SINN-CLARK: Understanding the messages in 'Dogland'

So, what is this sudden interest in dog behavior? The new love of my life is a 10-year-old, 120 pound, rescued Rottweiller named Roland. Needless to say, making sure nothing goes wrong with him socially is very important because if something were to go wrong, the result would be disastrous.

Before adding Roland to our pack, I consulted Hank Gallups, our local Dog Whisperer. In a very short time, he gave me a glimpse into Dogland that really opened my eyes. Even though I’ve had dogs for years, it turns out I didn’t have a clue about how to relate to them. In fact, many of the behaviors my often annoying pack of three ill-behaved rescue Mutts have are my fault.

Thinking I was being kind, I never provided much leadership; laziness kept me from providing consistent correction. In the absence of these things, chaos becomes the norm within a pack. Dogs need to see there’s a driver on the bus and they feel better if that driver is not one of them. Without a clear and consistent Alpha, dogs go crazy - I certainly saw that. Now, thanks to Hank and some reading about animal behavior I’ve been doing, we are making strides towards a calmer, better behaved life. All that was needed was for me to take charge.

One easy Alpha trick is to “control the resources” - resources being anything the dog finds pleasant. Never hand out a resource (for example, meal or a treat) without expecting something first. Making a dog sit before getting the “resource” reinforces that you are in control and for dogs that is a good thing.

Also, relate to dogs using their communication style – not ours. It’s clearer for everyone and brings better results. Dogs basically use two tones with each other – very high (indicating happiness, affection or approval) and very low (signaling warning, displeasure or correction.) These are the tones their mother used with them and they are the tones they use with each other. Everything else human voice-wise sounds like the adults in Charlie Brown’s life – mush.

When a dog is doing something good, make that clear; use super high, happy voice – even if you are a man and you feel stupid doing that, Hank says. When the dog is doing something you don’t like use a very low, gruff, almost growling voice. It doesn’t matter what you say, it’s the tone that counts. Waving your hands and yelling, “Stop that!” only makes the dog more excited because he clearly has your attention and doesn’t have a clue what you are trying to say.

Consistency is the key. Dogs want to please us, but we need to make it very clear when they are doing that; correction also has to happen every time.
If barking is a problem, be conscious of how you react when the dog barks. Barking is not a behavior dogs use with each other – it is something they’ve gotten good at to communicate with us. (When they want to reach out to each other, they howl.) Barking gets our attention every time and any attention, even negative attention, is better than no attention in Dogland. If you want a dog to stop barking withdraw all attention, except to apply a gruff, very low “Stop that!” Again, consistency is the key…

Be mindful of prolonged eye contact and never stare at a dog. In Dogland, faces are very important because they give a lot of information. Let dogs see your face clearly, but glance at them, then avert your eyes. Dogs love affection, but they don’t like people leaning over them. Bend down and relate on their level if you want to really communicate.

I could write a book about everything I don’t know about dogs, but beginning to see the world from their perspective has helped me and my pack a lot. It’s sad so many dogs get surrendered to animal shelters because of a behavior glitch that could be fixed with a little information, training and consistency. It’s not the dog’s fault we don’t know how to lead…

Dogland, it seems, is a polite place where communication is direct and messages are clear. Even messages of aggression are sent clearly and warning is given before an attack. Wouldn’t it be nice if Humanland was that way?

Lorin Sinn-Clark is features editor of the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.com