Here’s an example. Parvovirus is serious and can sometimes prove fatal. But when coronavirus is also present, the mortality rate increases dramatically. In one study, the mortality rate went from 0% for dogs with Parvovirus alone to 89% when Parvovirus and coronavirus were both present. A chilling fact!

Perhaps coronavirus has remained out of the spotlight because it is difficult to diagnose. Initial signs include lethargy, anorexia and depression. This can progress to severe diarrhoea, then dehydration and weight loss. On occasion, deaths have been attributed to coronavirus infection.

According to researchers, roughly 25% of diarrhoea samples may contain coronavirus. If dogs are infected, they risk becoming seriously ill, a risk which is compounded if they then contract another virus. As with other diseases, young pups are more susceptible than older animals.

Recent research aimed at improving diagnostic tests for coronavirus has increased our knowledge of the virus and this has led to a reassessment of its importance. While at present testing for coronavirus remains difficult, the potential threat posed to dogs is crystal clear.

When you’re planning your annual vaccination schedule, do ask your vet to vaccinate your pet against coronavirus. Prevention is always better than cure.

Learn More About Canine Coronavirus

• Wikipedia
• PetMD

More Common Than Parvovirus & Distemper, What is Canine Coronavirus? is an article from: K9 Magazine

Using the autistic spectrum applied to human behaviour, we have devised a do it yourself test to determine where about on the spectrum your dog may be. Otherwise, how can we explain why the same dog that a person relies on to warn them of an imminent seizure or to detect drugs hidden in a petrol tank, can also be responsible for wanting to ‘kill’ the newspaper or the old classic, chasing the tail.

Whilst the modern maxim ‘there is no such as thing as normal’ carries a lot of truth, there is such a phrase that goes ‘my dog is mad’. For those of us who have dogs that do inexplicably odd, weird, or plain crazy things (most of us then), for which we mere humans cannot find an answer, there may be underlying issues related to your dog’s individual neurology.

The autistic spectrum helps people understand the cause and effect of certain mental conditions. Many of these conditions that are applied to humans are to be found in our dogs in slightly modified or basic levels of seriousness, and when we take into account that many people who are placed on the autistic spectrum have extraordinary talents, mental ability and creativity, the idea of understanding why an obviously intelligent dog can also be found tilting his head in confusion at your sneezes affords the canine human relationship a certain clarity.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Dogs (ADHD in Dogs).

Does your dog…

Have difficulty following a simple command such as ‘sit’ or ‘stay’ even though you know he understands you? Perhaps he tries to sit but cannot resist following you.

Can Dogs Be Autistic? is an article from: K9 Magazine

• Dog Body Language: Why Do Dogs Shake?
• Interview With Emma Crosby
• Talking Point: What Would The World Look Like Without Dogs?
• K9 Health: The Eyes Have It: What You Need to Know About Your Dog’s Eyes
• eBook: Clicker Training for Dogs
• K9 Kitchen: How Much Should I Feed My Older Dog?
• Pet Friendly Britain: K9 Magazine Visits Loch Lomond
• K9 Health: What You Should Know About Hip Dysplasia in Dogs
• K9 Magazine Reveals…Best Designer Dog Harnesses
• 20 Health & Fitness Tips For You & Your Dog
• Why Do Dogs Chew Their Feet?
  ….& Lots, Lots More Inside!

K9 Magazine Issue 54 is an article from: K9 Magazine

K9 Magazine caught up with one of the UK’s most popular news presenters to find out about breaking stories and two of the big loves of her life, her dogs Teddy and Pickle.

Tell us about your dogs – we’d like to know everything about them!

I have two Jack Russell Terriers, Teddy and Pickle. I got Teddy when he was five months old and he’s been with me just over a year so he’s 1 ½ years old now. In fact I had him presenting with me in a field on location last year at the Royal Wedding. I was presenting from Bucklebury, the village which Kate grew up in and Teddy was with me.

I’ve always loved dogs and wanted a Jack Russell Terrier. For years I thought my job and lifestyle wasn’t right for a dog but a couple of years ago I thought actually you can make it work if you have the right surroundings and support network, such as Bishop’s Bark in London, where Teddy and Pickle go to doggy day care.

