Quiz
 

Question: Your 5 month-old puppy, is not yet totally house trained. She usually does well when you are at home. You followed advice from a book and taught her to jump up and ring a bell attached to the door handle of the back door to let you know when she needed to go out. However, as the weeks went by, you found she was ringing the bell to go out, but not doing her duties in the yard. Instead, she was just sniffing around, then, barking to get back into the house. Later, you will find she has urinated in the house when you are not watching her. You leave her in a crate when alone, but she now urinates in it. Your veterinarian examined her and she is in great health. Why is this happening?

A. Your puppy is a slow learner.

B. She has learned what she was taught.

Answer: B. She has learned what she was taught, as well; she has not learned what she was not taught. She has learned to urinate when she gets the urge and she can ring the bell, but she has also generalized the bell's purpose to getting you to let her out of the house whenever she wants to go out.

Solution: Re-teach her toilet manners from the beginning with clearer messages and also use her feeding schedule to establish her "BioRhythms" relative to eating and urinating/defecating. 

Question: Why do most dogs pull on their leashes?

A. They want to lead (be ahead of) their owners.

B. Their nature is to be free, and to go where and when they want.

C. Their owners are pulling on the leashes.

D. Positive thigmotaxis.

Answer: In our experience, the answer is a combination of "All of the Above." Most chronic leash-strainers are leader-type dogs who also forge ahead of them at doorways unless commanded not to do so; Pavlov documented the dog's Freedom Reflex as a genuine brain stem, plus conscious desire to be unfettered; Most owners of leash-strainers can be seen actually tugging back on the leash when the dog starts to strain. This is a good way to get a dogsled team to start pulling the sled, but it is counter-productive in teaching a dog not to strain; positive thigmotaxis is another brain stem reflex which goes to work opposing a force on the body when that pressure is applied. For all these reasons, the dog headcollar or a good harness that works on the dogs sternum takes advantage of all the facts in teaching the dog to control these elements itself, except one--- the owner's pulling back on the leash. Which is why the directions require that owners learn to stand as still as a fire hydrant, rather than pull back on the leash.

Question: You're trying to teach your 7 month old dog not to charge out the front door ahead of you when you open it to go for a walk. If you spend a few minutes, twice in training, how long should it take before the dog can be deemed "dependably" trained not to charge ahead?

A. 1 week

B. 4 weeks

C. 6 weeks

D. 3 months

Answer: Most professionals adhere to the principle of training with increasing distractions during a 42 (days, that is) or 6 week time span. Pavlov demonstrated this principle in training his dog's conditioned reflexes; salivation, for instance, and unconditioned reflexes; withdrawing a paw from a pin-prick or electric shock. It is interesting that tissue and bone in dogs and humans requires about seven weeks to heal. Cats heal quicker, possibly because their purring promotes speedier healing.

Question: When fighting becomes a problem between two family dogs, and one or both dogs have suffered seriously wounds, what role does their sex have in the difficulty of rehabilitating them?

A. Neutered males are more difficult

B. Intact males are more difficult

C. Intact females are more difficult

D. Spayed females are more difficult

E. Males with females are more difficult, whether spayed, neutered or intact.

Answer: Our experience (nearing 35 years) has been that spayed females who have punctured each other require more time, up to 3 months versus 6 weeks, than most other cases. Having said that, it is important to point out, that other types of cases on the list above have required longer periods, as well. The critical factor in all fighting dog cases is the owners' attitudes. The most difficult cases involve owners who favour either dog. This imbalance in the emotional atmosphere seems to be sensed by both dogs.

The result is that the aggressor, if favoured, tends to be more aggressive; while the defender dog feels more insecure and often becomes more aggressive. The opposite feelings occur when the defender is favoured. The quickest corrections occur when all of the owners are emotionally totally committed to both dogs.

Question: Your 5 month old dog is always on the go. Nearly every waking minute is spent moving around. You've heard this is the canine counterpart of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and should be treated with drugs. What is the first thing you should do?

