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Talking Scents

Posted: Monday, April 30, 2012 at 11:03:51 AM EST by Cam Day

Solving the wee problem of scent marking

You have all seen it.

The local Mutt wanders down the street, the king of all he surveys and at each post, he lifts his leg and leaves a small quantity of urine.

It's the normal way that dogs mark their territory but dogs are certainly not the only animals that use their scent to mark territory. Cats, rhinos, bees and even humans mark their territory in many different ways.

Animals don't need email, Facebook and Twitter.

Such base forms of communication are for primitive species like humans. After all, humans don't know how to communicate using the refined messages contained in bodily scents. That is, all except the members of a special tribe in New Guinea who won't shake hands until they have rubbed their hands under their armpits to exchange smells with their friends. I'm glad I have a primitive email address.

A cat marks its territory by spraying urine in much the same way as dogs but also by scratching its claws on various trees around its territory.  The visible scratch marks and the scent from its feet are strong messages to other cats.

Solutions to furniture scratching

How Powerful is an Animal's Sense of Smell?

A dog's ability to detect scents is legendary. Humans are olfactory dunces compared to dogs. The difference is in the anatomy of a dog's nose. We have two sheets of membranes in our  noses that contain roughly five million olfactory (smell) receptors whereas the dogs have intricately folded sheets of membranes with a surface area fifty times larger than that of humans and with more than 220 million sensory cells.

Thus, a dog's sense of smell is at least one hundred times and possibly one hundred thousand times more sensitive than a human's. For instance, your Pooch can detect the odour of your fingerprint six weeks after you placed it onto a piece of glass.

Further, detector-dogs are used to find chemical residues such as chlordane and dieldrin in soil. These highly-trained dogs can detect these chemicals in parts of less than one per million - better than most scientific measuring equipment!!  Doesn't that make you feel like a dunce?

Territorial Marking Behaviour

It is for this reason that a dog is so fascinated with the urine deposits of others. A wolf will urine-mark the boundaries of its territory twice as much as it marks the centre. It will also mark its territory with its faeces, with the scent from its anal glands, and by scratching vertical objects.

The 'last post' routine of a male dog descends from its wolf ancestry. Wolves also mark territory by smearing vertical surfaces with faeces and even this is seen in high ranking dogs.

You are likely to see leg-lifting behaviour in your back yard Pooch more commonly along your boundary fence line and much more commonly when another dog is going past. Some very territorial dogs will also scent-mark their territories by smearing their faeces onto vertical surfaces. This is more often seen when a dog is walking along the street or is in a local park. In hot climates such as ours, faecal marking scents last longer than urine scents whereas, interestingly, the opposite is true in colder climates. I have noticed that dogs which mark their territories with their faeces are usually very independent dogs and are often quite aggressive to other dogs.

The ability of an animal to scent mark is very important to its survival. It is the only way an animal can leave a message for others without having to stay around to deliver it.

Many species scent mark. European rabbits deposit hundreds of faecal pellets daily to mark their territory. Hippos distribute their dung in rivers by using their tails as egg-beaters in the water. Rhinos place dung pats in strategic locations along their trails and will also trample in their dung to carry the smell with them on their feet as they travel.

Some monkeys and other primates urinate on their feet so that they leave their scent on trees as they travel, and the dwarf mongoose stands on its head to rub essential scents from its anal glands up as high as it can manage on bushes and rocks.

The Lure of Pheromones

Many of the scents that are important to animals contain pheromones. Pheromones are powerful molecules that, when released from one animal, have a big affect on the behaviour of other animals, just like the hormones within an animal's own body have a big affect on its own behaviour.

In the world of science we have even reached the stage where we can manufacture pheromones and place it in bottles.

For cats, the pheromone Feliway is readily available and is used to stop cats spraying, as well as in assisting cats to become comfortable when moving into a new residence.

For dogs, the Dog Appeasing Pheromone Adaptil is available and is used for the treatment of separation anxiety, noise fears and other anxieties and also helps to assimilate a puppy or even an adult do into a new home.

Purchase Pheromones Here

Solutions for Scent Marking Behaviour

If scent marking is a problem with your pets, try the following: -

1. Desexing male dogs and cats greatly reduces the need to urine mark. Urine scent marks can be removed with Bac To Nature and similar animal odour eliminators and with the laundry detergent Bio Zet.

2. For cats that scratch furniture, try covering the furniture with plastic - the black plastic used in landscaping works well. Then place a scratching post near to the scratched furniture. Scent the scratching post with the pheromone spray Feliway to create interest in the scratching post.

