Dog Behavior Archives | Page 5 of 23

Dog Behavior

Why Dogs Eat Grass — And How To Prevent It

Your dog begs to be let outside, immediately downs several mouthfuls of grass… and then promptly vomits it all up. Or maybe your dog is more of connoisseur, hunting for just the right blade to nosh on, with no side effects afterwards. It’s a common behavior that baffles many dog owners. In fact, one survey found that grass is the most commonly eaten plant by dogs. But why do they do it? Here’s the truth: we’re not 100 percent sure. It’s likely there’s not one simple answer. Different dogs may eat grass for different reasons. But understanding why your

September 19, 2019 No Comments

Aggressive Dogs

Why Dog Bites Happen And How To Stop Dog Biting

5 Main Reasons Dogs Bite Approximately four and a half million people are bitten by dogs in the United States every year and one fifth of them end up needing medical attention for their wounds. Children are the most common victims with half of bite wound victims being under the age of thirteen. Children are much more likely to be severely injured by dog bites due to their small size and not being aware of how one should act around a dog. Most dog bites occur while interacting with familiar dogs thus the need to educate people and their children

September 18, 2019 No Comments

All About Dogs

Why Does My Dog Wag Its Tail?

All animals communicate with energy and body language, and it’s easy to tell just from body language whether they’re fearful or aggressive. But, beyond body language, for many animals there are three important body parts with which they communicate. Animals’ primary methods of communicating are through eye contact, their ear position, and their tails. When an animal is being defensive or aggressive, it will make eye contact to tell whatever it’s facing to back off. When an animal is alert to danger, its ears will stand straight up. But the most important thing to watch is the tail. A tail

September 17, 2019 No Comments

Agression

Why Do Dogs Howl?

You’ve probably been here before: you’re leading your dog around the neighborhood on a typical pack walk when suddenly there’s a siren way off in the distance. You barely notice it, but your dog’s ears immediately perk up. As it gets closer and closer (and louder and louder), she becomes more and more agitated or excited. Finally, it rounds the corner, headed your way, and as it nears you and passes by, your pooch lets loose with a glorious howl, head thrown back like she was a wolf out in the desert. What’s going on here? Why do dogs howl?

September 17, 2019 No Comments

Agression

What To Do If You’re Bitten By A Dog

Dog bites can happen for a lot of reasons, from a puppy in the teething stage nipping you to an attack by a strange dog on the street. When dealing with dog bites, there are certain steps to take, but what to do depends upon the circumstances and severity of the injury. Here’s our advice on dealing with dog bites, starting with what to do in every case. Superficial Wounds If it’s a superficial scrape or gash, clean the wound with running water, and then hydrogen peroxide or isopropyl alcohol. Apply a topical antibiotic and cover with a bandage.

September 17, 2019 No Comments

Cesar Millan

Letting It Be

When a dog is misbehaving, what’s the one common element, no matter what the problem is? Think about the misbehaviors: jumping on people, pulling on the walk, barking too much, peeing in the house, chewing things up, being aggressive, being fearful… They all sound like a lot of different issues, don’t they? How Are Different Behaviors Related After all, the same thing can’t possibly make one dog aggressive and the other fearful. A dog won’t bark for the same reason that it pulls on the walk. Right? Yes, and no. The behaviors are very different, but they are all signs

September 8, 2019 No Comments

All About Dogs

How Dogs Have A Sixth Sense

Recently, we ran a story asking whether or not dogs can read our minds, and the conclusion is that apparent canine psychic ability is an illusion. What’s really going on is that dogs are so in tune to us that they learn to predict what we’re going to do before we realize we’re even giving any signs of our intentions. But there are other cases when dogs apparently know things well in advance that they could not possibly know — when an earthquake or storm is coming; when a human is going to have a seizure or has certain illnesses,

September 4, 2019 No Comments

Rehabilitating A Dog That’s Been Bitten

It’s probably in every dog lover’s top five nightmare scenarios — your dog is attacked and bitten by another dog, possibly seriously enough to require veterinary care. It can be traumatic for everyone involved, human and dog. So what’s the best way to deal with the situation, when it happens and afterwards? If it hasn’t happened to you yet, the first thing to remember if it does is to stay calm and quiet. Yelling or otherwise panicking will just make it worse because it will fuel the aggression between the dogs. But do try to get the biting dog off

August 25, 2019 No Comments

Chewing Inappropriate Objects

Things My Dog Ate

Have you ever found something bizarre in your dog’s droppings or had to rush to the veterinarian because he ingested something that he shouldn’t have? Even the best-trained dogs have had days where they decided to munch on something outrageous. This is such a common problem that there have been entire shows, such as Nat Geo Wild’s “My Dog Ate What!?!”, dedicated to sharing the stories of what dog owners have discovered that their pets swallowed. While we strictly recommend an immediate trip to the vet upon finding out that your pup slurped down anything non-edible or deemed hazardous, we

August 23, 2019 No Comments

Barking and Howling

What Your Dog’s Barking Means

Are you able to tell whether your dog is happy, sad, angry or afraid? Many dog owners claim they can tell exactly what kind of mood their dog is in based on the variances in the barks and noises they give off. A recent experiment in Hungary set out to test the theory that humans are able to distinguish their dog’s emotional intentions conveyed in a variety of barks. Under the advisory of Dr. Ádám Miklósi of Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, a team of researchers at one of the world’s first facilities dedicated towards investigating the human-dog relationship conducted

August 12, 2019 No Comments