In each issue of Expat Living, DR PAULINE TAYLOR of Pets Central answers readers’ questions on their furry friends. This month, we have more conundrums, from dogs pulling on the lead when walking, to their joy in rolling in smelly things! Dr Taylor also provides us with some dog training tips and suggestions on how to find the right dog lead.
My dog keeps pulling on the lead when we go for walks. How do I stop this?
Pulling on the lead is an unpleasant experience. It’s much easier to prevent this problem by training a young pup not to pull. Stopping pulling can still be achieved in an older dog. Your dog needs to learn that the reward of walking forward only happens with a loose dog lead. If your dog is pulling on the lead you must stop walking and wait for the dog to come back. These dog training walks will take time and patience – supplementing them with rewards when your dog comes back will hasten the dog training process. Head halters and harnesses fitted correctly can also be useful. They’re available at most vet clinics and pet stores but fit them properly so as not to cause damage – some apply pressure to body parts to restrict movement.
My dog has a tendency to roll in mud and poo. Why?
Nobody really knows – and that includes scientists and animal behaviourists! But most dog owners have a story about their lovely obedient friend finding a smelly dead fish or animal carcass and rubbing all over it like they’re “in heaven”. The dog usually does this before the pet parent even knows anything smelly is around!
Dogs have a much better sense of smell than humans. It’s reckoned that some breeds like bloodhounds and bassets – breeds whose noses we use to work for us – have around 500,000 to 600,000 times more cells than humans in their nasal passages that detect smells. Can you imagine what it’s like for a dog to walk along the beach and suddenly smell a delicious dead fish? It also appears that dogs do not like nice smells like we humans. It’s well documented how many dogs, given the chance after a nice bubble bath, will immediately roll in the nearest piece of sand or grass and get dirty again!
Wolves roll in earth and animal matter to disguise their own smell. This helps them in the hunt for prey, to get closer to it before they start the hunt for dinner. Dogs are 98 percent similar in genetic matter to wolves, their common ancestor, so rolling in mud and poo may well be an inherited behaviour that in modern dogs has not yet been bred out.
Recent brain research suggests that when we sleep our brains re-live our days, storing experiences in our memory bank. While dogs sleep in a different pattern from humans, there’s a lot to be said for this theory. Before I became a vet, I worked as a sheep midwife in Scotland. Every day, my border collies rolled in the afterbirth of a lambing ewe. My old wise friend and shepherd Jim told me then, decades ago and before modern brain research, that rolling in the disgusting smelly afterbirth was so my collie had nice dreams that night and would be fresh and ready to work in the morning! I think he may have been right!
About Dr Pauline Taylor (BVM&S MACVSc)
After graduating from Edinburgh University, Dr Taylor began practicing in Scotland, working with farm animals, and has accrued over 30 years of experience in caring for animals in various places including the UK, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Pets Central operates multiple Animal Clinics and Hospitals In Hong Kong.
North Point Hospital | 2811 8907
Mong Kok Hospital | 2309 2139
Tseung Kwan O Hospital | 2244 6684
Sai Kung Hospital | 2792 0833
Park Island Mobile Clinic | 6223 0903
pets-central.com
This article featuring dog leads and dog training tips first appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Expat Living magazine. Subscribe now so you never miss an issue!
