A Dog’s Squeak Toy, innocent fun or a gate way to neurotic, obsessive or aggressive behavior?
You know how it goes. Anyone who owns or has owned a dog knows the excitement and pure joy of bringing your beloved four legged family member home that bright and Shiney new Doggy Squeak Toy.
What’s the first thing every dog owner does when they walk through the door and get rushed by a wiggly ball of fur and tail. He knows the bag, the gooberish look on your face, the excitement in your voice- finding it difficult to contain your self, you know the feeling. I bet he checks the pet store bag out even before saying hi to you.
I know everyone does this myself included, you bend a slightly at the hips and say,Â
“do you smell your toy, do you? You’s a good boooy, whose a gooooood boooooy, are you a good boy? Yes you are!… “
The Dog Whisperer of MN team of Cesar and me showing off what a balanced pit bull can do! No leash, people and dogs around, still focused.
Do
know, I spoil my dogs. But like with my Pit Bull Cesar, I work with him and am consistent with him every day throughout his 5 years of life.
Without a dogs understanding what a person or toy represent, you get a dog progressively becoming more ramped up and maybe even jumpy or barky. So you finally take it out of the magical portal of fun and with out any more delay, you toss it for him. He chases so fast, he almost slides into the wall. Such a great idea right? Maybe… Then again, maybe not.Â
Dog Toys are meant for fun, going about it the wrong way, can be a liability
The thing is, a toy can be a gate way to unwanted behaviors in your dog with out any obvious signs. There is a science involved in dog toy development. That fun (annoying) Squeak your dog loves, is a simulated sound meant to be at similar frequency of an animal dying. So, for those of you that wonder why your dog will just walk and chomp the toy for endless squeaks, it fulfills a dog’s predatory instinct to kill. This is why in some cases, the toy can become that gateway to obsessive, neurotic and even aggressive possessive behaviors. Resource guarding can spawn from this, unwarranted dominance related reactions and more.
Dog’s, as a species are predators and as such have a systematic approach to situations. If this is fulfilled, there aren’t many things that can create intense or unwanted behaviors. For anything they get, they need to work for it, meaning in the wild for dinner they hunt. When they hunt, the kill, when they kill they eat and when they eat, the dog(s) in control eats first (pack leader/alpha male or female) that is just one example of course. A-Z, the dog’s specific psychological needs are satisfied, order remains, not too many bad things happen.
To a domestic dog, these needs tend to be neglected. All with pure intention I know, but to the wrong dog, what winds up happening is a sense of entitlement manifests. With that, a dog becomes unmotivated to work for you and develops a welfare mantality. Spoiled, like those Nanny 911 kids. Like a drug addiction, they need the fix and will hit it until they are feel the high. Take an addicts drug of choice away, what happens? Withdrawal, panic, they obsessively try to find it to feel whole again. If they can’t, they go find some one who can give it to them. Doing anything to get the person to give it to them. For a dog, you will feed into the tricks or get sick of the pacing and give the toy back.
Stage two. Now, it takes more to get the high and thrill of victory, your dog soon becomes frustrated, begins tearing the toy up to pull the squeaker out. Like an addict going from smoking drug to sniffing drug. Quicker, more intense feeling of ecstasy. See where I’m going?
The Dog Whisperer of MN philosophy is based on communication and the value of relationships.
Soon the obsession becomes frantic. Soon the toy becomes an entity in its self. Soon the dog will be ripping so hard at the new toy, clawing, tearing and ripping, being consumed by this darn thing that won’t die, he swallows the squeaker.
Uh oh. Overdose.
You bring him the the Emergency Vet and $ 2000 dollars later, he is on bed rest and pain management for 7-10 days because of the surgery to remove the squeaker and stuffing. Almost like detox. During the first few days, it isn’t too bad but then the tick comes. The fit comes. Now he musters some strength to find another toy from the bucket. He looks pathetic, you feel bad, you can’t bare to see him like this; you buy him a new one shortly after.
Then what? He should have learned that day right? Don’t destroy it or swallow the squeaker. He’ll be fine. Right? Well, he started off slow. Then there is a point where you see that look in his eyes change. He is frantic again. You see some white fluff begin to come out. So you jump to to take the toy, keeping him safe right? What happens when you take the pipe away from an addict? Violence. Aggression. Physical escalation, almost red zone behavior. You see it on those COP and Jail shows or related movies all the time.
Dog Behavior Training and Rehabilitation is now needed. All because of an innocent toy. A fun play thing.
With out consistent rules and boundaries, a dog will not develop important limitations with a thing so that it doesn’t consume his thoughts and stunts his genetic inclinations to work, hunt or earn the things he gets. Settling this, satisfying this will not create the need to go further, harder, higher. It won’t create frustration.
Balance is key.
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