So once I started thinking like that I did a lot of research to find the right breeder. I knew I wanted a tan Jack Russell Terrier after meeting one that was just gorgeous and they’re not that common so it took me a while, but eventually I found a breeder in Suffolk named Vivienne and when I got in touch they had a five month old tan Jack Russell who wasn’t getting on with his dad so they were looking for a new home for him.

Photography by Anthony Mayatt

I went to meet him and I wasn’t sure about having an older dog as my first dog, I thought I might miss out on bonding with him as he grew up from being a puppy and would miss those big puppy landmarks, but when we met him he was such a lovely dog. He was very quiet, well behaved and loving and I fell in love with him.

It was such a busy week when he came home though, I was at 5 News at the time and luckily I had really dog friendly producers around and they suggested I bring him into the studio with me in his first week. He was quite scared and not quite sure about his surroundings, looking back it must have been quite strange for him. At the time 5 News was in the same building as Sky News and I remember Teddy running onto the set while it was live.

And then of course we were filming on location for the Royal Wedding which again brought new experiences. We smuggled him into a petting farm and there were lots of ducks and geese wandering around and he wasn’t interested at all.

Bless him, his first week was sort of a baptism of fire! He’s such a fab little dog. We’re super, super close, he’s a very loyal dog.

Pickle is five months old so still growing. I always knew I wanted to get a second dog, for Teddy as much as anything. Before Christmas I received an email from Teddy’s breeder about a puppy they had which had come back to them, they sent me a photograph and she was very cute but I wasn’t sure so I went on holiday and thought about it. I then found out they were having a litter of puppies and decided to wait and they had two tan puppies in the litter so we chose Pickle!

When did your interest in pets/animals begin and how long have you been a pet owner?

We always had cats growing up, in fact our last family cat lived until he was 18 years old. He was an adorable cat and I have wonderful memories. I remember when I was growing up my mum and dad had an extension built on the house and the builder who came and was working it had the most gorgeous Collie dog. He became a real pal to me. I’d jump out of bed in the morning and spent the mornings playing with him and getting up to all sorts of mischief feeding him the bread meant for the birds when I wasn’t at school. I really loved him and he loved being with me. I get the very same feeling with Teddy because he’s so loyal and protective.

This year is a big year for all things British with the build up to both the London 2012 Olympics and the Queen’s diamond jubilee. What are you most looking forward to about each event with your Five News journalist hat on?

For me it’s the big stories that I’m here for. I love doing my job and unfolding the details of a story whether commenting or filming livefrom the scene and I think this is what I’m here for. I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love and still get goose bumps on the back of my neck. There’s maybe 4-5 big stories a year if that and it’s a real privilege to do what I do and unfold the details of the story.

The Royal Wedding was one, the Japanese Tsunami was another. I think there’s certain stories people tune in to watch because they affect their lives and so I feel really very lucky to be able to do what I do.

I think the Diamond Jubilee is such a unique event, something to make you feel very proud and British and the Olympics is the same.There’s a real vibe in the air. (Laughs) Although I’m not looking particularly forward to the traffic around London. I think it’ll be a very exciting Summer!

And finally, this is always a tough question and often requires a fair degree of thinking time but….If Teddy and Pickle had the ability to speak and answer one question and one question only, what would you ask them and what do you think that they would say?

Oh, well I think I’d have to ask them ‘do you know you’re loved?’. I’m always asking my friends and family if they think they know how much I love them, and I think they’d say ‘yes, absolutely’.

Many Thanks Emma!

Emma Crosby Was Speaking With Kim O’Meara

Interview With Emma Crosby is an article from: K9 Magazine

Meet Lisa and John…

We own three lovely dogs and we always try and plan our holidays and short breaks with their needs in mind. So when the opportunity arose for us to review Sisky’s House, self catering holiday accommodation in the beautiful location of Drymen in Loch Lomond, Scotland, we jumped at the chance.

Upon our arrival we were greeted with homemade goodies for both people and dogs, dog toys and a fantastic gift from the owners, Karen and Bernie, which was THE nicest way to start our holidays!

