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Question
My wonderful golden retriever often waits for us to come home before he will
eat. In addition, he often seeks me out when there's food in his bowl, barking
at me excitedly to get my attention. When I follow him to his bowl, which I've
learned is what he wants, he will dance around a bit, look at me a few times,
and finally start eating from his bowl. These are not troublesome behaviors
in any way. I just wish I understood better what's driving the behavior. Any
ideas?
Hi, Bruce,
Thanks for the question.
It's hard to say for sure where a behavior like this comes from, or what the underlying need or motivation is. I once knew a boxer named Roarke who wouldn't eat unless someone was in the kitchen with him. He became a character in one of my novels; my narrator said of him, "Like a lot of people Roarke doesn't like to eat alone..."
My feeling is that somewhere in your dog's past, probably during his days in the litter, the pro-social circuits in his brain somehow became connected to his gustatory circuits. There's clearly a strong feeling of pleasure that puppies get when they're partaking of their mother's milk. And they rarely do it alone. So my theory is that it feels more satisfying to him to eat while there's someone nearby. Another possible theory is that his breeder hand fed him after he was weaned and he associates the pleasure of eating with that kind of social contact. It's hard to say for sure, though.
LCK
http://www.LeeCharlesKelley.com
“Changing the World, One Dog at a Time”
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Answers by Expert:
Lee Charles Kelley
Expertise
I've been training dogs in New York City for nearly 20 years. My training approach and philosophy are based on the way police dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs are trained--through the prey drive, inherited from the wolf. It's true that there's been a shift away from using the "wolf model" in dog training recently, and to some extent, there's a good reason. That's because trainers have been using the wrong model, the one that says you have to be the "alpha" or the pack leader in order to control your dog's behavior. This simply isn't true. In wild wolves there is no dominance hierarchy, no "alpha" wolf, and no pack leader (not in the traditional sense). The pack instinct only exists to enable wolves to hunt large prey by working in harmony. (Wolves who live near garbage dumps, for example, and who don't hunt together, don't form packs.) So if wolves don't have an instinct to "follow the pack leader" or "obey the alpha wolf," how could dogs have inherited it from them?
Years ago, before I became a dog trainer, I noticed that the happiest, most obedient, and best-behaved dogs I met weren't the ones who'd been to a dog trainer or behaviorist; they were the dogs whose owners always had Frisbees and tennis balls on hand. And while it might seem that my approach would only be relevant to high-drive dogs who love fetch and tug-of-war, it isn't. Even something as seemingly unrelated as a housebreaking issue or greeting behavior are often the direct result of a dog's predatory energy not having an acceptable outlet.
All behavior is an expression of energy. So when a dog's energy isn't utilized in a way that feels satisfying to his or her instincts and emotions, that's when behavioral problems develop. Giving the dog an acceptable outlet for its energy will almost always bring the dog's behavior back into alignment with its instincts
Feel free to ask me questions about any training/behavioral issue.
LCK
Experience
20 years as a dog trainer. I'm also a bestselling author, writing a series of dog-related mystery novels for Avon.
Organizations
Dog Writers Association of America
Education/Credentials
Just a natural gift I have for understanding and training dogs
Past/Present Clients
Too numerous to mention.
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