Dog Obsessing

Ray Palmer

One of our dogs has started obsessing about a drain in the garden. She just sits thee and stares at it. The drain connects to the sewer so there could be a number of interests from the smell of human poo going by to rats going through the sewer.
So given there maybe something genuine of interest any ideas on how to get her to leave it alone. The other dog pays attention when he can but she chases him away if she spots him but he isn't that bothered.

VonVix

Oooh, that's a tricky one to break, sounds like it's a very reinforcing behaviour (it excites her, so she'll do it over and over again) so it may require lots
of consistent prevention of her repeating this behaviour on your side. The less she does it, the better chance you have of breaking the habit. Could you put a bucket over the drain and she takes any notice? Or is there anything you can set over the drain so she can't be near it?

dashoonage

or put something safe in the drain to mask the smell ?

sillysmiles

Ray Palmer wrote: »

She just sits thee and stares at it.

Why is it a problem? Does she get aggressive to the other dog?

Does she eventually get bored of it?

sillysmiles

sillysmiles wrote: »

Why is it a problem? Does she get aggressive to the other dog?

Does she eventually get bored of it?

I'm guessing she doesn't get bored with it.

My dog has an obsessive personality. She might see a cat toy she likes the look of but I bring her into another room and she starts obsessively looking to get back out. The toy is gone then and she's still obsessively looking for it in the same spot. She can think of nothing else for a couple of days and you can't get her attention properly. If it's something she can see all the time but isn't allowed to touch it's much worse.

Or even for example, once she saw a rabbit in a field on a walk we rarely take. That was the guts of a year ago. She still looks for the rabbit in the exact spot she saw him, whenever we go that way and it can be hard to move her on from it.

I'd definitely be covering it OP. I'd have to completely block all sight of it even with a temporary fort or fencing of some kind for the first while to break the habit.

UsedToWait

Interesting article here about Canine Compulsive Disorder (like OCD in people..)

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170627-how-do-you-treat-a-dog-with-ocd

UsedToWait

UsedToWait wrote: »

Interesting article here about Canine Compulsive Disorder (like OCD in people..)

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170627-how-do-you-treat-a-dog-with-ocd

That was interesting. I've looked at ocd (or ccd) in dogs before and I have wondered if Khali has a very mild version. It all started when I used a laser for my parents cat near her and even long after it was put away she was completely zoned out, desperately trying to find the red light. For days she'd search for the light as soon as we arrived in their house, until we left. I felt she didn't want to do it but couldn't stop herself. Lasers are banned now.

I'm not convinced though. I do think she has obsessive tendencies but she's most susceptible when shes bored. So plenty of stimulation and distraction means it rarely happens now. Although this quote from that article has me wondering again..

"Rowe-Varone says that she has to keep balls hidden in the garage, and if Bella sees them, she will sit outside the garage door for hours.
The debate about whether dogs can truly obsess doesn’t enter this room. The consensus here is that Bella knew her balls were in the garage and couldn’t get them off her mind."

RoisinClare6

I've caught my dog staring and sitting beside the drain a few times over the last week! Never noticed her doing it before, she woke me at 1am on Sunday and I thought she must have badly needed to go to the toilet as she doesn't normally wake me. Nope, she was straight out to the drain and I practically had to chase her back inside. She was glued and no amount of me calling her caught her attention!

VonVix

RoisinClare6 wrote: »

I've caught my dog staring and sitting beside the drain a few times over the last week! Never noticed her doing it before, she woke me at 1am on Sunday and I thought she must have badly needed to go to the toilet as she doesn't normally wake me. Nope, she was straight out to the drain and I practically had to chase her back inside. She was glued and no amount of me calling her caught her attention!

Out of interest, what breed? Collie?

RoisinClare6

VonVix wrote: »

Out of interest, what breed? Collie?

she's a long haired jack russell terrier

volchitsa

That's fascinating. It's odd because I got the impression from our own dog's behaviour that all dogs (I assumed) had goldfish memories for "wanting" to do things - in our case she gets terribly excited at the sight of cows in a field, and if she was off the leash she'd be in there barking at them and jumping like a mad thing, and so excited she wouldn't really hear us calling.

So since we know where we're likely to see cows on our walks, we stick the leash back on and as soon as we're past them we can take it off and it's over, she won't even turn round to see if they're still there.

So is that just goldfish-brain or is there something else going on there? (She is a very excitable dog, full of beans, but usually able to concentrate now for activities like agility which she started a few months ago.)