Understanding Dogs' Nature and Dog Training

Most people don’t realize exactly how complex dogs are.

It is estimated that in Western countries there may be up to 800 different breeds. Considering that as humans we have maybe a dozen ‘breeds’, the large number of dog breeds is amazing.

Dogs tend to have distinctive behaviors, having descended from wolves. While dogs are now domesticated, and have been for over 10,000 years, they still have many common traits that develop in spite of domestication and the environment they are brought up in.

Dogs are predators
As a predator, the ability to hunt and attack will always be with them, though often lays dormant in a domesticated environment. Structurally, their ears have special orientation so that sounds, and the source, can be located swiftly and accurately.

Their field of vision is also higher than humans. It is estimated that their field of view falls somewhere between 180-270 degrees as compared to a human’s 100-150 degrees, which allows them to track more precisely.

And their highly developed sense of smell is a well known fact. It is believed that they are can sense concentrations up to a 100 million times smaller than humans, and have 25 times more scent receptor cells.

Another example is that Golden Retrievers are able to smell gophers through two feet of packed snow and a foot of frozen earth. If inclined to, they'll dig through it to get the gopher. That's predatory behavior.

Dogs are social animals
Despite this being a well known fact, it is often ignored by owners who leave a dog locked away or tied in a yard for long periods of time. Dogs that are isolated for long periods and not allowed much contact with humans and other animals often develop behavioral problems such as fear or aggression. Dogs require contact and companionship to be well adjusted.

Isolation can be used as a training technique, but must only be used for short periods. A dog will worry about being expelled from the pack, so limited isolation can help to modify a dog’s behavior. The human in any human-dog relationship must be the one in charge (the alpha). If the dog holds the power, this can lead to property destruction, aggression and dangerous situations for both people and animals.

However isolation needs to be used sparingly as a dog lacking social interaction skills with humans and other animals will begin to have behavior problems. This also includes pets used as guard dogs as they need to be able to tell the difference between its own ‘pack’ and a potential ‘threat’.

Dogs are exploratory
Similar to a two-year-old human, exploration of its surrounding area is one key way dogs use to learn. As with any learning curve, things can go wrong during this period and property can be damaged or destroyed. To lessen the chances of this happening, training, specially selected objects and a designated area can be used to guide a dog into acceptable behavior.

Supplying distinctive toys such as rawhide bones as opposed to balls which are similar to a child’s toy helps a dog to distinguish between their toy and that of other family members. If an owner can provide a high level of supervision, similar toys can be used, as a dog can use scent to tell the difference between its toy, and one belonging to someone else.

Digging is a natural behavior for dogs, so this needs to be expected during a dog’s exploration phase. If a dog is left on it’s own for long periods of time, you need to be aware that you may need to patch holes in the lawn. To protect plants from exploration behavior, use bitter apple, cayenne pepper paste or other mixtures designed for this use.

Dogs are scavengers
Dogs will eat just about anything, even when they have a good, nutritional diet. They'll chew on dead rats, eat deer droppings and grass among other things, even when experience proves that this things cause upset stomachs.

To keep and dog healthy and unharmed, as an owner you need to recognize their lack of understanding of cause and effect, and put in place systems to help stem any dangerous behavior.

By working with and understanding a dog’s complex character is beneficial to both the owner and dog, lowering the instances of frustration and allows the owner to take pleasure in the companionship and love a dog offers.

         

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