A. Ask your veterinarian to prescribe one of the drugs

B. Put the dog on a low protein diet

C. Get your dog thoroughly examined for possible allergies, thyroid disorders or other physical problems

D. Get one of the homeopathic medications for the disorder

E. Put the dog on a high protein diet

Answer: C. Despite all the human psychiatric labels attached to canine behaviour (most of which only describe Symptoms, not their Causes) drugging an animal with a behaviour problem should occur only after a thorough diagnosis. These drugs themselves may have serious physical/behavioural side-effects. Otherwise you will risk "masking" or depressing the symptoms, while the dog still suffers from their causes.

Untreated thyroid diseases, food or environmental allergies, even misaligned spinal vertebrae, early-onset-diabetes, etc., can have behavioural effects ranging from hyper-activity and impaired attention span to unreasonable aggressiveness, phobias, etc. So, before drugging your behaviour problem, follow the first guard post of medical ethics... "Do no harm." Get your dog a thorough veterinary examination, lest you regret it.

Question: At what age do puppies start learning?

A. At birth

B. About 5 weeks

C. About 7 weeks

D. About 10 weeks

Answer: If we define learning as a deliberate, "conscious" activity, rather than a purely reflex reaction (like a knee-jerk reaction when the knee is tapped firmly) then about 5 weeks, would be correct. However, strictly unconscious reflex reactions have been "conditioned" in puppies shortly after birth. These experiments usually used pain, often induced by electric shock to a paw, to produce the withdrawal of a leg. However, 5 week old puppies are quite capable of learning to "Come" and "Sit" for rewards of petting and praise.

Question: When a titbit is shown to a dog, causing the dog to start salivating, in classical (Pavlovian) conditioning terms, how is the salivation response properly classified?

A. An Innate Response?

B. An Unconditioned Response?

C. An Acquired Response?

D. A Conditioned Response?

Answer: D. A conditioned response.  C would have been OK, too, since Pavlov also used it. :-)

Ivan Pavlov described experiments by Dr. Zitovich, a Russian scientist. Several young puppies who were taken away from their mothers prior to weaning and fed only milk until they were a few months old. He then showed the pups meat or bread. They did not salivate! It wasn't until the puppies had eaten bread and meat several times that they began to salivate when they simply saw the food. So, see-food-salivate is not an unconditioned, but a conditioned response! This conditioned salivary response posed some problems for Pavlov, who wanted to measure dogs' unconditioned salivary reflexes, which don't involved the brain's cerebral cortices, i.e. "those little grey cells," as detective Poirot described them. To accomplish this, he surprised the dogs by suddenly thrusting meat into their mouths. They began to salivate in 1 to 2 seconds. However, when his dogs were shown food, the conditioned salivation didn't begin until 5 seconds had elapsed. In spite of this difference, Pavlov simply treated salivation at the "sight or smell of food" as a reflex, but he called it a "conditioned" reflex, whereas salivation when food is suddenly put into an unsuspecting dog's mouth was termed, quite correctly, an "unconditioned" reflex. 

Question: Your 2 year-old, spayed female Golden Retriever has started chasing her tail about two weeks ago. When she catches it, which is rare, she chews on it. She then gets up and starts chasing again. You have been told that her behaviour is called "stereotypy," which is purposeful, repetitive behaviour. Someone else said she probably suffers from OCD, an obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is stereotypy, caused by a senseless, intrusive, persistent idea, thought, impulse or image. You are baffled, because your dog cannot tell you if she has "intrusive," etc. thoughts or images. You have also been told that there are new psychoactive drugs to treat these conditions. What should you do?

A. Ask the veterinarian to prescribe one of the new drugs

B. Try one of the anti-anxiety herbal remedies

C. Ask her veterinarian to perform a complete physical examination; complete blood tests, including chemical screen, thyroid function and allergies and a thorough spinal examination

Answer: C. Make sure your Goldie's health is not a factor. Many tail chasers have spinal misalignments, which can cause numbness or tingling in the tail; hence she tries to get at it to itch it or otherwise get rid of the sensation. We even had one case in which the problem was caused by a tick which was on the underside of the dog's tail. After the veterinarian removed the tick, the chasing stopped. In any event, immediately with your Goldie, ignore the behaviour. You can reinforce it by giving her attention. Even scolding and/or stopping her physically from tail-chasing can actually reinforce it!