Sisky’s House is just perfect for us, it is warm, comfortable and ideal for people with or without dogs, you park directly outside the house and the entrance is great as you can keep all of your doggy/outdoor stuff there and there is plenty of room to clean off dogs and people before you go upstairs to the wonderfully equipped and cosy living room and kitchen, I like to eat out when I am away but as the kitchen is so well equipped and the fresh produce available in and around Drymen is so good we probably ate in more than out whenever we have stayed which is almost unheard of for me on holiday.

There are some lovely pubs in the village too, all well within a short walk, our favourite for drinks and food is the Clachan in Drymen where you are made so welcome with and without dogs too although they did rather like our Standard Poodle as they thought she was a dead ringer for Rod Stewart we were made very welcome at all of the public houses in Drymen.

For a nice close dog walk we walked every morning at Gallowhill woods, this is about a 10 minute walk away and we met some great local people and dogs here too.

Drymen is just perfect for touring all over the Trossachs however and we visited lots amazing places, Sisky’s House has a fantastic library of information to tell you where are the best places to visit and Karen and Bernie who own it are always on hand if you need to call them to give you personal advice on where to visit and places to explore. While we have been at Sisky’s we have visited Glasgow, great for shopping and history, Glencoe, with scenery to totally take your breath away, Fort William, Loch Lomond of course with some amazing walks all round it and if you are up to it the 5 hour walk up to Ben Lomond will reward you for your efforts.

After a long hard day of enjoying yourself then Sisky’s is the perfect place to relax and unwind, we slept like babies and even on a nasty day there are lots of DVDs and games to keep you amused so all in all Sisky’s was just perfect for us, the only thing I would change is that it was not quite so far away from us.

Some pictures are attached of our holidays oh and just an additional note, my darling partner has a little problem with OCD where cleanliness is concerned, no problem at Sisky’s House as it is one of the cleanest places I have ever stayed in and John was in heaven because of it too.

Thanks so much Karen and Bernie for the best holiday destination we have ever had with our dogs!

Find out more at Sisky’s House: www.lochandlake.com/

Essential Pet Travel Supplies: Recommended by K9 Magazine

Pet Friendly Loch Lomond is an article from: K9 Magazine

Chloe and Mia have given their valuable insight leaving us with their top 5 dog harnesses so whether you’re looking for something stylish or practical – or both- we hope our selection has something just for you!

Send us your pictures and videos of your dogs relaxing at home on their favourite designer accessories for our brand new K9 Stars section online at K9Magazine.com and don’t forget to email us your best dog product suggestions – we love to hear from you.

So, without further delay, here’s K9 Magazine’s countdown of the best dog harnesses!

Top 5 Best Dog Harnesses is an article from: K9 Magazine

Because dogs can’t tell their owners when they are suffering irritation or pain in their eyes, the eye is an often overlooked area of trouble. Many a devoted dog owner has failed to notice his pet’s eye trouble until it is so advanced that blindness results or the removal of an eye is necessary.

From the tiny Pekingese, whose slightly bulging eyes can become diseased because of inadequate protection, to the huge St. Bernard, whose drooping eyelids can catch and harbour bacteria which cause eye infection, many special breeds are particularly susceptible to certain types of eye disease.

Dog owners should be aware of some of the most common eye problems, which breeds are most likely to develop them, how they are treated, and, most important, how they can spot potential trouble while there is still time to safely treat or cure the disease.

Many a serious problem starts with an irritation or trauma to the eye, which causes inflammation. If a dog’s eye becomes inflamed, the problem should be attended to immediately, as the problem can usually be treated if diagnosed in time. If inflammation is allowed to continue for too long, much more complicated problems can result.

What Can Happen To The Inflamed Eye?

For one thing, one of the most important protections the eye possesses – the ability to produce tears – can be interfered with or stopped completely. If the dog’s eye no longer produces tears because the tear glands and ducks are inflamed, the dog can develop ulcers in the eye.

Your dog can also develop a condition known as keratitis, or inflammation of the cornea – a clear protective disc over the colored part of the dog’s eye – gets inflamed, the white part of the eye often responds by growing blood vessels down over the injured cornea.

