Behaviour
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How the dogs find food
1.1 Wild Dog Eat
Dogs out in the wild scavenge for food and will eat pretty much anything they come across. Unlike humans, a dog’s body can handle inconsistent feeding schedules and a large variety of foods to ensure they adapt to their hunting lifestyle
Dogs are highly carnivorous, and while they prefer raw meats and raw bones, they also eat a range of fruits and plants. The meat that wild dogs consume is typically in chunks, and smaller pups often dine on their mother’s regurgitated meals. Some common food sources for wild dogs include chickens, birds and small rodents.
Unfortunately, out in the wild, dogs often lack a balanced diet since the necessary food sources are not readily available. In nature, wild dogs also tend to fast. This allows their digestive system to balance itself out, which prevents illnesses and other health problems.
Feeding Facts
It is common for dogs, whether wild or domesticated, to eat less during warmer months. When the cold weather kicks in, dog appetites generally increase and they will consume more food.
It is extremely difficult for most dog’s to digest vegetables. When a dog consumes vegetables in the wild, it is often in the form of digested food found in the prey’s stomach.
In the wild, dogs do not eat grains. This food source is not a part of their natural diet.
Foods that are can be fatal to dogs include moldy cheese, onions and chocolate.
A dog can go several days without eating but needs water almost daily.
1.2 Domestic Dogs
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Talk to your veterinarian for advice
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Feed high quality balanced premium commercial food that is appropriate for the life stage and health status of your dog. Check that it complies with the Australian Standard: Manufacturing and Marketing Pet Food AS 5812:2011
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You can offer some natural foods to provide some variety
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Natural foods include fresh human-grade raw meat (e.g. raw lamb), raw meaty bones and vegetables
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Always check with your vet first that raw meaty bones are suitable for your particular dog (e.g. some dogs with misshapen jaws or dental disease may find chewing on raw bones difficult or older dogs may have difficulty)
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Choose human-grade raw meat and raw meaty bones because some pet meat/pet mince/pet rolls/pet meat and bone products can contain preservatives that can be detrimental to the dog's health (e.g. sulphite preservative induced thiamine deficiency which can be fatal). However avoid sausages, sausage meat and cooked manufactured meats as they can contain sulphite preservatives.
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Bones must always be raw
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Raw meaty bones such as raw lamb ribs (not lamb chops though), raw lamb flaps and raw chicken wings provide several important health benefits including keeping teeth and gums healthy
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Too many raw bones may lead to constipation. Generally 1-2 raw bones may be offered per week with a few days in between each serving
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The bone must be large enough so that the dog cannot fit the whole bone in its mouth or swallow the bone whole
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Never feed cooked bones as these can splinter and cause internal damage or become an intestinal obstruction
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Always supervise dogs when they are eating raw bones
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Dogs ‘like’ bones very much and sometimes become protective. Do take care and discourage young children and others from approaching dogs that are eating.
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Avoid large marrow bones (these have very thick outer rims), T-bones, 'chop' bones e.g. lamb cutlets, large knuckle bones and bones sawn lengthwise (as done by some butchers) as dogs may crack their teeth on these
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Dogs may be offered fish such as tinned sardines in springwater, tinned tuna and tinned salmon as a treat occasionally (care with any fish bones). Please avoid feeding fish constantly
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Dogs may also be offered a small amount of cooked vegetables e.g. pumpkin, carrots etc
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Cooked meat such as boiled chicken or lamb may also be offered but ensure there are no cooked bones; onions/onion sauces or other toxic substances present (see below)
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A small amount of cooked plain pasta/rice may be offered but again ensure there are no onions/onion sauces or other toxic substances present (see below)
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Provide access to grass (avoid chemically treated grass and toxic plants) - dogs will sometimes eat grass which may provide a source of vegetable matter and micronutrients
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The amount of food required will depend on the dog's size, breed, age and level of exercise, but take care not to overfeed or underfeed. Your vet will be able to weigh your dog, assess your dog's body condition score and provide advice
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Adults dogs should be fed at least twice a day to help avoid bloat which can be fatal. Also, dogs should not be exercised immediately before or after eating, to avoid bloat, particularly deep-chested dogs.
