7 Things You Do That Your Dog Hates

From a dog’s POV, humans can be perplexing. Convinced that our dogs value the same sorts of affectionate gestures as we do, we kiss them, we hug them, we buy (and make them wear) little hats and dresses. It’s not too far-fetched to say that they’d pass on a lot of these things if given a choice.

Things You Do That Your Dog Hates

Here are a few things on most dogs’ “no thank-you” list—things they wish we wouldn’t do.

1. Pat Them On The Head.

It’s a gesture meant to convey affection, and many people love to do it. But patting our dogs on the head is not popular with them. Most of them dislike it and will move away to avoid it. They do usually enjoy having their heads—including their ears and the sides of their faces—smoothly stroked, which is more likely to make them happy, keep them near and cause them to lean in for more.

2. Hug Them.

Every time a dog trainer or canine behaviorist mentions that dogs don’t generally like being hugged, the pushback is incredible. Everyone is sure their dog loves to be hugged even if most dogs don’t, and they suspect most dogs actually do love it. Primates (the order to which we belong) are huggers, but canids, including dogs, don’t naturally engage in that behavior. While I sometimes feel like a wicked witch when I point this out to people, observation suggests it’s true. Dogs who are being hugged often display signs of stress, including tongue flicks, a tightly closed mouth, pulled-back ears, rigid facial muscles and/or a furrowed brow. Putting your arms around your dog’s neck and shoulders may feel like love to you, but to dogs, not so much.

3. Hoard The Ball During A Game Of Fetch.

Many of us tend to pick up the ball and hold it while we praise or pet our dog. We think we’re playing fetch, but our dogs think we’re hoarding the ball. They want it back, and they want it back now. Many dogs lose interest in fetch or fail to learn how fun it can be because of this human tendency to hold onto the ball instead of immediately throwing it. What they want us to do is to toss the ball the instant they drop it anywhere in our vicinity. This sounds simple, but it can be a struggle for many people.

4. Kiss Them.

Humans express love and affection with kisses, but kisses have no particular meaning to dogs. It is not a natural part of their repertoire. Dogs lick each other and will lick humans, too, and though we often call those “doggy kisses,” they’re different than human kisses. Putting your face right next to a dog’s face can be perceived by the dog as a threatening behavior. Some dogs find it scary, others simply find it annoying. It’s common for dogs who are being kissed to try to get away; to hold their ears back; or to exhibit signs of discomfort such as tongue-flicking, yawning, lowering the tail or displaying facial and body tension. Some dogs wrinkle their noses or even scamper off once released—another sign that—no matter how much they may love you—they don’t love being kissed.

5. Hold One Of Their Paws, Especially A Back Paw, When They’re Standing.

Dogs who’ve been consistently reinforced for shaking or giving a high-five may have good feelings about having you touch or hold their paws, but that usually only applies to brief contact while they’re sitting. What I’m talking about here is grabbing a dog’s paw when he’s standing, then holding onto it for a while. To most dogs, nothing good can come of that. It may make them feel unstable, and that’s no fun, or they may associate it with nail trims (also no fun) or having their muddy paws wiped down (not awful, but not a favorite either). Holding a dog’s back paw is often particularly poorly received. Most behaviorists agree that male dogs are, in general, more likely to take exception to having a paw held than are female dogs.

6. Use Citrus-Scented Products.

The majority of dogs dislike the smell of oranges, lemons, tangerines and grapefruit. That’s why those scents are used in products meant to deter dogs from chewing on things we would prefer they leave alone. Since the smell repels dogs, it’s kind to avoid products with that scent, including lotion, shampoo, air fresheners or candles. Yet, a small percentage of dogs aren’t averse to these smells. Find out if your dog is in this group by peeling a juicy orange so your hands are covered in a sticky mess, then offer your hands to your dog. If she turns or backs away, she (like most dogs) doesn’t care for the smell of citrus. If she licks your fingers, different story.

7. Dress Them.

The joy people take in dressing up their dogs is often in direct conflict with the distaste dogs have for the experience. Yes, dogs look adorable in just about every outfit under the sun, but very few dogs enjoy the process of being put into clothes and costumes. Lots of dogs tense up, displaying facial expressions and body language that clearly indicate their discomfort. Wearing clothes, especially cumbersome and constricting costumes, is a misery for many dogs. Through a careful process of conditioning, dogs can be taught to accept costumes or other clothes, and we can make it easier for them by choosing the least restrictive and most lightweight options, but avoiding it altogether would be the choice of almost all dogs. Many humans (including me!) can’t help but love the look of dogs dressed to the nines, but mostly, it’s better not to treat dogs like dolls.

It's Me or the Dog

[11/22/20] Victoria writes "How IMOTD Changed Me as a Dog Trainer"

[8/26/19] Victoria (or somebody) is now making available the early (pre-USA) episodes available on It's Me or the Dog youtube channel.  In addition to clips, they are also releasing full episodes.

So far I see 21 episodes available.  The first episode is Jimi & Duke.  The last episode (when I checked) was Dylan.

Wait, now I see more episodes have been released.  Zulu and Lotte.  And I missed the Baily (Crufts) episode.  So there's now a total of 24 episodes on the official full episode playlist.

The United States (aired on Animal Planet) episodes are available on Amazon Prime.  The first three seasons are available on Prime Video, but not the fourth season for some reason.  All four seasons are available on the Animal Planet app (apparently for free).  Season 1 is available on Pluto TV.

***

[4/5/07] With the success of the Dog Whisperer, I now see that a couple of new shows about correcting dog behavior have appeared on Animal Planet:

Divine Canine. Besides being monks, they train dogs. They have a book called How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend: The Classic Training Manual for Dog Owners.

It's Me or The Dog. Instead of a guy from Mexico, it's a lady from England (Victoria Stilwell). Her book, naturally enough, is called It's Me or the Dog.

Here's one I haven't seen yet, Barking Mad, which deals not only with dogs but other animals as well.