3. Change the perception of your cat's favourite spraying area by feeding it in that spot or by gluing dry cat biscuits to an old dish and leaving them in the sprayed area.

4. Keep other dogs and cats away from your pet's territory so your pets will not feel the need to mark their own territory to keep these interlopers away.

For interesting reading on animals and how they communicate, look for the Reader's Digest book Intelligence in Animals.

Links to other information:

What are pheromones?

Dog Appeasing Pheromone (Adaptil)

Feliway

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Tags: dog, poop, wee, pee, poo, pets, pet, puppy, marking, territory, pheromones, DAP, Feliway,

Which dog breeds bark and bite the most?

Posted: Friday, April 27, 2012 at 5:28:12 PM EST by Cam Day

A multimedia presentation by Dr Cam Day

Have you ever wondered which dog breeds are the 'best at being bad'?

Look no further - we have the answers for you!

We are referred the worst case behaviours of south east Queensland so we have always been interested in which dog breeds are the best at being bad, the 'Dennis the Menace Dogs'

Barking and biting are the baddest of the bad but which breeds actually bark the most and which bite the most?

That’s not an easy question to answer.

To answer that truthfully we needed to know two things:-

• How to describe breeds of dogs called 'cross breeds' – because there’s nothing wrong with a cross bred and they don't necessarily behave any differently to their purebred cousins.

• And we needed to know what are the most popular breeds in the community so we would compare the bad ones with what's normal.

For instance, it’s senseless to say the Australian Cute Hound barks the most if the Australian Cute Hound is also the most popular dog in the community.

While the details of how we did that are very complex and too nerdy to describe (we have published this information in journals), we have created an interesting multimedia presentation about just that subject.

This presentation will tell you:-

• which dog breeds are most commonly owned
• and which bark the most
• and which bite the most.

You can view this presentation here .

Be sure to leave your comments (below) so we can amass the amazing minds of many.

We'll have another blog entry for you next week,

In the meantime, don't forget to hug your pet,

Cam

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Tags: pet, dog, aggression, aggressive, puppy, breed, statistics, biting, barking, bite, attack, solutions for dog aggression, solutions for barking dog,

Brain Games for Smart Puppies

Posted: Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 9:55:22 AM EST by Cam Day

How clever is your puppy? 

Do you think you have a Canine Einstein or does your pooch have an IQ that is surpassed by that of a plank of wood?

There are many canine IQ tests in books and many appear on the internet and because of breed differences and testing variables, it could well be impossible to create a scientifically valid IQ test for dogs - but who cares? It's fun seeing how inventive your pooch can be.

You will note that, in some of these tests your pup's body length is used to standardise test distances used with each assessment. This is an attempt to cater for pups of different sizes and to give better consistency with the results.

Set Up and Qualification

1. Mark a 'start' line on the ground by using a piece of chalk or similar.

2. Measure the distance of your puppy from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail (where the tail joins the spine) and ask your assistant to hold your dog four puppy-lengths from the start line.

3. Let your puppy smell its favourite food treat, then place the treat on the ground on the start line. Encourage your pup to 'SEEK' the treat. Repeat three times.

4. If your pup picks up the food each time within five seconds, your pup has proven it is a pig and has thus qualified to compete in the test!!!

Test 1 - Toilet roll turmoil

You will need three toilet-roll cores, a small quantity of food treats (e.g. Eukanuba Smart Puppy Food) and an assistant (and your dog!).

1. Place the three toilet roll cores, side by side, on the start line.         

2. Place one food treat in the centre of one of the toilet roll cores.

3. Your assistant releases the puppy as you encourage it to 'SEEK' the food.

4. Use a stop watch to time how long it takes your pup to retrieve the treat from inside the toilet-roll core. Start timing at the moment your pup crosses the start line.

Repeat three times, noting the time for each.

Download a video of this test  6MB MPEG

Test 2 - The Puppy Cup

This test is similar to Toilet Roll Turmoil except that the pup can see the food, not smell the food. It is a more difficult test.

For this test you will need three disposable see-through plastic cups of the type commonly available from supermarkets for party supplies.

1.   Place the three cups, side by side, on the start line.

2.   Let your pup see you place a food treat under one of the cups.

3.   Your assistant releases the puppy as you encourage it to 'SEEK' the food.

4.   Use a stop watch to time how long it takes your pup find and then to retrieve the treat from under the cup. Start timing at the moment your pup crosses the start line.

Repeat three times, noting the time for each.

Test 3 - In the News

For this test you will need several sheets of newspaper and your dog's favourite food treat.

