'Making excuses' for dogs' behaviour

I've seen this a lot on here recently and a lot of people have had the cheek to tell me I need to stop making excuses for my dogs' behaviour. An aggressive dog is a dangerous and aggressive dog and should be taught a lesson so it doesn't dare do it again evidently

There seems to be a big clash amongst dog owners - those that think a bad is a bad dog, no excuses and those that seek to understand their dogs and seek to find the cause of the behaviour and address that issue.

It's interesting hearing where everyone is at.
I was brought up with a bit of the understanding threaded in but mostly a dog should be taught what is wrong is wrong under all circumstances, no matter the cause.

For example, my parent's dog and childhood companion resource-guarded, guarded people from men and did bite a few people in her time. My parents brought her round but didn't ever blame her for her behaviour and understood there were reasons in her past behind it.

But then, on other issues, such as weeing/pooing in the house it was out of protest or similar
Glad to say they have changed completely with their greyhounds which they have now and they are incredibly understanding and always keen to understand where they are coming from to help them out.

So .... who here is of the vein there is a reason for dogs' behaviour and that is key to being able to approach it the right way and who believes a dog is a dog and behaviour is behaviour so you shouldn't 'make excuses' .... and who is your role model in this thinking?

Me? I'm changing a lot - Trurid Rugaas (sp?) is a legend and her book has been supremely useful in helping me to understand my dogs more.

My behaviourist is incredible and always takes the time to help me to understand my dogs although I'm sure he's pulling his hair out at times.

I'm yet to read the culture clash but sure that will become another one on my list.

Assessing the reason and motivation behind a problem behaviour, in order to appropriately address it, has to be a good thing.

Making an excuse, when that excuse it then used as a reason for not doing anything about it i.e. excusing the behaviour whatever, does not help the owner, the dog or anyone else, imo.

In some cases excuses or denial can actually be very dangerous as it can prevent suitable, necessary precautions and anticipatory measures being instituted and maintained.

I am torn and believe that they are only dogs and to some extent only as good as the training we instill in them, and they have natural instincts which is helpful if we can attempt to understand there behaviours and find ways to work with them.

That said I also believe that whats wrong is wrong, and they do need to be told, and hopefully trained otherwise!!!

In an ideal world!

Too many people make excuses for their dogs, at the end of the day, they screw up like we do, however, IMO there is absolutely no excuse for unprovoked aggression.

Isn't there any in between?

I think dogs are not disimillar to people. In some cases with the 'bad ones', its just poor upbringing and IF they have the right temperament, you can show them the right way to be and they will 'reform'.

But I do believe there are others that just don't have the right temperament and once 'turned bad', you can try and try, but you'll never completely turn them round.

I do find it quite interesting that many will forgive a dog anything because of its upbringing but would not extend the same empathy to a human who had had an equally bad start in life.

Glad that Turid Rugaas helped - it really does change one's ways of looking at dogs.

And I think you will enjoy the Culture Clash, based on what you've written on this thread - it does help to get to the bottom of cause & effect of behaviours while reminding us that dogs are just being dogs most of the time, and maybe it's our expectations of them that need to be adjusted instead.

I really don`t think making generalisations about dogs based on anecdotal evidence is very helpful.

So what about people who take all the precautionary measures, consult a behaviourist but do get the reasons/triggers behind a certain unwanted behaviour?

For example, take a reactive dog. Many people know the reasons/triggers etc behind the reactivity in their own dog and don't think of them as bad dogs, they work in their dogs' time towards overcoming the problems, taking all the necessary precautionary measures to ensure their dog is not a danger.
Another person with a reactive dog may call them aggressive/vicious etc (no 'excuses' made) and simply use negative reinforcement to correct the behaviour.

I guess this is part of the fundamental difference ....

Interesting thread.

I'm always interested in the reason for behaviour (if it can help sort out the behaviour). But think we can over complicate things somewhat.

My opinion is if the dog has an issue that needs resolving thats it resolve it!

Adam

I tend to see everything now as "a behaviour" and certainly prefer to look at what is happening and why

I think owners who are upset by their dog's behaviour can make excuses, but this is where human psychology comes in! People who are worried, scared etc may be the ones making excuses - they need to be understood, but sometimes it's very hard to do so if (for example) their dog has trashed 3 others and did so because it was no on a lead, in spite of that owner knowing what their dog was capable of doing

So I guess what I'm saying, is that I can understand excuses, but they are not always appropriate. Depends on the exact circumstances really.

Much better to try to understand the dog as a living creature and try to work out how to improve the behaviour in a kind manner.

Wys
x