I don't see that on this week, but I do see Good Dog U.

[transplanted from original blog, 1/26/09]

[3/17/10] I see Victoria (not just Cesar) gets less than positive reviews too.

[10/9/12] some training videos on youtube

puppy socialization (wait?)

Recently with all the new Covid puppies, the myth, and frankly, dangerous, outdated “advice” breeders, rescues and even vets are giving to new owners that puppies can’t go outside until all their vaccines are complete, has reared it ugly head again. (Note: I am not a vet, so perhaps there are rare cases when this applies.). Vets, rescues and breeders who are clinging to the outdated belief that dogs should be prevented from socialization until fully vaccinated are not keeping up with the current research, literature and recommendations from behavior professionals.

Looking at current position statements from organizations like AVSAB (American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior), who are the leaders on veterinary care and behavior, they are abundantly clear that this outdated belief has no place in current standards. Read their complete position statement here.

“The primary and most important time for puppy socialization is the first three months of life. For this reason, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior believes that it should be the *standard of care* for puppies to receive such socialization before they are fully vaccinated.”

The main point conveyed is puppies as young as 7 WEEKS OLD can begin socialization training, even in group classes, as long as they’ve had one round of vaccines and have been dewormed.  Puppies have a finite, time sensitive window for socialization – for learning the world, novelty, people and places are safe.  This is also the window they have to learn how to appropriately use their mouths and learn bite inhibition.  Once this window closes, it cannot be reopened.

“Veterinarians specializing in behavior recommend that owners take advantage of every safe opportunity to expose young puppies to the great variety of stimuli that they will experience in their lives.”

Behavioral issues, not infectious diseases, are the number one cause of death for dogs under three years of age. We need to shift the focus away from fear mongering that puppies will get sick or die if they go outside and instead focus on socialization as prevention for later behavioral issues, which is a much greater risk of dogs being surrendered or euthanized.

“Because the first three months are the period when sociability outweighs fear, this is the primary window of opportunity for puppies to adapt to new people, animals, and experiences. Incomplete or improper socialization during this important time can increase the risk of behavioral problems later in life including fear, avoidance, and/or aggression. Behavioral problems are the greatest threat to the owner-dog bond. In fact, behavioral problems are the number one cause of relinquishment to shelters.”

This doesn’t mean you should take your unvaccinated puppy to the dog park or a giant pet store where there have been hundreds of unknown, potentially unhealthy dogs traipsing through.  But you can make responsible choices, allowing your puppy to interact with healthy, known dogs, puppies on the same vaccine schedule and neighborhood walks.  Or you can always carry your puppy if you really don’t want feet on the ground.  If you wait until your puppy is full vaccinated, you’ve missed their critical socialization period. Opting to keep your puppy locked in your home, not being socialized during this critical window is the worst decision you can make for your puppy’s future behavioral health. 

-- Kate LaSala

Tank Twitter

What a happy dog can teach us about our own humanity

Twelve years ago I betrayed my husband. It was the best decision I ever made.

The betrayal came in the form of a 12-pound fluff ball named Tank. I got the dog in defiance of my husband’s declaration that our family was not getting a dog — not then, not ever. I adopted Tank behind my husband’s back, enlisting our daughters, then 11 and 13, as co-conspirators. Tank arrived, as I wrote at the time, as a pet accompli, too late for my husband to do anything about it.

“I can’t believe you did this,” he said, except for the expletive I have deleted, when he came home late from work to discover our newest family member. It took about 10 minutes, and as many face licks, for Jon to fall in love.

The rest of us already had, which was the point: Tank joined our family at a time when our lives were too chaotic to accommodate a dog but too stressed to be without one. None of us had ever had a dog before, but we understood, intuitively, that we needed the unconditional love that only a dog can provide.

Tank overperformed. At moments when our family was under stress, the one thing we could always agree on was that Tank was the best, the cutest dog ever. When we were in a better place, he remained at the center of our family unit, no matter how many shoes he destroyed. “Huggee!” we would yell, embracing, and Tank would come running to join. With him, we were a pack.

We lost Tank in the wee hours of Saturday morning — suddenly, unexpectedly, tragically. We stood outside the animal hospital, unable to enter because of COVID-19, holding one another and sobbing until we could say goodbye to our boy in the makeshift space in the parking garage. There is so much sadness in the world right now; there are so many worse and more consequential stories, and yet we are shattered. What we wouldn’t do to slip him one last morsel from the dinner table.

The reason I am writing is not Tank’s death but its aftermath. In the strain of the pandemic, in the heat of police shootings, the social fabric is fraying. You can hear it rip. If there was a communitarian, we’ll-getthrough- this-together ethos at the start of the lockdowns, it has been replaced by a my-way mentality. Thanks to President Donald Trump, mask-wearing has become political statement, not social responsibility.

We spent the summer in Wyoming, and driving home across the country (Tank was never happier than ensconced in the car for long stretches with his people), we encountered instance after instance — at the hotel in North Dakota, the restaurant in Minnesota where we stopped for takeout, the rest stop in Indiana — of behavior that was not only irresponsible but aggressively so.

When I asked a man at the rest stop — a rest stop whose doors proclaimed “Masks Required” — to wear a mask, he said I was free to do so for my health, but he chose not to. And when I pointed out that, actually, his mask-wearing protected me, and vice versa, it didn’t take long for him to start yelling about Joe Biden. I know: stupid, foolhardy me, to try to engage.

And when I tweeted about my experiences, the reaction was not exactly charitable. “Ruth apparently didn’t even end up testing positive after her trip,” wrote one person. “Too bad that she didn’t at least manage to add to the case count.” Nice. Sorry to disappoint.

I took to Twitter again, in the hours after Tank’s death, to share my grief. The platform that can be so ugly and so hate-filled responded this time with overwhelming love. From people I knew, from strangers, offering condolences and sharing their own sad experiences. It was an enormous, unexpected comfort. We looked at the pet pictures they posted and read the stories they shared of their own dog’s passing, and wept.

