Dog Play: Exercise or Exorcise?

If you close your eyes and listen to the video below, you may think you are listening to the devil.

That sound has become a part of daily life since I have Welcomed Dog Days of Summer, because Day-ay and Ragazzo, my houseguests, do this every day. Mother and son bickering? Not exactly.

This is actually the way that dogs play. While it may seem to the outsider that the little dog is being attacked by the evil, possessed big dog, Day-ay and Ragazzo are actually developing life skills when they play in the video above.

As it is with humans, dog play promotes good physical and mental health. If you watch carefully, you’ll see pauses, stares, air-nips and “breathers” in their activity, each of which helps cue the other into when it gets too rough or too aggressive, or when it is time to resume.

Ragazzo is almost twice Day-ay’s size, and yet he knows just how to play with her without breaking skin. They roughhouse and face-bite daily, and grotesque, growling is part of the game. Notice how Day-ay lets Ragazzo know when to back off and when to re-engage. If she truly didn’t want to play, she would not make an open-mouth lunge for him—a sign that she is game to have another go.

Dog play also shows, according to Alexandra Horowitz, that dogs have an awareness of their own size. They will moderate their play style and mouth force according to the size of their play partners.

Here is a second video of their dogfight. Can you can recognize cues that play is play? At second 9, when you think Day-ay has signaled “that’s enough,” she emerges from the comforter to re-engage Ragazzo in fun-bites.

At second 13, Day-ay emerges from the comforter again and gives a little lick—a body cue that it is time for a breather again. A second lick comes seconds later, almost as if it signaling an end to “time out.”

Day-ay eventually lets Ragazzo go in for the “kill” on her neck, and then it seems as if Ragazzo wins this round. But the next round may be hers, as dogs play fairly, says Horowitz.

It is hard to know whether Day-ay remembers that Ragazzo is her son (dogs' memories are a mystery), but it seems, from watching these videos, that she trusts giving him dominance over her in play. She even exposes her belly, the most vulnerable spot. Ragazzo is getting his practice being the alpha dog.

Where Sleeping Dogs Lie

 Do you sleep with your dog(s)?

The pros and cons of this practice are the subject of lots of blog posts—for example, here, here, and on a post that claims that nearly half of dogs sleep in their owner’s beds. 

But I’m going to stay neutral and simply share the story of one of my friends, a longtime dog owner, divorced mother, and owner of two female pitbull mixes.

Corinne has been sleeping with her dogs for two decades. Her attachment to her dogs has always been quite extraordinary. In fact, in many ways she prefers the company of dogs to the company of people, and prefers to sleep with them rather than with a human partner.

For 15 years, she had a retriever mix that she described as a “good cuddler.”

“I’d wrap my arms around her and she would make this noise, ‘mmmmm,’ because she was so content and happy. “

When her retriever died, she bought a new puppy, Hazel, a pitbull-French bulldog mix who started sleeping with her immediately. After about a year, she got a second pitbull mix, Ruby.

Nowadays, she sleeps every night with both of them in her double bed, even though they are about 60 pounds each. Corrine is not “germophobic,” so having dogs in her bed does not make her squeamish, and she says she takes care to keep them clean enough to be on the bed. The hardest part of sleeping with them for her is that they are “bed hogs.” Hazel likes to stretch out full length, sometimes crosswise, while Ruby is a curler-upper. Sometimes they wake her up when they hear a cat outside, but for Corrine, the benefits of an occasional sleepless night outweigh the inconveniences.

“I feel like my emotional connection with my dogs is on a par with almost any human connection I have with anybody, including my son. He is already independent of me so my connection to them is much more immediate,” Corrine says.

Strange Bedfellows: Hazel, Corrine, and Ruby

“I think it is weird that there are people who doubt that dogs have emotions, because when a dog cuddles up to you it’s real. Hazel will put her face right on my neck and nuzzle me. To me that’s emotion.”

Corrine says that she can tell, when she volunteers at a shelter, that dogs feel “hurt and betrayal” when they are abandoned by their owners, and can suffer from depression. She feels the closeness from sleeping together gives her dogs security and builds a strong bond.

But what about the things dogs can’t give humans? Intellectual conversation? A hug? Intimacy?

Corrine thinks that many single women (and men) might not find those things anyways. She says many people deeply attached to dogs—and she includes herself—are not good at intimate human relationships. Dogs offer a substitute type of intimacy, a “closeness and affection that keeps single [men and] women stable."

