Hug Me, I'm French

Do you like to be hugged? Do you come from a touchy feely family thats comfortable with shows of physical affection or one where its culturally not the norm to engage in them? Or is it sometimes gender or situationally related- if you were male you might hug another male on a sport field after a successful outcome but not perhaps in a regular social setting or you're more likely to hug your brother but not your best friend. Or you're female and little unsure about the enthusiastic hug you just received from a male acquaintence you just met. Or were you brought up without a lot of hugging and then introduced to it via a significant other or a move to a city or culture where there were different concepts of personal space and etiquette- and subsequently grew to be comfortable with it. Obviously in the human world there's quite a range.

So how about in the canine world? I've seen this subject be one of lively debate in response to the statement "Dogs don't like to be Hugged". What's the reasoning behind this? In Patricia McConell's book 'The Other End of the Leash" she explains that many of our intended movements and their intended meanings, easily understood by humans, have meanings that are diametrically different for dogs. For example the humanly friendly gestures of extended hand-arm and of hugging have the opposite meaning of potential threat to dogs. In Turid Rugaas' book On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals she describes the many responses that a dog might provide as clues to their discomfort with this like yawning or looking away.

To understand why a dog might feel threatened by this it helps to have an understanding of how it is processing this situation or what is going on its mind when this happens. Temple Grandin, who has writen books and research papers on how animals think- likens their thinking process to those of people with autism. Being autisitic herself she understands that fear is the main emotion shared by autistics and animals. "Objects that make sudden movements are the most fear-provoking. In the wild, sudden movement is feared because predators make sudden movements." Add to that the restraint of an embrace or its similarity to a dominant gesture or prelude to an aggressive one- and you can see the root of what may cause a dog to percieve this negatively.

Patricia McConell however does qualify this by saying that a positive response to hugging can be learned. In fact behaviorists generally believe that anything can be learned by classical or operant conditioning. Whenever Eti and I return from a walk we have a ritual of paw wiping and a little play and affection which would include some form of embrace or hug from me followed by a meal. So his whole entire life he has only had a positive association with hugging which I would imagine is very similar in other households where the act is meditated with affection or loving intent. Is a dog, apart from learning by positive association, able to understand or recognize this intent? According to Marc Bekoff a distinguished Biologist whose field of research is animal behavior, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), and behavioral ecology, is convinced that our companions do have this ability and says "We also hug them, love them, and welcome them into our homes as family members which pleases them immensely because they're such social beings". He says they have a great capacity for trust and they "tell us they trust us by their actions, their willingness to allow us to do just about anything to them."

"Don't hug dogs" would therefore be something you might want to teach children as a general rule of safety or you might not want to hug a dog you don't know or just met but to say "Don't hug your dog" a dog that you have built a trusting relationship with would be poor advice that doesn't properly recognise the bond that can occur between a dog and its owner and the need to continually nourish it. Nor does it credit the ability of a dog to transcend his base fears and replace it with trust and the ability to understand that a hug is intended as a gesture of love and affection from his beloved guardian.

An interesting outcome of the hugging dicussion on the forum is that many Frenchie owners declared, myself included, that their French Bulldogs go one step further- not only do they show little to no aversion to hugging but enjoy even demand to be cuddled, coddled, and cradled like babies and they had pictures to prove it. How can this be? How can the combination of an aggresive bull baiting bulldog combined with a murderous ratting terrier exhibit such infantile behavior. Most probably genetics - and by genetics I mean the kind thats been largely in operation from the 19th century to today - the kind that involves significant human interference.

The roots of the French Bulldog began with the intent of English Bulldog Breeders to redefine the breed from an aggressive one, which was no longer desired with the decline in interest in Bull Baiting, to a more docile 'family dog' and a smaller one at that as breeders were also trying to create a miniature bulldog. When the breed surfaced in France combined with the local Terriers it was at the dawn of the "Show Dog" Era and also the beginning of a demand for small companion dogs and lapdogs. The breeding programs were without doubt all selecting for appearance and good temper. Not only would this positive selection for "good temper" have an effect on genetics, so would selecting for appearance . A preference for physical characteristics like larger heads and puppy like features can also have according to Raymond and Lorna Coppinger an impact on behavior. In this article by Temple Grandin she describes this Neoteny or preference for juvenile characteristics as one of many reasons how behavioral genetics can be altered. The article sums up all the possibilites - experience, environment, learnt behavior, selection for certain traits -they all impact an animal's temperament. So where a Frenchie may not only be agreeable but actually enjoy lot of physical handling, a working dog like the Siberian Husky or a herding breed like a German Shepherd, who tend to be more flighty, may not feel quite the same way.

