Stereotypies

[corvus]

Whenever Erik is remotely unsure of himself or in some way conflicted he pokes something with his nose. It's fascinating. He just can't do nothing, or just wait, or use some other common displacement behaviour like sniffing the ground. He has to let it out in some way, and the way he's settled on is to poke things with his nose. Example, he wants to go and bark outside, but he also knows to get a treat he needs to lie down on his bed. So he comes and gets on his bed and simultaneously pokes a box next to it with his nose. He only does it when he is overcoming a strong desire to do something else. When we're training, I know if he's not entirely sure of what he's doing because in the middle of an exercise he'll divert to poke something with his nose. It's started to show up in a lot of different situations. I guess I would classify it as a stereotypy, which is a behaviour that becomes repetitive and a fixed form of expression or response.

Does your dog have any stereotypies? Things they do habitually or ritualistically?

Edited July 13, 2010 by corvus

[noisymina]

Kaisie goes around targetting things when she is excited, usually the plastic kitchen chairs. But she alwasys gets a bit of a fright when they actuaslly move and make a noise when she does it.

She will nudge the cat to say hello and she was nudging my Grand-daughter yesterdy and play bowing to her again. All excitement.

When you said "sterotype" I assumed you meant their attitude to certain people or other dogs.

You can be sure that any male in is teens or early 20's will not get to first base with her. Something from her past, I think. Hackles up, barking at them and won't go near them. This in spite of the fact we have two of our own that she is just fine with.

[Dame Aussie]

Lili has sucked on pillows/cushions/toys since a pup and whenever she comes inside from being out the back she will go straight to her pillow and settle down for a suckle. Every time without fail. She also does it when she's nervous or stressed. She also kneads at it with her paws...pretty cute.

Mosley paws . Honestly, I wish we never taught him to give his paw, if he wants attention he gives his paw, when he meets new people he gives his paw, if he is excited he will give his paw, if he is trying to get Lili to play he will paw at her....

[corvus]

I used to know a dog when I was a wee little tyke that always tried to greet people by shaking their hand with his paw. He was absolutely insistent about this. I was, what, 4 or 5 years old and I'd be trying to get to my friend's house to play and their dog would have me bailed up shaking my hand. As soon as he had my hand tied up in shaking he'd lean forward and lick my face. I hated it, but he was a sweetie.

I don't know if that is necessarily a stereotypy. They are funny behaviours, in one sense they often get established during stressful situations, but because it makes them feel better it can turn into something that is just self-rewarding and it actually helps them be calm in new stressful situations. I guess the classic example of a stereotypy is the obsessive pacing that is common in zoo animals. Stereotypies are a big problem in zoos, and an indication that the animals are or have been stressed. My hare used to chew his litter tray as a stereotypy. It started when he was very stressed after I moved him to another house, but it continued long after the stress had abated. It was very difficult to break him of that habit.

[WoofnHoof]

My chi tends to chew at his feet excessively when he's stressed and doesn't know what to do with himself. My sibe has developed a habit of jumping around in circles at dinnertime, he must think it's a ritual he has to go through to get his dinner

[Zhou Xuanyao]

Kaisie goes around targetting things when she is excited, usually the plastic kitchen chairs. But she alwasys gets a bit of a fright when they actuaslly move and make a noise when she does it.

Yes my dog does that very strange really but im used to it. I don't mind her doing it no big deal. But she will run over and tip things over when she gets over excited, chairs, my workshop stool, water bowls, ect. Actually the water bowl thing did start to become a problem so I had to cast her an 80kg one out of concrete

[Earthdog]

I think you mean habit not stereotype. A stereotype is an oversimplified standardised image of a person, group or thing.

My little dog bounces on the spot when she waits to get in the car. She boings up quite high for a little thing and it's only for the car. She waits patiently in a sit for everything else.

[Are You Serious Jo]

Stereotypic behaviour is different to what the general public think of when they hear the word. In animal behaviour it is defined as a repetitive behaviour that serves no obvious function. Some behaviours can arise through superstitious conditioning, that is something good happens when they are incidentally doing some a bit odd, so it becomes associated with a reward.

[DerRottweiler]

I think you mean habit not stereotype. A stereotype is an oversimplified standardised image of a person, group or thing.

I would have went with ''mannerism(s)''.

[Earthdog]

Thanks jdavis. .So if there is no reward, as in the car ride, it fits the term?

[Are You Serious Jo]

The bouncing sounds like more of an anticipatory behaviour rather than a stereotypy. When you look at pacing around an enclosure it isn't just going from A to B to feed etc, it has to be doing a circuit more than once using the same route. Any behaviour that is done continuously that doesn't led to something happening can be a stereotypy. A chained dog might do circles for example.

