MYTHS AND FACTS

Myth #1  Rubbing a dog’s nose in their mess, helps housebreak them.

Fact: When teaching a dog anything, your timing has to be spot on even if the dog’s name is Spot. Rubbing their nose in their mess is after the fact. The dog associates the smell with the correction and not the act of making the smell. The next time a dog sees you and smells that smell, and reads your body language and hears your tone of voice, they give you that “I’m guilty look” or the “I’m sorry look”. It’s neither, its a non-threatning posture they take to let you know their not going to challenge you.

Myth #2   kneeing a dog in the chest teaches them not to jump on you.

Fact:  I guess if you really knee them hard they may learn. But you don’t need to do that when there are  more effective things to try. Usually kneeing a dog just avoids them from jumping right then, but doesn’t teach them not to jump. Also, asking your guest to do this would be tacky. I’ll be discussing better ways to teach this

Myth #3   Giving a puppy praise or treats after they go to the bathroom in the right place.

Fact:  Treats should not be used in potty training. It’s a self rewarding act. As long as the sky isn’t falling and the dog safely eliminates, don’t reward them. Especially when it’s after the fact.  If you tell a dog to sit, and when they get up you give them a treat and praise, are you rewarding the “sit”? Or them getting up? If you use any reinforcement, say in a soft voice “good doggy” or giving a quick pat on the head is ok, as long as it’s in the middle of the act. Another flaw in the treat theory is sometimes a dog isn’t 100% happy with the surface of the ground they are going on such as, pea gravel, wet grass or one of those simulated grass loo’s, etc. So if you give  a treat or praise after, they may think your rewarding their desire to get away from that surface. It’s very similar to myth #1. rubbing a dogs nose is after the fact. I have more theories why treats dont work, but don’t have room to write them all here.

Myth #4   Dogs chew things in your house because they’re mad at you.

Fact:  Dogs chew for many reasons but being angry at you isn’t one of them. The list of why dogs chew is long. I will discuss them in another post or video.

Myth #5   Dogs eat their own or other animal’s stools because of nutrient imbalances.

Fact:  With 220 million scent receptors (as apposed to our 5 million) dogs can smell each ingredient that’s in a pile of poop. It smells good, that’s why some dogs eat it.

Myth #7 Dogs scoot their rear end on the ground – because they have worms.

Fact:     It’s not worms, it a dog anal glands that are irritating them. Usually when this irritation occurs, a dog will scoot their rear on the ground for relief. 95% of the time this condition is only temporary and naturally works itself out. The owners tells the vet or the groomer about the scooting and they recommend having the glands squeezed on a regular basis. In my experience because it’s usually a temporary thing or an occasional scooting problem if a dog gets help on a regular basis, now the dogs own natural secretion ability can be affected.

Myth #8. Dogs eat grass when they are sick.

Myth #9. Garlic prevents fleas.

Fact:    In the U.S. Around 5 millions dogs and cats are euthanized each year. Leave breeding to professionals. Spay or neuter your pet.

here is a link to a site that has 102 dog facts http://www.thefoundbin.com/lost-and-found-articles/102-weird-facts-you-never-knew-about-dogs