Monday's question (6/3/19), about what we can tell about a dog from a photo, had a fantastic response from you. So grateful! (Also true on Facebook, (199 comments at the moment!) Most people thought that the dog looked somewhat anxious, worried or unsure, but the comments varied tremendously from relaxed, about to bolt, or worried about an owner who might be having a heart attack. (That might sound silly out of context, but their point was that the dog was worried about something, perhaps related to the owners, given how sensitive GSDs are to their owners.) Here's today's question: What about this dog? Same dog of course, and same photo, I just "deleted" his eyebrows. Compare that to the original photo: Does the "eyebrow" deletion change one's interpretation of this Read More
Archives for 2019
What is This Dog Telling Us?
Here's a question for you, related to my talk ("Lost in Translation") at the Vashon Art Center on Vashon Island this coming Saturday. It's all part of the Vashon Island Championship Sheepdog Trial that Jim and I will be attending on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What does this dog's face tell us, if anything, about 1) His internal state and 2) His next behavior? A point I'll make in more depth at the talk is that those are two very different things, although of course they are related. I'll read your answers with great interest and respond as much as I can in between speechifying, packing, etc etc. Full disclosure, I had planned to post on a different topic today, but the article needs several more hours of work and I need to spend more time on my talk on Vashon Island. I take Read More
Memorial Day 2019
Memorial Day. The beginning of summer. Picnics. Brat fests and beer. (Okay, in the Midwest.) But I can never forget the reason for the title. I'm all on board about loving holidays and relaxing with friends and family. But I have to confess that, in some way, this is my least favorite holiday, given that it is in memory of so much suffering and sacrifice. But because of that, I also think it's our most important holiday. Every Memorial Day I take some time by myself to honor those who have served our country--male, female, human, canine. My heartfelt thank you to those of you who serve; I am of the opinion that we don't begin to do enough for veterans and the families of those who have died in wars. If you've been in the service, please write in and tell us whatever you'd like us Read More
Aggression, Fear and Gut Health. . . Joined at the Hip?
She was a lovely German Shepherd, even after she squatted in my office and spewed stinky diarrhea all over the rug. Her owners told me she'd always had digestive problems, but her aggression toward strangers hadn't begun until she was about five months old. I can't remember her name, because she could have been any one of hundreds of dogs I saw who had problematic gut health and who were also extremely fearful. That fear often led to "aggression," translated as agitated barking, snarling or even biting when confronted with unfamiliar dogs or people. An "Aggressive" dog I'd classify as "terrified" (not my client's dog!) Not to mention my Willie, whose projectile diarrhea resulted in my writing three of the best pages of my career. You'll never read those pages in The Education of Read More
Tiny Signals, Big Responses
This is, in part, a repost of one of the very first blogs I wrote, from August of 2008. (Almost 11 years ago? Wow.) I am posting it again for several reasons--we have a lot of new readers; it's always fun for me to see if I still agree with what I wrote in years past; and most timely, I'll be speaking on a similar topic on Vashon Island, WA, Saturday June 8th, about "Lost in Translation -- What Your Dog is Trying to Tell You". This trip is going to be super fun in so many ways. After spending much of the day at the Vashon Island Sheepdog Classic on Saturday June 8th, I'll lead off my talk at the Vashon Center for the Arts with videos illustrating that sheep are brilliant at reading subtle visual cues from dogs, and vice versa. Dogs and sheep make it clear that you don't need Read More
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 11
- Next Page »