Archive for the ‘Dog Behavior’ Category
The dogs are excellent at smelling. The dogs are known their excellent olfactory capability. At times the same capability makes the owners nose wrinkle in disgust. The dog’s digs and rolls on some thing that is buried long back. It will smell a hell, is it not? Now, the owner will have the burden of cleaning the dog once again.
It is very common sight, the dog sniffing at the owner or other people or grass or food. Many won’t know the reason. The reason is nothing but the excellent capability of its special equipment, nose. Because of the special equipment only the primitive dogs survived. The olfactory sense of the dog helped them to smell the prey from longer distance and also helped the fury companion to escape from danger.
The dogs sniff a lot. By this they can smell the presence of other dog in the near distance. One could have noticed the dog sniffing the other dogs back. The dog does this to identify whether the other dog is friend to play with or foe to be wary off. Each dog has unique smell and the smell is very different from the other dog like finger print in human beings.
There is no doubt that the dog is the best friend of the human beings. The dogs will give their life if it is required to protect the owner from any danger. The dogs can also sense the emotional state of his master and behave accordingly. The extra-ordinary olfactory sense of the dog can very well differentiate the tears of pain and tears of joy. The dog will lean on you and snug at you, if they sense that you are sad. They are doing this to offer comfort to you to over come the sadness.
The dog also sniffs the stranger to know whether he is a danger to the house or friend of the owner. The dogs can easily tell you whether the pooch is pregnant or not. The furry friend can also find out whether the owner is well or not. This ability is not by sixth sense. This ability is by their extraordinary olfactory sense which is many times better than human beings. The dogs not only find out whether a women is pregnant or not, they can also find out find out certain type of cancer and other ailments by the special equipment, nose.
As you know the dogs help a lot in policing. The dogs are very effective in search and rescue operation, all because of extraordinary olfactory sense. The dogs can find the person who is buried under rubble or snow or any other. The dogs are very useful in narcotic squad and bomb squad. The dogs which are specially trained can find out the narcotic substance and alert the police to apprehend the person. Likewise the dogs can also help in defusing the bomb by identifying the location of the bomb using the excellent smelling ability. Kudos to the furry companion for the great help extended to the human beings. They deserve it for sure, is it not?
Do you know rawhide bones are made out of inner layer of cowhides? Rawhide bones are perfect treat for your beloved canine partner. Choosing a good rawhide bone would be the best option to entertain your dog. Although there are numerous advantages of feeding rawhide bones to your pet, the top five advantages are discussed in this short post.
Top Five Advantages of giving your dog rawhide bones
1. Dogs also suffered from stress like us. Rawhide bones play an important role in removing stress among your pet. They will chew the rawhide bones and get relieved from stress.
2. Puppies feel pain in the gums while tooth erupting process. During this time, they will tend to chew all the objects that is available to them. Provision of rawhide bones to these puppies will prevent them to get rid of destructive chewing habit. And also the teeth pain will subside. This process of providing rawhide bones will help in the growth of the adult teeth in a good manner.
3. The dental benefits of chewing rawhide bones include removal of plaque in their teeth, which in turn help to prevent periodontitis, gingivitis, calculus and finally tooth loss. In nut shell, when you allow your dog to chew rawhide bones, there will be no potential dental problems.
4. Rawhide bone chewing is a perfect substitute for their natural behavior. Chewing is a natural process of dogs of 4-18 months. If there is no perfect thing to chew, the dogs will try to chew shoes, facial tissues or table legs. This destructive behavior will cost more money for you. Yes!!! You need to buy new books, TV remote, new shoes, etc, if you haven’t provided rawhide bones to chew.
5. A study confirms that chewing rawhide bones will stimulate the brain of your dog and they will remain active through out the day. Some of the dogs forget that they are being alone during day time, if they’re being provided with rawhide bones. In other words, provision of this stuff will help to prevent separation anxiety.
With such advantages of rawhide bones for your dog, it is mandatory for a dog owner to get top quality rawhide bones for your dog. ALL THE BEST!!
Persons, who want to have a good environmental enrichment measure for their dogs, surely go for the toys. Yeah. No doubt about this. But, very few persons look into the safety of such toys for their dogs. To avoid any health related problems in your dog, you need to look into the safety related features in such toys.
Never try to choose the toys that bear the label stating about the avoidance of usage for children below age of three years. This is due to the fact that if such toys are accidentally bitten strongly and the contents inside may not be digestible by stomach. Hence, be careful in avoiding such toys.
About provision of toys made as rawhide chewies, you need to consult your veterinarian and most of the times, the usage of such toys if purchased need to be monitored closely by the owner.
Toys that are lesser in size need to be avoided generally. This is due to the fact that playfully, some times, particularly the puppies swallow such toys and hence, this may ultimately either cause choke in the upper esophagus or problems in the stomach, later. Read the rest of this entry »
“How to protect your garden from pet pampering” needs to be thought of once you have a big garden or garden with valuable plantations with flowers etc. Whenever the dog is found with digging activities that are not desired in the concerned garden campuses, then provide the dog some sorts of distracting materials like toys etc.
