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Behavior & Training

  • Lack of early exposure to the sights, sounds or perhaps smells of a particular location, or one or more traumatic experiences associated with that location can lead to the development of avoidance behaviours.

  • There are many reasons why dogs develop a fearful reaction to people and other animals. However, some dogs are born with a genetic predisposition to be more fearful or anxious than others.

  • Don't just ignore the problem because it only happens a few times each year. You should instigate a desensitisation and counter conditioning programme.

  • There are numerous reasons why a dog might soil the house with urine and/or faeces. Determining the specific reason is essential for developing an effective treatment programme.

  • Punishment is defined as the application of a stimulus that decreases the chances that a behaviour will be repeated. In practical terms when dealing with dogs, we aim to associate an unpleasant consequence with an undesirable behaviour to reduce the occurrence of the behaviour.

  • These are non-specific clinical signs and can be caused by many different conditions and diseases.

  • Most dogs' ears are a lot larger than ours and certainly a lot more sensitive. We usually only clean them when there is a problem and they are already sore, so the dog learns that handling around the ears is painful and tries to avoid it.

  • Cats are very strongly bonded to their environment and any change is likely to result in significant stress. If we consider the changes that we are enforcing on a cat when we take it to the vet, it is hardly surprising that many cats are very stressed by the time they arrive at the veterinary practice.

  • Dogs are highly social animals that make wonderful pets. However, with the lifestyle and schedule of the majority of families, dogs must learn to spend a portion of the day at home alone, while their human family is away at school, work, shopping or recreational activities.

  • Urine spraying is part of the cat's normal scent-marking behavioural repertoire which also includes scratching, rubbing, chinning, bunting (depositing secretions from head glands on twigs etc., and middening (leaving faeces uncovered).