Now that your puppy can hear, see, smell and eat solid food, we can turn our attention to probably the biggest topic which effects our relationship with dogs….. their behaviours.
Behaviours are the things that dogs can do, and again will differ depending on breed, age, health and physical ability. As a puppy grows into an adult their behaviour repertoire will develop and expand. Their physical ability allows them to do more things and they learn as they get feedback from the world around them. As they get older they generally rehearse fewer novel behaviours because they have a learning history and physically they have less ability (no different to us!).
Dogs are amazing, they can run, jump, dig, bite, bark, growl, whine, scratch, lay down, sit, carry and hold items etc, the list is huge. The important thing to remember is that all behaviours dogs do have a function, which means there is a reason why dogs do them.
So why does a dog do behaviours?
Behaviours are the only tool a dog has to help it cope with the world (we will talk more about this next time). A dog is usually doing a behaviour to get and/or keep something it wants, or to escape something and/or keep something away from it.
They do not have any other tools at there disposal to help them, no mobile phone, no internet, no money, no friends or trusted colleges to fall back on...all they have is what it can do.
If they try a behaviour and it works for them, then they are likely to repeat it when in a similar situation next time. As an example...the dog that sits next to a diner and receives food from the table is likely to sit next the diner whenever they eat in the future. Likewise the dog which barks at the delivery driver and sees them retreat back to their van, is likely to do the same next time…. if driving them away was their intention.
As a result when evaluating a dog’s behaviour we should look carefully at the consequences of behaviour, from the dogs perspective, to help us understand why a dog is doing something (more on this later too).
