10 embarrassing questions about dogs and their behavior: dog handler Anastasia Bobkova answers

In this series articles, well-known experts answer questions that are usually awkward to ask: it seems that everyone already knows about it, and the questioner will look stupid.

This time we talked with a specialist in behavior correction and mental health of dogs, Anastasia Bobkova. You will find out why dogs eat excrement, whether there are naturally evil and stupid breeds, and whether your pet loves you.

1. Are there smart and stupid breeds?

No, they don't exist. There are breeds that are considered smart - most often these are different shepherd dogs. But the fact is that they have been bred for many centuries to work closely with humans, so they learn commands better. In fact, just because a dog is obedient does not mean it is smart. And vice versa.

You must always look at what the breed was bred for. For example, beagles were bred in order to follow the scent on their own and not be distracted by other signals, other dogs and various stimuli. Therefore, it seems that if a beagle smells something, it does not hear or understand anything, which means it is stupid. But this is not so, this is just a feature of his breed.

There is such a canine concept of “viscosity” - this is when a dog is able to stick to some goal and cannot be distracted from this goal. For example, the goal of a beagle is to find and pick up game by scent. But bulldogs are stubborn. Their goal is to grab onto a wild animal and hang on to it, without distraction, until it dies.

For humans, a dog's poor switchability is often a negative because it can be inconvenient. It seems that such dogs are stubborn, but that is what they were bred for, they are not stupid.

A dog's mental abilities do not depend on the breed, but on how the dog developed.

If an animal always sits on a chain or in a cage and its only entertainment is scheduled feeding, it does not have the opportunity to develop, it becomes dull. A homeless dogwho is always in search of food and shelter, who walks and studies a lot, often turns out to be smarter.

2. Is it really necessary to teach your dog commands?

For some reason, it is believed that commands are necessarily “sit”, “lie down”, “stand”, “come to me” and so on. But a dog can be taught, for example, by telling it: “Come here, I’ll give you a treat.” And she will come running - you have learned the call. Or you can tell her: “Stop, let’s wash our paws.” And one day she will learn that after a walk she will not be able to go into the rooms without washing her paws. Teams are a learning experience just like anything else. For example, do not throw yourself on the bowl until food is poured into it.

If you have an adequate dog and you are comfortable with it, you do not have to go to dog handler and learn special commands. It is not always necessary for an animal to do everything like a soldier. If you have taught your dog to respond not to “come to me,” but to “come here, please,” this is normal, this is enough for a comfortable life with your pet. Especially if you need a dog not for competition, but simply to love it and be friends with it.

3. How can you tell if your dog is happy?

There are five freedoms that must be ensured to any animal living under human care:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst.
• Freedom from discomfort.
• Freedom from pain, injury and illness.
• Freedom of natural behavior.
• Freedom from fear and stress.

This is the minimum set.

A dog's unhappiness shows in its behavior. For example, she howls if she cannot stay at home alone and is stressed. Or is afraid to go for a walk. In this case, you need to work with a specialist to correct the behavior.

A dog cannot tell whether it is happy or not. But it is usually visible to the naked eye that everything is fine with the pet: he is healthy, his basic freedoms are not limited, he eats well and it is comfortable to live with.

4. Can a dog experience love? And how can I understand that my pet loves me?

Love is a rather abstract concept. In the case of dogs, it is more correct to talk not about love, but about affection, and this is a physiological process. When we are close to a loved one or animal, we feel calmer and more comfortable because we produce the hormone oxytocin. Dogs also have this hormone. It stands out next to the owner - the pet is more pleasant and calm there.

Dogs can develop attachment not only to humans, but also to other animals. It happens when the owner or another pet disappears, the dog begins to feel sad and may become apathetic.

Animal attachment can be healthy or unhealthy.

It happens that a dog is attached to all family members, but, for example, he is also afraid of his father, because he might scold him. And attachment to him can be disturbing. A dog may show more emotion simply because its father praises or pets it less often.

If you dominate a dog all the time, punish it, it will form an unhealthy attachment and it will begin to be afraid of being alone, for example. This can be corrected with a specialist, but not always permanently. Some injuries may be too difficult to completely correct.

5. Are there any naturally evil dog breeds?

Anger is an abstract human concept; in relation to dogs, we will talk about aggression. There are no non-aggressive living beings, because aggression is always defense: one’s place, food, owner, in a word, a resource.

