Behavior

Dogs lick your ears because they must find the activity somewhat reinforcing. Discover several possible reasons behind this " ear fascination" in dogs.

If your dog bites other dog's ears, you may be wondering what may be going on. Discover why dogs may bite each others' ears and what you can do about it.

If your dog pees on anything new, you are likely wondering what may be going on. Discover several possible reasons that may trigger dogs to pee on new things.

Knowing the age dogs start fighting is important so that you can be better prepared. While every dog is different, studies have revealed that dog fights tend to occur the most at a certain age.

There can be multiple causes at play when it comes to why dogs kill sheep. It's important to know though that, in many cases, dogs will not intentionally hurt animals. It's rather a matter of instincts.

If your dog's teeth are chattering after sniffing, most likely he has encountered some interesting scent. Not all dogs chatter their teeth, and this behavior may be more common in intact male dogs.

If your dog walks slow when called, you are likely wondering what's the matter with your dog. Perhaps, you are even worried. Discover what can cause this behavior.

If you're wondering why dogs do the kill shake, you most likely witnessed the behavior several times in your beloved companion. So what's up with dogs who grab toys and shake their head vigorously? Discover what's really going on.

Whether your dog will stop mounting after neutering is an important question. The answer will vary based on several factors.

A fixed, hard stare in dogs is something to be aware of. You may notice it in some specific situations where your dog is particularly aroused by something. Pay attention to when it happens so that you can take action, even better, intervene *before* your dog shows a fixed, hard stare.

To stop a dog from opening doors, you will need to outsmart your canine companion, however, that's just tackling the tip of the iceberg. The big question is: why is your dog constantly trying to open doors in the first place?

Fear generalization in dogs is the process of a new stimulus or situation evoking fear because it shares similar characteristics to a another fear-eliciting stimulus or situation. This may sound more complicated that it is, so let's take a look at some examples of fear generalization in dogs.

Whether dogs act out of spite is an important question considering that spiteful behavior can put a big dent in your relationship with your dog. If your dog appears to pee, poop or destroy things out of spite, this is article is ultimately for you.

If you are looking for examples of stereotypical behaviors in dogs, most likely you have heard about stereotypies and are looking for some concrete explanations. Discover in layman terms what stereotypies are in dogs along with several examples.

Knowing the difference between a play bow and a prey bow in dogs can help you better understand your canine companion. After all, not all bows in dogs are created equally. There are bows and bows in the dog world!

The greeting stretch in dogs is something that you may be already familiar with, but you just didn't happen to know this behavior had such a cutesy name. Discover more about greeting stretches in dogs and what they mean.

When a dog play bows, you are likely wondering what's the underlying motives for such behavior. Until the day dogs can talk, we can only make assumptions, but some recent research puts the behavior under close scrutiny.

Yes, dogs can think their toy is their baby, but this is likely to happen only in a few selected dogs at a certain time. In other words, expect this type of behavior to happen in an intact female dog after her heat cycle.

If your dog is destructive when left alone, you are likely upset and worried about your belongings. On top of this, you must also worry about your dog, possibly getting hurt from ingesting things that may get stuck somewhere along his digestive tracks. So why do dogs destroy things when left alone? And what can be done about it?

A dog peeing in the house after a new puppy has been added isn't that much unusual. Dogs use their scent in many ways, and the addition of a new puppy, is a big life change, especially for an adult dog who has been set in his own ways for some time.

How a dog acts when scared may vary from one dog and another. Active fear and passive fear in dogs, for example, are just two broad categories encompassing the many ways dogs may manifest fear. Just because your dog doesn't manifest clear signs of fear, doesn't mean he's not experiencing this emotion. Discover the different ways dogs may manifest fear.

There are several different ways dogs may react to your negative mood. After all, this is not surprising. Dogs are very in tune to our emotions and most dog owners have some story about how their dogs have reacted to their feelings.

If your dog barks at other dogs while in the car, you are likely concerned about the behavior and wonder how you can stop it. For sure, the behavior isn't amusing, especially when it gives a heart attack to a person calmingly walking his dog nearby your car.

If your dog whines when the car stops, it would be important knowing what is triggering the whining in the first place. Based on the exact cause, you may need a different plan of action. So let's take a look at some common and not-so common potential causes and ways to reduce the whining

A sploot in dogs is something you may have never heard about before, but there's always time to learn something new. In the dog world, there is definitely no shortage of colorful expressions and words to entertain us and keep our minds busy. So let's discover more about sploots in dogs and what they mean.

Whether dogs see themselves in the mirror is an interesting subject. Maybe more than asking the question whether dogs see themselves in the mirror, the big question is whether dogs recognize themselves in the mirror, proving to us that they may have a sense of self. The answer to this question requires looking into what research has to say.

A dog barking at children playing outside can be a problematic behavior. Yet, it's not like you can stop children from playing, and you can't just press the "mute button" on your dog, so what's left to do? There are several things you can do fortunately, and they require less drastic measures

When dogs lower their head when you pet them, it may seem like they are not enjoying the interaction. Recognizing the accompanying body language can tell you a lot about how the dog feels. Learn what can make dogs "head shy" and what better ways there are to approach them.

