BehavioRx Case of the Month
for March 2003

The Overprotective "One-person" dog

The couple and their two children, a 6 year-old son and 8 year-old daughter, adopted a 3 year-old, neutered male, mixed Labrador Retriever/Irish Setter named Randy. Alice was a stay-at-home mom, Jack worked long and irregular hours in the medical field. Randy settled in nicely to with the family when they got him in July. He played gently with the children, fetching a ball and playing hide-and-seek. However, after school started, it became obvious that Alice was the main person in Randy's life. He followed her around the house wherever she went... literally 'dogging" her steps.  By December, he was starting to act "guardy" about her when Jack came home late, after the family were all in bed and Jack entered the couple's bedroom, where Randy slept on a dog bed next to theirs. Alice was awakened and scolded Randy. After several weeks of this, the growling escalated to the point that Randy started growling and leaving the bedroom to confront Jack in the hallway outside the bedroom door. Jack had grabbed him by the collar and Randy had tried to bite him. Jack and Alice were referred the next day. The previous night they banished Randy from the bedroom to sleep in the laundry room.

During consultations it was apparent that the couple was ambivalent about Randy's behavior: On the one hand the fact that he appeared to be a good watchdog, which comforted them; on the other hand they were disappointed that he had chosen Jack as an "enemy." It was also apparent that the family was generally a cohesive, happy group with no excessive arguments or physical confrontations, which could sow the seeds for protectiveness. Alice and Jack said they felt comfortable and not threatened in their neighborhood.

We introduced the concept of "allelomimetic behavior" (without the jargon") by explaining how dogs tend to "act like-be like" their owners, and that this tendency
was an invaluable tool for influencing Randy to feel, and hence, behave differently about Jack's late homecomings. This involved all the family in undertaking the
non-physical, movement/behavior Leadership program in the BehavioRx Instructions "Obedience training - A Primer," plus the "Overprotective" program. They quickly realized their value, and Alice readily grasped the benefit of the "Jolly Routine," to be used when Jack came home; although she said getting joyfully out of bed from a sound sleep to meet Jack in the living room was going to require that she draw on all her dramatic talents and her sense of humor!

The first opportunity to apply her talents occurred three weeks later, when Jack's working hours returned to what he called the "Graveyard shift." this brought him home at 1:30 AM. Alice reported that Randy did growl when the front door closed, but she jumped up, gleefully saying "Jack's home! Isn't that wonderful?" and proceeded gaily down the hall. Jack played his role to a "tee," standing sidewise to Alice as she approached and embraced him. Jack and Alice reported that Randy appeared perplexed, but then wagged gave a friendly "woof" and licked at Jack's hand.

After four more nights, Jack and Alice decided, on their own, to test Randy, on his own. Jack came in the door and called Randy happily. Randy came running to Jack and seemed delighted to see him. This was a new wrinkle for us, but since it worked for them, it was great. Normally, we have clients spend a couple of weeks, gradually moving the couple's get-together closer to the bedroom. Then, have the wife stay joyfully in bed while the husband enters the bedroom. However, who's to argue with a happy ending!

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