Of course, the dog will be temporarily or permanently blinded if the blood vessels are allowed to block light from entering the pupil, the small hole behind the cornea which lets light into the eye.

Infection, bumps or scratches on the eye, foreign bodies such as foxtails in the eye, and ingrown eyelashes are all common ways in which a dog’s eye becomes inflamed. If a dog’s eye become swollen, red, runs a lot, or if the dog rubs his eyes excessively, the owner should see a veterinarian before the condition becomes serious.

Most dog owners, if not all of them, never consider looking into their pet’s eyes for signs of illness, especially dogs with hair over their eyes.

There is a myth that cutting the hair away from a dog’s eyes will cause blindness, but, in fact, a dog’s eyes are much less likely to become diseased if the area is free of air. Dogs with hair growing over their eyes should either have it trimmed or pinned back.

Glaucoma

The most serious problem that can result from an inflamed eye is a condition called glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs when the fluid pressure within the eye gets too high. It is caused when the passage which drains the fluid out of the pupil becomes too narrow to allow fluid to pass. Glaucoma can and does cause blindness if not treated immediately. Inflammation of the eye is one thing which can cause the drainage passage to become swollen shut.

Glaucoma can also be caused by a tumor in the eye, or by an inherited condition peculiar to certain breeds, in which the angle of fluid drainage in the eye is too narrow at birth. Wire-haired Terriers, Basset Hounds, Cocker Spaniels, and Malamutes are more apt to be born with this abnormally narrow angle of drainage than most dogs.

If glaucoma is not treated immediately by alleviating the extremely high pressure of the eye fluid, a great deal of pain and eventual blindness will result. Owners, especially of the breeds mentioned, should watch for redness in the white part of their dog’s eyes, dilated or large pupils, and rubbing of the eyes by the dog. If the symptoms are treated early, blindness can be prevented.

Check The Eyelids

Many eye problems require medical tensions caused by eyelid abnormalities. These are problems the dog is born with, and again, certain breeds are especially prone to certain abnormalities. The two most common types of eyelid abnormalities are ectropian, in which the eyelid turns out, and entropian, in which the lid turns inward toward the eye.

Bloodhounds, Basset Hounds, Cocker and Springer Spaniels, St. Bernards and Akitas are some of the breeds most likely to suffer from ectropian. Entropian is often seen in Chows, Bulldogs, Doberman Pinschers, Setters, Golden Retrievers, Poodles, and St. Bernards.

Both conditions can cause infection and inflammation of the eye. They are most commonly corrected surgically. The surgery is a cosmetic one, for the purpose of correcting the confirmation of the dog’s eyelid. The part of the eyelid which droops or turns inward is removed, making the eye normal. It is not a complicated procedure, and one which in nearly every case solves the dog’s eye problems.

Many eye diseases in dogs can be successfully cured surgically if non-surgical treatments do not help. In the condition in which the tear glands and ducks are not producing tears, for example, a medication is put into the dog’s food in the form of drops.

If there is any function at all left, the medication will stimulate the glands to again produce tears normally. If the medication does not work, an unusual and creative operation is sometimes performed, whereby a duct of one of the dog’s salivary glands is moved so that it empties out of the eye instead of the mouth.

The saliva moistens and protects the eye just as the tears are supposed to. Logically enough, Pavlov’s theory works with slight alteration – a dog who has had such an operation cries when his appetite is stimulated!

If an ulcer has resulted from the dryness and inflammation of the eyes, or from some other irritation or trauma, medication is again tried initially. Especially if the ulcer is a superficial one, antibiotics usually heal it.

If the ulcer is a deep one or has punctured through the cornea into the eye itself, another innovative type of surgery is performed. The ulcer is covered with a truly organic “bandage” – the dog’s own third eyelid, or a flap from the white part of his eye. The bandage is left on for several weeks while antibiotics are used to heal the ulcer. It can then be removed with a snip or two of the stitches holding the bandage in place.

Cataracts in Dogs

Owners of old dogs often notice a condition commonly referred to as cataracts – a bluish white film over the eyes. Actually, the condition is a thickening of the lenses, which is a function of age. It usually begins to be noticeable in dogs about 10 years of age, and progresses slowly. It does not usually affect the dog’s vision until the dog becomes quite old.

