Have you ever noticed that your two dogs, both of whom are from the same litter, are such completely different creatures? Both of them are German Shepherds, and while Lily appears to be as German as her ancestors, her sister Hanna has you believing she was born and raised in San Diego where it never goes below 70 degrees. Lily loves to romp and play in the snow, but Hanna takes one look out the window and retreats to her bed. Different dogs react differently to cold weather. It probably has you baffled since they’re the same breed, but every dog is different. Unable to split yourself in two, what can you do? Do you spend more time outside with Lily, which leaves Hanna at home alone or less time outside, which makes Lily miserable? With a little preparation, though, winter can be pleasant for both types of dogs and for ones that are in between.

Shelter
When it gets cold outside it is easy to think that our dogs have natural winter coats and will be fine outside, and for some breeds this is true – at least to a certain extent. Although it seems to you that Lily and Hanna are the same, it’s very possible that with Lily’s slightly longer hair or her bigger build, mean that she and Hanna may not all that alike after all. If Lily really seems more comfortable being outside, you can always let her sleep outside – provided she is in a house with a heated bed. When it gets even too cold for her comfort, it’s an easy way back into the house to warm up.

Grooming
Some breeds of dogs, for example, Shi Tzus and Poodles, have hair rather than fur. If this is the case then you may want to consider leaving their hair a little longer over the winter months to offer some natural protection from the cold. Having a long coat doesn’t substitute for good shelter, but it can make your dog more comfortable.

Clothes
If you have a short haired, a small dog, if you keep a long hair dog groomed short, or even if your dog has fur that doesn’t thicken that much in the winter, then you should consider having your California girl wear a sweater when going out in the cold. These can help a great deal in keeping Hanna warm and protecting her from the elements. Not all dogs will wear clothes though and if that is the case, be sure to minimize the amount of time they spend outside and keep a close eye on them.

It is also a good idea during winter months to have your dog wear booties outside – if they will tolerate it. Booties can protect their feet from the cold and also from objects on the ground that are obscured by snow.

Thing to Be Cautious About
Whether or not your dog loves winter, you should always use extreme caution when walking on ice. In particular running on a frozen body of water should only be done if you are absolutely sure there are no weak spots. If you wouldn’t let children on the ice, then the dog should stay off as well.

If either Lily or Hanna gets into antifreeze it can kill them. If you think that your dog has had any exposure to antifreeze, go see your vet immediately. Even a small exposure can be extremely dangerous.

Obvious Signs Your Dog Wants to Go Back Home
While some dogs shun the cold others love to romp and play. If you have a dog that loves the snow and cold weather, it is still important to keep your eye on her. If she starts shivering or shaking then it is time to get her back home, even if she is having a good time. Sometimes dogs don’t regulate themselves well and it is important to look out for their best interest.  If your dog doesn’t seem to warm up after getting into shelter or displays signs of hypothermia or unusual behavior, take her into the vet immediately.

One of the best things to do with your dog in the winter is cuddle. Their body temperature is actually slightly higher than ours, so as warm blooded as Lily is, she can make a great heating blanket.

Dogs bite. It is their primary defense against aggressors. In fact, more often, dog biting is not an act of aggression, but an act of self-defense. The problem with fear biting comes in when the fear and anxiety are out of control, and your dog snaps as a reflex action to imaginary threats. If Skippy snaps at you when you walk past him, or if you reach out to pet him when he’s not expecting it, he’s exaggerating danger signals, and the fear biting is at a dangerous level.

Ways to Control and Reduce Fear Biting in Dogs

Make sure you don’t accidentally heighten Skippy’s fear levels. When pets startle or show fear, a common reaction from pet owners is to coddle them, and speak in soft reassuring tones that are meant to convey “everything is okay.” Unfortunately, dogs often interpret that as there is something really scary that you have to comfort them from. The only thing this does is to heighten the fear and in turn feed whatever aggressive state Skippy is in. Instead, when Skippy is afraid or jumpy, act completely normal, and divert his attention to something else. If you find this isn’t work, you can use a firm voice that lets him know that you are in control of the situation and he doesn’t need to take control. This will relax him far more than any baby voice you use.

Once Skippy’s fear actually develops into snapping at anything in the vicinity here are a few ways to handle it:

• Wait until Skippy calms down before approaching him. Invading his personal space while he is in defense mode will probably result in a bite.
• Take him out often to places where there is a lot of commotion. If Skippy has a big problem with biting, keep him under complete control and on a leash at all times, even in places where it might otherwise be okay to let him be loose and socialize such as a dog park. Choose mildly active places to start with, and gradually increase the level of activity as he gets used to it. The logic behind this is exposure. You can’t keep him in his backyard forever and exposure to stimuli that would arouse his fear biting in situations where you are in control are a way to start teaching him.
• Don’t run up on Skippy, or approach from behind. If you are behind him, talk to him as you approach so he knows you are coming.

