Does your Doodle act ashamed?

[Erin]

We left her for a few hours one evening, and I when I came home, right in front of the door, was a chewed up ornament from the tree.  She has NEVER bothered with the tree before!  I came in the house and saw the carnage on the floor and said calmly, "Hershey, what did you do?"  And I got a little scared cause she wasn't at the door to greet me....

  She was hiding under the dining room table and refused to come out.  I didn't yell, I didn't act angry (mostly, cause she didn't really destroy the heirloom and it could be glued).  But she wouldn't come out from under the table for awhile!  As I was picking up pieces of the ornament,  she finally came out and looked me, and slinked over to the corner of the room and PEED ON THE CARPET! 

 

Hershey has never acted like this before - despite chewing up a number of items around our house that she finds when we leave her.  It's like every 8th time we leave her behind when we go some place that she'll find something to chew, so its not a huge problem, but still we try to keep things on higher shelves :o)

 

Do any of your doodle act ashamed or upset after you catch them when they've done something they know they shouldn't do??

[Dori & Rua]

For some strange reason, my DH is the really perceptive one.  He'll take one look at Rua and say "what did you do?" or "what's the matter".   He can read her ears, the way she is carrying her head, the position of her tail, and her eye expressions really well.  I am still learning....I get tail up or tail down.  Bugs me that he gets it LOL!!!!!  I was sitting in my office (right off the entry) and I hear an odd sound.  I walk out and there is Rua, chewing on the bottom of the column in the dining room.  Never done that before.  I told her "No, bad dog".  My DH walked into the room and took one look and said "What did Rua do?" based on her look.  In this case, I think it was more about the fact that I she heard my displeasure (I didn't yell) in my voice and she knew I wasn't pleased with her.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

You can read Hunter like a book, she gives herself away before you even see what she has gotten into.  She immediately will go downstairs to her bed with her head hung or if we come home she won't come upstairs with us she stays on her bed and we know something is up :-)  If she happens to forget she got into something and we see it all we have to say is "what did you do?" and she goes to her bed.  She looks so ashamed its hard to be mad! She just looks like she feels terrible! LOL

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I came home about 6 months ago and caught Peri chewing up a photo album. She dropped it immediately and went under the coffee table and would not look at me.  

 

I did say "Peri" in that "you've been a bad girl" voice.  Not my usually happy Peri voice!!!!  They now.  Even the slight change in your voice (not even yelling) is something they definitely know and pick up on!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think it's been pretty well established by those who study these things, that dogs are incapable of deductive reasoning. (Certain of the smarter breeds who are known to be able to "make decisions" in the course of their work, like German Shepherds and Border Collies, have been thought to possibly be capable of inductive reasoning.) Deductive reasoning is essentially the thought process "If A, then B". That's the usual explanation given for why dogs are not acting shameful because they know they did something wrong; it's a visceral reaction to the presence of something associated with a bad outcome.  

 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Which is why they obey you when training - they anticipate a good response, praise, treats, etc....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Right; and over time and repetition, a reaction becomes automatic. You no longer have to give a correction to get the dog to heel, stay, sit, whatever, because it's a conditioned response. They aren't thinking: "Gee if I do this, I'll get a treat" or "Gee, if I don't do this, I'll get a tug on my collar."

[Linda and Murphy]

I don't give Murphy food from the table. My sons will sneak him stuff when they are around. If we are eating at the table and look at him, he turns his head, refusing to make eye contact. I say he KNOWS this is not appropriate and is showing guilt.

 

On the rare occasion he has been sick and had an accident in the house (maybe 4 times in his entire life..and he has never  been scolded) he will not greet me at the door.

[Shelby and Kev]

Yep, and we have figured out Shelby has a conscience!  Its okay because we all act up occasionally, time and time again!

[Anna and Achilles]

I just yesterday bought two books, Inside of A Dog by Alexandra Horowitz (New Your Times Bestseller) and What is my dog thinking? I wonder if these may have something about this in it.As soon as I read them, I will chime in if it does. Very interesting topic.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Dexter has no shame...he actually acts proud when he does something wrong.

Kirby really never does anything wrong.  The few times he has, we have to be careful not to raise our voices at him because he is VERY sensitive and has submissively peed in the past from raised voices.

[Sharon & Monty]

Monty has had run of the house while we are gone since he was around 9 months old.  He was such a good boy for weeks and then he started having moments of badness.  I had a nice pair of antique button up shoes in my upstairs living room.  He thought they were delicious! Now how can that be?  Seriously, no one has worn then for over 100 years!  I mean really do they still have (had) a feet smell?  lol  A couple of days/weeks passed, perfect every day.  Then he discovered that the box of kleenex and the nice little basket holding coasters were delicious.  The only thing that was consistent with his bad days was that he had access to the downstairs (below grade) family room. I believe he thought he was hiding down there and he carried his casualties to that room every time.  We now gate that room off and close all the upstairs room when we leave and have never had a problem since. I thought he was starting to have anxiety separation so now I give him a toy with hidden treats every time I leave. I have several different ones and give him different ones every day or so.  He has been a very good boy since then, paws crossed.  Oh and the original question, Yes he acted ashamed even before we knew what had went on, instead of greeting us at the door he was somewhere resting.....

[Kelli, Fenway, & Dustin Pedroia]

Oh yes!  Fenway acts like I've killed her best friend and that's before we fuss or say something like "What did you do Fenway?"  She just lays down and puts her head down looking like a poor pitiful little pup.  I guess she senses our disapproval.  Dustin doesn't do this as much, but he does act somewhat ashamed if he's really messed up and we seem upset.