Is your dog afraid of ghosts? Or that the floor will swallow him up?
At age two and a half, our dog, Duncan, mysteriously became afraid of the smooth tile floors in our dining room and kitchen. It was winter and he’d be in the kitchen with us, eating or waiting to eat, when suddenly he’d bolt, slipping on the smooth floor in the process.
It seemed like all our dog training efforts were nil. The only way he would cross the 14 feet of tile floor across the dining room was at a dead run--only if the door to the outside was wide open.
It was plain, primal fear that gripped him. I coaxed him onto the floor and lay down next to him. He stayed, but was quivering with terror. What had happened to this easygoing, relaxed dog to scare him?
Finally we realized what had happened. Last winter, K.C. was electrically charged—so much so that the Jeep doors would lock when he just touched the outside of the car. He had gently touched the long hair on Duncan’s back, shocking him. The only place it happened was when he was standing on the tile floor, and when he tried to get away, the smooth floor slipped beneath him, terrifying him as he couldn’t even escape.
Superstition is the term animal behaviorists use to explain behavior when a dog accidentally misunderstands the consequences of his actions. Our dog was clearly superstitious about the floor. It shocked him and it slid out from under him when he tried to get away.
He was terrified, and it took four months of retraining to get him to go slowly and quietly across the dining room and out the door—even with throw rugs on the floor. Now, about six months later, he walks calmly across the floor, but prefers to stay on the rugs.
It’s been an interesting lesson for me, though. In the future I think I’ll teach our dog to stay out of the kitchen. He’s a big dog and can be quite a stumbling block if I back up into him. I never thought of keeping dogs out of the kitchen, but they can be quite a nuisance when moving from stove to sink to refrigerator, carrying hot dishes, opening the oven, etc. Through Duncan’s superstitious behavior, I learned that training dogs to stay out of certain areas of the house can have its benefits.
He was already trained not to be in the kitchen while the cats were eating, and if he would come into the kitchen while one was still eating, he would leave.
Duncan’s superstition of the hard floors hurting him was a test of our leadership. It showed that he didn’t unconditionally accept us as his alpha pack members and that he didn’t completely trust us to keep him safe.
At age two and a half, our dog, Duncan, mysteriously became afraid of the smooth tile floors in our dining room and kitchen. It was winter and he’d be in the kitchen with us, eating or waiting to eat, when suddenly he’d bolt, slipping on the smooth floor in the process.
It seemed like all our dog training efforts were nil. The only way he would cross the 14 feet of tile floor across the dining room was at a dead run--only if the door to the outside was wide open.
It was plain, primal fear that gripped him. I coaxed him onto the floor and lay down next to him. He stayed, but was quivering with terror. What had happened to this easygoing, relaxed dog to scare him?
Finally we realized what had happened. Last winter, K.C. was electrically charged—so much so that the Jeep doors would lock when he just touched the outside of the car. He had gently touched the long hair on Duncan’s back, shocking him. The only place it happened was when he was standing on the tile floor, and when he tried to get away, the smooth floor slipped beneath him, terrifying him as he couldn’t even escape.
Superstition is the term animal behaviorists use to explain behavior when a dog accidentally misunderstands the consequences of his actions. Our dog was clearly superstitious about the floor. It shocked him and it slid out from under him when he tried to get away.
He was terrified, and it took four months of retraining to get him to go slowly and quietly across the dining room and out the door—even with throw rugs on the floor. Now, about six months later, he walks calmly across the floor, but prefers to stay on the rugs.
It’s been an interesting lesson for me, though. In the future I think I’ll teach our dog to stay out of the kitchen. He’s a big dog and can be quite a stumbling block if I back up into him. I never thought of keeping dogs out of the kitchen, but they can be quite a nuisance when moving from stove to sink to refrigerator, carrying hot dishes, opening the oven, etc. Through Duncan’s superstitious behavior, I learned that training dogs to stay out of certain areas of the house can have its benefits.
He was already trained not to be in the kitchen while the cats were eating, and if he would come into the kitchen while one was still eating, he would leave.
Duncan’s superstition of the hard floors hurting him was a test of our leadership. It showed that he didn’t unconditionally accept us as his alpha pack members and that he didn’t completely trust us to keep him safe.
posted by Jan Murawski Evans at 12:19 PM
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