Dogs

[KyCardinalFan]

Our dog is genuinely excited and happy to see us when we wake up in the mornings - especially the kids. I guess I've noticed it more now that it's summer and we're not rushing around for school. She is just as excited in the mornings as when we come home after being away for any extended time.

I find it funny. Does anyone else have a dog who's thrilled that the whole household didn't die in their sleep?

[docellis]

Our dog is genuinely excited and happy to see us when we wake up in the mornings - especially the kids. I guess I've noticed it more now that it's summer and we're not rushing around for school. She is just as excited in the mornings as when we come home after being away for any extended time.

I find it funny. Does anyone else have a dog who's thrilled that the whole household didn't die in their sleep?

10 min or 40 hours ... same excitement level.

[KyCardinalFan]

Our dog is genuinely excited and happy to see us when we wake up in the mornings - especially the kids. I guess I've noticed it more now that it's summer and we're not rushing around for school. She is just as excited in the mornings as when we come home after being away for any extended time.

I find it funny. Does anyone else have a dog who's thrilled that the whole household didn't die in their sleep?

10 min or 40 hours ... same excitement level.

That's true.
I just thought it was unusual since we haven't actually left, she can still see/hear/smell us.

[KyCardinalFan]

In The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin noted that ‘everyone has seen how jealous a dog is of his master’s affection, if lavished on any other creature.’

But since the evolutionary biologist made the observation in 1871, scientists have debated whether animals can actually feel jealousy, with many arguing it is an emotion that only humans exhibit.
Now experts believe they have proven that dogs do get jealous when their owners give too much attention to a rival.

The University of California discovered that dogs were far more likely to snap and push at their owners if they felt they were being excluded from their affection.

"Our study suggests not only that dogs do engage in what appear to be jealous behaviours but also that they were seeking to break up the connection between the owner and a seeming rival," said lead researcher Professor Christine Harris.

"Many people have assumed that jealousy is a social construction of human beings - or that it's an emotion specifically tied to sexual and romantic relationships.

"Our results challenge these ideas, showing that animals besides ourselves display strong distress whenever a rival usurps a loved one's affection."

The University of California study used an adapted test for six-month-old babies to monitor the reaction of 36 dogs in their own homes when their owners ignored them in favour of the stuffed dog, which could bark and wag its tail, or a bucket with a Halloween design.In a third scenario, owners were asked to read aloud a pop-up book that played tunes. The dogs were filmed and the video rated for a variety of aggressive, disruptive and attention-seeking behaviour.

The study found the dogs were around twice as likely to push or touch their owner when he or she was petting and talking sweetly to the false dog as when the owner was displaying the same behaviour towards the bucket. Even fewer pushed or touched their owner when the book was being read aloud.
Just under a third of the dogs also tried to get between their owner and the stuffed animal and a quarter snapped at the "other dog", with only one doing so at the bucket and book.

Researchers psychology professor Christine Harris, from the University of California San Diego, and former honours student Caroline Provoust said the aggression displayed by the dogs suggested they believed the false dog was real.

They added that 86 percent of the dogs attempted a spot of bottom-sniffing on the toy dog during and after the experiment, providing additional evidence that the pets had been duped.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/scie ... alous.html


I recommend a video within that article about tail wagging that's interesting. I can't figure out how to embed, however.

[TGantz]

[Molly]

[slide_into_first]

A recent study led to the conclusion that 1/3 of miniature dachshunds actively resist being bathed, 1/3 are stoic but cooperative, and 1/3 seem to enjoy it.

[cardinalkarp]

Well, it's been a rough past week and a half. After a 10 1/2 month battle w/ kidney failure (and us having to give him IV's on a daily basis) we had to put down our little Shih Tzu Gordon at the age of 17. He was an awesome dog & battled until the end. I've come to terms w/ it, even though some days are still hard, but he led such a great and long life for a pup. RIP little guy.

[Secret Weapon]

Anybody have experience with their dog having seizures? We've had our dog for 2 and a half years, he is about 4 and a half years old, and he had his first (we think) seizure a couple weeks ago, then had another small one a couple days ago. The vet thinks we will need to put him on seizure medicine, which would be a forever thing. I'm a little reluctant to start that, but the seizures are very scary and we don't want them to happen anymore either...

[slide_into_first]

Our cocker spaniel had to take one pill daily for seizures. I used to put it in peanut butter so he'd take it. Was not a big deal. This was a long time ago.