Fun Facts
Why Dogs Chase Their Tails
Usually play, sometimes boredom, and occasionally a genuine compulsive disorder with a known genetic component. Here is how to tell which you are watching.
Tag: behaviour
13 articles
Health
Canine Cognitive Dysfunction: Dementia in Older Dogs
Night pacing, staring at walls and forgetting house training are not just old age. There is a recognised syndrome, and there are things that genuinely help.
Fun Facts
Why Dogs Lick People
Affection, appeasement, taste, attention-seeking, and occasionally a medical problem. The context tells you which — and there is a hygiene question worth knowing about.
Fun Facts
Why Dogs Shake Their Toys
The violent head-shake with a squeaky toy is the tail end of a hunting sequence. Knowing which part of that sequence your dog enjoys explains most of their play.
Training
Resource Guarding: What to Do (And What Makes It Worse)
Guarding is normal behaviour that becomes dangerous when handled badly. The old advice to take food away builds the problem. Here is what works instead.
Training
Lead Reactivity: The First Four Things to Do
A dog who barks and lunges at other dogs is usually frightened, not aggressive. Here is what to do in the first fortnight, before any formal training programme.
Fun Facts
Do Dogs Feel Jealousy?
The dog who shoves between you and another dog is doing something. Whether it deserves the word jealousy is a genuinely interesting question.
Fun Facts
Why Dogs Roll in Disgusting Things
Fox faeces, dead fish, badger droppings. The behaviour is universal, the theories are competing, and none of them is 'to get clean'.
Fun Facts
Do Dogs Understand Time?
Your dog waits by the door before you get home and knows when dinner is due. That is not clock-reading — the mechanisms behind it are more interesting than that.
Training
Separation Anxiety in Dogs: What It Is and How Treatment Actually Works
Separation anxiety is panic, not naughtiness, and it does not respond to crating, exercise or ignoring. Here is how the treatment protocol works and why it has to be gradual.