Does Your Dog Invent Rules?

This morning, I was wondering what was taking Leo so long on his morning potty break. I went to the back door and found him like this:

Here he is looking sad and miserable because I haven't released him to come inside. When I gave him an "OK" he was so overjoyed to come inside.

The thing is....that's not a rule. I have never asked Leo to wait for a release prior to coming inside the house from outside. In fact, I leave the door open for him (just like here) all the time, so he can let himself in again.

But Leo is a rule follower, and cares very much about doing the right thing. Sometimes, that means he invents his own rules to follow.

Here are some more examples:

1) He frequently puts himself into a down stay and waits for me to release him
2) He has decided that the garage is off limits for dogs, and will not step inside even if toys are thrown in there (never been an actual rule)
3) The "Ok" for getting released to eat food has to be a particular pitch, otherwise I'm just testing him.
4) When we went camping last week, Leo decided for himself that he could only enter a tent with permission AND exit the tent with permission, even if it was left wide open.

This is very very common. He is so intent on doing the right thing that he invents rules for himself.

Anyone else's dog do this?

Gusto invents rules, but I think they are less "I will be a good dog and follow this rule I made up" and more "I must flick the lightswitch 7 times to turn it off".

There are many bed rules. The first, and most important, is that we must all get in bed in the same order. Meg first on her pillow, then me, then Gusto. If the order gets messed up, Gusto can't lay down and we all have to get out of bed and start over (seriously). The same thing if Meg chooses to sleep somewhere other than her pillow. I have to get her up and we all have to get back into bed in the correct order and places.

Once I'm in and settled, Gusto puts his front feet up on the bed until I hold up the covers on the far side of me, at which point he jumps up, sticks his stupid boney feet in my stomach, and crawls under the covers. If it was sheet-washing day, there is about 3 minutes of digging and turning until he's able to settle.

He also can only jump on and off the bed in one particular place if it is bedtime. If he gets on the bed somewhere else (I usually brush their teeth before bed, and he will often jump up at the foot just to get his teeth brushed), he can't just walk across the bed, he has to get off in the right spot, walk around the bed, and get back on in the right spot.

Meg somehow invented a game where she does a stay at the top of the stairs in the morning. She will get out of bed while I do, and wait at the top of the stairs well I get dressed and brush my teeth, etc. When I am headed towards the stairs, she will crouch and stair at me in anticipation. When I finally say "okay", she will bolt down the stairs at full speed. I have never once asked her to stay there. Gusto is usually downstairs and in his chair long before we go downstairs.

Nope. Rather the opposite in fact. Brisbane assumes all rules are only in place when someone is there to enforce them. He is also spectacular at telling exactly when someone is out of earshot, or just distracted enough to not notice. He's so good he could sense when my old roommate was having absence seizures, and knew he could raid the counter right in front of the guy when he was blanked out. Worst. Seizure alert dog. Ever.

Ru has decided that I need to get out of bed and accompany him to the water bowl in the middle of the night. I discourage this by mooshing him back under the covers where he belongs.

Yes, it's called "If the human not looking at you, then jumping up onto the counter and/or table is perfectly acceptable and possible encouraged."

Seriously though, no. None of mine do that. Though Hannah when she was alive had rules for the other dogs (no touching anything on the coffee table or taking things off it).


I still remember that story about your friend watching Leo and not being able to get him to eat because he didn't release him in the right pitch. Made me laugh so hard~

Leo is adorable

Roxie's invented her own rules when it comes to getting up on the bed or the outdoor lounger. She must be asked at least four times to get onto the bed, along with me patting the spot she's allowed to get onto (she moves about the bed, doesn't stay in only one spot thank gods lol). Sometimes I have to put a paw on the spot I've patted, sometimes I even have to prod her.

For the patio chair, even though she lays her head on it when she wants up, I usually need to practically scream at her to get up. "Come on, up up!" Is replaced for, "UP!". Or, if I'm eating at the time, she will come up the first time I ask her to. It's just weird, cuz the majority of the time we're outside, where is Roxie? On the bloody chair. Idk why I need to basically force her on it, lol. I didn't use to.

I feel like a terrible person for laughing really hard at this :rofl1:

Oh Gosh, this reminds me. Leo has "Get on the bed" rules too. Except...I haven't quite figured them out, and they seem to change based on the time of day.
The amount of times Leo has looked at me sadly wanting to get on the bed...BUT NOT BUDGED, no matter what I tried, is too dang high.

I've pretty much given up and he just doesn't get on the bed much.

lol. Kili... INVENT more rules to follow? Yeah right. The last thing that dog is ever going to do is make up more stuff she has to do. It's enough that she even (mostly) follows the rules that I already have.

That's very cute about Leo (except the not releasing to eat unless you say it just right, that would just drive me nuts!). I'm glad there are dogs out there that actually think highly of following rules. You should get him to have a chat with Kili for me.