It can be manifested in different ways: you can bite, or you can simply push away. For example, a dog does not want its owner to go to the place where it has a hidden bone. A more aggressive animal is more likely to bite and growl. And there are dogs that tend to solve problems differently: push the owner away or lie down on their stash and not allow it to be touched.

Aggression can be fixed in the genotype - there are breeds more prone to it, and there are less. For example, everyone loves golden retrievers, which were bred not to be aggressive towards humans and other animals. They were originally carriers of game: the owner shot them duck while hunting, and they brought it. Or beagles, who had to live in large packs and be non-aggressive so as not to fight.

And if we are talking about the Doberman, then this is already a dog for protection, it must protect the borders - its own and its owner. Although there are all sorts of individuals in all breeds.

6. Is dog saliva really sterile? Is wool medicinal?

Of course, saliva is not sterile. If you take it for analysis, you will find lysozyme, which is a natural antibiotic, but also a lot of bacteria. Dogs have a very rough tongue. If she licks a wound, she cleans it mechanically. And this lysozyme may help heal the damage a little. But still there are more infections in saliva than useful substances.

And if the dog licked the wound and everything went away, it means that it simply has good immunity, and not healing saliva.

As for the fur of dogs, it varies in structure. But in general, this is ordinary wool, like that of other animals, it does not have any medicinal properties. Of course, if your joints hurt and you wrap them with something warm, it will feel better. But here it doesn’t matter what animal’s fur it will be.

7. Is it necessary to travel with a dog or does it not matter where it goes for a walk?

Dogs have a need for new information, and they go outside to get it. If you go to the same park every day, there is less new information there than in new places. Therefore, traveling for a pet is about searching for new information.

But we must take into account that all dogs are different: some love to travel, but for others it is, on the contrary, stressful. If the animal often flies in luggageOf course, this does not bring joy. And if you travel, for example, in your car, then this is a piece of home for your pet. There he can relax more - unless, of course, he gets motion sickness.

It's the same with the new place. Some dogs in a new place can relax, seeing that the owner’s things are lying here, their carrier or some kind of blanket is standing here - their little house. And some are very nervous.

If you have an anxious dog, there are two areas of work: behavioral and medication.

Behavioral is when we teach the dog to relax in the car, or on a certain rug, or in a carrier. We teach that if there is this mat or carrier, then nothing bad happens, you can sleep. We encourage her when she lies on him, we praise her. The dog must understand that there is some object on which to relax.

Medications are special medications that are selected with a veterinarian and help to quickly adapt to a new place.

8. Why do dogs eat poop?

Short answer: because it tastes good to them.

The dog as a species was formed in human garbage dumps - as a gleaner. And she ate the remains of human activity: bones, food waste, garbage, excrement. For example, horse or cat feces taste good to dogs. Therefore, eating excrement is physiological for a dog. Of course, this may indicate nutritional deficiencies, but for some it is just entertainment.

Of course, we need to wean ourselves off this. As in general, from picking up anything from the ground: you can get bones, poison, or anything else.

To correct this behavior, you need to start from a specific dog. And first of all, figure out why this happens: is the pet lacking something or is it just a habit.

9. Why do even sterilized dogs try to mate with toys or their owner's leg?

This is a normal reaction to stress and has nothing to do with sexual behavior. Most often this is overexcitation of the nervous system. It may have different reasons: the dog has had enough fun and hasn’t had time to calm down. Or she was afraid that she would be scolded. Dogs can also masturbate.

Sometimes they accidentally find such a source of pleasure and use it to calm down.

Some animals chew their tail, some lick their paws, and some cope with stress this way. We need to understand the cause of this stress and try to eliminate it.

10. How many words can dogs remember? How much do they understand what we are saying?

Dogs are able to remember many different signals: the sound of the refrigerator opening, a whistle, the click of a toaster, the word “yummy” and so on.

But it cannot be said that they understand speech: only a person is capable of understanding and fully using it. Therefore, all that a dog understands and remembers are signals.

The pet learns that after a certain signal, some situation occurs that is directly related to it - pleasant or unpleasant.

We cannot explain to a dog, for example, what a bus schedule is - these numbers have nothing to do with it. She remembers what is directly related to her: “walk", "ball", "cut nails", "eat", "grandmother" or something else.