Dangerous Outcome Could Come to Tomato Loving Labrador

My trusty sidekick Poncho and I received a dog behavior question for Dear Inquisitive Canine column about a fun-loving lab mix that enjoys eating all of the homegrown tomatoes in his yard. The dog guardian who wrote in was a little annoyed with this hunting activity, I believe more so because she didnt have any to eat herself! Hmm, that would be annoying - especially when youre craving fresh tomatoes for your evening meal, and there arent any left!

I addressed this inquisitive dog guardian by outlining key management steps such as: Sturdier fencing, barricades, and yard location that would deter (and protect) her dog, while protecting the plants and her morsels of deliciousness. I also included some simple dog training tips including:

• Rewarding her dog whenever he ignored the plants
• Encouraging her to provide other enrichment activities that would redirect him away from the plants, while allowing him to "hunt". Something along the lines of a scavenger hunt for his kibble, or a tomato/kibble stuffed food toy would be fantastic.

Along with the above management and training, there is something even more important about this tomato hunting dilemma: the tomato plant is toxic to dogs! (cats and horses too). The fruit seems to be fine for this dog to eat, and many other dogs, but the leaves and plant itself have been know to cause many health problems.

According to the ASPCA, signs and symptoms of tomato plant toxicity include: Hypersalivation, inappetence, severe gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea, drowsiness, CNS depression, confusion, behavioral change, weakness, dilated pupils, and slow heart rate. For more information on tomato plant toxicity, as well as other common poisonous plants, click here to access the ASPCA website.

To read the full post, please check out our Dear Inquisitive Canine dog behavior advice column - the tomato loving lab will be featured on November 13th 2009 on the Noozhawk website.

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Dog Behavior and Discrimination how come my dog listens to my husband but not me

I know, nowadays the word "discrimination" can be a negative thing. As socially conscious humans were not supposed to discriminate - at least when were talking about certain human characteristics. But trust me, we discriminate all the time - and its a good thing, as youll see below. How does discrimination relate to dog training? First a general definition of discrimination: 

• the recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another: discrimination between right and wrong | young children have difficulties in making fine discriminations.
• the ability to distinguish between different stimuli : [as adj. ] discrimination learning.

With consistency, and precise timing, we can actively teach dogs to discriminate. Check out the video of me and Poncho the dog. Im teaching him to discriminate when to jump through my legs. Turning my right leg out is the cue for him to jump through. Turning my left leg out, he isnt supposed to. He got his reward for staying put. 

Poncho learned pretty quickly that: right leg turned out = jump through = gets rewarded. Left leg turned out = stay = gets rewarded. If he didnt jump when he was supposed to, or jumped when I didnt want him to, then Id give him a "too bad", which is the cue for "no reward". The punishment is he doesnt get a food reward, and he has to wait to try again. 

Another human world example:

• Green light = "go", Red light = Stop, Yellow light = "slow down in preparation of stopping" (although some folks define the yellow as "speed up and get through the intersection"). 

In this example we, as humans, discriminate between the different colors of the traffic signal, and based on what weve learned, we know what to do for each one. I dont know about you, but when I was a child, I quickly learned which parent to go to for what, and when to ask. This is example of "discriminative learning".

As a certified pet dog trainer, I often hear comments or get questions, either from my manners class students or my Noozhawk advice column about "Why does a dog do one thing for one person and not another? Why does my dog pull on leash with me, but not my spouse?" Well, the simple explanation is: One person is more consistent with teaching and rewarding what they want and/or punishing out what they dont want. In a case like this, the dog in question has been able to discriminate which parent to go to for what! 

Dogs, just like small children, dont have the mental capacity to distinguish between right and wrong. They arent born with the section of the brain that is wired for it, and they never really develop it. However, they are very good at differentiating between safe and dangerous. Along with discriminating between safe or dangerous stimuli, they are masters at discriminating between finite cues - provided passively or actively. For example:

• Passive cue: sneakers = going for walkies, dress shoes = dog stays home while human goes to work. 
• Active cue: human places specific blanket (environmental cue) on couch = dog gets to hang out on couch. No blanky on couch, doggy isnt allowed on couch.

So, if your dog is behaving differently for you than they are for someone else, ask yourself: 

• What am I rewarding or not rewarding my dog for?
• Am I being consistent?
• What cues am I giving my dog?
  

Then, once youve answered yourself, you can then fix the problem, if there is one. 

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