Ten Things Every Dog Owner Should Know
1. A dog is a dog.
Some people assume their dogs communicate the same way that humans do and, therefore, they try to communicate with dogs the way they would with another person. This is the greatest misconception of many dog owners. Although domesticated for thousands of years, dogs in the wild have always lived in packs. Today, dogs live by the same rules and exhibit many of the same behavioral patterns as their wild ancestors. Therefore, as dog owners, you need to realize dogs have different needs; to effectively train your dog, you must first understand its instinctual pack behavior.
2. All dogs think in terms of the pack.
In the wild, dogs have always lived in packs. They instinctively know that living with others, under the leadership of a dominant member of the pack, enhances their chances for survival. Therefore, pack animals not only want to live with others, but they also are content having leaders who are strong, consistent and fair. As a dog owner, one of your responsibilities is to learn and model these characteristics so that you will be accepted as the pack leader. Thus, your dog will learn to respect and obey you.
3. Dogs don't understand English.
To believe your dog fully understands human-based communications is as unreasonable as thinking you know everything your dog is trying to say when it barks. A dog’s communication is limited primarily to barking, growling and other guttural sounds, and they also rely heavily on body language. By understanding how dogs communicate, you will avoid the mistake of telling your dog one thing while your body language and voice sound tells it something completely different.
4. Dogs are not spiteful.
Dog owners often say, “My dog chewed the furniture because I left him home alone.” There are a number of reasons why dogs misbehave, but spite is not one of them. Although many people want to believe that dogs think like humans, dogs do not. They have only two sections to their brain and, therefore, have limited ability to reason. Thus, they cannot disobey out of spite. Knowing the real reasons why dogs misbehave requires understanding how they think and learn. Dogs react in a way that makes sense in their environment. When a dog disobeys, it is usually for one of three reasons: 1) it does not understand what you want, 2) it does not consider you its leader, or 3) it is suffering from some kind of stress or fear. By understanding the true nature of dogs, you will be better prepared to diagnose problems or behaviors of your dog.
5. What makes some dogs aggressive?
One of our favorite sayings is, “You can take the dog out of the wild, but you cannot take the wild out of the dog.” This means simply that the dog’s natural instincts are never far below the surface. Sometimes this behavior manifests itself as aggression because a dog will do only what its natural instincts tell it to do unless trained otherwise. The most common cause of aggression is fear of the unknown, that is, whatever the dog cannot understand or does not recognize as normal. A dog’s response to fear is instinctual. When a dog becomes frightened, it will do one of two things: fight or take flight. One breed of dog is not necessarily more aggressive than any other. The diminutive Chihuahua can be just as aggressive as the larger German shepherd. The only real difference is the amount of fear we perceive based on a dog’s size and its ability to cause harm. As dog owners, one of our responsibilities is to condition our dog daily to reinforce dominance (leadership) over the dog. Leadership increases our ability to control and teach our dogs what is and is not acceptable.
6. Body language is the dog's primary mode of communication.
Dogs rely heavily on body language to communicate, and a person’s body language can easily be misinterpreted. If a dog jumps on you and you respond by pushing it down with both hands, the dog may think you want to play, in much the same way it would play with other dogs. When people greet a dog, they often do not consider whether or not the dog actually wants to meet the person.
7. You can teach an old dog new tricks.
Although we cannot teach dogs to reason, we can teach them to “think.” Dogs are continuous learners and have good memories. The three things that primarily influence a dog’s behavior are association, instinct and experience. Dogs recall information with associative stimuli, such as similar situations. People cannot explain to a dog—as they would to a child—not to eat food off the floor. The only way for a dog to learn that lesson is for the owner to correct it immediately using voice sounds and body language as soon as the dogs tries to eat the food. By conditioning your dog and effectively showing it what you consider good and bad behavior, you can help any dog change its behavior.
8. Bad behaviors may be natural, but they do not have to be normal.
Most people consider digging, chewing and jumping as unacceptable dog behavior. To dogs, however, these are natural actions. Dogs will do what their instinct tells them unless otherwise trained. To teach a dog what behaviors are and are not acceptable, a dog owner must leverage a dog’s association and experience to directly impact how it behaves. A dog owner needs to associate a dog’s bad behavior with a bad experience, such as a harsh voice tone, and good behavior with a good experience, such as high-pitched praise. In this way, a dog will learn what is acceptable behavior.
