Understanding Your Dog For Dummies

Stanley Coren, Sarah Hodgson

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780471768739
• eBook ISBN: 9781118052761
• Edition: 1

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of getting a dog or nervous about caring for the one you've already brought home, now you can relax. Understanding Your Dog for Dummies helps you recognize not only why your dog behaves the way she does, but in a way that enables you to parlay that into a well-behaved companion who listens (and sits, and speaks, and comes, etc.).

Whether your pooch is a mixed breed or purebred, she has a distinct identity that makes her unique. The first step in understanding your dog is to respect the honorable task she was originally bred for and to identify how these inbred impulses influence her personality and behavior. In essence, you need to speak her language if you expect her to learn to understand yours.

Understanding Your Dog for Dummies gives you everything you need to learn to understand your pooch's unique dialect of "Doglish"—and shows you how to take on the role as pack leader to give your dog the cues, guidance, and consistency she needs to shape and develop good behaviors. Inside you'll discover how to:

• Read your dog's body language
• Communicate with your dog
• Interpret your dog's breed-specific traits
• Correct dog-behavior-gone-bad
• Counter anxiety-based behavior
• Understand and resolve aggressive behavior
• And so much more!

Think of this book as Doglish 101—a prerequisite for every human member of your dog's family. Now, let the training begin!

Part I

The Fascinating World of Dogs

In this part . . .

Everyone who takes responsibility for a dog has a vision of how they’d like their dog to act: from polite to protective, from mellow to athletic, from interactive to aloof. The vision and reality, however, can sometimes differ measurably. Suddenly, an adorable puppy morphs into a maturing dog with thoughts of her own and mannerisms that may not line up with anyone’s expectations.

In this part, you grow to appreciate your dog as a unique individual, fully equipped by evolution and centuries of selective breeding with her own set of ideals and inner drives. This part gives you the understanding you need to enjoy, cope with, or change your life with your pet.

Chapter 1

A Dog for Life: Dog Psychology 101

In This Chapter

Looking at life through your dog’s senses

Respecting your differences, appreciating your similarities

Identifying age requirements

T here is no greater gift you can offer your dog than to understand her: to walk a mile in her paws. Though money can buy a lot of dog biscuits and squeak toys, and those obedience classes will encourage greater responsiveness to you, a lot more is going on behind the scenes than the simple recognition of the command “Sit.” This chapter starts you on the journey discovering the mystery that is your dog.

Is Your Dog a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

Well, yes and no. Though we go more in-depth in this part, suffice it to say that dogs approached domestication at their own speed. There was no cosmic moment when some brave young boy (or girl), holding a wolf pup, approached their father and said, “Please, Dad, can we keep it?” Domestication was a slow evolutionary process that involved the gradual progression from curious wolves that drew closer to our campfire, to the marked physical changes that characterize dogs we know today.

People and dogs: Parallel evolution

Our relationship with dogs began during a time when survival was our only focus. Centered on staying alive, dogs provided personal protection and hunting assistance.

For eons, dogs and humans evolved in parallel: During the agricultural era, we modified our selection process to produce dogs who would cull the varmint population and others who would herd livestock. As kingdoms grew, massive dog breeds were shaped by a process of manual selection to guard the castles and aid in wars. And so on and so on until today, when there are more than 400 different dog breeds that populate our globe, all developed for particular tasks.

There is only one problem: Except for a few instances, any dog’s special talents are rarely needed. But don’t tell your dog: It would be too depressing. He thinks his abilities are still in high demand.

To know your...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part I : The Fascinating World of Dogs
• Part II : Embracing Your Dog’s Identity
• Part III : Doggie Delinquency
• Part IV : Dogs Don’t Misbehave: Misperceptions and Solutions
• Part V : The Part of Tens
• : Further Reading