Explaining weird behaviour in terms of mystical and unrealistic events.
People absolutely love imagining that a dog does something odd because it drew complex conclusions after some barely related event occurred.
I think part of this comes from our desire to see intelligence in our dogs, which, in itself, is not a bad thing. However, assigning a dog’s reaction to mystical or convoluted causes is not the same as recognizing intelligence; in fact, it is often the opposite.
I once had a client with a dog who was afraid of men — all men. The dog had an unknown past, and while it is possible it had bad experiences with males, that does not necessarily explain why it behaves the way it does now. Specifically, the dog would cower and hide every time it saw the male owner — even when the owner was holding a bowl of food.
The client suggested that this fear might have developed because the dog was on a diet. The dog was overweight, and the male owner was responsible for feeding it. Therefore, they presumed, the dog somehow associated reduced portion sizes with the owner’s gender.
Another client’s dog suddenly turned into a resource guarder around their child. A previously sweet, docile young dog snapped at the kid after stealing something from the counter. The explanation the owner came up with? Three months earlier, the dog had been eating a raw fish head and cut its gum on something sharp. The child had given the fish head to the dog, so the dog had supposedly learned that kids are evil.
Yet another client had just adopted a dog with an obsessive licking habit — “giving kisses” to everyone and everything. The new owner believed this was the dog’s way of expressing gratitude.
In most of these cases, things are much less sophisticated than people make them out to be.
Many sensitive dogs are afraid of men even when men have never abused them. Men often have deeper voices and a stronger physical presence, which insecure dogs can find intimidating. Hence the fear. If the fear response — hiding, cowering, running away — has been repeatedly reinforced and allowed to continue, that is what the dog will keep doing regardless of how much food it is offered. In fact, the dog may refuse food altogether because it feels too uncomfortable.
Resource guarding (which I’ve written about elsewhere) is also something many dogs display specifically around children. Kids are often poor at reading canine body language and, unlike adults, they do not project the same level of power or presence. Dogs frequently perceive this as weakness. As a result, a dog that is respectful and compliant around adults can simultaneously become a resource guarder around children. No traumatic fish-head incident required.
Finally, obsessive “kissing” is often a sign of insecurity. The dog is uncertain about the people approaching it, feels nervous, and attempts to communicate harmless intentions. Interestingly, this behaviour often reflects discomfort around unfamiliar people, and the other side of that same coin can be human-directed aggression. A rescue dog may or may not eventually settle and gain enough confidence to escalate to aggression, but excessive licking is often a strong indicator of underlying discomfort. It has nothing to do with gratitude.
What does all of this mean? Mostly, that things are usually much simpler than we like to believe. Dogs, in general, do not complicate things — we do that for them. Possibly because admitting what the behaviour is actually about feels uncomfortable. Or because the real solution may seem difficult or inconvenient.
Whatever the reason, there is no need to invent mystical explanations. Dogs are usually very honest about why they behave the way they do. Strip away the emotions and just observe.