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Articles / TULARC / Dogs / Behavior / |  |
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005. Ah, but my dog always looks GUILTY after he's done something likethis! |
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This article is from the Dog Behavior FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
No. He's reacting to your body language and emotions. When you come in and see the toilet paper all over the floor, you get mad. The dog can tell that you are upset and the only thing he knows how to do is to try and placate you, as the alpha. So they try and get you out of your bad mood by crouching, crawling, rolling over on their backs, or avoiding eye contact. You interpret the dog as acting "guilty" when in fact the dog hasn't the faintest idea of what is wrong and is simply hoping you will return to a better mood. The important thing to remember is that if your dog finds that it cannot consistently predict your anger or the reasons for it, it will begin to distrust you -- just as you would someone who unpredictably flew into rages.
This is why it's so important to catch dogs "in the act." That way you can communicate clearly just what it is they shouldn't do. Screaming and yelling at the dog, or punishing it well after the fact does not tell your dog what is wrong. You may in fact wind up teaching it to fear you, or consider you unreliable. You must get your dog to understand you, and _you_ have to work on the communication gap, as you are more intelligent than your dog.
Preventing your dog from unwanted behaviors coupled with properly timed corrections will go much further in eliminating the behavior from your pet than yelling at it.
In fact, you should not yell at, scream at, or hit your dog, ever. There are much more effective ways to get your point across. Try instead to understand the situation from your dog's point of view and act accordingly. The techniques in this chapter approach problems with this in mind.
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