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Fresh drinking water must be available at all times
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Do not feed the following (note this is not an exhaustive list): onions, onion powder, garlic, chocolate, coffee or caffeine products, mouldy or spoiled foods or compost, avocado, bread dough, yeast dough, grapes, raisins, sultanas (including in Christmas cakes etc), currants, nuts including macadamia nuts, fruit stones (pits) e.g. mango seeds, apricot stones, avocado stones; fruit seeds, corncobs; green unripe tomatoes, mushrooms; fish constantly, cooked bones; small pieces of raw bone, fatty trimmings/ fatty foods, Salt, Xylitol (sugar substitute found in some products such as some types of sugarfree chewing gum, lollies, baking goods, toothpaste). Also ensure your pet dog doesn't have access to string wrappings around rolled roasts or absorbent pads found under meat when wrapped on trays.
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How do dogs protects itself from predators
So how do dogs defend themselves? The dog would use its mouth, its strong teeth and its powerful jaws. Biting is a self defense reflex of a dog. This aggressive reflex is most common in dominant dogs and in breeds known to have a ferocious temperament. Dogs are very much capable of inflecting pain. Imagine a jaw that packs several hundred pounds of biting power per square inch locked on your arm. And boy, look at those strong white teeth! These teeth once sunk on the flesh will send blood spewing in all direction. Some breeds are actually trained to be aggressive. A pit bull for instance is known to lock its jaw once it has latched on the enemy. Dog experts averred that jaw locking is a myth. Nevertheless, it does show the dog’s ability to defend itself.
Dogs are highly sociable animals. Dogs tend to form a strong bond with its human family. Domestication has curbed the animal’s tendency to be aggressive. However, when a situation warrants, the natural instinct to defend itself will kick in and the dog will manifest the ferocious behavior of its wolf ancestors. There are breeds noted for their ferocious and aggressive temperament in the same manner that there are breeds known for the docile and calm personalities. The latter are most valued for being wonderful home companions. Of course dogs would need t o protect themselves from predators and from other animals that are considered to be their natural enemies but these canine friends will not feel the need to defend themselves from humans if they are treated humanely.
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Dog Sleeping Habits
3.1 Curling Up in a Ball
This behavior, aside from being just plain adorable, has a fascinating evolutionary basis. When dogs sleep in the wild, they often dig a nest and tuck into a ball to conserve body heat. Curling up also helps protect their vulnerable organs — the ones inside the abdomen — from potential predators. This doesn't necessarily mean that your dog feels unsafe in his bed; it could just be that he happens to have the same sleeping preferences as his ancestors!
3.2 Sleeping Belly Up
So what about dogs who sleep on their backs? Dr. Patty Khuly says this sleeping position might signal that your dog feels extremely relaxed and comfortable in his environment, with no need to protect his organs. It could also mean that he's hot and doesn't need to curl up to conserve body heat.
3.3 Twitching While Asleep
Now here's a sleeping habit that may startle you the first time you see it! Some dogs twitch while they're asleep and maybe even vocalize a little. Is your dog dreaming about chasing a squirrel? He may be. Experts theorize that dogs dream during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep and may act on their dreams by twitching or "running on their side." If you need to wake your twitching dog, gently call out his name. Using your hand may scare him, and you could get bitten.
3.4 Crawling Under the Covers
Whether or not your dog snuggles under the covers at bedtime may just be a matter of preference. Animal behaviorist Dr. Brenda Forsythe says experts' theories for this behavior range from a dog's need to feel companionship while sleeping with a human "pack member" to an evolutionary behavior from when wild dogs raised their puppies in small, dark dens. Crawling under the covers may actually be more common in breeds that were bred to burrow, like Dachshunds.
