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WHY DOES MY DOG LICK MY HAND?
Licking, in general, has several purposes: First,
it is a form of self-grooming and, at times, grooming of others in the
social group (also called allogrooming). Second, mothers with puppies
will lick to clean them and to stimulate urination and defecation.
Third, juvenile dogs and wolves lick the mouth of adults as a form of
greeting which also stimulates regurgitation of eaten food (a convenient
way to transport hunted prey back to the den).
The licking behavior of pet dogs is probably
derived from this last behavior—a combination of begging and greeting,
which also signals subordinate rank. In some cases extreme or constant
licking, difficult to interrupt, may indicate a compulsive disorder.
However, while compulsive disorder is relatively uncommon, licking is a
universal social signal among dogs. Habitual licking is probably a
combination of evolutionary derived behavior and learned (reinforced)
behavior. After all, when dogs lick our hands we are quietly grateful.
WHY DOES MY DOG LIFT HIS LEG TO URINATE?
Dogs use a variety of postures for urination. In
general terms, they may squat their hindquarters, stand and lift a rear
leg, or some combination of the two. The purpose of urination may be
generalized into two categories: Elimination, or emptying the bladder,
and urine-marking to place a scent where other dogs might encounter it.
Leg-lifting is a posture often used for urine-marking. Although
leg-lifting is usually seen in sexually intact male dogs, it is also
seen in neutered males, and in both sexually intact (especially when
"in heat") and spayed females.
At times it may be difficult to distinguish
between urine elimination and urine-marking, but the latter will
typically involve only a small volume of urine deposited in several
areas. Urine-marking provides a signpost by its "owner" that
lingers long after the dog has trotted away. In wolf packs,
urine-marking is most often performed by the highest ranking male and
female. Pet dogs that lift their legs to urinate are more likely to be
territorially or socially dominant animals, although this is not always
the case.
WHY DOES MY DOG BARK AT VISITORS?
Dogs communication skills are complex, as one
might expect of such highly social animals. Their vocabulary includes
visual signals (such as body postures, facial expressions and tail
movements), olfactory signals (such as urine marking) and auditory, or
sound, signals (such as barking and growling).
Dogs bark for a variety of reasons, as do their
wild counterparts. Barking may indicate situations ranging from play to
attention-seeking. When they bark at visitors, dogs are probably using
their voice as an alarm to "warn" their pack of the arrival of
an unfamiliar person. At the same time they are warning the visitor of
their territorial ownership. This behavior is natural to all dogs, but
some dogs will bark more than others, probably because of a combination
of reinforcement (learning) and genes.
If you listen closely you will notice a
difference in quality between such alarm barking (low-pitched and often
mixed with growling) and the barks elicited by play (higher pitched) or
by separation anxiety (possibly mixed with howling).
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Reprinted with permission by the Ralston Purina
Company
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