Funny Things Your Dog Does, And Why Your Dog Does Them.

Have you ever noticed the odd little things your dog has learned to do and wondered why they are such quirky little Herberts?

Years ago, my then puppy, Moo, would like to follow me around the house.

In addition to his other troubles, he felt worried when we were apart and always wanted to be near me. He had separation anxiety and could be pretty upset over it.

Including my going to the toilet.

I would have preferred to have had some “alone time” for that particular activity.

So I would shut the door, leaving him waiting outside in the back hall.

The back hall is also where the back door and the bins are.

Digging the Mat.

As the back garden gets muddy, there is a mat to collect the dirt by the two doors, and the bins are situated right beside the mat.

Moo hopped from bin to bin one day, finding “delightful” treasures inside.

From then on, whenever I went to the bathroom, Moo would jump up and search through the trash for gross things to eat. This made a mess on the mat.

He would then scrabble about on the mat with his prized collection of rotting food and wrappers. On hearing this, I would come out of the bathroom and exclaim, “Oh no, not again,” or words to that effect.

I eventually changed the bins to ones with better lids so he could not raid them.

But still, I would come out of the bathroom to find Moo had dug the mat up, even with no manky bin-based nastiness on it.

Why?

Because Moo connected digging the mat with my coming out of the bathroom.

Whenever I bathed, used the toilet, or brushed my teeth, the mat was always dug up when I left the bathroom.

Ultimately, he didn’t even bother waiting by the door for me. He would follow me to the bathroom. He would dig the mat. Then, he would go back to the living room to relax.

He was safe in the knowledge I would leave the bathroom and join him on the sofa because his mat-digging duties were accomplished.

Parcel delivering ne’er do wells.

Another prime example is the postman, postwoman or the Amazon delivery person. Dogs generally go nuts barking at anyone who dares to approach the house with a letter or a parcel in hand.

Those red Royal Mail bastards are begging for a telling-off for trying to get in the letterbox every day.

Why?

Because the barking works.

Your dog has a 100% success rate in seeing off any delivery folk.

See it from your dog’s viewpoint.

The potential burglar comes to the door with packages. They try to enter through the letterbox or knock to deliver a suspicious box. The dog barks and they leave.

Fido is victorious and the house is safe once more.

Self-taught geniuses.

Dogs are incredibly clever creatures who notice everything that matters to them.

They spot patterns that help them reach their goals. They figure out what causes positive results and see if they can repeat them.

We can use rewards to teach them that a good “stay” (as an example) means getting a treat on your return.

They can also learn that “stay” means they can eventually be released from their position. The release from the “stay” is it’s own reward.

They can then cross the road safely, be allowed to greet a visitor or find dinner bowls placed on the floor. Dogs find many things rewarding, and we can use that to help them navigate learning cues.

Dogs can teach themselves to repeat actions that bring them happy results, too.

They can also teach themselves how to avoid things they don’t like by utilising our actions and turning them to their advantage.

Cheeky, clever little ratbags.

Moo had a crate with an eternally open door. As an anxious boy, he needed to have somewhere he could go and relax and unwind from the stress of daily life. We established a rule that when Moo was “in his house,” everyone was to leave him completely alone. We would not talk to him, or even look at him — we would allow him complete privacy and rest.

Clever Moo soon began to use this to his advantage.

Moo didn’t enjoy getting brushed. His fur matted very easily and grooming him sometimes took an hour a day.

As soon as someone picked up his comb, he would run to his crate and sit inside. He watched you from inside the bars and waited for you to put the comb down before coming out again.

He used his crate to say “No”.

My current dog, Twyla, saw Moo do this when she was a puppy. Even though Moo is gone to Rainbow Bridge now, Twyla still uses his crate the same way.

No one has taught her to use the crate to say “no”. She learned by observation alone.

If I ask her to go in the kitchen while I eat my dinner in the living room to stop her begging and dribbling as I munch, she’ll go trotting straight into the crate instead.

If I pick up the wrong harness, she is in there quicker than a rat up a drain pipe.

Mention the words “What’s in your mouth?” and she shoots in there even if she has no idea what is in her mouth herself.

Dogs are constantly learning and training themselves, maybe even more than we teach them.

What clever things has your dog worked out? What funny things do they do that make you laugh but also have a good reason? What do they get out of doing or receive as a reward for doing those things? I’d love to hear about them!

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100 Day Challenge — Day 38.