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Bonnie the dog has hurt her foot, a cut or something on her pad and she won't leave it alone, making the rest around it sore too.
So we cleaned it with clean water, put a bit of gauze on, held on with a bit of cohesive bandage, to stop her keep nibbling at it. She can get around just fine - she was without the bandage, and she can when no-one's looking or she wants to. Up stairs, down stairs, back in from the garden where I dumped her this morning, and has just magically reappeared at my side to share my toast.
But if anyone's actually looking - it's pathetic. Leg held up in the air, tail between legs, and my wife keeps giving in and carrying her from place to place..... are dogs that smart that they can actually manipulate us like that? I thought they were supposed to be adaptable based on the tales of dogs going blind or losing a leg in an accident and just carrying on.
I'm pissing myself laughing at the two of them, in this symbiotic care-giver / needy dog relationship.
Do you honestly expect answers without payment?
They are more transactional, if I do X, I get y. If they get attention, affection, that's a reward.
Animals are superstitious which is why you can train them. If you set up an experiment where something like a pigeon gets food every time it rings a bell - it'll learn to ring the bell to get food. If you set up and experiment where you just randomly give it food whatever they were doing before the food appeared will seem to them to be what caused the food to appear so they'll keep doing that
If you think about how you train dogs you do it by rewarding certain behaviour linked to certain commands - but after a while you stop giving those rewards with any regularity but they keep doing what they think will result in the reward
It’s as simple as the dog associating a behaviour with a result. Same as being trained to ‘sit’ or similar with a reward.
Our Springer x Lab used to be the same with injuries. He’d obviously worked out that he got sympathy and a fuss made of him when he had hurt his paw, for example and would then display that behaviour for the reward.
Transactional behaviour - if I limp I get a cuddle. Only works when they see it and I like cuddles. Hence when they look at me I'm going to limp.
Yup exactly as described purely behavioural.
It wasn't really a serious question, but I am impressed how quickly BTD has learned to manipulate the wife and how easily the wife has given in to it.
If I bandage my leg and limp about do you think she'll learn to take the recycling out for me?
One of our cats develops a terribly sore paw as soon as one of us goes near the cupboard where their meaty 'crack stick' treats are stored. Full on limp and paw held in the air. It's pathetic and never works, she's just naturally big boned....honest.
If I bandage my leg and limp about do you think she’ll learn to take the recycling out for me?
That'll be a no 🙂
Animals are superstitious
What? No they're not.
Superstition is belief in things that are not real or possible, for example magic.
Cats are notoriously superstitious of cucumbers: