Do Dogs Dream?: Nearly Everything Your Dog Wants You to Know

Using only family pets that were not specifically trained to understand language and gestures, I came to the conclusion that, on average, dogs had the mental ability roughly equivalent to that of a human two-year-old. Further work led me to believe that the most intelligent dogs might have mental abilities similar to those of a two-and-a-half-year-

The two major sources of information are the tail’s position and its pattern of movement.

dogs ranked highest in obedience or working intelligence, we find that 190 of the 199 judges ranked the Border Collie in the top ten. There

The tail’s position, specifically the height that it is held, can be viewed as a sort of emotional meter.

the bottom ten dog breeds (moving downward) are: • Basset Hound • Mastiff • Beagle • Pekingese • Bloodhound • Borzoi • Chow Chow • Bulldog • Basenji • Afghan Hound

Since dominance seems to be more important to males, they have developed the habit of lifting a leg when they urinate so that they can aim their urine higher. In addition, the higher the marking is, the more difficult it is for other dogs to mark over it and obscure the message.

Therefore, it could be argued that the real reason canines roll in obnoxious-smelling organic manner is simply an expression of the same sense of aesthetics that causes human beings to wear overly loud and colorful Hawaiian shirts.

Dogs even have a special scent detection system called “Jacobson’s organ” or the “vomeronasal organ.” It is a sort of pancake-shaped pouch of special receptive cells located just above the roof of the mouth,

The two most common types are the “yip-howl” and the “social howl”: • The yip-howl sounds something like “yip-yip-yip-howl,” with the final howl quite prolonged. It usually means “I’m lonely,” “I feel abandoned,” or “Is there anybody there?” It’s the howl that you will most likely get from a dog who has been removed from the company of his family,