Dog Intelligence and How it Influences Ability

This may seem a bit obvious, but I thought dog intelligence deserved a mention. Consider the vast abilities and talents dogs show when trained and given a chance demonstrate their innate intelligence.

The uses of dogs that capitalize on aspects of their instinctive intelligence have become more varied in today's world. A quick sampling of some of these contemporary dog "careers" would include the following:

1. seeing-eye dogs, who guide their blind masters around obstacles, warn them of approaching vehicles, and allow them to navigate independently, even in the complex urban environment;

2. Hearing-ear dogs, who alert their deaf masters to sounds, such as the ringing of a doorbell or telephone or the whistle of a teakettle;

3. Search and rescue dogs, who are used to track and find individuals who are lost or buried by debris in earthquakes or under snow in avalanches;

4. Water rescue dogs, who retrieve individuals and objects from the water, swim lines out to stranded boaters, and even drag small boats to waiting rescuers;

5. Drug and explosive-finding dogs, who use their scenting abilities to find contraband materials.

Likewise, there are dogs who sniff out truffles of this delicacy. Better that dogs do it as they don't natively like truffles. Pigs on the other hand, sniff them out as food and will eat them if not stopped by their truffle hunter owners. Dogs are actually better than the pigs. Dogs have a sharper sense of smell, to boot.

As intelligent as dogs are, it is a shame when we owners don't properly understand dog health care. You may not know it, but pancreatitis in dogs is a servere, life threatening disease common in dogs fed a low quality diet over a long period of time.

You can find more information on canine behavior at Puppy Behavior Problems.

The Neurotic Dog--Tips to Identifying Neurotic Dog Behavior

A neurosis may be defined as a functional nervous disorder with no sign central nervous system disease. Psychoneurosis is described as an "emotional maladaptation” due to unresolved unconscious conflicts, and may also be used to describe the condition of many so-called neurotic dogs. This means, to recognize a neurotic dog, we must identify some defective nervous behavioral functions, while ruling out physical injury or disease, such as hydrocephalus, brain tumors, etc.

This can be done in some cases through neurological examinations. Urine and blood analysis can often indicate internal chemical imbalances which are of an organic cause. On the other hand, they may also indicate the presence of severe environmental stressors. Combined with behavioral information, physiologic examinations might indicate a neuroses or the basis for a psychosis. For practical purposes, a dog may be considered neurotic if he shows signs of a functional nervous disorder combined with behavior that is both abnormal and maladaptive for dogs in general.
But how is a functional nervous disorder described in behavioral terms? The following descriptions are helpful:

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  The dog that fails to inhibit the orienting (alerting) response to stimuli that occurs repeatedly and are known to the animal to be neither harmful nor rewarding. These dogs are almost always in a state of anxiety.
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  The dog that responds to novel objects, sounds, touches, movements and even odors with exaggerated active or passive defensive responses. These dogs often lack adequate early social experience.
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  The dog that fails to retain (in some cases, even to develop) voluntary or involuntary conditioned reflexes. This cannot be applied to the dog's total behavior, but usually is pertinent to a failure to form and/or retain learned associations involving defense and social behaviorisms.
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  The dog that displays hyperkinesis. Signs include excessive salivation, elevated pulse and respiration, abnormally low urine output, and increased energy metabolism revealed through excessive, sometimes stereotyped activity, especially in close confinement.
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  Displays fixations on objects, exhibiting ritualized behavior, usually repetitive and with no apparent objective. "Obsessive-compulsive" is the current diagnostic label. While it is often treated with drugs, careful diagnosis shows that these dogs are suffering from frustration due to a lack of function in their lives. They are "making work," and receiving internal neurochemical rewards.

More Helpful Links

Puppy Behavior Problems
Housebreaking an Older Dog
Housebreaking Puppies in the Winter
Dog Health and Nutrition

Playing with a Dog--Pointers for Correct Play with Your Puppy

When your puppy learns the rules of how to fetch, carry and let go, it will have taken a big step toward being a well-trained adult dog. In this way, if done properly, your puppy also finds that learning can be fun. And it is because in training, you are, from the puppy point of view, showing it how to do its job. When you roughhouse and play fight with your dog, you teach it to play and not to bite. In the same manner, you teach it to work for something it wants.

In the course of a good rough and tumble, you will use words that he will remember next time. He will learn "Stop that," if he gets rough himself. If he needs reprimanding, a firm "No!" and a quick tap on the rump should make him behave.

Protect your puppy against what is really teasing, as when children call it "play" to steal his toys and hold them out of reach or to wrestle too roughly and hurt him. In addition, never play with him, or let children do so, until the point of exhaustion.

Reward him when you are teaching him something new, and let the play increase his understanding of you and your understanding of him. The time you spend with him can develop into a closer bond. He is learning, among other things, that you are his owner.

Dog Nervous System--Canine Nervous System Types

The dog nervous system is a delicate mechanism. Dogs of any breed, size or type can suffer from stress. In fact, a certain amount of stress is necessary for a healthy life. Hunger produces a form of stress that motivates us to find food, which is a healthful activity. However, a pet dog that receives a doting owner's petting and praise on demand all weekend tends to build an insatiable appetite for constant social gratification. Once he is left alone, particularly for a long period of time, the dog is frustrated by a problem where he cannot solve an emotional need.

Whether this condition results in problem behavior depends on the stability of the dog's nervous system and how the animal behaves to relieve tensions that will always arise from frustration. A chewing problem develops in the orally oriented animal. The tension relief is manifested by chewing up objects that smell and taste of the owner, of things that, to the dog, are symbolic of the owners.

In some cases, we see in litter mates of the same sex that the nervous system of the dogs appears to show considerable difference. We may see that one is a chewer and the other well behaved, even when both have been treated in the same manner in terms of indulgence. On the other hand, in some situations, litter mates living in non-indulgent homes where the problematic stress was created simply by the owner returning home late. So, you see that the dog's basic or fundamental nervsous sytem "type" plays a significant role in how it reacts to environmental conditions. However, environmental conditions as well can determine to some extent your dog's emotional response to external stimuli.

Also interesting in terms of canine nervous system and dog emotional life is the subject of pheremones.

Pheromones are chemical substances secreted by an animal that influence the behavior of other animals of the same species. Unlike other hormones, pheromones are secreted externally and influence other animals, typically by smell. In this case, pheromones may play a very important role in animal behavior. In dogs, pheromones probably influence group integration and are a factor in fighting and general aggressiveness. Some theorys suggest that dogs release pheromones in urine and feces, and perhaps through exhaled breath, subcutaneous glands at the base of the tail and the foot pads. This would tend to explain why aggressive, fighting dogs are often compulsive urine sniffers and urine markers, and why they become less aggressive when sniffing and urine marking are not allowed by their owners.

Pheromones may act as a trigger or primer for certain types of behavior. This case is typical of many wherein a dog appears to sense, by smell, another dog that may be perceived as a threat. Also typical among some vicious biting dogs is the need to brand a strange territory with their own pheromones before launching an attack. Some take place even when the biting dogs were on their home territory. Remedial programs include restricting urination of the problem dog to a single area of his own yard. This tends to lower the aggressiveness, as well as reduce the incidence of household urination.


More Helpful LInks

Housebreaking Puppies in Winter
Cold Weather Potty Training
Bringing a New Dog Home
7 Video Steps to Mastering Basic Dog Training
Crate Training and Crate Housebreaking