Hot weather safety tips for your pets

We’ve had a lovely few days with the warm weather, however, while we have the luxury of changing into shorts and t-shirts, our four-legged friends aren’t as lucky being stuck with their furry coat!  So, while this warm weather continues, think about the following when walking your pets…

  

1. Take water bottles out with you so your pet can cool down and have a drink if needed.
2. Keep to shaded and wooded areas as much as possible to reduce any chances of your pet overheating.
3. If your walks are across the hottest part of the day (lunchtime), monitor your pet while out walking. If you feel he is becoming overheated or in any discomfort, reduce the walking time.
4. In the meantime, below are some useful tips on how to keep your pet safe in this heat, and signs to look out for if you suspect your pet is suffering from over heating:
5. Pets can get easily dehydrated, ensure they have access to fresh, clean water at all times
6. Make sure your pet has a shady or cool place to rest
7. Avoid long walks in the mid-day heat, instead play with your pet in a shady or cooler area to reduce the risk of over heating
8. Pets with flatter faces like Boxers, Pugs, Persian cats, struggle in the heat more than others breeds/species, as they cannot pant as effectively. Pets that are over weight, or suffering from heart and lung diseases should also be kept in cool areas
9. Avoid leaving your pet in the car. A parked car can quickly act like a furnace, leading to fatal heat stroke
10. If you have a paddling/swimming pool which your pet enjoys splashing around in, make sure your pet is supervised at all times. Wash your pet after swimming to ensure any chlorine or salt from the water is off his coat. Discourage your pet from drinking the swimming pool or canal water as this contains chemicals and bacteria that can lead to an upset stomach
11. Ensure your pet cannot get access to open windows. Often in the summer, veterinarian see an increase in the number of accidents and injuries caused by pets (mainly cats) falling out of open windows
12. Pets with a thick coat will benefit from a good groom and cut
13. Avoid long walks on tarmac/and or pavement as the ground quickly heats up and this can burn your dog’s paws and tummy as he is low to the ground. Avoid asking for requests to “sit” at the roadside, as this too may potentially burn your dog’s bottom on a hot day!

Over heating – signs to look out for:

If your pet displays any of the following signs, you should seek veterinary attention immediately. These signs include: 

 

• excessive panting
• difficulty in breathing
• increased heart and respiratory rate
• drooling
• mild weakness
• stupor
• bloody diarrhoea
• vomiting
• and even collapse.

 Stay safe in the sunshine and enjoy this lovely weather.

Understanding your dog - canine body language and interpreting it

There are probably times when you wish you knew what your dog was thinking. By looking at your dog’s body language, watching their expressions and actions this can help you understand what they might be feeling. On average dogs have 30 calming signals. These signals are used in times of fear, to avoid confrontation and on a day to day basis. As humans we often fail to see our dogs using these signals, so much so, that some dogs may give up using them altogether. For others, they become so desperate and frustrated they can get aggressive, nervous or stressed out as a result. Below are some basic calming signals dogs use to communicate their feelings.

Yawning
Your dog may yawn when someone bends over him, when you sound angry or there’s yelling, when he’s at the vets, and when someone’s walking or staring directly towards him. This tells you he feels uncomfortable and is trying to calm the situation down. When your dog is excited and there’s anticipation such as going out for a walk, dogs will yawn to take in more oxygen, as instinctively adrenalin has kicked in to prepare them for the ‘hunt’. Threatening signals (making direct eye contact, fast movements, bending over the dog etc) will often cause your dog to use a calming signal.

Licking
Licking is another calming signal - when meeting new people, dogs or in stressful situations. Licking is especially used by black/dark coloured dogs and dogs with a lot of fur around their faces as their facial expressions are harder to read. To show a dog you’re not a threat, avoid making direct eye contact, yawn and lick your lips – this is a pacifying signal and helps the dog to feel less anxious.

Turning away
A dog will turn his head slightly to one side or turn completely around so his back and tail is facing whoever the dog is calming. If a person seems angry, aggressive or threatening, dogs will often turn away. When you bend over a dog to stroke him or he’s taken by surprise - lookout for his head turning away. Dogs will use this signal to other dogs to prevent possible conflicts. Dogs that perceive themselves to be head of their pack will also use this body or head turn as a way of showing you where they want you to pat them. It’s a case of ‘who do you think you are?’ when you try to stroke them over the head. To show a strange or a nervous dog you’re not a threat, crouch down, don’t ‘invade their body space’, avoid direct eye contact, let the dog sniff you, then slowly hold your hand out for them to smell you. Once the dog is calm, then stroke him gently under the chin.