What does it say that an audience that can be so cruel and ugly can be so generous and compassionate? The more cynical interpretation is that we are a country that tends to care more about pets than people, and there is some unfortunate truth to that. I have a reporter friend who many years ago wrote a Christmas Day story about homeless people living under a bridge with their dogs. His voice mail was filled with offers of help — from people wanting to adopt the dogs.

But I think our capacity to love our pets speaks to a better side of human nature. Perhaps it takes a nonhuman to bring out the humanity in us, but that spark is still present. It requires careful kindling by leaders who summon our better angels; it can be snuffed out by those who fan the flames of hatred and discord.

We are Rest Stop Twitter, angry and vindictive, but we are also Tank Twitter, full of boundless affection, even for strangers. Tank didn’t see either — he saw humans to love, even if part of their attraction was that they might have treats.

If he could, Tank would lick all your faces. Every last one.

— Ruth Marcus writes for The Washington Post.

dogs with benefits

My friend, Jan, has spent the entire pandemic in lockdown in San Francisco, unable to touch another human being. It’s hard to imagine how difficult that must be. And yet she’s doing OK. One big reason: her dog, Maisie.

“This cottage would feel kind of bereft of life without Maisie padding around,” says Jan.

I’m sure Jan is not alone in feeling happy to have a dog. Many of us are relying more on our pets for comfort while we face the uncertainty of the pandemic—even those of us who have human roommates to keep us company, too. Research suggests that there’s something about our dogs that makes us feel less lonely and anxious, and can even keep us healthier.

What is that something? It’s hard to put a finger on, but hormones may play a role. Petting a dog has been shown to reduce cortisol (the stress hormone), for example, and caring for a dog releases oxytocin (the bonding hormone that calms us and increases our trust in others).

Here are some of the science-backed ways that our dogs can help us cope with difficult circumstances and stay well.

1. Dogs stave off loneliness

Many of us are feeling a bit lonelier than usual these days; sheltering-in-place and keeping our distance from others is hard for everyone, including introverts. Being without human touch is particularly difficult: People who are touch-deprived tend to feel more depressed, experience more pain, and even have poorer immunity. But having a pet around (including dogs or their cat rivals) can help prevent loneliness.

“I’m hugely grateful that I’ve had Maisie as my eight-pound, fluff-ball quarantine buddy,” says Jan. “She keeps me company whether I’m reading or gardening, and cracks me up regularly with her episodes of doggy silliness.”

Though the benefits of having a pet have been studied more among the elderly (who often have limited social contact), they likely apply to many more of us during COVID-19. After all, we all have less social contact than we’d normally have right now, and that’s got to be hard on our psyches.

Why do dogs help us with loneliness? It’s probably not an accident that dogs are often called “man’s best friend.” Many people feel that dogs are like family members (but without the baggage), providing unconditional love and easy companionship. Plus, many of us have the sense that our dog resonates with us emotionally—a notion that some science supports. We’re bound to feel less isolated with a soft, understanding, loving being around.

2. Dogs reduce stress and anxiety

Many of us have been super stressed and anxious during the pandemic. We don’t know when we will be able to move about freely again, our jobs may be compromised, and we’re worried about contracting the virus or passing it on to others. We also can’t do many of the things that usually help us manage stress better—like going to the gym or having dinner with a group of friends.

Luckily, dogs can help, as many studies have shown and experts attest. In one study, 48 participants were given a stress test where they had to do public speaking and then perform difficult calculations while unfriendly observers watched them. The participants were randomly assigned to have either a friend, a dog they didn’t know, or no one accompany them before and during the test. Their cortisol levels and heart rates were measured before, just after, and 30 minutes after the test, and they filled out questionnaires about their anxiety.

While everyone became more anxious during the test and showed higher heart rates and cortisol levels, those participants paired with a dog had lower levels of both than those with no support or even those with a friend. This suggests that being with a dog can help us recover from stressful situations—perhaps even the stress of a pandemic—even if it’s not our own dog (which may be why so many colleges bring canines onto campuses during finals week).

For those who can’t have a pet, there is some evidence that just seeing videos of dogs can reduce stress and anxiety. That probably explains why many of us turn to cute puppy (and cat) videos for relief.

3. Dogs help us get along with others

While many of us are seeing our friends on Zoom and in other physically distanced ways during the pandemic, it can be hard to feel truly connected. And, as the quarantine drags on, it may be harder to get along with the people we live with, too—like our partners and our children.

But there is evidence that having a dog around can improve our ability to connect with other people. For example, one study found that in the presence of a dog, people acted more trusting, friendly, and cooperative. Although this study was done in a work group, the same might be true for those of us working and living together in tight spaces, too.

Another study found that when someone is out and about with a dog, people consider them to be more approachable than someone without a dog. And, if people walking a dog “accidentally” drop some coins in the street, they are more likely to be helped by a stranger.

This is something Jan noticed during her quarantine outings. “Maisie prods me out of the house for walks around our neighborhood, where she invariably provokes friendly (socially distanced) interactions with friends and strangers alike.”

It’s nice to know dogs can act as a kind of social glue. In another study, researchers randomly surveyed people in the U.S. and Australia, asking them how much they interacted with their neighbors. The findings revealed that pet owners (in the U.S., at least) were significantly more likely to know people in their neighborhoods, while dog owners in particular were more likely to consider a neighbor a friend and to feel socially supported by their neighbors.

Given that so many of us are limited to our neighborhoods or, possibly, dependent on neighbors for help during the pandemic, dog ownership may give us a slight advantage when it comes to connecting with those around us.

4. Dogs keep us healthier

All of these advantages—being less lonely, less stressed and anxious, and more connected to others—also tend to make us healthier. And there is direct evidence that dog owners experience a variety of health benefits.

                                              

For example, one study found that people who acquired a dog reported fewer minor health problems and rated themselves as healthier than non-pet owners, up to 10 months later. Another study found that dog owners live longer and that pet owners make fewer annual doctor visits than non-owners, even after considering gender, age, marital status, income, and other health-related factors.

