“She had been his constant and faithful companion for 10-1/2 years and she was only 6 months old, when he first had her. She was connected with the happiest years of his life . . . such a beautiful & sweet creature and used to play so much with the children.”
– Queen Victoria in her journal, writing about the passing of Eos, Prince Albert’s greyhound, on 31 July 1844
When it comes to tail wagging among dogs, some questions still hound researchers.
We know that domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) use their tails to communicate — with other dogs as well as humans — and even what various types of wags mean, researchers note in a new review of the scientific literature. But we don’t know why dogs seem to wag more than other canines or even how much of it is under their control, ethologist Silvia Leonetti and colleagues report January 17 in Biology Letters.
“Among all possible animal behavior that humans experience in everyday life, domestic dog tail wagging is one of the most common,” says Leonetti, who is now at the University of Turin in Italy. “But a lot of dog behavior remains a scientific enigma.”
So Leonetti and her colleagues pored through previous studies to figure out what elements of tail wagging are understood and which remain mysterious. They also hypothesized about the behavior’s origins: Perhaps tail wagging placates some human need for rhythm, the researchers suggest, or maybe the behavior is a genetic tagalong, a trait tied to others that humans bred into domesticated dogs.
“People think wagging tail equals happy dog. But it’s actually a lot more complicated than that,” says Emily Bray, an expert in canine cognition at the University of Arizona in Tucson who was not involved with the work. Understanding why dogs wag their tails is important partly from an animal welfare perspective, she says, as it could help dog owners read their pups’ cues better.
One main thing that researchers know about tail wagging is that it’s used predominantly for communication instead of locomotion, like a whale, or swatting away bugs, like a horse. Wagging also means different things depending on how the tail is wagged, such as its height or side-to-side movement.
For example, when the tail wags more to the right, the researchers say, it typically means the dog is interested in a stimulus or wants to approach something. But when it wags more to the left, it signals uncertainty or wanting to withdraw. When wagged low and near the legs, it’s a sign of submission or insecurity. Dogs can interpret and react differently to these varied wags (SN: 11/1/13).
But for such a ubiquitous behavior, questions abound. One gap is how much tail wagging is under dogs’ conscious control, the team reports. Several studies have also observed that dogs wag their tails more than other canines, particularly compared with their closest relative, the wolf (C. lupus) — but scientists don’t yet know why.
One idea is the domesticated rhythmic wagging hypothesis, Leonetti and colleagues suggest. Scientists know that humans’ brains respond positively to rhythm, and because tail wagging is a rhythmic behavior, the authors suggest it could be that humans consciously or unconsciously preferred dogs that wag more.
Or the domestication syndrome hypothesis could be at work. It’s an existing theory that unintended, genetically linked traits can pop up when specific traits are bred for through domestication. Perhaps, the researchers propose, the canine characteristics that humans found desirable to breed for — such as temperament — might be genetically linked to tail wagging.
Evolutionary biologist Tom Reimchen isn’t so sure about either hypothesis. He’s skeptical that domestic dogs do wag their tails more than other canines. More research is needed to compare tail wagging between nondomestic canine species and the epigenetic influences behind canids’ tail wagging, says Reimchen, of the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Leonetti, who did the work while at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands, says a multidisciplinary approach would be helpful in future tail wagging research, for example combining neurology, cognition and physiology. Because the domestication process was also an evolutionary process — one humans were involved in — studying dog behavior and their wags could reveal something about us too, she says (SN: 9/7/22).
It “can shed light not only on our understanding of dog behavior, but also we’ll then understand something about human psychology.”
Source: Science News
Ever wonder what kind of TV shows your dog might choose if they could work the remote control? New research from the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine provides some answers, but the study was more interested in solving a longstanding problem in veterinary medicine than turning canine companions into couch potatoes.
According to Freya Mowat, veterinary ophthalmologist and professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine’s department of surgical sciences, researchers wanted to determine factors, including age and vision, that influence a dog’s interest in interacting with video content. Ultimately, the goal of the study, which launched two years ago (in 2022), was to support development of more sensitive ways to assess canine vision — something that has been sorely lacking in veterinary medicine.
