Sighthounds and Displacement Behavior

Sighthounds can't be trained by a common template.In previous posts I have mentioned the importance of understanding a dogs' genetic behavior. Most dog trainers understand that while genetic behavior is a major factor in planning a training program, every dog is an individual and their training must be custom 'tweaked' to obtain the best results possible.

Last week I overheard a conversation between an owner and a professional trainer concerning a young show quality female Whippet I was personally quite fond of.
She was a family pet and clearly the mother and daughter had vastly different expectations of suitable behavior of the Whippet than did the father. Previous conversation with the family led me to think the dad needed his own dog, one that thrived on pleasing his owner like a Rottie or Standard Poodle, certainly not a sighthound...

On this day, it was Dad who was asking for advice from the trainer.

He was upset about the Whippet jumping on him when he came home. This is a concern for many dog owners and one I understand, especially if you value your wardrobe!

Jumping is what sighthounds do, it is one of the athletic activities they are especially well built for, and to them it feels pretty natural to use jumping as a means of expression.

We all know why dogs want to jump on us when we come home...

...it is the 'perpetual puppy' temperment that dogs have been selectively bred for over thousands of years...

In the past, our dogs' wild ancestors left puppies in the safety of their den home while the adults 'went to work' hunting for food to bring home. The return of the adults was met with great glee and the pup who didn't join in the welcome festivities might not get fed.

When we return home from work, our dogs are happy to see us because it is in their genes to behave that way.
So what happens when we curb this natural genetic exuberance in our dog?

What happens is displacement behavior...

I was already seeing the signs in the young adult Whippet as the two men talked.
As she sat quietly beside her owner, the last five vertebrae in her tail twitched back and forth( much as my cat does when he is at the vet, behaving, but unhappy). And when this Whippet walked quietly on her lead, her neck was thrust farther forward in a way that was not in keeping with her conformation, causing her to carry her head lower and rolling her eyes upward constantly to monitor her owners face as she anticipated with dread his next command. And as is typical of many dogs walking in this situation, her tail was wagging.
If this Whippet wasn't already destroying things in the house she soon would be, or else she would soon develop some other neurotic behavior like excessive barking or chewing on her feet, etc.

Displacement behavior is triggered by many different situations, but it is always CAUSED by going against the genetic grain.

If you stifle a dogs natural behavior, you MUST provide a suitable outlet to release the 'blocked' energy...otherwise the dog will find his own outlet and it most likely will be one you won't approve of.

I was saddened at this man's desire to extinquish the very essence of this Whippet by taking away two basic sighthound characteristics, independence and enthusiasm.

Sighthounds were bred to think creatively, independent of mans' direction and to pursue their prey with a single minded diligence. They do not accept dominance well.

In fact, the majority of sighthounds downright resent it.

The Whippet in this photo is a rescue named Lucy. After being a repeat return to a rescue group I agreed to rehab her. Supposedly she had a lot of displacement behavior but she never acted out at my house. She was obedience trained and I suspected she was trained more like a working dog than a sighthound and felt that could have begun her behavior issues.

After she was adopted by Ginger ( pictured with her), she immediately pee'd pooped, or chewed up everything in the house. And at the sound of any sort of dominating noise, storms, vacum cleaners, etc. she hid in the closet. I worked closely with Ginger ( Lucy was her first dog) and using flower remedies much of her fear was overcome and her destructive displacement behavior was overcome with AGILITY work!!

We took the obedience work she hated and paired it with a fun and rewarding sport that appealed to her sighthound competitiveness.

Agility released her 'blocked' energy and allowed her to overcome the resentment of earlier obedience training that had gone against her sighthound nature. In fact Lucy acquired her Canine Good Citizen certification.

To the owners of the other Whippet, I gently suggested lurecoursng as a sport for them and gave them local information on it. For the dogs' sake I hope they participate, displacement behavior puts a lot of dogs in rescue.

