Dogs are surprisingly complex creatures.

Estimates about the number of breeds are as high as 800 in Western countries alone. Even given the fact that the difference from one breed to another can be carried to absurd extremes, the variety is astonishing from a human perspective, who have, perhaps, only a dozen 'breeds'.

The predecessor of the domestic dog is the wolf. Dogs began their domestication some 10,000 years ago. From an evolutionary point of view that is a short time frame and so it is not surprising that between breeds, some behaviors are very similar. Next I go in to 2 of those traits.

Dogs are predators:

That doesn't mean they will hunt down or attack every animals passing by, but it is part of their instinct. They can hear very well in part thanks to precise orientation of their ears. Dogs can pick up a range of sounds and locate the source quickly and with high accuracy.

A dog can see much better than a human. They have a much wider field of vision which is estimated to be at 270 degrees. Humans have a maximum angle of only 150 degrees. So dogs are much better at instantly scanning terrain.

And, of course, they're famous for their sense of smell. They have 25 times more scent-receptor cells and they are able to perceive scents a 100 million times smaller than humans.

For instance, Golden Retrievers are able to smell a gopher in the winter through a yard thick layer of snow and earth. Once picked up the smell of the gopher they'll try to dig a hole in order to capture the animal. That's typical behavior of a predator.

Another important point is their need for social interaction:

We all know that dogs are social animals, because that is the reason why we have them in the first place, but sadly, in practice, owners don't always take that in to account. Many times ignorant owners will leave the dog alone for periods up to 10 hours, isolating the dog too much. Dogs need social interaction with other animals and human beings. If not they can develop anxiety or can get aggressive. In order to stay mentally healthy your dog needs company.

Having said that, using the isolation technique as part of your dogs' training can be highly effective. Dogs don't want to be excluded from the group and he immediately 'gets' how he should behave within the group.

Excessive time extent of social interaction with another dog, human, or even a friendly cat harms the dog's psychology and leads to unwanted behavior. Even guard dogs should be able to distinguish between external 'threats' and members of their own 'pack'.

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Written by Daniel Varena using tags: animals, Dogs, Home, Pets