With dogs digging holes all of a sudden, you may be wondering what they may be up to, and most of all, what is causing this whole new fascination with dirt. In the dog world, there is digging and digging, and therefore, to get to the root of the problem, you'll need to take an investigative look at what exactly drives the behavior.

Calming signals in dogs were studied in depth by a Norwegian dog trainer who dedicated an entire book on this topic. As the name implies, calming signals are behaviors that are carried out by dogs with the intent to reduce tension and therefore pacify a potentially tense situation. Dogs have been known to display calming signals both towards humans and other dog

There are several medications for dogs with separation anxiety, but in order to be effective, they need to be accompanied by a behavior modification plan. With dogs suffering from separation anxiety to the point of it affecting their physical and emotional wellbeing, it's important tackling the issue correctly. Veterinarian Dr. Ivana lists several medications for dogs with separation anxiety.

Many dogs misbehave when their owners are gone, whether the absence is just a few minutes as you go grab something out of a room, or you are out of your home for several hours. Regardless, many dog owners are unhappy to find a mess upon their return and may wonder what's going on with their canine companions.

Many dogs fight at the dog park, leaving dog owners wondering whether it's still a good place to take their dogs considering the negative repercussions. Discover why dogs fight at the dog parks, and most of all, what you can do to reduce exposure to triggers that may evoke altercations.

Many dogs keep their mouths open when playing and dog owners may wonder all about this doggy facial expression and what it denotes. In order to better understand this particular behavior, it helps taking a closer look into how dogs communicate with each other and the underlying function of the behavior.

Whether you should let your dog through the door first boils down to personal preference. You may have heard that allowing dogs to go out of doors first is bad because by doing so we are allowing dogs to be "alphas over us," but the whole alpha and dominance myth is something that has been debunked by professionals.

Dogs eat tissues for the simple fact that they are rather indiscriminate eaters and will gulp down things like there's no tomorrow. This is the short answer. The longer answer takes a look at a dog's health, behavior and sense of taste. Veterinarian Dr. Ivana shares reasons dogs eat tissue and what can be done about this behavior.

Dogs wag their tails because they use their tails to communicate. This is the most simple and short explanation. The longer explanation entails ultimately understanding how dog tails work and how dogs use their tails to send olfactory information for other dogs to pick up. Understanding the scientific reason why dogs wag their tails is fascinating to discover so let's delve deeper into the real function of tail wagging.

The behaviors of intact female dogs are for the most part hormone-induced. In other words, when an intact female dog is spayed, a portion of these behaviors should decrease due to the reduction of hormones. Veterinarian Dr. Ivana shares a variety of behaviors of intact female dogs.

When dogs mark territory with pee, the behavior may appear quite odd from our humanoid perspective, while from a dog's point of view, it's a totally normal behavior. For us humans pee is just waste that is quickly flushed down the toilet, while dogs find pee fascinating. Veterinarian Dr. Ivana Crnec shares what's behind the practice of dogs marking territory with pee.

The German shepherd teenager phase can sweep through like a tornado, finding you puzzled and unprepared. Not surprisingly, this is the phase that most dog owners struggle with. Right when your German shepherd puppy got potty trained and was starting to be responsive to you, comes the teenager phases with its turbulent heap of challenges.

Many dogs growl when playing tug of war and dog owners may be concerned about this behavior. Is growling during a game of tug-of-war a sign of the dog becoming aggressive? Every dog is different and there is growling and growling in the dog world. It's therefore important considering the dog's accompanying body language and the context in which the growling occurs.

Many puppies pee when excited and this behavior can get rather annoying after some time. Will you always be stuck carrying a paper towel to clean up messes when you greet your puppy? Discover more about the dynamics behind excitement urination in puppies and what you can do about it.

The medical causes of aggression in dogs can be various. If your dog has started acting aggressive out of the blue, and this is uncharacteristic for your dog, it would be important ruling out any potential underlying medical causes.

The behaviors of intact male dogs is something all dog owners should be aware of when considering not neutering their male dogs or postponing the procedure. Knowledge is power and therefore being aware of these behaviors can help you better understand your dog and what to expect once your puppy reaches maturity.

When dogs eat their own vomit, dog owners are often disgusted by this behavior and can't come to terms with the fact that their best friend engages in such a repulsive behavior. To make matters worse, sometimes dogs seem even eager to eat their vomit or even the vomit of other dogs and cats sharing the household. What's up with these dogs?

If your dog mounts guests, you are likely very embarrassed by this behavior and don't know what to do about it. The behavior seems to start from nowhere, one moment your dog is sniffing the guest, the next, he's humping his leg. One important thing to consider is that dogs may mount for several reasons and it's not fair to lump it into one universal category. There is mounting and mounting in dogs. Fortunately, there are several ways you can stop your dog from mounting guests.