Pet Safety

Of pooches and pools: Teaching your dog to swim
Not all dogs can dog-paddle, but you can train them to be safe in the water

There are certain things we assume dogs know by instinct. Sniffing, for instance, sometimes in embarrassing places. Barking, too, and begging for food scraps are also downloaded onto dogs’ internal computers at the factory.

Then there’s swimming. It seems so integral to being a dog that we’ve even named a stroke after them, the dog-paddle — so you’d assume that’s another thing that every dog is born knowing how to do.
It turns out that you’d be wrong. Not every dog knows instinctively how to swim, and some can’t swim at all, Wendy Diamond, the founder and editorial director of Animal Fair magazine, told TODAY. Dogs’ aquatic abilities are so misunderstood, in fact, that she put together a list of water safety tips for dog owners.
She shared them with TODAY’s Maria Celeste on the Plaza at Rockefeller Center on Tuesday, putting a variety of dogs — some tricked out in sporty personal flotation devices — through their splashes.

Diamond confirmed that some dogs are born swimmers. It’s a good bet if the dog’s breed includes the word “water,” as in Portuguese or English water spaniel, it takes to swimming like a nursery-schooler takes to finger-painting. For owners of those breeds, the problem isn’t getting the dog into the water, but keeping it on dry land.

Dogs that don’t paddle
But other breeds aren’t as water-friendly. Some dogs have to be taught to swim, Diamond said, and others, like bulldogs, take to the water like submarines take to the Cross Bronx Expressway. For the former, there is hope. For the latter, there are those bright orange canine flotation devices.

Among the dogs that swim naturally and gladly, she said, are water spaniels, setters, retrievers, Barbets, akitas, Kerry blue terriers, poodles and Hungarian pulis.

Among those that can’t swim at all or swim only with great difficulty are basset hounds, bulldogs, dachshunds, pugs, corgis, Scottish and Boston terriers and greyhounds.

And then there are dogs like the Maltese, which are capable swimmers, but which are also susceptible to rheumatism, arthritis and chills that could be exacerbated by taking them in the pool with you.

Using wading pools set up in Rockefeller Plaza, Diamond gave a quick course on how to introduce a dog to the drink. Most of her rules were similar to those one would use with children, including never leaving a dog unattended at a pool. Even a dog that knows how to swim can jump in a pool and not be able to get out, which could lead to drowning, she said.

Diamond has a checklist for doggy swim lessons:

Avoid excessive noise
“Take them to an area that’s not so crazy and hectic,” she advised. Like children, dogs can become frightened and confused if there’s a lot of noise and activity around them. The object is to keep them calm and focused on the swimming lesson.

Use encouragement
As when teaching a child, keep your voice upbeat and positive, she said. “Using treats and toys to encourage your dog to enter the water also works quite well,” she said.

Never throw them in
Just as you shouldn’t throw a child in the water and expect it to swim to safety, you shouldn’t do that with a dog, Diamond said. “Don’t force the dog. If they don’t want to do it, don’t force them to do it.” Instead, she told Celeste, “Slowly put them in the water and get their paws used to it.”

Support their weight until they paddle 

Even if the dog is wearing a life vest, Diamond said, support its midsection and hindquarters in the water until they start paddling and feel comfortable.

Show them how to get out
Getting a dog in the pool is only half the battle. Diamond reminded pet owners that they also need to be shown where the steps are in the pool so they can easily get out.

Keep an eye on them
Even in the water, dogs can wander off. Dogs that swim naturally and well can jump in the ocean and keep swimming until they’re lost, Diamond said. “You want to make sure, like children, that you watch where they’re going,” she said.

Can All Dogs Swim

Q. Do dogs know how to swim naturally? If not, how can I teach my dog? She's a Border Collie mix, and she gets very hot when I take her to the lake with us.
A. Dogs will naturally start “dog paddling” when they find themselves in water, but that doesn’t mean that they can stay afloat for any length of time, that they like being in the water, or that they can safely swim.

Dogs who can’t swim — though they may try their best — are typically those with large, heavy chests in relation to their hindquarters, and they often have short muzzles. These dogs may swim well enough to splash about a little under supervision while wearing a life vest, but that’s about it. The most extreme example of these breeds, the Bulldog, is so poorly built for water survival that breeders and rescue groups often require a home check to ensure that a pool is safely fenced off, and that an emergency monitor is used to alert those inside the house when something, such as a child or dog, breaks the surface of the water. Bulldogs typically sink like rocks.

