This is the day when we celebrate by making a lot of noise! Dogs, on the other hand, may panic and do anything to try to escape our celebration. Remember to be extra mindful of your dog(s) and to bring them inside if possible. Also, leaving a TV or radio on for background noise can be beneficial. However, for some dogs, it’s the sound combined with the vibration of the fireworks, so a little background noise won’t come close to calming them.
We have a day off on July 4th, and July 5th is the busiest day of the year for animal control and shelters. Be safe, have fun, and keep your eye on Fido! I witnessed firsthand the tragedy of someone leaving their dog alone, outside on the 4th of July. It brings up the question – is a microchip enough?
Separation anxiety manifests itself in varying degrees. The symptoms can be very subtle and escalate quickly if not addressed. I do believe that some dogs suffer from post-traumatic stress as well. Combine the two, and you may come home to something like this. These photos show the pure panic of a dog who was lost after the passing of the other dog in the family.
Emotional instability in dogs is as real as it is in humans. They don’t have words for what they are feeling – nor do we. It’s important to understand their behavior from a dog’s perspective and to treat them accordingly. There is a trigger, a memory, a perceived fear, that can be extremely challenging to pinpoint (if we ever can).
Here’s a great article from the Humane Society regarding Separation Anxiety. If you have any questions or are concerned your dog is demonstrating symptoms of either separation anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, please contact me for assistance.
Does your dog have dominant tendencies? Are you confused at what that actually means? Is dominant and being alpha one in the same?
A dominant dog isn’t necessarily the alpha dog. Some dogs are born as dominant beings. They are hard-wired from birth with the genetic makeup to be “bossy.” Puppies will exhibit the behaviors in subtle ways that will grow to be less subtle as they mature. Some of the characteristics are:
Marking their territory
Kicking up their hind legs after they “mark.”
Wrapping their front legs around you.
Talking back or getting in the last word when corrected.
Nudging another dog to get ahead of them or out of their way.
Holding their head over the head or body of another dog (and/or their human).
These are a few of the more obvious characteristics. You don’t train their personality out of them, you work with it. You need to be more dominant than they are.
Here’s a photo of a dominant little guy who is not quite annoying enough for the Dane to say “stop that!” I can guarantee if she did, it would only take once! He is definitely macho in his actions around the other dogs – unfortunately for him, no one sees him as alpha.
I was sitting outside tonight as it finally cooled down. I was snacking on some nuts and had one of my dogs with me. It’s good to spend time with your dogs individually as they each have different personalities. It’s easy to miss the differences if they are always viewed as a pack.
As I snacked on almonds, my curious dog was anxiously awaiting my either dropping one or voluntaringly giving her one. I gave her an almond. One, small, dry almond and she acted like it was the best treat she ever received. She took it and ran off with her tail-a-waggin’. She set it down, sniffed it, and then slowly picked it up and chewed.
An almond. She brought me to the moment. Watching her savor this treat reminded me of how simple a “treat” can be. I gave her a few more as I slowed down my eating so that I too could enjoy every bite. Want to live in the moment and enjoy every “treat” life gives you. . .learn from your dog.
If you have seen the recently released, delightful, fun-loving movie “Up,” then you know about the Cone of Shame. You will also know of it if you have had a dog spayed, neutered, or if for any reason you need to keep their head away from other parts of their body. When donning the cone, dogs do seem to be embarrassed or at a minimum very aware of their limitations.
Here’s Fletcher wearing the Cone of Shame. What makes it so funny is this is how I found him one morning. He didn’t need to wear it and must have been testing it out. He managed to put it on before realizing it won’t come off! You can imagine how the other dogs and I laughed. Perhaps it was his way of humbling himself or to make the real wearer of the cone feel better.
In a previous post, I wrote about dogs needing other dogs. In the following video, you will watch my two labradoodles play fight. A human can never play with a dog like another dog. Not only are they having fun, they are also communicating with one another (in more ways than depicted by the comic bubbles).
Some dogs instinctively have a high prey drive. In some cases, they can be trained to use this ability for search and rescue missions by taking their natural instinct and putting it to good use. Here’s a video of a dog who was used on a special research program.
If you have puppies and can’t keep your eye on them constantly, hire a dog nanny. This video is of Mac-Nanny. Mac is a labradoodle that does a great job at keeping two Maltese puppies corralled and in their crate.
Most things about puppies are adorable. They are always enthusiastic because everything is new and exciting! They also lack the ability to focus and have a very short attention span. AND, it doesn’t bother them a bit.
You may have heard of a “senior moment.” Those moments when you are doing one thing and then forget what you are doing so you start doing something else. Having been around several puppies lately, I realized that rather than a “senior moment,” have a “puppy moment.” It sounds so much better. It almost sounds fun!
Puppies can be walking toward their toy, and mid-step see a moth and head towards it. They can squat to pee and in a nanosecond get distracted and follow a leaf. If they could use words, I’m sure they’d be saying, “hey, look at that, no that, no that!” They look at us confused as we attempt to keep them focused.
The next time you lose a word mid-sentence, forget why you entered a room, or what it is you were going to do next, call it a “puppy moment.” You can also keep an I-don’t-care-if-I-forget-what- I’m-doing attitude and just enjoy the moment. . .whatever that moment is!
