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It has long been debated by dog owners and scientists at the level of cognitive ability that the domestic dog has. In 2011 some of the questions are answered.

Because many dog owners treat dogs more like humans than dogs, they tend to project human demands and expectations upon dogs. Whether this is in their training methods or just personal bonding, understanding how smart or similar dogs are in their visual processing ability to humans is important. It can dramatically assist owners and trainers in understanding how much dogs can learn.

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Dog separation anxiety can be one of the saddest and cruellest behavioural traits that many owners and dogs have to deal with. Separation anxiety is a common behavioral problem that happens when a dog is separated from its "pack" or owners.

Signs that your dog may be heading towards such stress inducing separation anxiety behavior can be:

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Owners often brag about how smart their dogs are but what does this mean, and is your dog one of the recognised top most intelligent dog breeds?

A 2009 science paper by Stanley Cohen, Uni of British Columbia (ref 1) has concluded that dogs can be assessed on several behavioural measures and current thinking rates dogs generally at the intellectual capabilities of a 2 to 2 and a half year old child. Moreover, they are said to have the ability to understand upward of 150 words and are clever enough to intelligently deceive dogs and people to get dog treats.

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	---------Relation of ancient breeds to the Wolf

The term ‘ancient dog breed’ is often misunderstood. ‘Ancient breeds’ refer to a science paper written by Parker et al in 2004. This article reviews the original paper and how only fourteen breeds are said to comprise this rare club of dogs.

The study aimed at explaining the genetic structure of the purebred domestic dog.

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AUSTRALIA'S HEALTHIEST DOG TREATS

Healthy dog treats are a vital part of keeping your dog healthy. Whatever you feed your dog as its main diet, these dog treats are likely to surpass if not greatly enhance your dog’s natural nutritional requirements.

As a dog walker I understand that dogs need a meat based diet, after all dogs only evolved from wolves 15,000 years ago and you don’t see wolves grazing in a field! Unfortunately many claimed ‘natural’ dog treats are full of grains, vegetables and additives - basically anything but meat. They do this to keep their costs down – at the expense of your dog’s health.

This is why I only sell healthy dog treats that are based on meat with the vast majority provided by Victorian abattoirs direct to a leading local 100% Australian owned pet food manufacturer.

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There has been much fan fare about the benefits of Omega fatty oils for human consumption, but what about for our dogs? I was surprised recently on a vet visit when it was suggested that my dog's chronic skin allergies may be considerably relieved by omega 3, and that in turn may abate his chronic ear infections.

Omega 3 is surprisingly beneficial to both humans and dogs and extremely worthwhile adding to both your diets.

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Dog ear problems can be one of the most frustrating, painful and expensive issues you and your dog will confront so it is important to solve the causes as soon as possible. In this article I will go through some of the causes and solutions for ear issues that your dog may suffer.

Dog ear issues can dramatically affect the quality of your dogs life as it can lead to deafness and a shortened life. I am not a vet, however this information has been collated over three years of regular vet visits for our dog’s ear issues.

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We all like to keep our dogs healthy, not only for their and your sake, but also the vet bills. The only thing you can do besides daily walks and a good varied low fat meat diet is to give them preventative medicine. For dogs this generally means placing a medication liquid on their skin or giving them a chewable drug treat that contains a chemical that kills either fleas or worms.  But with so many choices on the market, how do you provide your dog with full cover, most efficiently at the best price?

You may just use what your vet recommends or what is cheapest on the shelf, but here are some important points you should keep in mind.

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“This here's a tale for all the fellas, try to do what those ladies tell us. Get shot down cause you're over zealous, Play hard to get an females get jealous” Ref 2

It seems that ‘noticing male behaviour’ is not restricted to humans. In the dog world, many people swear that they know the difference in behavior between male and female dogs, whether this be in regard to their dominance or emotional connection or even recall, But mainly this is based on personal experience with one or two dogs. The following is the tale of a 2011 dog study into the difference in dog sexes based on scientific observational behavior.

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I have a personal interest in the evolution of dog coats as I own a designer dog that does not shed. But ever wonder why some dogs have straight, curly or long hair etc? Well the scientist resolved this in 2009 with a study into this very question.

As the nature of this research is very technical I will endeavour to provide you with a snap shot of what conclusions they came to – in layman terms if possible.

The study looked at how to define what caused the coat growth pattern, length, and curl in domestic dogs.

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Why would you want to track your dog?

