Begging and Christmas

It’s a perennial problem usually caused by humans as we fail to understand our pets’ intelligence level, and with the holiday season approaching, this issue will be prevalent in many homes. You are probably thinking it won’t happen to you, You are far too intelligent, far too careful, your dog is safe. That’s what all owners say every year.

Before I continue, let me recount an anecdote that was revealed to me many years ago. It concerned a novice police dog handler and his puppy.

The man turned up for duty each day as required, but the senior officer noticed his increasingly dishevelled appearance. The aspiring police dog reacted extremely well to training and showed great promise, but unfortunately, his handler became increasingly unkempt and was prone to falling asleep. Eventually, the senior officer demanded an explanation for the novice officer’s scruffy appearance and inability to stay awake.

“Well, sir, it’s like this: in the beginning, as instructed, I started to prepare the puppy’s breakfast at 7 am, and all was well. However, he has started waking me up earlier each day. It started at 6.30 and has become worse as each night goes by, this morning I was up at 2 am and again at 4 am. If I don’t feed him, he barks and whines.”

“So he barks, and you get up and feed him, thus ensuring that he gets fed on demand?” asked the senior officer.

“Yes sir.” answered the crestfallen handler

“Young man, it appears that your puppy has learned very quickly how to train his policeman!!”

A prime example of our inability to understand the workings of the canine mind.

Whilst there are exceptions, the dog tends to connect two consecutive incidents. The dog stares imploringly at us as we eat and will even bark or whine, so to achieve peace and quiet, we feed from the table in the vain hope that our errant canine will be satisfied and go away. Some hope!

So, what has the dog learned?

He has rapidly learned that if he can create an environment that humans feel they cannot ignore, and if humans are sufficiently irritated, he will be rewarded for his behaviour.

And we call them dumb animals!!

What to do

So what are the solutions?

If you are training your puppy now and don’t want to fall into this trap, the following advice is essential.

• Never feed the dog from the table or while you are eating
• Never put the plate down for the dog to eat from it
• Ignore all attempts to get your attention
• Depending on your feeding regime, it may be a good idea to feed  the dog in another room or provide a suitable chewy item just before you sit down for your meal
• An alternative is to provide an activity toy
• Either the food or the toy, but never both together

Now, while we are on the subject of Christmas, it’s a time when families congregate, so your visitors may be many and not as disciplined in canine matters. So be aware of indulgent adults and naughty children, or should that be naughty adults and indulgent children?

For good measure let us be aware that some foods can be harmful and some positively dangerous.

Dangerous food types

Examples of foods that can be harmful and, in large quantities, dangerous:

• Chocolate
• Mince pies
• Christmas pudding
• Stollen
• Sage and onion stuffing
• Blue cheese
• Raisins and Grapes
• Some nuts plus salty and fatty foods

If you are going to indulge your best friend with a very small amount of human food on top of their normal diet, it should be delivered via their usual feeding bowl. Also we must appreciate that rich or unusual foods can create some temporary, but very unfortunate gastric issues which can result in your dog passing excess wind, very embarrassing if one is entertaining a maiden aunt!! Also, don’t be upset with Fido if he has a bowel disturbance, namely a bout of diarrhoea. You fed him, you clear up the result!!

So, let’s all have a great festive season without any emergency visits to the veterinary surgeon.