Free For the Love of a Dog by Ph.D. Patricia McConnell

all-too-common scenario: “So, what is your dog Murphy doing that’s causing problems for you?” I might ask a client. “Well,” says the owner, “he goes crazy when visitors come over.” “What does he do that makes you say he goes crazy?” I inquire, trying to get a picture ofwhat the dog is actually doing. “Oh well, he goes out of his mind, I mean he’s just completely out of control.” “Could you tell me
exactly
how Murphy behaves when visitors come that makes him look ‘out of control’?” I ask. “Well, I told you, he just goes crazy….”
    This conversation could continue into infinity, with me having virtually no idea what the dog is actually doing. “Going crazy” tells me nothing at all about the dog’s actions—“going crazy” could range from catatonically huddling in a corner, to leaping onto everyone’s shoulders, or to barking bug-eyed while trying to bite the nearest thigh. I have learned to say:
“Imagine you’re watching a videotape
and describe to me exactly what you see when your dog greets visitors.” That helps quite a bit, although the best way to get information about the dog’s behavior around visitors is to be a visitor myself. That’s why people in my profession stress that house calls are always the most effective way to help dogs who are problematic around visitors. However, we’re always reliant on the descriptions of owners to some extent, and the more accurate the description, the better.
    The tendency to make assumptions about what a dog is thinking and feeling, rather than to simply describe his behavior, is overwhelming. It also seems to be universal, so don’t start feeling guilty when you catch yourself doing it. It’s actually an interesting ability, and it often serves us well. Being able to empathize, or to put yourself in another individual’s place and imagine what’s going on in his or her mind, is a handy skill. If you have it, then you can use that information to predict an individual’s behavior in the future, and decide on your own course of action. Say, for example, that your dog is behaving in the same way that you’d behave if you were nervous around visitors. Using your ability to imagine his internal feelings, you might put him away in his crate instead of making him defend himself in a forced interaction. Later, you can use your belief about his emotional state at the front door to help him be more comfortable with visitors. Although we take empathy for granted, and use it all the time, it’s actually an advanced mental ability, so advanced that we don’t even know to what extent other animals can do it.
    As useful as empathy is, it can also be the road to trouble. Inaccurate guesses about what’s going on in the mind of another individual have ruined many a marriage, and have confused the relationship betweenno small number of dogs and their owners. I’ve had clients tell me that their dog was “angry” when they left the house, even though the dog’s visual signals were all about anxiety and fear. Some dogs who “go crazy” when visitors arrive act as though they are terrified, while other dogs similarly described are beside themselves with glee. Because it can lead to so much trouble, one can sympathize with radical behaviorists who argue that we must avoid making any “attributions” about an animal’s mental state. But ignoring an animal’s mind and emotional state in order to avoid mistakes about them is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. Surely there’s a way to toss out the dirty water but keep the baby in the tub. One way to do that is to learn to distinguish between an objective description of your dog’s behavior, and a guess about what’s going on in his mind.
    The first step is easy—simply start paying attention to your own descriptions of your dog’s behavior. Are they clear descriptions about exactly what your dog is doing, or are you jumping to conclusions about why your dog is behaving in