Behavior

A dog fight that goes beyond a brief scuffle and doesn’t resolve quickly is frightening to behold. In fact, it’s one of the behavior scenarios most likely to result in significant injury to humans, not to mention the dogs. The first, most important thing to remember is keep yourself safe. After that, here are five things to do to try to end the conflict as quickly as possible, with minimal bloodshed.

There’s nothing like a good dog-pack hike to give our canine companions an opportunity to have fun with their peers and run themselves into a happy state of exhaustion – provided there are no canine bullies in the group. Just like human bullies on a school playground, canine bullies take the fun out of the game, put everyone on edge, and bring to the party a real risk of physical as well as psychological damage. A dog who is bullied, especially at a young age, can quickly develop a negative association with other dogs and become defensively aggressive as a result.

Contained in every puppy’s mouth is a set of amazingly sharp little daggers known as “teeth.” Puppies explore the world with those mouths. Since you are part of your pup’s world, it is inevitable that those sharp little teeth will at some point come in contact with your tender skin during a behavior known as “puppy biting.” It hurts. So what should you do when your puppy bites you, or other family members (including children)?

On his first night of puppy class, Sam was an endearingly woolly bundle of baby Golden Retriever, with no indication that he had a social problem. Golden Retrievers are usually social butterflies, and Sam was a star performer during class for clicks and treats. However, when playtime arrived, his demeanor changed from an attentive pupil (“What can I do to get you to click the clicker?”) to a bully (“I’m tough and you just try to stop me!”).

So, what should you do if your dog is the victim of a canine bully? Intervene, by all means. Here are some of the signs to look for that tell you that you need to step in and break up the interaction.

picked up as a stray and being held at an animal shelter

I’m awakened by the exhalation of my Border Collie’s warm breath on my face: heh-heh-heh. I slowly open one eye and focus on the nose just inches from my own. I may be anthropomorphizing, but I suspect he’s grinning. There it is again – a breathy heh-heh-heh. Wait a minute! Is he just panting or is he laughing at me? Given the way dogs are designed, panting is a very normal bodily function. Dogs don’t have sweat glands throughout their body to expel heat like humans do.

There is a growing body of information available to anyone who wants to learn more about why dominance theory is so outdated and incorrect. Here are 10 resources to get you started...

so he's trying it again.üIs this dog dominant or acting like an "alpha dog"? No; he's been trained to jump up and bite on cue."

It's feeding time at the Miller household. All is calm until I pick up Scooter's bowl to carry it to the laundry room where the little Pomeranian can eat without harassment from the larger dogs. As I lift the bowl from the counter, Scooter erupts with high-pitched barking and spinning, and Lucy the Corgi joins in with her deeper-but-still-sufficiently irritating vocals. It's more of an annoying bit of ritual than a dangerous or disturbing one, but it's annoying just the same, and one that would be nice to extinguish.

high-value treat. Peanut (Dog A

The term Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) describes a group of complex developmental brain disorders whose symptoms may appear in infancy or later in childhood, affecting speech and behavior. ASDs affects an estimated one out of every 110 children, with boys outnumbering girls three or four to one. In the United States, an estimated one out of every 70 boys is diagnosed with autism.