What Does The Guilty Dog look Like?

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-31 03:34

Anthropomorphism attribution of human properties to who or what is not. For a number of years, Hollywood has portrayed the behavior of dogs according to human laws of morality and ethics. For example, Lassie saves a rabbit from death, or Benji solves a crime, and Rin Tin Tin protects the fort from robbers. These animal films are very interesting and the animal actors are extremely well trained, but the films misrepresent a dog's ability to think and reason.

As a result of these films, many dog owners become disillusioned with their pets. An untrained person very often expects from his dog what the dog is basically unable to do. Such a person, even when training his dog, does it inconsistently and confused, resulting in slow learning and unreliable obedience. This often leads to the appearance of truly vicious, stupid and stubborn dogs. But this is not the fault of the dogs, it is the fault of their owners. Whenever you try to evaluate a dog's behavior using the human worldview, you harm it.

Those who make the effort to understand their dogs win. The tragedy is not that you are an anthropomorphist, the tragedy is that, having a dog, you do not try to understand it.

Some aspects of anthropomorphism are harmless and even enjoyable. For example, giving your dog a festive dinner for his birthday or presenting a toy for Christmas. And that is great. I want owners to be careful about anthropomorphism, especially when it comes to raising a dog. For example, owners often calm down when they see the "guilty expression" on their dog's face that the dog "knows" that it is to blame and what it is to blame. But … the dog does not know, and cannot know, that it is her birthday or Christmas.

There is another good example of anthropomorphism. Many owners, especially young dogs, report that their dogs are very fond of chewing everything. I am often approached by frustrated owners complaining of their dogs chewing on furniture, rugs, shoes, etc. At the same time, they say that they have tried everything, but nothing helps. “He knows what he did wrong,” they complain. When asked what they did to correct the dog's behavior, they say, “I scolded him and poked my nose at the things he was chewing. I told him that he was misbehaving and spanked him with a rolled-up newspaper.

This procedure is usually repeated many times as the dog continues to destroy things. The only thing that the owner wants is that the dog, gnawing everything in his absence, when he appears, is washed off under the nearest bed. Some dogs may even stand in front of the owner and have a terribly "guilty look" on their face. Then, periodically, the owner will come home and not find a mess. The owner will be happy and praise himself and the dog. The dog will naturally respond to the owner's praise with joyful behavior and a wagging tail.

This behavior of the dog, unfortunately, reinforces the owner's opinion that the dog "understood when it is bad and when it is good." "She does it out of harm," the owner thinks, or: "She will understand everything, because she is as smart as I am." But such statements are based on human emotions and human worldview. And such owners are anthropomorphists. They analyze everything from the point of view of human experience in terms of human values.

So what is the canine worldview? I remember Jason, my Irish setter, who was one of my very best teachers. He was two years old when he earned his first Companion Dog diploma and was named America's Best Garbage Eater. That's when I felt the first signs of anthropomorphism. By almost every measure, Jason was a “good dog,” but one day we saw a professional trainer and his dog from New York State perform with him and were amazed.

After the demonstration performances, this trainer gave a short Q&A session. Many people asked. "How can I teach a dog to approach on command?", "How to wean a puppy from stealing?", "How to wean a dog to jump on me and on people?" Finally, I asked my question: "How can I stop my setter from digging in the trash can?"

“Catch him when he gets into the bucket and correct his behavior,” the trainer replied.

“I've done this a couple of times,” I replied, “now he doesn't touch the bin when I'm at home. But he continues to misbehave when I am not, And, kill me, but he knows that this cannot be done."

“When he first started communicating with the trash can,” I continued, “when I got home, I found garbage strewn across the kitchen floor. I would find the dog wherever it was hiding and drag it into the kitchen. I told her: "Bad dog!", And poked my nose into the trash. Jason was very upset and looked guilty. It seemed to me that he understood what he was being punished for, but he continued to bully! Sometimes he did not misbehave and I always praised him for it. I'm sure he knows not to climb into the trash can because when I get home he hides from me, unless the floor is a mess. When the floor is in order, he greets me with joy and happiness. He only hooligan out of stubbornness."