How to Teach Your Dog to Swim
There aren't any physical reasons why your Border Collie can’t swim, but she may nonetheless be reluctant to do so. Even in breeds that were bred for swimming — such as Labrador Retrievers — you’ll occasionally find a dog who doesn’t enjoy being in the water. You can try encouraging your dog to swim by going out and seeing if she’ll follow, and rewarding her with praise. Dogs who love to play fetch will often go out after tennis balls or other floating toys. You might get her swimming by letting her get comfortable at a certain depth and then throwing the toy in water that’s progressively deeper. Finally, many dogs will swim just to join in the fun if they are around other dogs who enjoy swimming.

But again, even if your dog comes to love swimming, safety is still up to you. Make sure your dog doesn’t get overly tired, and be aware that puppies and older dogs tire more easily and seem less aware of their fatigue until it’s too late. Stay away from strong currents and areas with underwater debris that can entangle a dog.

Keep Your Non-Swimmer Comfortable
If your dog never comes to enjoy swimming, she can still enjoy going to the lake with you. Make sure she wears a life vest. Booties wouldn't hurt if the sand is sizzling. She also must have nonstop access to cool drinking water and must be able to get into the shade as often as she wants. When she starts to get hot, take a bucket and soak her frequently, especially her belly. Be aware, always, of signs of heat stress.

If you’re able to keep her cool, she’ll be able to enjoy her lake time with you safely, even if she never does learn to like swimming all that much.

Can dogs remember?

Dogs are among the most intelligent animals in the planet. A dog’s brain is only half as large as humans but these animals are certainly very smart… smarter than what most people think they are. But are these animals smart enough to remember? Memory is a vital element of intelligence. Dogs can certainly remember but canine memory is way too different from human memory.

A dog has an extraordinary memory for scent. This ability is what make dogs excel in bomb and narcotics detection. Because of this extraordinary memory for scent, canines were utilized in search and rescue operations. A dog has excellent memory for sounds. Studies have shown that dogs can identify familiar voices or sounds that were not heard for years.

We have heard many stories of how dogs that get lost would find their own way home. A dog that have buried a bone would unerringly find the exact spot where the treasure was buried even though the hole was already overgrown with grasses or covered with trash. Skeptics though would associate this situation to the dog’s ultra sensitive sense of smell and not due to the dog’s memory.

Dog Sad When Owner Sad

Plenty of pet owners are comforted by a pair of puppy-dog eyes or a swipe of the tongue when their dog catches them crying. Now, new research suggests that dogs really do respond uniquely to tears. But whether pets have empathy for human pain is less clear.

In a study published online May 30 in the journal Animal Cognition, University of London researchers found that dogs were more likely to approach a crying person than someone who was humming or talking, and that they normally responded to weeping with submissive behaviors. The results are what you might expect if dogs understand our pain, the researchers wrote, but it's not proof that they do.

"The humming was designed to be a relatively novel behavior, which might be likely to pique the dogs' curiosity," study researcher and psychologist Deborah Custance said in a statement. "The fact that the dogs differentiated between crying and humming indicates that their response to crying was not purely driven by curiosity. Rather, the crying carried greater emotional meaning for the dogs and provoked a stronger overall response than either humming or talking."

Humans domesticated dogs at least 15,000 years ago, and many a pet owner has a tale of their canine offering comfort in tough times. Studies have shown that dogs areexperts at human communication, but scientists haven't been able to show conclusively that dogs feel empathy or truly understand the pain of others. In one 2006 study, researchers had owners fake heart attacks or pretend to be pinned beneath furniture, and learned that pet dogs failed to go for help (so much for Lassie saving Timmy from the well).

But seeking out assistance is a complex task, and Custance and her colleague Jennifer Mayer wanted to keep it simple. They recruited 18 pet dogs and their owners to test whether dogs would respond to crying with empathetic behaviors. The dogs included a mix of mutts, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and a few other common breeds. [What Your Dog's Breed Says About You]

The experiment took place in the owners' living rooms. Mayer would arrive and ignore the dog so that it would have little interest in her. Then she and the owner would take turns talking, fake-crying and humming.

Of the 18 dogs in the study, 15 approached their owner or Mayer during crying fits, while only six approached during humming. That suggests that it's emotional content, not curiosity, that brings the dogs running. Likewise, the dogs always approached the crying person, never the quiet person, as one might expect if the dog was seeking (rather than trying to provide) comfort.

