Category Archives: Dog Behavior

Canine Loyalty – Dog Waits for Hospitalized Master

By | | ,
Comments Off on Canine Loyalty – Dog Waits for Hospitalized Master

Ann Gafke’s Teacher’s Pet, 325 E. Dripping Springs Rd, Columbia, MO 65202
Phone: (573) 443-0716 or Email: Contact Us
Register Online

A dog in Turkey waited five days outside a hospital for her hospitalized owner. They were reunited January 20.

According to this Associated Press story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, (http://bit.ly/3phILe0)  the dog followed an ambulance to the hospital and waited outside. The daughter of the patient family took the dog home but said the dog would run off early each morning to return to the hospital.

We can help you build a loyalty bond with your dog. (https://dogschooling.com/virtual-dog-training/)

Greyfriars Bobby grave markerThe story mirrors the story in Edinburgh, Scotland, of Greyfriars Bobby.  Bobby, a Skye Terrier,  spent the last 14 years of his life lying at the grave of his master.

Bobby has books, films, a museum exhibit, a statue, and his own grave marker to celebrate his loyalty. The rules of the cemetery in the 1870s prohibited a dog burial near the master’s grave. So, Bobby’s grave is at the entrance to the cemetery.

The picture (left) shows two visitors to Edinburgh at Bobby’s graver marker.

As Your Puppy Ages, Will Behavior Change?

By | | , , ,
Comments Off on As Your Puppy Ages, Will Behavior Change?

Four Border Collies puppies on a tableAnn Gafke’s Teacher’s Pet, 325 E. Dripping Springs Rd, Columbia, MO 65202
Phone: (573) 443-0716 or Email: Contact Us
Register Online

The answer is Yes & No – based on a four year research project at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74310-7

The research used the Vienna Dog Personality Test (VIDOPET) to study the dogs Sociability-obedience, Activity-independence, Novelty seeking, Problem orientation, and Frustration tolerance. They tested  217 Border Collies from six months to 15 years of age.  They retested 37 dogs four years later.

They found, as in human personalities, the more active dogs among their peers at a young age remained the more active as they aged. However, among the five traits, they found individual differences. For example novelty-seeking – that is a dog’s  interest in distractions – did not decline until middle age and continued to decline, and problem-orientation – that is a dog’s interest in and ability to solve problems – increased until middle age and remained stable after that.

Because of the individual differences among dogs, researchers cautioned against over-generalization of global age trends in dogs.

Those criteria used is in this test are important elements of the training activities throughout our school beginning with puppies to introduce them to the human world we’ve invited them into and help them conclude – Been there, Done that, No need to worry about that. https://dogschooling.com/puppy-kindergarten/