Markings Matter
Commonly seen at dog parks, in a new environment, when something exciting happens, or even on short walks: fixed and non-fixed, male and female, dogs like to lift a leg in a gesture of power and lay their urine over the remains of another dog’s passing. High-ranking dogs, who usually hold their tales and heads high, tend to mark more than a submissive or low-ranking dog, but almost all dogs will mark. This serves several functions for the urinator and those following behind. Urine can offer a biological profile of the canine, spelling out health, sex, age, fitness, social status, and so on. This can be used by other dogs like a snapshot, allowing them to recognize the dog via quick sniff later. What good does this do? It helps the sniffer and the sniffees to determine approach, judge aggression and know what posture to take when greeting face to face. This helps avoid confrontations.

Of course, urine can indicate when a female is ready to mate as well, helpful to her in finding potential breeders and helpful to the non-fixed male in hunting her down and presenting himself. As can be expected, those urine markings get a lot of attention paid them much like a picture of a supermodel might get more notice from young interested males. Non-neutered or non spayed dogs will mark more than their fixed counterparts.

Making a House a Home
Because urine is a signature and then some, it brings comfort to a dog who sees it as an invisible fence, a pheromonal staking-out of territory, a scent house that makes a home. Certainly this harkens back to the day of the wolf, from which all domestic dogs stem. Instinct is a powerful motivator and while the need to mark territory as a safe zone may not be exactly the same as in the wild, it still has its uses. In the undomesticated world, urine warns other predators, especially other wolves or wild dogs, that a virile canine lives on that parcel of land and he is willing to defend it aggressively if need be. It actually saves everyone a lot of time and energy to advertise by using scent billboards, if you will.

However, marking inappropriately can indicate stress in a dog’s life, usually in the form of a lack of confidence. More confident dogs may not feel much of a need to mark their living areas, where more nervous dogs may feel compelled to mark the stairs, their human’s belongings, maybe even the bed. This is overwhelmingly a stress marker that the dog is lacking human leadership and has taken the burden of leader onto her own canine shoulders. (It is possible that frequent urination around the house can be traced to a urinary tract infection or some other medical issue.) This is highly distressing to a dog because it proves very difficult indeed for the poor pooch to control where and when her humans come and go. The leader of a pack has that kind of freedom not the followers, so if a dog takes on the role of leader and the humans don’t fall into place like the dog expects, it can make a dog go a bit crazy. This is from where most bad behaviors stem in the canine world, including tearing up the house when the people leave, barking and jumping up on people when they return and lots of pee marking. Using urine to mark territory is the dog trying to protect her pack in a leadership role. Your dog does not want to be leader. Your dog wants you to be leader. She is much happier following her human.

If you have a dog who is marking on all your belongings or your furniture, try assessing what could be making Peepers nervous and provide the boundaries and guidelines he requires. Otherwise, marvel at the efficiency of a dog’s built in résumé as he puts it ‘online’ for every other dog to read.

Tail Chasing
Play can come in a whole lot of flavors and for dogs, when nothing is going on and boredom sets in, sometimes your own tail is the best plaything around! Often, but not always, tail chasing is nothing more than boredom and play, egged on by an owner’s laughter.

While tail chasing sure looks like playful antics and nothing more, some interesting research has recently been published. Apparently, there is a correlation between high cholesterol levels and tail chasing behaviors. Before you rush to check Hector’s blood levels, though, check a few other things first. Fleas, ticks, an injury, or an anal gland problem can all lean to tail chasing. If chasing leads to biting and licking, examine the areas carefully, looking for evidence of fleas or a hot spot. Hector may be going after a painful or itchy spot and not really playing after all.

Scooting
It looks so cute! Little Domino, his spotted butt glued to the carpet, dragging himself forward with his speckled front paws. What’s that behavior all about?

Well, actually, it’s not so cute after all. Dogs have glands at the base of their tails, one on each side. These glands secrete tiny amounts of anal fluid when a dog defecates that identifies the dog, sort of like fingerprints or a business card, if you will. The openings to these glands can get kind of “gummed up” and then the glands get full and impacted or worse yet, infected. Scooting is a sign that there is an anal glands problem.

