Dog and Cat Behavior

Cats are sometimes said to be aloof, untrustworthy, difficult to 'read', and untrainable.  Cat lovers of course know these claims are not true, but what is true is that cats are clearly not small dogs.  Part of what makes cats their own "person", so to speak, is where they came from – their domestication and evolutionary history.

Dr. Hetts gave a presentation to the general public in Knoxville, TN, for CAIT – Companion Animal Iniative in Tennessee, and what follows is a portion of the 90 minute presentation.  In this excerpt, Suzanne talks about the domestic house cat's wild ancestor, and how the cat's status as a religious symbol in ancient times has impacted how cats are viewed today. 

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A number of years ago friends of ours rescued a 4 month old puppy from an abusive situation. Although her heritage was unknown,  the puppy appeared to be a pit-bull type mix of some sort. She was a sweet and friendly pup, both with people and other dogs, but like any 4 month old puppy she had her moments of craziness.

When we and our dogs spent a holiday weekend with our friends and their puppy, Pai, after a full day of walks in the snow and play with our dogs, while playing one evening, Pai seemed to turn into all teeth. She was chasing and snapping at the other dogs and bit at her owner’s hand as he gently held her and tried to calm her down. Given her questionable genetic and environmental background, her owners were understandably worried that Pai’s outburst might be a sign of aggressive problems to come.

Over the years, many new puppy owners have contacted us with similar concerns. We still remember  the power of puppy teeth from when our Irish setter Coral was a baby.  Coral’s crazy antics as a puppy earned her the nickname “Bacchanal Lady”, after one of Suzanne’s favorite songs.

Having spent several days with Pai, we were fairly certain that even her whirling dervish episode that one evening was not something out of the ordinary. When puppies become overly stimulated and overly tired but still want to keep going and going they seem to lose what little self-control their young minds and bodies have been able to develop.

As soon as we put Pai in the car, she immediately fell asleep, evidence of how tired she was. New puppy parents need to learn to recognize when their puppies are overwhelmed, and need some private, quiet time to nap and rest. This is especially important when puppies are growing up in families with children.

With regard to puppy nipping and biting in general, we agree with a comment our friend and colleague Dr. Amy Marder made years ago – most of this normal puppy behavior just goes away, regardless of how much or how little puppy parents do to stop it. Puppies are teething, and also using their mouths to explore their world so their “orally focused” behavior is to be expected.

In our experience, the two best techniques for reacting to puppy nipping are:

1. When petting a puppy, make it a point to give the puppy something to chew on other than your hand. As you pet with one hand, offer a chewie in the other.

2. When puppy does bite, make a high pitched “Yipping” sound, just like another puppy would, walk away and ignore your puppy for a few minutes. Return, and try petting or playing with her again. She must learn that not biting causes you to stay and play with her, biting makes you go away.

Avoid physical, confrontational techniques such as scruff shakes, pinning the puppy, slapping its nose, or putting fingers down the puppy’s throat. These reactions are ill-advised and often cause much more serious problems. Puppy nipping has nothing to do with “dominance” which is the justification for most of these harsh techniques.

Because puppies’ teeth are so sharp, it’s understandable why we puppy parents can’t wait for puppies to outgrow this stage, but patience is the order of the day. Getting frustrated and then getting physical will backfire. Our three “do’s” are all most puppy owners need – recognize when puppy is tired and give her a quiet place to rest, give puppy a chewie whenever she’s touched, and walk away if she bites.

There have been a number of times when we've taken our pets and visited friends who also have pets.  We know we aren't alone because many "pet people" have friends with pets they often like to visit. 

One such experience occurred over new years one year when we and another set of friends invaded our host’s house.  We brought our two dogs, and our other friends brought their three. Needless to say, our host’s six cats were less than pleased. Having to share their home for three days with 5 dogs was not their idea of a good start to the new year.

While we had a few minor skirmishes, for the most part everyone got along fairly well. We thought it would be helpful to share with you a few of the precautions we took to minimize all the animals' stress and prevent any fighting. Our precautions can be useful to anyone introducing new pets to the family, managing ongoing conflicts between family pets, or as with us, when pets unfamiliar to one another are forced to quickly learn to co-exist for a short time.

1. Feeding times were private. Before any of us began to prepare our pets’ meals, we separated each family of pets. Pets know that the clink of dishes, or the sound of a can opener mean feeding time is imminent, and may launch into guarding behavior before the food actually appears. Don’t wait to separate until feeding preparations have already begun. Everyone was kept separated until all dog food bowls were picked up and put away. The cats had their own private room with food and litterboxes that no dogs were allowed into.

