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If your animals could talk, what would they say?
Friday, May 28, 2010
Amazing rabbit tricks
Rabbits enjoy doing what we would call "tricks" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgDHWLyztCI
Do You know the most common cause of colic?
The most common cause of colic: http://www.integralhorse.com/index.php?p=104&blog_id=137
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Easy dog tooth care MVI 4122
Our friends from Houndstoo Dental demonstrate how easy and inexpensive it is to take care of our canine friends' teeth.
Good Dog Podcast Blog Pet Friendly Restaurants
Good Dog Podcast Blog
Pet Friendly Restaurants
March 17th, 2009
Ever wonder why it’s OK to bring your dog to dinner in Paris but not in any American city? Hear all about pet-friendly restaurants in this episode of the “Good Dog” podcast with Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant and hosts of the podcast “Stuff You Should Know” and writers/editors at HowStuffWorks.com.
Guilty dog?
Welcome to The Dog Trainer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Teaching and Caring for Your Pet. I’m your host, Jolanta Benal. So, you come home after a long day at work to find your couch stuffing all over the floor, and ditto the kitchen garbage. “Rover!” you exclaim in dismay and anger. Sure enough, Rover slinks over to you, belly low, tail tucked, ears pinned back. Obviously, he knows he did wrong.
Or does he? This week’s topic is a nifty experiment and what it may teach us about doggy guilt.
Alexandra Horowitz, of the Barnard College psychology department, designed an experiment to test whether dogs act guilty because they’ve done something their owner disapproves of, or whether they’re responding to our voice and body language.
How the Experiment Worked
Owners first had to demonstrate that their dog would perform two behaviors: sit and stay for 10 seconds and-- when told not to eat a treat-- leave the treat alone for 10 seconds. Then, in the experiment, each owner asked his or her dog to sit and stay. They showed their dog a treat and told the dog to leave the treat alone. The owner then set the treat on the floor, in a spot where the dog could see it but not reach it. And then the owner left the room for 20 seconds (the experimenter stayed).
During that time, one of two things happened. The experimenter either picked up the treat and handed it to the dog -- who ate it; what a surprise! – or the experimenter took the treat away. Then the owner came back in and the experimenter told him whether his dog ate the treat. If the experimenter said that the dog ate the treat, the owner scolded the dog. If the experimenter said that the dog didn’t eat the treat, the owner just greeted the dog normally.
Now, here’s the punch line -- sometimes the experimenter lied. She told the owner that the dog had eaten the treat when, actually, the dog hadn’t eaten it. Or vice versa.
Scolding Made Dogs Act Guilty
The dogs offered significantly more “guilty” behaviors when they were scolded, regardless of whether they’d eaten the treat. And -- drumroll -- dogs who didn’t eat the treat showed as many guilty-looking behaviors as dogs who did eat it. In other words, how guilty the dogs acted had no connection with their actual “guilt.” In fact, the dogs who acted guiltiest of all were the “innocent” ones being scolded.
Guilty or Fearful?
You won’t be surprised by any of the actions on the list of guilty-looking behaviors. Among other things, dogs dropped to the ground and showed their bellies; they pinned their ears back and looked away from their owners; their tails dropped low; they avoided their owners. Dr. Horowitz, the researcher, points out in her paper that the list of “guilty” behaviors overlaps with the array of behaviors canid ethologists associate with fear and submission. Since the dogs acted “guiltier” when scolded, regardless of what they’d actually done, Dr. Horowitz suggests that they may have been offering submissive behaviors because the scolding made them expect a punishment. “What the guilty look may be,” she writes, “is a look of fearful anticipation of punishment.” And check this out. Three of the owners in the study had a history of using physical reprimands -- forcing the dog down to the ground, grabbing them, even hitting them. Their 3 dogs were among the 4 who offered the highest rate of “guilty” behavior.