A review of multiple research studies found that pet owners had significantly lower heart rates, arterial pressure, and systolic blood pressure, suggesting better cardiovascular health. Some of this may have to do with the fact that most dogs need to be walked, and so people who own dogs tend to walk more. But there are probably other pieces to the puzzle.

It could be that adopting a needy animal confers its own benefits, as doing good deeds tends to make us happier and healthier. Interestingly, during COVID-19, there has been an increase in the number of people willing to foster a pet, in part because more people are working from home and can therefore accommodate a pet’s needs more easily.

It’s clear that what we receive from dogs in love and care comes back to us a hundredfold. Perhaps, if we want to get through the pandemic in better mental and physical health, it wouldn’t hurt to have a dog around.

By Jill Suttie | August 26, 2020

three tips for happier dogs

Three tips from my book, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy.

By Zazie Todd, PhD

When I was writing my book, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy, I wanted to make it as practical as possible. So I included a set of tips at the end of every chapter (except chapter one).

Three of those tips are shown in these graphics.

Tip no. 73 is: If your dog has a behavior problem, don't use punishment. It does not teach your dog what to do instead of the problem behavior, and it interfere's with the dog's feeling of safety.

Tip no 7 is: Give the puppy a choice, encourage (don't force) them, and protect a shy puppy. Remember that socialization means giving your dog happy, positive experiences.

As you can tell from the numbers, there are many such tips in the book!

Tip no 36 is: Understand that you're important to your dog. Your presence can give your dog the confidence to explore new things, and your dog will look to you for information when presented with a new or stressful item.

These tips have been very popular on social media.

At the end of the book, there is a checklist that will help dog owners see where they are already doing well. and maybe help them think about whether there is anything else they or their dog might like to try. If you've completed the checklist, I would love to know what you found out from it.

If you want to get a copy, you'll find more information about Wag here along with links to buy (including from your local indie).

Zazie Todd, PhD, is the best-selling author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. She is the founder of the popular blog Companion Animal Psychology, where she writes about everything from training methods to the human-canine relationship. She also writes a column for Psychology Today and has received the prestigious Captain Haggerty Award for Best Training Article in 2017. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband and two cats.  [what no dogs?]

Playing with your dog

Many strong opinions exist about the “Do Nots” of playing with dogs. While I agree with some of these prohibitions, there are three common dog play “don’ts” that are myths. Before I get into the myths, I want to mention a few real worries that do exist.

Wrestle Play and Teasing: I do stand by the ban on rough-and-tumble wrestle play between dogs and humans and the teasing that often accompanies it. Though wrestle play betwen dogs and humans can be fun, the high emotional arousal that results often leads to a lack of inhibition, and that’s when trouble can happen, even to nice dogs and to nice people.

The play styles used in wrestle are also used in serious fights and predation. Rough play is typically okay for play between dogs but can create real danger with people. When you (or your nephew or the little girl who lives next door) are down on the ground with your face next to an excited predator with dangerous weapons in her mouth, bites can happen. Serious bites could happen, even if the dog has never bitten before. All too often, I’ve seen shocked and devastated families crying in my office, and I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.

Chasing Dogs: I’m also opposed to people chasing dogs, preferring to let dogs chase people instead. If you chase your dog, you risk teaching your dog that moving toward her means the game is afoot, making her more likely to run away even when you approach her for another reason. This can ruin your dog’s recall.

Chasing your dog can also lead to injury if your dog charges away from you into the street or other unsafe area. There’s no denying that letting a person chase a dog can be a great reinforcement for the dog, but I only approve this game for dogs who are so well-trained that the person can stop the game at any time and successfully call the dog to come.

Dog Play Myths

I disagree with the following advice on how to play with your dog:

Myth #1: Don’t mix Dog training and play.

Not true! It’s actually great to incorporate play into dog training sessions. The best dog training occurs when the dog views an activity as a game rather than a lesson. Using chase games to teach recalls, playing follow to build a base for heeling, using tug to practice “take it” and “drop it,” and practicing stays with “find it” games or hide-and-seek are all great ways to blend training and play. Additionally, play is reinforcing, so playing with your dog may be better than the best treat.

Myth #2: Only young dogs need to play.

Not true! A small percentage of animal species play at all, and even fewer play beyond childhood. Dogs and people remain playful into adulthood, which may partially explain why we’ve been best friends for thousands of years. Many older dogs stop playing only because they no longer have buddies to play with. Keep playing with your dog well into old age. It’s part of what makes them dogs and us human!

Myth #3: Don’t play tug with Your Dog.

Most importantly, I disagree with this prohibition (at least for most dogs). Many people advise against playing tug, which is a shame because so many dogs adore it. Tug is a great game, and dogs can learn a lot from playing it. Many trainers share this view and actually teach tug in puppy classes. The earlier dogs learn the lessons that tug has to offer such as impulse control, mouth control and cooperation as well as skills like “take it” and “drop it,” the safer and more fun the game becomes.

For a long time, experts advised against playing tug with dogs for fear that it would create or increase aggressiveness in dogs. Later, tug was considered fine for most dogs as long as they were not allowed to “win” by keeping the toy at the end. The concern was that it would have bad consequences for her to feel she had just triumphed over the person.

A scientific study by Rooney and Bradshaw addressed this issue. They found that “winning” the toy in a game of tug had no impact on the relationship of the human-dog pair. Based on their research, though, we should still be thoughtful about letting certain dogs keep the toy after a tug game. The most playful dogs in the study exhibited significantly higher amounts of playful attention-seeking behavior when they were allowed to “win.” Therefore, it may be better not to allow those dogs who become relentlessly pushy about seeking more play time to “win” at tug.

Of course, for a few dogs, tug is a bad idea. Dogs who are prone to aggression induced by high arousal are not good candidates for it. The same warning applies to dogs with poor bite inhibition or poor self-control as well as those who tend to creep up the toy with their mouths during tug. Additionally, it may exacerbate resource-guarding behavior in dogs who already exhibit it.