Play bow
A dog bending down on his front legs is an invitation to play if he’s moving his legs from side to side in a playful manner. But if the dog’s standing still while bowing, this is a signal to calm someone or another dog down. However, the invitation to play is often a calming signal by itself because the dog is making a potentially dangerous situation less tense and diverts with something safe.

Sniffing the ground
You’ll often see this when out walking with your dog and someone’s coming towards you, in noisy situations or places where there’s a lot going on or when your dog sees objects that he’s not sure of and finds it intimidating. Sniffing the ground may be anything from moving the nose swiftly down toward the ground and back up again to sticking their nose to the ground and sniffing persistently for several minutes. Of course, dogs sniff a lot anyway to find out whom or what has passed along the street before them! But depending on the situation this is used as a calming signal.

Sitting down/lifting one paw
Some dogs will sit down and lift a paw towards another dog or human to calm a situation down. Dogs will also sit or lay down as another dog approaches as a way to calm that approaching dog, if they feel it’s coming towards them too quickly. Dogs may also sit with their backs turned against the owner when they sound too strict, angry or the owner’s speaking in a loud voice!

Walking in a curve
This signal is the main reason why dogs react so strongly to meeting other dogs when they’re forced to walk straight at them. Instincts tell our dog that it’s wrong to approach someone like that – as humans we think differently. The dog can get anxious or defensive and this results in the dog barking and/or lunging at other dogs. When we’re outside with our dogs, we’re at our most human. So, if our dog barks or acts in an aggressive manner towards another dog, we then get flustered and anxious and may even shout at our dog. This creates a chaotic and stressful situation and now the dog has a negative association with other dogs. When given a chance, dogs will walk in curves around each other. Watch how your dog meets another dog when off the lead. Some dogs need large curves; others only need to walk slightly curved. Don’t walk your dog directly toward a dog, instead stop and change direction. If this isn’t possible give him some more leash to enable him to manoeuvre away from the dog and walk the other side of you. The more anxious your dog is, the wider the space you create between you and the other dog. Remember to take a deep breath, stay calm – keep your pulse rate steady and show your dog you’re not concerned and he will soon follow your lead.

Who's walking who? Teaching your dog to walk to heel

Walking a dog that pulls on the lead can be a stressful for any owner and may be even be dangerous. Taking a dog for a walk is supposed to be a pleasurable experience, however we often see many owners literally ‘skiing’ down the pavement with their dogs, or repeatedly saying “heel” to their dog, while getting increasingly frustrated, jerking the dog back on its lead. Having a dog that pulls and an unhappy owner is far from the relaxing ideal of ‘going for a walk’. But, have you ever considered what causes this behaviour in the first place?

Dogs not only want to explore their environment with as much freedom as possible using their incredible senses of smell, hearing and sight, but a dog that pulls on the lead is a good indicator of a dog who’s confused about its position within the hierarchy of its pack. In the wild, the alpha pair lead the hunt and the rest of the pack follow. There is no debate, the rest of the pack follow out of respect for the leaders as the decision makers. If you’ve got a dog that perceives himself to be the decision maker in your domestic pack, it makes total sense that come the times when the pack go out ‘on the hunt’, where shall leader be? In front!

A dog that’s being yanked on the lead or even shouted at receives mixed messages from us. To be the good leader for our dogs we must always ask ourselves ‘Am I happy and am I in control?’ Being a good leader stems from the three C’s: being calm, consistent and convincing. If your dog gets over excited at the mere sight of the lead or you have to struggle to even get the lead on the dog, you haven’t just got a problem walking outside, you have a problem before you even think about going for a walk! To understand dog behaviour we observe wild dogs as this is where we see true dog behaviour in their natural environment.

In the wild, dogs do not walk in unison or ‘to heel’, and they certainly have no concept of the lead – where in the wild do you ever see a dog taking another dog for a walk? In fact, wild dogs such as wolves, jackals, kayotee, dingoes, dholes, painted dogs, hyenas and foxes, never ‘go for a walk’. The closest a wild dog gets to going for a walk is with the hunt. However, they don’t go out through choice, they have to leave the den in order to find the food they need for survival. In the wild, dogs may only hunt once every three days.