Now, the study had only 14 subjects in all. (This is typical of behavioral studies, by the way – few of them include large numbers of dogs.) We certainly can’t draw firm conclusions from such a small sample, much less from the behavior of 3 dog-owner pairs. And the study doesn’t prove that dogs don’t feel guilty. But it does strongly suggest that actual “guilt” -- whatever “guilt” is if you have a forebrain as small as a dog’s -- and looking “guilty” aren’t linked. Fear might have more to do with it.
Anger’s a Time-Waster
As Dr. Horowitz points out, some trainers still advise us to communicate with our dogs as if they understood human moral codes. But probably dogs don’t have that understanding -- or, at least, it doesn’t look as if they do. What if we’re blaming our dogs for doing wrong when they don’t know right from wrong? We’re expecting too much of them and, probably, wasting our time and theirs in being angry.
So what’s your take-home for this week? Just this: next time you’re super double sure your dog knows that she did wrong, and knows what she did wrong, take a deep breath and think again. Maybe you need to train a little more, or change something about your dog’s daily schedule, or get professional help with a behavior problem. Whatever’s going on, a good first step in dealing with it is always going to be “Turn off your mad.”
The citation for Dr. Horowitz’s study appears on my site at dogtrainer.quickanddirtytips.com, along with some suggestions for further reading. I would love to hear from you; your comments and questions help me shape future episodes. Email me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com, phone 206-600-5661, or visit me on Facebook – just search on The Dog Trainer. Bye, and thank you for listening!
References and Further Reading
Hauser, Marc. Wild Minds:What Animals Really Think. Holt, 2000. See especially chapter 9, “Moral Instincts.”
Horowitz, Alexandra. Disambiguating the “guilty look”: Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour. Behavioural Processes 81 (2009): 447-52.
McConnell, Patricia B. For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend. Ballantine Books, 2006.
“What Really Prompts the Dog’s ‘Guilty Look.” ScienceDaily, June 14, 2009. Available at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611065839.htm
Or does he? This week’s topic is a nifty experiment and what it may teach us about doggy guilt.
Alexandra Horowitz, of the Barnard College psychology department, designed an experiment to test whether dogs act guilty because they’ve done something their owner disapproves of, or whether they’re responding to our voice and body language.
How the Experiment Worked
Owners first had to demonstrate that their dog would perform two behaviors: sit and stay for 10 seconds and-- when told not to eat a treat-- leave the treat alone for 10 seconds. Then, in the experiment, each owner asked his or her dog to sit and stay. They showed their dog a treat and told the dog to leave the treat alone. The owner then set the treat on the floor, in a spot where the dog could see it but not reach it. And then the owner left the room for 20 seconds (the experimenter stayed).
During that time, one of two things happened. The experimenter either picked up the treat and handed it to the dog -- who ate it; what a surprise! – or the experimenter took the treat away. Then the owner came back in and the experimenter told him whether his dog ate the treat. If the experimenter said that the dog ate the treat, the owner scolded the dog. If the experimenter said that the dog didn’t eat the treat, the owner just greeted the dog normally.
Now, here’s the punch line -- sometimes the experimenter lied. She told the owner that the dog had eaten the treat when, actually, the dog hadn’t eaten it. Or vice versa.
Scolding Made Dogs Act Guilty
The dogs offered significantly more “guilty” behaviors when they were scolded, regardless of whether they’d eaten the treat. And -- drumroll -- dogs who didn’t eat the treat showed as many guilty-looking behaviors as dogs who did eat it. In other words, how guilty the dogs acted had no connection with their actual “guilt.” In fact, the dogs who acted guiltiest of all were the “innocent” ones being scolded.
Guilty or Fearful?
You won’t be surprised by any of the actions on the list of guilty-looking behaviors. Among other things, dogs dropped to the ground and showed their bellies; they pinned their ears back and looked away from their owners; their tails dropped low; they avoided their owners. Dr. Horowitz, the researcher, points out in her paper that the list of “guilty” behaviors overlaps with the array of behaviors canid ethologists associate with fear and submission. Since the dogs acted “guiltier” when scolded, regardless of what they’d actually done, Dr. Horowitz suggests that they may have been offering submissive behaviors because the scolding made them expect a punishment. “What the guilty look may be,” she writes, “is a look of fearful anticipation of punishment.” And check this out. Three of the owners in the study had a history of using physical reprimands -- forcing the dog down to the ground, grabbing them, even hitting them. Their 3 dogs were among the 4 who offered the highest rate of “guilty” behavior.
