Omigod my dogs are dumb! I love them to pieces and we share an amazing bond but there’s no doubt about it: My dogs do not offer me much intelligent company—not compared to the likes of a Border collie or pit bull. A member of this latter breed was the smartest dog I ever had, bar none.
But these Frenchies of mine? They wouldn’t survive a day out in the wild at their mental pace.
It’s not just the stubbornness. I’ve met plenty of smart and stubborn dogs. Mine are slow-witted and dim when it comes to basic dog instincts, too.
Take yesterday’s cooking session involving a couple of tasty chicken necks. I presented them the necks on the back porch as the chicken carcasses simmered in their stock. Radish greens, carrots, dried mushrooms, spring onions and fresh bay leaves danced in the heavy pot along with some garlic and a tiny handful of black peppercorns.
What did my dogs do when offered the chicken necks? They chose to go back inside and sit by the simmering stockpot.
Now, these dogs never get fed directly from the stockpot. They eat out of their bowls after a mélange is ladled from other containers. They have no reason to stare at a stockpot. Sure, it smells good but I’m offering raw meat with bits of skin (and even feathers) still attached. This is what dogs should like.
No dice. Finally, I consented to sauté the things briefly in the wine sauce they like so much. They licked the sauce off the chicken necks and stared at me curiously…then went back inside to bore eyeholes in the stockpot some more.
Now, this is not the only example of aberrant canine behavior I’ve observed in my two dogs. They’re also confused by basic commands.
Though Vincent has learned to sit, stay, come, get in the car, stop, leave it and the almighty “no,” Sophie responds to very little more than a combination of visual/verbal cues that elude my own understanding. The language we share is more one-sided and consequently everything is always on her terms.
I think I’ve already confessed here that even renowned trainer Brian Kilcommons couldn’t teach Sophie to sit in the session he swore would make it all right.
But Sophie’s a little “developmentally disabled,” having lived in a crate for the first two years of her life. This also explains her “tile training,” in which her substrate preference is for indoor, air conditioned, concrete-like surfaces. But then again, she’ll happily wee on her bedding in a pinch.
Luckily, Sophie’s basically good. In fact, she’s a saint. Except for some begging behavior and the elimination disorder she’s the best dog I’ve ever had, temperamentally speaking. Appropriate in almost all ways, despite her limitations.
Could it be that she’s akin to the learning disabled or autistic child who has a mental capacity that evades our understanding? Is this some new breed of canine intelligence we’ve bred?
I like to think so. Otherwise, there’s no explaining that soulful look she gets when everything’s right with her world (almost all the time). I mean, Sophie’s deep.
Vincent? Geez, he’s just a two-watt light bulb. But damn, I love him.
|
STEAK!
Yeah, she's so not a real dog. And my vet wonders why I'm reluctant to switch to a raw diet... kibble, if she doesn't eat it, can get tossed back in the bin.
I feel some solidarity. While my dog is as intelligent as any others, my husband and I often remark that she "wouldn't last a day in the wild."
I have, on walks, pointed directly to a rabbit or squirrel in the distance, without her having any idea what the fuss is all about. She doesn't "see" them, apparently. At the cottage, there is a rather bold red squirrel my husband affectionately (albeit inaccurately) named "Chippy." That is one of the few places I allow her to chase squirrells. Yet if she ever gets too close to Chippy on the ground, he just stops, turns around to face her, and she screeches to a halt. She's never actually tried to harm another living creature, be it the frogs she loves to hunt for, the rabbits that flee our yard at the sight of her or, of course, all manner of squirrell. (Then again, man has never raised wolves in captivity and successfully released them to the wild. They starve. Without another wolf to teach them, they never learn to hunt AND KILL FOR FOOD.)
My girl won't eat anything she doesn't already recognize as food. Since I don't feed dogs human food, I explained to a guest at a friend's BBQ, that he was more than welcome to attempt to feed my dog a chunk of steak, "but she probably won't eat it." Disbelieving me, all eyes watched as the man handed my dog the beefy morsel. My own disbelief was seeing her take it in her mouth. (very unusual) But she promptly spit it out on the ground, sniffed it one more time, then walked away. The guests gasped. Another (less particular) dog snapped it up rather quickly, after that.
I just love it when someone offers my dog a Benny Bully's treat (dried liver), and I say, "You can give it to her, but don't be surprised if she doesn't eat it." They usually say something like, "Oh, all dogs love Benny Bully's!" Then, when they hand a piece to my dog and she turns away, the looks on their faces are priceless.
Seriously though...my dog wouldn't last a day on her own. If the heat or cold didn't get her, starvation would.
I noticed that you give them green onions.. I thought those were poisonous to dogs.. I'm not into cooking for the guy, but he loves a meatball added to his Nutro Max.. He's even learned that I don't like his face dirty after he eats, and runs to the carpet to wipe his face... ughhh What a guy!!