Animal Communication
How dogs communicate with other dogs?
Just like their human owners, dogs like to talk. However, unlike body signals, barking can represent different things to different dogs. The pitch or volume of the bark will increase with the dog's level of emotion. And it could be that artificial intelligence is better at distinguishing dog barks than humans are.
Dog human communication is the transfer of information between dogs, and also the transfer of information between dogs and humans. Behaviors associated with dog communication include eye gaze, facial expression, vocalization, body posture (including movements of bodies and limbs) and gustatory communication (scents, pheromones and taste). Humans communicate with dogs by using vocalization, hand signals, body posture and touch.
Both humans and dogs are characterized by complex social lives with rich communication systems, but it is also possible that dogs, perhaps because of their reliance on humans for food, have evolved specialized skills for recognizing and interpreting human social-communicative signals. Four basic hypotheses have been put forward to account for the findings.
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Dogs, by way of their interactions with humans, learn to be responsive to human social cues through basic conditioning processes.[2]
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By undergoing domestication, dogs not only reduced their fear of humans but also applied all-purpose problem-solving skills to their interactions with people. This largely innate gift for reading human social gestures was inadvertently selected for via domestication.[3][4]
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Dogs' co-evolution with humans equipped them with the cognitive machinery to not only respond to human social cues but to understand our mental states; a so-called theory of mind.[5][6]
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Dogs are adaptively predisposed to learn about human communicative gestures. In essence they come with a built-in "head start" to learn the significance of people's gestures, in much the same way that white-crowned sparrows acquire their species-typical song [7] and ducklings imprint on their own kind.[8]
The pointing gesture is a human-specific signal, is referential in its nature, and is a foundational building block of human communication. Human infants acquire it weeks before the first spoken word.[9] In 2009, a study compared the responses to a range of pointing gestures by dogs and human infants. The study showed little difference in the performance of 2-year-old children and dogs, while 3-year-old children's performance was higher. The results also showed that all subjects were able to generalize from their previous experience to respond to relatively novel pointing gestures. These findings suggest that dogs demonstrate a similar level of performance as 2-year-old children that can be explained as a joint outcome of their evolutionary history as well as their socialization in a human environment.[10]
One study has indicated that dogs are able to tell how big another dog is just by listening to its growl. A specific growl is used by dogs to protect their food. The research also shows that dogs do not, or can not, misrepresent their size, and this is the first time research has shown animals can determine another's size by the sound it makes. The test, using images of many kinds of dogs, showed a small and big dog and played a growl. The result showed that 20 of the 24 test dogs looked at the image of the appropriately sized dog first and looked at it longest.[11]
Depending on the context, a dog's barks can vary in timing, pitch, and amplitude. It is possible that these have different meanings.[12]
Additionally, most people can tell from a bark whether a dog was alone or being approached by a stranger, playing or being aggressive,[13] and able tell from a growl how big the dog is.[14] This is thought to be evidence of human-dog coevolution.[14]
Mouth shape: Mouth relaxed and slightly open; tongue perhaps slightly visible or draped over the lower teeth – this is the sign of a content and relaxed dog.[1]:114
Mouth closed, no teeth or tongue visible. Usually associated with the dog looking in one direction, and the ears and head may lean slightly forward – this shows attention, interest, appraising the situation.[1]:115
Curling or pulling the lips to expose the teeth and perhaps the gums – is a warning signal showing the weapons (teeth), the other party has time to back down, leave or show a pacifying gesture.[1]:116