Now, the study had only 14 subjects in all. (This is typical of behavioral studies, by the way – few of them include large numbers of dogs.) We certainly can’t draw firm conclusions from such a small sample, much less from the behavior of 3 dog-owner pairs. And the study doesn’t prove that dogs don’t feel guilty. But it does strongly suggest that actual “guilt” -- whatever “guilt” is if you have a forebrain as small as a dog’s -- and looking “guilty” aren’t linked. Fear might have more to do with it.
Anger’s a Time-Waster
As Dr. Horowitz points out, some trainers still advise us to communicate with our dogs as if they understood human moral codes. But probably dogs don’t have that understanding -- or, at least, it doesn’t look as if they do. What if we’re blaming our dogs for doing wrong when they don’t know right from wrong? We’re expecting too much of them and, probably, wasting our time and theirs in being angry.
So what’s your take-home for this week? Just this: next time you’re super double sure your dog knows that she did wrong, and knows what she did wrong, take a deep breath and think again. Maybe you need to train a little more, or change something about your dog’s daily schedule, or get professional help with a behavior problem. Whatever’s going on, a good first step in dealing with it is always going to be “Turn off your mad.”
The citation for Dr. Horowitz’s study appears on my site at dogtrainer.quickanddirtytips.com, along with some suggestions for further reading. I would love to hear from you; your comments and questions help me shape future episodes. Email me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com, phone 206-600-5661, or visit me on Facebook – just search on The Dog Trainer. Bye, and thank you for listening!
References and Further Reading
Hauser, Marc. Wild Minds:What Animals Really Think. Holt, 2000. See especially chapter 9, “Moral Instincts.”
Horowitz, Alexandra. Disambiguating the “guilty look”: Salient prompts to a familiar dog behaviour. Behavioural Processes 81 (2009): 447-52.
McConnell, Patricia B. For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend. Ballantine Books, 2006.
“What Really Prompts the Dog’s ‘Guilty Look.” ScienceDaily, June 14, 2009. Available at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611065839.htm
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Horse | CEM: Lower-Cost Stallion Testing Continues
The Horse | CEM: Lower-Cost Stallion Testing Continues
In an effort to show that Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) does not exist or is at very low levels in the US equine horse population, the USDA is offering lower-cost testing to owners of active breeding stallions through August. It is part of a nationwide survey, with the goal of sampling 3,000 stallions.
Conducted under the auspices of the USDA Animal and Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the voluntary testing will involve all breeds and most of the 50 states. The numbers are based on the National Animal Health Monitoring System estimates of breeding stallion populations in each state. For example, APHIS officials hope to test more than 300 stallions in both Texas and Kentucky, nearly 200 in California, and more than 100 in Florida.
The USDA will pay shipping and lab diagnostic costs for one set of samples. Stallion owners must pay the costs of collecting the samples, to be done by a USDA-accredited equine veterinarian.
"We hope to get a representative sample of a state's overall active stallion breeding population," said Jim Barrett, public affairs specialist and emergency coordinator with APHIS. “The goal is to sample 3,000 of the most active breeding stallions from around the United States."
The bacterium Taylorella equigenitalis causes CEM, a transmissible venereal equine disease. The last US outbreak of CEM occurred in early 2009, and APHIS reports that as of early January of this year, 94% of the horses involved in that outbreak are free of the disease. Barrett noted that none of the stallions involved in the current round of testing has tested positive.
Barrett pointed out several advantages to stallion owners to participate in the testing survey. "First, this is an opportunity to determine that your stallion likely does not have the bacterium that causes CEM and that he is not spreading it to other horses," he said. "Second, you may need a negative test result in order to have your stallion collected or bred at a commercial facility this year. Third, if you have any reason to suspect that your stallion is positive, this is a chance to find out with minimal financial impact."
