Cassie and The Sheepskin Rugs

This episode took place a little while back now, but it’s been on my mind to write about, under the topic of interesting behaviour.

Some background information is necessary before I get to the actual incident. Cassie had been with us for about five months, and had settled in amazingly well. She was confident, independent, slept quietly in her bed from the first night, and had never peed indoors.

Our house has two levels, joined by a set of very narrow stairs, typical of British Victorian houses. The dogs don’t go upstairs. This is partly because we don’t want them to, and partly because they don’t really like the stairs. Well, they can go up without greater difficulty, but coming down is a bit fraught, because the stairs are quite steep. Having tried this a few times the dogs are a little weary of the stairs. Eddie more so than Cassie, who has gone upstairs a few times on her own, when we have been away, setting off the alarm in the house by triggering the motion sensor in the study. However, this has only happened once or twice. Having rushed back to the house, I would find her on top of the stairs, apparently somewhat frightened to come down on her own.

Stairs

My friend A., who is an extraordinary cook, was coming over to make dinner for some friends and us. He arrived at our house in the afternoon to start preparing the feast. A. had met Eddie and Cassie before in our home, and had also accompanied us out on a walk on a previous occasion, so they knew him. He is very relaxed around dogs, he likes them, but doesn’t overdo affection or attention, and isn’t averse to telling them off if they invade his space or misbehave. On this occasion he greeted the dogs as he came, and had a cup of coffee with us all in the living room, I seem to remember, before starting work in the kitchen. M. and I then went out to buy some last minute supplies for the upcoming dinner party, leaving A. and the dogs at home on their own.

When we came home, Cassie was peering down at us from the top of the stairs. Surprised, I asked A. if he knew why she was up there. He told us that when we left she had been a little unsettled, and had come and whined at him in the kitchen. He had opened the back door for her, but she wasn’t interested in going out. Unable to figure out what she wanted, A. continued to go about his business in the kitchen, ignoring Cassie. She disappeared and he could hear her walking around upstairs. He had gone to see what she was up after a while, and found her lying on the landing, apparently settled down, and so he left her there.

I wasn’t convinced she would have been settled up there, and my misgivings proved right as I entered our bedroom. We have two sheepskin rugs, one on each side of the bed. Cassie had peed on one (M.’s side) and chewed, and ripped the fleece off a portion of the other one (my side). I must add that meanwhile Eddie was apparently unperturbed at events, and sleeping in his bed in the living room. Both dogs had been exercised and would normally be resting at this time of the afternoon.

Rug

I was, and still am, intrigued. Clearly, Cassie was unsettled by our departure and A.’s presence in the kitchen. I expect the fact that he, not a stranger, but an outsider, was clearly “owning” the kitchen, bustling about in it, must have had an effect on her. The kitchen is where the dogs eat, of course, and thus a central place in their lives. In addition, I guess, it is where food for all the pack is kept and “comes” from.

My first thought was that maybe she was looking for us, the rest of her pack, perhaps to warn us about the intruder. Saying that, when she knows we are at home, she doesn’t come upstairs. In fact, the times I can remember that she has gone upstairs have been when we have not been there – we have either been downstairs, or out of the house. I don’t think she was hiding, as she is not a nervous dog, and she had been in with A. in the kitchen trying to get his attention before going upstairs.

What is clear is that she marked the area that must smell the most intensely of us – our bedroom. Maybe she was trying to reinforce her bond with the pack in the face of the kitchen “enemy”. Maybe she was trying to assert her place in the pack in the face of a new member that was clearly occupying an important position, controlling the food. But then she also chewed one of the rugs – I can’t but wonder if the choice of rugs to pee on and chew had any significance or was random – which I would usually see as a sign of frustration or boredom.

A friend suggested she may have been angry at us for leaving her at home with a stranger, and was “punishing” us by soiling and attacking our rugs. I doubt that is the case, although Cassie must to some extent have been aware that what she was doing was “wrong”. She knows not to pee indoors or chew items that don’t belong to her. In fact, there are usually chews available to the dogs, which they use when in the mood, so simple boredom is unlikely to be the reason, either. However, she clearly did not do something “wrong” out of spite, but because the impetus to do these things was stronger than her conditioning not to.

Culprit

I expect Cassie initially felt some frustration with A. not paying her any attention, and occupying the kitchen. She started by trying to get his attention by whining. When that didn’t work, her now increased frustration drove her upstairs for some reason. Maybe she went there because Eddie, who was in the living room, did not give her what she was craving – attention or reassurance. She must have been pretty anxious by this time to pee on the rug, as marking territory is often as sign of anxiety. Anxiety in dogs often also, of course, finds an outlet in “destructive” behaviour. Hence she went at the rug. This is the tentative explanation I have come to. Please leave a comments if you have any alternative theories, I would love to hear your ideas.

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