Category: Tips & Tricks

Our dog’s sense of smell is comparable to a high-performance computer. With their over 220 million olfactory cells (cf. humans have about 5 million), dogs smell 10,000 to 100,000 times better than we humans, depending on the breed. No wonder, then, that amazing abilities and areas of application are attributed to the dog’s nose.

“My dog reads the newspaper”

… this is a statement we often hear from dog owners when their beloved pelt-nose is busy sniffing and marking. And indeed, it’s true! Your dog’s sense of smell and social interaction are strongly linked. When dogs smell each other’s private parts, for example, they are exchanging a similar amount of information as to when we look at our friends’ Instagram profiles – the difference, the information dogs share via chemical messengers (pheromones) is unfiltered and real.

What information is communicated through smell?

• Age
• Gender
• Health status
• Reproductive status (Is my opposite ready to mate?).
• Social status
• Temperament
• Degree of relationship
• Genetic differences
• Origin (Where was my counterpart just?)
• and much more.

Dogs mainly communicate information about territorial and sexual behavior as well as about mother-child bonding.

So can dogs also smell fear?

The fact that we can transfer moods to our dog is already no scientific novelty. But does our smell play a major role in the transmission of moods, in addition to facial expressions, gestures, and our altered cardiovascular system?

Using sweat samples (from happy people, anxious people, and neutral people), we investigated whether dogs can smell fear. The results showed that dogs did indeed show altered behavior in the sweat samples from anxious people compared to the happy and neutral people. An increased heart rate, more uncertainty, and more frequent eye contact with the owner indicated that fear may very well be perceived by our dogs through the sense of smell. Presumably, this ability serves to the fact that dogs can estimate the feelings of their humans so better.

Thus we learn once again that we do not need to pretend anything to our dog, he has already seen through us or smelled the roast, before we know what we feel.

If you want to put your dog’s nose to the test, download our app and teach your dog “The Money Search”! You’ll be amazed at how accurate your dog’s sense of smell is and get to know your dog even better.

New Year’s Eve is an event to celebrate for many people. Parties, loud music, sparklers, and fireworks are simply part of it. But many dog owners have a rather queasy feeling when they think of New Year’s Eve. The reason: their dog is afraid.

But how do you actually know if your dog is anxious, stressed or fearful and when should you act?

In this blog post, you’ll learn the difference between anxiety, stress, and fear and how to recognize your dog’s specific signals.

F.A.S. – Fear, Anxiety, Stress.

Fear → Is a directed reaction to a threatening situation (also to be managed).

Anxiety → Is an undirected reaction to an experience or situation that cannot be concretely grasped and that is apparently unmanageable.

Stress → Is an unspecific reaction of the body to a (also potential) strain.

Stressors can cause such a strain.

Is my dog scared?

The best way to determine if your dog is experiencing fear, anxiety, or stress is to pay attention to his body signals.

Possible early signs of F.A.S. may include:

• ears pointed slightly back or to the side
• lowered tail
• furrowed brow
• slower movements or stiffening
• slightly dilated pupils
• looking around for the holder
• frantic search for escape possibilities
• panting with narrower mouth opening
• refusal of food or faster food intake
• stronger chewing on toys
• unspecific individual signs

If your dog shows one or more of these signs, it is already management action to take.

Calming my dog when he is anxious:

There are several ways you can calm your dog when he is anxious, stressed, fearful. Here are a few examples:

• Offering closeness and petting if necessary.
• Offer protection e.g. dog crate, between legs, under a table etc.
• Distraction e.g. by food puzzle or playing together
• Exercise (please not outside on New Year’s Eve, but rather inside the house)
• Conditioned relaxation signal (start free training now!)
• Reduce stressors (e.g. light and noise on New Year’s Eve), e.g. darken windows, turn on TV or radio.
• Do not leave your dog alone
• Specific rituals between you and your dog

We hope these tips help you and your dog! If you want to learn even more about your dog’s behavior or start New Year’s Eve training right away, download our app now!

Sleep, rest, and relaxation are not only important in our lives, but also in the life of our dog. If your dog gets too little sleep, it can not only affect his mood but also have a negative impact on his learning behavior, his metabolism, and ultimately his health.

In this article, you will learn how much sleep your dog needs to be healthy and happy. In addition, we will show you how your dog can best recover and which routines support him in doing so.

How much sleep my dog needs

The sleep rhythm of dogs, as with us humans, is cyclical and includes more hours of sleep at night than during the day. But as you may have noticed, your dog also sleeps quite often when you are working, cooking, or sitting in the café. Observations of street dogs have shown that they spend about 50 to 70 percent of a 24-hour day sleeping or resting. For a healthy dog life, we recommend about 16-18 hours of sleep for adult dogs and about 20 hours for puppies and sick dogs.