2. Dogs were not allowed to stare at cats. One dog in our group had never lived with cats and at times he would stand and stare at several who were napping in a chair. We felt his prolonged staring indicated he was just becoming too focused on the cats. While it’s possible this behavior would never escalate into a predatory attack, we didn’t want to take the chance. We interrupted all staring by giving the dog something else to do.

3. Because the cats needed a way to escape from and avoid the dogs, they had plenty of hiding spaces. One cat preferred to be in a bedroom most of the time, and others were able to get under couches and chairs, on the mantle of the fireplace, on top of the TV, and in a room barricaded with a baby gate. Cats were also allowed to swat and hiss at dogs as needed.

4. No chew toys were allowed. While the dogs had fuzzy, squeaky toys and balls to play with, no one was given rawhides, pigs’ ears, or other high value chewies. All crunchy treats had to be consumed immediately, and every dog was required to sit and stay while eating one.

5. When one family of dogs re-entered the house after a walk, the other dog-family was kept away from the door. Re-entry into a room can be a high arousal situation that often takes place in a small, confined space. We didn’t want the returning dogs to be jostled, jumped on or threatened by those in the house. The dogs were closely monitored for a few minutes after re-entry, with lots of “jolly talk” by everyone.

6. One of our dogs wore a basket-type muzzle when in the house and all animals were loose together. We just didn’t trust this dog to be reliably friendly with either the other dogs or the cats, so the muzzle protected everyone. She tolerated it well, both because she had previously been accustomed to wearing it, and because it was well fitting and comfortable. We recommend www.morrco.com as a great source for well designed muzzles. Interestingly, her behavior toward the other animals was much better than we would have predicted.  You can't be embarrassed about thinking your dog needs a muzzle, when the safety of other pets is at stake.

7. The dogs had lots of exercise. Being confined in a relatively small space with individuals you don’t know is stressful. We took the dogs on many short walks, and we took ours on a longer snow-shoe hike. Tired, sleeping dogs are obviously less likely to have a conflict than those restlessly pacing with pent-up energy. This also allowed the cats to have some quiet, peaceful time as well.

We hope you find these precautions useful. Being proactive allowed everyone – human and pets – to enjoy the new year's celebration.  

Our friend Kathy has been caring for a stray cat that has “adopted” her. Kathy lives in a rural area, and Sam has been staying in her barn, but Kathy would like to bring Sam into the house and integrate him into the family with her other two cats.  The couple of times Kathy has brought him inside, Sam has gotten along with her other cats and is friendly with people, but he has urinated in her house more than once. A discussion with Kathy revealed that Sam had two problems. He was spraying (urine marking) in some places and when he used the litterbox, his urine would go over the sides. Sam was only half-squatting when he relieved himself in the box.

Kathy wanted to know how to prevent the soiling problems so Sam could regularly be inside, and become more a part of the family.  These problems aren't uncommon with newly adopted cats and need to know how to prevent litterbox and marking problems.

Sam has no problem going to the litterbox, but his posture causes the urine to go outside the box. Kathy can deal with this by giving Sam a litterbox with high sides that will keep the urine in the box. One way to do this is to use a tall plastic tote container with a hole in one side that will allow Sam to easily go in and out.

To prevent spraying and other problems, it’s a good ideawhen introducing a new cat to your household, to isolate the newcomer in his own room with water, food and a litterbox for a few days. This is what we recommended to Kathy. At first, Sam can come out to visit only when he has a chaperone until he seems comfortable with his new home and demonstrates he isn’t going to spray or eliminate outside the box. This gradual introduction helps him to acclimate to his new home with minimal stress and to show that he will use the litterbox provided for him.

During the short forays out from his room, Kathy should make the experiences fun and pleasant for Sam by pairing his visits with the other cats and people with play and/or food treats. Sam’s exploration of other rooms in the house should also be pleasant and calm, so he doesn’t associate the new places with fear or excitement. Antagonistic interactions with other cats or highly excitable experiences may lead to spraying.

Since Kathy has seen Sam spray in her house, we recommended that she talk to her veterinarian about a prescription of short-term anti- anxiety medication for him. This may inhibit the spraying and facilitate Sam’s integration into the household. We also recommended that Sam not be allowed to go outside without direct supervision, since he has been known to fight with other cats outside. Such antagonistic interactions outside can trigger marking behavior inside.

