Dog Behaviour and Welfare

People and dogs got together 15,000 years ago for very sensible reasons – hunting, guarding, rubbish disposal and warmth. Since that time dogs have had plenty of time to work out how to stake a claim in the human family hierarchy, manipulate pack leaders, and suffer the abuse (both intended and accidental) that humans have heaped upon them.

This hasn’t stopped, and there are more professional “therapists“ and “dog whisperers” sorting out so-called dog problems today than ever before. There are NO dog problems; they‘re all problems inflicted on dogs by humans who don’t understand that dogs just want to be dogs.

So to survive with a dog, you need to understand dog senses and how important these are in social behaviour. The dog lives in a world of odours, which homo sapiens left behind – probably relying on the dog for this service. Smell has special significance in reproduction which is covered.

Poor socialisation of pups from 4-12 weeks is vital for a happy man-dog relationship and is a reason for nearly all the problems discussed in this document. This is all valuable information for understanding the dog training principles touched on in the Dog Behaviour Knol and the Working Pup training knol as well.

Chapter 2 in Clive Dalton's Knol series on animal behaviour and welfare is now available by clicking here. Read it to understand the simple science of dog behaviour, and find out how it can be applied to practical dog behaviour problems - applicable to farm dogs and town dogs alike.

You might also read the first chapter in this series, an introduction to the Basic Principles of animal behaviour and welfare, to gain an understanding of the key concepts and principles.