Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Busting Five Common Doggy Myths

There are many myths out there about dogs, their health, care and behaviour. Here’s an attempt to bust jus some of those myths.

The Myths

1. Dogs eat grass when they are sick.

2. A wagging tail means a dog is friendly.

3. Cross breeds are automatically healthier than pure breeds.

4. Dogs eat their poo because of a nutrient imbalance.

5. If a dog crouches or cringes from you they were abused.

Busted!

1. Dogs eat grass when they are sick.

Many of us have long been told that dogs eat grass to either make themselves vomit or to help them ease a stomach ache.

Well it seems that there are a range of other reasons that a dog might eat grass including:
  • Grass making up for a vitamin deficiency or lack of roughage in the diet. But it seems to occur far more broadly then just dogs with a dietary deficiency and grass is largely indigestible to all but specially designed grazing animals.
  • Grass being a natural part of the dog’s diet given that ancestors would kill and eat animals complete with their gastro-intestinal tracts containing berries, grass and anything else that animal ate. I’m not so sure about this one given that those ancestors are many, many generations back for most pet dogs.
  • Some dogs just liking the taste of particular grasses.
  • Some dogs perhaps partaking of grass as displacement behaviour or because of boredom – explaining perhaps while some dogs when on a down stay or waiting patiently while their owners talk and talk and talk will take the odd nibble.
  • A behaviour learnt from their parents, particularly usually their mum as a young puppy – so a bitch who displays this behaviour may teach her puppies to do it to and so it gets passed from generation to generation.
  • A social behaviour – it’s been noted that in social dog to dog situations one dog in an area starting nibbling on grass can often set off others to do the same behaviour.
So it seems that eating grass is not generally a sign of illness. If however you see other signs or symptoms of ill health then check with your vet. Also be particularly aware of not letting your dog graze on grass that has been fertilised and/or treated with chemicals for while the grass may not be a problem the chemicals probably will be.

2. A wagging tail means a dog is friendly.

Dogs communicate using quite complex body language hence I’ve made a whole category of Paws for Thought about dog behaviour and trying to understand what they have to say to us. They express themselves using eyes, whiskers, ears, mouth, muscle tension in the face and in all sorts of parts of their bodies, hackles, tail, they way they move, the direction they look, the pace they do things, their breathing and lots of other subtle ways. Given all this it is not a good idea to try to determine how a dog might be feeling or about to act by focusing on only one part of the body – even though we’ve all been taught to focus on the tail.

Tail wagging can communicate happiness, friendliness, confusion, submissiveness or aggression.

Did you know that there are at least three heights for a tail wag each of which communicates something different:
  • Low (between the legs)
  • Middle
  • Very high and over the top.
For instance:

  • A dog whose tail is held very high and wags it with small wags then it can indicate a threat. Such a dog may attack if you push things.
  • If a dog has its tail down between its legs then it is usually a good indicator that the dog is fearful and feeling threatened. Such a dog may attack if you push things.
  • If a dog’s tail is wagging loosely down about mid way then this can be an indicator that the dog is feeling happy and comfortable.
A dog with a wagging tail though who shows other signs might be conflicted (not sure) about the situation and his reaction could go either way.

And if your dog is one of those breeds that naturally holds its tail down or up and high don’t despair. Instead focus on the base of the tail and where it is sitting in relation to where it normally does.

Research even seems to indicate that:
  • Dogs reserve their tail wagging for living things – another dog, a person or another animal.
  • It makes a difference which way a dog wags his tail. Initial research indicates that a tail wagging to the right might mean you’re safe or come closer and that a tail wagging to the left that the dog sees you as a threat and it would be wise to move away. The only thing is you need to see the wag start to be able to really identify which way it’s going.
For more information check out http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2007/03/29/1884414.htm but beware only 30 dogs were used so this really is just a start.

3. Cross breeds are automatically healthier than pure breeds.

It is a common belief that a mixed breed dog is automatically healthier than a pure breed one because it has a more varied heritage. Some even claim hybrid vigour. Neither of these statements are true.

Breeding a healthy dog is largely about genetics. Puppies inherit genes from each parent so if either or both parents pass on the genes for a hereditary disease then the pups stand a good chance of having or passing on that genetic disorder. So if parents of a good genetic makeup are mated then they will produce healthy puppies – regardless of whether the parents are a pure breed, from two pure breeds or mixed breed dogs. The point is that it is the health of the parents (and for some diseases the lines) that matter not the breed or mix.