Hence, such activities make much diversion for the dog and finally, the dog engages in some other activities without causing damage to your garden.
Small thorn varieties like barberry may be grown in the garden to protect the plants or flowers from the dogs. However, though some pleasant smell is coming from various herbs or bushes, most of the times, the dog may not be afraid of approaching many plants in the garden.
Battery operated electric fences are now a day available and such fences may not harm the animal but gives a mild shock. Hence, the dog has distractions while trying to enter the garden, which you like to a greater extent for multiple reasons.
Though prickly bush is the nice idea to have in your garden, see that the thorns should not harm your dog.
Try to have a fence with door facility for the garden and open it only when you need. Also you can keep the dog under your direct watch during allowing of your dog into the garden.
Hence, if at all the dog tries to engage in an unwanted activity damaging your garden, you can be able to control it immediately.
Also to avoid damage to certain selected species of the plants in your garden from the dogs, spray some repellents like neem oil nearby those plants.
Hence, when the dog approaches the site, this helps to drive away the dogs due to the effective smell that is not liked by many dogs. Try to adapt some measures that are more practical to adapt for driving away of the dogs from the garden.
Sometimes, you need to express your dissatisfaction by some specific commands to the dog. But, you need to use the same syllable in a high pitch, every time.
For example, when you say no, every time, you need to tell the same thing in same pitch and hence, the dog may understand that it is doing something that is not really liked by the owner. Whatever measure you are taking to protect the dog, this should not lead to any health related problem for your dogs.
To prevent the damage of your garden in your absence, it is better to educate the house keeper on what to do when the animal tries to enter the garden or when the dog attempts to damage the precious plantations available in the garden liked by many of your family members in the house. It is better to give clear-cut instructions in such occasions.
Remember that the dog thinks that you are doing something that is not liked by it, while you many think that the dog is doing something in the garden, which is not liked by you.
First aid to an accident dog is the most important one that is to be given immediately without making much delay. Most of the times, the accident dog may have a severe type of bleeding due to the severe hit by the speeding vehicles on the body.
In such cases, just lift the dog carefully and try to assess the point of bleeding. In that case, place some cotton or pure clothe on the bleeding points and immediately try to transfer the dog to a nearby veterinary hospital for further remedies.
If the bleeding is only minimal, don’t be under the impression that the dog need not be given any first aid seriously.
Most of the time, there may be internal bleeding or some fracture may be there internally and hence, immediately keep the dog in some support system and carry it to the nearby pet animal hospital. Don’t make vigorous movements during such carrying of the dog that has met with an accident.
In case of severe bleeding, some tourniquet may be applied to the point above the bleeding region but with moderate pressure only. If severe type of tourniquet is applied, this may even create some other problem later.
There is nothing wrong in placing some ice cubes at the bleeding points to arrest the bleeding. However, you need to take more care in the placement of ice cubes in a dog during the severe winter season.
If you suspect any fracture as revealed by intense pain at the bony regions of the body, don’t make any movement of the dog’s body and just keep the limbs in an immobilized state and take it to a nearby hospital dealing with pet animals.
If the animal vomits due to the accident encountered, don’t try to control the vomiting by forceful closure of the mouth region. Allow the animal to vomit and in such cases, lowering of the head region may even facilitate the vomiting.
This often helps to avoid the development of aspiratory type of pneumonia in the concerned dog.
Just try to touch the body of the animal. When the surface temperature of the animal is cool as revealed by touch reflex, then use some kinds of warm clothes to cover the body of the dog met with such accidents. Effort like this may give some kinds of immediate relief to the dog in keeping up of the thermoregulatory mechanisms in a right manner.
Similarly, when the dog’s body is so hot, try to place the ice cubes in polythene bad over the head region and this helps to minimize the effects of hyperthermia in the concerned dog.
If the dog is motionless after the accident, try to go for the cardiac massage particularly when you feel on the absence of heartbeats in the concerned dog.
However, provision of warm temperature to the dog in addition to the proper care by tackling the thermo regulatory mechanisms during the first aid will help the dog to have more chances of survival.
Just imagine, you go to the yard and call your pet. It doesn’t turn up. You hurry to the side of the house and call again the pet dog with name. No response still. The fear grips in. you are about to experience what all most all the pet owner fear the most, the feeling that your beloved pet is lost. But in fact this is not the time to panic but to act. Let’s discuss about the things that one has to do at the time of crisis like this.
Things to do
First and foremost thing is to surf the locality completely. Talk to the passersby and the neighbors and inform that the pet is missing. Move about the locality and look for the lost pet preferably early morning or the evening. Take several print of the photo of the pet taken recently and place them at vantage position with the contact number of yours. The photo needs to be place at high traffic areas or veterinary hospital or, animal shelter.
It is the duty of the pet owner to circulate the information about the lost pet at least sixty kilometers radius. The animal shelter in the locality needs to be visited on daily basis. It is better to check the animals at the animal center in person, even though the authorities say that they don’t have any dog matching your description, to rule out the possibility of mistaken identity. Read the rest of this entry »
Beagles and Retrievers are known for their enormous appetites and nonselective feeding habits. A dog’s increased appetite may be an indication of a disease condition. In the cold weather, all the dog is having increased appetite. It is not a problem!