While there are myriad instructions on the Internet letting owners know how to free the anal sac, it really is best to have your vet perform this quick and minimally invasive and smelly procedure. It will take him or her 30 seconds with no risk of injury. Unless you are an experienced anal sac/anal gland remover, you can cause serious injury to your Domino. Just let the vet do this and in seconds Domino will forget about scooting. On occasion this needs to be repeated twice or even three times, however, this is rare.

Paw Licking or Biting:
On this one we need to move from the obvious to the obscure. First: is there something in the paw, either in a pad or in between the pads, that is bothering her? Check for cuts, scrapes, thorns, a pebble, a skin lesion or “pimple,” etc. How about fleas, a tick or other parasites?

Once you are sure that there is nothing in there, and the licking and biting hasn’t stopped, consider allergies. Sometimes food allergies can manifest as itchiness and paw licking/biting is the result. Check with a vet regarding allergies, and try to identify the culprit. With guidance from your vet, you might find that a raw food diet will help.

Finally, if you are able to rule out both localized problems, like a thorn or a cut and allergies are not to blame, paw licking can also be due to anxiety or boredom. In some cases, this is just a bad habit, kind of like a human biting their nails. In other cases, this can blossom into full-blown obsessive compulsive disorder and requires treatment.

Chewing “Air:”
Ever notice that some dogs “chew” even when there is nothing in their mouths? They make funny lip smacking, “air chewing” sounds as if they have a bad case of cotton mouth! What’s that all about?

Apparently that sound is deeply soothing to a dog. It reminds them of one of the first sounds they ever hear, a sound associated with all good things: suckling or nursing. Dogs do it to convey a sense of contentment and to help others around them feel at ease. In other words, “don’t worry and be happy!”

Rolling in Smelly Things
Ask any dog owner: this nasty habit always occurs when the timing is at its absolute worst! Wearing white? Need to go to a wedding or funeral in five minutes? That’s when Nemo will find the freshest pile of something horrid to roll in. Why?

Three theories have been suggested, but experts are not sure which explanation is correct. First, some think that dogs may do this as a predatory behavior to “cover up” their own scent. Others suggest that dogs gain status within a pack from being highly scented, since all the other pack members will stop what they are doing to sniff. Finally, some believe the behavior has to do with communicating to other pack members that a food source has been found.

Although there may not be full agreement among vets and researchers why dogs do this, it is, well apart from stinky and poorly timed, normal, healthy and nothing to worry about long term.

Muzzle Nudging or Poking:
A poke, or “ponk” (combination of poke and bonk) is a common enough dog-to-human gesture that usually means “pet me” or “pet me more.” But have you ever seen dogs do it to each other? Dogs push or poke their nose into another dog’s muzzle at a ninety-degree angle. What’s that all about?

Apparently a throwback to puppyhood, the muzzle-to-muzzle ponk is about submission. It is a pacifying gesture, the ponker saying to the ponkee “I am not a threat. I’m just a friend. Got any food?”

Mounting or Humping
No discussion of dog behavior would be complete without at least mentioning the dreaded humping behavior. Mounting or humping, is when a dog climbs on top of another dog to feign sexual intercourse. To humans, this behavior sure looks like it needs no explanation, but believe it or not, it isn’t what it looks like! Humping or mounting can occur between two females or when a dominant female meets a submissive male. Humping can be about seeking sexual contact, but it is often just a display of dominance. It is extremely common to see within your pack as one is establishing and continuing to reinforce his or her place as pack leader.

Again, unless it gets too forceful or appears that one is hurting the other (unlikely), chalk it up to one of those dog-like behaviors. It’s harmless, in other words.

