Dogs: Their secret lives Ch4

Hooked

Just catching up on this as I got home late. Starting now on channel 4 plus 1.

Niamho!

Crrraaaapppp!!! Meant to watch this!! Is it a series or a one-off??

seosamh1980

Niamho! wrote: »

Crrraaaapppp!!! Meant to watch this!! Is it a series or a one-off??

You can watch it on 4od.

baby and crumble

Be warned: you will cry.

DBB

I think it's a series, is it?
I thought it was super. Mark Evans (the presenter) is great, and I'm delighted that they used really well-respected behavioural scientists and practitioners as their "experts". It was a breath of fresh air to have a show about dogs based on research-based evidence rather than the oft-used hocus-pocus we've seen too much of to date.
I hope this signals a fresh wave of more widespread, up to date knowledge amongst dog people!

Mo60

I watched this and found it very interesting and informative. It was about what dogs do when left on their own. Apparently a high percentage suffer from separation anxiety when they are left. This does not appear to apply to my brood though. On the rare occasion they did not hear me coming, I caught them all fast asleep.

aonb

Mo60 wrote: »

I watched this and found it very interesting and informative. It was about what dogs do when left on their own. Apparently a high percentage suffer from separation anxiety when they are left. This does not appear to apply to my brood though. On the rare occasion they did not hear me coming, I caught them all fast asleep.

How lucky are those of us with dogs that DONT suffer from seperation anxiety?? It would be torture to know that your beloved dog was suffering such stress when you were out of the house. I feel so bad for those posters recently about this subject. Any ideas/opinions on what TRIGGERS seperation anxiety, or is the dog born with this trait? Is there an increase in the incidence of seperation anxiety in dogs - presumably because we 'spoil' our pets so much nowadays (as opposed to historically when we didnt have the resources to spoil an animal)?

Addle

aonb wrote: »

How lucky are those of us with dogs that DONT suffer from seperation anxiety??

How can an owner be sure their pet doesn't suffer when left?

maggiepip

Addle wrote: »

How can an owner be sure their pet doesn't suffer when left?

Exactly. The programme showed that lots of the dogs who seemed ok were actually just as stressed as the dogs who displayed distressed behaviour.

DBB

maggiepip wrote: »

Exactly. The programme showed that lots of the dogs who seemed ok were actually just as stressed as the dogs who displayed distressed behaviour.

Absolutely. I don't think I'll be the only one setting up a webcam here soon!

Meemars

Oh, the guilt! My girl is a rescue, and led a very, VERY quiet life before she came to us. (I've met her previous neighbours a few times). I've been told she was alone at home almost all the time, in her previous life, but she seems very calm when I get home, (almost always asleep) so I think she's used to it.
I only work part time and am home to visit her halfway through my day. She's never alone more than 3 hours at a time. But the C4 program just brought out massive feelings of guilt on my part, and made me want to jack in the day job and become a stay-at-home-dogowner! (I'm just looking for any excuse, really! )

tk123

You can monitor easily enough with a laptop and webcam and your smartphone/a remote pc in work etc.. Set up 2 skype accounts - one to use for spying on the dogs and one for you if you don't have one... Set the dog one to automatically answer calls from you and put the laptop somewhere where you'll get a good view of the dogs and call it remotely.
I've done it with the puppy and she slept the whole time. Wouldn't be brave enough to leave the other guy let alone record him

fatmammycat

We came home on Saturday evening after dinner and our dog was fast asleep on the sofa, the big lug. I don't think I'm going to worry too much about his anxiety levels when we're out.

Mo60

Went out this afternoon and when I came back I parked the car at the gate, so the dogs would not hear me, and crept in through the front door instead of the back door. I waited 5 minutes and did not hear a sound during this time. Finally I opened the door to the room where the dogs were, to find all 5 of them lying down as content as can be.

What I find puzzling is all 5 dogs are different characters but they all seem content in each others company. One thing for sure they did not seem to miss me when I went out - not too sure whether I'm happy about that.

aonb

Addle wrote: »

How can an owner be sure their pet doesn't suffer when left?

I have webcam'd mine - they sleep, faff around the house, bark at the patio door (at nothing), sleep, chew on their bones, sleep, its pretty boring watching really!!! I usually bring them for a walk before I go out for more than an hour, so they're happy to snooze too.
I realized recently that my youngest dog LOVES when I go out - when I put my shoes/coat on, get the car keys & bag, he starts getting excited, jumping up and down on 'his' armchair - waiting for the chew I give him when I go out. I leave a radio on in the house for them too - wonder if they even notice that!!!

Pretzill

aonb wrote: »

I have webcam'd mine - they sleep, faff around the house, bark at the patio door (at nothing), sleep, chew on their bones, sleep, its pretty boring watching really!!! I usually bring them for a walk before I go out for more than an hour, so they're happy to snooze too.
I realized recently that my youngest dog LOVES when I go out - when I put my shoes/coat on, get the car keys & bag, he starts getting excited, jumping up and down on 'his' armchair - waiting for the chew I give him when I go out. I leave a radio on in the house for them too - wonder if they even notice that!!!

If my youngest dog sees me putting on my coat it means only one thing, walk, play, play and walk! Thankfully I don't have to leave the house too often without the dogs but when I do I tell them where I'm going (sounds stupid I know) and as soon as I say it instead of the 'walk! Play! mode' I get the 'Okay I'll just sit up on the chair so...mode'