• Getting Out of a Dangerous Situation with Strange Dogs
• When faced with a strange dog exhibiting common signs of fear such as baring teeth, growling or shaking, stop what you are doing. Back away from the dog, but keep your eyes on him. If you have something in your hands, try to keep it between yourself and the strange dog in case he lunges at you. Do not reach out, or try to calm the dog down by petting him.

Never approach any strange dog in a vulnerable position, or reach out to pet them unless you know how they will react. Treat all strange dogs as if they will bite you, and never let small children run up to strange dogs. Even otherwise calm dogs that wouldn’t normally bite may snap at a small child darting up to them. Children can resemble small prey making them “targets” for the predatory instincts in a dog that doesn’t know them. The jerky arm movements of a child and the tendency to be rough even when they don’t mean to be may also aggravate even a mild tempered dog.

Teaching your dog tricks can be an integral part of the bonding process and, most importantly of all, with the right investment of your time and energy, it can be extremely enjoyable and rewarding for you both.

It could be argued that teaching your canine tricks isn’t as important as obedience training; however, it can in fact have the same benefits. Teaching tricks allow you and your dog to get to know each other, just as you would do when spending time with any of your companions, and you gradually learn to communicate and become more in-tune with each other.

If your dog is shy, trick training can help bring him out of his shell; while on the other hand, it is also perfect for confident dogs who simply love being playful and showing-off. In addition, teaching your pooch tricks is a great way to burn off some of his excess energy if he is prone to getting himself into mischief and has the added benefit of being constructive and enjoyable. Dog tricks are a great tool to use for troublesome dogs when they are behaving badly. For example, a simple “play dead” trick can come in handy if your pooch tends to pester new visitors to your home upon entry by redirecting his behaviour.

So, you may be asking yourself “How do I teach my dog new tricks?” A great place to start is by investing in a clicker – sometimes referred to as a “conditioned reinforcer”. This is probably the only essential tool you will ever need and it works by making a clicking sound when you want to draw attention to a particular point in your dog’s behaviour. It can help communicate that he has done a good job and deserves a treat, for example. Treats are a great tool for teaching your dog tricks and when using the clicker, can be used as positive reinforcement for your dog, which will hopefully keep him repeating his good behaviour. In addition, target sticks are handy for guiding your dog into the positions you want him to be in – this process is called targeting.

Through the dog trick training process, owners become the best of friends with their pets and this special development should be protected. Be sure to keep your loveable friend healthy and waggy-tailed by looking after him properly and taking out one of the cheap dog insurance quotes from Pets at Home to safeguard your dog in the event of accidents and illness.

Your French Bulldog ‘Scooby’ is a big, sweet and sloppy dog. Therefore, when he smells bad, it is big, not-so-sweet and sloppy odor. Scooby, like all dogs, seems to have this obsession with rolling in the stinkiest things – dead animals, feces, mysteriously murky mud and water, you name it. If it smells bad, he wants to rub himself all over it until he is not only thoroughly smelly, but also a bit slimy or your favorite – sticky.

This is a problem, not only because of the smell that makes you want to gag, but because of the potential dangers of whatever diseases that the dead thing might carry, or the germs in the feces or the mud. Also, it is darn hard to give such a big dog a bath. Why on earth does Scooby – and other dogs too for that matter – insist on this disgusting practice, and is there anything that you can do to stop him?

Why Do They Do It?

Turns out, the answer to the mystery of why dogs roll in smelly, gross things is as elusive as those solved by the gang after which your French Bulldog is named. Apparently, there are not enough “meddling kids” in your neighborhood making a common practice of interfering with dogs rolling in bad smells. There are two theories floating around, each, or even a combination of both are pretty plausible.

Theory 1

The first theory has to do with the dog’s hunting instincts. Way back when their meals came in the form of prey, rather than kibble, which doesn’t exactly run away, many breeds of dogs were hunters. They had to be the very embodiment of stealth – and this means, covering their scent. If the prey was downwind, and caught the smell of a dog approaching, they would bolt. But if they were downwind and smell a mud puddle, or a dead thing, or even poop, they would have no reason to flee. It is possible that the instinct to mask their own scent has survived, even though they no longer need to stalk and kill prey to ensure that they eat.

Theory 2

The other theory is likely to get you a bit steamed. The second theory is that what smells bad to us smells good to them, and so they do it because the want to. Just like a person who wins a million dollar jackpot might roll in their pile of bills, a dog rolls in the dead bird he found, because to him, it smells like a million bucks.