You panic. Your eyes begin to water, your chest seizes, lungs unable to hold air with breath coming in short, tight bursts. Every muscle in your body tenses with your fight or flight response kicking in and you run! Not far from your car, you lock yourself in safely, tears streaming down your cheeks, stomach in knots, breathing is painful and you look outside… and watch full of despair, yet unable to act, as your baby girl simply sits, alone, in her stroller. If this sounds outrageous, it might surprise you to know it is a true story and one with a happy ending. The terrified mother’s mother-in-law was also accompanying them, so baby was safe. For an even happier ending, the young mother was able to overcome her massive phobia of dogs in only eight sessions, a very quick turnaround.

Phobias are anxiety attacks, often brought about by a trigger phrase or visual stimuli, like seeing a dog, which is not based in reality and has very little to do with logical reaction and everything to do with how your brain interprets events or possible events. Usually caused by some past traumatic event, like being attacked by a dog when a toddler, these fears get carried with you and rarely fade away without help. Anyone who does not have cynophobia would have noticed the friendly demeanor of the dog, known there was no danger and walked on by with little more than a smile in its direction. Indeed some may have stopped, pet the friendly dog and played catch for a moment with his owner.

Understand that irrational fear is just that – irrational. It does not go away by just telling yourself that you are being silly. It does not go away by facing dogs head on, it goes away with a bit of help once the brain has been re-taught to assess the situation. This is often called cognitive therapy and it works quite well. There are other methods, too, but cognitive therapy is quick and usually easy.

It begins with logically showing the ridiculousness of the expected outcome, not the fear itself, as it is far from funny. If the fear is that the dog will attack, maim and kill, then that is what the brain is absolutely convinced will happen. But what of those times when the sufferer has seen a dog and nothing happened? Had s/he seen a dog before? The answer of course is yes, and yet s/he is still alive. Ah, says the anxious victim, but that is because I ran and locked myself in a car. At this point, it is up to the counselor to expose the fear, argue otherwise and offer control of the situation by supplying the sufferer with alternative thoughts, positive ones, to replace the negative and also teach some coping mechanisms, like deep breathing and exercises to release tension.

Eventually, the cynophobe is reintroduced to dogs and, now understanding the fear and having devices with which to cope, a new dimension to life is found. This explanation was slightly over simplified, but not by much. With the correct help, the fear can be combated more easily than ever expected, increasing quality of life and empowering the anxiety sufferer to conquer their fear forever.

To give this story an even happier ending: the woman went on to one day own dogs of her own!

Doctor Jan Bellows.

Everyone knows that dogs are intelligent animals. It is one of the primary reasons that human beings choose dogs over a variety of other animals. Rabbits, for example, will never have the cognitive abilities as dogs, and so fewer people are going to choose them as pets.

But what is dog intelligence really? The animal behavior community does not yet have a good answer for this question, because people have differing opinions of what constitutes true “intelligence.”

Possible Examples of Dog Intelligence
• Trainability
Perhaps the most common concept of “Dog intelligence” is how easy the dog is to train. “Smarter” dogs in this case would be dogs that can learn a number of tricks quickly and easily. This makes a lot of sense. A dog that struggles to learn a trick may not have the intelligence necessary to learn the trick easily. Some dogs have the ability to learn a trick in as little as 2 or 3 tries. Other dogs can have weeks of training and still struggle with it.
• General Learning
The problem with trainability as the sole indicator of intelligence is that it assumes that smart dogs learn tricks. But some dogs that may not pick up tricks very easily may pick up on other things. For example, a dog may learn how to judge smells. The dog may also be able to pick up on smaller behaviors, such as if you have a tendency for your nose to twitch right before you are about to let out a loud sneeze, your dog may already have associated your nose twitching with intelligence. There is no way to know how much your dog has truly learned.
• Problem Solving
Your dog’s ability to learn is not the only way to judge your dog’s intelligence. Another aspect of intelligence is your dog’s ability to solve problems. If you put a treat underneath a bowl, does your dog know to flip the bowl to get the treat? Or does your dog believe that the treat has suddenly disappeared? What about if a ball is stuck under a chair – does your dog keep trying to bite it to no avail, or are they willing to use their paws to get it unstuck? The ability to problem solve is not present in all dogs, with some breeds showing far stronger abilities than others. These should clearly be considered in dog intelligence.