Teaching the Routine

1. Place a sheet of newspaper opened flat on the ground on the start line. Have your pup held by your assistant.

2. Drop or place a food treat in the middle of the piece of the newspaper and use the word 'SEEK' to encourage your pup to get the food. Repeat three times

3. This will teach your pup to expect a find a food treat on the newspaper.

Testing Your Pup

1. Now place the food treat in the centre of the newspaper but fold the newspaper in half to hide the treat.

2. Again encourage your pup to 'SEEK' the food treat and time his or her attempt starting at the moment the pup crosses the start line.

Repeat three times, noting the time for each.

Test 4 - Carton Quiz

For this test, you will need a clean three-litre plastic milk carton. Cut a large, round, oval hole in one side of the carton, essentially cutting out the label. Do this by inserting a sharp knife into the side of the carton to create a slit and then insert a pair of scissors into the slit to cut the hole. Be sure there are no sharp edges on the rim of the hole. 

Teaching the Routine

1. Place the carton on the ground, cut surface down on the starting line.

2. Place a food treat onto the surface of the carton and encourage your pup to 'SEEK' the food treat.

3. Repeat three times to teach the new routine.

Testing Your Pup

1. Now stand the carton vertically with the cut surface facing away from the pup.

2. Place a food treat inside the carton and encourage your pup to 'SEEK' the food treat.

3. Time your pup's attempt but don't distract the pup with your laughing!

Repeat three times, noting the time for each.

Test 5 - Hide and Sneaky

For this test you need yourself, an assistant and your pup.

Teaching the Routine

1. Your assistant holds your pup at the end of your hallway.

2. Walk off into your bedroom and hide behind your bed.

3. Call your pup enthusiastically and when your delighted pup finds you, praise it and give it a food treat. 

Repeat three times.

Testing Your Pup

1. Now hide in a different location in your bedroom such as in your wardrobe.

2. Call your pup.

3. Use a stop watch to determine how long it takes your pup to find you in the new location.

Repeat three times, noting the time for each.

How Clever is Your Pup?

Now let's determine if your pooch has the intellect of a Canine Einstein or door mat on a bad hair day!

For each test, take the fastest score of your three measurements. You will have five scores.  Add them together to get an overall score.

Overall score below 15 seconds - You have a Canine Einstein. Contact the Guinness Book of World Records for inclusion in the next edition!

Overall score between 15 and 25 seconds.

Your pooch is a Mensa Mutt. Enroll him or her at University - it's a scholar.

Overall score between 25 and 35 seconds.

You have a normal pet with normal intelligence. Give it a big hug.

Overall score between 35 and 60 seconds.  

Well cerebral dexterity may not be its strong point but it has enough intelligence to find a food bowl at 10 paces and that's all life requires!

Overall score longer than 60 seconds.

You were testing the door mat. Now repeat the test with a real dog.

 

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Tags: IQ test, pet, dog training, puppy, training, dog, liver treat, treats,

Oh Yuk!

Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 10:07:45 AM EST by Cam Day

When dogs eat bad things...

You don't really want to read this! Dogs really do some revolting things occasionally but when your dog eats its own droppings, it can really make your stomach turn - especially when it wants to come and greet you afterwards with that oh-so-lovely Fetid Fido grin.

I am sure you do not want any more gory details, but some dogs eat their droppings when their produce has matured on the ground for a little while. Some eat them while they are factory fresh and steaming and others prefer the offerings of other animals, especially cattle, horses, cats and kangaroos.

Just to prove there is a word for everything - the term for this charming behaviour is coprophagia.

What are the solutions?

Firstly, ensure your dog has no medical reason for its wayward behaviours. Ask your veterinarian to test your dog's stool for parasites of any type. Your veterinarian may also wish to test the functioning of your dog's pancreas.

Put Pooch onto a highly digestible and nutritionally balanced diet to eliminate any chance that a dietary problem is the cause.

The digestibility will ensure that it can extract as many nutrients as possible from the food presented and will reduce the volume of faeces produced.

The faeces will also be consistent in form and nature. Lastly, such a diet will ensure that no dietary deficiency is causing the coprophagia.

If your dog has a dietary allergy causing bowel irritation, then this may lead to coprophagia too. Therefore, to normalise bowel function even further, it is also a good idea to feed your dog a restricted protein or hypoallergenic diet. These diets contain protein sources that are not commonly used in dog food.

A suitable diet to achieve all the above is available from your veterinarian.

Behavioural Remedies

Having eliminated any medical cause, now turn to behavioural therapy.

Bored dogs that live in small backyards and have dull lifestyles often practice coprophagia. Such dogs need the No Bored Dogs Routine technique to blow away boredom.

To keep a dog on its toes and to provide brain work, a Kong Toy is perfect. These pyramid shaped balls bounce unpredictably and are great for aerobic exercise.

