new people, animals, situations and noises as possible.  This will minimise the amount or intensity of alarm barking.  Barking should only be allowed to alert owners and then be controlled and stopped before the dog becomes agitated and out of control.  Owner control, training and leadership are essential.

Does your Dog have a Firework Fear or Phobia!

This article was submitted  by Caz Irving - Veterinary assistant


--------------------What is the difference I hear you ask? Well a Fear is essential for survival; it protects us from danger and is relative to the risk of harm. A phobia is so intense and out of context, that it limits normal behaviour.

Here is an example of how fear protects and phobia cripples. A person with a normal fear would avoid walking across a road unless it was clear. One with a phobia of cars would not go near a road in case a car appeared. Dogs, which have a phobia to fireworks, may not want to go out even when the fireworks have finished or may even stop going out at night as they now associate the fireworks with darkness. A fear is normally only displayed during the time of the fireworks.

There is treatment available for phobic and fearful dogs, but there is no quick fix. Desensitisation and Counter-Conditioning are the recommended methods used; in severe cases, drug therapy may also be necessary.

Desensitisation uses a special CD to expose the dog to the sound of which it is fearful. So as not to induce anxiety in the dog, start by playing the CD at home at a very low volume, as a background sound. You then increase the volume very gradually over time until reaching maximum volume and the dog no longer reacts to the sound. At this point, the dog is desensitised.
Counter-Conditioning starts after the dog has been desensitised. You achieve this by again playing the CD at a very low volume whilst at the same time feeding the dog or playing a game. When it is apparent that your dog anticipates the food or game each time the sound occurs, the volume is gradually increased. You then repeat the above method in various public places.

You need to undertake the above methods several times a day for periods of 5-10mins. Treatment can take many weeks or months of continued repetition before you see any improvement.

If you unable to complete the above methods for whatever reason you can help prevent the problem from getting any worse by following these steps,
- Do not take a sound sensitive dog to places where phobic events are likely. For example fields where hunters are out shooting or at fiestas.
- Avoid close proximity to the launch sites of fireworks.
- Do not restrict access to escape routes unless there is a very important reason to do so. Try to open up opportunities to escape.
- Do not sympathise with or get angry at a fearful or phobic dog, as either will add to emotional intensity of the situation and will increase the likelihood of future problems.
- Do not force animals to confront their fears by, for example, dragging them to places where they are reluctant to go.

It is very important to provide the dog with somewhere to hide; this could be under a bed, a wooden box, under the stairs or a covered indoor kennel. Your dog may already have a place they feel safe, sometimes they like to move from one place to another. This is why it is very important not to close the door and allow them to move and not feel trapped. It also helps to turn on the TV or radio in the room they feel safe. Some dogs are inclined to seek out their owners for security but this should be ignored. It may seem harsh but they become dependant of you when frightened and will have less chance of coping when you are not home. When your dog eventually emerges from its hideaway showing a more relaxed behaviour, you should reward the dog in the hope that this will help it recover more quickly on the next occasion.

I hope this information helps, but I would strongly advise seeking professional help to assist you before attempting the treatment methods. 

(The CD can be brought from this website click here )

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