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What is hypoallergenic dog food?
Your friends come to visit and your dog is sitting on his mat constantly scratching himself. You find yourself insisting that he doesn’t have fleas but has a coat condition instead. You notice that your friends are perhaps shying away from him a bit and from time to time scratching themselves as a sympathetic reaction. When you find that your additional income is all going to vet bills and you are constantly trying out new products to help with the skin condition, it may be time to examine hypo-allergenic dog food to see if it offers any results. Dogs, just like people. can be allergic to a number of food…
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20 dog behaviors and what they really mean
Dogs are highly social animals and have a rich body language they use to great effect. We can eavesdrop on what a dog is really trying to tell us by knowing a little bit about how dogs behave when they are relaxed, happy, nervous, frustrated, angry, and so on. Want to know what your dog actually tells you? Then check out these 20 dog behaviors and what they really mean (and enjoy the cute pics!): 1. Barking And More Barking By their very nature, dogs bark to raise an alarm of possible danger. It also serves as a means of communication among canines. However, when dogs bark incessantly, it may…
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Dangerous dog breeds for households with children
In 2015, a 5 year-old boy by the name of James Nevils III was brutally attacked and ultimately killed by a pit bull owned by his cousin. He was visiting the cousin’s home when after playing outside with his 7 year-old sister, the dog suddenly latched onto his throat and shook him by the neck. His mother dragged the dog into the yard to get help by attracting the attention of neighbors. An adult and two teenagers tried to get the pit bull off the boy by stabbing it with a knife and beating it with a pole and a brick, but it wouldn’t let go. Both the child and…
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4 ways being a dog owner will improve your health
When you’ve had a bad day there is always one thing that you can rely on. Your furry friend will be at the door to greet you and is more than willing to give you all the hugs and kisses you need to forget everything that’s happened that day. Your dog has unconditional love for you so whether you’re feeling sad or happy, you can count on him to show it. This is just one of the reasons why so many people have decided to adopt a best friend but there are so many other benefits of having one by your side. Dogs are good for your health for a…
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Turns out birds can speak in sentences like people
More and more it seems that birds deserve a place among other higher animals for their intellect. A new paper in the journal Current Biology suggests that one species — the Japanese tit — can use grammar when tweeting at one another. That’s important because grammar is one of the most complex mechanisms of language — and something we generally only see in humans. It’s what gives our sentences structure. When off grammar is, Yoda sound alike, you can. But, depending upon context, words and the meaning they hold can be indecipherable without the right grammar. It does allow us to convey complex ideas, though. Cats, for example, are pretty…
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Yes, cats do purr even when you’re not around, study shows
When a cat purrs as it snuggles up against you, it’s totally one of the greatest feelings in the world. But have you ever wondered if cats do the same thing when you’re not around? Do they purr on their own? According to Phys.org, purring isn’t relegated to just when Mr. Whiskers deems you worthy of his affection. It’s a habit that cats form very early in their lives, as early as when they’re drinking their mother’s milk. Purring doesn’t always have to mean a cat is happy, either. There are different purrs cats make depending on their mood and what’s going on, just like when dogs bark or whine.…
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Study: we probably bred dogs to forgive unfairness
A study published in the journal Current Biology tells us something we already know: dogs have basically been bred to accept raw deals from people. It’s a really depressing conclusion if you stop to think about it, but it makes a lot of sense. Time and again research shows that dogs operate in hierarchies with humans at the top. We take what we want and give the dogs the rest — and they are all too happy to work with us. To be clear, dogs (as well as wolves, their wild cousins) definitely know when we’re giving them short shrift. If you have a steak and you don’t give them…
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Scientists discover world’s most adorable (and tiny) salamanders
It’s official. We’ve found the cutest things ever. Earlier this week, researchers named three new salamanders as the smallest four-legged creatures known to science. They can easily fit on a dime, and that’s had some really strange effects on their physiology. Animals aren’t built to be small, and things can get kinda cramped when you’ve got to pack in a spine, a brain, sex organs, etc. These three new species in the genus Thorius, have some bizarre anatomy as a result of their tiny size. These creatures, like most amphibians, have extremely long tongues that they launch at tiny insects. Their tongues can stretch half the length of the body.…
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Pigs can be optimists or pessimists, depending on personality and mood, study finds
Do you know anyone who always seems to see the glass half empty or half full? Then you know pessimists and optimists. It makes sense because you interact with humans. But did you know that pigs are capable of being either optimists or pessimists as well? A new study, with the results published in the journal Biology Letters, notes that humans definitely aren’t the only species to demonstrate these kinds of complex personality traits. “This finding demonstrates that humans are not unique in combining longer-term personality biases with shorter-term mood biases in judging stimuli,” says the study, explaining that pessimism and optimism stem from the way humans process information depending…
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Keeping stress out of dog training
One of the biggest obstacles we have in training our dogs is stress. To be successful, it is important that we learn to recognize the signs of stress in ourselves and our dogs. Why? Because stress interferes with learning! Recognize the signs of stress Neither people nor animals learn well when stressed. More importantly, it is never acceptable to knowingly cause stress in our dogs. As trainers, we need to monitor our own stress also. Our dogs know when we’re stressed. They are masters at reading our body language and moods. Nothing will deflate a dog’s enthusiasm for learning quicker than their trainer’s stress, frustration or anger. Also, if you’re…