“The method we currently use to assess vision in dogs is a very low bar. In humans, it would be equivalent to saying yes or no if a person was blind,” says Mowat. “We need more sensitive ways to assess vision in dogs, using a dog eye chart equivalent. We speculate that videos have the potential for sustaining a dog’s attention long enough to assess visual function, but we didn’t know what type of content is most engaging and appealing to dogs.”
Published recently in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, the study found that dogs are most engaged when watching videos that feature other animals. Content featuring other dogs was the most popular. But if a National Geographic documentary about canine evolution seems too highbrow for your four-legged friend, Scooby Doo might be a perfectly acceptable option as well.
To better understand the type of content dogs might be most attracted to on screen, Mowat created a web-based questionnaire for dog owners around the globe to report the TV-watching habits of their canine companions.
Participants responded to questions about the types of screens in their homes, how their dogs interacted with screens, the kinds of content their dogs interacted with the most, as well as information about their dog’s age, sex, breed and where they live. They also provided descriptions of their dogs’ behavior when watching videos. Most commonly, dog owners described their pets’ behavior as active — including running, jumping, tracking action on screen and vocalizing — compared with passive behaviors like lying down or sitting. Dog owners also had the option to show their dog(s) four short videos featuring subjects of possible interest, including a panther, a dog, a bird and traffic moving along a road. They were then asked to rate their dog’s interest in each video and how closely the dog tracked the moving objects on the screen.
Mowat received 1,600 responses from dog owners across the world, including from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australasia. Of those respondents, 1,246 ultimately completed the study. The following are some of the most interesting highlights:
Mowat says she plans to build on the results of this study. Future research will focus on the development and optimization of video-based methods that can assess changes in visual attention as dogs age as well as answer questions that could help our four-legged friends age as gracefully as possible.
“We know that poor vision negatively impacts quality of life in older people, but the effect of aging and vision changes in dogs is largely unknown because we can’t accurately assess it,” she says. “Like people, dogs are living longer, and we want to make sure we support a healthier life for them as well.”
Another goal for Mowat is to compare how a dogs’ vision ages compared with the human or humans they share a home with.
“Dogs have a much shorter lifespan than their owner, of course, and if there are emerging environmental or lifestyle factors that influence visual aging, it might well show up in our dogs decades before it shows up in us,” she explains. “Our dogs could be our sentinels — the canine in the proverbial coal mine.”
This study was supported in part by an NIH career development grant to Mowat (K08EY028628), a Companion Animal Fund Grant from the UW–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, a grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc. to the UW–Madison Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences and a core grant for Vision Research from the NIH to UW–Madison (P30 EY016665).
Source: Scienceblog.com
For many, pets can be good companions, quickly becoming an important part of the family.
The UK lockdowns in 2020 saw lots of people make the decision to purchase their very own pooches to keep them company.
However, some dogs bought during the coronavirus pandemic have high levels of problem behaviours, a new study from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) suggests.
Just over 1,000 UK owners who bought their dogs during the first nine months of the pandemic responded to an online survey as part of the research. They were asked to identify problem behaviours they saw in their young dogs from a list of 24.
This included behaviours like jumping up, clinginess, aggression towards other dogs and fear around people and loud noises.
On average, owners said their dogs had five of the listed problem behaviours, while one in five said they had eight or more.
The three most common were pulling on the lead (67%), jumping up at people (57%) and not coming back when called (52%).
The study also estimates that almost a third of dogs had something called separation anxiety at 21 months. This is when dogs struggle to be away from their owners.
When asked about how they trained their dogs during the first 21 months of their lives, 96% of the owners who took part in the survey said they verbally praised their dogs.
However, 80% also reported using one or more punishment methods to get their dogs under control, like physically moving or pushing them, shouting at them, and yanking on their lead if they pulled. Vets say behaviours like this can increase fear and anxiety in pups.
