Expert: Lee Charles Kelley - 4/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have recently moved states from a suburb of a large city with a small backyard, to a large backyard in the country.  All people and pets have been happier since.

A couple of weeks ago, my dog, a pugalier, has started sniffing the ground excessively every time we go outside.  If I am inside, he sleeps on the back or front landing.  As soon as I start to go down the stairs, he runs to a grassy area where he thinks I am going to go and he starts sniffing very urgently, in through the nose, and out through the mouth.  It is the same backyard he has been in all day.  There are no new scents for him to smell.  Sometimes he runs while sniffing, as if he is following a trail.

There is no distracting him.  If I call him he will look at me for a second or so and then continue sniffing.  If I walk to a different area he follows me while sniffing and continues wherever I am.  If I go upstairs to go inside, he stops.  If I take him out of the yard for a walk, he sniffs a lot less, and actually walks with me and interacts with the world around him.  

This is only a new behaviour trait.  I am finding it very frustrating because he will not interact in any way while I am outside with him.  He will do this for hours on end, and gets himself very hot and worn out while sniffing like this.  Do you have any ideas?

ANSWER: Hi, Jo.

Thanks for the question.

It could be that your dog has found the scent of some nocturnal creature that's been hanging around your back yard at night when no one's around. It could be an indicator of stress. Moving is stressful for most dogs, and they each have a different way of reducing their stress. (Since I don't know your dog's name I'll call him Max.)

Either way, the solution to this problem, at least as I see it, is that you need to make yourself more relevant to Max's prey drive. As you may know dogs are predators at heart, even pugs and cavaliers. And there are 5 basic steps to the predatory sequence. Each of the behaviors associated with any of these steps causes endorphins, the body's natural form of opium, to be released, causing feelings of intense pleasure. Here are the 5 steps:

The Search - sniffing the ground or scanning the horizon for movement
The Eye-Stalk - holding perfectly still until the prey animal isn't looking at you
The Chase - running after the animal
The Grab Bite - taking hold of the prey animal with your teeth
The Kill Bite - snapping the prey animal's neck, or eviscerating it with your teeth

So Max seems to have a kind of OCD thing going with The Search. There may actually be something that visits your yard, or it's just his way of downloading the tension of your recent move. Either way, in my view you need to help him move past that first step to step 5. Each of the steps has a game or exercise that stimulates and satisfies that particular part of the predatory sequence:

The Search - "Find" where you hide something and the dog has to find it
The Eye-Stalk - "Trick-or-Treat" http://www.tiny.cc/TrickorTreat
The Chase - Fetch and "Chase Me" (where you tease the dog with a toy and run away)
The Grab Bite - Fetch and Tug
The Kill Bite - Tug-of-War

So if I were in your shoes, I'd teach Max the "Trick-or-Treat" game outdoors, then use some of the eye-stalk behaviors to initiate a game of chase, as described in the second part of the article found here (http://www.tiny.cc/walkingonleash ). But I'd mainly focus on getting him to play tug-of-war with you, always let him win, and praise him enthusiastically for winning.

If he shows no interest in playing with you, I'd start with exercises described in these two articles of mine:

http://www.tiny.cc/jumpstart

http://www.tiny.cc/SwimUpstream

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions,

LCK

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi LCK

Thank you for your response.  I did forget to mention my dog's name, which is Bronx.  


I also forgot to mention that he is extremely protective of me.  If I am not home, he lays down and sleeps.  If I am home, he will bark at and chase every dog, person and car that goes past.  He will bark at cows 3 paddocks away if he can see movement.  He does not do this when I am not home.

Everything you say may be true, and I will try the exercises, but I am unsure if you are on the right track, because:

We moved about 3 months ago.  This behaviour only started a couple of weeks ago.  He only does it when I am in the backyard, and only ever on the grass, never the concrete.  He does it near me, and does not actually ever follow any trail.  If I sit down in the back yard, he will continue sniffing the same area for hours.  I actually did this for two hours, and he continued sniffing the same area.  If I do not go outside at all, he does not do this.  If I take him out of the property and walk him to my mother's place (no leash) he bounds around and sniffs like he used to, only if there is something there, and he uses his nose.  In my own back yard, his behaviour is far from normal.  He uses his mouth for breathing out of, he has a crazy look in his eyes, and he does not stop!!!!  There is definitely something wrong.  I am afraid that playing a game with him will reward him for this behaviour.

