Animal Psychology
Dog’s behavior formation. Professional practical advice
Early socialization of the puppy is divided into eight ranges: physical, tactile, sonic, psychological, gustatory, visual, social and scent development.
Each of them has special tasks and features of proper formation. Some are quite simple, others require deeper knowledge and explanations. Learning schemes do not take much time but bring incredible results.
I suggest bringing up a topic about which there is not that much information but a social need is great.
Vestibular training – as part of the puppy’s physical development
Sharing the peculiarities of human life, dogs are forced to use different types of transportation along with us. Some are adapting quickly and well. But there are many dogs for whom traveling in a car is a nuisance, stress, and unwellness, and for their owners – unrest and problems for many years.
The task of the vestibular sensory system is to inform the central nervous system about the active and passive movement of the body and the head in order to maintain balance.
Under normal conditions, spatial orientation is provided by the joint activity of two systems: visual and vestibular.
But due to the specific features, a person and a dog have physiological differences that are reflected when processing the information from these analyzers.
Dogs are species created to live only on the ground, and the unstable, moving surface under the paws is a signal of danger. Evolutionarily, people in this matter are more loyal, because they cannot only climb but also spend longer time on unstable and relatively moving surfaces – trees.
Therefore, our brain does not perceive the discrepancy between visual and vestibular information as critical as the dog's nervous system. It is much easier for a person to get used to flying and traveling on different types of transport than to our pets.
In the hands of the breeder, there is a valuable tool for influencing the early deep formation of responses to the vestibular analyzer irritation – special exercises and trainings that adapt dog’s natural features to the needs of life along with a person.
If you miss this point and lose time, the owners observe severe stress in dogs during trips in the car: excessive anxiety, salivation, nausea, tremor, howling, troublesome behavior and even severe affective states.
All these are easy to prevent, therefore I offer you several trainings from the general scheme of development of a high-social dog.
You may start the exercises since the 5th day of the puppy’s life.
1. Training “free fall”
Carefully, but securely, fix the puppy along the body with your palms, making sure that the dog's head is also securely fixed, and during the training, it will not move separately from the body. If the puppy is too big for your palms, place it so that the head and chest would lay on one hand, and everything else is on the other.
Lift the puppy to the level of the person's chest and then quickly lower it down to the level of the knees, imitating a free fall.
Lift the puppy up smoothly.
Attention! In no case can you toss a puppy up!
Time of one approach: up to 3 seconds;
Number of approaches per set: up to 5 times;
Break between sets: 10–15 seconds;
The number of trainings per day: 1–2 times.
2. Training "rocking"
With the palms firmly secure the puppy along the body, making sure that the puppy’s head is also well fixed. If the puppy is already too big for your palms, place it so that the head and chest lay on one palm, and everything else is on the other.
Make waving movements from side to side, with different amplitudes and frequencies. If the weight of the puppy allows – stretch your hands in front of you, if not – hold it closer to your chest, but do not press the puppy completely against your body, because your body will compensate for a part of the useful load.
Time of one approach: up to 3 seconds;
Number of approaches per training: up to 5–8 times;
Break between approaches: 15 seconds;
Number of trainings per day: 1–2 times.
3. Training "car ride"
Put the puppy in the middle of the big towel. Fold a towel, pick up the edges and carefully start to make oscillatory movements back and forth, up and down, with small amplitude, imitating the movement of the car.
Attention! Reasonably approach this task, control your actions. We do not prepare a puppy for space flight.
Starting from the 30th day of the puppy's life, occasionally give it a ride in a car. Trips, twice or thrice a week for 10–20 minutes will be enough so that the dog would master these necessary useful skills for life.
Time of one approach: up to 5–7 seconds;
Number of approaches per training: up to 5 times;
Break between approaches: 15 seconds;
Number of trainings per day: 1 time.
4. Training "vibration"
Put the puppy on a book or a tablet, and imitate the small vibration of the object with your hands.
Older puppies, at the time of the training, should be fed or given something tasty.
Some time ago in such trainings, I used the old washing machine, which was of great help to me. Now I need to imitate the situation on my own.
Time of one approach: up to 5–7 seconds;
Number of approaches per training: up to 5 times;
Break between approaches: 15 seconds;
The number of trainings per day: 1–2 times.
Oleksandra BEREHOVENKO, FCI-UKU Judge, a specialist in the dog’s behavior formation