You Talk, But Is Your Dog Really Listening?

Dog owners know that it doesn't really matter whether you live alone or live with other humans, you're still going to have daily conversations with your dog.  Those conversations are one-sided, often with you supplying your dog's thoughts and responses for them, but that's beside the point. My point being that you are conversing with your dog in spite of the fact that they can't respond in kind like your human family members can. Their lack of conversational abilities, however, doesn't keep us from having a running dialog with our dogs, and of course, this behavior has been studied by scientists.

Researchers have found that most dogs can understand roughly 80 to 165 words depending on their training, breed tendencies, and individual differences in motivation.  The majority of dog owners tend to overestimate the number of words their own dogs understand, that is, we give them more credit for understanding us than is due. We all would like to believe that are dogs are exceptional and there are some truly exceptional dogs out there that know more than 200 words, and even famously studied dogs like Chaser, the border collie, who knew the individual names of more than one thousand objects.

So, are there certain words or phrases that we use that are more likely to be understood by our dogs?  Absolutely. The word your dog knows best is their name, and that list of nicknames you have for them.  They also know those words that apply to basic requests like sit, down, come, stay, and wait. Knowing the words does not equal compliance, however, meaning that just because your dog knows the word "come" doesn't mean he's automatically going to do it, particularly if there's something else grabbing his attention. Dogs with actual jobs seem to have the ability to recognize more words and that makes sense. If your dog's sole purpose in life is to keep the end of the sofa warm and watch for squirrels, that doesn't require as much brain power and word recognition as the dogs sniffing for contraband, guiding the blind, or herding sheep. The average working dog knows at least 120 words, while many actually recognize close to 200 or more.  The average couch potato?  Fifteen to 80 words known. 

Beyond knowing their name and the words for basic behaviors, your dog also recognizes and enjoys the words and phrases you use that imply that they are doing a good job.  When you tell your dog how good they are, how cute they are, or how much you love them, those words of affirmation and praise register as rewards in their brain similar to when they are offered food or treats. As you might imagine, pairing food or treats with those words of praise really lights up their brains!

If you want to increase your dog's word recognition, take your time.  Pair the new word or command with the object or desired behavior, using high value treats for reinforcement.  Your tone of voice matters, so use an upbeat tone and plenty of praise.  Repetition helps, but even more so doing short sessions over the course of several days helps to solidify that new word, command, or phrase for your dog, just as it works for you if you are learning a foreign language for the first time.

I myself have regular conversations with my dogs. While I know they are basically just politely listening to my ramblings, I also know that they are picking out the words and phrases that have meaning to them and they do respond when they hit upon those words or phrases.  Does that mean that I'm wasting my time with the other 5000 words I babble at them all day long? Absolutely not.  They don't need to understand every word for me to feel heard.  I've had entire conversations with Henley because he's the most attentive listener. I'll get to the end of my thoughts and, just for fun, ask him what he thinks.  I do this because asking him what he thinks often results in a head tilt and then him going to get a toy, almost as if he's saying, "I don't have any idea what you just said but I'm pretty sure playing with this toy will make you feel right as rain."  And you know what?  He's right.  A little play time often does make it all better.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Henley sits like this when I talk to him and I love this about him. He is an intent listener who really does seem to focus on every word.  It's quite obvious, however, when I hit upon a word or phrase he knows well though as he'll often tap his front feet or give an open mouth grin, as if to say, "Hey! I know just what you mean!"

Do Dogs Enjoy Heavy Metal Music?

That was the question posed to me by the teenage son of one of my friends.  You see, my friend loves heavy metal music and always has. If you ride in the car with her, be prepared to listen to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. So why was her son asking me about dogs and music?  My friend leaves music on for their Labrador Retriever when she's at work and her son is at school. More specifically, she leaves on heavy metal music for the dog when they are gone.  I asked her son if he'd like to conduct a mini-experiment to determine the answer to that question and he was game, so here's what we did.