"There are not many humans I'd rather be with than my dogs. True, they can’t give me flowers on Mother’s Day, but they can give me a big wet kisses. I love waking up with them cuddled around my legs, and how in the morning they kiss me and nudge me with their noses. When I open my eyes and see their little faces, I feel peaceful.”

Corrine's story is probably not unique; any others out there sleeping with their pets?

We Talk, Dogs Bark

Tonight I recorded some of Day-ay's "howling," a not-uncommon trait for Chihuahua mixes or dogs who have listened to coyotes at night in New Mexico (like her).

https://drive.google.com/a/fordham.edu/file/d/0BwTHWakAFSetT1NqeDVsWVZ0d2c/view?usp=sharing

To understand dog vocalizations, one starts with pitch. Is it low or high? If it is low, it's probably threatening or aggressive, and usually directed at another animal. If it is high, (and anyone who has been near a dog who got hurt knows of the excruciating yelping sound) it signals pain or fear. And then there is play, which is also higher-pitched but different in frequency, such as the link above.

A dog's pitch is not altogether different than the pitch of the human voice, which goes low in anger to high and shrill in fear.

Another telltale signpost is the frequency with which a dog makes its barks. A dog that barks repeatedly in high pitch is trying to tell you either something urgent, or some really exciting news. Something like:

The house is on fire!  

On the other hand, if the barking is is continuous but of low pitch, the dog senses an intruder into its doggie territory, on who may be dangerous, so he gets into attack mode. This is the typical reaction when Day-ay's son, Ragazzo, is walking along the sidewalk, sees another dog coming in the opposite direction, and starts to warn us he's:

Coming into our territory!

The next key to understanding your dog is through the duration of either a bark or a sound: does it last a long time, such as a growl? That's one serious dog. It's making a conscious effort about the signal and what it would do next, which is:

  "I'll kick your arse!"

And then there's the series of sharp, short barks. That's what you probably get when you arrive home from work and your dog greets you at the door. Usually this is high or midrange barks, accompanied by lots of jumping and tail-wagging. This dog is saying:

 Hi there! My foodsource is home! 

If a dog barks in a long string, but with pauses between barks, it sounds lonely and it means a call for companionship to any other dogs who can hear. A dog left home in an apartment might frequently bark at the door when he or she hears someone walking by, or when it hears an elevator going up and down. This might be:

woof ... woof ... woof ... i'm lonely ... woof...

And if a dog gives a growl-bark, kind of like "garufff" and it is accompanied with a "play stance" where it dips its front feet down, and raises its rump, it's an invitation to play. This would be the stance a dog would take, and the accompanying sound, if it were to drop a ball at your feet and prepare for a fetch. It might be saying:

  Join me in funtime.

And one last word about the "howl," which Day-ay loves to do. Howling is an affirmation of the self, in dog language, kind of like when a human being looks in the mirror and likes what he or she sees, so it's:

Yeah, I'm awesome. 

Next time you hang around with dogs, give a listen to their barks. They talk. They just don't use words.

Welcome Dog Days of Summer

NY Dog Days. Think hot, sweaty, and sluggish weeks following the solstice, iced tea and fans, sunscreen, sleeveless shirts, perhaps an escape into an air-conditioned movie. Already, in the last week of June, we are reaching 88 degrees.

But this summer the expression takes on new meaning for me. Yesterday my daughter (a graduate student living out-of-state) arrived home with her Yin and Yang, little Day-ay and her son, Ragazzo, for a five-week stay.

The mama, Day-ay, the smaller Yorkie mix (pictured, right), is all of seven pounds; her son Ragazzo, the dark-faced handsome dog whose paternal pedigree is harder to pin down, is 12 pounds.

Day-ay’s Origin

In November 2013, my daughter and her boyfriend found the little Yorkie wandering on Native-American-owned land outside of Albuquerque. They put up advertisements and photos, and let the community know via word-of-mouth and online, but nobody came forward to claim the dog. By Christmastime, they had decided to keep her; by New Years 2014, they suspected (correctly) that she was pregnant.

Day-ay, little as she was, gave birth in late January 2014 to five puppies. Two of the five are now nearly twice her size, leading us to believe that her litter may have had two different fathers (this is possible among dogs).

Having been dogless since 2012 when my second, Jackie, passed away, I am looking forward to my own “Dog Days” of summer. Let’s see how the little ones adapt to the amplitude of odors that New York City sidewalks have to offer.

Note: Day-ay means “little fox” in Tewa, the language of Pueblo tribes.

