The Modern Bark | Dog Training Tips

The average dog can learn as many as 150 words, a fairly substantial vocabulary beyond sit, stay and come. Research with several border collies has brought those vocabulary numbers up beyond 400 words, and a border collie named Chaser has learned the names of 1022 objects, which he can differentiate and fetch on command.  There appears to be no upper limit in Chaser's vocabulary lessons, as he continues to add words to his lexicon. In the wake of such impressive results, researchers Emile van der Zee, Helen Zulch and Daniel Mills sought to determine the presence of a key feature of human word comprehension in canine learning. In the research article,  Word Generalization by a Dog (Canis familiaris): Is Shape Important?, the researchers sought to determine if shape bias existed in dogs as it does in humans. Experiments with human 2 year olds, have shown a "shape bias" exists in the learning of new words.  Simply put, once the child associates a name with ...

Mighty dogs to the rescue. Once again, our canine companions are assisting in providing invaluable medical advances to mankind.  Previous studies have shown that dogs can detect early stages of cancer as well as super bug infections in patients with hospital acquired infections. Now comes another gift from Man's Best Friend! Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a virus commonly found in dogs, the parainfluenza virus (PIV5), could serve as the foundation for the next great breakthrough in human vaccine development.  PIV5, which does not cause disease in humans , contributes to upper respiratory infections in dogs, and therefore is  targeted in many canine vaccines.  As the virus does not affect humans, researchers turned their eyes towards it as a potential delivery mechanism for human   vaccines against  diseases that have previously alluded  development. Science has successfully used viruses to crea...

Puppy teething begins with the first eruption of milk teeth When Do Puppies Start and Stop Teething Depending on your puppy’s breed, teething will begin somewhere between 12 and 14 weeks, and the small, sharp milk teeth will begin to be pushed out by the larger adult teeth. The teething phase typically lasts 3 months, and puppies should be finished with the process by eight months of age. Large dog breeds tend to start and complete teething faster than smaller breeds.    With this developmental stage comes a new set of challenges. This is the puppy equivalent to the “terrible twos” -staircase balusters, window sills, house plants, leashes, table and chair legs, shoes and socks, all are fair game to the teething puppy, that does not yet know its boundaries. If she can get her mouth around it, it’s going to be fun to destroy! Puppy Teething Signs and Symptoms Red inflamed and swollen gums. Bulging gums where new teeth are about to erupt. Small amou...