We set up a camera in the main room of their house where the music is played for the dog via an Alexa style home audio system.  Their dog has full access to the house, but this is the room where the family spends most of their time when they are home.  Their dog has several dog beds, one in each of the bedrooms, a mat in their kitchen, and a dog bed in this room where the speaker is located.  When the family is home, he tends to be where at least one family member is located, rather than being off by himself.  While I've never thought of him as being clinically anxious, he is a bit attention seeky in general and he does get a little whiny right before they leave the house, hence my friend leaving music on for him to "keep him company."  For the record, he's never been destructive in their absence, never had any house-soiling issues, isn't barking unnecessarily, and isn't covered in drool when they get home, just a few of the classic signs of what would be considered separation anxiety.

My friend and her son left the house together and headed for a local restaurant for lunch, where I met up with them.  We brought up the camera's feed on her son's phone so we could observe what we were now referring to as "the music room." I should note that this room is no where near the door they enter and exit their house.  Here's what we found: When they left the house, he wasn't in the music room, but within a few minutes of their departure, he was not only in the music room, he was laying on his bed, chewing on a bone (he has toys and bones all over their house). We brought up the sound on the video and could clearly hear a song by Judas Priest playing as the dog chewed on his bone.  He laid there chewing on that bone through three more songs (one by Metallica, one by Slayer, and one by Black Sabbath).  When a song by Iron Maiden came on, the dog got up, stretched, and left the room.  Did that mean he didn't like that band?  Not necessarily, though that certainly could be. It could also be the case that he needed to get up and get a drink of water or go out the dog door to relieve himself.  We'd have to set up additional cameras to determine where he went.  He didn't return to the room at all during the time we were at lunch.  When we were in the parking lot saying goodbyes, we noticed he'd returned to the music room and was now sleeping on the dog bed.  The music playing?  Rage Against the Machine!

So, what does this all mean?  I think the most likely explanation is the simplest one.  This dog has been listening to heavy metal music in the background of his daily life since he came to live with my friend as an 8 week old puppy.  He associates that genre of music with his people and thus having it playing in the background while perhaps not necessarily soothing, it is familiar. Would we observe the same behaviors if classical music was played or 80's pop?  Who knows.  My friend's son may want to experiment further with other musical genres if he can get his mother to agree to a few new playlists.

There have actually been a couple of research studies done on music and dog behavior, specifically looking at the behavior of dogs in traditional kennel-type living situations.  The first study found that playing classical music to 117 kenneled dogs made them sleep more and bark less.  When heavy metal music was played for these same dogs, it resulted in more body shaking.  In a second study, they played five genres of music to 38 dogs, measuring the dogs' heart rate.  Soft rock and reggae music were the two genres that resulted in the most significant decrease in the dogs' heart rate. This second study also found that any music played help the dogs to be more relaxed in general, meaning the dogs were laying down more when music was played; when the music stopped, they barked more. And for anyone thinking that classical music is the way to go in general if you are looking for relaxation long term in your dog, that's where you'd be wrong.  A study done in 2015 found that the calming effects of classical music faded after a couple of days as the dogs habituated to the sounds.  So, if the goal is to use music to calm kenneled dogs, varying the playlists, or setting the CD player on shuffle is the key.  But how does this all relate to your dogs at home?

Well, the researchers by and large believed that pet dogs likely had their own musical tastes shaped by what their owners listened to. Meaning, if you like jazz music and play that a lot when you are home, it's likely your dog is a jazz enthusiast too. Which would explain why my friend's dog spends quite a bit of his day lounging around in the room where the speakers are playing heavy metal music.  Though, he does appear to have something against Iron Maiden as my friend's son has started noting what song is on when the dog leaves the room and he's never stayed when it was Iron Maiden.  I find that very entertaining, though I don't think it will cause my friend to remove that band from her playlists.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

I have music playing in the background most of the time when I'm home.  I've got eclectic tastes so my dogs are exposed to all kinds of genres, depending on my mood or who's home with me.  Here's Henley chilling on one of the dog beds while Melissa Etheridge is playing on vinyl in the background. Yes, I still own vinyl and prefer it.  Hey, does that mean my dogs prefer vinyl too?