What is Correct?

It will never be possible to judge your dog’s general learning ability. Chances are, however, that a dog that is able to be easily trained has strong general learning skills, as the two are related even if they are not identical. In addition, trainability should not be considered the sole measure of intelligence because some dogs are naturally independent. Shiba Inus are known to be fairly intelligent dogs (by most standards) but are notoriously unwilling to be ordered around. As a result, using a dog’s ability to be trained as the indicator of intelligence is not going to be entirely accurate. If you’re looking for dogs for sale, keep this in mind!

True dog intelligence is likely a combination of your dog’s ability to be trained with your dog’s problem solving skills, with the latter holding slightly more weight. Problem solving is an ability that many dogs do not possess, and if your dog can also be trained easily, it is safe to assume that your dog is quite intelligent. If your dog is not easily trained and does not seem to possess very strong problem solving skills, chances are high that although your dog is likely smart by your own standards, compared to other dogs it is most likely they fall short.

Chewing itself is not necessarily a problem. It is WHAT your dog chews that causes the greatest amount of concern. Dogs will chew whatever feels good to chew, and unfortunately the things they love to chew are:
• Shoes and Clothes
• Wood (Table Legs, Chair Legs)
• Carpet

All of these things represent prime things to chew, and if your dog needs stimulation, chances are it will seek these out and damage items around your home in its quest to be stimulated. When you want your dog to stop chewing, there are several things you can do.

Training Your Dog Out of Chewing
• Exercise
The most effective way to reduce chewing behavior is to give your dog plenty of exercise. Remember, dogs chew because it gives them significant mental stimulation. The primary cause of chewing is boredom and a lack of brain use. Outdoor exercise solves this problem. Your dog is surrounded by sensory stimulation, with sights, sounds and smells all around them. In addition, your dog is getting a lot of exercise, and exercise calms both the mind and body, so that your dog is both mentally and physically relaxed.
• Ropes
An additional method is to provide your dog with something it CAN chew, such as chew ropes. Dogs only need something to chew – they do not often care what they are chewing. Chew ropes are perfect for chewing. They are great for teeth and they are designed to be ripped apart. To make sure your dog chews the rope, any time you catch your pet chewing your shoes or furniture, say “No,” take the item away, and give them the rope to chew instead. Your dog will quickly get the message.
• Store Bought Bitter Taste Products
Another method you can use is to purchase products that are flavored with a taste that your dog will hate. These products have you spray the item you want your dog to stop chewing with its terrible bitter taste, and as soon as the dog puts its mouth on the item, it will taste a terrible flavor that will cause it to stop. These products are useful for when your dog is chewing a specific item, but are less useful for long term changes in behavior.

Employ All Methods for the Greatest Effects
If you truly want your dog to stop chewing, use all three of the methods listed above. The products can help your dog learn to stop chewing specific items and the ropes will provide your dog with something it is welcome to chew.

Still, the most important thing you can do for your pet is to provide it with plenty of exercise. Dogs need a lot of outdoor exercise. Running around in the backyard is not enough. They need to experience more of the outdoors to calm their mind and their body. The more you exercise your dog, the more is mind and body will be stimulated, and the less your dog’s instinctive chewing behavior will kick in.

Combining all of these training methods is your best bet for reducing your dog’s unwanted chewing behaviors.

Basic Command Learning Tips

1. Mix Up a New Trick With an Old Trick

As soon as it appears that your dog understands its new trick, mixing it up with another command that your dog already knows is a good way to help your dog recognize the differences between the two tricks. For example, say you have taught your dog to turn in a circle using the “Turn” command, and you are trying to teach your dog to bow on command using the “Bow” command.

As soon as it appears that your dog is learning “Bow,” try saying “Turn” and then only after your dog turns, say “Bow” again. This will help your dog understand that Bow is a command that you expect your dog to answer in any situation, and it will help associate the behavior with the command more easily. If you do not do this, then your dog may bow often, but not necessarily due to the verbal command you are giving it.