True cataracts are a total thickening of the lenses, so that light cannot come through the pupil and sight is lost. Certain injuries and infections can cause cataracts, and the condition is sometimes a sign of diabetes.

There is a disease, juvenile cataracts, in which cataracts appear at a very young age (as early as 1 year old), first in one eye and then in the other.

This is an inherited disease, seen most commonly in Irish Setters, Afghans and Old English Sheepdogs. The only way to prevent blindness is to surgically remove the lenses. Dogs are nearsighted anyway – they can’t adapt their vision to distances – so the removal of the lens is something they can live with quite comfortably without much noticeable difference in eyesight.

How To See The World Through a Dog’s Eye View

Like tourists who assume everyone speaks English, or should, it is second nature to us to think that the world looks pretty much the same to all creatures, great and small, including our dogs. For example, we rarely give much thought to the optical processes that turn light into vision; we assume that our visual version of reality is reality.

Even those of us who wear glasses fall into this way of thinking. Glasses bring things back into focus so they once again look like they are. If those people who run around staging role-playing seminars on multiculturalism for business executives were to do the same for multi-species, I would suggest as the first group exercise they get everyone down on the floor with their eyeballs about six inches off the ground. Simply by virtue of visual perspective, the world looks very different to a Chihuahua.

Dogs also differ from humans in their ability to focus on near objects, to perceive and distinguish detail, and to see contrasts between light and dark. Some of these differences are relatively minor, but some must result in a highly altered version of reality. The most remarkable feature of the human eye is its extraordinary power of “accommodation.” The lens
in a normal eye, when relaxed, is of just the right thickness and curvature to bend incoming light rays from a far distance (equivalent to the setting of “infinity” on a camera lens) so that they converge in sharp focus upon the retina at the back of the eye.

If the lens were incapable of adjustment, the light rays from close objects would end up converging at an imaginary point well behind the retina; the result would be a grossly blurred image striking the light-sensitive cells of the retina. But by squeezing the lens with muscles that are under unconscious control, we can make the lens thicker and alter its curvature, bringing close objects into proper focus. The greater the squeeze, the closer to our face is the focus.

In young children, the eye’s lens is capable of adjusting by as much as 14 diopters, an optical unit used in describing the power of lenses (and in prescribing eyeglasses). That degree of accommodation corresponds to being able to focus on everything from infinity to an object less than three inches away. By way of comparison, eyeglasses with a power of 14 diopters would look like the proverbial Coke bottle bottoms. (Most glasses for correcting nearsightedness in humans run about 1 to 5 diopters.)

Dogs have a much more limited power of accommodation, generally not more than 2 or 3 diopters, which means they can focus on close objects only if they are no nearer than a foot or two. Anything closer than that will unavoidably be a blur. That may well explain why dogs generally try to sniff or touch objects at close range: they simply cannot see them very well. If the relaxed lens normally brings a distant object’s image into focus behind the retina, the result is hyperopia or farsightedness.

Tearstains in Dogs

Some dogs, especially Poodles, Maltese, and toys whose faces are white, sport darkly stained facial hair along the inside corner of their eyes. The stain is caused by tears, which should collect in the tear ducts but instead flow onto the face. There are several reasons the tear ducts may not be draining all of the tears secreted.

The ducts may be obstructed or too narrow to do their job properly. In some cases, the ducts themselves are properly formed and functional, but the tear flow itself is too excessive. This may be caused by conjunctivitis, allergies, entropion, infection of the Harderian gland, or an infection of the third eyelid.

If you notice a new stain, or a stain that seems to be getting worse, consult your veterinarian; he or she will need to determine the underlying cause of the problem. If an infection is triggering the staining, antibiotics will be prescribed. Surgery may be recommended to remove the third eyelid, increasing the area into which tears can flow.

How to Get Rid of Tearstains on Dogs:

1. Keep the hair clipped close to the face.

2. Mix two teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide in twenty teaspoons of lukewarm water. Gently rub some of the solution into the stained hair, taking pains to prevent getting any of it in the eye itself.