Kentucky's Office of State Veterinarian supports and is helping to facilitate the testing, said staff assistant Rusty Ford. Kentucky routinely conducts CEM surveillance of its Thoroughbred population, and Ford said that surveying the country’s stallion population would help Kentucky's international trade.
"We do not, though, have this same level of surveillance in many of our other breeds," said Ford. "For this reason, culturing non-Thoroughbred stallions in Kentucky and throughout the country would appear to be the most efficient use of funds for providing useful information enabling us to determine if there remains a prevalence of CEM carrier stallions in the United States."
Ford outlined another benefit to the national testing. If the US can claim its horse population CEM-free, the USDA will better be able to negotiate entry requirements for horses to other countries.
"Reducing the required CEM testing will effectively lower the cost associated with exporting the horse for a realized net savings," he said.
The survey has some limitations, such as the maximum number of stallions to be sampled at any one facility is 50%, but not more than 20 stallions per facility.
Stallion owners interested in participating in the testing program should contact a Veterinary Services area office or a state animal health official's office. To find the nearest office, visit www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/area_offices/.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
What are Signs that Your Dog Is Stressed?
Most people who live with dogs recognize some of the “bigger” clues that a dog’s anxious, uncomfortable, or outright scared--cowering, whining, and a tucked tail, to name just three. This article discusses a few more subtle signs. They generally don’t reflect full-blown panic, but they tell you that all’s not quite right in Dogalini World.
If we can decode our dogs’ body language, we can bail out sensitive dogs before they get overwhelmed. And even boneheaded, happy-go-lucky types may find some situations too much for them. Come to think of it, watching them closely may reveal that they’re not such boneheads after all.
Why It’s Important to Notice Your Dog Is Stressed
When we recognize our dogs’ stress signals and take action to help them out, we’re taking care both of the dog and of ourselves. I often remember an aging dog named Jack whose humans noticed that he always retreated from their toddler’s approach. They thought nothing of it, so Jack’s repeated nonaggressive signals that he disliked kiddy-style handling didn’t get through. Jack finally bit. The child had to have stitches, and Jack lost his home. What a lot of preventable grief.
Of course, you don’t need to intervene every time your dog experiences stress. For instance, he might startle easily at the sound of a car backfiring, then relax and go back to sniffing the hydrant a few seconds later. There’s probably no big issue here. On the other hand, I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every client who told me a bite came out of the blue and then went on to describe in clear detail the half-dozen signs of distress her dog gave her. The human saw them all, but didn’t understand.
What Signs Tell You a Dog Is Stressed?
A dog who’s a bit worried about a person, another animal, or a situation may turn her head away. Commonly, you’ll be able to see the whites of her eyes at the same time, as she looks sidelong at whatever the problem is. Never, ever touch or even approach a dog who’s gone still and shows the whites of her eyes, because $5 will get you $10 she’s on the verge of exploding with a lunge, a snap, or even a bite.
Other Signs of a Stressed Dog
Never, ever touch or even approach a dog who’s gone still and shows the whites of her eyes.
A related but less potentially explosive behavior is ignoring--just what it sounds like. I take regular walks with a colleague, Jenny Chun, to help her dog Lucy gain some canine social skills. My boy Juni isn’t socially adept by any means, but Lucy makes him look like Perez Hilton. As we walk side by side, Jenny and I can see Lucy glancing at Juni out of the corners of her eyes, over and over and over again. After a minute or two, she’ll veer off and start ostentatiously sniffing … something or other. I don’t think it matters what; you can almost see the thought balloon reading “Dog? What dog? I don’t see any dog. Ni ni ni ni.”
Lucy isn’t showing bad leash manners or blowing Jenny off. Her sniffing in this particular situation is what’s called a “displacement behavior” (1). Displacement behaviors are completely normal but turn up out of context or when an animal experiences conflict between two motivations. In Lucy’s case, probably she’s both socially interested in Juni, and anxious about close contact with him. She keeps an eye on him till she can’t stand it anymore, and then she just has to sniff.