Of all of them, my elderly Sealyham takes the cake, I sure was broken into the breed in a tough and trying way, and was extremely worried that they were all "like her". A dog that taught me that I could be "out-smarted, manipulated, and one step behind".
She should have told me to throw away "The Whelping & Rearing of Puppies" by Muriel Lee and that she had her own edition at the printers ready to go. I took a long time to breed her, thinking she was too silly and un-business-like to ever whelp and care for puppies. Boy, was I wrong.
Gathered up the towels to a perfect mound in the center and created a moat all around the outside for the fluid and yuk, which she quickly consumed every drop. Was not happy with any assistance whatsoever, including "re-cutting all cords" . The undivided, systematic concentration was nothing short of amazing. No pee breaks, no water breaks-- for 24 hours. The last two pups were born dead, the two previous were weak with respiratory problems, and she sniffed and pushed all but Pearl away. Then proceeded to cover Pearl like a hen on an egg and viciously guard her for 8 WEEKS! On the 8th week, she stuffed her mouth like a chipmunk with dry kibble, dropped it into the box and when Pearl went to sniff it (not regurgitated mind you)---growled at her like a lion!
We had to pull her out of the box with leather gloves , but as soon as she was out & away---acted like she had all the time in the world and NO puppy.
An unforgetable experience and only one of dozens with her.
As for not wanting raw food, I've never had a picky eater. When mine don't eat they're sick, though I have to say that a hunk of tripas (small intestine) in their bowl gave them pause. I think a lot of dogs aren't excited about raw food because it doesn't have that nice greasy smell that kibble does. Those dogs you have to treat like cats - heave a big sigh, and keep trying. Cat owners who try to switch their cats all want to know what that addictive substance is they put in the kibble. After all, would a kid raised on ding-dongs and Fritos like broccoli? I think not!
I swing the other way....and I have to watch it. I'm always "certain" my dog is directly communicating with me. I swear she thinks she's people. I always say to my husband "she wants to badly to be on our team". Lol.......
Oh, and Barri - while it's true that large quantities of raw onions can be very harmful (even small quanitites in sensitive animals) cooked onions are usually safe. And it sounds to me like they're being used mostly as seasoning anyway so the quantities are probably quite small.
Not to drudge up the past or anything, but sometimes you tend to overlook things when it comes your beloved frenchies. Yes? If she's knows when to be stubborn and how to get something that she wants, she's smart enough to do and learn other things. I could be completely wrong but I think you're being played and trained. LOL
I just wanted to respond to your comment, from my perspective.
As for "prey," I've had more than enough experiences where a critter was well-within sight or smelling distance, and may even have been in the noisy and inciteful process of scurrying away from us, and my dog STILL doesn't "see" it. She likes to chase animals, when I allow it. But a squirrel has been known to walk right across the path in front of us, without her apparently noticing it. Again, I (jokingly) say, "She wouldn't last a day on her own."
As for food, I appreciate what you're trying to say. And I suppose that could be true for some inexperienced dog owners who feed cheap (so-called 'grocery store') brands of commercial food. I doubt it's an accurate analysis for more experienced owners, trainers, or veterinarians who probably don't feed the equivalent of hot dogs to their pets, yet still have more discerning dogs. I know all the brands (mostly canned and some dry) I feed every, single day, have whole meats as their first ingredients, with mostly whole vegetables, after that. They're all on the various lists of the highest-quality recommended dog foods, floating around the dog community. And I don't think any of them have ever been accused of using "taste enhancers." :-)
But, then again, admittedly, my dog is rather unique, and most of the common platitudes just don't apply to her, but probably do most dogs the average person is likely to encounter. (Despite 30 years of dog training expertise, and a life time of dog ownership, my current dog is unlike any other I've worked with. Her unique issues are primarily why she was offered to me, in the first place.)
Having the experience of working with this dog, I even softened my disdain for her former owners, who seemingly didn't train her a thing, never took her outside or up & down stairs, starved her, and dumped her at a shelter where she was deemed too big and "too out of control" to be adopted, and thus was scheduled for euthanasia. I mean, who wouldn't have some venom for people who'd do that to a dog?
But, even if we're just limiting the topic to keeping her in good condition, it has taken a great deal of my expertise, as well as time, energy, and expense, to come up with strategies that have actually been effective in getting this dog to eat heartily, and put on weight.
Knowing what I know about how aggressive an eating schedule I have to maintain, I dare say, in the care of most people, she'd quickly be skeletal again. In fact, since my veterinarian is a personal friend (we've been pals since the 8th grade), and one of maybe three people I'd allow to be alone with any of my dogs, I've left left her at my dog's second home (my friend's farm), on maybe three or four occasions, when my husband and I have had to travel abroad together. Each time, my dog has come home noticeably thinner, after just a weekend, mind you. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get her to eat very much," is the usual, heart-felt apology. With those experiences, my friend no longer offers those 'helpful' platitudes aimed at "normal" dogs, ill dogs, or dogs whose owners don't understand simple feeding practices.