For most dogs though, tug has many benefits. It is interactive and requires cooperation between humans and dogs. It can give dogs exercise and help them stretch their bodies prior to other activities such as running or agility. Tug can effectively rev up an agility dog for maximum success on the course. It helps many dogs learn better mouth control in general.

With so many “Do nots” on how to play with dogs, the most important may be this: Do not spend so much time worrying about playing with your dog that you don’t have time to actually play with her.

Article first appeared in The Bark, Issue 60: Jun/Jul/Aug 2010

Dog Body Language

[7/25/20 via twitter]

Dogs express their emotions with their bodies, but we’re not always able to correctly interpret the messages they’re sending. Or worse yet, we misunderstand their intent, which can make a challenging situation even worse.

Learning to read what your dog is communicating is one of the most important things you can do to strengthen your relationship with them. While every dog will have their own unique nuances to their communication style, most dogs rely on similar postures to convey how they’re feeling.

When reading a dog’s body language, it’s important to note that the dog’s entire body plays a role in signaling; for example, a wagging tail doesn’t necessarily mean that a dog is happy, especially if the rest of their body is stiff.

Everything from your dog’s ears and expression on their face to the placement of their feet, and of course, the tail, work together to help communicate your dog’s emotional state.

Here are some dog body language basics to help you understand what your dog is trying to tell you.

***

[5/6/08] While looking up dog play, I came across this article on dog body language at wagntrain.com. The article also touches on Turid Rugaas and Calming Signals.

Turid Rugaas, a dog behaviorist from Norway, points out that dogs, as pack animals, have highly-developed ways of avoiding and diffusing conflict and aggression. Dogs therefore use "Calming Signals" to reduce stress for themselves and others they interact with (including humans). Calming signals include: Yawning, looking away, lip-licking, moving slowly, circling, sniffing the ground, becoming "distracted", sitting or lying down. Some of them are also the "appeasement display" behaviors that are developed to turn away aggression and threats of aggression - these are often confused with "the guilty look" that dogs may appear to be giving when scolded for doing something. Note that most of these are the opposite language from the directed attention that would be found in an aggressive interaction.

They have a number of additional informative articles in their Training Tips section.

*** [9/23/17]

Canine Body Language

dog years

Dogs do not simply age at seven times the rate of humans, scientists have found in a study that reveals young dogs might be “older” than previously thought.

The findings suggest a one-year-old puppy is actually about 30 in “human years” – an age when humans, at least, might be expected to have stopped running riot with the toilet paper.

Writing in the journal Cell Systems, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine describe how they focused on epigenetic changes to DNA – modifications that don’t change the DNA sequence but can switch genes on or off.

In particular the team compared the way the particular molecules, called methyl groups, accumulated in certain areas of the human genome over time with how they accumulated in similar areas in the dog genome.

The results, which draw on genetic data from about a hundred labrador retrievers from puppies to elderly animals, reveal every human year is not equivalent to seven dog years.

Instead the situation is more complex, with dogs showing far more rapid accumulation of methyl groups in their genome than us within their first year or so, suggesting they age at a much faster rate. However the rate of ageing in dogs, compared with humans, slows down as the years roll by.

Indeed, the findings suggest a one-year-old dog would have a “human age” of about 30, while by the age of four they’d be about 54 in “human years” and by 14 years old they would be on a par with a human in their mid-70s.

The relationship, the team say, is described by the formula: human age = 16 ln(dog_age) + 31. In maths, ln refers to the natural logarithm of a number.

The team say the work now needs to be repeated in other breeds of dog. But, they say, for young and old dogs, the relationship seems to reflect the ages at which humans and dogs experience particular milestones.

“For instance, the epigenome translated seven weeks in dogs to nine months in humans, corresponding to the infant stage when deciduous teeth erupt in both puppies and babies,” the team wrote in a preprint of the study. “In seniors, the expected lifespan of labrador retrievers, 12 years, correctly translated to the worldwide lifetime expectancy of humans, 70 years.

Prof Lucy Asher, an expert in canine puberty at Newcastle University who was not involved in the research, welcomed the study.

“If we think about ageing in terms of how old our cells are, this new paper is really useful in matching up human and dog years,” she said, adding such biological ageing is important for medical and veterinary health.

But, Asher added, the match breaks down if ageing is considered in terms of behaviours, hormones or growth – meaning we shouldn’t be surprised at the escapades of young dogs.

“Whilst a 30-year-old human might have cells of an analogous ‘age’ to a one-year-old dog, many dogs won’t be fully grown at this time and they will still have unsettled hormones and behaviour associated with puberty,” she said, noting that one-year-old dogs act more like human teenagers.

“The development of dogs is not just a shortened version of the human development, which is why it’s difficult to find a clear match-up between a dog’s age and a human’s age.”

China upgrades status of dogs

In a newly published list of animals categorized as livestock in China, the country’s agriculture ministry made a surprising announcement tucked away at the bottom of the policy document: dogs are no longer to be treated as mere livestock, but as loyal companions.

“Alongside the development of human civilization and the public’s care toward protecting animals, dogs have now evolved from being traditional livestock to companion animals,” the notice dated April 8 read (link in Chinese), adding that dogs aren’t typically regarded as livestock worldwide.

Around 10 million dogs and four million cats are estimated to be slaughtered and eaten in China every year, according to Hong Kong-based animal welfare group Animals Asia, but the practice is coming under increasing criticism from the country’s growing ranks of pet lovers. In 2016, a group of dog lovers tried to stop a truck that was carrying 320 dogs headed for a slaughterhouse on a highway in Hebei province. They ended up getting into a fight with the truck driver and causing a massive traffic jam.

Three Forms of Dog Training

Lee Charles Kelley is still going at it with his latest blog post, Three Forms of Dog Training.

Most people think there are only two types of training for pet dogs, dominance training and positive reinforcement. But there is actually a third form called drive training, which is far more effective than the other two.

