Dog Behavior And Health

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-31 03:34

A healthy, cheerful dog is a subject of special pride and emotional balance of its owner. There is, apparently, no need to develop here the idea that in order to maintain your pet in excellent condition, you need, first of all, good nutrition, proper maintenance and education.

We want to draw the reader's attention to one more condition of the dog's well-being, without which all the efforts of the owner can go to waste. He is often overlooked. We mean controlling the behavior of the dog. Its purpose is to identify problems in the health of the animal as early as possible. After all, behavior is an outward expression of the physical and mental state of the dog.

Such control is based on the ability to conduct surveillance. At first, observation of the dog's behavior should be for the owner, as it were, a special internal task for himself. But very soon the skill of seeing all the nuances of the animal's behavior is developed, a picture of its usual daily behavior is formed and fixed in memory. After that, control is carried out on an almost unconscious level, without special effort. When there is the skill of such observation, then even minor deviations in behavior do not go unnoticed. Your reaction to surprise and novelty is triggered. Having discovered some change, you need to purposefully observe - is not the deviation that has arisen accidentally, is it persisting, is there an increase in this sign?

In order to notice something amiss in time and take action, you need to know well how a generally healthy dog behaves, how behavior changes depending on age, in connection with periodic fluctuations in the physiological state (for example, estrus in bitches), and, of course, you need to know the features of behavior your dog. We advise you to take a closer look at how your dog behaves at home and on the street.

Pay attention to the usual postures of your dog, the position of the ears, tail, how the dog lies down and stands, how it moves in different situations, what is its manner of eating, drinking, fast or slow, how it performs comfortable movements - scratching, licking himself, how he stretches, how often and for a long time he does it. It is important to fix in her memory the features of play behavior - what actions and how she performs, how often she has a desire to play, features of communication with dogs, reactions to other animals, people, transport. During training, pay attention to the very attitude of the dog to this activity. (willingly, without much pleasure), on his motor skills, movement during exercise, especially those associated with muscular efforts, and how the animal responds to reward.

On the basis of all this, you will form an idea of a certain norm of the dog's behavior, against the background of which it will be easy to see possible changes, including those indicative of the beginning of trouble.

In manuals and guides for dog breeding, the most common external signs of a healthy and sick dog are usually indicated. In the first, let us recall, the coat is shiny, the nose is wet (if not from sleep), the eyes are clean, clear, the dog is active, reacts quickly to the environment, moves easily, breathes correctly and evenly, has a good appetite, the intestines are easy and regularly empty. The second is dull, drooping, the coat is dull, the nose is dry, hot, the eyes often fester, activity is reduced, movements are constrained, breathing is difficult, the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is impaired. An attentive owner in the behavior of his animal can notice other, not so obvious signs in which the physical and mental state of the dog is expressed.

One of the signs of the well-being of your four-legged friend can be considered the manifestation of a full range of stretching movements by him: arching the neck, stretching the head and limbs, bending the spine, and yawning. If you notice that the dog, who used to stretch to its fullest, for some reason stopped doing it, take a closer look at him. According to experts who have studied this form of animal behavior, the complex stretching reaction is absent in many diseases and reappears when the animal recovers.

Attention to the comfortable behavior of the dog will help in time to notice the trouble in the state of the skin, some organs, the appearance of parasites. The owner should be alerted to the frequent scratching of the animal, the clicking of the teeth in the fur. Often the presence of skin parasites is indicated by the appearance of scratching on the back, sides, and abdomen. If the dog begins to often lick the pad of the paw, the skin between the toes, pay attention to this too. The dog usually licks a punctured area, a cut, an inflamed area. An animal's increased interest in its own anus, frequent licking, "rolling" on the floor on the buttocks, as well as an unpleasant odor from the back of the body can be caused by inflammation of the paraanal glands. If the dog, grunting, tries to stick its hind paw into the ear to scratch there, rubs its ears with its front paws, scratches on various objects,this should also alert you. This behavior can be caused by incipient ear scabies, and inflammation of the outer ear, and dermatitis. In all these and similar cases, it will not be difficult for an attentive owner to notice a change in the behavior of the animal. In addition, the dog himself, as it were, points to the owner of the disturbing place.