Any other ideas?

Jo  

Answer
Hi again.

Thanks for the further info.

You're right on one count, it's probably not a varmint he's smelling. What he's doing is kind of like huffing glue or snorting coke. It's as if his brain is looking for the endorphin fix that's built into this part of the predatory sequence, and he's gotten his wires twisted into a repeating loop. And it's bordering very closely on OCD. Also (and this is where I'm definitely right), it's not uncommon for a dog who's experienced the "trauma" of moving to a totally different environment to seem fine for about three months before weird new behaviors start erupting. That's actually the normal time frame. During the first part of this process -- getting to feel safe and comfortable in the new home -- the dog is usually almost better behaved than he was previously.

That being the case (and given my feeling that this behavior is bordering on OCD), it would be my first step to do the pushing exercise described in my article "Swimming Upstream." For some reason that simple exercise does more to smooth a dog's emotions out than anything else I've ever come across. In fact, here's part of an e-mail I just got today from a client in Washington State:

"I just wanted to give you another update on the Seattle Terrierist, Roxy.  I posted one update under the comments section on your blog, under the “Swimming Upstream” post.  But the very next day we had another great moment that I had to share with you.

"I was at home with the 3 dogs, when my wife pulled up in the driveway.  As she was coming to the door she started getting into a conversation with the neighbor.  Of course hearing the voices outside got everyone really excited.  Jackie and Delta just barked a couple of times, like normal dogs do, but when they do that, it of course sends Roxy into a frenzy.  Which is what happened this time.  So she started barking, and whining, and spinning, and pacing.  Her typical “I don’t know what to do” activities.  So I first tried some basic obedience stuff, like having her in a down stay.  Which she actually did, but it didn’t dissipate her energy.  So I took her upstairs and tried to get her to play tug, but I just couldn’t match her energy enough to attract her.  So then I decided I’d try to attract her with some treats, which did get her attention.  So then, I thought I’d try pushing with her.  I gave her the cue, which is “Ready?”, and she instantly snapped to attention and sat in front of me, giving me all of her focus and attention.  So then we did the pushing, and with every push and treat, her energy relaxed and dissipated a bit more.  By the time we finished with it, she was completely relaxed.  In fact, by the time my wife came inside, she was so relaxed that she wasn’t even “excited” to greet her.  She just went over and gave a quick hello greeting, then went over by the couch and lied down.  It was pretty awesome.

"Then, when it was feeding time, she just calmly walked over to her spot where she normally sits to wait for her food.  Normally she would run over to that spot, really excited, then do a few spins and maybe some whines while I’m getting the food ready.  But this time, she just walked over and sat there, completely calm and relaxed.  In the 2 years we’ve had her, she has NEVER behaved like that at feeding time. It was pretty amazing.  As I’m preparing their food, I’m just thinking to myself, “I can’t believe it.  She’s just sitting there, totally calm!”.

"There’s more.  When it was time to go outside, again she just walked over to the door in a calm, relaxed manner.  We always have the dogs wait at the door before going out, and let them out one at a time by name.  That way we never have 3 dogs trying to rush out at once.  Well, even with that scenario, normally Roxy would charge out when her name is called.  After all, she’s very excited to go outside.  But this time, I called her name to release her, and she just got up from her sit, then WALKED out the door.  Not a run.  Not even a trot.  A WALK!  Again, I couldn’t believe it.  I just started laughing because I was so excited by what I had been witnessing.

"Needless to say I’m so incredibly excited about our small little victories and our progress.  I can’t wait to see what else is possible as we continue with what we’ve been doing. Having lived with her for so long, trying so many different things, and seeing little or no results, these small changes have been amazing.  Most people will still only see her “excited” side.  But if they knew how she used to be, they too would understand my excitement."

I hope this helps! If you need further clarification, let me know.

LCK