In the current dog training marketplace drive training is the least understood and the least used with pet dogs, and yet it’s the most effective of the three. Plus it’s the method most often used to train working dogs: drug and bomb detection dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, military dogs, and police dogs.

So what is drive training, exactly, how does it work, and why isn’t it being more widely used for training pet dogs?

Before we get into that, let’s take a look at how all three methods evolved.

[read on...]

Then, in 1992 a new form of drive training was developed based on the laws of physics rather than the unscientific concepts of dominance or the somewhat semi-science of operant conditioning. This new method was created by former police and drug-enforcement dog trainer Kevin Behan.* His model—which he called Natural Dog Training—was based on the principles of flow and thermodynamics (among other things). In other words, it was based on physics.

[hmm...]

Chaser the border collie

Many owners struggle to teach their dogs to sit, fetch or even bark on command, but John W. Pilley, a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, taught his Border collie to understand more than 1,000 nouns, a feat that earned them both worldwide recognition.

For some time, Dr. Pilley had been conducting his own experiment teaching dogs the names of objects and was inspired by Border collie farmers to rethink his methods.

Dr. Pilley was given a black-and-white Border collie as a gift by his wife Sally.

[alternate paragraphs as printed in the Star Advertiser 7/28/19:

In 2004, Pilley started an experiment after reading about a dog named Rico who was taught to recognize over 200 items.

Pilley bought a black-and-white Border collie from a breeder near Spartanburg, S.C.  He named the female puppy Chaser.]

For three years, Dr. Pilley trained the dog, named Chaser, four to five hours a day: He showed her an object, said its name up to 40 times, then hid it and asked her to find it. He used 800 cloth animal toys, 116 balls, 26 Frisbees and an assortment of plastic items to ultimately teach Chaser 1,022 nouns.

In 2013, Dr. Pilley published his findings that explained that Chaser was taught to understand sentences containing a prepositional object, verb and direct object.

Chaser died on Tuesday at 15. She had been living with Dr. Pilley’s wife and their daughter Robin in Spartanburg. Dr. Pilley died last year at 89.

Another daughter, Pilley Bianchi, said on Saturday that Chaser had been in declining health in recent weeks. “The vet really determined that she died of natural causes,” Ms. Bianchi said. “She went down very quickly.”

Ms. Bianchi, who helped her father train Chaser, said the dog had been undergoing acupuncture for arthritis but had no other known illnesses.

Ms. Bianchi said Chaser was buried in the backyard with the family’s other beloved dogs and with some of her father’s ashes.

“What we would really like people to understand about Chaser is that she is not unique,” Ms. Bianchi said. “It’s the way she was taught that is unique. We believed that my father tapped into something that was very simple: He taught Chaser a concept which he believed worked infinitely greater than learning a hundred behaviors.”

Ms. Bianchi said that her father’s experiment was “uncharted territory” in animal cognition research, pointing to news media coverage calling Chaser “the world’s smartest dog.”

“Her language learning is very high-level, powerful science,” she said.

Chaser understood that words have independent meaning and understood common nouns as well as proper nouns, Ms. Bianchi said.

If Chaser had 30 balls, Ms. Bianchi said, she would be able to understand each one by its proper-noun name and also as a part of a group of objects. “She learned the theory of one to many and many to one, which is learning one object could have many names and many names can apply to one object or one person,” she said.

Greg Nelson, a veterinarian at Central Veterinary Associates in Valley Stream, N.Y., said humans were learning that animals have a deeper understanding of the world around them.

“People have always been under the belief that animals respond to commands based on a rewards system,” he said. “Learn limited commands and tricks, then get a treat.”

But “they do have a language among themselves, spoken and unspoken,” he added. “And it’s apparent that they can understand the human language probably in much the same way as we learn a foreign language.”

Ms. Bianchi said that Hub City Animal Project, an organization dedicated to animal homelessness, sponsored a bronze statue of Chaser that will be placed outside the Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Spartanburg next year.

Dr. Pilley’s footprints, also in bronze, will be placed beside the statue of Chaser, and a portion of a street near the museum will be renamed Chaser the Border Collie Boulevard, according to Ms. Bianchi.

Dr. Pilley told The New York Times in 2014 that “the big lesson is to recognize that dogs are smarter than we think, and given time, patience and enough enjoyable reinforcement, we can teach them just about anything.”

Correction: July 28, 2019

An earlier version of this article misidentified John W. Pilley’s occupation when he got Chaser, the Border collie. Dr. Pilley was a professor emeritus of psychology at Wofford College, not a retired psychiatrist. The article also misstated the name of the street near the museum that will be renamed. It will be called Chaser the Border Collie Boulevard, not Border Collie Avenue.

Being a Dog Lover May Be in Your Genes

There may be a genetic explanation for why John Wick (played in the film series by Keanu Reeves) cared so much about his puppy that he embarked on a murderous rampage after a team of hit men killed the innocent pup.

OK, maybe not. But scientists did recently discover that people who love dogs may do so in part because of their DNA.

Prior studies have shown that exposure to dogs during childhood can shape a lasting affinity for canine companionship, but researchers wondered if genetic factors might play a role as well. To find out, they examined data from more than 85,000 twins in the Swedish Twin Registry — the world's biggest twin registry — searching for genetic clues that may be linked to dog ownership in adulthood. [10 Things You Didn't Know About Dogs]

For the new study, the scientists consulted copious twin data and 15 years of records on dog ownership. (Sweden requires all dogs to be officially registered with the Swedish Board of Agriculture, while pedigreed dogs may also be registered with the Swedish Kennel Club.) Of the 85,542 twins evaluated in the study, 8,503 people owned dogs.

The study authors then created computer models to identify patterns among the twins that could represent genetic influence or environmental impacts shaping a lifelong attachment to dogs. Researchers found that genetics were slightly more predictive of dog ownership in adulthood than environment; genetic contribution to dog ownership amounted to about 51% in men and around 57% in women.

