All dogs are not produced equivalent. They vary not just in their physical look however in their habits. Some dogs are just more smart, more caring, and more quickly trained than others, and this ends up being rather clear when an individual who presently has actually an adult dog in their household or who has just recently lost a dog brings a brand-new dog into their home, particularly if that brand-new dog is a puppy or a juvenile. Comparisons in between the brand-new household member and its older or departed predecessor are unavoidable and inescapable.
As an example, I was awaiting our club’s newbie’s obedience class to begin and seeing a female dealing with a good-looking young field spaniel. The lady had actually trained her previous field spaniel with us, so I was shocked to see how little control she had more than this young dog. She lastly relied on me and said, “Emma may look pretty, but she doesn’t have half the smarts that Kahlúa [her previous dog] had. She is really frustrating me!”
We still had a little time prior to class was scheduled to begin, so I used, “Let me give her a whirl.”
My movement is not what it utilized to be; nevertheless, I took Emma’s leash and provided her an initial pat and a treat. Then, utilizing lure training (thank you, Ian Dunbar), I invested the next 8 or 9 minutes teaching the dog the 3 basic positions: sit, down, and stand. By the time that little session was completed, Emma was reacting not just to the lure however likewise to the spoken commands. I handed the leash back to her owner and said, “I think that she is a bright, friendly, and biddable little girl. Just keep working with her.”
Emma’s owner looked a bit doubtful as she moved to the side of the room and saw the other trainees and their dogs prepare yourself for class.
A Second Dog Is Likely To Be Perceived as “Second Best”
As I later on considered this event, it struck me that I had actually seen this pattern of habits lot of times. In my experience, a 2nd dog is often compared by its owner to the very first one and frequently doesn’t rather come near what the owner’s expectations may have been. If this is actually a typical incident, then the issue doesn’t really live with the dog however with its human owner. If that holds true, then, I reasoned, there ought to be some mental research study literature that might shed some light on the concern.
It was a tough literature search; nevertheless, I eventually discovered some research study performed by Janice Lloyd of James Cook University in Australia and her partners. This group of private investigators was taking a look at the intricacies of effective and not successful matchings of guide dogs to aesthetically impaired individuals. An inequality in between a help dog and a customer is a big issue. First, it leads to minimized self-reliance for blind individuals who feel that their guide dog has behavioral constraints. There are psychological effects with a sensation of lost assistance given that the brand-new dog is not bonding with them. However, there likewise are monetary ramifications. If a help dog is gone back to the training center due to the fact that it appears not able to deal with the customer, this represents a substantial waste of resources. It can cost as much as $50,000 (USD) to raise and train a help dog.
What these scientists found was that a 2nd help dog was almost two times as most likely to be returned as an inequality for behavioral factors or constraints as was the very first help dog designated to people. This does not seem an issue particularly with the dog given that the huge bulk of these returned dogs were later on reassigned to a brand-new home where they had the ability to continue doing their important assistance deal with no issues. The private investigators called this phenomenon the “Second Dog Syndrome” [SDS].
Second Dog Syndrome Appears in Companion Dogs as Well
More just recently, Mikayla Disanayake of the Faculty of Medicine at Monash University in Australia and a group of scientists had the ability to reveal a comparable phenomenon (where the qualities and capabilities of a 2nd dog are underestimated) is likewise present in buddy dogs. They even more discovered that the impacts used whenever a brand-new dog is contributed to a household that presently has an adult dog in it or if the brand-new dog is a replacement for a dog that has actually just recently died. The brand-new dog is viewed as less smart, harder to train, and frequently not as caring or mindful compared to the very first or older dog. They recommended redefining SDS as the “Successor Dog Syndrome” given that it appears to be the case that the brand-new dog is almost constantly considered as “second best” when compared to the qualities of the previous dog, whether this brand-new canine is a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th dog.
Are First Dogs Really Wonderful?
The reality of the matter is that the issue lies not in the qualities of the brand-new dog however rather in the psychology of the owner. Your initially dog is simply that: your very first canine buddy and your only dog at that time. The bond you form with them is most likely to be extreme, and given that they are your only family pet, you are going to be more compulsive about your training and more mindful to your dog.
When you present a 2nd dog, or a follower dog, into your household, you are bound to forget all of the time and effort it required to raise a puppy properly. So there is a high likelihood that when a 2nd dog signs up with the household, you have the expectation that they will act the exact same method as the existing or previous dog in your home did. That indicates that you wind up offering the brand-new dog the exact same flexibilities that the older dog had, with the expectation that they will act properly. You are likewise most likely to be more casual in your training due to the fact that you have the implicit belief that you are handling an animal that already understands what is anticipated of them. This is a dish for catastrophe or SDS.
Why the Second Dog Is Undervalued
If there is another dog living in the household, your 2nd dog has the very first dog to gain from. Because of that, instead of establishing a strong working relationship with you, the dog will establish it with your very first dog. If you are neglectful, you will discover that you are handling a pack of 2, and you are an outsider. So if you call the puppy, don’t be shocked if he wants to dog top to see if he must move or not.
If dog top is no longer residing in your house, the contrasts you are apt to make protest the frequently favorably prejudiced memories of your very first dog. You should bear in mind that the brand-new dog will concern your home without the advantage of the experience that your other dog had actually established throughout the years that they dealt with you. The brand-new dog will not have actually found out the regimens of the household, and you will be disappointed due to the fact that you will continuously be captured anticipating a brand-new puppy to be completely acted from the beginning. The reality is that the follower dog is not less smart or less trainable, however rather that you have actually forgotten all of the work that you take into your previous dog. The brand-new dog in your household will require the exact same type of time, effort, and training to end up being that “once-in-a-lifetime” unique dog that your very first dog was.
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References
Lloyd, J., Budge, C., La Grow, S., & Stafford, K. (2016). An examination of the intricacies of effective and not successful guide dog matching and collaborations. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 3, 114. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2016.00114
Disanayake, M., Howell, T.J. & Oliva, J.L. (2023). From Puppy Love to Pet Peeve: What Causes Second/Successor Dog Syndrome in Assistance-Dog Handlers and Companion-Dog Owners?, Anthrozoös, DOI: 10.1080/08927936.2023.2232660