Orson? yes, but not as extreme as Leo He's big on making (and keeping) boundary rules...not entering/exiting places without permission (like Leo) but then he's big on NOT following rules I make for him! Go figure! LOL

Crowley? Uh...no. He still peeps around to see if I'm watching before he'll follow the standard rules (you don't see it, it didn't happen!) let alone want any new ones!

The only time Abrams has made up a rule is when we play fetch. And that is, "I must hold a down/stay until released to fetch the toy." Which is pretty cool that he makes that his own rule when that is what he's supposed to do if the toy were a downed duck. Haha

Every other rule they follow is implied, so while it may not be spoken, they're smart enough to know. Haha

I remember when I had a dog that cared about following rules... my current ones thinks rules are best when broken into itty bitty pieces, and prefer anarchy to order for sure. It is cute when they try so hard to be "right"

Bus is a little neurotic, and frequently "must" crate himself when we're in the car. I keep a zipper soft crate in the back seat of the vehicle for times when I need to leave him and don't want him sunning on the dash in plain view, or need to leave doors/windows open for air while I make a quick stop, or on occasion when I've needed to secure him or some other animal- it just comes in handy. I was crating him in it for a while when driving, as it took a while for him to learn good car manners (ie: lay down somewhere) when I was driving, but he started letting himself out when he'd think we were at our destination (stop signs, lights, etc) by digging at the zipper and nosing it open, so I gave up and just let him lay wherever, as long as he's pretty still and quiet. He's now very well behaved in the car.

The crate was not in the vehicle for a long while after I gave up on using it, but one day I had it in there for something and he was desperately trying to get in the (zippered closed) door. Since then, I leave it in there and open, and most of the time we drive, he crates himself when we begin to drive, then comes out when we arrive at our destination. If he's not in the crate (ie: if the crate isn't in the car), his second favorite place to ride is in "his" kid's booster seat- guess he's big on safety!

No. I don't think Welshies are into rules. :lol-sign:

We had schnauzers when I was a kid and the male made all sorts of rules for himself. Where he had to sit, or where he had to eat treats, etc.

Summer is a chronic down-stayer. She is constantly putting herself in down stays that I never asked her to do. She will wait for a release word but it changes. Sometimes it's 'free' (our actual release). Sometimes come. Sometimes her name. Sometimes okay. Sometimes I fumble forever on it Till something works. She always has this look like she knows I am trying to trick her with the release word. And when she finally released she is so so excited and happy with herself and how good of a dog she is. So weird.

Another Summer weirdism is that she only rides in the car facing backwards. But that's more of a 'quirk' than a rule.

Ah!! This is like Oakley!!! He has his chin on the bed & is whining & barking wanting to get up...yet WILL. NOT. GET. IN. There are times where I have to give him treats to persuade him to get in the bed (like at 3am when he is just whining & won't stop!!)

Drives me bonkers...

And other nights, he is perfectly content taking up 1/2 the bed with absolutely no concern for anyone else in it.

Just two, not very interesting:

Most people, even the ones he likes, aren't allowed to come into the house unless I let them in.

Other dogs, even the ones he likes, aren't allowed to jump on me (he still thinks he can though).

So they're more rules for other actors than rules for himself. Of course he wouldn't make up any that apply to him.

Norris thinks rules are for chumps. The only rule he's really made for himself is that he MUST poop as far away from the house as possible. He refuses to go in the common area behind the townhouse unless he's having diarrhea and has no choice. So I have to walk him in order for him to poop.

Daisy had a weird rule at the old house. That house had what we called the "tv room", and then up a level from that was the kitchen and living room, and there was a staircase leading upstairs to the bedrooms. On either side of this staircase were three sets of wooden stairs, one from the kitchen and one from the living room. Daisy WOULD NOT come down those stairs unless we told her "ok" first. We never taught her that. She just decided on her own that it should be a rule. She'd just stand up there pacing and scrabbling until we said "ok". It drove us crazy. She doesn't really have any weird rules now though.

Yes, she has decided she must sit before getting any kind of treat or toy from our hands. I think it came from us putting her in a sit and wait when we were giving her canned food. I didn't want a bouncy dog potentially spilling canned food on me or in floor, lol. Can't say that I mind this one.

She also decided that the "don't touch the birdies" rule also applies to outside birds, so she will put herself in a down stay, eyes transfixed on whatever she is looking at, but will never move closer. At home, she is curious (and jealous) and will lay on me while I have the bird out, but will never get too close. She keeps at least a body length between her and the bird (I have a REALLY dumb bird that likes to walk on the floor in front of her).

Sam puts himself in a stay when coming up the stairs. He'll wait at the top and I have to release him to come into my room.

Wilson thinks rules are for chumps at the moment