Welcome to dog behaviour
Dog Behaviour Marking Article
This is a selection made from among articles on Dog Behaviour Marking. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.
Using Caution When Dealing With Fighting Problems
from:What is in the dog's mind when it attacks every dog it meets or just has one enemy around the corner? Most of it is show of strength, very often a cowardly show of strength aimed at other people's toy dogs who can't answer a bully back. Face that same bully with a big dog likely to answer back and it will disappear into the distance, for the dog knows who will be boss even in its own race, and if it senses superiority of physique or brain, it will automatically be subservient.
That is why young dogs lie on their backs, all four feet in the air, when they meet an older or stronger dog; they know who is boss and are showing the other dog so by exposing the tummy to an enemy. That is why dog owners should know that this trick is not a nice one really and should be checked at an early age, for it is purely one of a weak animal giving in to one stronger in mind and usually an enemy at that.
Few owners would like to think their dogs look upon them as enemies, but that is the case. When a dog no longer looks upon you as a potential enemy it stops this lying on its back as protection, although many dogs in later life do it because their owners have scratched their chests, which they like, and they hope for it again. But primarily it belongs to the defense mechanism of the dog tribe. The mind of a dog that fights always has at the back of it the wish to be the boss of the tribe, and he fights other male dogs who are sexually mature to make sure there is no risk of his being questioned as "lord of all he surveys." Muzzle that dog and let him loose with the dog he has previously fought and nine times out of ten he will realize he is at a disadvantage and show no signs of aggression.
That is why dogs with fighting problems should be muzzled and then freed with trained dogs or non-fighters. They then learn to enjoy themselves in a community and the wish to fight goes away. Often, having muzzled, introduced and trained them for a short time together, formerly bad fighters are lying side by side without muzzles after a few minutes.
Your own personality needs to be strong to deal with fighters, because fighters are usually adult dogs. Few puppies fight, few females fight; therefore your mind must be stronger than that of the potential fighter so that you are the boss, not either of the dogs. If the dog is sex-mad you can do nothing but neuter it. Muzzling is only a stopgap, not a cure. Owners who won't have their fighting dogs neutered should always have them muzzled in public places.
Dog Behaviour Marking News
Schools dig in for students' muck-up mayhem - Brisbane Times
POLICE are investigating two cases of students vandalising property as schools brace themselves for further "muck-up day" disruption today. A string of pranks marking the end of year 12 classes for the year have forced some schools to cancel student ...
Read more...US elections 2004 - Guardian Unlimited
For supporters of John Kerry, who have seen allegations about the Democratic candidate's military record sap his campaign, it must have seemed like a case of just deserts. The president, George Bush, was last week looking vulnerable on the same ...
Read more...An anti-capitalism poster from 1911, published in the Industrial ... - DailyTech
Fire, the wheel, the printing press...and the capitalist economic system. When listing all the numerous inventions that improve our lives, one of the most important is usually ignored: the capitalist economic system. With recent market turmoil ...
Read more...Nick Robinson's Newslog - bbc
"This novice is waiting with interest to see how that novice performs". So said David Cameron at last night's launch of americaintheworld.com (a new anti anti-American campaign). Thus the Tory leader made his claim to be the first British politician ...
Read more...Crunch: A new phase - bbc
So it's RIP to the First Septic Bank : the US Treasury will not, after all, be buying toxic assets from battered US banks and insurers. Apparently there was simply too much residual poisonous poo in the system for the US Treasury Secretary, Hank ...
Read more...