Originally dog tracking devices were mainly used for tracking wild animals or dogs in pig hunts. They were mostly of the radio transmitter type that included carrying a large radio tracking receiver. These had the limitation so relatively low power, difficulty in finding direction in some environments, loss of signal when dogs were either behind solid formations such as rocks or in gullies etc.

These tracking systems are still available and have improved in technology considerably, but still remain most useful in tracking dogs in close in heavy foliage situations.

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Another article on this site shows that there is a profound difference between dog and human vision. Both have their advantages and were evolved for very different conditions. The sounds that dogs can hear seems to be much more clear cut, with dogs having a significant advantage over humans in the high range and in low volumes.

Sound has many aspects when it comes to identifying the source of a noise. Compared to humans:

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Dog cloning - would you do it?

The first dog clone was created in 2005 by a South Korean scientist with the birth of "Snuppy" the Afghan Hound. The process is said to involved taking the DNA from the cell of the dog to be cloned and implanting it in a donor egg.  The DNA then fuses with the egg and an embryo results. This is then implanted into a surrogate bitch producing a cloned puppy.

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The origin of the Australian dingo has been best defined by a 2004 research project.

The study shows that the dingo is now considered to be the oldest living wild dog with the closest genetic resemblance to the wild wolf. As far as the oldest domestic dog breeds go, the most ancient breeds are: the chow-chow, basenji, akita, Chinese shar-pei, Siberian husky and Alaskan malamute.

Good dog food, bad dog food, what ingredients are in it?

Previously on Dog Walkers Melbourne website I provided a case for dogs being carnivores. Again articles referenced in this article agree with this assertion, which suggests that any manufactured dog food you feed your dog that has anything but meat, is actually providing filler that they can’t process.

In feeding dogs anything but meat, you may be wasting your money and making your dogs digestive system work hard for no reason. But for the many people who will continue to feed their dogs vegetables, this article shines a light on what manufactured dog foods might contain.

The most remarkable thing about dog stress is that daily many dogs are put under physical and psychological stress that their owners are unaware of causing. The results of simple play acts can in fact cause more stress than any other activity your dog does - which in turn can considerably lower your dog’s life expectancy.

You should also be aware that a dog wagging its tail is not telling you that it is happy, it is just a sign of excitement, which at its basest level is a form of stress.

What are the human events that cause dog stress?

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Why do we love our domestic dogs so much and how did our ancestors create breeds that more people would want to look after?

The simple answer is that anything that we visually consider as cute is more likely to survive its bonding with humans, as we go to extra lengths to protect them. Ironically this is probably the exact opposite of the reason why farmers originally took dogs in, as guard dogs!

It seems that science is at last trying to catch up with how the domestic dog performs many tasks. Just recently Dog Walkers Melbourne reported on studies showing how dogs drink water. The latest research into the dogs method of shaking water from their coats shows that as they have evolved to do so with the highest efficiency possible.

The core reason behind this vital action is to remove excess water from their coats so they do not get hypothermia. Scientists calculated that without devising the shaking behavior to remove the water that up to 25 percent of an animals daily calories would be required to heat their bodies. In lean times this excess energy burn would potentially lead dogs to starving to death.

The studies also show that shake speed varies depending on dog size and skin looseness. In fact there is a whole new field of dog water shaking science!

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Dogs and their sense of smell is one of the greatest things that define them. When a dog makes a decision it is usually based on smell first, then sound, then sight.

This article explains exactly how miraculous a dog’s sense of smell is.

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The reason for dogs love of grass should be easy to answer. However another article on this site looks at the perfect diet for domestic dogs and based on dogs recent evolution from wolves up to 15,000 years ago, dogs are believed to be carnivores.

It is thought that the dog’s teeth shape, sharing with the wolf basic stomach design and enzymes for breaking down mainly meat and the short length of its intestine is primarily design to extract all necessary nutrients from meat. However grass is surprisingly nutrient laden.

In Australia as well as many developed countries, “puppies for sale” and “dogs for sale” search phrases are some of the leading dog associated internet searches by sheer monthly volume that you will find.

The obvious reason is that both dogs and puppies are very popular pets and people want to work out what breed and temperament are best for their family.

In this article we assume that puppies are born all year round, so the best time to buy puppies might be when there is least demand for them, so you have more choice. While this appears simplistic, there is a definite seasonal online ‘puppies for sale’ search trend of peaks and troughs in Australia. You may well be advised to look for puppies in the ‘off season’ or when the least amount of people are searching, which you can skip ahead and read about in the conclusion, or you can just enjoy the ride of reading about how people search for puppies, globally.