What a Sniffing Dog Might Also Mean
You’ll also often see a dog sniffing the ground as he makes his way sloooowly back to a person who’s yelling at him to get over here right now. Here, the sniffing is probably not a displacement behavior--combined with the slow approach, it directly signals appeasement and deference. The dog is saying, in effect, “I mean you no harm, I offer no challenge, see how I don’t just rush right up to you rudely while staring in your face?” Stop yelling, Yelling Person, and show your dog some happy-voice love.
Drooling, Paw Sweat, and Shedding Can Signal Dog Stress
A surprising number of clues to anxiety involve stuff coming off the dog’s body. Drool? Check, though drool may also suggest nausea or dental problems. Paw sweat? Check. Watch the floor tile at the vet’s office, for instance. Shedding? Check. To stick with the example of the vet’s office, there’s a reason you come home from Dogalini’s annual checkup with even more hair on your clothes than usual. Dogs shed copiously when nervous.
Urine Marking Can Signal Stress
While we’re on the subject of stuff coming off the dog’s body, consider urine. You’ve probably met puppies who dribble when they’re excited or intimidated--that’s not news. But if you have a reactive dog, male or female, who urine-marks, watch what happens immediately after he blows up at another dog. Often, the reactive dog heads for the nearest vertical surface and lifts leg. I don’t think anyone knows exactly what this behavior means in this context. It’s probably not much use as a signal to the other dog who’s gone by then. My rough guess is that it somehow closes the episode or brings the curtain down. Maybe it’s a dog’s way of saying “Phew! That’s over with.” Or maybe the stress of an explosive episode just triggers the urge to pee.
Genital Licking Can Signal Stress
We’ve all heard the old joke about why dogs lick their genitals. Who knows, the joke reason may even be for real. Dogs also lick their genitals to clean them, of course, and licking turns up as a displacement behavior in moments of anxiety or conflict as well. One common scenario: A person walking his dog stops to talk to a friend. They talk about the dog. They look at the dog fixedly for a long time. All of a sudden the dog sits back and licks his penis. The bright red crown pokes out of the sheath. The dog’s guardian says, “Sheesh, Zippy, way to pick your moment!” and everybody laughs. The Dog Trainer points out that prolonged gazing can elicit anxiety in dogs. Hence the out-of-context erection and personal grooming moves. Just be grateful your dog doesn’t head for a bikini wax when he feels a little bit on edge.
There’s so much more to canine body language and signaling than I can cover here. Humping, yawning, barking, and even going to sleep may indicate that a dog is overstressed. I’ve discussed tails and faces in other articles in this series. You can also check out the books and websites listed in the Resources section below, including a link to a short video of Lucy showing stress at the vet’s office.
That’s all for this week’s article. I hope you’ll visit me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, where I’m Dogalini, and write to me at dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and I answer as many questions as I can. Thank you for reading!
Note
1. Here’s an excellent discussion of displacement behaviors in the context of a question about a dog’s drinking from her water bowl whenever her people come home.
Resources
Sophie Collins. Tail Talk: Understanding the Secret Language of Dogs (2007).
Barbara Handelman. Canine Behavior: A Photo Illustrated Handbook (2008).
Brenda Aloff. Canine Body Language: A Photographic Guide (2005).
Sarah Kalnajs. The Language of Dogs (DVDs; 2006).
My friend Eric Goebelbecker’s nifty little article on dog body language.
Stacy Breslau-Schneck, “Talking Dog: Body Language”
The video of Juni’s friend Lucy at the vet’s office.
The Dog Trainer : Leaving Your Dog Home Alone :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™
The Dog Trainer : Leaving Your Dog Home Alone :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™
Maybe someday we’ll all have dog-friendly workplaces and mass transit. Or perhaps be herding sheep and cows. Meanwhile, call me at 206-600-5661, or e-mail dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I answer questions on Facebook, too – find me by searching for “The Dog Trainer.”
Once upon a time, in the perhaps somewhat legendary past, dogs spent their days outdoors, working at their masters’ sides. Cue the theme from “Lassie.”
