A question for Minihaha/(re dog soiling in the house)

Hello Mini, in a thread from Rachie (about her CKC Spaniel) You said The question i would like to ask you is,On the odd occasion that Ossie has urinated in our hallway,he is cowering in his bed when i come down,But when clean he jumps up and greets me,even runs upstairs to greet me.If they have no recollection of weeing where their not supposed to,why does he cower? I do have to add that i have,nor would i ever smacked him.So i can only assume his cowering comes from his last home.

By the way Mini,this question is not intended to say you are wrong in anyway,im just really curious as to why Ossie cowers when he has done it.:smt017

he may well have been scolded before .....sorry not mini here LOL

sounds like he knows its wrong

Yes I was thinking that as well Inca When Benji wees in the kitchen sometimes when I take Rhianna to school he just acts normal as if he hasn't done it but then again I have never smacked him for it or shouted because I know its out of anxiety that he does it

hi Inca,yeah thats what i mean,I have always believed that if you told them off sometime after an event it is pointless as Mini says.But Ossie has wee'd half way through the night and i have heard him moving about,but as soon as i get up he has run to his bed cowering,which indicates he knows he has done wrong.

do you know anything about his past

Not as much as i'd like to know,But he was pretty neglected.Its like i said i wasn't questioning Mini's words as i have always had the same belief.But at first he didn't cower when we got him and he wee'd.Now he does,although thankfully he doesn't do it very often.Although the batty dog does wait at the wrong door during the day when he needs to go.

all you can do when he cowers is let him outside ...it must be the way he was treated in the past

Yes we do Inca,He is taken outside as soon as i get up (5am) then taken out for a walk before work.he only cowers when he has not been clean,otherwise despite what he has been through,he is a happy confident boy.

sounds like your doing a great job ......

Hi Stamford this is how I see things based on observing dogs and learning about them from others.

Dogs have a 'language' based on hearing/scent/sight and also observation, they learn to 'read' the body language of other dogs and also humans,they need to do this to take appropriate action for survival..fear,fight or flight. Dogs note every nuance of our behaviour/body language/voice and facial expression and associate certain aspects of these with fear or pleasure . For instance, if you put on certain shoes that are used to go for a walk, your dog learns from past experience that shoes = walk = pleasure. My dog Amy has learnt old shoes = wait by back door = walk, posh shoes = wait by front door = car

Dogs don't have any concept of right or wrong or the ability to reason, but as demonstrated theycan read body language and associate it with past events. So if at some time your dog has urinated and caused you/another persons displeasure made evident by your body language (and maybe he was shouted or glared at ) and he sees that same body language again he may associate it with feelings of fear, but he won't remember what events caused the persons reactions that lead to his fear.