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Vision is one of the most complex processes that any animal can accomplish. Humans and dog's vision are dramatically different because they evolved to specialise in different areas.

There are a few scientific journals on the matter, but really as a dog owner, you are most likely interested in what your dog can actually see different to you and perhaps any limitations in it responding to you. To see the highlights that include the reason why your dog can not see RED, please read on...

DWM has looked at total online dog market comparisons between countries in other reports on this Dog Walkers Melbourne site and they show that overall per capita that the UK and Ireland are the leading dog search countries. Australia and America come close behind for search popularity for terms related to dogs.

In this report we look at what specific breeds are the most popular in each of the major dog search countries.

For instance in Australia the top two dog breeds searched for are german shepherds and labradors, see what other dogs made the top fifteen dog breed list.

At the outset, I will let you know that I have a personal interest in you walking your dog. It means that your dog is going to be much more healthy and satisfied and that I am most likely to gain more business from you, as you see the benefits for your dog. You may even experience less vet bills!

Unfortunately, not everyone understands the vital part that on-lead AND off lead walking play in the development and happiness of your dog. The benefits are far more than a dog that is closer to their ideal weight and likely to live up to two years more. To understand why dogs should be exercised first, then disciplined, then given affection, please read on ...

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A previous Dog Walkers Melbourne cats article looked at the whole cats online market (Google searches) for three main countries of Australia, America and UK.

The following information relates to long term trends (2006 to 2010) for the main cat category (CATS). It must be noted that the raw growth data from Google is measured against the whole of the Google search market growth. This means that while growth rates are low, they are relative to the growth rate of all Google searches, which may be fairly high.

I love cats and dogs, and as you know from this site I pet sit for both animals. So in an attempt to understand more about what people look for in cats, this article shows the results of the research and analysis on Google trends for all things that people search for related to Cats. Google is used for the analysis because of it being the most visited search engines in most countries in the world.

The top five cat related terms in Australia in early 2011 are: cats, cat, kittens, cat games, ragdoll cats. To See the other major searches in Australia as well as America and the UK, please read on.

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Dog food is probably one of the most controversial topics that any dog owner will encounter. Vets strongly agree that all cats are carnivores; however on the topic of dogs, they are often divided.

If you want to provide the best food for your dog, you need to provide it the most natural food that you can and the types that it evolved to eat.

In the following article I provide a case for why dogs are essentially carnivores and not omnivores. It is not conclusive or the gospel, however much of the scientific principles that it is based upon are quite compelling. This article is only written to enlighten or expand the argument on what food best suits your dog.

What are the core needs of your dog? To understand what your specific dog physically and mentally needs it is instructive to understand where your dog came from.

A previous article I created for this site, Dog Evolution from wolf, cites recent scientific research that conclusively shows the grey wolf of SE Asia is the direct ancestor of the modern day domestic dog. The taming of the wolf in this region created domestic dogs which by selective breeding formed the ‘pure breed’ dogs that you are familiar with today.

In nature natural selection theory of evolution suggests that traits that help a species breed and survive are likely to prosper within that species and become the dominant physical and behavioural trait. However mans’ interference with this process or ‘artificial selection’ sees man choose certain characteristic within a breed on aesthetic or behavioural traits they want to narrow the breed into. This article speculates that every domestic dog still retains major remnants of the wolf's predatory skills.

Ever see a dog or cat making a mess at their water bowl? My dog prefers running water from a tap (or large puddles) but regardless, there is always a lot of noise and seemingly low efficiency.

For humans to drink, we usually place our head backwards and tip a cup to allow liquid to flow into our mouths. If you need to drink low lying water (below mouth level) we typically open our mouth and suck water in using a vacuum by changing our stomach muscles. But most dogs do not like immersing their heads while drinking, nor can they use the vacuum method that we do to suck water into their mouths. This article looks at what methods both cats and dogs have created during their evolution to most effectively drink water.

When I began researching dog licking behaviour I did so keeping in mind those dogs that lick infrequently and what it might mean. While I have uncovered some pretty solid theories, I also came across information on excessive licking that indicate an underlying medical condition that should be corrected by your vet.  And so I suggest up front that if your dog licks excessively, consult a vet immediately.

In this article I will firstly look at natural licking behaviours and their probable cause. Then I will provide a brief mention of problem licking and its more serious causes.