The old saying that dogs will eat only what they need is simply not true — the fact approximately one-third of dogs in US and UK are overweight bears witness to that.
Abnormal Signs of Increased Appetite
A sudden increase in appetite may have an obvious cause, such as an unusual spurt of activity, growth (in young dog), pregnancy, or underfeeding. If the dog’s eating habits have the following characteristics, ther may be an underlying medical problem:
- It eats feces of its own species, or other animals- cows, sheep, or horses, which is called as copraphagia.
- It eats more rapidly than normal, cleaning its bowl as quickly as possible (this may be competitive, if sharing mealtimes with another dog).
- It eats less selectively and sometimes ingests inedible matter. This is called “PICA“.
- The dog demands food at unusual times of day and is unsatisfied when its meal is finished.
Disorders of the adrenal gland and pancreas, including sugar diabetes, may affect appetite, so it’s wise to take a urine sample with you as well. Kidney disease can cause protein loss and muscle wasting, leading the dog to eat more. Even some medicines have the effect of increasing appetite, so be sure to inform the vet if your dog has received any recent treatment.
Intestinal worms are common causes of increased appetite, and your vet cancan carry out a simple test to establish whether they are present in the dog’s stools, or feces. If the worms are ruled out, the vet will look for disorders of eating and swallowing that leave hunger unsatisfied.
Occasionally, however, a dog’s increased appetite is not caused by greed but by one of a number of medical problems. The dog may eat indiscriminately, or develop an unusual eating habit. Vets call this dog’s increased appetite as “POLYPHAGIA”.
Most of the dog owners think that their new puppy brought from pet shop only suffer separation anxiety. No!!! There is every possibility of occurrence of separation anxiety among good old dogs.
One of my friend Jack adopted an English Sheepdog - Roofers at the age of 4 years. He is thought to have been badly treated by his previous owners. He bonded closely to Jack, following him everywhere at home and sleeping beside the bed. In old age Roofers has become increasingly blind, deaf, and arthritic.
In the last 5 months Roofers has been messing in the house whenever he is left alone. He is not incontinent at other times, and a veterinary checkup revealed no urinary or digestive problems. He compulsively licks his forepaws and left foreleg.
As there is no medical cause, Roofers incontinence can be attributed to separation anxiety caused by his increasing dependence on his owners, particularly Jack, as he becomes increasingly deaf and blind, and contact is mainly by touch and scent. Roofers is particularly distressed by his growing isolation because of his mistreatment by his previous owners.
How To Solve This Problem of Separation Anxiety?
- Roofers should be given plenty of attention and physical contact by JACK’s wife when both of them at home.
- Roofers should be provided with warm, comfortable, draft-free bed.
- Jack needs to have exercise and food before being left and he should be given an opportunity to relieve himself.
This is a problem that many owners want help in dealing with. Like most social animals, dogs are territorial to some extent and quick to defend their home territory. encouraging your dog to bark if the doorbell rings or if it hears intruders reinforces their behavior.
Problems start when the dog carries on barking or keeps visitors away. Fear, isolation, poor socialization, and confusion about hierarchy all help bring it about. Biting the mailman is an extreme form of this behavior.
The dog sees that the mailman wears a uniform that singles him out from other visitors. Because he does not come into house, the concludes he is an unwanted visitor. He advances only as far as the mailbox and then retreats again, and the dog come to believe it is his barking that drives the cowardly mailman away.
How To Deal?
Try to persuade your dog he is no threat. Introduce him to mailman away from the mailbox, demonstrating relaxed and friendly behavior as you would with any other visitor. You may have to do this many times.
Do you know separation anxiety is the most important reason for disowning a pet among the dog owners? Separation anxiety is also noticed among German Shepherd Dog. A dog that exhibits one of a variety of forms of behavior, such as barking, howling, destructive activity, house soiling, or obsessive behavior, only when it is left on its own, may be suffering from separation anxiety.
It is mandatory that the dog be thoroughly examined to make sure there is no other underlying cause, such as physical illness. If the problem of behavior also occurs when the owner is present, as well as away from the house, then another cause should be looked for.
Dogs with separation anxiety are usually over-attached to their owners and unable to cope with isolation. They may well be obedient and affectionate but will follow their owner all over the house, even in bathroom.
Typically, they become distressed when their owner gets ready to go out and show elation on his or her return. Fortunately this aberrant behavior will last long for few minutes of the departure of the owner but won’t last long through out the day. Even the dog health will become worsened due to this behavioral problem.
There are numerous factors that predisposes to separation anxiety. German shepherd puppies that spend every hour of the day and night with their owner and are then suddenly left alone will not be able to cope well with the unexpected long period of isolation.
It is important to leave the German Shepherd puppy on its own for short periods of 10 minutes or so to begin with, gradually working up to longer absences. Puppies that have been hand reared, raised in kennels, or sold through pet stores are particularly vulnerable to separation anxiety. Separation anxiety is also common in dogs adopted from rescue shelters.
