DOG TRAINING AND BEHAVIOR

Dear Doctor: Pit Bulls and Locking Jaws

I read with interest your November editorial, which talked a little about pit bulls. Your comment about pit bulls having locking jaws is way off base and untrue. Please consider a follow-up. There is no dog that has magical locking jaws! As a pit bull owner who fights stereotypes every day, I hope you can understand that a comment like that sets us back 10 years. Thank you, and I am looking forward to your response.

Dogs Helping People and Vice Versa

The ALS (Lou Gherigs disease) that strikes people and the degenerative myelopathy that strikes dogs are similar in that they both affect the spinal cord. But they start - and play out - differently. ALS is a disease of the neurons - the cells that make up the nervous system (including the brain). Degenerative myelopathy, on the other hand, is a disease of the axons - long, thread-like parts of the neurons via which impulses (messages) travel from one cell to another to elicit movement of the limbs and other body parts. If you were to look under a microscope, youd see the disease in different spots in the two species.

Yes, But Which Kind of Animal Behaviorist?

Lets say your dog is aggressive to the point that you fear he will truly hurt someone. Or he wont stop jumping on people, or barking, or otherwise engaging in behavior that many find obnoxious. Or you simply would like to enjoy a relationship with him in which he is able to respond to your cues to come, fetch, wait, or whatever but havent had much success training him on your own. Where do you turn?

Classical Conditioning Versus Operant Conditioning

In How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves, veterinarian Sophia Yin, DVM, MS, explains that when animal behaviorists talk about the ways dogs learn, they talk about two main types of conditioning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. What is the difference? Classical conditioning is learning by association. Operant conditioning is learning by trial and error. These two approaches actually guide learning in all animals, including humans. How does it work?

How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves

When most people see a behavior in their dogs that they dislike, they automatically ask, How can I stop that behavior? says late veterinarian and applied animal behaviorist Sophia Yin, DVM, MS. Instead, Dr. Yin deftly posits, it is more useful to ask, How has the undesirable behavior been reinforced, and what behavior would I reinforce instead? By which she means, every time we interact with our dogs, theyre learning something. Each interaction is, in effect, a training session. Were just not always training the way we intend.

Dear Doctor: Chasing His Tail

My puppy has taken to chasing his tail. It was kind of cute at first, but he seems to be doing it more and more. Is this something we should be concerned about, or is it just one of those dog habits nobody understands but that he will grow out of?

Why is My Older Dog Pacing at Night?

My 14-year-old rat terrier sometimes becomes very anxious at night. He paces and pants; goes upstairs then down; digs at boxes and corners; and will shred anything paper-like. This happens only at night, which made me think of sundowner syndrome common in humans. Is this possible? If so, how is it treated, or how can I make him more comfortable? Ive tried sleeping with all the lights on, which helps some.

Dear Doctor: The Dog Wont Stop Eating his own Poop

I have not been successful in finding information on cause and remedy for a dog who eats his stool. Can you provide some information? I work with families who adopt our kennel dogs, and a family is currently having problems with this.

Is the Intensity of the Grief Normal?

Platitudes dont work, says veterinarian Alicia Karas, referring to the need for feelings to be acknowledged that brings bereaved callers to the Tufts University Pet Loss Hotline. Its understandable that people use them, she comments. More often than not, they really dont know how to respond to grief because there are few things you can say that wont end up sounding wrong. But uttering phrases like, he had a good life or hes out of pain or hes is in a better place falls short of the mark because the person is so severely missing the companionship shared with their dog.

The Cycle of Life

Tom Hughes, who lives with his wife, Penni, in the big yellow house with the wraparound porch at the top of our street, had a motto: One wife, one child [Katie], one dog.That dog was Daisy, a smallish (and somewhat cranky, if you ask me) chocolate Lab with whom Tom was completely besotted. He always said that when Daisy went, that was going to be it because no other dog could compare.

Ticket to Ride

After the two broke up, Ms. Brodsky moved from Albuquerque to Portland, Oregon, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. The wrinkle in the relocation was that she needed to find a rental situation that would allow her to keep her two dogs, mixed breeds Violet and Sen. Fortunately, that seemed to get smoothed out because she scoped out a landlady who was willing to take in all three of them. But then the landlady decided she didnt want a housemate after all, and while scrambling to find new accommodations for herself, Ms. Brodsky realized that finding another place that would allow two dogs was going to be too difficult.

Does Antibiotic Use in Dogs End Up Backfiring, Diminishing the Drugs Ability to Kill...

Since antibiotics came into common medical practice in the late 1940s, they have eradicated countless bacterial infections that used to routinely kill people long before they reached old age. They are indeed wonder drugs. But today, antibiotic resistance - a weakening of these drugs power to do away with harmful bacteria and eliminate sometimes deadly infections - is more and more becoming a threat not only to human health but also the health of our pets.