Dogs Have Emotions

There's no doubt in my mind that dogs have emotions. They feel joy after a job well done. They feel sad when a pack member passes away. And they feel love for their family members – their pack.

However, it's important to remember that those emotions are different from our own. The feelings that dogs experience aren't connected to complex thoughts. They don't have ulterior motives or doubt. Their emotions are pure and honest. Your dog isn't lying to you when he communicates that he loves you.

The more you fulfill your dog's needs, the more this connection will develop between you. There's nothing better than coming home from a bad day and having your dog there to support you. No judgment. No questions. Just love!

But remember, how we feel affects our dogs. If you are upset after a long day of work, your dog won't understand why, but he will pick up on your energy and body language. He will interpret this as unbalanced energy, and if you don't have your leadership down pat, it can lead to behavior issues. Make sure you are fulfilling your dog's needs first.

Our dogs give us so much and ask so little. If we provide them with exercise, discipline, then affection, we can really appreciate man (or woman's) best friend and the love they have to offer.

Dog Nest

With the nice weather we have been having here in Washington, I am beginning to focus on my landscaping project. I recently purchased a home that is in dire need of some yard work.

Do you know the difference between arbor chips and bark chips? I learned that arbor chips are the chippings from tree and branches without any kind of treatment. Bark chips come in large sizes and may be treated........with what, I am not sure? Arbor chips smell wonderful!

I had a truck load of arbor chips dropped off at my house as I am spreading it around the fruit trees. This is my weed and grass control.

Ebony likes the arbor chips and has created a dog nest for herself.



I thought cats were notorious for finding the best spots to nap?

"Doggy Disneyland"

"Doggy Disneyland", as it is locally dubbed, Marymoor Park is best known for its 40 acres of off leash dog park. This is where dogs can be dogs. Black Labs dogpaddle against Golden Retrievers to see who can get an old tennis ball thrown by an owner into the Sammamish Slough.

Saturday was one of those rare sunny winter days and I would dubbed Marymoor Park as "Doggy Zoo" because of all the people and dogs. We thought we could get there early and avoid the crowds, but not this beautiful day.


Ebony, Koda, Ginger, and Brinkley Ready to GO!


Marymoor Park

Attention Getting

Dogs do all sorts of things for attention. Barking is the most common thing they do for attention. They not only bark, but also whine, and they run around and do some very funny things!

What does YOUR dog do to get attention?

This is a funny video. It is about a dog that keeps getting treats and more treats. Do you know a dog like this? If you have a dog or know a dog that likes to beg, you are likely to relate!

Dog's Sense of Smell

Imagine if each detail of our visual world were matched by a corresponding smell.

What would that be like?


Say for instance, each petal on a rose may be distinct, having been visited by insects leaving pollen footprints from faraway flowers. What is to us just a single stem actually holds a record of who held it, and when. A burst of chemicals marks where a leaf was torn. The flesh of the petals, plump with moisture compared to that of the leaf, holds a different odor besides. The fold of a leaf has a smell; so does a dewdrop on a thorn. And time is in those details; while we can see one of the petals drying and browning, the dog can smell this process of decay and aging. Imagine smelling every minute visual detail. That might be the experience of a rose to a dog.

The nose is also the fastest route by which information can get to the brain. While visual or auditory data goes through an intermediate staging ground on the way to the cortex, the highest level of processing, the receptors in the nose connect directly to nerves in specialized olfactory "bulbs" (so shaped). The olfactory bulbs of the dog brain make up about and eighth of its mass: proportionally greater than the size of our central visual processing center, the occipital lobes, in our brains. But dogs' specially keen sense of smell may also be due to an additional way they perceive odors: through the vomeronasal organ.

The vomeronasal organ, first discovered in reptiles, is a specialized sac above the mouth or in the nose covered with more receptor sites for molecules. The dog's vomeronasal organ sits above the roof (hard palate) of the mouth, along the floor of the nose (nasal septum). Unlike in other animals, the receptor sites are covered in cilia, tiny hairs encouraging molecules along. The vomeronasal organ is probably why a dog's nose is wet.

A hearty sniff not only brings molecules into the dog's nasal cavity; little molecular bits also stick onto the moist exterior tissue of the nose. Once there, they can dissolve and travel to the vomeronasal organ through interior ducts. In this way, dogs double their methods of smelling the world.

Excerpt from chapter four, Inside a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz.

The Sniff

The dog nose, in most breeds, is anything but subtle.

Dogs do not act on the world by handling objects or by eyeballing them, as people might, or by pointing and asking others to act on the object; instead they bravely stride right up to a new, unknown object, stretch their magnificent snouts within millimeters of it, and take a nice deep sniff.

As we see the world, the dog smells it. The dog's universe is a stratum of complex odors. The world of scents is at least as rich as the world of sight.

Few have looked closely at exactly what happens in a sniff. But recently some researchers have used a specialized photographic method that shows air flow in order to detect when, and how, dogs are sniffing.

The sniff begins with muscles in the nostrils straining to draw a current of air into them - this allows a large amount of any air-based odorant to enter the nose. At the same time, the air already in the nose has to be displaced. Again, the nostrils quiver slightly to push the present air deeper into the nose, or off through slits in the side of the nose and backward, out the nose and out of the way. In this way inhaled odors do not need to jostle with the air already in the nose for access to the lining of the nose. The photography also reveals that the slight wind generated by the exhale in fact helps to pull more of the new scent in, by creating a current of air over it.

Dogs naturally create tiny wind currents in exhalations that hurry the inhalations in. So for dogs, the sniff includes an exhaled component that helps the sniffer smell. Watch for a small put of dust rising up from the ground next time your dog investigates with his nose.

Exercise Dog

Yesterday I posted about exercise limits for dogs.

In early January, there is a blog called winter dog games.

How about this dog with her workout ball!

Watch Penny.