Normal
0
false
false
false
MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Those of us who cohabitate with dogs know that they thrive on
ritual. Doing the same thing the same way over and over again. I am sure an
animal behaviorist would have us realize that it is conditioning; the dog is
responding to the circumstance over and over again. If it is a favorable
circumstance then the behavior is reinforced to repeat over and over again.
For those who have read a few of my previous entries, I have
mentioned that dogs thrive on what they can count on. It is part of their job
and how they are fulfilled each day, mentally and physically. However, there
are many small things that go on each day that you may have never noticed, or
become accustomed to, that are also ritual.
At my house, it is the greeting of my husband each afternoon after
work. This ritual is big, rowdy and ridiculous. But all involved (yes him
too) seem to enjoy it. My husband will come in the door promptly around 5:20
where he is greeted with all of the enthusiasm of Christmas morning, but this is
every day. There is jumping, licking, running, knocking over whatever is in the
vicinity, and sniffing all on a grand scale. Then my chocolate lab tears
through the house searching for an appropriate offering. She franticly finds a
favorite toy, rawhide bone or her blanket and races back to present it to my
husband. She will jump on our bed with it, catapulting whatever sleeping
cat was there having it run for its very life.
Hershey's tail wags so hard that she could throw her back out all the
while snorting like a wild rhino while presenting the offering. Meanwhile
my yellow lab is jumping in place with a huge smile on his face. Husband will
accept the offering, then the licking begins. She licks his clothes and face
and gathers information about his day and shows massive affection. Labs have a
way of boosting human self esteem, don't they? Once this 5 minute ritual
is complete, then all included can carry on.
Another one involves the yellow lab. For a few months before we
were harshly persuaded by our vet to have him lose weight, there was the
"cheese drawer ritual". Whenever my husband would approach the
refrigerator, my yellow lab, who could hear this from a thousand miles away and
in a deep coma, would come running to the kitchen, jumping up and down and
spinning in the air. Then my husband would respond with, "Who wants
some cheese, does Beau like cheese?". Then there would be a small display
of obedience commands, loose and incorrectly performed but rewarded anyway with
the dispersal of cheese. As you can imagine, that was a hard ritual to
break. Now, as the owners of our own house and refrigerator, we have to
silently sneak into the cheese drawer to retrieve what we need and we
never say the word. Beau does not understand why that ritual had to end, so we
try to spare him the exposure to it.
The last one I will bore you with is a nightly ritual. The
chocolate dog will jump into the bed and go to sleep the last 30 minutes
or so before she has to go to her kennel and the lights are turned off. She
stretches out the length of a surf board between us and then "dog
piles" her head, with a hard deliberate thud, on one of our legs. But
don't touch her or the whole "I have to find the right spot, sniff and
turn circles in place, and settle down" thing starts over again. Then
when my husband says, "time to get in your kennel", she will act as
if she is in the soundest sleep available to dogs, and totally ignore him. She
has to be "woken up" to get in her kennel. This is especially amusing
after the spectacle of energy that happens each afternoon when he gets home.
I would love to hear about a few of your rituals. I never tire of
dog stories. I truly enjoy telling them and hearing them. Just ask my kind,
indulgent family and friends.