When Your Dog Thinks He Works For The FBI

I nearly spit out my coffee when she said it.  The new client calling wanted to know why her dog thinks he works for the FBI.  Once I choked down my laugh and the sip of coffee, I asked her to give me a few more details so I could determine how best to help her.  She shared that she is recently divorced, no kids, just her and her four year old, male, shepherd mix.  According to her, the dog was always suspicious of her husband of two years; she indicated he was right to be and she should have listened to the dog sooner. This woman had me hooked.  There was no way I wasn't going to work with her:  A sense of humor AND an amazing dog?  My ideal client for sure. Here's why she was reaching out for help.

No matter who comes to visit, this dog stands in the doorway and gives them a full visual inspection.  She can easily call him back from the door, which he will do, and then follow that by promptly sticking his nose in the person's crotch or goose them from behind as they walk past him. As if that wasn't bad enough, she said, he'll position himself in such a way that he appears to be eavesdropping on every conversation, "in a very judgy way." Plus, he follows guests to the bathroom and then walks them back out. She said that while most of her friends and family were used to her dog doing these things and simply refer to him as "quirky," she was worried about new people she'd like to date and how they would perceive him. 

As I told her, there's been so much great research on how dogs perceive the people they encounter around their owners.  One of my most favorite studies looked at how dogs treat people they perceive as unreliable or not nice.  For the study, they had dogs present while their owners struggled with a basic task like opening a jar.  There was a second person present who did not engage the dog, nor help the struggling owner in any way.  When these same dogs were offered food by the person who had not helped their owner with the task, they didn't take the food.  In a second study, test subject dogs observed a person (not their owner) pointing at different containers; some contained food, others did not.  While the dogs all followed the pointed finger initially, those dogs who were deceived by the person to approach an empty container, stopped trusting those people and their finger points. The dogs felt betrayed and the people betraying them were not considered trustworthy. The moral of these stories:  Your dog knows the people in your life worth trusting.  When I shared this research with the client, she started laughing because it turns out her ex-husband used to laugh at her when she struggled to open one of their kitchen drawers that was perennially getting jammed. And you know what else he did?  He used to pretend to throw the dog's ball and then laughed when the dog ran off, unable to find it.  Her dog had been conducting his own experiments and this man epically failed the trust tests!

For the owners of those dogs conducting the front door sniff test, this isn't a bad thing.  Dogs are quickly grabbing (no pun intended) as much information as they can on the person entering their home.  They are gaining information on the person from a health perspective, as well as taking notes on where they've been and who they've been with.  This is why many dogs more readily trust someone entering their home who smells like other dogs.  Clearly if other dogs like this person and remained in close proximity to this person, they must be trustworthy.

We've talked about it before, but it bears repeating.  Dogs and humans have been co-evolving for over 30,000 years.  They've been at our sides that entire time, keeping our campsites and homes safe, identifying threats, showing us who to trust and who to avoid.  All we need to do is listen to them.  Maybe the FBI could take a few lessons from dogs.  Just sayin'.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

I've described Ozzie as choosy more than once.  He likes who he likes and is indifferent to most everyone else.  He'll give everyone who enters my house a sniff, he'll accept a quick pat from most, and that's about it.  When Ozzie decides he really likes someone new, it's worth noting.  When a new friend came to dinner and Ozzie chose to hop up on the couch with him, with that same grin on his face you see in the photo above, I knew that person was trustworthy.  Ozzie has never steered me wrong. Ozzie is clearly a senior agent with the FBI.

Attachment Theory: The Canine Edition

Since the 1930's, researchers have been actively studying and quantifying attachment in children.  Since the late 1980's, those studies have tended to focus more on how those early childhood bonds shape lifelong behavior patterns and overall health and well-being, with an emphasis on secure attachment versus insecure attachment.  Beginning in the 1960's, researchers began to take a bigger interest in attachment theory as it relates to our canine companions.  Studying attachment in dogs really took off in the last twenty years and continues to be explored as humans build more complex relationships with their dogs, often with those dogs serving as child-substitutes for folks not pursuing traditional parental roles.  

