Everyone Needs A Job: How to Channel Your Dog’s Behaviors So They Don’t Drive You Nuts

Villa at her digging job. photo: Kelly Gorman Dunbar

A few days after my darling niece, Cecelia, turned five years old (she’s now 22), I was visiting my sister, and we were having coffee in her kitchen. As we chatted, she was also cleaning up a bit, washing dishes. She asked her daughter to please help by loading the dishwasher. Cecelia’s eyes lit up and, as she eagerly jumped to the task, she looked up at me and said, “It’s great to be five!”

Oh, if only unloading the dishwasher brought me the same sense of joy and validation. 

But while dishwasher duty might not do it for you either, the point of this little anecdote is that everyone needs a job. All sentient beings on this planet feel better about themselves and get satisfaction from a sense of purpose and accomplishment. And dogs are no exception - especially since we humans actually designed them for specific jobs. 

Dogs have genetic propensities that must be expressed in some way in order for them to be mentally and behaviorally healthy. This is something extremely important to keep in mind as a dog lover. 

It’s particularly helpful to consider this when determining what type of dog might be right for you before you get one. But even if you already have a furry friend, I recommend taking some time to find out what sort of activities your breed or breed mix type(s) has coded in their DNA. 

You can obviously do this via research on the web, but you can also do it by observation and interview. Talk to people who have the same breed or breeds you find attractive. Ask questions about their dog’s activity level, inclinations, and interests. Then, as you learn about the breed’s purpose, pause and imagine that sort of activity going on in your own home. Will that livestock guardian, bred for centuries to protect the flock and the size of a baby cow himself, be welcoming when your teenager brings oodles of active, impulsive friends around? Does the idea of a Border Collie herding your furniture into the middle of the room sound like a helpful addition to your interior design team or a neat freak’s nightmare? Will the neighbors in your apartment building delight at the sound of your Beagle’s bugle of greeting and excitement every time you walk in the door and at feeding time? Will you?

My colleagues and I get dozens of calls weekly from potential clients asking for assistance in stopping their dog from doing the very thing it was bred to do. Of course, I welcome helping people through dog behavior problems;  it’s my chosen career, after all. But I probably don’t help them in the way they might expect.

Most often my job is to mediate between dog and owner to help them find an acceptable/appropriate activity to scratch their hereditary itch. I take time to educate owners about why their dog is chasing cats, nipping at joggers' ankles, barking at everyone, stealing socks, getting into the trash, digging, pulling on the leash…you name it. Then, instead of showing them how to get the dog to stop doing that thing, we explore creative ways they might provide an alternative outlet and also put the “thing” on cue. From there, we teach the dog when and where they can pursue their favorite activity, how they are to go about it, and how to stop when clearly asked to do so.

In some cases this might be as simple as giving a mouthy Retriever something official to hold on walks, so they don’t pick up everything in their path. Or creating a digging pit for a Jack Russell, filling it regularly with buried treasures such as chew toys stuffed with stinky but nutritious canine culinary delights. 

Other times it may mean adjusting owner expectations a bit to better suit their dog’s mental health requirements. For example, sign up your Type A control-freak herder for an agility class for fun, but plan to put him in a separate room with a big ol’ bone for your five-year-old’s piñata party. Get that Beagle’s nose out of the trash and into some scent work instead, like truffle hunting or tracking humans in a search-and-rescue club.  Take up dock diving with your swimmer or fetchtastic friend; water is way easier on their joints and bones than hard ground anyway.

Providing an outlet to express inherent doggie drives a few times a week provides concentrated moments that leave a dog fulfilled and content to just hang out with you the rest of the time, rather than constantly leading to some annoying (to humans) version of these behaviors. Not only will this enhance bonding, but after you experience the beauty of working in partnership with your dog - and witness the marvel of a dog doing what they’re born to do - you’ll never look at dogs the same way again. 

In fact, once you find the right activity for your dog, what started as a chore or necessity may very well become your favorite way to connect with your dog. Soon you’ll be just as eager to get your fix of fun with Fido and your dog’s behavior “problems” will just fade away.