"The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity. Thus they were responding to the person's emotion, not their own needs, which is suggestive of empathic-like comfort-offering behavior," Mayer said in a statement.

Of the 15 dogs that approached a crying owner or stranger, 13 did so with submissive body language, such as tucked tails and bowed heads, another behavior consistent with empathy (the other two were alert or playful). Still, the researchers aren't dog whisperers, and they can't prove conclusively what the dogs were thinking. It's possible that dogs learn to approach crying people because their owners give them affection when they do, the researchers wrote.

"We in no way claim that the present study provides definitive answers to the question of empathy in dogs," Mayer and Custance wrote. Nevertheless, they said, their experiment opens the door for more study of dogs' emotional lives, from whether different breeds respond to emotional owners differently to whether dogs understand the difference between laughter and tears.

Sad Dogs. A Look at Dog Depression

There is little doubt that dogs can and do suffer from the same emotional problems befalling human beings. Dogs of all types and ages can exhibit characteristics of several of the more common problems. These include anxiety, obsessive compulsive order and phobias. One particular disorder of interest to dog pharmacologists and behavioral psychologists is dog depression. 

Description
Dog depression is, at its simplest, an expression of sadness. The dog is not content or happy. He or she is nervous, anxious and, obviously depressed. The canine loses all bounce. He or she may also lose his or her appetite for food.
A depressed canine does not eat or drink with normal relish. The depressed dog may sleep more and seem lethargic. The animal is “down” and not excited by life as he or she would have yesterday, last week or last month. If this change in behavior often takes place without any sign of a physical problem or health issue, it may be depression.

Causal Factors
There are several reasons why your dog may become depressed. The major causal factors of depression can be divided into 2 categories: physical and environmental.
Physical
There is one major cause of depression in this category. It is a deficit of serotonin. This is a medical reason why your dog may be depressed. An imbalance or decrease in this hormone does cause depression in humans.

Environmental
Several factors in the environment can cause your dog to become depressed. They are listed below.

1. Separation from the owner. A dog attached to their person can become depressed after short or long periods of separation. This is documented throughout history.

2. Loss of a companion animal, frequently another dog. When a dog has bonded with another animal, the ties are strong. If the animal, cat, dog or gerbil, dies, the canine left behind may become depressed.

3. Moving. Moving from one home to anther can disorient the best of humans. Some dogs are often set into a set routine. They are happy with everything remaining the same. It takes them longer to adjust. Moving from a house to an apartment or from the country to the city is enormous. It requires a lot of adjustment. A dog who is set in his or her ways may become depressed until he or she has settled in and accepted the new surroundings.

4. Trauma. A serious trauma can alter your dog’s moods one way or the other.

5. A dog that is tethered and kept socially isolated for extended periods of time, may become depressed. This is particularly true for certain breeds of dogs.


Treatment
There are several ways you can treat your depressed dog. There are medications - antidepressants, which can control the moods. There are also various forms of behavioral treatments. Many of these are simple. They include increasing the amount of exercise or making sure your dog has a greater chance to interact socially with persons and other dogs.

You should play more with your canine companion. You may also want to liven up his or her life with another dog. Before you decide to do the latter, make sure it will be fair to both dogs. Talk to your vet and a behavioral psychologist to see what is the best solution.

In some instances the advice may be directed to you. Dogs are empathic. They feel what you feel. The closer they are to their person, the more likely he or she will react to your own moods. If your dog is depressed because you are depressed, see and talk to your own doctors.

Conclusion
Dog, like humans, fall ill to any number of diseases. The health issues may be social, physical or emotional. One recent concern is dog depression. Dogs can suffer from this emotional ailment. Talk to your vet and a behavioral psychologist to see if your dog is depressed. If this proves true, take the appropriate steps to help him or her return to the vitality that should be their life.

Sound of Dog's 'Laugh' Calms Other Pooches

Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say sometimes a bark is just a bark -- but a long, loud panting sound has real meaning.

They say the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.

"What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on the dogs," said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist in Spokane who has studied everything from hamster culture to elephant self-recognition. "Now, we actually really weren't expecting that."

Nancy Hill, director of Spokane County Animal Protection, admits she was skeptical at first that this noise would affect the other dogs.

 

"I thought: Laughing dogs?" Hill said. "A sound that we're gonna isolate and play in the shelter? I was a real skeptic … until we played the recording here at the shelter."