How do dogs sleep?

You will certainly wonder why your dog should sleep so many hours a day and that the remaining hours are hardly enough for your daily routines. But we can reassure you, your dog should not sleep 16 hours at a stretch, but spread over day and night.

Most of the time dogs sleep about 20-30 minutes at a time and go through a rapid pattern of wakefulness, transition stage, light slow-wave sleep, deep slow-wave sleep (mostly NREM sleep), and REM sleep. REM sleep or rapid eye movement sleep is a very restless stage of sleep and you can often recognize it by the movement of eyes or limbs. NREM sleep or non-rapid eye movement sleep, on the other hand, is calm and deep.

Why is sleep important for dogs?

Healthy and deep sleep is not only for rest and energy maintenance but is also important for important learning processes in the brain. Experiences gathered during the day are sorted and important information is stored in long-term memory, while unimportant information is deleted.

Researchers even found that dogs that took a rest break of 20-30 minutes after a learning task achieved better learning results than dogs that did not get any time to sleep. It was also found that dogs have long-term declarative memory, which ensures that dogs can remember detailed events over a long period of time.

Consequences of sleep deprivation

If a dog gets too little sleep, this can have fatal consequences for its health and performance. Due to the lack of rest during sleep, many dogs become irritable and show behavioral abnormalities, such as restlessness and lack of rest, difficulty concentrating, exaggerated aggressive behavior, or even over-excited behavior. In addition, dogs that suffer from sleep deprivation tend to get sick more often, because the immune system is weakened. The stress a sleep-deprived dog experiences can result in long-term chronic diseases of the cardiovascular and/or gastrointestinal systems.

Help your dog find rest and recovery

In order for your dog to get adequate sleep and rest, he needs a place to retreat undisturbed – preferably in a comfortable dog bed. The place for the dog bed should not be in passageways or the hallway, otherwise, your dog will be constantly disturbed. It is best to place the dog bed in a place where you spend a lot of time but are not very active, e.g. in the living room or in the study if you work in a home office. Train your dog to stay in the dog bed so that you can send him there during the day.

Many dogs must first learn to really relax while their humans are going about their daily lives. Therefore, it is important that your dog learns to stay in the dog bed while you do something around the house, for example. Especially puppies and young dogs are very curious and would otherwise run after you the whole day although they are actually dead tired. Rest rituals, like our relaxation exercise in the app or cuddling together on the sofa, can help your dog get enough rest and sleep.

One last tip

Even if everyday life is stressful and you have a lot on your to-do list, it’s worth relaxing for a few minutes together with your dog. Let our app remind you of the relaxation ritual every day and create space for you and your dog to take a little break together.

Dog forums, Facebook, Instagram, books, dog trainers, veterinarians, trade journals, gossip magazines, TV shows, etc. the information market on dogs is huge.

Whether that’s good or bad, we’ll leave that to one side. It is important to us that you ALWAYS question everything you read, hear and see and NEVER act without thinking about it. Whether expert or layman, knowledge about dogs is no more static than knowledge about our own species, so we ask you not to see the following myths set in stone, but as food for thought.

The top 10 current dog myths:

Puppies have puppy protection.

The fact is, there is a kind of puppy protection in dogs’ own social groups. One’s own genetic material is protected, but not foreign genetic material. Foreign puppies can even be seen as competition in dogs, which in the worst case can also lead to an attack. If the puppy is no longer in the family group (i.e. mother, father, and siblings), no form of puppy protection applies. Strange bitches can react differently to puppies, depending on the stage of the cycle, so here again, there is separate caution!

Dogs should never win tug-of-war games.

A common myth is that winning tug games gives the dog a sense of superiority over its owner. This is not entirely true! If you and your dog have a good relationship or even a bond, then your dog understands that it is a game and not a taking away of a resource. A play-out game always consists of alternating between winning and losing. Why should your dog always be the loser? By winning, your dog’s self-esteem is confirmed and at the same time, he associates a positive emotion with you and this game. So let him triumph sometimes!

Your dog must always walk behind you and may only enter new rooms/areas after you.

Scientific field research on wolves (e.g. Bloch) shows that running positions and status rank are not the same or dependent on each other. There may be very different reasons why one animal runs ahead and another brings up the rear. Examples would be Strength, better endurance, courage, or curiosity. So it doesn’t give you an advantage in your power position if you always let your dog run behind you. However, rituals that your dog only leaves the front door after you are quite reasonable from the point of view of safety for your dog. It is important to remember that your position of power has nothing to do with your position towards your dog.

Rewarding with treats should be avoided.

