Wish I had known about Victoria before

[emmabeth]

Its ok, the rule of thumb is... diss the methods, not the person.

Bear in mind also kids use this board so whilst privately.. we'd like to do a lot of probably deeply unpleasant things to people who hurt animals.. here isnt the place to say so.

[Carol F. King]

About dogs and memory. In the last few months there have been a couple of articles written about Military Dogs coming back home with PTSD Yes that is what I said. I had a dog that was attacked by a Coyote in our backyard and I swear he had PTSD.

There is some theory that dogs have breed recognition. They remember their own breed, they remember breeds that had horrible experiences with and they remember breeds they had great experiences with.

I know the dogs I have had do remember other dogs they loved or hated. If they saw a dog that looked like the dog they loved they would run up to the dog all excited like they were greeting their best friend. Then when they realized it was not their friend they would look so disappointed. I've also had dog remember people they loved they hadn't seen in years and greet the person with great joy.

I do believe dogs have memories. However we are told if the dog pees on the floor and 30 seconds have gone by, scolding the dog does not work because the dog does not know what we are scolding them for. I believe that also. Maybe it has to do with how strong the memory is for good or bad?

Carol F. King

[Nettle]

Certainly breed recognition - sighthounds barely acknowledge non-sighthounds Not our kind of dog, dahlinks. Most dogs seem to prefer their own breed/type. And many dogs are afraid of a certain dog breed after an attack by a dog of that breed.

The scolding/punishmant thing is because punishment is entirely foreign to dogs, so not in their genetic programming - although a bad experience is, and remembering that may save their life in future. To do that, the cause and effect has to be linked by very tight timing, otherwise they would be afraid of far more general things and that isn't conducive to survival either..I hope I make sense here: I'm very tired tonight after my midwife duties


Humans are VERY bad at linking Cause and Effect (you don't do your homework: you'll fail your exams). Maybe it's the timescale

[OhioRuthie]

My newest rescue associates poo with beatings...she didn't seem to understand where to go but if I found it she would duck and run in fear. It took several weeks but she now uses the papers and doesn't run from me anymore...with accidents I just say "uh oh what did you do?" Since learning to use papers she's had a couple of accidents...and when I say the uh oh she no longer runs..she just watches..I put it on the papers til next cleaning so she sees where I want it to go. Now that she is using papers...the next step is housebreaking...she still doesn't want to potty around me so that will take time..but I'm pleased with her progress so far.

She remembers the beatings associated with poo but I don't believe she understood it was associated with her going potty in the house. In the past I had a dog go on the floor right in front of me while looking at me... then ran to me wagging her tail as if she gave me a present. I was housebreaking her and I guess she associated me being happy with her for peeing and not where she peedLOL I just say the "uh oh what did you do?" and clean it up. I've always found it pointless to make a scene about it. They only know what they've been taught and obviously I still had work to do..my fault not theirs.

On a different note..not long ago saw an idiot 'dominating' his pit puppy. Six weeks old and being yelled at and forced on its side and yanked by the collar. The poor thing was looking at him trying to please...I screamed at him and he screamed at me...some friends thought he'd come back and shoot me. Funny how dominate behavior gave friends the impression he could be violent towards me too. I'd have taken the puppy from him but he was built like a linebacker...so all I could do was yell at him. I can still see the puppy looking up at him like he didn't understand and wanted to please. It was painful to see.

[wvvdiup1]

All abuses, mistakingly called punishment, doesn't teach a dog anything but fear. Besides, if the dog/puppy did his/her business some time ago, they wouldn't understand what they did wrong, because they wouldn't associate the incident with the so-called punishment, especially when some time has elapsed since that incident.

Oftentimes, I wonder will when people learn!