When they played the sound of a dog panting over the loudspeaker, the gaggle of dogs at the shelter kept right on barking. But when they played the dog version of laughing, all 15 barking dogs went quiet within about a minute.

"It was a night-and-day difference," Hill said. "It was absolutely phenomenal."

Officials say it works every time, and researchers across the country are taking note.

"The laughing sound that they make is something that was not even considered a vocalization until this study was done," Simonet said.

Those who study dog behavior have varying opinions about exactly what Patricia Simonet's "dog laughing" sound really is. What they do agree on, however, is that to other dogs, it is at least a sound worth keeping quiet to listen to.

Dogs Laugh?

For many years psychologists and behavioral biologists agreed that laughter was a unique emotional expression found only in humans. However, as the study of animal emotions expanded this idea was called into question. The Nobel Prize winning ethnologist, Konrad Lorenz suggested that dogs are capable of laughing. He says that it is during play that dogs actually appear to laugh. In his book Man Meets Dog, Lorenz describes it this way:

"...an invitation to play always follows; here the slightly opened jaws which reveal the tongue, and the tilted angle of the mouth which stretches almost from ear to ear give a still stronger impression of laughing. This ‘laughing' is most often seen in dogs playing with an adored master and which become so excited that they soon start panting".

Why do Dogs Cry

There is no exact translation in canine language for the kind of crying we humans do. Dogs don’t secrete hot, salty tears when they’re sad, nor do they wail or sob like people. Which is why interpreting a dog’s cry can be tough. When we’re talking about a whimper or whine, the canine “cry” can mean one of a million things.

As with barking, dogs who whimper or whine are trying to communicate. Excitement, anxiety, frustration, pain, attention seeking, and resource solicitation are all common reasons dogs whine at their people.

Most commonly, these sounds are aimed at conveying the desire for food, water, a potty break, a toy, attention, etc. This is similar to how puppies interact with their mothers, by “asking” for something with a plaintive whimper or whine. So it’s no wonder adult dogs recruit this same vocal impulse when communicating with their people.

Can dogs Cry?

Watching the American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship on TV two nights ago, my husband and I marveled at the beautiful dogs striding and sleeking around the stadium. "Look how happy that guy looks," my husband said of the Siberian husky. "He looks like he's laughing."

The standard poodle looked snooty. The Irish setter looked proud. But were they, really? Were what looked like smiles and smirks just functions of each species' particular anatomy -- or were we actually discerning the dogs' emotions in their eyes?

Not long ago, I interviewed Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson about animal emotions. He used to own dogs. But not anymore. And never again, he said.

In the late ‘90s, this noted ex-psychoanalyst, Sanskrit professor and author of nearly two dozen books adopted three mixed-breeds. He ran with them, took them on vacations, and wrote about them in his book Dogs Never Lie About Love. But in the years since, Masson -- whose 1981 dismissal from the directorship of the Freud Archives sparked volcanic intellectual debate -- has come to view dog ownership as a form of animal cruelty.

 

"I still love dogs," Masson told me. "I think they're amazing."

But we aren't fit to be their companions, because "I don't believe we can give them the ideal life. Living with us, they're not living the life they were meant to live, which among other things would mean our spending the whole day with them." Dogs are too social, too loyal, too energetic, too eager for physical attention and bonding to be confined in solitude for as long as we typically leave them while pursuing our own human priorities. Masson looks just as harshly at keeping cats indoors -- or, as he put it, "confined."

ten reasons not to buy fake indoor grass for dogs

Fake indoor grass for dogs

When I said using indoor grass for dogs is lazy, I learned some people are convinced fake grass for dogs is the world’s greatest invention. I disagree. I still think it’s lazy.

Here are 10 reasons not to buy fake grass for your dog. Some of the ideas came from comments on my last post. For more information, check out my post on 10 reasons to buy fake indoor grass for dogs.

1. Owners of small dogs have enough problems with housebreaking.

We all know at least one person who owns a Yorkie, Maltese, Chihuahua or Pomeranian that pees in the house. I’m not talking about old dogs that can’t hold it. I’m talking about 2-year-old dogs that still aren’t potty trained.

If the owner can’t train her dog to go to the bathroom outside (one of the easiest things to teach a dog), how will she train her dog to pee on fake grass? This will only encourage the dog to pee on carpet, rugs, couches and mattresses. I am a professional pet sitter and I see examples of this every week.

2. What about dogs that lift their legs?