3. Carefully rinse with lukewarm water.

What You Should Know About Your Dog’s Eyes is an article from: K9 Magazine

People often think of clicker training as a fast and easy way to teach basic obedience commands, such as “sit” or “come,” but it can also quickly shape your dog’s behaviours in ways that establish a productive and happy relationship, right from the start.

Clicker Training for Dogs: An Introduction for Dog Owners

Clickers are a fun and fast way to speed up your dog’s learning process.

In this easy to follow, simple guide we’ll explain the origins, benefits and implementation techniques for training dogs with a clicker that will allow you to get an informed introduction to the dog training phenomenon that has won so much support and respect all over the world. Clicker training for dogs is winning so many new followers and it’s hardly a surprise, the results are often awe inspiring!

Learn Clicker Training for Dogs

In this guide – which contains input from professional dog trainers who are FAR more experienced with clicker training than I – you will learn:

• The origins and theory of the clicker (why dolphin trainers adopt this method)
• The uses for clicker training when teaching new behaviour
• The right way to use clicker training to correct unwanted behaviour
• How to use a clicker in a simple, step by step process that ANY dog owner can follow
• Using clicker training with puppies, adult dogs and ANY breed
• The clicker training method for using positive, reward based training
• & more!

What Can Dog Clicker Training Help You With?

Whether you have a dog who you’re struggling with or you simply want to learn a technique that can be applied to any dog in order to attain the behaviour you crave, this guide will give you the insight you need.

Clicker training can make life so, so much simpler for both dog and owner. In fact, the one regret I have throughout my entire life as a dog owner is not learning about clicker training sooner.

We won’t bore you by publishing reams and reams of testimonials from the thousands of people who’ve discovered just how transformational clicker training can be – those can be found online with just a click of a mouse.

Instead, I’d just like to say this: by learning how to properly clicker train your dog

• you WILL see the magic unfold before your eyes
• you WILL kick yourself for not discovering it sooner
• you WILL eradicate the stress and anxiety from not being able to get your dog to understand you
• you WILL observe an incredible, almost mind blowing reaction when your dog ‘gets it’
• you WILL be able to show off and boast to your dog owning friends (if you’re that way inclined )

So please, download the report and have your eyes opened to a dog training principle that is now so widely adopted by the best of the best in the dog training world, you’ll wonder how you ever managed to live without it!

Clicker Training Video

With clicker training, you can teach your dog to perform like this…

eBook: Clicker Training for Dogs is an article from: K9 Magazine

Stress is a complicated emotion. It can manifest itself in many different forms. I’ve sometimes caught my legs shaking furiously as I’ve sat in my seat on a warm day at a football match. Nerves, anxiety, call it what you will, my sub-concious display of what can only be described as stress body language would indicate I might be a nervous person. But it’s not that simple, is it? I happened to be shaking at a particular time under a particular circumstance but this stress behaviour would not be applicable to my more general personality. So when we come to the question of why dog dogs shake, we must delve a little deeper.

What The Studies Of A Dog’s Nervous System Have To Tell Us About Why Dogs Shake?

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 begets a form of stress that motivates us to find food, 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.

Later, left alone on weekdays, the dog is frustrated by an unsolvable, hence frustrating, problem: it cannot find its “emotional food”. Whether this condition results in problem behaviour depends on the stability of the dog’s nervous system and how the animal behaves to relieve tensions that will always arise from frustration. For example, 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, or things that, to the dog, are symbolic of the owners.

Developmental Neurophysiology and Behaviour

Each puppy is born with and develops a nervous system that is unique in many ways. Both genetic and environmental factors produce these individual variations. Some important developmental yardsticks may be applied to the canine nervous system to explain many kinds of behaviour.

Turnover of RNA (ribonucleic acid, a vital chemical messenger in the memory process) in a pup’s brain does not reach adult rates until 22 weeks of age. This helps explain why a puppy may have “accidents” during its house-training program, or why training pups to simple “Come,” “Sit” or “Stay” commands is best conducted in brief sessions no longer than 5 minutes. This may also bear on the 13 to 16-week-old pup’s behavior, when it apparently does not recognize, growls at, or runs from visitors with whom it had friendly previous contact, or a pup who starts barking at objects previously ignored. In this case, the optic tract also may not have reached maturity.