Let's begin with one of the early studies.  In 1998, a group of researchers in Budapest looked at 51 dogs and their owners, putting them through the paces of a test normally run on parents and babies.  Basically, there are three individuals in the testing room, the dog, the dog's owner, and a stranger.  Researchers measured what happened when the owner left the room and the stranger stayed. Did you guess that the dogs behaved just as the babies had in the human studies? If you did, you'd be correct! All of the dogs, regardless of breed, age, or sex, showed distress when their humans left them behind and anxiety about being alone in a strange environment.  They all sought comfort from the stranger as well in the absence of their owner.

Fast forward to 2015 and a study in Japan.  Researchers measured oxytocin levels in dogs and their owners after they looked at each other for varying lengths of time. For reference, oxytocin is often referred to as the love hormone because it increases with social bonding and emotional attachment. What did the researchers find?  They found that mutual eye contact between dogs and their owners triggers an increase in oxytocin in both the dogs and their people.  This mirrors the research done on mothers and infants showing a surge in oxytocin when they gazed at each other. By comparison, hand-raised wolves in the study did not show this same boost in oxytocin from the mutual gaze, leading the researchers to conclude that dogs developed this trait through the domestication process and their co-evolution with humans.

Beginning in 2012, and continuing on through today, Gregory Berns at Emory University, has been studying dog brains using MRI technology.  So much great research has come out of his work including the study that found that when dogs were exposed to five different smells on a piece of gauze while in the scanner (their own scent, the scent of another dog in their household, an unfamiliar dog, an unfamiliar human, and a familiar human from their household), all the smells lit up the dog's olfactory bulb equally, but the brain's pleasure and rewards center (the caudate nucleus) lit up the most when the dog was exposed to the smell of the familiar human. This once again demonstrates that strong attachment and emotional bond between dogs and their people even at the level of the brain. 

Finally, in 2024, a research team in Finland found that dogs and their humans mirrored each other's heart rate variability when at rest.  Most interesting was the fact that the longer the dogs and people had lived together, the stronger was their physiological bond.  And for those owners who reported being anxious or worried in general, their dogs had a greater heart rate variability, just like their people did.

Clearly the results are in:  We are incredibly attached to our dogs and they are just as attached to us, as if you dog lovers didn't know that already, right? But now, you can prove it to those naysayers telling you "it's just a dog."  Nope, our dogs are family.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

The expression of a dog who is thoroughly attached to her owner.  Zelly and my daughter are incredibly attached to one another, and it shows.  Their bond is unbreakable and unmistakable.  

There were no treats involved, just an owner looking into the eyes of her dog.  

And that dog looking right back into her soul.

We All Love Rave Reviews

Did you love the Scholastic Book Fair when you were a kid?  It was absolutely one of my favorite things every Fall when I was in elementary school.  My kids loved the book fair too, so I always volunteered to work several shifts during the week the Scholastic Book Fair was on their school campus.  I also was a library volunteer at their elementary school and I did so many library reading buddies visits with both Cooper and Desi.  I used to bring a couple of my favorite picture books with me on every library visit we did. Can you tell I love books and reading?  My love of picture books is one of the reasons I chose to write my first children's book, "The Dog Who Loved Eggplant" . Well, that and my love of collies, of course.

Years ago, the most common way a newly published book got promoted was by having a publisher push them out in front of booksellers at bookseller events and through trade publications, read mostly again by booksellers. With the explosion of social media platforms, it has become much more commonplace for authors to self-promote their books straight to consumers.  Sure, we still solicit help from booksellers to get our books into the hands of the appropriate audience, but for the most part, authors do the promotion on their own.  Social media is such a great way to exercise your creativity and explore how you want people to see you and your creations.  We've heard from so many of you regarding how much you love the videos, photos, and behind the scenes footage Jenny Cabriales (the amazing illustrator for our book) and I have spread out across many social media platforms.  You'll continue to see fun, engaging, and rewarding posts from us promoting our book as we approach the holiday season.  Which brings me to a really important piece of the process, and a part that requires your help!