Question: Your dog has started showing aggression toward family members. You heard that feeding a low protein diet should be used to help alleviate the problem. Protein should make up about 17% on a dry basis. Is this low protein diet been demonstrated to be effective in any studies? ___Yes ___No

Answer: From the record: A study published in the Journal of that American Veterinary Medical

Association, Vol 208, No. 3, February 1, 1996, regarding the effects of low protein diets (17%) on dog behaviour concluded:" Clinical Implications: Results of this study suggest that a reduction in dietary protein is not generally useful in the treatment of behaviour problems in dogs, but may be appropriate in dogs with territorial aggression that is a result of fear."

As with many clinical studies, the title is often confused with its conclusions. In this case, "Effect of dietary protein content on behaviour in dogs," has in some quarters been misunderstood to mean that low protein really improves dog behaviour, when just the opposite was found.

Question: When meeting a strange dog, what is the most dangerous way you can behave?

A. Grab and hug the dog

B. Slap the dog on the back and pet him/her there, too

C. Talk loudly and pet the dog on top of the head

D. Crouch down and put your face in the dog's face.

E. All of the above.

Answer: E - all of the above. "Staring at Strange Dogs" is a dangerous practice.

Question: How many medical drugs for behaviour have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the USA for use with small animals?

A. 13                B. 2      C. 5                  D. 8

Answer: B. At this writing there are only two psychogenic drugs with US Government approval for prescription use in small animals; Prozac and Clomicalm. A great many other drugs have been clinically useful as short-term adjuncts to remedial behaviour programs.

Question: Newborn puppies are soon suckling for their dam's milk, even though their eyes are tightly sealed; they are virtually blind. They find their mother's milk by searching blindly. They will suckle on anything warm and soft, even if it doesn't deliver any milk. When they do suckle on a teat and gain milk, each pup usually settles on a "favourite" teat and will often protect it from other pups. After its first few meals, the puppy needs to eliminate nature's waste. What does its mother have to do at this point?

A. Carry the pup to a toilet area away from the litter nest, so it doesn't mess the nest?

B. Lick the pup's genital and anal area to stimulate urination/defecation?

C. Let the pup eliminate on its own, obeying "nature's urge."

Answer: B. The mother must lick every pup's genital/anal area to stimulate elimination. If she doesn't the puppies die. This procedure virtually pre-trains puppies to eliminate after they eat, which means that when the new owners ring them home, they are ready for instant housetraining. pups between 5 and 14 weeks of age should be fed at least 3 times daily, at times the owners will be home during their work week, then taken immediately to their toilet area, where they will reflexively urinate and/or defecate. On the weekends, the pups should not be fed during times the owners will be away during the week. Also, it's a bad practice to give a puppy treats as an inducement to go into a crate.

This elimination pre-conditioning is the reason that giving titbits to train puppies leads to so many problems in housetraining. Titbit training puppies also tends to make them what we call "Hand-Happy," i.e., they nip at people's hands to get a treat. If the puppy is then punished or scolded, the "trainer" appears inconsistent, which is a lousy image to have, if the owner is to be the pup's leader. Praise and brief, friendly petting is life's most powerful puppy-reward.

Question: You heard that a great way to exercise your pet is by having it chase a flashlight or a laser beam pointer. Is this wise?

A. Yes

B. No

Answer: B. NO! Using a laser pointer is downright dangerous. As many lecturers have learned the hard way, it takes only a brief exposure of a laser beam into an eye to cause harm to vision. Most laser pointers contain warning against pointing the light toward people or animals. Since dogs and most other mammals do not have the same defensive blink reflexes to bright lights, they will tend to freeze and stare at the source of the light. This is one reason so many animals look as if they are "trapped" and stand stock still in the headlights of automobiles.

Another compelling reason not to use any beam of light with a dog, cat, or any other pet, as a way to stimulate running, chasing and pouncing, is the serious risk of instilling obsessive "searching" for the light when it isn't there. We have worked with many clients with such "obsessive-compulsive" (stereotypical behaviour) dogs. Some of the dogs wouldn't even stop searching for the light long enough to eat!

Last updated: 2008/07/02 02:44:53 PM

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