Teach Your Dog to Sit

How to Teach Your Dog to Sit is an eHow article with some teaching tips. The author begins by advising that you first get your dog in an environment that is free of distractions. Use a treat and get the dog's eyes to follow it. If the neck and eyes adjust to follow a treat as it raised upward the author notes that it is more natural for the dog to want to sit. When the dog does sit reinforce the behavior with a higher pitched verbal response that includes the name of the dog and the command word sit. Good puppy, sit. The author mentions that dogs associate higher pitches with a positive human response and lower tones with correction.

Does Your Cat Urinate on the Carpet?

If your cat is urinating on your carpet instead of doing it in the litter box what might be the cause? The About.com: Cats article The Cat Peed WHERE? might contain the answer. The author indicates that the urination problem might be caused by a urinary tract dysfunction known as Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease or FLUTD for short. A previously used phrase describing the condition is Feline Urinary Syndrome (FUS). The cat may be experiencing pain with urination and may mistakenly link the pain to a litterbox.

Before Getting a Pet Consider Some Questions

The article Selecting Safe Pets has a page showing important questions to consider before selecting a pet. Some of the more important or overlooked ones include consideration of pets you already have and thinking about who will care for the pet if work, school or vacations cause long absences.

Also mentioned was the possibility of an allergy on the part of a family member. I had personal experience with this. We had a pet cat who preceded the birth of both our children. When my son was in his late teens I found out he had allergies which included an allergy to cats. If you already have kids and suspect the possibility of allergies, getting this checked before acquiring the pet will save you some unneeded stress.

How Intelligent are Dogs?

Dogs' Intelligence On Par With Two-year-old Human, Canine Researcher Says, is a Science Daily article, indicating that dogs show evidence of having some relatively advanced cognitive skills. Psychologist and canine researcher Stanley Coren, of the University of British Columbia, has concluded that dogs can solve complex problems and that they are more like higher primates than commonly thought. His conclusion was based on reviews of numerous studies. Coren also has authored books on dogs and their behavior.

Coren estimated the mental abilities of dogs to be comparable to humans between the age of two and two and a half years old. Dogs are capable of learning words (165-250) and signals and demonstrate understanding of simple arithmetic. They are even said to be capable of deceit in order to secure rewards.