When you have finished playing with your dog, you can place some food treats in the hole in the middle of the Kong and leave it with your dog. Pooch will then spend quite some time exercising its brain and working out how to get the food out of the hole.

Training the dog not to eat its own produce, or those of others, can be done in a variety of ways, but, how can you train the dog if you do not know when it is going to gobble the googlies?

Try to make the passage of your dog's own googlies more predictable.

Generally your dog will want to soil within an hour or so of eating. If possible, restrict it to one meal a day. Conveniently time the meal so that an hour afterwards you can watch the dog closely. Perhaps you will need to keep the dog inside the house so that you will know when it wants to go out.

Try to catch the soiling behaviour so that you can either praise the leaving-it-where-it-is behaviour or softly discipline the google-gobbling behaviour

When motions are produced, praise the leaving behaviour. Use a technique I call the A Good Dog Routine for this. Wait till your dog passes its offering, then,in a kind voice say 'leave'. Wait for about five seconds, and if Pooch does 'leave it' call him or her to you and liberally praise this sequence of good behaviours.

The above method is the preferable one. However, occasionally, disciplining googly gobbling is necessary. The method is similar to the last but with a different emphasis. It is a process I call the ABad Dog, Good Dog Routine.

Timing is critical. Wait until Pooch goes to take a mouthful. Then, in a very stern voice, shout 'Leave'. The voice should be as sudden as a gun shot and be stern enough to distract and punish the dog. Wait for five seconds to see if you have had effect. Call the dog to you, make it Sit and Stay, and then praise this alternative good dog behaviour.

Usually, the 'Bad Dog Good Dog Routine' is replaced in time with the 'Good Dog Routine' as the dog learns and punishment is no longer needed.

A process I call the 'Stool Pigeon' approach can be tried too. This is a form of 'self-discipline'. Leave a tasty-looking stool in an obvious spot but cover the stool with a hot sauce or a bittering spray such as Bitravet (available from veterinary surgeons). It is even better if the sauce or Bitravet is injected into the stool so your dog cannot smell the additives.

Lastly, a product called Wild Forage (available from our office) is also useful. When added to the dog's diet this often helps to control coprophagia.


If you need help with this problem, feel free to book a consultation with Dr Cam - he's seen this many times before!

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Tags: pet, pets, dog training, coprophagia, droppings, eat, food, poop, poo, wee, pee, faeces, feaces, dog, wild forage, Kong, Bad dog good dog routine, digestion, vet, veterinarian, LEAVE routine, LEAVE, stool, pancreas,

Getting Good Behaviour from Dogs

Posted: Thursday, March 29, 2012 at 9:13:39 AM EST by Cam Day

From Imperfect Pooch to Canine Einstein 

"My dog doesn't do a thing I tell him. He jumps all over me and is constantly annoying me with his pawing and nuzzling for attention. And he drives me crazy with his barking - no matter how much I yell at him, he doesn't obey."

I hear complaints like this continually but, by following a few simple strategies, your dog will soon be a canine Einstein.

All you have to do is to Talk Like a Dog, use the Two Command Rule, ensure you are consistent and roll it all together in the Circle of Commands, a simple but very effective way of teaching your dog all it needs to know in the shortest possible time.

Talk Like a Dog

Talking to your dog in language it understands is the first step. So many dog owners berate their dogs with a cascade of ineffective words. 

 'Come over here, Rover, come on, good boy, come here now, come on, Rover. What is wrong with you - come -c ome on - come - good dog. Why don't you ever listen to me, Rover?'

The words are background music and mean nothing to your dog.

The 'Talk Like a Dog' Principle refers to the use of a COMMANDING voice to get a dog to do something. This is a firm but pleasant voice.

Then you need to reward its response. To do that, you should use the GOOD DOG voice which is much higher and very joyful. For some dogs, the GOOD DOG voice is better done as a whisper which in many cases has a calming effect on an over-active dog.

If you need to punish your dog, use the BAD DOG voice which is deep, dark and loud but punishment is NEVER to be encouraged. It confuses dogs and cripples their ability to learn.

If you are finding you are using the Bad Dog voice more than the Good Dog voice then you need help as your imperfect pooch is not getting your message and you are using the wrong techniques.

The Two Command Rule

Now that your voice is toned and terrific, you need to use the Two Command Rule. Simply put, when you want your dog to respond to you, expect is to respond to the first command.

If necessary drop to your second and last command BUT don't ever get to the third request.

For instance, if you want your dog to come to you, issue the command COME, using the commanding voice. Wait five seconds to TEST your dog's response.

