What's with the Sliding Thing?

[geonni banner]

So you are getting ready to go for a walk with your dog. You go to the door, take the leash off the hook and say, “Sit.” Dog sits. Then you see something in his fur. A bug? A sticker? What is it? You start working out whatever is in his fur. The dog doesn’t move in protest, but the front feet start ever-so-slowly sliding forward. If you don’t say anything, the dog will slowly slide into a down.

 

Sometimes, instead of the front feet sliding, it’s the butt – glacially sliding backwards until the dog is in a down. He looks at you with this resigned, “I can’t help it, Mom. Gravity is extra-strong here look.” OK. The floor is smooth. But he will often sit in that exact same spot while you fuss with leash, poop bags, ball, etc. for just as long, if not longer than the time you picked the something or other out of his fur. He can sit two feet away from that spot, on the same slick surface, while you prepare his supper, and he has no trouble staying upright. And it isn’t just when you fuss with his fur. He does it at other random times.

 

Also, if the dog is doing his “I can’t sit here Mom, it’s too slippery routine,” and you whisper the magic word, “cookie,” suddenly the floor is no longer slippery. Forward slide is interrupted. He may even sit up extra straight. And stay that way indefinitely – as if the texture of the floor has magically changed. The possibility of a cookie somehow renders the floor un-slippery.

 

All my dogs have done some of this, and many of my friends/ clients dogs.

 

What’s up with that?

[CptJack]

"I'm bored and want to lie down, if I do it slowly enough you won't notice that I did." And/or "I'm bored/nothing exciting is happening and I kinda wonder how close I can get to lying down before it's not a sit anymore."

Anthropomorphizing but fairly close I think.

Also the cousin: "You told me to sit and stay so I stayed sitting but hopped on my butt three feet in some direction or another." Seems to work under a similar thought process: "Where's the line? Did I find a loophole?"

 

Though in fairness sit/down confusion is common in really well trained dogs, because they're not often reenforced enough after the dog's past the beginning stages and on to more advanced training. Sit or down becomes a default precursor and the dog doesn't always REALLY know what you're asking just sort of guesses and in the absence of conformation sometimes tries the other one.

[Ooky]

Huh. I always thought it was a submissive thing Odin does since he HATES grooming in any form. He'll put up with it, but he hates it. Before anyone tells me that I should have socialized him to grooming, believe me I tried. As a puppy he had no issues with a brush or nail clippers or futzing with his coat until one day he did -for no reason I could ever figure out.

[geonni banner]

Though in fairness sit/down confusion is common in really well trained dogs, because they're not often reenforced enough after the dog's past the beginning stages and on to more advanced training. Sit or down becomes a default precursor and the dog doesn't always REALLY know what you're asking just sort of guesses and in the absence of conformation sometimes tries the other one.

You're absolutely right. Most people do sit and down in that order. Always. The dog just figures - cut to the chase - and downs. Most folks don't seem to teach a sit from a down either. Not to mention the times I've had clients that would use sit and down interchangeably. I always got them to use hand-signals for those two commands, and gradually got them to add the appropriate verbal command. And then there's those who use down for down, and also for "get off me" if the dog jumps up. Sheesh.

 

Dogs are clever critters. Despite all these things, they have a way of figuring out what you want most of the time.

[Sue R]

One other thought is that as you bend down to check out the "thing", you are putting some pressure on the dog (by coming closer and by indicating interest in his body part) and a common reaction to the however-slight discomfort that might cause is to avoid the pressure by gently sliding into a down. A little "avoidance" behavior, maybe?

[CMP]

Ah yes, the Border Collie secondary career. I call it Professional Loophole Chasing. Mine skittle on their butts - moving while sitting, try and trade out their food for the cat food, stop to "pee" or "poop" as a means of prolonging the need to answer a recall, come inside, check out that interesting thing longer and my personal favourite: digging things out of the NEXT kitchen garden instead of ours. I found a horde of cucumbers, beans and carrots the otehr day, suspiciously close to where I know one of those pesky dogs has his shade hole.

 

:/

[sandysfarm]

I think it's aversion to having his fur picked through. He's melting into the floor in subtle protest.

I have one that'll do the same thing if she's in a sit and I decide to quick check her ears for furballs. Her ears keep moving south while she gazes at the floor like nothing's happening.

[Gideon's girl]

When I say the magic word, mine freezes half way between a sit and a down. The floor must have become magically nonslippery for that to happen.

[Cass C]

My puppy after learning to sit will start creeping into a down if she is bored or possibly just to see when I stop her and put her back into a sit, however if food is involved suddenly she remembers what sit means. It is kind of funny to watch, and makes me wonder if this is the border collie intelegence turning something boring into a game.

[D'Elle]

Ah yes, the Border Collie secondary career. I call it Professional Loophole Chasing.

:/

So true!

And they are good at it, too.

[juliepoudrier]

Well, my Kat has this happen while she's eating. It actually makes it more difficult for her to eat. I usually feed her on something like a rug and then prop something heavy on one side if the front leg appears to be slipping off the rug. Maybe in her case and at her advanced age it's simply that she can't concentrate on two things at once so as she concentrates on eating, the feet start to slide. I certainly don't think it's a conscious choice on her part.

 

Just another point of view.

 

J.

[D'Elle]

I was recently working on training with a woman who had a lovely 12 week old golden retriever puppy who did the slide thing. We called it "puddling" because he looked as though he were melting into a puddle when he did it (you know goldens, they are pretty cute and soft as puppies). In his case, when he did it I knew that he was confused about what was expected of him. I guess there can be a lot of different reasons that a dog will do that.

[medic09]

Like Sandy, I think Golan is half-heartedly trying to avoid what I'm doing to him - picking out burrs or raking his coat. He's not willing to openly rebel, so he tries the subtle approach.

[urge to herd]

I had Gibbs at a pet supply store a couple weeks ago. The cashier asked if she could give him a treat, I said, "Yes, as long he stays in a sit." She held out the treat towards him, and he scooched forward on his butt, never lifting it off the ground. Couldn't stop laughing, which pretty much guarantees he'll do that particular trick again.

 

Ruth and SuperGibbs

[Camden's Mom]

I had Gibbs at a pet supply store a couple weeks ago. The cashier asked if she could give him a treat, I said, "Yes, as long he stays in a sit." She held out the treat towards him, and he scooched forward on his butt, never lifting it off the ground. Couldn't stop laughing, which pretty much guarantees he'll do that particular trick again.

 

Yup, mine does the exact.same.thing. I call it his "Hover Butt" (basically because it makes him look like a hovercraft). Technically, he's staying in a sit but in truth he's traveling great distances with his butt never once leaving the ground.

[Lizabeth]

Gidget will often end up laying down, I thought it was because she got tired of waiting for me lol. Sometimes she is so full of energy or excited about something I say to sit and she does then she hops back up i say sit she does and over and over, I think she has a spring on her bum lol.

[Gideon's girl]

Puppies often do have a spring in their bum!!!