Several of you have sent me notes telling me that your book arrived and you love it!  This makes my heart soar!  What would make me even more delighted would be if you could share a photo of yourself, your dogs, your kids, or even your grandkids enjoying the book.  Just remember to tag both Jenny and me in your photos when you post them.  One more favor to ask as well:  Can you take a moment to go to the book's page on Barnes & Noble online and leave a review?  If you scroll down past the book information, you'll see where you can leave a quick review.  These reviews help to push Henley's literary debut up in the algorithm, helping more people find our whimsical book.

Jenny and I are working hard to get those bookplates so we can sign your books.  Several of you asked for Henley's signature as well, so he's working on perfecting his pawprint. Of course, we'd love to see you at the book signing events we do, but we realize not everyone can make it to those, so the bookplates will be the way to make sure your copy of the book gets that extra touch.  You can message us through social media or you can send me an email with your mailing address, k9freud@gmail.com, and I'll make sure you get a bookplate when they are signed and ready to go out.

We've got some other fun surprises in store for you as well, so be sure you are following Jenny and me on your favorite social media platforms.  You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and even BlueSky.  Just search for JennyCabCreates (Jenny Cabriales) or K9Freud (Julie Bond) and you'll find us.  And we'll be waiting for those photos and reviews!

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Henley has begun practicing his pawprint on paper 

so he'll be ready to sign books and bookplates soon!

Henley Has Big News!

Last week, I posted a teaser on social media about my first children's book, "The Dog Who Loved Eggplant." I'm excited to announce that it's now available to purchase! The book is the first of many (I hope!) featuring Henley and his escapades.  Anyone who knows him, knows what a character he is:  Smart as a whip, loves to turn on the charm, and delights in an audience.  He's had so many health struggles in his three short years of life, that I'm delighted and relieved that he's still here to worm his way into the hearts of even more dog lovers.

Any of you that are owned by smooth collies know how unique they truly are.  They are lovable and biddable, just like their rough counterparts, but they are, well, different.  I love that we get stopped on the street and people want to know what breed of dog he is, as they tell him how beautiful he is.  The best part?  Henley always sits and stares at the person asking, without being asked, ever hopeful that they may want to pet him as well.  Told you, he's charming!

For this first book, I really wanted to introduce him to the world as he was when he was an adolescent:  A curious and bold young dog, who enjoyed no place more so than my garden where he hunted squirrels, chased bugs, and snacked his way through my home-grown vegetables. The story practically wrote itself!  I knew the tough part was going to be finding the perfect illustrator to bring the book to life.  Enter Jenny Cabriales.

I had known Jenny for a couple of years since discovering her on Instagram. I loved her artwork, her sense of humor, and her adorable rough collie, Nigel, the inspiration for much of her early art.  When she opened her shop on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/JennyCabCo?ref=shop_sugg_market), I was a frequent buyer, decorating my office with her art, wearing her designs, and sending her adorable coffee mugs to all my collie-loving friends.  I figured she was too busy to illustrate my book, but it was worth asking her.  As my dad used to say, "The answer is always a no if you are too chicken to ask in the first place."  So, I asked, and she said yes!  I had my illustrator, and someone who knows collies and loves them the way I do.  What happened next was nothing short of magical.

Jenny began working on the illustrations for the book, and when I saw them, I couldn't believe my eyes.  She had not only captured the story I was trying to convey, but she had captured Henley.  His lanky build, long legs and tiny feet, pricked ears, and derpy grin were all looking back at me through her drawings.  It was like she'd been right there as I wrote the book.  When I asked her how she'd been able to do that, she told me, rather matter-of-factly, that she felt like she knew him from my photos and videos on Instagram.  This made me even happier!  Henley was making friends coast to coast!

