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Dogs are not small humans! Ask the vet… with Lynn Broom

We love our dogs as members of our families and we sometimes forget that they are not human. They do, however, differ from humans in terms of their health and their behaviour, in some aspects quite markedly.

Just because we can eat something doesn’t mean that dogs can eat the same. Chocolate, onions and raisins can all be toxic and should be avoided. Xylitol is a common sweetener and sugar replacer in sweets and chewing gum and can cause dangerously low levels of blood glucose and liver failure.

Drugs which are safe and beneficial to us may be fatal to dogs. A single 200mg ibuprofen tablet can be toxic to a 4kg dog causing intestinal bleeding. Even drugs which are useful in dogs often need significantly lower doses due to their smaller body size and it can be easy to cause toxicity if dogs are given or accidentally eat human medication.

Dogs use different innate body language to humans. For instance we smile to show friendliness. A smile involves parting your lips and showing your teeth – in dog language this is seen as snarling which is a display of aggression. Dogs which have been raised with people have usually learnt to recognise a smile as a positive response (and some may even copy it!) but those unused to people can find a smile threatening. Holding eye contact in the dog world is another aggressive dominant behaviour but we often stare at and hold eye contact with dogs assuming they are interacting with us. However this may be seen as a threat particularly by a nervous dog.

Dogs do not have the same social rules as us. While dogs may learn via training what we do and do not want them to do they do not understand why these behaviours are required, simply that they receive a positive response for something we want them to do. A dog which looks guilty when found with a chewed shoe is simply showing submissive behaviour because he recognises that your angry body language is associated with previous negative experiences, and he is attempting to prevent you from directing your anger at him – he does not, however, understand why you are angry.

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