What's the connection here...?

whatthedeuce · Post by **whatthedeuce** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:07 pm

My dog seems obsessed with my cat, but the cat wants nothing to do with him. The cat is not scared of him, and luckily the dog keeps a respectful distance of her. He completely fixates on the cat if she's within view, and it's impossible to distract him (sometimes when the cat is around I have tried to work on "watch me" since he has it down perfect when the cat's not around) but he won't run after her. We do keep them separated when we're not home though.

We've noticed that when she comes into the same room as him (which is very rare), he tends to stay in his bed and chew the living $&#* out of his toys. This is noticeable to us because otherwise at night, he just lays around quietly and naps. But when the cat comes down, we hear him rummage through his things and get out a squeaky toy and squeak it like it's going out of style, or he gets one of his bones and really goes to town on it.

Any ideas what the connection there could be?
I do assume it's not something as silly-sounding as "the dog wants to chew the cat but knows that's not allowed, so he takes those feelings out on a toy"

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 2:40 am

Yes, you are right. It's called 'displacement behaviour'. It's good that he's doing it.

Can you make cat-in-room times even nicer for him? Give him a bone to chew?

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:30 am

That is very interesting behavior, though. At the center where I work, we have some youth who are what are known as "self-inflictors." So several of them wear a hair elastic on their wrists, and when they get the urge to self-inflict, they can snap their wrist with the elastic instead. They can still get the pain sensation they are craving, but without actually breaking the skin or causing real harm to themselves. It's probably not really the same as what your dog is doing, Deuce, but it's really neat anyway.

Nettle · Post by **Nettle** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:03 am

For those interested - the medical slant

Stress hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released - under stress. The hardwired options they present are: Freeze, Fight, Flight, or Fiddle About.

The dog here has opted for Fiddle About (displacement).

Displacement actions dissipate the stress hormones. There has to be physical action to dispel these - mental work will not do it.

That is why snapping the elastic works for the self-harmers. Or they could go and dig the garden. Same result.

Fundog · Post by **Fundog** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:26 am

LOL, that's cool, Nettle.

whatthedeuce · Post by **whatthedeuce** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:07 am

Interesting, so it is stress-related, you think?

I had wondered about that, that maybe it (chewing) just gives him something to do- because he also likes to play with his toys when he's home alone. When the cat is around, I do place his favorite toys near him (I posted about that before, he is a bit of a resource guard, and I don't want him to feel that he has to guard his toys from the cat). Giving him a new bone or chewy is a good idea too.

Thanks.

I also read the post about mental stimulation- games, agility training, and the flirty-stick (is that the stick with a toy on the end almost like a fishing line? I've seen Victoria use it). He's in obedience now and has another few classes before we can do agility, but it's definitely something we want to do with him. I'll do some searching for a flirty stick, too- we don't have a big yard in which he can run, because we're in a city. But if we had a very long lead on him, the flirt stick might work well.