Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 10/25/2006

Question
My dog Chiba is an almost 1 year old male Pittbull.  He is an indoor dog as we live in a condominium.  He is heavily exercised daily for about 45 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes to 1 hour 20 in the evening.  He sleeps with the children and besides the normal 1 year old hyperness and attempts to stretch boundaries...such as jumping on guests when greeting them or jumping OVER the couch when he has a hard time containing himself when someone comes in the house, we have no problems...UNTIL...  we just got a new puppy today. Her mother tried to kill her and she is injured.  Bitten in the head.  She is also only 4 1/2 weeks old.  Our Chiba became very very gentle and tries to gently groom her.  It is soooo hard for him because he wants to love her soooooo much.  The strange thing is....He is salivating uncontrollably.  All over her..the floor...the kennel.  White frothy foam all over his face. In fact it is dripping out of the front of the kennel and into the floor right now....why?  Is the presence of this new pup causing distress?  He seems very excited and happy she is here. All the info I can find says this behavior is anxiety. What should I do and will it stop when he gets used to her?

Answer
Hi Elizabeth-thanks for the question. If he appears happy, he is probably not distressed. Even though it is tempting (smile) we all know  that no individual body signal such as salivation can be used to evaluate emotion, motivation etc. It is always only a piece or one clue as to the animals state.

As you know, salvation is an unconditioned, involuntary response. The presence of food will also elicit salivation. If I correctly pair a special sound with food, the special sound will elicit salivation when there is no food nearby.

We do this when clicker training. We pair the sound with food and the sound becomes a conditioned stimulus which elicts the same involuntary response as the unconditioned stimulus of food.

If Chiba's other body signals and his behaviors do not indicate stress and there is no food present, then something in the environment has been previously paired with food or stress and is "triggering" or eliciting  the involuntary response. Yikes-sounds like School!  Yes, it's simple (to some) psychology 101  -Pavlovian,  or respondent or classical conditioning. :)

My guess (no science there, just my personal hypothesis or speculation)is:  The last time Chiba was around a 4 -5 week old pup(s), he was 4-5 weeks old. He was nursing. At that point in his life, food or nursing and staying warm were his only  goals. Perhaps the sight, smell, sounds, limited motor functions, etc. of 4-5 week old pups was conditioned with the delivery of mom's milk. Now the sight-smell, sounds, motor functions. of 4-5 week old rescue are eliciting salivation.

That might explain your statement and cute but inaccurate assumption /observation "he wants to love her sooooooooo much". Dogs don't lick to show love! (smile) Dogs lick in response to food or in response to stress, or as a compulsive behavior. It is more likely a Pavlovian conditioning thing than a "love thing".

Thank, for the interesting question -I enjoyed the break!
Happy Training!
AT

Follow up  - yes, it will stop  (unless you find a nursing  bitch and keep the association in play!)