Behavior

We’ve all seen human babies sucking on pacifiers, their thumbs, or even on blankets and child experts tell us that this kind of instinctive sucking calms babies and makes them feel more secure. The same is likely true for dogs who can suffer from anxiety and stress.

Have you ever thought about why your dog seems to like belly rubs so much? I know why I like to give them: the belly fur is generally the softest and silkiest, and caressing it simply feels wonderful. That begs the question though: does my dog like it just as much?

Fights amongst dogs living in the same home are common and can be a very scary experience for dog guardians and their dogs. Dog fights can vary in severity from relatively mild, consisting mostly of noise (barking and growling) and minimal, if any, injuries, through to severe, resulting in serious injuries and even death.

Back in the late 20th century, people—and even trainers—believed that this kind of dog-sitting-on-us behavior was related to the dog’s desire to assert their dominance over humans. Luckily, science has now roundly dismissed this dominance theory as, in a word, bunk.

Why do dogs wag their tails? Everybody knows that when a dog approaches you wagging her tail it means she’s inviting you to pet...

Dogs’ hearing is both more sensitive and has more range than our own. This can create complications when things that sound fine—or are even inaudible—to us come across as painfully loud or jarring to our canine companions.

If your dog won’t stop panting or settle down, she is probably either hot, stressed, or having trouble getting enough air or otherwise in distress.

We think that dogs may lay their head on our feet as a way to show they love us by being close.

We’ve updated this very popular article, originally published in late 2020, because it just turned into a whole book! Welcoming Your Puppy from Planet...

There’s a lot we don’t fully understand about canine communication including exactly why dogs howl. While the behavior itself is normal, dogs howling can be a problem.

Displacement behavior is when your dog does something normal, but at weird times that feel out of context due to your dog experiencing conflict or frustration.

The key to dog body language is recognizing stress signals, and understanding what our own body language communicates to our dogs.