So, we have to teach our dog where we want him to be – by our side, and that has to be done without shouting, violence or force. So, let’s look at the most effective way to teach your to walk to heel.

To teach your dog good manners, you must begin at home, where there are no distractions.

1. With your tasty treat in your hand (sausage/cheese/meat strip), turn your back away from your dog, put your hand containing the treat to your side to show your dog where you want him to be, call his name and ask him to ‘heel’.
2. If your dog appears at your side praise him and give him the food reward. If he doesn’t, leave it an hour or so then try again.
3. Build this process up by walking a few steps, while treating and praising as he gets it right. Intermittently you may say ‘heel’ – but remember you’re showing your dog where you want him to be with your body and movement, this action speaks louder than words!
4. Walking to heel doesn’t come naturally to the dog, so you have to build up your and your dog’s confidence and trust in you, so you must stay calm. If your stress levels rise your dog will pick up on this, so stop your heel work practice. This is like the good diet, you should practice this ‘little and often’ and only for 5 to 10 minutes, so you and your dog have fun and stay focused.
5. With practice you’ll be able to move freely around your home and garden with your dog following you in all different directions – forwards, backwards, in figures of eight and so on! You should practice this off the lead first, and then once you and the dog have the hang of it, introduce the lead.
6. Get the dog used to seeing the lead being moved about, this breaks any associations that the lead equals ‘going for a walk’ and helps calm the dog down. If he gets over excited once you’ve popped on the lead, take it off, go and sit down and wait until he’s settled.
7. Practice moving to the door regularly, if he pulls just stop and wait for the lead to go slack, as this happens say "good dog" and take a step towards the door. You may only get one step before he pulls again, but you must be consistent and keep a steady pulse rate. If he pulls again, you can take off the lead and abandon the walk altogether or stand still until the lead goes slack once more.
8. Once you’ve got out of the door you need to keep practicing with the principle of ‘slack lead’ equals ‘move forward’; ‘tight lead’ equals ‘stop’. Consistency is the key to success here. The reward is the moving forward, praise and treat, so if you keep going when the dog is pulling, you’re actually rewarding the dog for pulling!! Use treats to get the dog focused back on you. If the dog pulls you stop, wait for the dog to look up, change direction and reward the dog for being in the right position.

This exercise does take time and a lot of patience but it really works!

Research shows misunderstanding of dogs

Hanne Grice, a dog behaviour specialist and certified Dog Listener, is leading a research study into how well people understand dogs. Over one hundred people have participated in the study so far. Here’s a summary of some of our findings to date;

• over 40 % of respondents have been bitten by dogs
• only 20% of people correctly identified a picture of a dog smiling as being
  ‘friendly’. Most considered the showing of teeth to mean the dog was either
  aggressive or stressed
• 54% of people believe a wagging tail only means the dog is friendly and approachable, but dogs can bite you when they’re wagging their tail

If you’d like to know more about our research, email us at; info@walk-the-dog.net Our findings will be published in spring 2010.

Dogs and cats - can they get along?

A common question we get asked is “Can dogs and cats get along?” There is a common misconception that the two species cannot live happily ever after within a home. While there are some breeds of dogs that do not naturally interact well with other pets most breeds can be taught how to interact calmly with cats and live together in a house.

The way the two species are introduced to each other, their age and the pet’s previous experience with the other species will impact their behaviour. When introducing your dog to your cat it’s vital to create a calm and controlled situation where the two can accept one another and a positive association can be built. Here’s some tips on how to achieve this;

• Get a family member or friend to sit on the sofa with your cat at their side. Gently hold the cat and stroke.
• With your dog out of the room, practice some ‘sits’ or ‘stays’ to get the dog focused onto you. Then bring him into the room on his lead (say nothing, no eye contact with the dog).
• If the dog pulls towards the cat, barks or gets excitable upon seeing the cat, immediately take him out of the room (say nothing and no eye contact – so the dog understands why he is isolated). You may have to repeat this several times depending on his reaction.
• Once the dog has settled, bring him back into the room. If he dog remains quiet and calm, sit him down away from the cat. Pop him into a ‘sit’ and reward with a very tasty treat and praise “good dog”.
• The cat should be stroked or praised for being calm too.
• Let the cat move away if he wants to, but keep hold of the dog’s lead in case he tries to go after the cat. Repeat all of the above until both pets are relaxed in one another’s company. You can build up to the point where the dog is off the lead.