Yes certain breeds are known for genetic ailments. Many breed clubs have worked extensively to identify, test and monitor for them – some more successfully than others. However the recent explosion in designer dogs often representing the cross breeding of two pure bred dogs does not appear to have solved anything. If you take a bitch from one breed and a dog from another and they both happen to have the same genes for a hereditary disease then breeding them will still end up with puppies with a high likelihood of contracting that disease. If they have genes for different diseases you can end up with a litter of puppies or a single pup with diseases from each breed. According to a number of vets many of the designer dogs have now been identified to have many if not all of the diseases and abnormalities known to the original breeds and behaviour and temperament issues caused by breeding without knowledge and careful selection.

The point of busting this myth is to reinforce that careful, selective breeding is a key and critical part of breeding healthy puppies – pure breed or cross breed. It’s worth noting however that it is not the only factor as the health and care of the bitch during and after pregnancy and the care of the young puppies also have a role to play.

Now for the issue of hybrid vigour. It does not exist in the world of domestic dogs. Why? Because you can only get hybrid vigour from breeding between two different species, say the horse and the donkey or the lion and the tiger. Dog’s are all the same species – Canis lupus familiaris.

For more information see The myth of hybrid vigour - http://www.westwinddogtraining.com/hybridvigor.pdf   by Karen Peak

4. Dog’s eat their poo because of a nutrient imbalance.

It’s a disgusting habit (at least from the human perspective) but many dogs eat their own faeces or the faeces of others. The official name for the behaviour is coprophagia.

It has been proposed that dogs eat their faeces because they are lacking nutrients but there is no scientific research to back this up. It has been proposed that poor quality low digestible foods may cause a dog to try to give it a second chance to get all the nutrients available out of it. Dr Barbara Fougere’s book ‘Healthy Dogs’ states that some dogs such as German Shepherds and Huskies seem to be less tolerant of high cereal diets and may reprocess the food by eating their stools.

However there may be many other reasons proposed including:
  • Maternal behaviour – the only really acceptable example for humans. This is where a bitch cleans up her pups and their immediate area for about the first 3 weeks of their life.
  • To seek attention – it worked the first time. Inadvertently grab up a mouthful and you get all sorts of aggression! Worth giving it another try.
  • It’s a learned behaviour (just like attention seeking) but perhaps the dog learnt it from their mother or another dog in the home.
  • Over feeding – it is recommended to reduce the dog’s meal or split into more than one feeding if this is suspected to be the case.
  • Boredom – particularly dogs or breeds who like to carry things in their mouths, but geez this would have to be particularly extreme boredom.
  • Extreme worm burden – an extreme word burden can make a dog extremely hungry and with no other options may take to coprophagia in an attempt to get some food into its system. Great reason for regular worming – yuk!
  • A coping mechanism when under stress due to sudden environmental change.
  • A means of cleaning up when a bowel movement has occurred where they have learnt not to toilet (such as with diarrhea or some older dogs loss of control).
I’ve also heard that perhaps some dogs just learn that their poop doesn’t taste any worse than what they are fed (or would like to eat – remember the gross things they try and pick up on a walk). It is proposed that they do this while picking up food or treats in the grass and then inadvertently pick up a mouthful of poop – and then decide that hey that’s not so bad and go back for more. Of course if we then react by giving them attention (and that includes yelling, chasing etc) then we can be reinforcing the behaviour so that they repeat, and repeat, and repeat it.

There are however medical reasons why a dog might take up this habit so it can be worth getting a vet check. Reasons might include parasites or a number of diseases that affect major organ systems including the pancreas, thyroid gland or even Irritable Bowel Disease.

5. If a dog crouches or cringes from you he was abused.

It seems a logical leap. A dog crouches down in fear when a man comes towards them or a cringes away when someone goes to pat them and many of us jump to the conclusion that they must have been abused by a man or hit by someone in their past. Not necessarily and not even probably.

Far more dogs show this type of behavior because they simply lacked socialisation to the world and people during their early life than because they were abused. It all reinforces just how important – nay critical – that proper and positive socialisation of puppies is critical to their mental and social health. More on this in a future Paws for Thought.

So while you might not be able to certain that a dog was not abused focus on opening the world to them in a positive way and building up their confidence in all sorts of varied situations. It’s a catch up game and one that you are never likely to fully make up but you can certainly help the dog be far more comfortable in the world. If abuse was part of the picture this approach will help there too but if people focus on ‘poor thing, they were abused’ then it seems we tend to reinforce the fear and anxiety and want to closet them from the world rather than make them confident in it.

References

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