[Bulldust]

Just on the nose poking thing, when im teaching my puppies not to bite, i can see they SOOOO want to bite but they know theyre not allowed to so they poke with their nose instead

[chelle~aussie~dragon]

I thought you first meant stereotype of the breed itself.

Dragon does the Dalmatian 'smile' as a form of submission.He is always smiling at me and especially when I use his name is a disproving tone or point at him.He will twirl in the same spot when I first go outside or bring food out.He also gives hugs, if I'm sitting down he will sit in front and put a paw around my leg and put his head on my knee but its only me that he will do that to.

Also his big thing I think is knowing when he is doing something wrong and he sneaks off to do it.He will try not to be seen by crounching and walking off somewhere to hide.He knows if he sneaks a food item that he is doing something wrong by his posture and if he would only realise that if he didn't do this sneaking that I probably wouldn't be the wiser but as soon as I see him sneaking I know he is up to something.

Aussie loves me holding his nose, he will shove his nose into my hand just so I can give it a squeeze...maybe its because its an area he can't scratch.He doesn't really have any habits but I do have to be careful with him in the car as he thinks his spot is on my lap and generally I frown on it but just driving around where I live out of town I let him sit and look out my window.

[Little Gifts]

My young staffy girl has to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. She doesn't necessarily chew or swallow the items but it seems to be the only way she knows how to work out what something is. I'm very texture orientated and have to touch and feel stuff a lot so I reckon if she had human hands she'd be the same.

[corvus]

Thanks jdavis.

When I visited Sea World in San Diego I got to see loads of stereotypies! Most of the marine mammals did lots of barrel rolling, or they swam around and around following the same imaginary dotted line. You could set the camera up to get a shot because you knew exactly where the animal would be. I found it very sad. Thankfully, the next day we went to San Diego Zoo and there was hardly a stereotypy in sight. A few tracks in enclosures here and there, but so much better.

I find it interesting that dogs develop them as well. I'd never met a dog before Erik that had developed one. I remember seeing a dog on one of those animal hospital shows that would lick the air obsessively, though. Erik is also a licker, but you can see it's still triggered by a specific situation.

Here's a nice little blog article on stereotypies in animals: http://stalecheerios.com/blog/training-tip...t-stereotypies/

[W Sibs]

Emmy spins when she gets excited about something, always anti clock wise and she only spins twice.

[Jigsaw]

My dog in the backyard follows a pattern, evolved I think from chasing flies, but it is usually following the same pattern. She also developed an interest in one drain and scratches at the cover. Then she developed an interest in our outdoor lounges and started scratching the arms of the lounges. I have put a cone over the drain cover she is obsessed with and tipped the lounges on their side. This has pretty much stopped this behaviour (fingers crossed) also with the colder weather there aren't any flies to chase so the behaviour is much less now. Summer may bring a different story.

Also when she has a cuddle in my lap I can guarantee she will normally do a genital check and clean. If she does that now she loses lap privileges which has eased the behaviour.

[WoofnHoof]

That's interesting about the san Diego zoo Ive only read a little on zoo animals but there does seem to be a consensus that san Diego zoo is pretty much the world leader in environmental enrichment.

There has been a lot of research into stereotypic behavior in horses and it was found that preventing the behavior actually increased stress levels in the animal so while we already know that stereotypies are a response to stress it is interesting to know that it actively helps the animal to reduce it's own stress levels. My horse is a weaver which mostly manifests in situations he finds stressful.

[corvus]

Yep, San Diego zoo is a breath of fresh air. I liked their Coati running wheel. I was like, okay, it's cool, but would a Coati actually use a... Evidently, yes! as one of them hopped in and had a little run right in front of me. Their Polar Bears are about the happiest zoo animals I've ever seen, and they have a lot of really nicely designed enclosures. Taronga is building similar enclosures these days.

When my hare was chewing his litter trays to pieces I had to stop it before he ingested half of it. I gave him things he could safely chew up as surrogates, like cardboard. He was no longer stressed like he was when he started the chewing, but I figured he ought to have an outlet for it anyway. I always make sure he's got things he can safely chew on. He has a lot of seagrass mats in his cage, and untreated wicker baskets, and other bits and pieces he can chew on if he wants.

[fbaudry]

No stereotype but a very bad case of OCD here

Spinning, spinning and more spinning (always counter clock-wise) triggered by permanent stress / anxiety / over-arousal. This has been happening from the day I picked him up from the breeder, aged four months. Stupid me failed to appreciate the magnitude of the problem and thought I could work on it. We have been seeing a behaviourist vet for over 18 months now, with behaviour modification exercises and different courses of medication with very little improvement.

This anxiety is now translating into aggression towards the house cat for no reason and I am reaching a stage where I should re-assess everybody's quality of life here