Book 11: Evolution of Canine Social Behavior

I've only read the first edition and not the newer addition of Evolution of Canine Social Behavior by Roger Abrantes.

While I was reading this class I was taking an animal behavior class. It was fun to see the Abrantes book go right along with the topics in the class. It really is a mini textbook about animal behavior using pretty much the standard vocabulary and concepts that ethologists use. It's a great way for a dog enthusiast to touch on ethology and learn some of the vocabulary and associated concepts that dog culture/consultants/professionals don't always utilize. Not all of the examples and concepts are directly related to dogs or even canids, though most of them do.

That said, I don't think it's directly useful for many of the people interacting with and working with dogs. Having an evolutionary understanding of behavior can help to understand what we're working with (and against) when we are training, but the book is not about training and so that piece is left up to other books or the creativity of the reader.

It can be difficult to take studying domestic dogs as 'real' science, and that's why it has been more difficult for all sorts of researchers to use dogs and study dog behavior. This book definitely reminded me to think about dogs in terms of something other than behavior and how I'll be changing (or not) behavior.

Training Shelter Dogs: Creating Cuddly Dogs

Many people are more likely to be drawn to the dogs that are insisting on social contact rather than the dogs doing their own thing or actively avoiding contact. We like to interact with dogs by petting them and having the dogs be near us.

Unfortunately, a lot of the dogs at our shelter were under-socialized as puppies. And so while most are comfortable with all the regular volunteers, the dogs don't actively seek out social contact even if they do recognize people as having great things. We need to get the shy dogs to enjoy being touched by the people they know well and then start to introduce new people as well.

If we had more volunteers or a stream of people coming to visit the dogs, I would start introducing other people being present or tossing treats now. But... winter. And no real indoor training space. We are working the dogs in their kennels, in outdoor play yards (brrr) or in the 3x5ish entry area.

I know I've seen several videos of this sort of thing... this is the only one I could find this morning.

To go to a very short summary: Small pet. Mark for still dog or dog moving into the hand. Feed. Repeat. Extending the duration or amount of petting when we need to increase criteria. If we are getting moving away, we go to a smaller amount of touching.

For about six months I've been working on this regularly with Griffin and he's now seeking out petting in various circumstances. Often when he's bored or really wanting to do something (...training class!). He will come over and press himself against me and I do reinforce it with petting... it was a trained behavior and didn't start being offered until it had been trained.

Enrichment Variety: Social

Last week I came across The Shape of Enrichment, an organization focused on enrichment, primarily for zoological settings. One of the pages had this nifty flow chart about types of enrichment.

Now, not all of the categories and activities will apply to all individual dogs or households. Everyone will need to use the most appropriate options!

Dogs can have interactions with other dogs and even other animals. My dogs get interaction time with each other every day. In the house, they have different types interactions than when outside in the yard. In the house, there is more wrestling and chewing of hooves next to each other. Outside, there is more chasing, running, and rough play.



Luna used to get to go to the dogpark to play with other dogs. Griffin used to get to play with other dogs at scheduled play times. He's now not as interested in other dogs and our schedule doesn't allow for as much playtime. Luna lost her interest in playing with other dogs as she aged.



My dogs do still get time around other dogs... in training class and when we pass other dogs in public. That type of interaction also goes under the "sensory" category, with the visual, olfactory, and auditory components. For dogs who are not appropriate to play around other dogs, but can walk well in public without being stressed, this can be a great way to provide good exposure to other dogs. It's not the same level of "social" as real interactions, and maybe the professionals who wrote the chart would not count these pass-bys as social enrichment, but I sure will. Even with a brief glance there's a bit of communication going on!



We can also have interactions with other species. Those in multi-pet households sometimes see this. My dogs occasionally interact with my cat. They see, smell, and pass the cows on a regular basis. One year when I bottle raised a calf, the calf treated Blaze just like a mother!



It's much easier to provide dogs with social enrichment through humans. There are many different types of people that dogs can meet. Very reactive dogs obviously shouldn't be in a position that is very stressful or putting any humans at risk. But shy dogs and those who are safe at a distance can still be around people they are comfortable with.
Dogs can interact with family members and friends, but strangers also provide another aspect of enrichment. My dogs sure treat different 'categories' of people in varied ways. Kind of like that socialization post last week... we need to provide variety of humans to maintain manners and friendliness.

The chart lists an "other" category, but I don't find these to be as important with dogs.

What types of social enrichment does your dog get? How do you provide variety? What "other" types of social enrichment do you use?