Stopping it

Stopping it is a little harder, because you have to catch Scooby in the act. Punishing him after the fact will just confuse and depress him. If you really feel you must squash this habit, then you need to spray him with a hose, or walk up to him and pull him away from it while he is in the act so that he understands what exactly he is being punished for. Do not rub his nose in it. He will enjoy that.

There are manufacturers who make collars with remotes that you can use to train your dog not to roll in things. It is not a shock collar, rather it is a collar that upon your pressing a button, releases a spritz of citronella, a harmless but unpleasant smell to doggies. This collar is a bit spendy, but may be worth it if you are having lots of trouble with Scooby.

The most important thing to remember is that it is ultimately not Scooby’s fault. He is not doing it to make you mad or because he understands that you don’t like the smell – he doesn’t. So be sure, even when you are frustrated not to be mean. If bathing him is the problem, perhaps build an outdoor crate that he can stay in, or put a dog bed in the garage so that on days when he gets smelly he has a place to be inside without stinking up your house. Then you can bath him the next day or later the same day when you have time. It is likely that he is going to roll in things occasionally, even if you mostly break him of the habit. The important thing is to find a way to handle it that doesn’t result in the both of you getting upset.

Dogs have an amazing language that is much like a dancer’s. Every movement, every glance, every turn means something. The body of a canine tells its story as it happens. Each and every moment lived by a dog is an open book, one which is eager to be read and to connect, as is appropriate for dogs, with humans. While their gestures can be obvious, like as a broad sweep of an arm, there are many smaller flicks and turns that are quite subtle and can even be overlooked entirely. To say a human often loses true meaning in translation is an understatement and the biggest culprit of this is a human’s natural lean towards humanizing everything around her, down to the rocks and the wind. How much easier then to humanize the quirk of a dog’s ear or the roll of the eye? This does a disservice to the pooch, though, because as much as a human is not a chandelier, so is a dog not a human.

Fortunately, we can teach ourselves new tricks. Dogs are often far better tuned into human emotion than we are tuned into doggy talk because they speak the language naturally. We have to be taught how to interpret such things even among our own kind. It is not as hard as you might think but it does take commitment, observation and practice. While the whole picture has to be considered to truly make sense of what beloved Doodles is trying to say, there are specific areas of interest, such as the eyes and the ears you can get in tune with. Both tell us a great deal of information about Doodles’ mood, but let us focus on those soulful eyes.

Eye, Eye Captain

Notice that the natural look of a dog’s eye when she is relaxed and happy is a soft almond shape. There is usually very little, if any, white showing even on such bug-eyed breeds as the Chihuahua. White then is an indication of something other than inner calm and balance; it lets us know that Doodles is stressed, tensed and quite possibly ready to bite. It can indicate fear, nervousness or anxiety. Pooch specialists call this phenomenon “whale eye” and it does not show in simply wide, happy eyes. It has meaning especially when backed up by other body language that is tense, or otherwise not relaxed. The position of the ears and tail will help you determine what Doodles is feeling and whether to approach her or not.

Quite often, dogs will not make eye contact with humans or for very short bits of time. This is to show deference to the higher-ranking pack members, as a human should be. They can be trained to make eye contact if the human so desires it; some feel it lets the dog pay better attention rather than casting her eyes off to the side all the time. Some dogs will make a degree of contact with their owners but will never directly challenge them. If her human seems angry or intense, Doodles will always keep her eyes averted except to periodically glance up for a nanosecond to see if the behavior has changed.

The alpha dog (male or female) will generally ignore those in her pack. This makes the direct eye contact, when it happens, all that more startling and effective. Humans feel eye contact to be a connection or understanding but that is not what it means to a dog. You will stress your dog if you force her to behave by human mannerisms. To a dog, eye contact is often a form of tacit correction.

Staring down at a dog will make her nervous and eventually very anxious to the point of severe discomfort. If you stare down a dominant dog, you may make her aggressive, and to stare at an aggressive dog is to challenge one that is already unstable. You may well provoke an attack. If you find yourself in the unenviable position of being caught around an aggressive dog that is actively snarling and challenging you with direct eye contact, lower your eyes and turn sideways. Do not stand straight on to the dog. Yawn or lick your lips (these are called calming signals and lets the aggressive pooch know you want to diffuse the situation). Keep your eyes averted and slowly but calmly walk away. Do not run, remain relaxed and do not make sudden moves. Certainly, do not lock gazes.

Dogs speak with eyes and every part of their body. If you are around dogs often it behooves you to learn how to understand and deal with them on their terms. Their instincts will not bend for us, so we have to bend for them. It is well worth every effort to do so and sweet Doodles will be much happier for it.