Do you believe dogs do things out of spite?

Do you believe dogs will do something bad just because they are mad? Everyone tells me that dogs can not do that but sometimes it's just SO hard for me to believe that. Yesterday I fed Hannah and was getting ready to get Foxy's food ready when Mark called me into the other room so I stopped preparing his food and went into the bedroom for a few minutes. When I came back in the kitchen I find that Foxy had POOPED by the door! Now he has NEVER gone inside the house before and he didn't show us one single sign that he had to go. I just got the feeling he was upset that I didn't feed him right away but I had fed Hannah and so he was trying to find a way to seek revenge on me. Ofcourse he didn't get punished or anything, I just put him in another room while I cleaned it up, but I just can't help but think the little devil did it on purpose.

Every trainer I know says they don't,buuut I know they do At least my corgi. If I am mad at her,take away a toy,pet another dog,she will look right at me and pee on the ground or chew something. The rest of them I'm not so sure about but she is too smart for her own good!

Just as some people anthropomorphise animals to a ridiculous extent, some people greatly underestimate their capabilities.

I don't know if dogs are capable of being spiteful, but mine certainly seem to understand frustration and Ripley even understands revenge. If Dakota snatches one of Ripley's toys, Ripley will go to Dakota's toy basket and take one of his toys, even if he won't play with it. I don't see any reason for him to take a toy he doesn't like, other than it being a gesture of "Well nyaah! Now I have one of YOUR toys."

Well, you decide . . .

Mickey, the Terrier I had for 16 years, got POed at my grandmother one evening.

So, Mickey waited until we were all asleep. Then she went to Nanny's room, found the spot on the floor where Nanny put her foot down when she got out of bed, left a pile on that exact spot . . . .

Then Mickey went to the front door and barked . . . .

Just one instance of revenge, spite AND a firm grasp of the principles of cause and effect

yes i do. The only time Bronki ever chewed anything up was when i locked in hin the bedroom to let garg mary's brother (they hated each other) have the house for awhile..i got other examples too...too many to count!

i'm not sure.

i know my dog does things out of nervousness... but he's never really acted spiteful as far as i can tell. Maybe it hasn't occured to him yet?

I totally agree with Joce....especially with Corgi's. They can be such little bratties.

LOL I am a firm believer that dogs have that capability lol. When Teddy was a bit younger he was terrible for that. If I took something away from him he would wait till I was sitting down and stand right in front of me and pee and then run away like HAHAHAA you can't catch me. Or he would deliberately take something of mine and hide with it and chew it up if he was mad at me lol.

My moms dog shelby is not a big fan of Teddy (she's jealous) and the first few times we had Teddy over there he NEVER bothered with her food but if he even so much as walked BY the bowl she would growl at him and snap at him. now when we go over there the first thing he does is eats her food lol even if he just ate his own lol. he will also grab her FAV toy and squeak it RIGHT in her face lol.

If that isn't spite I don't know what is

Yes they do i left Princess and Duchess home with just my mom today while i went and hung out with my friend since we are moving soon i came home to a very angry mother because THEY HAD EATEN THE COUCH!!!!!!!

Oh yeah they do!

My closest with my Goldens, was one Christmas we gave all the dogs a stuffed animal ,except Copper got a rubber pig as she was getting fat !.. We all laughed and she was so mad, she carried outside, made sure we were watching and buried it in the woods ! She showed us !!! Then there was my Irish Setter who did EVERYTHING for spite ....his was mostly getting his feet muddy on purpose and get on every bed in the house,,, not to sleep.. just to mess up and get them dirty !

ok, good, so then I'm not crazy like I had thought.

Do dogs do naughty things out of spite? Well I hope to tell ya they do!

My mom has 2 dogs that are both potty trained and go out several times a day. The only time they will poop on the floor if my mom leaves for an hour or two and comes back. She takes them outside before she leaves, too.

Also my Wishbone is usually pretty good. Doesn't tear things up or leave " gifts" on the floor. One day I left for an hour and I come back to see he has gotten into the trash and that he left some little brown " logs" for me to clean up.

Isn't that sweet of him?

I dont' believe they do. Perhaps they may, but until someone can 100% prove it to me, I will continue to believe that they do not. Heck, I find that NOT believin in it makes me a better trainer. It makes me, and others, much less likely to play the "blame game". I don't blame things on my dogs. If they do something bad, something I did or taught them had to have caused it.

They sure do!

My old dog, below, was hilarious.

Once, my friend's dad yelled at him, and he got mad and pooped on the couch RIGHT in front of her dad.

Another time, my mom yelled at my dog for coming into the house with muddy paws, and he pooped on her bed.

It was simply hilarious.