Why Dogs Shake Their Toys: Play or Instinct?
A dog thrashing a stuffed animal from side to side is running a movement sequence built to rapidly incapacitate small prey.
That whip-fast head shake did not start as play.…
Dog Behavior Explained
Why Dogs Sniff Everything: Curiosity or Instinct?
You head toward the corner, but your dog has other plans. He stops at a telephone pole, investigates the grass beside it, and moves on just far enough to discover something interesting near the curb.…
Why Dogs Sit With Their Back to You: Trust or Independence?
At a dinner party, deliberately turning your back on someone would be questionable manners. Dogs have apparently declined to adopt this rule.
Your dog walks over, settles directly beside your legs, and then rotates until his face points toward the room and his back points toward you.…
Why Dogs Bark at the TV: Confusion or Excitement?
Three commercials go by without so much as an ear twitch from the dog sprawled across the couch. Then the fourth one starts, and he’s on his feet before the jingle even finishes, barking at a screen he’d ignored for the last twenty minutes.…
Why Dogs Bark at the Door: Alert or Excitement?
Door barking is usually a mix of three things: an instinctive alert to a change outside, learned excitement once a visitor is recognized, and, for some dogs, a territorial response to an unfamiliar person crossing the threshold.…
Why Dogs Bring You Random Items: Communication or Play?
A hairbrush is an odd thing for a dog to deliver. It doesn’t squeak, bounce, dispense food, or look much like anything you would normally throw across the room.…
Why Dogs Follow You From Room to Room: What It Means
Your dog may have a perfectly good bed, a patch of sunlight, and an entire couch available to him. None of that matters once you stand up. You walk from the office to the kitchen.…
Why Dogs Sit on Your Stuff: Claiming or Comfort?
There can be an entire stretch of empty carpet available, and your dog still chooses the backpack. Or the jacket you dropped beside the couch. Or the folded laundry you meant to put away twenty minutes ago.…
Why Dogs Make Funny Noises: What They’re Communicating
Wolves, the closest living relative of the domestic dog, barely bark at all. Researchers who study wolves generally describe barking as a relatively uncommon part of adult wolf communication.…
Sensory, Quirky & Play Behaviors — How Dogs Explore the World
Dogs experience the world in ways that are very different from people. Their senses are sharper, their curiosity is constant, and many everyday behaviors reflect how they investigate sounds, scents, objects, movement, and the people around them.…