An Experiment in Benign Neglect
I am feeling a bit under the weather so over the past couple of days, I decided to try a little experiment.
Solo is used to getting about two hours of aerobic exercise per day. At least two brisk walks of 30 minutes each (the time it takes me to walk to school from my apartment) and two sessions of playing ball of 30 minutes each. Sometimes more exercise than this depending on my schedule. I also teach him tricks and do little obedience things during the day at home or at school. (Our newest one is putting his head in a box if I ask him, "What's in the box, man? What's in the box?" ( This will only make sense to people who have seen the movie Seven.) He also goes herding once a week.
Yesterday, I realized I wasn't feeling well and also wanted to be a bit lazy, so I decided to see what would happen if I just didn't do these things. I had forgotten to schedule a herding lesson (bad owner!), so we didn't go see sheep. Solo got walked around the block to potty and that was it.
This morning, instead of going out and playing ball, we went out to the bakery three blocks away and got a bagel and came home. OK, somewhere in the middle I caved and tossed the ball around for about ten minutes. Between these walks, I didn't do anything at all with Solo -- no obedience, no trick-training, no nothing. I did schoolwork at my computer or watched TV.
The result? Massive leash-pulling from a dog who always walks nicely on leash. Out-of-control enthusiasm, barking, not listening to me, general annoying behavior during the short session of ball play. When we got back this morning, Solo grabbed every toy he has out of his toy box and started manically chasing them around the one-room studio apartment, attempting to run full-tilt across the hardwood floor. He whined, howled, and barked. This is a dog who rarely barks. I guess furniture chewing is next, even though he never chews anything but his chew toys. Who knows what other horrors would ensue. Now he is still, lying on his bed, but heaving huge sighs and staring a hole through my head with baleful yellow eyes. I think that the way Solo has lived over the past couple of days is pretty close to how most pet dogs live their entire lives. If one and a half days of benign neglect can do this to Solo, I can only imagine what it would do to a Border Collie kept like this on a regular basis. No wonder so many of them end up rescue.
We're going to go out and play ball now. I can't take anymore.
Melanie Lee Chang
Departments of Anthropology and Biology
University of Pennsylvania