A contentious issue with many dog trainers. We would like to give you some food for thought on this: When is it worth it for your dog to make a change in his behavior? This question is individual for each dog, but also for each situation you are in with your dog. In the word “reward” there is the word “reward”. A behavior change is always executed only if the change results in an improvement for the dog. So if your dog does not like treats, then it is not worth changing his behavior for that. If he likes treats, it is certainly a good incentive to improve his situation. But you can also reward your dog with play or affection. Especially because food is finite and your dog will eventually get tired of it. Tip from our trainer team: Find two rewards that are rewarding for your dog and combine them. You know your dog best!

Old dogs can’t learn anything anymore.

True to the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” This would be a nice excuse for all those who take in a dog at an advanced age, but it’s not true. Ever heard of “renewable cells”? Especially cells in the hippocampus (learning center) are incredibly plastic, i.e. they renew and change, therefore even an old dog can learn new things and is still able to be trained. This does not mean that it is an easy way, especially with undesirable behaviors, with which the dog has already had success several times, can be very stubborn and you should consult a trainer. Feel free to contact us with such concerns in our trainer chat.

They’ll sort it out between themselves.

We hope at this point that it is no longer a myth, but that this sentence is now ringing alarm bells for all dog owners.

For all those who are still stuck on this sentence: What should they regulate?

We hope it is clear to everyone that you can, and should intervene in a dispute between dogs if the situation gets out of hand. Apart from the fact that a small 4 kg dog can hardly stand up to a 40 kg dog. As a reliable bonding partner, it is your duty to protect your dog.

As a reliable bond partner, it is your duty to stand by your dog as a safe haven in unsafe situations. You are responsible for your dog!

Dogs must always be friendly to each other otherwise, they have a behavior problem.

Ok. Question: Do you like everyone? Have you ever fought with anyone? Why should our dogs be like every other dog? There are also sympathies and also not with our fur noses. It is important to know that it also depends on the situation. Age, health, gender, hormone status, all things that can turn friends into enemies. Observe your dog and you will quickly realize with whom he can and with whom not. Having a few friends is nice, but being friends with everyone on the dog run can also be quite stressful.

Dogs are not allowed in bed with you otherwise, you will make him the boss!

A ranking problem can be based on many reasons, but it does not arise from letting your dog sleep with you. Dogs usually choose to jump on the bed or sofa because they find it just as comfortable as you do. As a rule, lying in contact with your dog even promotes your bond! So there’s no drama as long as you want your dog to keep you company in bed or on the sofa. A recent study even found that women sleep better when a dog sleeps in their bed. If you still want your dog to sleep somewhere else, it helps to make this place extra comfortable for him, e.g. by hiding food or chewing items there at irregular intervals.

A chest harness is better than a collar.

This is a topic about which many veterinarians and dog trainers certainly argue. We don’t even want to talk much about that here, because we’re not vets either! Fact is, the chest harness was originally used for dogs to pull e.g. a sled. It is also a fact that a harness distributes the pulling weight evenly over the body and a collar does not. Thus, the collar exerts a force on the cervical spine at a high pull. If your dog pulls strongly, it is up to you whether you simply train it off, then a collar will not cause any damage to your dog or whether you decide to put on a harness. It doesn’t mean that you can’t train your dog to pull with a harness. It is your dog, you decide. We don’t want to judge better and worse here, our trainers use both!

Dogs that growl are aggressive.

Sometimes we humans just have to let go of our need for harmony and admit that our dogs, too, are allowed to express displeasure. How else are they supposed to show us that they don’t like something? They cannot speak! Growling and baring of teeth is a warning that another dog or we are doing something that causes displeasure in our dog. This can be a pain, undercutting of distance, etc. It mustn’t turn into something more! Learning to read the dog is very important. If you are unsure, you should consult a trainer! Feel free to send us videos in our trainer chat of a situation where you would like to have an assessment.

We wish you a lot of fun with your dog

Your Pupy Team

Out of 900 million dogs worldwide, 700 million of them live on the streets.

This is an enormously high number. Because of this, I as well as numerous animal welfare activists, are happy about every single rescue dog, who finds a great home in a family.

Since a few weeks, I have had a second rescue dog. So I live together with my seven-year-old former street dog Nala from Romania and a five-month-old young dog named Swift from Spain. Both spent their first weeks and months of life in a shelter until they moved in with me.

What it means to take in an animal welfare dog

Adopting a dog from a shelter is a great thing – but it is also not so easy.

