Why do dogs chase their tails? Do they enjoy it? Do they know the tail is theirs?
Some common theories about why dogs chase their tails are:
They're bored and chasing their tail is fun.
People laugh when they chase their tails and they are looking for attention.
The tail itches. (If your dog is scratching all over, including itching the tail, you may want to make sure they don't have fleas or a skin condition.)
As a stress reducer. If your dog just started chasing his tail, you might want to consider what else has recently changed in his life.
Lack of exercise.
It's fun! (Ever watched a kid spin in circles?)
While chasing their tail is a normal dog activity, if it is excessive or causes problems (like they are actually gnawing on their tail), you may want to try to stop it. Do this by rewarding your dog when he or she is quiet, taking them for more walks and providing them with more toys or other entertainment. If it's not excessive, enjoy it!
There are many ways to discipline your dog. Be careful when using them that you are disciplining your dog while they are doing the bad behavior and not after they’ve quit. For example, if your dog is barking in the back yard and every time you come to the door, he stops barking and you yell at him, he may not get that you are yelling at him for barking earlier. If you yell at him every time he barks at someone, he might associate your barking with other people showing up and assume the other people are bad. You don’t yell at him when they aren’t around, right?
Distract. Make a loud noise to distract your puppy from whatever they are doing. A loud yell, a slap on the table or shake a jar with a few pennies in it. This should startle him and focus his attention on you.
Scruff-Shake. Grab the fur under his ear on his neck and shake – a “brief but brisk shake”. This works best if you catch them in the act and the scruff-shake is a surprise.
Put-Down. Push the puppy over (quickly but gently) either on to his side or onto his back and lean over him. This reinforces that you are dominant.
Isolation. Say no and then ignore your puppy. Puppies are very social and they won’t like it that you aren’t paying attention to them.
Time-Out. Put the puppy outside for a few minutes and then try the same situation again. Or you can stop playing or interacting with the puppy for a few minutes, if you were part of the situation.
Squirt Bottles. Say “off” or “no” and squirt your dog at the same time. Water guns make this fun for you. Unfortunately many dogs (and cats) find this a fun game as well. Rutherford and Neil suggest using vinegar then, one part vinegar to six parts water.
Sit Command. Right after saying no, say sit. This gives your dog something else to do other than the bad thing. I’ve also found it effective to just say sit. Usually when they sit they can no longer do whatever it is you didn’t like.
My dad used to swat our puppy with an empty plastic milk jug or rolled up newspaper. It was probably the distraction that worked, not the being hit.
What methods of discipline work best for you and your dog?
The “critical period of socialization” for a puppy is between 3 and 13 weeks of age. It starts when the puppy opens her eyes at 3 weeks of age and is strongest for the next 10 weeks, but dogs never lose the ability to bond.
From 3 to 5 weeks old, puppies explore everything new in their environment and show no fear. By 5 weeks of age, they start avoiding new things and situations.
Puppies are usually separated from their litter mates and placed with people between 6 and 8 weeks of age but it’s best if they get a lot of social interaction with people starting a three weeks. Puppies that are removed from their litters earlier often don’t know how to interact with other dogs! (Many of us may have know one of these dogs – does your dog think it’s human?)
Your dog’s tail says a lot about how he’s feeling.
A happy dog that is busy interacting or exploring will hold his tail high and wag it horizontally. When he stops to check something out, the tail drops and stops wagging.
If two dogs meet, the dominant dog will hold her tail high and the submissive dog will hold her tail lower and may even tuck it between her legs.
If a dog is threatened, he’ll hold is hail high, either straight up or even curled over his back. The tail will be still or may vibrate, especially if two dogs are meeting and don’t yet know which one is dominant.
When your dog’s tail is tucked between her legs, she’s scared or uncertain. (My dog Teddy used to tuck it so far under that it laid against her stomach!)
A female dog in heat will hold her tail off to one side.
What have you noticed about your dog’s tail position?
Ever wondered if your dog is really smiling at you? You certainly know he’s happy to see you and it looks like he’s smiling …
Dogs are capable of facial expressions, just not as many as humans.
Your dog’s smile might mean that he’s happy to see you and he knows he submissive to you. The submissive grin, where the corners of the mouth are pulled back, indicates subordination or insecurity. It sometimes goes along with a licking motion.
Dogs also “smile” when threatened. In this type of smile you can see their teeth, in particular the upper lip is lifted enough to see their canine teeth.
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!
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!
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!
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.
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!