Mammals normally born blind but reared without light until maturity develop apparently normal eyes that are “nerve blind” due to failure of the optic tract to develop normally – a good reason not to shake puppies as punishment. Stimulus deprivation of various sorts produces animals with comparatively lighter and less precisely structured brains, according to Russian studies in the 1950s.

Puppies drastically restricted from sensory stimulation and exercise in special cages from weaning until maturity failed to avoid painful burns on their noses from matches or pin pricks, while normally raised puppies quickly learned to avoid them. The deprived pups appeared to feel the pain, but did not learn to associate it with the match or the pin. Even more bizarre, these deprived puppies spent more time close to the human experimenter after being burned or pricked than before the painful stimulus. This was not the case with normally reared puppies.

This work may explain why so many behavioural problems are experienced with puppies bred and reared in the restrictive environments of “puppy mills,” where litters are reared in stacked cages and then shipped to pet shops, where they spend more time in cages.

Shaking, in particular, could be the physical manifestation of:

• Fear
• Nerves
• Extreme or mild stress
• Anger
• Rage
• Reaction to cold temperature
• Excitement
• Mental stimulation
• An attempt to loosen muscles or relieve minor discomfort from a minor physical impact
• Simply attempting to shake out water or debris from coat

It is known that tremoring and shaking can be common physical traits in smaller breed dogs. However, the reasons as to why this is the case appears to have baffled vets and behaviour experts for now. Like the small Terrier I met in 1998, the dog was shaking to a point that a neutral observer would conclude she was very upset or stressed about something. It was only upon further inspection and getting to know the dog that it became apparent she displayed none of the usual traits associated with fear, anxiety, nerves or even extreme excitement.

Of course, I asked the dog’s owner; why does your dog shake like that?

His reply; “oh, that’s just something she’s always done. When she is thinking, she tends to shake.”

Do dogs shake because, for some of them any way, ‘that’s just something they do?”

Could that really be an adequate explanation for this particular display of dog body language?

Well, adequate it most certainly isn’t, but it does perhaps give some comfort to owners of dogs that shake for no apparent reason. It may well be the case that there is no specific behavioural or mental reason why certain dogs shake. It certainly isn’t always the case that a dog is fearful, cold or even excited about something.

In more serious cases, shaking could be the sign of illness, including Distemper. But for a dog who seems to shake at random times and has done so from an early age it is much more likely to be ‘something they just do’. You must forgive me for my frustration at not being able to get to the scientific bottom of answering the question of why do dogs shake. “Dogs shake because it’s just something some of them do” leaves me – almost – shaking with disappointment. From the vets and behaviour experts I have asked this question of, the most common consensus has been that shaking is most often as a result of a build up of energy rather than fear or indeed reaction to cold.

Why Do Dogs Shake? is an article from: K9 Magazine

In a world without dogs…. would we have telephones?

Alexander Bell, long before he decided to add the name Graham into the mix, found fascination with the noises that emanated from the mouth of his family’s pet dogs. He would sit for hours, pressing his hand against the chest and throat of the dogs, whilst encouraging them to bark and growl. It was at this formative juncture in his life that he became obsessive about the relationship between sound and vibrations.

The young inventor moved to Boston, Massachusetts and with the help of a financial backer and his close friend Watson, he started work on developing the idea of the telegraph machine that could send multiple messages.

Still fascinated with the idea of transporting sounds as vibrations, he and Watson abandoned their initial plans and focussed on the idea of the telephone. One hot night in 1875, Bell communicated the following message to Watson via his device. “Watson, come over here, I need you” and the telephone was invented. But had Bell not grew up with pet dogs, would his interest in sound and vibration have been ignited?

In a world without dogs…. would Europeans have colonised the Americas?

Dogs have been endemic on the continents of North America and South America for thousands of years, many dogs had their homes in Indian settlements. But when the conquistadors arrived from Spain, the dogs they brought with them were not mere companions, but warriors. Bloodhounds were employed by the Spaniards to chase and capture any escaping natives as they began the process of colonising the newly found land. It was at this time that the idea of purebred dogs was introduced.

How Would The World Look Without Dogs? is an article from: K9 Magazine