Because Jenny is on the east coast and I'm here in California, it's unlikely that we'll be able to do book signing and reading events together, but we'll sure try.  Our hope is to divide and conquer, so to speak, with each of us helping to share the book with our favorite booksellers, librarians, teachers, parents, friends, and collie lovers in our respective areas.  We both hope to travel and promote the book as well, so if your library, school, or indie bookstore would like to host an event, please let us know.  You can visit the book's official website, https://thedogwholovedeggplant.com/, and let us know who you are, where you are, and what type of visit you'd like. If you are in the Washington DC area near Jenny or close to me here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we'd love to hear from you. Depending on the location, Nigel or Henley might be able to join us!  Both Henley and Nigel intend to sign books too, so do keep that in mind. Of course, Jenny and I will sign books as well, but pretty sure folks just want collie signatures and that's a-ok with us.  As anyone who lives with a collie will tell you, it's all about them anyway!

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

"The Dog Who Loved Eggplant" is now available to order from Barnes & Noble online. Here's the link

We can't wait for you to meet Henley on the page!

Ozzie is clearly excited about his little brother's book debut too!

Raising & Encouraging Optimistic Dogs

You all already know how much I love sniffaris, those walks where dogs are just allowed to sniff and explore, stopping at every bush, tree, lamp post, and rock to check their pee mail.  The olfactory area of their brains is roughly forty times larger than ours, allowing them to dissect and categorize every smell they encounter, much like us keeping up with a complicated family group chat on our phone.  Even if you walk the same route every day, the smells change; they change with who else has visited that path, but the smells also change with the weather and the season.  And while, yes, dogs are rapid sniffers, able to sniff about five times per second, and even smell with each nostril separately, it still takes time to stop and evaluate every one of those scents they encounter on their walks, so please, don't rush them.  A dog has roughly 300 million scent receptors in their nose, while humans have only about six million. Hurrying a dog along while they are sniffing is depriving them of important information about their environment. But you already knew all of this already, right?  Here's the part you may not know.  There are sniffari benefits to be had in other places besides those walks. 

In 2019,  two canine cognition researchers, Charlotte Duranton and Alexandra Horowitz, published their findings in "Applied Animal Behaviour Science."  The paper titled, "Let me sniff! Nose-work induces positive judgment bias in pet dogs," found that dogs who engage in regular sniffing or nose-work games had a statistically significant increase in a marker they referred to as optimism. Here's a quick summary of the study:  Twenty adult dogs over the age of one year of various breeds were divided into two groups, one doing scent detection training and the other practicing standard heel work while walking.  The researchers used what is called a cognitive bias test, what they referred to as an "optimism test" in order to quantify how quickly the dogs approached "an ambiguous, empty bowl in a middle location" once they'd learned that one location always had a piece of chicken in a bowl while another never had anything in the bowl. Faster movements indicated the dogs had more positive judgment bias, that is were more optimistic. They concluded that the dogs who had participated in scent work displayed a higher judgment bias/were more optimistic, approaching search targets faster, indicating that they had an "improved emotional state and heightened initiative independent of the physical exercise."

If you want to read the full research paper yourself, you'll find it here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159118304325?via%3Dihub

So what does this all mean for your dogs? It means that allowing them to sniff, a natural, normal dog behavior, will result in dogs who generally behave in ways that show their ability to actively make choices on their own, thus enhancing their overall welfare and well-being. Providing dogs with more exploratory, foraging time results in them being less anxious and more optimistic overall. So, it's not just using their noses that's important. It's that they have a choice in how to spend their time using their noses. Scent based games like food puzzles, snuffle mats, and traditional nose-work classes and activities allow dogs to use their natural foraging behaviors and make independent choices on how to solve the problems presented thus improving their overall mental health and well-being. What this means is that sniffing on their walks is great, but you can increase their overall optimism by creating other opportunities to use their noses.  So, break out those food puzzles, sign up for the nose-work classes, and get to work!  Your dog will thank you as soon as they're done checking that pee mail.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's a photo of my sweet granddog, Westley, putting in the effort and doing 

some nose-work to solve this puzzle box.