The Incredible Neuroplastic Puppy!
Meet Callie Calico Kaleidoscope Calliope - a particularly adorable 3 month old Pomeranian who came to live with me just in time for Christmas.
In addition to possessing a ridiculously long name and an illegal level of cuteness, Callie is a walking, barking case study in neuroplasticity.
Seriously, her wee little brain seems to change by the hour. She also has a disconcerting tendency to grow in half inch spurts during her afternoon naps, but that’s another story. This one is about her wee little puppy brain, and how it grows.
One day, she’s quiet, submissive and passive. The next, a new neural circuit clicks on in her brain, and she decides she’s in charge, barking out orders to me, the sparrows, the cat, anyone who might listen. Another nap, and she’s discovered her tail. An hour later, she’s forgotten what that weird curly thing on her rump is, all over again. One day, she is perfect about using her puppy pads for their intended purpose, but the next, she thinks they’re bedding material.
Watching her through the lens of neuroscience, I can’t help but visualize the synapses flashing on and off, neural paths connecting and un-connecting as her brain grows wildly out of control, then prunes itself back.
Mind you, I’ve never read a study about neural development in puppies, but I assume that their brain development isn’t all that different than that of human babies and children. Human brains reportedly go through periods of rapid development, creating large numbers of new connections and neural pathways… and then pruning some of them back.
The assumption seems to be that all the new experiences form multiple connections, and then those connections are pruned back, so that only the most used and useful remain. The “pruning” is so marked that an average adult human brain has an estimated 41% fewer neurons than that of an infant! I assume that the difference between her brain, and that of the much older Little Big Dog is somewhat similar.
So Miss Calico’s learn-and-forget, learn-and-forget behavior may be explained by rapid growth in response to new stimulus, followed by equally rapid pruning back to just the useful bits. Tada: It’s Puppy Learn-and-Forget! (New from Mattel, Batteries not included.)
Now, I realize none of this is properly scientific, and that my understanding and terminology of this whole neurogenesis/neuroplastic pruning thing is pretty sloppy.
Still, it’s a useful way of viewing things. It’s reassuring to know that when Callie suddenly “forgets” that puppy pads are not for sleeping on, it doesn’t mean she’s isn’t stupid, and she doesn’t have brain damage. She’s just a normal growing puppy, with a normal growing brain that prunes itself.
And she’ll eventually figure out the deal with the puppy pads ; )
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MindTweak: My dog is worried about the economy because
Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That’s almost $7.00 in dog money.
~Joe Weinstein
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
When we got our German Shepherd, Ty, he was 14 wks old. We had a 8yr old yellow lab, Sol, set in his ways. When I took Ty in for his check up he was doing this Hrumph thing. I tell him to sit, which he doesn’t want to do, then “Hrumphs” and plops down onto the floor. The vet started to laugh and asked if we had a lab because that was a “lab”thing to do. Yup. Then she tells me that ALL THIS WHINING Ty does is just “talking” guess who talks now…yup the Lab.
Then we got a Yorkie, Leo. Well it is confusing some days but I see the dogs pick up and learn from each other. Especially the “wait at the entranceway till I have my boots on” look. They all primly wait for the door to open. I don’t have to look at Sol but I had to give a command to Ty and Leo…well Leo still does whatever the heck he wants until I pick him up and plop him at the entrance with the other two.
Hey I never got a notice that you updated your blog. I usually do.
What an adorable pup! I wandered over here from the Thesis Gallery Showcase, and I’m glad I did. You’ve got a great blog, and a new subscriber. Kudos!
@Whizmo How funny, about the dogs picking up mannerisms that go with other breeds! They definitely learn from each other, though… and Callie is learning from the cat, too. (which is not good, since El Gato Grande has some really bad habits!)
The RSS Feeds/Notifications may be slow/absent while Google straightens things out. Let me know if it doesn’t start working again soon.
@Cindy I’m so glad you wandered over! The neatest people find me through the DIYThemes site : ) And thanks for the compliment!
It’s always fascinating to watch how our furry family members learn and grow, isn’t it? I, too, am excited to see how much fun it is to raise a little human someday.
The one thing that pushed me to comment here though was the fact that you are using puppy pads. Isn’t that like training a pup that it’s okay to ‘go’ indoors? And then later, you’ll have to go through all the effort of training the pup to only ‘go’ outdoors… and that ‘going’ indoors is bad.
If the puppy pads are there to catch accidents only, like when she’s trying to figure out how to ask you to take her outside to do her business, then that won’t be likely to end up as learned behaviour.
But if the use of the pads is encouraged and rewarded, the neural pathways will become less and less resistant to pruning, making it more difficult to train her to ask to go outside when she needs to ‘go’. It might also bring about shyness in doing her business outside, preferring the pads over all else.
Also, consder this: maybe Callie already understands that indoors is for sleeping, and that’s why she’s trying to sleep on the pads sometimes!
Maybe she’s trying to tell you something!
Upon rereading what I wrote, and rereading the article, I realized that you didn’t actually mention anything about raising little people at some time in the future … oops!
I just always associate puppy-raising with my own eventual plan to have kids, and I’m at that time in my life when I’m preparing to be planning for that next step. I want to wait to get a puppy until after there is already a child running around, so the puppy can get used to being around kids before it matures. (This is important, because my husband and I like larger dog breeds.)
Anyways, nice blog! I’ve been subscribed for awhile, but my feeds are perpetually behind (and I don’t mind, because then I never run out of stuff to read!)
@Qrystal I’m glad you finally came out of the shadows, whatever the reason : ) And I can easily see equating puppy rearing with child raising, especially after carting the pup to two family holiday celebrations, complete with crate, puppy pen, pads, an assortment of toys and wipes, food… there was no room left in the car for gifts! And nearly all of the stuff got used, too. Oy!
As for the puppy pads, she’s properly crate trained, and she came already knowing to seek out the pads and use them as well as that its ok to go outside. It’s very rare that she drags them around, and never once they’re dirty - I was just being cute ; )
I wouldn’t mess with it, but we have a pair of owls that sit on the roof nights (and hawks that circle during the day) so she simply can’t go outside nights without a leash, and we’re a night-shift sort of house. Better a bit of extra trouble with training, than a snack for a predator! But a lot of people seem to have luck with training toy dogs to pads and litter boxes, so we shall see.
Whoa! Hold me back on the cuteness I have been missing!! Speaking of missing, I was missing my favorite brain tweaker.
I’m “Back in the saddle” and raring to go!
Wonderful to see you again.
I’ll stick around this time and get back some normalcy in my life.
Have a fabulous weekend.
I’m so glad you’re back, Jackie.. really… and isn’t she stoopid adorable?
Though lately she’s adopted an expression that reminds me of Stewie, from Family Guy… I think she’s overdosed on the neuroplasticity, and is plotting to take over the world.
Tasty adorable. She is so sweet! Isn’t there a saying, “it’s a dogs life”? Might as well be a dogs world too.