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Dogs + Behavior & Training

  • There are numerous products on the market that have been designed to promote appropriate behaviour in pets.

  • Prevention starts with puppy training and socialisation. Early and frequent pleasant association with other dogs will enable your pet to learn how to recognise and interpret canine interactions and reactions.

  • Cats and dogs are attracted to the sweet taste of ethylene glycol. Many will voluntarily drink antifreeze if it is spilled or leaks on to garage floors or driveways and are more than ready to lick the product from contaminated paws and coats.

  • It is not unusual for behaviour problems to develop in older pets. Many of the problems have similar causes to those in younger pets.

  • While many cases of coprophagia appear to be purely behavioural, there are numerous medical problems that can cause or contribute to coprophagia.

  • Digging behaviour in dogs can have many motivations. The first step in treating inappropriate digging behaviour is to determine the reason for the digging.

  • Dogs are social animals whose evolutionary history makes them willing and able to live in groups. Group living enables a range of co-operative activities to take place efficiently as long as everyone knows what is expected of them.

  • The terms dominance or status related aggression are confusing and outdated, although they are still widely used in the popular media. It is useful to spend a bit of time trying to understand why these terms are now generally rejected by those with a deeper understanding of dog behaviour.

  • When an animal repeatedly tries to do something, we might say that it has a compulsion to do the behaviour. Compulsive behaviours are often derived from normal behaviour patterns but appear to be abnormal because they are excessive, exceedingly intense, or performed out of context.

  • Many dogs will react to the sight or sound of passers by but for some owners this behaviour can get out of hand and it can be very embarrassing to have a dog that goes wild whenever someone comes to the door or even walks past the house.