9. What is the right way to discipline a dog?
Since dogs cannot reason like humans, they are not deliberately naughty, despite what many people might think. Instead, their behavior is always determined by either instinct or experience. A dog will do only what comes naturally or what it has learned through association; therefore, it is not productive (or even logical) for humans to get angry with a dog. Moreover, physical force is both inappropriate and counterproductive. This includes using your hands for correcting. Since dogs do not have hands, they find that form of discipline to be provocative and threatening. For this reason, dog owners should use their hands as little as possible when training, and when you do, dogs must always associate your hands with gentleness and pleasure. Because dogs learn from association, they will comprehend your message only if it is delivered in a timely manner. A correction must be issued at the precise moment the dog is either contemplating or actually doing something wrong. Sometimes it may be difficult to catch your dog in the act, but you can create situations that will cause a dog to misbehave and then correct it on the spot.
10. Do dogs sense the world differently than humans?
Dogs experience the world nose first. Smell is the most dramatic sensory difference between humans and dogs. Dogs have about 25 times more olfactory (smell) receptors than humans do and can sense odors at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can. A dog’s sense of smell is also closely linked to taste. A dog is so scent sensitive, it is usually the smell not the taste that will cause a dog to reject food before it even enters its mouth. In contrast, humans have 5 times more tastes as dogs and tend to taste something before deciding if they like it. Also, a dog’s eye lacks certain components found in a human eye. As such, dogs see the world in shades of black, white and gray and have better night vision. Visual acuity also varies by breed. Due to the positioning of their eyes, short-nosed dogs can see things in the distance with more depth perception than longer-nosed breeds. Hearing is also acutely developed in dogs. The distance from which it can hear things is 4 times farther than a human. Dogs’ hearing is also selective: they can sleep beside a blaring TV but wake up as soon as they hear something not related to the TV sound. Dogs process only what they want to hear.
--Connie DuBois, Bark Busters
---------------------
Connie DuBois is a dog behavioral therapist and trainer for Bark Busters Home Dog Training and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex.
susan allport on September 24, 2008 at 05:13 AM
Thought you would be interested in this short omega-3 video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIgNpsbvcVM
domy prefabrykowane on October 10, 2008 at 01:35 PM
I like labrador :)
DogWhining on March 12, 2009 at 10:26 PM
Great dog article! Keep them coming. Thanks.
angielski dla firm on July 15, 2009 at 01:59 AM
I thnink they're the most inteligence dog.
Asthma on April 11, 2010 at 02:53 PM
Have you found any evidence that pet dander contributes significantly to asthma and other respiratory issues?
WTF on April 12, 2010 at 03:04 AM
A lot of this information is wrong and misleading, i am only to assume you have never owned any real dog and just a stupid lap dog that all this would probably pertain to
nuteteme on April 27, 2010 at 01:45 AM
got an American Akita ... he is a happy dude
um... on April 27, 2010 at 06:33 AM
I'm not sure whoever wrote this has ever really owned a dog. Whatever is true in here is only true in the most cursory, anecdotal fashion possible.
Anonymous on April 27, 2010 at 06:44 AM
I'm with WTF, this information is wrong if not outdated. You need to do your research better, rather than gathering it from a few simple sources. Dogs can see some color, which would make sense, otherwise their eyes would be missing cones and only be made up of rods, which sounds silly at their point in the evolutionary chain.
You also underestimate the intelligence of dogs. Yes, they are pack animals, yes, they communicate with body language, but I must wonder if you've only owned puppy mill dogs in the course of your life, or if you cannot read your dogs expressions very well.
Dogs can feel happy, sad, or as you know, anxious. Dogs can smile, and laugh. Dogs find sick enjoyment in harrassing smaller animals and other dogs. They can feel threatened, they can feel jealousy. Dogs can feel regret, and so feel spite. I had two dogs up until recently who I'd learned to communicate well with over time. They both had separation anxiety, so the usual messes in the house tended to be obvious because of that. Whenever we would come home, my father would yell at the dogs until they were shaking (I realize this is not okay). However, after a point, my mother would take one of them out to run errands with her, because he was dying of cancer, and we didn't want to leave him alone. After a while, my mother went out without taking him out. When we came home that day, we found a mess-and a dog defiantly standing over it, as if he were angry at us, and proud of his accomplishment. He decided to eat one of our phone books. He had no look of regret on his face, as he usually did, he was clearly upset with us and wanted us to know that.