1. Try the Tricks Outside and/or With Distractions

Dogs can learn indoors very easily. There are no distractions, you are the person they want to pay attention to anyway, and they have all of the freedom in the world to think. But when there are distractions, or when they are outside, they do not have that same focus, and it is more difficult to get them to do a trick. However, if you take them outside and teach them the trick outside as well, or add a bunch of distractions in a room and continue to reinforce the trick, your dog will learn to focus in those situations as well.

1. Vary the Ratio For Longer Lasting Tricks

Once your dog has learned the trick, take the clicker away and start varying how often you give them the reward for doing the trick. Dogs that are rewarded at random times are more likely to continue to do the trick for longer, even without a reward. Ideally, you want your dog to continue to do the trick for months or years, but if your dog expects a treat every time, then if your dog stops receiving a treat it will stop doing the trick. If you dog never knows when a treat is coming, it will continue to perform the behavior for longer.

Reinforcing Your Tricks to Help Your Dog Learn

Each of these tips is designed to help make your trick training more effective. They should work well with the clicker training that you already use, because they are helpful for getting your dog to truly recognize the command and focus on the behavior you are hoping to achieve. If you are able to combine these tips with effective clicker training, chances are you will be able to easily get your dog to not only learn these tricks, but keep performing them for longer periods of time in almost all situations.

Those that understand dog training recognize that positive reinforcement is not only the most pleasurable form of dog training, but easily the most effective. Rewarding your dog for its good behaviors has time and again proven itself to be the only truly effective method for training dogs.

On the flip side, positive punishment (striking your dog for poor behaviors) is completely ineffective. Dogs that are hit or otherwise punished rarely understand what the desired behavior should be, so the end result is a dog that is now both confused and abused.

However, though positive punishment may be completely ineffective, “negative punishment” has its uses when it comes to obedience training your pet. It does not have the same results as positive reinforcement, but it is a good way to make sure your dog stays well behaved, and it is neither cruel nor painful to your pet.

What is Negative Punishment?

Negative punishment is when you take away something your dog likes in order to punish your pet. An example with children would be taking away your child’s dessert because they did not finish their vegetables. Dogs recognize when good things have been taken away from them, and they start to recognize the behaviors that they need to exhibit to continue to enjoy their activities.

Tips for Using Negative Punishment

Negative punishment is a useful tool for training your dog, but in order to work effectively it must be used correctly. Here are several tips for how to utilize negative punishment effectively in order to get the behaviors you desire.

• Negative punishment is how you teach what “no” means. Before you perform the negative punishment action, say “no” firmly so that your dog recognizes that when it hears that command, whatever it is doing is an unwanted behavior and the object is likely to be taken away from it.
• Negative punishment is most effective when an alternative behavior is immediately presented. For example, if your dog is chewing on your chair, it is likely enjoying itself. Move your dog away from the chair (negative punishment) and immediately provide it with something it CAN chew, such as a toy rope. Your dog will learn that chewing on the rope is a good replacement behavior.
• You also want to try to combine negative punishment with positive reinforcement whenever possible. If your dog is on its leash and about to go for an enjoyable walk, and then it starts performing an unwanted behavior like barking loudly, you simply take the leash off and walk away (removing the good thing – going outside – from your dog). However, as soon as your dog sis silent again, then you can put the leash back on and take your dog for the walk, rewarding it for its better behavior.

Negative punishment is not the most effective training method alone, but dogs understand it quite a bit – especially with regard to obedience and reducing unwanted behaviors. Dogs will learn to understand the “no” command and what behaviors they can replace it with in order to enjoy themselves in an uninterrupted manner. While it still should be paired with positive reinforcement whenever possible, negative punishment is still a good way to get your dog to understand what is and is not okay in your household.

In addition, taking items away from your dog that it is enjoying continues to help your dog recognize that it is the subordinate in the pack, and at any point you can take away the good things in its life, helping establish yourself as pack leader.