While there are no guaranteed ways to prevent elimination problems with cats, if their behavioral needs are met, most cats will use a litterbox reliably.

On March 25th, 2010 at 7pm Eastern time, Suzanne will give a public presentation for CAIT – Companion Animal Initiative in Tennessee on Keeping Your Cat Happy.  The presentation will be webcasted LIVE so if you want to tune in, join the fun, and pick up some good information your cat will appreciate, we'd love to have you join us.

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Did you ever think your dog could run afoul of your local animal control ordinances for biting a veterinary professional?  We didn't.  We've heard of civil suits under those circumstances, but not criminal ones.  Watch the video below to learn more.

When Janie first saw Cosmo at the shelter, she fell in love with him.  He was a two year old male Sheltie that had a sign that said “Very shy with people, but a sweet little dog.”   He was very shy with her at the shelter, but she felt sorry for him and wanted to give him a home.  She had lost her other Sheltie to cancer several months before and felt the time was right for another dog.  Cosmo did warm up to Janie over the next few days, but he was terrified of her husband Roy.  When Roy tried to be friendly with Cosmo, the dog  would run and hide, and if Janie held him near Roy he would struggle to escape.  But it wasn’t just Roy that was the problem.  Cosmo showed the same reaction to everyone except Janie.

Janie struggled with the problem for several months trying everything she knew, before calling us.  Cosmo wouldn’t come into the same room with us during the first hour we were at Janie and Roy’s home, and when he did come in, he would shoot past us and hide behind Janie.  He wouldn’t take treats from us and he wouldn’t play.  What caused Cosmo’s fear of people and how could he be helped?

Dogs are fearful of people for several reasons.  There may be a genetic predisposition to fearfulness of people.  Fifty years ago, researchers found that fears of people could have a genetic basis in dogs.  While extra socialization, behavior modification and medications all helped, dogs with these predispositions were never able to completely overcome their fears and behave like normal dogs.

Contrary to what you might think, dogs aren’t inherently accepting of people.  Dogs, like many mammals and birds have to learn whom to like and to whom to be fearful.  Most puppies that have good experiences with people during the sensitive period for socialization (4 – 12 weeks) grow up to be friendly to most people.  But if young dogs don’t have consistent contact with a wide variety of people, they are quite likely to be fearful of at least some people and may only be capable of developing strong social bonds with only a few individuals.  Inadequately socialized dogs can become less fearful of people, but it can require a long time and a lot of effort.

Third, traumatic experiences with people at any age can cause some dogs to become fearful of people.  Unpleasant experiences with children can lead dogs to become fearful of them.  Painful or fear-provoking experiences with adult humans who look a certain way, or dress or behave in a particular way can lead dogs to be afraid of anyone with similar characteristics. 

Often a fear related problem is caused by a combination of these factors.  When we work with fearful dogs, we often never really know what has produced the fearful behavior.  In Cosmo’s case, the shelter knew nothing of his previous life or experiences, so neither we nor his new owners knew what caused his fearful reactions.  Fortunately, knowing the causes isn’t always necessary to help with the problem.  In a future article, we’ll talk about what we did to help Cosmo.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about helping fearful dogs, take our On Demand Tele-webcast course by the same name.

Cats, especially younger ones, love to play.  Play can include chasing, stalking, jumping and even biting.  Play is important for cats. It can provide exercise, mental stimulation, and when playing with other animals, it provides social contact.

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Well, it's about time.  AKC (The American Kennel Club) is now allowing mixed breed dogs that have been registered through their Canine Partners Program to compete in obedience, agility, and rally competitions. With mixed breeds being the most common type of dog at animal shetlers, and behavior problems being a significant reason why dogs are given up, anything that can be done to help dog owners prevent and resolve behavior problems, we are all for.

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In Part 2 of my interview with my friends and colleagues Dr. Ian Dunbar and Ms. Pia Silvani you'll discover how they define "socialization" and their recommendations about how it should best be accomplished.  You'll learn what they see as common mistakes puppy owners – and even trainers make – when trying to "socialize" puppy.  Such mistakes can have long lasting effects.

So turn up your speakers and listen in! 

If you are a trainer or other pet professional, or even a dedicated dog enthusiast, you can hear the rest of this intriguing interview in our subscription site  Behavior Education Network.  Find out about ALL the benefits of being a BEN member – by Clicking Here.