He didn't hold a grudge, though.
Just don't underestimate dogs. There is a reason as to why wolves are the only wild animal that have successfully raised human young (look it up, it happened in India). And a reason as to why we successfully raise relatives of wolves.
Also, you should have covered the canine diet, because there's rumored to be a strong link between low quality dog food (which is grain, rather than meat), and the reason as to why more than half of dogs die of some form of cancer. Both of mine did.
anonymous on April 27, 2010 at 03:33 PM
Connie DuBois is a stupid fucking moron
seriously on April 27, 2010 at 07:39 PM
This is all bullshit.
Shaolin_sKunk on April 28, 2010 at 12:58 AM
No, the information is pretty spot on ('cept the color-blind bit), it's pretty obvious that the ones calling this bullshit just don't want to accept the fact that their dogs are not four-legged people.
It is always funny to see them turn their nose up and loudly proclaim that "You must never have owned a dog," or "you just don't communicate with dogs the way *I* do" when you don't see their anthropomorphizing.
They're animals, accept it.
well on April 28, 2010 at 03:52 AM
It doesn't really matter if all this is true or not. It just begs the question of what is the POINT of this article?
In my opinion the writer is just a party pooper who has achieved nothing from submitting these 'facts'.
Rob on April 28, 2010 at 04:23 AM
A couple of tips. Dogs follow the leader, the leader is the dog or human that eats first. If you have a dog that is aggressive to humans, dogs, cats, hamsters etc feed the subject in front of the dog while the dog is restrained. This teaches the dog that it is down the list in the chain and makes it submissive. I have had almost a dozen dogs in my house and this the only way to control them. When one dog gets to high and mighty I move it down the feeding chain. Dogs love to go "on point" IE scouting in front, this is dangerous as they will often attack (other dogs, humans etc). This is part of training a dog to not pull on a lead. Dogs should always follow humans through doorways if they go first they are "on point" and instantly go on duty to protect you (as you are a weak part of the pack that follows the leader). Some dogs are naturally mild and don't need this reinforcement, some do. I have a very hyper pitbull/collie cross that needs constant reminding of the order. Eating in front of dogs is not cruel or teasing it's training.
Peter on April 28, 2010 at 04:37 PM
This information is actually pretty accurate.
Be a strong pack leader, exercise your dogs and correct bad behavior. They are not spiteful and do things to piss you off. Behavior such as crapping in the house and chewing is a form of anxiety because they don't have a strong leader to lead them through life.
Make them confident that you're there to show them the way and they'll follow your every command with plenty of positive reinforcement and consistency.
Humans desperately want to humanize dogs. Those that do will just have a lot more poop to clean up and chewed up furniture and carpet. :)
I have been a dog owner all of my life. Watch Cesar Milan on The Dog Whisperer, you'll learn a few things.
Getagrip on April 29, 2010 at 01:05 PM
F.A.O Rob - are you totally prehistoric? You obviously have NO IDEA about canine phsycology whatsoever. You are in the dark ages as far as dog training is concerned and Im completely gobsmacked that you think that the way to deal with an 'aggressive' dog is by restraining it while eating in front of it - OMG!!!!!!!
Getagrip on April 29, 2010 at 01:09 PM
I would just also like to point out that the author of this article is from a franchise dog 'training' organisation who standardise their training/behavioural information and its all pretty outdated.
Casandra tukes on April 29, 2010 at 02:09 PM
I love dog I have a pit bull and she is a handful. I love my dog.
Kim on April 29, 2010 at 03:44 PM
This person hasn't a freakin' clue.
Here on April 29, 2010 at 05:19 PM
Anyone who thinks that this article is 100% off-base is anthropomorphizing their dogs to some degree.
Yes, the author is over-simplifying dog behavior, but ultimately, dogs see the world entirely differently than humans do. Their brains are different, their connections to the world via their sense are very very different, and they are pack animals that require order to understand the world in a way that requires reading body language and tone instead of the meaning of words that we as humans rely more heavily on.