Your Dogs' Parentage Affects His Behavior Too

Today,at the local pet training facility a dog trainer acquaintance was doing a private consultation with a dog owner who was having aggression issues with her dog.
The trainer is highly skilled and did the right thing by having a quiet, one on one with the owner as this dog would have been impossible in a class situation.The dog would intermittently lunge and snarl, pulling at the lead held by the owner and sounding really scary whenever anyone approached.
The trainer asked me if I would approach the dog, sure, I agreed. The trainer then warned me,''Don't look him in the eyes!”
Don't look him in the eyes, I thought, who started that rumor? Looking the dog in the eyes is another way to asses what is going on inside the dogs head. If he looks off to one side, he is submitting to your being a creature dominant over him but not always happily so, if he looks down, he is submissive and if he stares right back at you, he is unafraid of what your next move might be. He is self confident, he may be aggressive and it is just as likely he is not. I have never personally picked a dog to be a companion that did not look me straight in the eye when we met.
The trainer said the owner had made this dog aggressive. She didn't like some of his behaviors and her methods of correcting him had led to his aggression.
Approaching the dog I had nothing in my pockets to make friends except a key. I walked up, said 'hey ' to him softly and as he checked me out with a few sniffs, I offered him the key to smell. It was important to offer him a token something, making an offering is a universal sign of friendship understood by all animals,and I HAD looked him in the eye and found him to be unafraid, plus his earlier behavior made me surmise he considered himself the dominant dog in all situations....we were for the moment two creatures on equal ground...at least in his mind. I reached down and scratched him behind the ear to assure him I was not a threat...
The dog trainer continued her consult but my interpretation of the dogs behavior was different. While I was not privy to the home situation the dog was in, what I observed was a small passive woman who owned a dog who was very, very large and a combination of a guarding/protection breed and a hunting breed. This mix of breed characteristics contributed greatly in my opinion as to the problem the woman was having with the dog. Remember my post about 'every dog needs a job to do'? Well, this dog was a perfect example. He was the combination of two breeds whose sole purpose was to do their job in the field,the guard dog part of his gene's told him to guard something and the hunting dog gene's were programmed to do a lot of quick thinking independently. Add to this mix a female owner whose unassertive outward appearance said ' I need protecting' and you have a dog who has taken upon himself the job of protecting his owner because that is what his genetic makeup has told him he is best qualified for.
In my opinion this dog was not a bad dog, his owner simply had not given him a purposefull direction so he created his own.
When you have a purebred dog, it is easier to asses problems because you can take into account the dogs' genetic programming,when you have a mix breed it becomes more difficult to make an assesment .DNA testing of mixed breeds is becoming more popular and certainly has it's advantages when trying to determine 'why does my dog do that'?The first photo at the top of this post shows Guy, a dog I bred enjoying himself to the fullest doing what his genes said to do...hunt by sight. Granted, he is only chasing a plastic bag in a corn field but he fills fulfilled and you can see enjoyment on his face. The second picture shows how eagerly he awaits his turn to run,no one forced him to do this, it is in his genetic make-up. By the way, if you have a sighthound,particularly a rescued greyhound I whole heartily suggest lure coursing. It is a million miles removed from the dreadful track racing that has caused so many dogs to be abused and it fulfills their desire to run and hunt by sight. Dogs love it! It is a great family sport.( akc.org has info on coursing.)

Letting your dog fulfill his job requirements leads to a well adjusted companion. It doesn't matter the breed or mix breed of dog. If you have a terrier type, then let your dog "go to ground" even if it is just in the back yard.If you have a lap dog,let them spend time, one on one with you, as a lap dog. If you have a pit bull type, then channel that fighting instinct into play time games with toys not easily destructible. Like people, dogs need to feel fulfilled. Otherwise you will get unwanted displacement behaviors.
As a final note,every day, someone says to me,”Mutts are better”. Now everyone has owned and loved a mutt, I have had a couple I wouldn't have traded for the world,but really without purebred dogs, there would be no mutts, and if we don't support responsible purebred dog breeders who sacrifice their own time and money to do their best to insure good temperments and work to eliminate genetic health issues, then one day all dogs will look and act like the Pariah Dog. Is that what you want?