Donnie the Doberman Arranges Toys
July 20th, 2008 Posted in Doberman Videos, Interesting
Donnie is an interesting dobe in that he shows unusual behaviour. National Geographic featured him on their “Genius Dogs” show. He arranges his stuffed toys into specific patterns of circles or triangles. It’s not clear what the motivation for his behaviour is. Is it thought out, random or is it just creative expression? It is bizarre to watch Donnie in the video. Especially touching is the mention of the day after the very first time Donnie let his owner put her arm around him. He then began organizing his toys in hugs, arm in arm. Very interesting. Babara Smuts, a university professor is now researching this behavior.
What do you think Donnie is expressing with his toy arranging behaviour.
Tags: doberman arranges toys
August 18th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
this is pretty amazing. I have a collie golden retriever mix that I got from the collie rescue in april. right after we got her she laid out all her soft toys in a line in the living room. I thought it was a hoot but also thought it was a random act. I didn’t really think anything about it as she did not appear to repeat this pattern. On the other hand I’ve never had a dog that didn’t rip those soft toys apart in 30 seconds. She treats each one like gold…very gentle with them. We call them her “babies”
Is is possible they are relating to the animal nature of the toy? That still doesn’t explain Donnie’s patterns. But I’d love to be in their heads and really understand. I will be paying closer attention to where Gracie places her babies. reni fulton
August 19th, 2008 at 12:04 am
Hi Reni,
that’s fascinating that your dog also displays this behaviour. It’s also interesting that your dog has a rescue background, you have to wonder if the toy arranging, is some sort of coping skill to a past experience.
November 26th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Luna, my 6 year old Golden-Border Collie mix. has been “arranging” her toys since she was a pup! I have always suspected it was the Border Collie in her that caused her to “herd” her toys into patterns and categories, but had never heard of other dogs that did this. Finally! I am thrilled to learn she is not alone! I would love to learn more about dogs who create patterns with their toys. Perhaps it is more common than we realize!? –Joan
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:08 am
We recently acquired a maltipoo who we named “Penny” from the animal shelter. We took her to the vet who guessed her age at about 1 – 1/12 years. About a month ago she started arranging her “puppies” in 5 foot circles, usually 6 puppies in a circle and one in the center. She is also making V patterns, half circles and diamond patterns, most always with something in the center. Then she moved on to making a straight lines, about 10′ long with a short cross. Last week she made a complex V pattern which has 3 puppies arranged nose to nose in the center of the triangle. Then, at one point of the triangle she put 3 puppies bottom to bottom. On another point there was 2 more objects touching at a 45 degree angle. She also brought out her dress to make another point plus a puppy to complete the triangle shape with 4 points. When she creates these patterns she usually arranges her puppies face up OR face down but usually doesn’t mix, up and down together. We have taken pictures of her creations but since she only does it when we are not in the room, tomorrow we are going to set up a camera to record her making these, sometimes, complex arrangements. At first we thought it was a random coincidence but now she is making one every other day and they are very distinct patterns which leave no doubt that she is creating them on purpose, for what I have no idea.
May 13th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
My 2 1/2 year old Havana Silk Dog (Havanese) has been dragging his toys outside for a long time. I noticed recently that he has been arranging them. Last night I took pictures because he had 3 bird toys and one other toy in a semi-circle around the grill, all facing up and all with their feet toward the grill while he was in the middle of the circle looking out over the yard. I checked a little later when he came in and he had moved one, just simply turned it to face the door instead of the grill.
Weird. I will continue to watch and see if it’s a fluke or if he’d doing it on purpose. He isn’t a rescue dog.
March 8th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
This is fascinating, I’ll admit. If I were trying to gain a deeper understanding of what’s going on, I’d pay close attention to how the dog and his owner are interacting. Is the owner, perhaps, reinforcing the dog’s pattern-making behavior and, unintentionally, ignoring (i.e. not reinforcing) behavior that doesn’t result in a toy pattern? This might explain why the patterns are increasing in their complexity as the dog attempts to please the owner. Bringing in the researcher serves to increase the dogs reward for his behavior.
I’m not suggesting anything purposely manipulative here. I just think we have to take a big perspective and observe all of the player’s involved.
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:45 pm
I saw donnie on tv in tokyo tonight and just think he is beyond precious!
Its so great to also read about other beautiful people who rescued their beloved pups.(and everyone who treats animals with the love and respect they deserve)
Animals are such a blessing!
Give donnie a huge cuddle from me!
(My crazy cats send meow greetings from japan.)
anna
July 4th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Donnie the Dobie kicks ass
August 16th, 2010 at 5:26 am
Our young chihuahua (2 years old) is sort of a rescue -from a friend’s grandmother who could no longer keep her. She does not arrange her toys in patterns, but does bring them to her bed at night. Recently she made very good friends with my parrot, Dakota. When I brought mom to her bed the other night Darla had a new item with her other tiny toys – (monkey, tiger, lambie,) – one of Dakota’s tailfeathers. (the parrot talks to her and is trying to help train her… if she goes where she’s not supposed to he says “No Darla, stop”. In the morning he’s very sweet to her “Cmon Darla, come here”. It was as if she brought his feather with her to keep her company and remind her of him.