What happens?  Either your dog comes to you - or it doesn't. It's simple because now you only have TWO roads to travel.

If it is coming, finish with a SIT and then praise it with the GOOD DOG voice. Then do a series of Sequential Rewards (see later).

If it is not coming walk serenely to your dog, hook its collar with a finger, command COME again, for the second and last time, and then lead the dog to you by walking backwards three to five steps and then gently make it SIT. Then use your GOOD DOG voice to reward the clever canine.

Thus, you have used the Two Command Rule to gently show your improper Pooch there is a limit to a non-response.

Using the Two Command Rule like this, the dog is gently forced to comply and you set a definite boundary to its non response.

To really tone up the grey matter now do a series of Sequential Rewards.

Having won the first COME and SIT, your dog may not be totally focuses on you.

So, fix it. Do a series of COME - SIT - GOOD DOG! sequences by just walking a short three to five steps after each sequence.

COME - SIT - GOOD DOG! - 5 steps - COME - SIT - GOOD DOG! -5 steps -COME - SIT - GOOD DOG! -5 steps- COME - SIT - GOOD DOG! -5 steps -COME - SIT - GOOD DOG!. At the end of  a sequence of rewards like that, your dog is much more likely to have the YOU focus rather than THE THING THAT CAUSED THE BAD BEHAVIOUR focus. 

The Sequential Rewards also mean that your dog is being rewarded for a sequence of good behaviours rather than the old fashioned focus of punishing your dog for just one bad behaviour.

Precision Timing 

Using perfect timing is also essential to stop your dog doing something you don't want it to do. Taking action immediately a behaviour start brings the end of the behaviour up to the beginning and the problem middle bit evaporates.

For example, as soon as your dog issues the first WOOF, immediately command your dog to be QUIET.  Don't wait for the second, third or fourth woof as you will then be allowing the middle of the behaviour to develop.

Be Persistently Consistent 

Now we can really tighten things up by ensuring consistency. If every occurrence of a behaviour is corrected (correctly), the behaviour will disappear. For instance, if your dog barks ten times per day, correct it every time and get ten out of ten.

However, some behaviours occur too frequently for every incidence to be corrected. In this case, Cone Down on the problem.

That means that you shouldn't allow the behaviour (such as barking) to occur when you can't deal with it.

Alternatively, set up two sessions per day, say one in the morning and one in the evening,  when its suits you to deal with the behaviour and when ALL occurrences will be corrected.

For barking, perhaps you should only allow your imperfect pooch near the front fence twice per day when you are with it to correct it and keep it inside with you when you are not wanting to deal with the behaviour. 

The Circle of Commands  

The last piece of this good behaviour jigsaw is to train your dog the meaning of the words you use to stop unwanted behaviour when it is not doing the unwanted behaviour.

Using barking as an example again, if you want your dog to COME and SIT instead of running at the fence and barking, why pick on it when you have the problem and you are likely to fail?  Instead, take your dog to the fence when there are no bark-inducing stimuli present and train it to respond. To do this, use the Circle of Commands.

Firstly, throw a food treat towards the fence and command your dog to SEEK the food treat. As it is doing this, walk off a few paces. When it gobbles the food, command COME and then SIT. Your dog is very likely to respond because of the food. Then repeat the circle again - SEEK - COME - SIT. This is just another version of the Sequential rewards.

It should only take you five minutes to repeat this circle fifteen times in the morning. Repeat the sequence again in the evening. That makes thirty times a day you are practicing perfect behaviour control of your previously wayward pooch.

NOW do that for seven days. Do your maths. That make 210 repetitions of a perfect routine. This is speed teaching

How many dog owners would EVER think about teaching their dogs to be perfect 210 times per week. NONE - except for you!!

Using the Circle of Commands, you are picking on your dog at times when it is calm and concentrating and, therefore, when it is able to learn.

Trying to correct a behaviour when the dog is immersed in the emotion of the behaviour is picking on it when it is freaky and frantic and when it has very little ability to learn.

The Circle of Commands is a valuable tool that can be applied to many problem behaviours including aggression, attention seeking, boisterousness and bossy behaviours.

The Circle of Commands is also part of the Leave Routine - a routine I use regularly for problem behaviour management.

Information on the Leave Routine is contained in another facts sheet.

So, getting good behaviour from dogs involves using the correct voice, consistently and as soon as the behaviour is about to begins. Couple this with the Circle of Commands and your dog will soon be a Canine Einstein.

More information for well-behaved pooches:

Dog training pet pick
Talk Like a Dog
The Importance of Voices in Dog Training

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Tags: dog training, pet, pets, bored dog, boisterous, voices,

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