This ongoing confusion between 'being particular' and/or having a high metabolism, and 'lack of appetite' was best resolved when I allowed her to try an experiement recently.
She asked if I'd try the drug Mirtazapine. (She's asked in the past, and I always said I'd think about it.) As many of you may know, one of the side effects is increased appetitie. My friend has used the drug successfully in the past, to get dogs to eat more. Since my dog's appetite is fine (under the right conditions), I pointed out that increasing her appetite wasn't necessarily the answer. After all, I was already feeding 5 meals or more per day. She's ingesting horse-like volumes of foods, each day. How could this drug really help? Would I be feeding 10 times a day, or would each meal be double?
I think my friend was so adamant about trying the drug this time because she'd just had her for three days and could get her to eat. With me, though, she was eating just fine. ...So much for those helpful eating tips from the veterinarian... ;-)
I hate drugs but still, I agreed to try it, with my friend's assurance that every dog she's given it to, it has helped them eat more and gain weight. I figured it couldn't hurt to finally give it a try.
Within 24hrs, my dog was essentially off her food. I had to coax and coax and coax to get each meal down. There were lots of partially-eaten meals. There were just as many meals that went untouched. (Ouch! When you consider that my canned food ranges from $2.08 to $5 per can.) By the third or fourth day, it was more than obvious the situation wasn't getting any better.
I called my friend with the bad news. She was incredulous that it had not only NOT worked, but had had the opposite result. She reiterated her past, 100% success rate. We both just put it down to my dog's ongoing/baffling uniqueness, and agreed to discontinue the experiment. By that time the next day, my dog was back to gobbling her meals again.
Yep...my dog's an oddball, compared to most. I readily admit that. But she is, after all, still a dog, and there must be others like her, somewhere. What works for others simply won't work for her. And if one's experience is limited, one may not have had enough experience with the full-range of dog personalities, behaviours, and conditions to know how to approach dogs like her.
This is partly why I imagine her former owners (or anyone else who tries to make a square peg fit in a round hole) had so much difficulty with her. Even shelter staff admitted they believed she was a hopeless case. Her former owners *may* have just been jerks who didn't even try to train or feed her. However, I'm open to the possibility they did try, but simply didn't have enough experience to deal with such an unsual dog. (Few do!)
As I said, I'm a very experienced dog trainer and this particular dog is a new one on me. In some respects, I've had to learn a completely new way of training, in order to be successful with her. And when faced with a truly unique situation, the inexperience of others is most telling in their conclusions or suggestions. As I said, even my own veterinarian no longer gives me advice about feeding my dog. If anything, she's interested in what has worked, so she has more tools in her arsenal when dealing with future dogs with similar problems.
I hope my stories help anyone reading them to understand that dogs come in a wide variety of personality types, idiosyncrasies, and experiential histories that all affect how they respond to the world and what training methods will be successful. All dogs can be perfectly trained, but one must accept those things that can't be changed, and work with the dog the way it is. :-)
As for the "sit" thing .... no idea. At least Sophie's got her looks! And lots of love to spare. :)
The first dog is much easier to train and will try and try to figure out what I am asking. The second would rather be shown what to do or left to her own devices. If she feels she's not getting it right, she sits. "When in doubt, sit" is her motto. Different aptitudes for different dogs. Both are from breeds that have a reputation for being easy to train.
After a few sulfa dips, 2 rounds of abx, and LOTS of food topped with a grated boiled eggs, his sores healed, his bones disappeared, and finally had a full coat of hair. He was pretty slow to catch on to everything except how to sit pretty for treats, but he was the most loving and loyal dog I've ever had.
I take the dog in question into a small room, usually the bathroom, then sit and read a magazine. Be boring. As SOON as the dog sits I say the word sit, and reward with verbal praise (if clicker training this is when you would click) and a tasty tidbit. You can then move around to get the dog to get up again. (I also use a release cue like free dog or ok) I stay in there until I get a bunch of repetitions and then try adding the verbal cue alone to see if they "get it".
I also use luring using treats to get a sit. But the dog has to REALLY want the lure tidbit for it to work. You also need to raise it just right, up and back over the head for it to work. (See How to teach a new dog old tricks or Dr. Dunbars good little dog book by Ian Dunbar to see photos of luring at work. ) Not to high or the dog will jump up.
Our frenchie seems pretty smart but my akita is not the brightest bulb in the box. Our pug might be smarter than them all. :-)
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/lurereward-tr...
Lure/reward works great for training deaf dogs too.
Also-I meant as soon as the dog sits, if you are using a clicker, that is where you would click.
I hope that helps!