"Other Nations"

 The first blog I wrote was 'The Importance of Sniffing on a Dog Walk' . Please check it out if you haven't seen it already. I've been inspired to write this further blog on sniffing because of information I've learned recently from an online talk 1  by  Shay Kelly BSc   (Canine Behaviour Consultant and author) and a webinar 2  by  Katrien Lismont   (International Pet Dog Behaviour Trainer). I knew that through their sniffing, dogs get interesting information about the other dogs that have passed that way – things like their age, health and so on. Generally interesting stuff for dogs. They also love investigating non-dog related stuff of course – things like discarded food wrappers for example! What I had never considered before Shay Kelly's talk is that dogs can smell the emotional state of other dogs 3  (and people). They can smell stress chemicals, for example. This will form part of the information dogs are assessing when they are out...

Walking towards your dog, taking a curved route rather than a straight approach, is a nice thing you can do for him or her in your everyday life together.  Why would we do that? Dogs have a preference for non-direct approaches. Going straight up to another dog (i.e. direct route, body orientated straight-on, face to face) is generally not the way dogs go about things. Dogs who possess competent canine social skills, when going about their business, will communicate lack of intent towards those around them through the use of the direction they walk, the way they orientate their bodies relative to others, lack of direct eye contact etc. In addition, should socially competent dogs want to engage in a greeting, it will be a reciprocal arrangement involving curved/indirect approaches. If a dog is being aggressive or a dog wants to intimidate another dog that's when they are likely to use a direct approach. Alternatively, a dog may be over-excited and not have the social skills to put c...

 This blog about dog play is not a stand alone piece. Please also read Part 1 as it's vitally important when you have dogs or have others' dogs in your care to know when something that might look like play is not play but something else entirely. So now let's look at signs of good play. Play as a state of mind Play can be viewed as a state of mind. It involves its own neural structure in the brain 1 and feels good because of the hormones and neurotransmitters it involves which include dopamine, oxytocin and endogenous opioids. How do dogs let each other know it's play and not real fighting, biting and pursuit? Play between dogs is made up from fragments of other behaviours such as predation, fighting and mating. Therefore there has to be a way to let each other know that it's “just pretend” so no one gets scared and the enjoyable state of play can take place. Dogs do this by the use of ' play signals ' to each other such as: Exaggerated, inefficient moveme...

 Dog play is a big topic so I am going to discuss it in two parts, like I did with 'Petting Dogs'. In addition, I will suggest some further reading in case you are really interested in this topic. Let's start by looking at what  isn't play Play between dogs has to be fun for each dog involved. It has to be voluntarily entered into and a dog has to be able to leave any time they want to . A dog won't play unless they feel safe,  both mentally and physically. They won't play if, for instance, they are afraid or if they are ill or in pain. This is really important and helps us to identify situations that might look like play, but may be something else entirely.  So when we think of a dog's need to feel safe as being an essential prerequisite for play, we can see that those 'play' episodes we sometimes see are not actually play. For example, one dog is bouncing happily round another dog and, although the other dog is responding, they are doing so...

 If you live with a reactive dog you'll know how their reactivity limits the things you and your dog can do together, the places you can go together and the times of the day you can go there. It's not easy and the chances are you may have experienced stress, frustration and annoyance at how your dog behaves. It can also be very upsetting to see your dog distressed over things others take for granted. You'll also know their reactivity is only a part of who they are. Reacting to things is inbuilt Reacting to things, whether it is a real threat or a perceived threat is inbuilt. It's a fear response which is essential for survival. Think of that involuntary reaction when you jump at something before you've even registered what it is you've been scared by. Why is the dog 'going mad' at things that are just normal, everyday things to the rest of us? It's an issue of how the dog processes things, explains dog behaviour practitioner Andrew Hale*, who d...

 Dogs growl as a means of communication and it is important to realise that this can mean many things. It may mean another dog, or a person, is behaving in a way that it causing them stress or annoyance. Although they can’t speak the way we do, they have their own vocal language to communicate. One specific use of growling  This blog is going to look at just one specific use of growling - a dog growling when people they aren’t familiar with (or maybe people they aren’t particularly close to) move about the room, stand in a doorway, stand in the room talking etc. All of these scenarios could also happen outside in the garden, or anywhere really. The dog is showing their anxiety  Ok, so you’re sitting with your dog in the company of people the dog isn’t really used to. Someone gets up and starts to move about to do something. Not something to do with the dog, just some business of the person’s own.  Some nervous dogs can really struggle with this. A nervous do...