Wendy Diamond, author of “How to Understand Men Through their Dogs”, says that by looking at the kind of dog your man has, you can learn a great deal about him. For example, mutt owners tend to be happy-go-lucky, secure with himself, and a child-lover. Diamond has thoughts on some of the purebreds as well.
Category Archives: Human or Doggy Nature
Dog Bite Prevention Program
At its annual convention in New Orleans this month, the American Veterinary Medical Association announced a new program aimed at reducing dog bites among children aged 3 – 6. Children younger than three should never be left alone with any dog, the group is quick to point out.
According to Dr. Ilana Reisner of the University of Pennsylvania, dog bites happen when people don’t understand dog behavior. “Children are more likely to get bitten by dogs because of the way they interact with dogs.” Continue reading Dog Bite Prevention Program
Sounds Like An Even Trade…
From Greenacres, FL: When Linda Urioste’s Labrador was picked up by animal control officers, she thought she had lost the dog forever. After a few days, the dog was adopted by another couple. Upon learning that Ms. Urioste was looking for the dog, the couple thought about giving him back, until Ms. Urioste yelled at them and threatened to sue.
After awhile, the couple who had the dog realized that their cat was missing. Ms. Urioste called and left them a message that they would only get their cat back when she got her dog back.
Needless to say, now Ms. Urioste is in the pokey, charged with theft and extortion. No word yet as to who has the animals
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Poll: Your relationship to your pets
I saw an interesting poll on my local news website yesterday and wondered how Doggies.com people would respond. Please use the comments section below:
How would you describe your relationship to your pets:
Owner
Guardian
Parent
Locally, people were overwhelmingly picking the last choice (72%), with the remaining 28% split evenly between owner and guardian. The bad part about polls the way this one was presented is that you can only select a choice, but not give an explanation. Please tell us your choice and tell us why you chose it in the comments section below. (Hey, we’re low tech here – no fancy calculations to give instant results!)
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Least Aggressive Dogs
As promised yesterday, here are the dogs that scored very low on the aggression scale in the study recently reported in the Applied Animal Behavior Science journal. This study, compiled by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, involved asking 6,000 dog owners about their dog’s behavior. Thirty-three different breeds were catalogued and rated according to how aggressive they are.
The dogs that were least aggressive were:
Basset Hound
Golden Retriever
Labradors
Siberian Huskies
Greyhounds
The Rottweiler, often assumed to be very aggressive, ranked average in its hostility towards strangers.
The researchers did note, however, that even though small dogs headed the most aggressive list and big dogs headed the least aggressive list, the bites from the larger dogs were more likely to have required medical attention than those from the smaller dogs.
Until next time,
Good day, and good dog!
Top Ten Most Aggressive Dogs
I think most of us would agree that dogs are not born aggressive, they are made that way by the environment in which they are raised. However, there are some breeds that are more prone to aggresion than others. The Daily Telegraph in Great Britain reports on a study published by Applied Animal Behavior Science, ranking 33 breeds of dogs according to their owners’ answers to behavioral questions.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Having trouble keeping your landscaping nice because Fido doesn’t understand you just paid someone $1000 to spruce up the yard? Even if you’re just growing a few vegetables, you’d probably rather the dog didn’t eat them all before you got a chance to harvest them.
Two of my dogs have figured out a way to get over the chicken wire into the garden, but only one has figured out a way to get back out. More often than not, I have to rescue Penny (the beagle) or she just sits there and howls. So, I appreciated this article in the Detroit Free Press a few days ago.
What Kind of Sleeper is Your Dog?
I saw an ad in a catalog recently about the different kinds of dog beds. Never realized that dogs had individualized sleep preferences, so I’m taking a very informal poll. Please leave a comment below as your answer.
Does your dog like to sleep:
a. securely enclosed in a bed, with a raised edge on all sides
b. leaning against a back support, similar to a couch
c. sprawled out in all directions
d. burrowed under a cover
To get you started, here’s the skinny on my dogs:
First of all, you should know that my dogs don’t believe in dog beds, or rather they think my bed is theirs.
Kayla likes the support. She generally leans against the footboard of my sleigh bed, often resting her head on the top of it.
Cooper is a sprawler. He seems to think he needs to take up as much surface area as possible.
Penny is a burrower. She’s either under the covers or under the bed entirely.
Maggie can sleep anywhere. I can’t say she has an actual preference.
So, what about your dogs?
I look forward to hearing from you!
Good day, and good dog!
Lucky’s Funeral
The death of my brother’s dog, Lucky, introduced us to a new family tradition. This is the same brother (and sister-in-law) who live with Chance and think that the dogs are actually children. In case you couldn’t guess, they have no 2-legged children.
Chance’s bad weekend
I spent last weekend at a family reunion near Cincinnati. My next oldest brother, Jim, and his wife Phyllis have a son, er… dog named Chance. This is not a case of people who treat their dog like a child. They actually consider him their offspring. And he couldn’t have had a worse weekend.