Why is this a big deal?
Dr Rowena Packer, who is the lead author of the new RVC study, warned owners struggling with problem behaviour – combined with the current cost of living crisis – could lead to them “reaching the end of their tether” and giving up their dogs.
She said that in addition to the problematic behaviour recorded, some new owners struggled to know what was normal for dogs and what could be making behaviours worse through the use of “punishment-based training techniques.”
Dr Packer said that although these kinds of behaviours could be frustrating for owners, “they are often a sign a dog is struggling to cope or that they haven’t been taught an appropriate response in a situation, rather than dogs intentionally behaving ‘badly'”.
Robert Bays, who is the senior animal behaviour manager at the rescue charity Battersea, says proper support is needed to make sure lockdown dogs, many of which face unique challenges compared to other dogs, and their owners are given the help they require.
“At Battersea, we have seen a significant increase in the number of dogs coming to our centres with certain behavioural issues, such as separation anxiety, which can often be linked to the pandemic and the training challenges this unusual time presented.
“Without the right kind of positive training and support, a small behaviour problem in a puppy or dog can quickly escalate into a serious issue.”
Source: BBC
Posted in animal welfare, dog care, Dogs
Tagged aversives, Battersea, Covid 19, dog training, Fear Free, lockdown dogs, positive reinforcement
New Zealand is in the heart of its summer season with record-breaking temperatures in many regions. Not surprisingly, dogs will want to go swimming to cool off.
Each summer, we have warnings about toxic algae and how it can kill your dog. I first wrote about this subject over 10 years ago, in 2013, for NZ Dog World magazine. This post updates the original.
There’s a deadly toxin lurking in many of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes. The savvy dog owner needs to understand it so you can protect your dog.
That toxin is produced naturally by blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria. ‘Blue-green algae have existed on earth for millions of years,’ says Mark Heath, a researcher whose PhD thesis focused on why algal blooms form in rivers. ‘However, it is human-induced changes to the environment that have created the ideal situations for the algae to flourish’.
‘We know that the algae have optimal growing conditions during the summer months, when there has been a stable period of little to no rainfall and warm conditions,’ says Susie Wood, Heath’s supervisor and a researcher at the Cawthron Institute. ‘Nutrients, which are often increased in waterways by land–use intensification, act as the algae’s food source and climate change means longer periods of little rainfall and warm temperatures.’
The algal mats float to the surface and collect on the margins of rivers and in stagnant pools of water. Dogs are attracted to the earthy smell of the algae and they will readily lick or eat it. The algae exude a powerful neurotoxin and only a small amount is enough to cause a dog to become ill and die.
Symptoms may include panting, twitching, convulsions, muscle tremors and lethargy. There is no antidote to the poison and so if you suspect your dog has ingested the toxin, you need to rush to the nearest vet to have its stomach pumped and have activated charcoal administered. Since the toxin is very fast-acting (some dogs die within 30 minutes of ingestion), prevention is the better course of action.
Dog owners need to be able to ‘spot’ the algae, which often is a dark green/brown to black colour as seen in the photo. These mats have a velvety texture and a musky smell. If there has been a period of about two weeks without rainfall (which induces ‘flushing flows’ in rivers), then you should assume that conditions are ideal for the algae. Walking a dog on lead is advised so you can keep a close watch on what your dog takes an interest in. ”If in doubt, keep them out.”
Vets should report a dog death to the regional council but reporting is not mandatory, meaning that many cases are likely to go unreported.
Rivers known for algal blooms include the Hutt River (Wellington region), the Selwyn and Ashley rivers (Canterbury region) and the Tukituki River (Hawke’s Bay). The algae can also form in lakes which act as a sink for nutrient-enriched waters. In lakes, ponds, and lagoons, the algae is likely to be present if the water is cloudy or discoloured or has scums or small globules suspended in the water.
Dog owners should familiarise themselves with their regional council’s website for algal blooms in their area.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and canine fitness, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
DoggyMom.com 