Humans for Dogs

Dogs learn and imitate selectively

Dogs imitate, but don't ape quotes a study that shows that dogs not only imitate behavior but they understand the goal and the workarounds.

In the study, dogs were faced with the task of opening a container with food by pulling a rod. Whereas dogs prefer to use the mouth for this task, a female dog was trained to open the box with her paw. When the other dogs observed the female’s action, they imitated it in order to get the food. However, the dogs imitated selectively. They used their mouths instead of their paws for manipulating the rod when they had seen the demonstrating dog using her paw while holding a ball in her mouth. However, when the demonstrating dog’s mouth was free, the dogs imitated her action completely and used the paw themselves.

So they understood she was using her paw because her mouth was full!

Does your dog love you? Watch his tail.

This New York Times article describes a new study that found that dogs tails wag more to the right when they are happy and more to the left when they are scared:

Thus when dogs were attracted to something, including a benign, approachable cat, their tails wagged right, and when they were fearful, their tails went left, Dr. Vallortigara said. It suggests that the muscles in the right side of the tail reflect positive emotions while the muscles in the left side express negative ones.

Our dog's tail wags so hard, it's hard to see which way it's wagging!

Photo by Laertes.

Helping your puppy to not be food aggressive

When Teddy was a puppy I wanted to be very sure that she never got “food aggressive.” Whenever anybody came over to the house I’d have them stick their hand in her bowl and then pretend to eat some of her food. When I was sure it was safe, I had kids do it as well. I still would never trust a dog not to defend their food, but I feel a lot safer knowing that she’s let lots of people play with her food! (Especially now that she’s in kidney failure and always hungry, I worry about the kids – someday she may want their food!) The only time she’s ever growled over her food is at Chase, our chocolate lab. It’s ok for people to take her food, but not Chase! 

Photo by  Jan Tik.

Help! My puppy chews my shoelaces!

First, remember your puppy is just exploring the world.  But don't forget that cute behavior in a two month old puppy might become unbearable in a two year old dog so now's the time to teach your puppy what's acceptable.

If your puppy is pulling on your shoelaces, don't laugh or ooh and ahh no matter how cute he is.  Tell him no very firmly and offer him his toy.  Praise him when he lets go of your shoelace and takes the toy. 

Any other methods that work well for you?

Photo by grazie, davvaro.

Don't let your dog down!

Dogs pay a lot of attention to routine.  My dad came to visit once and I let him sleep in my bed and I slept in the living room.  Every morning he took Teddy for a walk while he was waiting for me to wake up.  After he left, I couldn't figure out why Teddy kept running around my bed in the middle of the night.  Turns out it wasn't the middle of the night, it was 5 am.  Walk time!

Photo by It'sGreg.

Keeping Warm by Sitting on Your Shoes

This kitten is sitting on the slipper to stay warm - the floor is cold.  The picture reminded me of snowshoeing with my dog Teddy.  Whenever we stop for a break she sits on the back of my snowshoes to get off the snow.

Picture by Farl.

Prozac for Dogs

Eli Lilly & Co. will be shipping Prozac for dogs under the brand name Reconcile.  According to the press release, it should be used to help dogs who suffer anxiety attacks when separated from their owners - that it will help with panic attacks and the bad behaviors associated with them.  They also say it should be used in conjunction with behavior modifications.
I think you should stick to behavior modifications.  Try crate training or least confining your dog to a single room if he or she has seperation anxiety.

Photo by Altweibersommer.

Why is my dog aggressive on leash?

One of my friend's dogs is the nicest dog ever ... off leash.  On leash he takes exception to just about every male dog out there.  If your dog is more aggressive on leash, it's possible that he feels trapped.  Off leash, he can meet other dogs how he wants to - when he wants to, where he wants to, how he wants to and he's free to take off running or to fight.  On leash, his only option is to meet them head on and to stand and fight.  He probably feels trapped and that's why he gets aggressive.  This article does a good job of explaining the problem and suggesting a method for gradually eliminating the aggressive behavior.

Is he a dog or a horse?

This little pony grew up with dogs and he fetches sticks and frisbees!

The horse who thinks he's a dog | Metro.co.uk.

Lifting a leg to urinate

This writer wants to know how to teach their male dog how to lift their leg to pee.

I do think it's possible to teach a male dog to lift their leg or to not lift their leg.  It is some thing that can be learned either way.  I used to raise guide dogs for people with sight problems and we worked hard to make sure the male dogs never lifted their leg when they urinated.  (We didn't want them marking territory in inappropriate places.)  The way we did it was to make sure there was never a high object nearby when they urinated - it was always in the middle of the yard.