Most importantly, to say that a dog feels any human emotion is inherently wrong, just as saying that a human feels something EXACTLY the way a dog feels it would be totally bizarre. We are not dogs. We can only respond to the energy that they are giving off in a calm manner that they can understand, because it is true that they are not people and they cannot understand the words we use. You don't understand what every single noise a dog makes means either. Dogs feel something that we can relate to how we feel when we're happy, but it is not 'happiness' as we experience. It is no more or less complex, not better or worse, just ALWAYS different. Just like how I feel 'happy' differently than you do. The same is true between any species of animals. Every living species has a very unique perspective on life based on their needs and desires. Comparing dogs and wolves, maybe. Dogs and humans? No. Compare our emotions with apes if you want to find emotions that we can more closely relate to.
A dog that chews up all of your furniture when you go out is relieving pent up and anxious energy, similar in structure to how many humans exercise or overeat when they are anxious. If you start bringing your dog out with you and then suddenly stop, it's going to have even more of that confusion - it has no idea why you left without it, all it sees is someone it loves leaving it when they usually do not. So that time it's going to need to act even more strongly to get itself back to a calm state.
Dogs do not act in a way to 'get back' at you. If that was the case my dog would destroy the house daily when we leave, since he would always prefer to come with us. You just need to present your dog with better ways to relieve the overwhelming feelings it has - feelings that we as humans inherently cannot fully comprehend - in a way that is acceptable and healthy.
The author in no way underestimated the intelligence of dogs. Quite the contrary. The author just pointed out, once again, that since dogs are not humans we need to learn to interact with them in a way that resembles how they interact with one another naturally to the best of our ability. They certainly understand that they need to interact with us differently than they interact with other dogs, why don't many humans understand that about them?
AmazingName on April 29, 2010 at 09:28 PM
What the author did fail to point out was that dogs actually do have some instinctive recognition of human body language and mannerisms. After however many thousands of years together, they have evolved to read us (sometimes better than we'd like to admit). I'm not saying they out-think us, or know what we're thinking. I'm saying they can actually read most of our body language, often better than other humans can. Ever noticed a dog who tries to please a sullen master? They are picking up on *body language*. Distinctively non-canine body language.
On another note, they did hit the "association" angle on the head, although I think they went to far in saying that they don't understand human language (because we don't all train in English - or even speak it). It would be science fiction to say that my dog literally knows what "sit" means, however they can be taught to recognize that when I make that sound, they are put their butt on the floor and stay that way. Pretty much the same way we learn our language actually, we just grow to learn abstract rules of syntax and grammar as well. Which dogs are of course incapable of.
That said: Get over the accusation of anthropomorphizing animals. Pretty much everyone who's ever owned one does. It's a matter of degree but we all do it. Why? Because we love our pets and we want to be able to relate to them. If I looked at my cat everyday and thought "Wow, there is no way she could ever possibly understand me or feel the same emotions I do" I probably wouldn't bother to own a cat. Or a dog. Does it hurt anyone, anyone at all, that when she snuggles up next to my legs at night (yes I know, she's seeking warmth) to think "awww she loves me." I mean really? Because I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone who was hurt by that.
Kelsey on May 02, 2010 at 10:07 PM
You say not to correct dogs with your hands, but you don't say how you should correct them. This article suffers from too much 'don't do this' without then saying 'do this' instead. Boo
Rolando on May 05, 2010 at 09:22 AM
leerburg.com - all you need to know, without all the woo. Just plain common sense.
Scott on May 07, 2010 at 12:17 AM
I would like to see anyone who is trashing this page do a proper "sit & stay" with their dog. no leash, no reward, no contact. Just sit and stay. I agree completely with this article and the principal for which it stands. This is the way me and my family have always treated our dogs and to this day i am hard pressed to find a more well behaved animal then mine. Fenris is a full grown Irish wolfhound (brindle if you care) and im fully capable walking my dog passed anything from children to other (less well behaved) dogs with nothing more then the most cursory leash in place. He has NEVER chewed my shoes, stolen food or slept on my couch. The only time he shows me any malcontent is when I haven't fulfilled my obligation to his physical exercise. I love my dog, he is a valued member of my family and no one can say he isnt loved or well cared for.
people need to understand that owning an animal is as much a commitment as anything. YOU have to put in the effort for the dogs benefit. treating them like children and expecting only that they are happy is not good for the animal. go watch "at the end of my leash"
Holly on May 08, 2010 at 09:03 AM
Bull.
And in case people weren't clear on this, humans are animals too.
This author clearly has never actually paid attention to dogs. Spend a year training and loving a dog and you'll how this is bull.