Sometimes pets get sick and then they get better all on their own without any intervention from you or your veterinarian, but lots of times when they’re sick if you wait to see if they’re going to get better on their own, whatever is wrong gets worse and makes your dog’s likelihood of recovery less.

So how do you decide? Obviously the best way to decide is to take your dog to the vet and let the veterinary professionals tell you what to do. But if that’s just not feasible for you here are some guidelines to help you know when to go.

If your dog is vomiting and has vomited several times, especially if he is also acting like he feels bad and cannot even hold down clear liquids, you need to go. The number of times dogs vomit how they feel and whether or not they can hold down clear liquids are medical criteria to help gauge emergency status in gastrointestinal cases.

If your dog is acting strange, circling in one direction or seems to be having a seizure, neurologic disease could be at play. If he stops with his head pressed against a wall or seems off balance, it isn’t a time to wait and see. You will need help with neurologic disease from a veterinary team.

Limping dogs can sometimes wait to see if the soreness will resolve on its own, but if your dog is not bearing weight and holding the leg up all the time, you need radiographs and a vet visit to rule out fractures and significant soft tissue injury. If you saw your dog get injured for example hit by a car or sustain of fall, it is better not to wait and let your veterinarian assess her for internal injury.

Sometimes dogs just act sick.  If you cannot rouse your dog, if he is lethargic or has white gums, it is time to get help. If there is obvious injury or bleeding, don’t wait.  Use common sense. Use criteria that you would use for a human friend, only err more on the side of caution, since your dog cannot list symptoms or answer questions.

These are just a few of the examples of when you need to see your vet. If you have any doubt, it is always better to be safe and not sorry when it comes to your dog.

The post Ask A Vet: My Dog Is Sick. How Do I Know When To Go To The Vet? appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

There can be many reasons for mounting. It can be a play behavior or a manifestation of stress or excitement. No matter what the motivation, if it is a behavior that you would like to abolish, you can distract the dog with a substitute action that he will know earns a reward. It is important that you seem oblivious to the mounting though, and act as though the alternate behavior was a spontaneous request.

If the mounting was related to stress and you yell or punish, the stress increases. If the mounting is truly sexual, punishment will not help because reproduction is instinct and requires patience to train self-control.

AdvertisementSince the mounting is just another movement to your dog or puppy, punishment will only teach him to fear you and he is not likely to connect the action with the punishment.If your dog is not a breeding animal, neutering will decrease the testosterone. Mounting behavior will very likely be diminished, but because it is a normal brain pattern, it may not disappear completely. It is still smart to train your dog to use other methods to express himself.

You can train your dog to eliminate the behavior with consistent training when he is hungry and ready to learn (hunger is another instinct that can be useful in training). Find a reward that is high value to the dog.

Start strongly and consistently reinforcing an alternate desirable behavior. Ask for and reward this good behavior, like sitting calmly, regularly at random times when there is no mounting. Your dog will not be surprised if you stop him from mounting in order to sit and be rewarded.

Eventually your dog should learn to keep at least some of his attention on you in case of random requests (and rewards) and the embarrassing mounting episodes can be redirected, regardless of the reason.

Try not to be embarrassed when your dog engages in this normal behavior. Other dog lovers will understand. Use the training time to redirect your dog’s actions and remember that any time spent training and rewarding is also valuable bonding time for you both.

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Sherry Woodard CPDT-KA is Best Friends Animal Society’s resident animal behavior consultant. As an expert in animal training, behavior and care, she develops resources, provides consulting services, leads workshops and speaks nationwide to promote animal welfare

Before Best Friends, Woodard, a nationally certified pet dog trainer, worked with dogs, cats, horses and a variety of other animals. She also worked in veterinary clinics, where she gained valuable experience in companion-animal medical care and dog dentistry.

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What are the theories on why some dogs put their rumps on us?

SW: Dogs offering the rear to other dogs is seen as a normal dog-dog greeting. The first theory is dogs guess that we greet in the same ways they do. Some dogs probably spend a lot of time trying to teach us how to have what they consider good social skills.

Other theories include that the dog just wants us to scratch where it is difficult for them to reach and that it feels good to be scratched on the rear, near the tail. Some dogs may be more comfortable offering their rear because we don’t normally try to control them from that end – offering your head often has people grabbing your collar and holding you, pulling you, getting maybe too close and causing a little fear.

Is there a “correct” human response to this?

SW: I would say yes, the correct human response is to give them a brief scratch. If you don’t want to touch the dog or the dog is too persistent you can move away and ignore the request. 

Is there ever a reason we should train our dogs not do to this behavior?

SW: I actually reinforce the dogs I work with for soliciting touch from people, being friendly and comfortable with people is consider highly adoptable in shelters and rescues. Whether its offering a toy or offering their rear for a scratch, people should see it as, this dog is friendly, enjoys touch and wants a relationship with people.

Why is it important to know what this behavior means? 

SW: This behavior is sometimes labeled as pushy or the dog is trying to control the human. I disagree with that. I believe it is important to know that we do not always communicate like dogs. For example, sniffing each other. They are dogs and come with dog language we can learn to understand. Watch how they greet and play with each other, they offer their bodies and they use their bodies to make new friends and have fun with friends they know and trust. I recommend that everyone spend time with a variety of dogs to learn more about how they communicate with their bodies and voices. Every dog is an individual. They come with their life experiences, or lack of experience.  They can be bold and bounce off of every new friend or they can be fearful and avoid getting too close or allowing others to get close to them.  

Learning more about dog language is fun and seeing the differences in many dogs is fascinating. Some dogs are great teachers for other dogs – how to play is one of my favorite things to watch dogs teach each other. Making friends and being comfortable with humans and other dogs helps keep dogs from being fearful and getting snappy.

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