"These findings are important as they suggest that supposed health benefits of owning a dog reported in some studies may be partly explained by different genetics of the people studied," study co-author Carri Westgarth, a lecturer in human-animal interaction at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.

For instance, scientists reported in 2017 that owning a dog could lower the risk of heart disease by providing people with emotional support and increasing exercise. However, the new findings hint that genetics could also partly explain physical and mental health trends in dog owners.

City Council bill proposes changes for pet dogs and cats (Bill 59)

[2/21/20] Anna Neubuaer, new CEO of Hawaiian Humane Society, on Bill 59.

[1/30/20] A bill allowing the Hawaiian Humane Society to shorten the length of time it must keep a microchipped cat or dog to five days from nine days before deciding whether to euthanize it won final approval from the City Council Wednesday despite lingering protests from advocates of a no-kill policy.

Bill 59 (2019), which won approval 8-0, also would require that all registered pet cats and dogs be microchipped, which the Humane Society believes would make it easier to return lost animals to their owners.

The bill also makes a number of other changes that HHS staff describes as necessary to bring Oahu’s animal ordinance — and its contract with the city — in line with animal welfare best practices nationally. The bill now goes to Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who is expected to sign it. If it becomes law, it would take effect July 1.

The biggest opposition Wednesday continued to deal with the reduction in mandatory minimum hold times to five days for those animals with identification. (Animals without IDs of any sort are subject to only a 48-hour hold period under the current law, and that won’t change under the bill.)

Humane Society officials said 90% of stray animals retrieved are back with their owners in five days. Reducing the hold time would give the animals less stress and allow those not claimed but are healthy to be adopted more quickly, they said.

But critics continued to slam the plan, arguing that it doesn’t give enough time for owners to save their animals. Sharon Williams, vice president of Kat Charities, said her daughter recently found five kittens near their house and turned them into the Humane Society after being assured they would be reunited with their mother, who apparently had been captured the previous day.

Within an hour, Kat Charities attempted to get the kittens back but were told there were none, Williams said. Two days later, “we did hear back and unfortunately all five kittens were euthanized,” she said.

“HHS is a known, high-kill shelter and reducing the number of (hold) days is not going to save lives, it’s going to cost more lives,” she said.

Kasey Carter, the Hawaiian Humane Society’s chief veterinarian, said he could not speak to the specifics of Williams’ account although it appears they were not microchipped and therefore not required to be held nine days.

A five-day hold will help animals that are brought in with injuries more quickly, Carter said. A dog taken to the shelter Tuesday night that sustained two broken legs after being hit by a car could not be helped immediately except for providing it food, liquids and painkillers, because the law says HHS cannot do anything invasive unless it is obvious the animal would otherwise die, Carter said.

Moving to a five-day hold would allow HHS to take ownership more quickly and then administer aide more quickly, Carter said.

Mililani pet shop owner Ricky Baker said he objects to requiring animals to be microchipped. “Laws should not be passed that dictate when medical procedures should be performed on pets,” Baker said.

“Registering a pet with a private chip company can be burdensome and costly, and problematic, especially if we’re talking about puppies that are 12 weeks old,” Baker said.

Pushing for a five-day minimum hold period does not help the pet owners’ perception of the Humane Society, he said. Instead of penalizing owners who lose their pets, he said, the organization should focus more on educating pet owners about the benefits of registering their animals.

Alicia Maluafiti, founder of Poi Dogs and Popoki, urged Council members to discard the bill and work with all the interested parties in coming up with legislation more amenable to the different sides. She said she is encouraged that there appears to be a new generation of pet owners and animal advocates skeptical about HHS’s policies but are willing to work with the agency for improvements that would help the welfare of the animals.

Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who authored the bill, said current HHS officials acknowledge that some of its previous practices may have been questionable but that it’s doing better under new leadership. Kobayashi inserted language requiring HHS to report its euthanasia numbers although it already does so.

Numbers provided by the Hawaiian Humane Society show the number of dogs and cats that are brought in and subsequently euthanized has dropped significantly since 1993 while the percentage of pets returned has climbed.

Other key provisions of the bill:

>> Gives HHS the authority to spay or neuter dogs brought in as strays three times within a 12-month period.

>> Requires owners of dogs found strayed three times within a year to pay a $30 fee.

>> Raises the mandatory hold fee to $10 a day (after the initial 24 hours) from $2.50 a day. The fee was last increased in 1983.

[12/18/19] A Honolulu City Council committee Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a bill that would require registered pet dogs and cats to be microchipped and would shorten the minimum time that strays need to be held by the Hawaiian Humane Society to five days from the current nine.

After winning unanimous approval Tuesday from the Council Parks, Community Services and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, Bill 59 now goes to the full Council for the second of three votes. It will make a return trip to the parks committee for further refinement before a final vote.

Bill 59 is supported by the Humane Society, which contends that the changes bring a more modern and thoughtful approach to animal control laws.

Pet store owners say the measure cedes too much control to the organization.

Current city law says a dog 4 months or older must be licensed and receive a dog tag that costs $10 if the animal is sterilized, $28.50 if not sterilized. The license must be renewed every two years. There is currently no licensing for cats, although the owner of a cat that is expected to spend time outdoors is supposed to be microchipped.

Under the bill, the dog tag system would be replaced by a microchip registration process that would apply to both dogs and cats.

Stephanie Kendrick, public policy advocate for the Hawaiian Humane Society, said a microchip can easily be found for under $25 and that the Kapahulu nonprofit will do it for $20. There would be no need for a renewal, although a change in ownership or ownership information would require an update.

Kendrick said the proposed changes are backed up by research into the best practices for handling animals in sheltered environments. Switching to a microchip-based system on the mainland has led to a spike in pet licenses of as much as 300%, she said.

Councilwoman Kymberly Pine said her constituents are uncomfortable with the reduction in the hold time to five days. Pets are “family to some people,” she said.

