Your Opinions On What is "Spoiling Your Dog"

[saden99]

There is no spoiling a dog like you spoil a child.

A spoiled child is arrogant, thinks they are better than someone else, or gets more than they should be allowed depending on their behavior and attitude.

When it comes to a dog there is no spoiling them because a dog does not think its better than anyone else(I mean...maybe in their dog pack but that's ranks). They can't be arrogant(although you may think they can). And you can never really give a pet more than they deserve based on their behavior.

Ie. if your dog is an unnecessarily aggressive dog do you give them nothing or do you try to reinforce being less aggressive by rewarding them?

You can never spoil a dog only reward them.

However when it comes to extreme things like skydiving with your dog(I would actually like to do this) it can be viewed as spoiled while it really isn't. You are jumping with your dog and there's a small chance the parachute won't open. You'll both die...but w/e...die with the adrenaline pumping.

Now if you reward a dog for doing something negative than you're just an idiot...the dog isn't spoiled.

[Shmee]

Ad nauseum here guys, but i'll add to the shiite pot as well....

Kids? Yes, completely spoilable. Dogs??? Naah ya cant spoil something that is based on such a simple mentality where all it wants to do is make you, the owner, happy so it can be happy as well.

What you do behind your closed doors with your animals is just that. It's your business.

We feed our dogs table scraps, let them eat off of our utencils, let them lick our plates when we're finished our food and I give them pieces of lunchmeat when I make a sandwich for myself. Not to mention, lick the inside of the tunafish can when I make tuna salad, and they also swim in their own private swimming pool (ok, so it's the plastic $9 kind but they dont know that). And furthermore... When we go out for fastfood (hang onto your hats here dog lovers) we'll also buy Peety and Kaytee a double cheeseburger off the $1 menu so they too can enjoy the repaste of the Clown known as "Ronald".

Do I spoil my dogs?? You go ahead and judge.. *shrug*

-Shmee

[saden99]

Shmee the only thing I can say is...if I let Junior do half of that he would just annoy anyone every time they eat...

And the cheeseburger thing might want to be avoided unless it's a once of month thing or something. Dogs can get cholesterol also..

[Shmee]

I dont know saden, I don't eat Mickey-D's everyday of the week, so they dont get the cheezburgers that often. Otherwise, they'll be happy with their kibble on a timely basis. And cholestrol? It'll kill me long before them me thinks... I think it was a famous cadiologist who once said, "If it tastes good, spit it out".
Maybe Junior needs some advance training if he's annoying people? My dogs don't annoy me at dinner, they are told where to go if they behave in an unruly fashion at the dinner table, in the living room or any other place they may happen by.

Continuing the "spoiling" process..
-Shmee

[Carrie]

I guess "spoiled" to me means rotten, as in rotten food. LOL. So, I suppose if a dog is made to be rotten, he's going to be unhappy and not function very well by human standards or perceptions. I don't think this has anything to do with particular indulgences, such as getting to lie on the couch or getting affection in big doses or being carried around. But I do think dogs aren't happy when they can't understand what humans are trying to tell them and frustration and anger ensues by the human.

Dogs do need boundaries and rules that they can understand, which are communicated to them in such a way that dogs understand to live harmoniously with humans. I mean...there are a lot of obnoxious behaviors dogs will engage in if they're not taught alternatives. They need consistency in these boundaries because dogs, like anyone learn by operant conditioning and when there is inconsistency with learning a new behavior or boundary....inconsistency is putting the behavior on a variable reinforcment schedule, which will strengthen the behavior. (whether it's wanted behavior or an unwanted on) Life can get pretty confusing to a dog receiving a lot of mixed messages.

I believe the mark of a good leader is a benevolent one, who elicits absolute trust from his/her dog, who doesn't bully or use scary or painful things to stop unwanted behavior because that is something dogs don't understand coming from humans. That is also the mark of an insecure leader. But instead, a good owner is one who teaches the dog which behaviors are worth repeating in the future because they behoove the dog to comply.

It doesn't really matter WHICH behaviors the dog is learning. What matters is one's own personal like or dislike of certain behaviors. For example, if I didn't mind my dogs busting through the door...if it didn't bother me (but it does. lol) it wouldn't matter if the dog busted past me and out the door. The dog isn't thinking rank or how to climb up some imaginary social ladder that humans project onto dogs....falsely. He isn't trying to cause me grief. He is amoral and doesn't understand what we think of as valuable. He is just being a dog, motivated by something in the environment and not given a preferrable reason by his owner to simmer down and wait.

So, it's personal preferrence as to what behaviors are acceptable to indiviual owners. If you hate certain behaviors and do nothing to curb them and do nothing to bring out the desired alternate behaviors....and you're miserable because your dog is just being a dog and not learning manners that humans like, then I guess that could be called spoiling.

[Carrie]

Dogs don't tend to have a problem with cholesterol. But too much fat can cause pancreatitis.

I gave an example in another thread about feeding my dogs when I'm eating. If they come too close and pester, they get nothing. (my son sort of messed up their training in this area) If they go lie down at an acceptable (to me) distance, they get a treat thrown to them. If this is how it always works, coming close, being pests will extinguish because it just doesn't work anymore. But staying away does work. So, there's an example where the old adage: don't feed your dog when you're eating or you'll cause begging doesn't necessarily have to apply. The dog learns that direct access to the food will not work, but going away from the food will get him the food. This whole concept can be applied to anything. Dog shoves his nose at you to gain your attention. Make that so it doesn't work. Ignore his attention seeking behavior which is obnoxious. The second the dog backs off, show him how well that works. It's got nothing to do with rank or dominance, spoiledness or stubborness. It's all about effective or ineffective training. We, as humans need to leave our own emotions and projections of our perceptions out of it. Our interrpetations and conclusions which include a lot of superstitious learning are based on so many variables and may have nothing to do with dogs' perception.