Mouth elongated as if pulled back, stretching out the mouth opening and therefore showing the rear teeth – shows a submissive dog yielding to the dominant dog's threat.[1]:119 "Smiling" is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Head position: A dominant or threatening dog that looks directly at another individual – this is a threat, it is pointing its weapons (muzzle/teeth) at them.[1]:120
A dominant dog turning its head to one side away from a submissive dog – this is calming them, indicating that it is not going to attack.[1]:120
A less dominant dog approaches a dominant dog with its head down, and only on occasion quickly pointing its muzzle towards the higher-status dog – shows no fight intended.[1]:120 In an alternate interpretation that does not involve dominance and submission, turning the head away is recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Yawn: A dog yawn – as with humans, a dog will yawn when tired to help awaken it. Also, a dog will yawn when under stress, or when being menaced by aggression signals from another dog when it can be used as a pacifying signal but not a submissive signal. Both humans and dogs can defuse an aggressive situation by turning their head away and yawning.[1]:120–122 It is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Licking & sniffing: Licking behavior can mean different things depending on the context and should not be simply interpreted as affection. Dogs that are familiar with each other may lick each other's faces in greeting, then they begin to sniff any moist membranes where odors are strongest i.e. mouth, nose, anal regions and urogenital areas. These greetings and identification sniffs may turn to licking as well. For mating behaviors, this is done more vigorously than when greeting each other.[1]:124 Licking can communicate information about dominance, intentions and state of mind, and like the yawn is mainly a pacifying behavior. All pacifying behaviors contain elements of puppy behavior, including licking. Puppies lick themselves and their litter-mates as part of the cleaning process, and it appears to build bonds. Later in life, licking ceases to be a cleaning function and forms a ritualized gesture indicating friendliness.[1]:124–125 When stressed, a dog might lick the air, its own lips, or drop down and lick its paws or body.[1]:126 Lip-licking and sniffing are also recognized as calming signals.[15]
Ears: Ears erect or slightly forward – attention or alerted.[1]:130
Ears pulled back flat against the head, teeth bared – anxious dog that will defend itself.[1]:131
Ears pulled back flat against the head, teeth not bared – submission.[1]:131
Ears pulled slightly back and slightly splayed – indecision: uneasy suspicion, may turn quickly to aggression.[1]:131
Ears flickering, slightly forward then slightly back or downward – indecision: more submissive or fearful component.[1]:131
Ears pulled close to the head to give a "round face" also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Tail held lower than the horizontal, perhaps with an occasional swishing back and forth – an unconcerned, relaxed dog[1]:166
Eyes: Direct eye-to-eye stare – a threat, expression of dominance, or warning that an attack is about to begin.[1]:146
Direct eye-to-eye stare to human at the dinner table, followed by direct stare at food– dog wants some food.[1]:146
Eyes turned away to avoid direct eye contact – breaking off eye contact signals submission;[1]:147 it is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Blinking is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Tail between legs, lying down, ears back, body tight - a submissive dog who is worried or frightened[1]:167[1]:131[1]:188[1]:188[15]
Tail: Tail horizontal, pointing away from the dog but not stiff – attention.[1]:162
Tail horizontally straight out, stiff, and pointing away from the dog – initial challenge, could lead to aggression.[1]:162
Tail up, between the horizontal and vertical position – dominant dog.[1]:162
Tail up and slightly curved over back – confident, dominant dog that feels in control.[1]:163
Tail held lower than the horizontal but still some distance off from the legs, perhaps with an occasional swishing back and forth – unconcerned, relaxed dog.[1]:166
Tail down, near hind legs, legs straight, tail swings back and forth slowly – dog feeling unwell, slightly depressed or in moderate pain.[1]:166
Tail down, near hind legs, hind legs bent inwards to lower the body – timidity, apprehension, insecurity.[1]:166
Tail tucked between legs – fear, can also be a ritualized pacifying signal to fend off aggression from another dog.[1]:167
