Do Dogs Decide As We Do?

Will a dog always know a pet duck from a wild duck from a barnyard duck (can you?)? How discriminating can he be? How do we qualify a dog's mistakes?

How much can we rely on our trained dog's sense of "right and wrong"? Where does a dog's behavior cross the line from its responsibility to make good decisions to our responsibility to train, restrain or contain them? Is there ever an "intelligent disobedience", and what role does that play in the pet dog? What limits must we set on our expectations of a trained dog's behavior?

Before attempting to consider our questions, I feel the need to first qualify, once again, that we ARE discussing a trained dog. While a stray dog has, from time to time, saved the livestock or the baby and then made its way into the hearts and homes of new owners, we certainly do not expect them to have a sense of "right and wrong" upon the first meeting. We do expect more from a dog that has been trained.

So then, for the critics, we must answer, "What do you mean by 'trained'?" Let us suggest that for the sake of argument, our dog has a history of responding quickly and reliably to all the Novice exercises found in any major registry, such as that found in the AKC obedience competition ring, and can do so, off-leash, despite the presence of new and intriguing distractions. The dog has a sense of responsibility to its master, has learned to trust and respect the family, and has little interest in causing any harm to his neighbors or their animals. When a new and unfamiliar event develops, the dog readily looks to his master for instruction, and the master uses the dog's knowledge of basic commands to help him understand how he would like him to behave.

So we have a hypothetical trained dog. Our dog is so well-behaved that his owner leaves him alone inside the home with full access to every square foot. The family can come and go without fear that the dog will jump them at the door when they arrive, or charge out of it when they leave. Invited guests are welcomed with a little suspicion at first, but no molestation, and friends quickly learn not to fear the dog's watchful eyes.

One day, our hypothetical 12-year old daughter is left alone at home with the dog. She has picked up a cold virus and must stay home from school. As girls will sometimes do, she decides to wash her hair and practice some new styling technique. Half-way into her wash, the water runs cold. Something is wrong with the water heater. Well, this has happened before, so she takes matters into her own hands and calls in a pro.

So now we have a tired, cranky girl with cold, soapy wet hair, and a knock at the door. Our dog is instantly alert. You can guess where this is going. How does the story end?

If our hypothetical AAA Heating & Plumbing man gets bitten, should the family get sued? Should the dog be put down? How much do the circumstances matter?

Let's say the dog is trained to follow the daughter's command. She puts him at a stay and welcomes the help. The repairs get done, the dog stays, the man leaves, the daughter is happy to rinse her hair, and Mom and Dad get a surprise when they get home regardless!

Or, let's say the dog is trained to follow the daughter's command. She puts him at a stay and welcomes the help. But the man takes another look at this pretty young girl in a fuzzy pink robe and attacks her. If the dog breaks the stay to bite the man, this would qualify is "intelligent disobedience", wouldn't it? What parent would not gratefully accept the disobedience of such a dog under such circumstances? The dog easily recognized this as unwelcome human behavior on the part of a stranger, and reacted instinctively to protect a member of his family. While sometimes such criminals attempt to act against their victims (and their dogs) in court, most systems would deny him the right to sue for the bite.

Let's say that the dog has not been trained to follow the daughter's command. Once again, you have a couple of obvious scenarios possible. The dog may choose to follow her command anyway, and simply follow the man's behavior carefully until he leaves. Are we surprised by this decision on the dog's part? Do we find it acceptable?

In a last scenario, the dog breaks the stay and attacks the man as soon as he enters the home.

Would such a dog be considered "dangerous" or "vicious"? Do we hold the dog responsible, because he immediately violated a command? He understood the command. Even if not specifically trained to follow HER command, should we expect our hypothetical trained dog to?

Do we stop to wonder if the dog reacted instinctively to the man's hidden intentions when he first saw the girl as a potential victim, or do we automatically assume that he simply charged an innocent guest? Would you stop to wonder, or would you hold the dog responsible regardless? Do we hold the owner responsible, as in, he failed to train the dog adequately? As we can only guess at exactly what the dog was responding to, do we simply pay the man's medical bills and further train the dog? Or do we automatically assume the dog is dangerous and put him to death?

We must ask these questions from time to time, because it is easy to see our canine companions as intelligent, discriminating family members. We sometimes don't expect enough of them, and yet sometimes expect far too much of them. They are, after all, only dogs. Therefore, none of the above scenarios should come as a great surprise to our hypothetical family, really. He is just a dog, after all. He is a wonderful addition to the family, and he may help enrich, or even save lives. But he is just a dog.

We have taken a wild beast and tamed him enough so that we feel mostly comfortable with him in our home. But he cannot be held responsible for making decisions JUST as we do. He will sometimes make mistakes.

This is a risk that we must keep in mind, and we generally do, when we bring a dog into our homes. We also must take responsibility for the risk this animal brings to our communities. And so, the best we can do is train the dog to recognize that which is normal and "good" in our lives, and help him to respond in a way which we and our neighbors approve of. We must also recognize that he may make mistakes, and set up our management to help prevent serious ones. In many cases, the dog will then recognize that which is not normal about a situation, and do his best to behave within the expectations we hold for him.