Tips for Leaving Your Dog Home Alone
These days, most of our dogs spend their people’s workdays at home alone. Often they’re bored and lonely. Fortunately, we can help that time pass easily -- without spending a lot of money.
Make ’Em Tired
The best thing you can do for your home-alone dog is supply some good, hard, first-thing-in-the-morning exercise. You saw that coming, right? How much exercise -- and what kind -- depends on your dog’s age, fitness, body type, and state of health, and also on the weather. Is your dog old, arthritic, and short-nosed, or is she an adolescent Border Collie mix? Is it 90 degrees out, 15, or 55? Check with your vet if you have questions about your dog’s exercise tolerance. The result you’re looking for is that your dog gets home and flops down on his bed to snooze. For most dogs, off-leash running, trotting, and sniffing are ideal, because they supply not only varied physical exercise, but mental stimulation as well.
Keep ’Em Busy
Next, put away your dog’s food bowl and use food-dispensing toys instead. Some toys--such as the Kong--can be stuffed. I often suggest a mixture of half canned and half dry food. For champion chewers, freeze the stuffed toy until it’s hard, so as to make a long-lasting excavation project. Other toys release dry food piece by piece when the dog knocks or pushes them around. Some of these toys offer variable difficulty levels, so you can frustrate your dog just enough to keep her active and engaged, like Grandma at the slots. Did you forget to wash out the food toys from the day before? Then take your dog’s entire breakfast ration of dry food and scatter it on the floor as you leave the house. Successful foraging is most dogs’ idea of a good time.
Do test-drive chew toys when you’re home and can supervise. Many food-dispensing toys will stand up to all but a minority of jaws, but others aren’t suited to hardcore chewers and may crack. If your dog can break the toy or chew pieces off, he and it need a chaperone. Rawhides and natural bones are also unsuitable for a solo dog.
Doggie Daycare and Dog Walkers
Daycare is a common suggestion for home-alone dogs. But many dogs don’t enjoy the company of their fellows, and many of us can’t afford the fees these days. If you can possibly spring for a daily dog walk, though, do it. Yes, many dogs are capable of holding their urine and feces all day long. But it’s not good for them. Dr. Marcela Salas, of Animal Kind Veterinary Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, explains that holding on for long periods can lead to urinary tract infections. And the highly concentrated urine a dog produces during a long wait can increase the likelihood of crystal formation and cystitis. Dr. Salas also points out that if your dog is old and creaky, she’ll benefit from getting up and taking a walk.
If you can’t afford a professional walker, trade favors with people. Maybe a job-hunting friend would like someone to drool on her bathrobe while she rewrites her resume for the dozenth time. Bake her some cupcakes when you get home. Or maybe your dog isn’t a candidate for daycare but does have canine friends. Can you trade a workday playdate for an extra Saturday afternoon walk?
Don’t Leave Your Dog Alone Outside
One idea I don’t endorse is leaving your dog out in the yard. One idea I don’t endorse is leaving your dog out in the yard. Even assuming your fence is tall enough and dug deep enough to keep him from escaping no matter what, dogs left alone outside are vulnerable to intruders. Besides, a dog in the yard by himself isn’t keeping fit with calisthenics. At worst, he’s working on problem behaviors such as barking and lunging at passersby; at best, he’s hanging around by the back door hoping somebody will come and let him in again.
Signs of Separation Anxiety
Finally, boredom, pent-up energy, and loneliness are one thing; separation anxiety’s another. Does your dog get restless and whiny as you prepare to leave? Does she gnaw at doors and windowsills while you’re away? Will he not eat when alone? These are a few of the behaviors associated with genuine separation anxiety. If they ring a bell, get competent, in-person help; usually, separation issues are best treated by combining appropriate medication with behavioral techniques.
Maybe someday we’ll all have dog-friendly workplaces and mass transit. Or perhaps be herding sheep and cows. Meanwhile, call me at 206-600-5661, or e-mail dogtrainer@quickanddirtytips.com. I answer questions on Facebook, too – find me by searching for “The Dog Trainer.”
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