Tail fast wagging – excitement.[1]:171
Slight tail wag, each swing of only a small size – greeting.[1]:171
Broad tail wag – friendly.[1]:172
Broad tail wag, with wide swings that pull the hips from side to side – special happy greeting for someone special.[1]:172
Slow tail wag with tail at half-mast – unsure of what to do next, insecure.[1]:173
Tail wagging is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
A dog rolls on its back and rubs its shoulders on the ground to display contentment[1]:199
Dogs are said to exhibit a left-right asymmetry of the tail when interacting with strangers, and will show the opposite, right-left motion with people and dogs they know.[18]
Body: Stiff-legged, upright posture or slow, stiff-legged movement forward – dominant dog.[1]:184
Body slightly sloped forward, feet braced – challenge to a dominant dog, conflict may follow.[1]:187
Hair bristles on back of shoulders – possible aggression, may also indicate fear and uncertainty.[1]:187
Lowering the body or cringing while looking up – submission.[1]:188
Muzzle nudge – occurs when a submissive dog gently pushes the muzzle of the dominant dog, showing acceptance.[1]:190
Dog sits when approached by another, allowing itself to be sniffed – signals acceptance of dominance but does not signal weakness.[1]:191
Dog rolls on side or exposes underbelly and completely breaks off eye contact – extreme pacifying or submission signal.[1]:192
Dog sits with one front paw slightly raised – stress, social fear and insecurity.[1]:198 It is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Dog rolls on its back and rubs its shoulders on the ground – contentment.[1]:199
Dog crouches with front legs extended, rear body and tail up, facing its playmate directly – classic "play-bow" to commence play.[1]:200 It is also recognized as a calming signal.[15]
Dog to Dog Communication
Without a sound, two properly socialized dogs meeting for the first time can size each other up in just a few moments. An exchange of glances can tell each canine if they're going to be friends or enemies.
How can dogs do this without a sophisticated verbal language? The answer: facial expressions, body language and posturing. Although dogs signal intent by barks and growls, the message is not complete without the telegraphy of body and facial language.
Dog Body Language
Various parts of the dog's body are involved in this form of communication.
Here is a quick primer in canine body language. Here are what canine facial expressions, head and neck positions, gestures, tail position and torso position means as to how dogs communicate.
Dog Facial Expressions
A combination of facial expressions communicate a dog's mood and intentions that can be understood by other species, including humans. Here are a few examples of facial communication:Relaxed mood: Soft eyes, lit up, looking – but not staring. Ears forward or flopped, with tips bent over (if anatomically possible). Mouth open, lips slightly back, giving the impression of smiling. Tongue hanging limply from the side of the mouth
Anxiety: Eyes glancing sideways or away. Ears to the side of the head or flopped. Teeth clenched, lips firmly retracted. Tongue either not evident or lip licking
Intimidating: Eyes staring like searchlights. Ears forward. Teeth bared
Fearfulness: Eyes looking forward or away, pupils dilated. Ears pressed back close to the head. Panting/breathing hard through clenched or slightly open mouth. Jaw tense so that sinews show in the cheeks
Stress: Yawning plus other signs of anxiety or fearfulness (as above)
Dog Head-Neck Position
Head down ("hang dog"): Submission or depression
Head in normal mid-way position: Everything is all right
Head/neck turned to side: Deference
Head held high/neck craning forward: Interest or, depending on other signs, a challenge
Head resting on other dog's back: Demonstrating dominance
Dog Torso/Trunk/Upper Limb
Tensing of muscles and the raising of hackles: Threat/imminent fight
Dog Gestures
Play bow – head low, rump elevated: The universal sign of canine happiness and an invitation to play
Paws on top of another dog's back: Dominance
Looming over: Dominance
Rolling over: Submission/deference
Urinating by squatting: Deference
Urinating by leg lifting: Dominance/defiance
Humping: Dominance
Backing: Unsure/fearful
Dog Tail Position
Tail up: Alert, confident, dominant
Tail wagging: Dog's energy level is elevated (excited or agitated)
Tail held low or tucked: Fearful, submissive
Tail held horizontal and wagging slowly: Caution
Tail held relaxed and stationary: Contented dog