Should we be Dining Out with our Dogs?

A few blogs back on June 15, I wrote about new dog bills that the New York State legislature is taking up this year.

Well, one of the more controversial bills passed on June 16, and is now awaiting signature by Gov. Cuomo. Known informally as the “dining with dogs’ bill, the legislation would:

• Allow a customer to bring his or her leashed dog into an “al fresco” area of a restaurant while the customer dines.

• Provide customers bringing their dogs with an alternate entrance to access an outdoor patio, without setting foot inside the restaurant.

• Prohibit customers from bringing dogs into outside areas where food is prepared.

• Require customers who want to provide water for their dogs to bring a disposable container for their dog.

• Allow restaurants to set their own policy on the law.

The bill passed overwhelmingly (with just 5 dissenters), even though New York City’s Department of Health had urged a “no” vote, citing health concerns.

So this is my question: is it really a good idea? And let's think like lawyers, restaurant employees, and non-dog-owning customers, and look at some of the ‘what ifs.’

• What if someone brings a dog in that barks each time another dog walks by, and other customers ask the manager to request the dog owner leave?

• What if two customers’ dogs get into a dogfight or growl session? Which one would have to leave the restaurant? What if a harassment lawsuit ensues, and the restaurant is named as a third-party?

• What if a customer owns a breed that other customers are afraid of? Can a restaurant owner say yes to the poodle and no to the pit bull? Would a discrimination lawsuit against the restaurant possibly ensue?

• What if wait staff are uncomfortable serving customers with dogs? What if they drop a glass and the dog, not knowing better, steps in it or tries to chew it? Is the restaurant liable for vet bills?

• And lastly, what if someone has 2 dogs, or 3? Can they bring them all?

Many of us want our dogs to be part of our families and, in New York City, dining out is a regular pastime. Do you think that legislators have considered all the scenarios? Pet owners, pet lovers, non-pet-people, please comment!

5 Dogs on the Verge of Disappearing

There are more dogs than you can throw a stick for, right? 

There are plenty of dogs and each year about million of them die in kill shelters. That’s what makes it kind of unbelievable to discover there are actually some breeds on the edge of disappearing.

1. Skye Terrier: 
   
   
   If you’ve watched the Starz Outlander series, you’re familiar with the Scottish Isle of Skye. Well, it is home to one of the oldest terrier breeds, one that dates back to the Middle Ages. Nowadays, however, the total population of Skye terriers is between 3,500 and 4,000, making it one of the rarer dogs in the world. In the United Kingdom, there were only 17 puppies of the Skye terrier breed registered in 2013 with their Kennel Club, and some experts say it could go extinct in our lifetimes.                            
2. Otterhound:
   
   
   
    This breed was developed to hunt otters, which apparently is no longer a popular pastime since it became illegal in the 1970s. There are about 1,000 such dogs left worldwide, and 350 of those are in the United States. In 2013 there were just 42 Kennel Club registrations. A 2011 article on the dwindling breed described it as being akin to an “heirloom rose or tomato.”          
3. Tibetan Mastiff:
   
   
   
    A few years back, a Tibetan mastiff puppy sold for $200,000 in China, but a fickle public is sending this dog back to obscurity where it came from. It was recently reported that breeders are losing their investments (and their enthusiasm) with the dog, which is now selling for as little as $5 or, reportedly, being sent to the slaughterhouse for hotpot meat. The pure breeds originated in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhuta, where they still function as work dogs that live at an average altitude of 16,000 feet.                                   
4. Harrier:
   
   
    The British Harrier is a hare-chaser, but that sport has also been outlawed and the breed has fallen off to the level in which there are fears it will eventually disappear in England. Harriers in the United States are third-to-last in the AKC popularity list and are mostly kept as pets rather than hunters. Less than 100 are believed to be living here in the U.S.                      
5. Irish Red and White Setter:
   
   
   
   
    The Irish Red and White Setter came close to extinction in the early 1900s when the breeders tried to breed the white color out of them in favor of the sleek, popular red coat. The breed was revived in the 1970s, but it is still considered to be a somewhat endangered species of setter, with just 82 AKC registrations in 2013. 

All of these dogs rank low in popularity on the AKC registered breeds listing. But all it takes to interest breeders in upping their numbers would be some sudden wave of popularity—an appearance in a movie, a miraculous rescue story, or a children's book. 

In the meantime, say hello to THIS dog breed, which remains the most popular for the 24th straight year.