Dog Training

The fact that you are reading this makes the chances pretty high that you are a dog owner. A dog owner searching for ways to train his or her dog. If so you are in the right place to have a better behaved and smarter dog.

Many people who have dogs have them on a whim, maybe because a child in the family wants one. It can happen that the child is left with the dog without any real training of the dog. The next thing is that suddenly mum or dad find themselves looking after the dog.

In the UK it is reported that up to 1000 calls a week are being received by dog charities from people wanting to give up their dog for behavioral or financial reasons.

Dogs like children need time, attention and above all training in what is right and wrong and how to behave.

Understanding Your Dog

The more that dog owners know about their pet the greater the understanding of the importance of training. Also the less likely that they take over your house.

Dog Training

Here are a few facts about dogs that you might find useful. You may already be aware of some of them.

Dogs are related to foxes and jackals with domesticated dogs as we know them today being a subspecies of the gray wolf. When found together Wolves will kill dogs.

It is not known how this evolution to becoming a dog occurred but one train of thought is that it was Wolves following man and living off scraps of food and socializing with them. This evolution being over thousands of years.

The first animal to be domesticated by humans was the dog.

Quote – Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make him wag his tail. Kinky Friedman

The remains of a domesticated dog were discovered in Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany buried along with a man and a woman. The dog had died of distemper and was scientists dated the remains to nearly 15,000 years ago. This is generally accepted to be the earliest known record of a domesticated dog.

There was a further discovery in Egypt thought to be of a dog. This was dated some 30,000 years ago but this was not pure dog as it had traces of wolf.

Dog Training

In ancient Egypt dogs were thought to possess godlike characteristics. Given jeweled collars, fed on the choicest diet and pampered by their own servants. Royalty were the only ones permitted to own purebred dogs. Often their favourite dog was interred with them upon their death in the thinking that it would protect them from harm in the after life.

In hunter-gatherer societies dogs were important as hunting allies and bodyguards against predators. When livestock were domesticated about 7,000 to 9,000 years ago dogs served as herders and guardians of sheep, goats and cattle.

By the beginning of the Bronze Age (about 4500 BCE) fossil remains suggest that five distinct types of dogs existed. These were Mastiffs, Wolf Type dogs, Sight hounds (such as the Saluki or greyhound), Pointing dogs, and Herding dogs.

Dogs are faster, stronger and can see and hear better than humans. Once this became apparent to early man those specimens exhibiting these qualities were interbred to enhance these qualities. Fleet-footed Sight Hounds were revered by noblemen in the Middle East. In Europe powerful dogs like the mastiff were bred to protect home and traveler from harm.

Drawings of dogs have been found on walls, tombs, and scrolls throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America. These dating from the Bronze Age. These illustrations are often depicting hunting game with their human counterparts. Statues can be found of dogs guarding the entrances to burial crypts. In many cases these dogs clearly resemble modern canines. Such is the importance that humans have given to the dog throughout the ages.

Dog Training

There were only a few breeds until about the 1800s, a little over 200 years ago, when new breeds were derived from these small number of founders.

As early societies developed just the pure hardship of staying alive and having enough to eat was important. Something undervalued today when one can go to a supermarket and buy anything you want.

Herding and guarding dogs were developed for farmers to protect their flocks.

Small breeds became desirable as playthings and companions for noble families. The Pekingese in China and fragile breeds such as the Chihuahua were bred to be lapdogs.

Mainly in England terrier breeds were developed to rid granaries and barns of rodents.

Retrieving and pointing breeds were bred for special tasks to aid the hunter to find and capture game.

Many breeds are extremely ancient, whilst others have been developed as recently as the 1800s.

Dog Training

Dog Population

Today globally there are 450 recognized dog breeds.

Statistics from 2013 estimated the global dog population was between 700 million and 987 million. 2023 estimates put this global figure at 900 million. Of these approximately 20% of dogs live as pets in developed countries.

It is estimated that the remaining three-quarters of the world’s dog population are not kept as pets but live in the developing world as feral, village, or community dogs.

The shortest dog is the Chihuahua and the tallest the Great Dane.

It has also known that statistically the heavier the dog, the shorter its lifespan.

A study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare humans and dogs showed that dogs have the same response to voices and use the same parts of the brain as humans do. This gives dogs the ability to recognize human emotional sounds, making them friendly social pets to humans.

Hence why you can train your dog not to keep barking or being a general nuisance to others.

Not only that you can train them not only to be obedient you can also teach them tricks or even learn them to play the piano. Imagine the enjoyment your dog would get from this in being able to please his or her owner. Not counting the pride of the owner in being able to demonstrate what a clever dog they have to their friends.

