What are dogs myths that just will not die?

[IngGenius]

What dog myths are you told that are a load of rubbish:

Can not teach an old dog new tricks

Picking up a dog when it is frightened makes it more anxious

My dog peed on the floor to annoy me

Small dog syndrome

My dog looked quilty - he knew he had done wrong

@margotrose thats interesting thank you. Although to be fair if my grey has had enough of his walk (usually 5 mins in after a wee and a poo), no amount of treats will encourage him on (and I don’t tend to treat him in this situation anyway for obvious reasons). We just go home…. There are situations he freezes for fear but I know the difference now between a fear freeze and a feet planting ‘nope’ .

That's because home is more of a motivator for him than food

My beagle is the same. If he sees (for example) a deer or a rabbit, I could have a steak in my pocket and he wouldn't give a toss, lol. Unfortunately for him that means he's normally on the lead as he just cannot be trusted!

@margotrose yes actually I don’t know about more than food, but it’s certainly equal to and perhaps on a walk it’s more of a draw! Interesting. He’s a nervous one and I could get the vet here (he shakes and urinates) but my instinct is that his home is his safe place and I don’t want to sully that by bringing in a scary person.

I love it when someone makes me look at my dog’s behaviour in a different way thank you

No problem @Countrylife2002 ☺️

If he's anxious then like you say, home will be his safe space and he'll prefer going there to staying out and eating food.

I suspect eating the food at home would be the best thing ever though

I didn't know you can mix kibble and raw. I thought as raw digested quicker than kibble you couldn't combine?

I’ve met lots and have friends with them. They are all trained but their owners recognise that they need to be motivated differently.

Dogs are not stubborn but some need to be motivated more heavily and by different things than others. I have a terrier. I had a terrier hound. I know all about intelligence and independence. Which is what we term stubborn.

That having a crossbreed is always a terrible decision, that they're only from puppy farms and you're condemning the poor animal to a lifetime of misery

That pedigrees are always superior to crosses

As you can tell I have a basset! I’d describe her as stubborn.

Definitely not untrainable, just a different mind set. Ours does a cost benefit analysis, it’s like you can see her thinking ‘I could do what you’re asking, but what’s in it for me?’.

That doodle breeds don’t shed.

Utter balls. The only upside of our old bear being PTS in September is there aren’t constant tumbleweeds of chocolate hair wafting round the place.

So many doods & cockerpoos appeared during the pandemic, and so many of them have matted coats because ‘they don’t shed so they don’t need brushing’.

I do 30 mins at least brushing per day, plus £75 each per month at the groomers. And that’s with dogs with no matting or knots. The groomer has to do full shaves on a lot of poodle mixes because that fallacy refuses to die, locally at least!

I also have a doodle/golden mix.

The fallacy that cross breeds are healthier is nonsense. You’re smushing multiple breeds together, with each breed donating genetics which leave them prone to illness.

Big bear had mast cell cancer for 6 of his 12 years. Labradors are prone to mast cell tumours.

Our little bear (he’s 38kg, not little but smaller compared to his brother) has hypothyroidism; golden retrievers and labradors both have a higher breed incidence of thyroid disorders.

Border collies are intelligent and easy to train. I think my BC didn't bother reading this . He's the daftest, most impossible dog ever. Picture for tax...

when we were at puppy classes the trainer did a section on tails it was fascinating and I understand my dog so much better than any other dog we have had.

Mine is a rescue flock guardian breed and was also bred to work independently. The difference between him and other peoples labs and retrievers is obvious. He never obeys anything unquestioningly unless you have high value food otherwise it is a weigh up. He is definitely intelligent and knows lots of commands but he doesn't have a massive desire to please me and he often wants to make his own decisions

Surely needing 'additional motivation' is the definition of stubborn? I'll do what you want but only if you give me a whole lot more!

That the fart smell in the living room is always the dog's fault

As on owner of Chihuahuas I can confirm there is definitely such a thing as small dog syndrome!
They are aware of their size so become defensive to protect themselves.

🙄

If a dog rolls over it always means he wants you to tickle his tummy. No it’s more likely, especially with an unfamiliar dog, that he’s asking you to leave him alone.

Growling is always sign that a dog is just nasty/dangerous. Again no, it usually means you have failed to recognise previous attempts to get you to stop/go away, so the dog had no choice but to escalate it’s signals - see my first point.

You should tell a dog off for/stop them from growling. Nope, it’s a sure fire way for someone to get bitten and everyone to declare them a bad dog because they did it ‘completely out of the blue with no warning signs’.

As long as a dog is walked and fed daily you are meeting all of it’s needs. Leading to increasing numbers of dogs being left alone for hours on end, because they have a dog sitter pop in once and their meals provided.

Ball flingers are the perfect way of making sure your dog is well exercised and wearing them out. No! They are dreadful things that often lead to injury in the short term and chronic pain in the long term.

If your feed natural chews you don’t need to clean your dog’s teeth. Natural chews can help, but most dogs also need regular oral care.

My Rotti thought he was Chihuahua sized and would try and squeeze onto the sofa in the smallest gaps 🤣

Surely needing 'additional motivation' is the definition of stubborn? I'll do what you want but only if you give me a whole lot more!

But dogs don't think like that. For example, a beagle doesn't refuse to recall to you because they're holding out for fillet steak or their favourite type of cheese. They refuse to recall because it's in their nature to go and hunt independently, so they need something really rewarding before they can be persuaded go against all their instincts.

Whereas a Labrador has been bred to work alongside humans and therefore that their nature - to please people.

You need to work with a dogs breed instincts if you want them to be trained successfully. A beagle needing more motivation than a Labrador doesn't make the beagle stubborn, it makes it a hound that has been bred for hundreds of years to work alone.

Nope a complete made up myth. Even if it did digest quicker why would that be a problem?

Absolutely fine to mix feed

I mix feed initially it was a initially a topper so he would eat his dry but we ended up just doing a mix.

My chihuahua does not know her size. She identifies as a pitbull terrier. The beagle/rotti cross also recognises her as a pitbull.

It's not defensive because of her size, it is most definitely offensive. She doesn't have to defend anything because the rotti x knows everything belongs to the chihuahua. The chihuahua's treats are the chihuahuas. His treats are also the chihuahua's treats.

Oooh yes the stubborn one!

No dog is deliberately doing something to annoy you.

Think of rewards and reinforcement and the difference between them

Reward is something a dog likes
Reinforcement is something that makes the dog repeat the behaviour

Bassett is sniffing- best thing in the world, makes them feel fantastic, you offer a bit of cheese as a reward for coming to you. Nothing will be better than the sniffing

Bassett is sniffing you reinforce by calling the dog to a new area to sniff and the reinforcement for recall is more sniffing in a new place.

No stubborn dog just a dog that knows recall will be reinforcing and better things will happen because of it

Golden retrievers ARE the best dogs, but you have to put up with two or three years where they’re the biggest twats you’ve ever had to deal with. And yes they bite and attack you for fun. I’d never recommend them for a family with small kids.

Nope just a barky small dog

What do you call a big dog that barks "to protect themselves"

Dogs of all sizes bark .

Generally little dogs get away with much more as they are little and people laugh and tolerate the behaviour as the owner "hides behind the small dog myth"

The owners of big dogs do not get such tolerance! for the same behaviour