My experience with Eti is that he loves physical interaction and I encourage it not just with myself but with others and in doing so he is socially confident with everyone that he meets and its a trait I not only like but find important living in a crowded urban setting where he deals on a daily basis with the physical advances of strangers, friends, neighbours and their children. But like the humans described at the start of this post, not all Frenchies are the same there's a range and its important to be able to read your dogs language and what he's telling you, understand that your body posture and body language plays a role- you should be low to the ground not standing or hovering over him and that the situation should have positive associations - food, toys, playing , smiles and laughter.

Thank You for Being Such a Pain

Taking a stroll with your dog in NYC can be an uplifting experience. Manhattanite faces soften allowing themselves a smile, even a little chuckle when they see Eti trot purposefully by, their tough exteriors compromised by the sight of his big bat ears. Many abandon the first rule of NYC sidewalk survival "walk fast, no eye contact" to stop and say hello, or "he's beautiful". How wonderful you think, that a dog can inspire human nature to manifest in such a positive way. And then you get to a NYC dog run and things are quite different.

Richard Freedman of Leonard N. Stern School of Business of New York University, says, “Difficult people are distributed evenly throughout society.” In the 2 years of hanging out at NYC dog runs, my personal empirical evidence would be that most of these difficult people find their way here. There's all sorts. There's the ones who bring their breakfast or lunch to the dog run or their one year old just starting to walk toddler staggering unattended with an ice cream in their hand and then are exasperated that your dog is bothering them.

There's the ones that bring their dogs toys to the dog run and are annoyed that your dog keeps trying to take their dogs toy. Or how about this little exchange I had with a lady with a bright red plastic ball thrower that she kept swishing in front of Eti.

Lady:"Your dog is trying to bite me"
Me: "No he's trying to get that bright red plastic thing in your hand that you keep swishing around-he thinks its a toy"
Lady:"Its not a toy, its a tool to pick up my dogs ball .
Me: Yes I know that, and you know that, but my dog doesn't know that, he thinks its a toy. Please read the guidelines on the noticeboard that advises dog owners not to bring food or toys into the dog run.

Guess what the owners of the most obnoxious bad mannered dogs are usually doing- talking on their cell phones with their backs turned of course. Guess what the owners of the most (dangerously) submissive dogs are doing- not leaving. Just staying and allowing their dogs to continue to instigate huge brawls, cluelessly complaining how everyone else's dog is so aggressive.

Even though you pick up after your dog every single time, and yes you just saw him start No. 2 over there by the fence, in fact your hand is in your pocket fingering a plastic bag in anticipation of its imminent use. You're distracted however for a nano second as someone engages you in conversation and a shrill voice from behind informs you sternly -"Your dog just pooped". Tell that to the lady with the Mastiff whose dog built a poop sandcastle right in the middle of the run 15 minutes ago. And don't even get me started on the dogwalkers with more dogs than they can handle who arrive like a swarm of locust at certain times of the day.

Dog runs have increasingly become the most annoying places on earth to be in, for me. If Eti didn't enjoy running around in them with such unfettered delirious joy, I would stop going altogether because the people that frequent them drive me nuts. According to a New York Times article today however, " the problem is not the difficult people. It is you." Thats right, it is I that needs to empathize, understand and of course realise that "we cannot control other people, only our response to them"

"Life is like a school.....conflicts that seem to be chance occurrences are actually orchestrated for our spiritual development....the Universe delivers unto us the ideal foe, a person whose characteristics exactly correspond to the places within us that need learning and healing" writes Deepak I mean Mark Rosen in his book, “Thank You for Being Such a Pain: Spiritual Guidance for Dealing With Difficult People,”. My usual tactic is is more along the lines of one of the reccomendations in Carrie Mason-Draffen's book “151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People”-know when to cut your losses ie get the hell out that run. Know thy enemy- explore the psychological roots of ten specific behavior patterns that represent normal people at their worst- then work on communicative skills to turn conflict into cooperation is the tactic pursued in “Dealing With People You Can’t Stand: How to Bring Out the Best in People at Their Worst,” by Dr. Rick Brinkman.

I guess I could brush up on the subject. Or, the dog run people could read a thing or two.

Grass Eating

Ever wondered why your dogs eat grass? A recent post on a canine nutrition list that I read elicited this interesting response from Mary Strauss:

"I think dogs eat grass for two reasons: because they like it, or because their stomachs are upset. In my experience, the way that they eat it and how they act can help to differentiate between the two.