Dog Training

In some East Asian countries Dog meat is consumed. It is difficult to get accurate figures but some estimate it at between 13 and 16 million dogs are killed and consumed in Asia every year.

Rabies

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2018 that 59,000 people died globally from rabies. 59.6% of these were in Asia and 36.4% in Africa.
Rabies is a terrible disease that can spread to the brain and then death if not caught in time. Dogs are the biggest carrier of rabies and responsible for 99% of cases worldwide as reported by WHO (Jan 2023). It is extremely important that every owner complies with regulations to keep both their dog and humans safe.

Tens of millions of people globally each year. get bitten by dogs with children in mid-to-late childhood at greatest risk. Normally these are bites to head and neck and this group have the highest death rate.

The same common disorders that humans get dogs get as well. These include cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurologic disorders.

Parasites can be a problem to dogs. These include such things as fleas, ticks, mites, hookworms, tapeworms, roundworms, and heartworms. Heartworms is a roundworm species that lives in the hearts of dogs. It is important to check your dog over after being out in heavy undergrowth and regularly made sure that it is free of worms. A dog with worms presents a health risk to both the dog and children and adult if no dealt with.

Many dog breeds have many different qualities but one known for their obedience, loyalty, and playful composure is the Labrador Retriever. This breed is used widely as both game dogs and for Guide Dogs for the blind.

Dog Training

Dogs sweat through the pads of their feet, not by salivating.

By using their ears to swivel like radar dishes they can locate the source of a sound in 6/100ths of a second.

Dogs have approximately forty times more smell-sensitive receptors than humans. These range from about 125 million to nearly 300 million in some dog breeds such as bloodhounds. This is thought to make its sense of smell up to 40 times more sensitive than a human.

Dogs don’t need a compass for direction because they can sense the earth’s magnetic fields. They can also see ultraviolet light.

Puppy To Adult

The average lifespan of a dog is between 10 and 13 years, depending on their breed, size, and health conditions. Gestation is between 2 months and two and a half months (58-68 days) with the puppies being born blind and deaf.

Puppies learn to interact with other dogs, humans, and their environment when they are between 3 to 12 weeks of age.

Dogs undergo physical and behavioral changes as they reach sexual maturity between the 6 months to 18 months stage.

Dog Training

Their peak years are up to 6 years of age after which they start to enter their senior years. There may be signs of aging such as grey hairs,health issues or reduced activity

Genetically Identical

All dogs are genetically identical with the same anatomic features. It does not matter whether they are a Great Dane or a Toy Poodle.

All dogs have 78 chromosomes, or 39 pairs of chromosomes (humans have 23 pairs). One member of each pair comes from each parent. The normal temperature (rectal) of an adult dog is 100–102.5 °F.

Dogs have two sets of teeth.

The first set of two sets of teeth appear in puppies at six to eight weeks of age. There are twenty-eight of them.

The second set of teeth replace the first and appear in puppies by the time they are six to seven months old. They now have 42 adult teeth.

These permanent teeth include Incisors, which are used to nip and bite. Canines which are the upper and lower fangs for which the dog family was named tear and shred flesh. Premolars and Molars, which shear and crush. As in most carnivores, the teeth are high-crowned and pointed.

Basically the teeth of a dog are used for cutting and tearing food and also as weapons.

For puppies the teething process can be difficult. Their gums can hurt and become swollen. They may lose their appetites and may have mild intermittent diarrhea.

Dog Training

How Dogs Eat

Once the dog takes food into its mouth, it is gulped or swallowed and passed through the esophagus into the stomach. Here the digestive enzymes begin to break it down. Most of the digestion and absorption of food takes place in the small intestines with the aid of the pancreas and the liver.

Dogs rarely chew their food.

The pancreas secretes enzymes needed for regulating the digestive process.

As in humans, the pancreas produces insulin and glucagon, both of which are necessary for the regulation of glucose. The liver is the largest internal organ in the body. It has six lobes (whereas the human liver has only two). The liver is responsible for many essential life-preserving functions. It helps digestion by producing bile, which aids in the absorption of fat. The liver also metabolizes protein and carbohydrates, and it excretes toxins from the bloodstream. In addition, it manufactures major blood-clotting agents. Because the liver performs all these vital functions, liver disease can be a major problem in dogs.

There are 319 bones in the skeletal frame of a dog. Fewer bones if the tail is docked or absent when born.

A dog has muscles and tendons similar to those of a human. However they are used slightly differently to a human. The dog’s upper body muscles bear half the weight of the entire body and are better developed than a human’s. Weight distribution between the front and the rear of the dog are almost equal.