Nika and the Humans

Nika and the Humans by Frances McCormack | Mar 6, 2023 “It’s lovely that she’s so friendly,” my sister said, wiping her shoes with a tissue as I wince and offered her the enzymatic spray. “I’m more worried about that friendliness than I am about Tighearnán,” I said, as the latter stood eyeing her up, wondering whether he should swear at her just in case. “Oh no. Everyone loves a friendly dog. You can bring her everywhere, introduce her to everyone.” And that – watching the squirming puppy plead to be picked up by this person she’d just met – was when I first understood that that was precisely what I shouldn’t do. Maybe I should have seen it coming Her dam wiggled her entire body with delight at our arrival and had there not been T to think of we’d have adopted her immediately without even seeing the puppies. And there was the nose-biting incident , which didn’t exactly testify to Nika’s shyness. In fact, the entire litter bounced between the two new humans they’d just met, wanting to get as much information from them by using as many of their senses as they possibly could. Nika’s not just a friendly dog, though. Nika’s a dog who is extremely stimulated by novel humans. She tries to climb across metres of air into the arms of any proximal human whether they are, at that moment, available for puppy-holding. Zoom meetings will bring her to my office door where she petitions to be let in to meet the bearers of the voices she hears. Her neck rotates in owlish fashion as she looks around for new people to greet. And my poor sister left the house covered from head to toe in puppy saliva (and the aforementioned enzymatic cleaner) after a canine cross-examination. People find her attention extremely reinforcing (as can be seen in the results of their brief cost-benefit analysis of spending the rest of their day in pee-soaked footwear). “No puppy cuddles for me today?” asked a friend as I called in to see her, this time without the puppy who had scrabbled to get out of my arms to her. “She’s such a lovely little one,” the postman said leaning over the garden wall as a perplexed T looked on, his daily profanities having been interrupted by this violation of the rules he and the postman had agreed upon (some mutual barking and a hasty mutual retreat; I don’t pretend to understand their relationship). My memory of our reaction to her dam – how appealing her desire for social approval was to us – brought with it the realisation that Nika’s world would need to be very carefully managed to guard her against the desire of other people to seek social approval from her as

much as her desire to seek social approval from them. “She’s so cute.” “Can I say hello to your puppy…?” It's extremely flattering. And she’d likely love it. But common sense kicks in. “Can I say hello to your puppy…?” “No, sorry.” That learning, that realisation that many people see puppies as shared objects to be enjoyed by all, and that I was living with a puppy eager to be enjoyed, made me take a step back to recalibrate, to think about what I want for her and what I want her to learn. My advocacy for her, initially, didn’t account for the hands that just appeared as if from nowhere to touch her, inadvertently brushing off me as they did. But I quickly learned not to go to places where that’s likely to happen, and I’ve been practising protecting her space by blocking her with my body in case it does again. T, in many ways, was so different at her age: uncertain of unfamiliar humans, he wanted to get distance from them. And so I supported him in that, prioritising his feeling of safeness over the socialisation checklists and talk of “windows of development” that I’d been taught to believe were the most important thing in raising dogs. Every decision I made against the experts, although in accordance with my own instincts and what he was communicating, felt like another step down a dangerous path. But my gut ruled, and as we grew together I knew I had done the right thing by him; by us. But in some ways, he’s not so different; in many ways, their learning will take a similar course. I don’t want Nika to learn that the world is full of humans who offer her the reward of the sensory exploration of novelty that close proximity affords, or the social approval she finds so appealing. In that version of her future, Nika would likely spend a significant proportion of her time outdoors seeking those novel sensations and that approval from others. I want her to learn, just like T did, that strangers exist, and that they are irrelevant to us. Since I have a duty of care to define the limits of her world to keep her safe, this means that it would be as inappropriate as it was for T to bring her out and about with the express purpose of meeting strangers. Instead, just as with T, I am striving to channel Nika’s learning to provide positive and safe learning experiences through observation . I am building on that eagerness for learning by providing ample opportunities for introducing her to novelty at home. Her desire for social approval is met primarily by those with whom she lives, but also by those with whom she will form relationships – family, close friends, a

nd, when she visits for treatment, her veterinary team. These are the only people on whose shoes she’ll get the chance to pee with delight. It’s Not Training A carefully planned learning pathway, paced to suit that particular learner for their life ahead. Read More Dogs are Born To Learn We can build tremendous learners when we get beyond the idea that “dogs are trained”. Read More Be-toothed Learning Machines The thing they don’t tell you is that raising a puppy is DANGED HARD WORK. Biting everything, peeing everywhere, eating anything; not for the faint hearted. Read More A Road to Nowhere When familiarity is stripped away we seek recognisable signposts that will take us back to comfort and security. This is survival instinct. It is worth listening to as it keeps us alive. Read More A New Puppy. Oh Joy. Impulse buying the wrong sofa can be rectified if you swallow the expense. Impulse buying a puppy can result in personal grief for you and your family and quite possibly result in a very unhappy future or end the life of that puppy. Read More Building A Generous Future Maybe it feels like a doddle because my life with her wasn’t one of competing against who she is, trying to mould her into something else, or even just worrying about the potential fallout of every decision I made. Read More Obnoxious Puppy The delight of your new puppy is probably going to last a few weeks, maybe four if you are lucky. When 12 weeks old hits, and you will feel a slam, the Delight is going to demonstrate ungrateful, obnoxious traits. Read More The Experienced Dog Knowing your dog has receive sufficient preparation does not mean every eventuality, but a range of different conditions so that when the unexpected happens they will draw on their skills and solve the issue. Read More Don’t Let Them Learn Becoming aware that we share our lives with premier learners, dogs, is about saving you frustration, despair, anxiety and endless hours further down the road. Read More A Day of Learning A no-training day does not mean he gets a lazy day lying idly in the sun. Learning is still happening and this is significant and important for his development. Read More Surprising Puppy Surprising Puppy. With obnoxious moments. After introducing the obnoxious puppy as a youngster I am knocked over by the Delightful Young Man he is turning into…… Read More No room for mechanics If your ambition is to have good mechanics in communication to animals then you may find yourself blocked into a tight corner Read More Not all lures contain food “the direct use of the reinforcer to elicit the behaviou

r” This should always be foremost in our mind, in that many alternatives lures are available. Read More Duration: sustaining movement Continuing and maintaining a specific movement Read More Release cue or stay cue Many of us begin with teaching sit or down, and this is one of the earliest experiences of training with reinforcement. Is the sit, or down, going to be a terminal behaviour, or a temporary position? Read More Luring: Hand lures Learning the skills for clear communication with hand-lure: collect, engage, follow, feed. Read More One dog watching The other dog working or ….how to train the spectators to quietly rest and watch whilst you work, play, teach a single member of the group Read More 1 Comment Sabine on 6th November 2023 at 4:35 pm This is so interesting. My English shepherd is more like T and I manage him as she does for T, BUT I think that some of his behaviours may occasionally be overstimulation as described for Nikki, except that he’s conflicted about the human. So he may want to move with intensity towards the object of his fear. I find that confusing. Reply Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Δ