My dogs enjoy eating grass, especially fresh spring grass. When eating for enjoyment, they take time to pick out the best strands and are only interested in certain types of grass.

When they aren't feeling well, they grab at tufts of grass indiscriminately and sometimes frantically. Their tummies are often rumbly and they will sometimes vomit shortly afterwards. They usually have less appetite when this happens."


I have also previously read in Cindy Engel's "Wild Health", one of my favorite books, that:

"Grass seems to have two effects one is emetic (stimulating regurgitation or vomiting), the other, a purgative scour (ridding the body of worms farther down the intestine)...Herbalist Maurice Messegue claims that some dog species discriminate between different grasses for different medicinal functions, using hairy grass for emetics and couch grass as a purgative."

Twice Bitten

It's probably inevitable that your dog will encounter some incident with another dog, either at a dog run, at home with multiple dogs or in Eti's case at a friendly meetup with other French Bulldogs. He had a minor puncture that drew blood but with little consequence from an unfriendly mutt at a dog run but his second run in at the previously mentioned meetup was a more serious matter. There were so many people and dogs at that particular meetup that I didn't even see or hear the incident and only noticed when I got home that he had a small puncture wound between his shoulders with the area around it aggravated to the size of a quarter.

It seemed to take a surprisingly long time to heal, and I may have contributed to this by cleaning it regularly with Hydrogen Peroxide, as usually advised by most articles about canine first aid. I have subsequently learned that hydrogen peroxide is in fact bad for healthy skin and mild soapy solution or sterile saline solution are much better alternatives.

I was reminded of this subject when reading this recent article about dog inflicted injuries. I was surprised to learn that 'When in predatory mode, dogs exert maximum, super-canid force in dispatching their prey. The key is to grab (with the sharp, canine teeth) and then shake the prey to enhance their crushing ability through the momentum of a brisk snap of the neck and shoulder muscles. The result is a devastating amount of tissue injury due to compression distributed over a wide area of tissue.'

Even more disconcerting, and this would be an issue if say the attacker was a considerably larger dog : 'Some animal behaviorists feel that a so-called prey response is common to small mammals and relevant to how we treat them. In this theory, prey will often respond to an overwhelming attack with a stress hormone-mediated, quick-death mechanism intended to limit the time of suffering. Complete circulatory shutdown (circulatory shock) often rapidly ensues.'

This really reinforces the importance to be mindful at dog runs of whats going on given that the behavior of another dog can be completely unpredictable. I have found that the presence of an obnoxiously dominant dog, even an overly submissive one can create a volatile situation where trouble can happen and is a good excuse to leave the dog run.

The Emotional Life of Dogs

One of my favorite authors Patricia McConnell has a new book out tackling this complex subject. "For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend". Her perspective on the subject, as always, is an interesting combination of Behaviorist( she has a Doctorate in Ethology), Zoologist and Animal Lover.

Advance praise for the book:

“For the Love of a Dog is a wonderful book. Fine, balanced, charming, it is sure to appeal to all dog fans whose numbers seem to be increasing (and rightly so) by the day. I read it with great delight.”
–Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Ph.D., author of Dogs Never Lie About Love

“A step-by-step guide on how to interpret how your dog feels by reading his facial expressions and body posture. A marvelous book that everybody who loves dogs should own.”
–Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation

“Brilliant! For The Love of a Dog is a perfect balance of science and soul. These stories will either keep you up reading long into the night knowing that with your dogs, you love and are loved, need and are needed.”
–Dr. Marty Becker, resident veterinarian on ABC’s Good Morning America and author of Fitness Unleashed!

“A fascinating, highly educational read. McConnell alternates between expressing empathy with our canine friends and taking a step back to explain the scientific limits of any attempt to get into their heads.”
–Frans de Waal, author of Our Inner Ape

“Patricia McConnell skillfully blends cutting edge scientific data with examples from her personal experiences with dogs to produce a clear picture of the emotional life of dogs. In the process we learn more about how the mind of a dog works, and how to better understand and interact with them. This is a ‘must read’ for all dog owners.”
–Stanley Coren, author of The Intelligence of Dogs and How Dogs Think.

Ductology

Duct Tape is a regular purchase at Chez MC. I save paper box containers (I used a toilet roll center in the photo), fill them with treats, in this case Innova Evo kibble, and completely duct tape the container. I then make a hole big enough for the treat to escape-a novice at this would probably need a few holes. This is about an hour's worth of interaction-also requiring nose work to find the treats that have fallen out. I think it also satisfies a natural urge to rip and tear, but in an approved and managed situation. All this brainwork and nosework is exhausting and guarantees a nice long nap after.