what does a doggie want?

[antipunt1]

Thank you for all the help thus far to the forumers!

I have learned to enjoy the love from my puppy. Hugs/discipline/kind petting/scratching. All of this. Even hard love like not listening to her whining.

But what does SHE want when you pet her? I have read articles talking about how petting on her top side from back to head is considered as aggression sometimes.

It talked about the dynamics of hugging: AKA that the puppy is only acquiescing towards your behavior, as in it isn't evolutionary meant for hugging. Rather, human hugging is closer to doggie aggression.

So now I know its more appropriate to pet/scratch it only its belly/chest area and below the neck. but this is weird, I've always heard dogs love scratching behind its ears, and I bet most people pet their dogs on the top side.

The bottom line is: does anyone know what a puppy wants? I don't want to do something to it, misinterpreting that she enjoys it, when in reality all she's doing is saying "ok ok, you feed me yadda yadda; i'll let you do your ricidulous motion". I'm afraid hugging is equivalent to such. And also back scratching and head patting.

What does a puppy enjoy? Ear rubs? Belly rubs? Should I just not worry about all this at all?!

thanks!

 

[antipunt1]

:hail: sry for the messiness!!! I wanted to condense my previous post and this one, but for some reason I think the admins are locking the ability to 'edit posts' unless someone could shine some light on that issue for me =]

And the reason why is b/c I have two additional questions for the pros out there if you have the time

#1 (above already mentioned) "What a puppy wants in terms of physical affection"

~

#2. What do you do when a puppy runs at other people excitedly on walks? For a while now my folks and I have been walking with our puppy, but recently she darts towards other people that walk by and follows them! We may have to enforce a leash, but even with a leash I'd assume she'd dart at them anyway! Does anyone know what I am talking about here specifically and have some tips? Should I run with it or is there some sort of corrective behavior?

#3. I love my piano. But what's the relationship between pianos and dogs? I've heard that they absolutely hate them, but I love them. Is there a way I could desensitize my dog to it? Or is it a myth and its possible my dog could like the piano? I don't know..even though I idealize it to be so, I've never heard of a dog having a 'music sense' like a human. Maybe I could tell my folks to hold it while I play with it nearby? Or would that be blasting away her eardrums and killing her on the inside? =[ .. is she just hearing random, loud gibberish noise?

Sry for the formatting due to the edit-post lock down . If anyone knows what the heck I'm talking about with my three questions, it'd be very much appreciated


THANKS AGAIN CHAZHOUND :rofl1:

 

[lizzybeth727]

I think the admins are locking the ability to 'edit posts' unless someone could shine some light on that issue for me =]

You can only edit posts for I think an hour after you post them. Maybe that's why you couldn't do it?

#1 (above already mentioned) "What a puppy wants in terms of physical affection"

Basically, you'll learn to take your cues from your puppy, as far as what she likes. IMO it's important for a puppy to learn to accept handling all over their body, so once your new puppy is comfortable with you, start handling her everywhere - feet, ears, tail, head, teeth, whipe her eyes, scratch her back, belly, armpits, thighs, everywhere. You'll know what she likes because she'll probably lean into your hand petting her, or maybe she'll just relax her body and lay down, or maybe she'll kick her back leg (that means it's a REALLY itchy spot). If you pet her a little bit and she comes back asking for more, that's another good sign.

YOu'll also know if she doesn't like petting because she'll try to move away, or maybe just tense up.

I like to also practice hugging with puppies, because at some point in their life someone is going to want to hug them (it's stupid human nature!). So, maybe while you're doing a relaxing petting session, holding her on your lap, just give her a quick hug and then go back to petting whatever it was that she really likes. As she gets used to it, gradually (over the course of weeks), hug her for longer periods and hold her tighter.

#2. What do you do when a puppy runs at other people excitedly on walks? For a while now my folks and I have been walking with our puppy, but recently she darts towards other people that walk by and follows them! We may have to enforce a leash, but even with a leash I'd assume she'd dart at them anyway! Does anyone know what I am talking about here specifically and have some tips? Should I run with it or is there some sort of corrective behavior?

Are you walking her off leash right now? Because first I'd put her on a leash. It's extremely dangerous to walk a dog without a leash, ESPECIALLY a puppy who doesn't have a good recall (and that means that she will come back to you 100% of the time, whether there are people or any other distractors).

Once she's on a leash, keep in mind that she's at the age where she needs to meet a LOT of nice people, so that she starts to build good associations with people. So at this age, letting her go to people she sees on her walk is perfectly fine, as long as it doesn't annoy the people too much.

#3. I love my piano. But what's the relationship between pianos and dogs? I've heard that they absolutely hate them, but I love them. Is there a way I could desensitize my dog to it? Or is it a myth and its possible my dog could like the piano?

I've met a few dogs who don't like a lot of noise, but for the most part, I don't see this as a problem for your puppy. Just calmly, maybe when she's not in the room, go over and start playing the piano. If she's interested and wants to come investigate, that's good, talk to her and praise her while you're still playing. If she ignores it, that's good too. If she has a different reaction, let us know and we'll help you desensetize her to the piano.

 

[antipunt1]

*thank you; noted about the editing detail

-thats really good hugging advice, and I totally agree with it!

-thx for the leash/people advice; it was my gut suspicion. So we should keep letting her go to peeps, do we stop this behavior at the end of her socialization window? (12 weeks-ish)? I figure there'd be a point where it'd have to learn to follow us alone.

-thx for the piano advice, sounds good!

and thx very much overall!

 

[lizzybeth727]

-thx for the leash/people advice; it was my gut suspicion. So we should keep letting her go to peeps, do we stop this behavior at the end of her socialization window? (12 weeks-ish)? I figure there'd be a point where it'd have to learn to follow us alone.

I don't like to teach dogs to ignore people and listen only to me. I like my dogs to be friendly and enjoy seeing people in public. That said, there will be times when you don't want her going to people - maybe you don't feel like she's safe around them, maybe you're in a hurry and don't have time to stop and chat, whatever - in which case you can teach her an incompatable behavior. That's something that she will do that will physically prevent her from being able to go to the stranger. Teaching her how to walk nicely on a leash without pulling is the obvious place to start, but you should also teach her to give you eye contact on cue or to touch your hand on cue. This way when she sees someone and really wants to go to them, instead of punishing her for that you can simply ask her to look at you or touch your hand with her nose, and then reward that good behavior. By the time you're done rewarding her, you'll probably be past the stranger and she will have lost intereste (if not, ask her to do the behavior again and reward it again).

 

[antipunt1]

dealing with strangers via positive reinforcement/distraction. thx that's a good idea, I think I'll use it for sure. As for now due to lack of training I kind of clap my hands a little; almost like advertising myself over the strangers, or telling her to follow.