Kendrick said “short shelter stays for pets actually lead to better outcomes for them by reducing the time that they’re spending in a stressful environment, which can cause illness and distress.” More important, the shorter hold time means animals not reclaimed by their owners are made available for adoption more quickly.

Under the bill, once minimum hold times are reached, the Humane Society can allow the person who released the animal to the contractor to redeem the animal, offer the animal up for adoption or euthanize it.

Animals with no identification of any sort are subject to only a 48-hour hold period under the current law, and that won’t change under the bill.

Kendrick said nearly 90% of the stray animals with an ID that are brought to the Humane Society go home within five days.

***

12/11/19 - Stephanie Kendrick on Bill 59

12/18/19 - Ginny Tiu on Bill 59

11/27/19 - Alicia Maluafiti on Bill 59

Senate bill 677

Animal rights supporters won an early round Friday in their years-long effort to make it illegal to tie up a dog in a way that endangers its life or prevents it from getting food or water.

The revised version of Senate Bill 677 removed earlier provisions that also would have banned the sale of so-called “shock collars” — a proposal that was opposed by multiple dog trainers and dog owners.

But the current version of SB 677 would add new provisions to Hawaii’s current animal cruelty laws.

If passed into law, it would become a new misdemeanor to tie up a dog to a “trolley, pulley, cable, or running line designed to attach a dog to two stationary objects in a configuration that endangers the dog, including preventing the dog from obtaining necessary sustenance.”

And no dog under the age of 6 months would be allowed to be tethered or restrained unless the dog is supervised by its owner or an agent of the owner. Also, no dog could be restrained by a choke collar, pinch collar or prong collar unless engaged in an activity supervised by its owner or an agent of the owner.

Violations would result in up to a year in jail. Violations for 10 or more animals would be a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Stephanie Kendrick, public-policy advocate for the Hawaiian Humane Society, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Hawaiian Humane Society has been working for years to make it illegal to tie up dogs in an inhumane way.

“Tethering stirs strong passions in dog lovers who understand the human-animal bond,” Kendrick wrote in testimony to the committee. “Dogs are social beings who do best when fully integrated into their human families. Improper or prolonged tethering is not only bad for dogs, it increases the risk of serious dog bites and the victim of such attacks are often children.”

The Humane Society of the United States wrote to the committee, “Law enforcement often receives reports of chained dogs with necks rubbed raw and covered with sores, the result of cruelly heavy chains, poorly fitted collars and the dogs’ straining to escape confinement. It is shockingly common for officers to find dogs with embedded collars, a horrible situation where the collar grows into the skin, typically requiring surgery.”

Several Hawaii island residents wrote in support of SB 677, including James Ward, who said, “I’ve been waiting years to see action on this issue.”

Jennifer Jo of Puna wrote, “I see dogs tied up all day and all night looking helpless and wanting so much more for the life they have been given. Please stop this abuse and help give dogs a life free from being tied up.”

And Justine Haltom of Kaneohe wrote to the committee that she sees a neighbor’s dog “chained 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This poor animal suffers because of human neglect. As a result, the dog is miserable and in very poor health. Furthermore, its miserable state encourages it to bark and screech for hours at a time, which affects all of the neighborhood’s ability to enjoy peace and quiet at their home.”

Mother Waldron dog park

Another city-run, off-leash dog park is now on the map of Oahu.

City officials have opened a new dog park at Mother Waldron Park on Pohukaina Street in Kakaako.

The new, 7,900-square-foot park runs alongside a walkway adjacent to Fisher Hawaii, and is the city’s 7th off-leash dog park. It is a simple park, with no water fountain or separate areas for small and large dogs, but a chain-linked fence surrounds a rectangular, grassy area with a few trees that provide shade.

A soft opening was held Jan. 31, according to Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman Nathan Serota, while an opening celebration will be held next Friday.

News about the new dog park is getting around in the canine community, and some nearby Kakaako residents have discovered it, while others have not.

“It’s nice to finally have a place where dogs can go,” said Kailee Topping, who was dog-sitting her sister’s puppy, Odie. “It’s exciting to see a new park.”

Topping expects to be a regular at the park.

Earlier today, Dan Kueny of Honolulu was at the park for the first time with his two dogs, Lulu Del Ray and Kaidoi, both rescues, to meet a friend.

The park, he noted, was not huge, but had a “nice length to it,” offering dogs the opportunity to get in a good run.

“It’s good for socialization,” Kueny said of dog parks. “It allows them to get out and really stretch their legs. We’re on an island where a lot of places people live, they don’t have yards.”

Kueny said it would be great if off-leash dog parks were available in all of Oahu’s neighborhoods.

“If you have little neighborhood parks everywhere, I think it also builds a community,” he said. “You get neighbors out talking to each other…If you have people walking to their neighborhood dog parks, you have eyes out everywhere, as well. I think it makes for a safer community altogether.”

Kakaako resident Maggie Johnson, has a mini dachshund named Mabel, who often accompanies her to shops at Salt at Kakaako.

She had not yet heard of the new dog park just a block away, but was thrilled.

“There are so many dogs around this area,” Johnson said. “She likes to be off-leash, so having somewhere she can run would be great.”

The city has been rolling out several new dog parks in past months, although plans for one at Ala Moana Regional Park were recently scrapped.

In January, the city held a blessing for a 9,325-square-foot, off-leash dog park at Kalo Place Mini Park in Moiliili. The park, formerly underused and frequented by the homeless, was transformed into a dog park in a private-public partnership with the Hawaiian Humane Society next door.

The city last month also broke ground on another dog park at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park in Waipahu. The 12,800-square-foot park, which will be the city’s 8th dog park, is expected to open this fall.

Serota said the Kakaako dog park was constructed in-house by Department of Parks and Recreation staff. A set of rules is posted on the sign at the park’s gate.

Hours for the Kakaako off-leash dog park will be the same as Mother Waldron Park, from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., unless otherwise noted on signs.

*** [2/21/20] ***

Mother Waldron dog park opens, but is a temporary installment