Cause and Effect on the Behavior of Choppa
Choppa Chanelle is a Husky Dog that has been with her owner since she was 6 weeks. Since the first time the family got her, they instantly figure out what her name was going to be because every time you looked down she was nibbling on you. Chanelle came from the color and texture of her fur. She was soft like a baby first blanket. Her fur was a pretty honey brown and dark brown. The family loved her so much. She was small, loveable, and cuddly. She was like a personal teddy bear. She was the hit of the block because she had a bag full of tricks. Their favorite thing of the dog was the Bob Dole, in which she would sit up, and with her left paw, shake a person's hand. Then her owner would give her the Bob Dole command, and she would immediately shake with her right paw. It did not take long for choppa to get big. Neither did it take long for her bites to get harder and her roughness to get rougher. Then her compliments started becoming complaints. For example, only 4 months went by and she could almost knock you down.
Human beings have been describing by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). The bigger the dog got also the rougher. The family began to leave her in the cage more to see if it would calm her down. She went from sleeping on the couch growing up to spending more time outside and in her cage. Humans and Animals do not have the same forte when it comes to "verbal" communication. This family could not find a way to get her to understand she needs to just be gentler when she is running around the house with the kids. The goal was to get her to understand when she starts becoming wild she had to go in the cage.
Unfortunately, putting choppa in the cage when she became wild did not work out for the best. It worked out for the worst. It made her even more hyper and rougher when they would let her adventure around the house. She began biting the kids every time she got near them. The family would try to take her out for walks, but how uncontrollably she was they would try to make it a short trip then back in the house they go.
The family thinking a certain solution would save the dog, instead it made her behavior worse. As they thought it would calm her down, she more than likely thought she was being abandoned and unloved. Choppa having to go inside the cage when performing caused her to get even more vicious and the effect of that made the family more afraid of her. They still have so much love for the dog, it is just up to them to find a better solution so they can finally go back to enjoying choppa like when she was smaller.
They did not think the cause of their "goal" was going to affect the dog in such a negative way. Not only did it effect the dog but it effected the family. After I lost Choppa in a car accident, I decided to get a new dog. The ability to maintain a dog is a big responsibility while attending school and spending all my weekends at work. "But" a new dog was affordable and fit in with my lifestyle. The decision has proved worthwhile. Snuggles is doing well adapting to her new surroundings.