We love our dogs. We live with them every day. The destructiveness of a dog behavior issue cannot be emphasized enough. If your dog is damaging your furnishings when you are away or become aggressive to humans, there is a potential for irreparable damage to your bond with your dog.

Behavior problems are the unspoken emergency. When you search the web for what to do for medical emergencies, dog behavior problems do not make the list. But they should. We have known for years that they account for a large percentage of the surrender cases in shelters nationwide¹. Many owners have already considered euthanasia as an option before they seek help from anyone. There is anger and inconvenience and sometimes even fear. We all know who we should call when we encounter a suspected emergency with our dogs. You call your veterinarian. But so many people think that behavior issues are outside the veterinarian’s scope.

As a veterinarian, part of my formal training included behavior in dogs (and cats), both as it relates to disease processes and the psychology of dogs as it relates to the human animal bond. A veterinarian is the number one steward of that bond, by training and by choice. I take my role very seriously.

All behavioral issues absolutely must be discussed with your veterinarian first. Any medical issues must be checked for and addressed or all attempts at training away the behavior will fail.  This failure may be blamed on the dog and/or the dog trainer when neither is at fault for the result of a medical condition.  Your dog might require medications to help abolish the behavioral response and ONLY a veterinarian can legally prescribe these.

Once medical causes have been ruled out, if your vet is not a board certified veterinary behaviorist, he/she may direct you to one. (You can find more about Veterinary Behaviorists here at www.dacvb.org) No one should help you try to manage behavioral issues that is not academically trained because certain training methodologies have been found to make problems worse². Personal theories and approaches to managing behavior problems that are not scientifically proven can make matters worse and threaten the life of the dog.

Sometimes problem behaviors are merely a result of improper training and can be fairly easily addressed and remedied, but regardless of the undesired conduct, your veterinarian is the place to start. He or she has experience and training to direct you down a path to healing your dog and your bond. Your vet is the first piece of the puzzle when trying to manage problem behaviors, not the last. It can be a life or death issue.

Do you want to be a part of the FUR-vor? Find me on Facebook, Twitter and Google + and join in!

The post Ask A Vet: My Dog Has A Behavior Problem. What Can I Do? appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

As dog lovers, we all already know how emotionally perceptive our dogs are.  Their happiness is amplified by ours, and they are always ready to lick our tears away.  But now there is science to demonstrate that dogs are the only other animal known to be able to recognize human emotions.

Dogs have been humans’ companions for over 10,000 years, so they’ve had plenty of time to get to know us.  Researchers have shown that dogs are able to distinguish emotions in people by using multiple senses.

Psychologists and animal behavior experts at the universities of Lincoln and Sao Paolo teamed up to see how well dogs could understand emotions and how they are displayed.  Veterinary professor Daniel Mills had 17 dogs sit in front of a screen and see images of another dog.  One image showed the dog looking happy, the other angry.

A tape was also played of a dog barking, and which face the subjects looked at was noted.  During excited barking, the dogs spent more time looking at the happy image.  When they heard growling, the dogs tuned in on the angry face.

By using both vision and hearing, the dogs were able to assess the emotional state of the dog in front of them.  A similar test was performed by showing the dogs photos of a happy/angry person, and the results were the same.

“It has been a long-standing debate whether dogs can recognize human emotions. Many dog owners report anecdotally that their pets seem highly sensitive to the moods of human family members,” Professor Mills said.

“However, there is an important difference between learning to respond appropriately to an angry voice, and recognizing a range of very different cues that go together to indicate emotional arousal in another.

“Our findings are the first to show that dogs truly recognize emotions in humans and other dogs.”

Because none of the dogs were trained to determine the moods of the individuals they were seeing on screen, this study suggests that their ability to combine such cues is inborn.

“Previous studies have indicated that dogs can differentiate between human emotions from cues such as facial expressions, but this is not the same as emotional recognition,” explained psychologist Kun Guo.

“Our study shows that dogs have the ability to integrate two different sources of sensory information into a coherent perception of emotion in both humans and dogs.

“To do so requires a system of internal categorization of emotional states.

“This cognitive ability has until now only been evidenced in primates and the capacity to do this across species only seen in humans.”

Emotional contagion, a basic building block of empathy, is when an individual spontaneously shares an emotion with another. Another recent study just proved that this exists in dogs, causing them – like humans and other primates – to mimic one another’s facial expressions.

“If you live in a group and you share with companions many interests and goals, you must understand his or her emotional state, and the only way to do that is to ‘read’ his or her behavior and facial and body expressions,” said lead author Elisabetta Palagi.

Some oblivious humans could learn a lesson from dogs.

The post Groundbreaking Study Shows Dogs Can Truly Understand Emotions appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

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While rescuers set up camp into a town called Ensenada, they are greeted by Ceniza, the friendly dog believed to be a stray or a house pet left behind. He is a large breed, lovable dog who doesn’t mind coming close to first responders.

The pup is happy to offer rescuers some help. He brings a smile to their face, plays with rescuers during their down time or simply keeps them company. Best of all, rescuers have taken to the dog and don’t mind sharing their meals with the pet.

The future of the dog is as uncertain as the future of the many other animals in the disaster zone, but lets hope one of the rescuers who has befriended the dog decides to take Ceniza/Ash home.

Below are more images of Ceniza.

While rescuers set up camp into a town called Ensenada, they are greeted by Ceniza, the friendly dog believed to be a stray or a house pet left behind. He is a large breed, lovable dog who doesn’t mind coming close to first responders.

The pup is happy to offer rescuers some help. He brings a smile to their face, plays with rescuers during their down time or simply keeps them company. Best of all, rescuers have taken to the dog and don’t mind sharing their meals with the pet.

The future of the dog is as uncertain as the future of the many other animals in the disaster zone, but lets hope one of the rescuers who has befriended the dog decides to take Ceniza/Ash home.

Below are more images of Ceniza.

The post Dog Keeps Cabulco Rescuers Company appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.