First of all, you have to find a suitable animal welfare organization – unfortunately, there are some black sheep here, too. Both of my dogs have special adoption stories and in most cases, it doesn’t work out that you choose any dog and that dog moves in with you right away. With Nala I searched for a long time on the Internet for a suitable dog. She is my first dog and I had no special ideas about what I expect from a dog. Only the chemistry should be right. Something came in between with all dogs. Either the dog was already gone or somehow the gut feeling did not fit. On the Internet, there are various sites such as tiervermittlungen.de and edogs.de , on which I also looked, which bundle the numerous dogs from shelters throughout Europe and on which also a filter can be set. For example, a few months ago I was looking for a male herding dog, preferably a border collie (mixed breed). At some point, I saw Swift and it clicked immediately. However, he was already reserved. By chance, it turned out that of the people interested in him,  jumped off and I could adopt him. With my dog Nala I had expressed interest in another dog at that time, but they suggested Nala to me – a dog that changed my complete life. So the suggestions from the organization can be very helpful and should at least be considered. Check-in any case if the animal welfare organization is serious before you take in a dog. Signs for it are that the mediators are interested in you and your living situation, inform you in detail about the dog, and would take the dog back in an emergency. In addition, in a serious animal welfare organization, no puppies younger than 16 weeks are mediated and the departing dogs are vaccinated, skipped, and dewormed.

I had then in 2014 listened to the advice of the organization and looked at the said dog – Nala was already in a shelter in Germany, so I could visit her. This is super helpful and should definitely be claimed if possible. Swift came directly from Spain. I could not meet him before and it was a much bigger risk. In such cases, however, reputable animal welfare organizations try to give a lot of info about the dogs’ stay and provide you regularly with photos or videos.

After I had decided in each case for the dog, a preliminary control was accomplished with me at home. Thereby it is controlled whether the information about the living environment is really correct and these fit to the dog. Normally a nice conversation develops and I also got some good tips on the way with Swift.

After the preliminary inspection, a protection contract is signed, which is always drawn up by a reputable animal welfare organization. And then the adventure (new) dog begins.

The way to a new home

I picked up Nala at the animal shelter in Germany. Swift was brought to Germany with a transporter and I picked him up at a collection point. It is super important to secure the dog well and make his start into his new life as comfortable as possible. After Swift sat in the transporter for many hours, he now had to travel another 500 kilometers with us to the Ruhr area – an enormous strain on the dog. That’s why you should always have a companion with you when you pick him up – my boyfriend accompanied me and drove us, so I could fully concentrate on Swift. Every hour we took a short break, for this we left the highway and looked for a quiet meadow. Arriving at home, most shelter dogs first experience a culture shock. Nala had never seen a house from the inside before and Swift had only lived in between for a short time on a foster home and then also waited in the shelter for a new life. Depending on how old the dog is, different things now need to be considered.

Familiarization takes time

Nala was about half a year old at that time and Swift four months. The younger the dogs are, the easier and faster they get used to their new home. Attention – also here exceptions confirm the rule! Since each dog is an individual, there are also very big differences here and it depends very much on the experience of the dog owner and on the circumstances. When Nala moved in with me, it took much longer for her to settle in. She was very scared and I was just very awkward, owed to the fact that Nala is my first dog and generally the first dog in our family. But despite the rough start, Nala still turned into a great dog. Swift’s acclimation according to currently is much easier. On the one hand, because he is generally quite a brave puppy, as soon as he has overcome his initial insecurity. In addition, I have much more knowledge about dogs and Nala can teach him a lot as a sovereign first dog.

What you should consider when moving in a shelter dog

In general, however, when adopting a dog from animal welfare, some things are always to be considered. First, you should make sure that the dog is always well secured. Most dogs do not know cars, bicycles, and other things that are common for us. So that the newly moved in dog does not immediately end up on the wanted list, it should always be secured either with a safety harness or with the combination harness and collar. Additionally, you should allow your new family member enough time to settle in and not expect too much from him. It is a masterpiece for every rescue dog to get used to his new life and the dog needs time as well as many positive experiences with unknown people, dogs, and the environment. You should also intensively deal with the theory around dog and dog training and at best organize professional support in the form of a dog school or a dog trainer. We also provide tips and training assistance in the Pupy app, guiding you and your dog on your journey together to become a great human-dog team.

It also took us a few months with Nala until we really found each other. A common hobby helped us. Every dog benefits from having a task and I can only recommend finding something with the dog that is fun for both of you. In the next few years, there will always be small and larger problems, but you face these challenges with every dog – no matter where his origin lies. It is important not to get discouraged and to keep looking for new solutions. By the intensive occupation with his dog, one is then rewarded with beautiful moments. I don’t want to imagine my life without my two great rescue dogs Nala and Swift.

Many dog lovers want second or more dogs after a while. But what is better? Keeping a single dog or multiple dogs?

What will a second dog bring with it?

If only one dog lives in a household, there is more time and attention available for this dog. Especially if there are many dogs in a household, it is difficult to do justice to all the dogs and to exercise them according to their individual needs. With a single dog, it is also easier to react to problems and manage them. If two or more dogs pull on the leash or show other undesirable behavior, it is much more difficult to keep the situation under control. If vacation care is needed for the vacations or if one is dependent on help in case of illness, it is also much easier for a dog to get support. In addition, it must not be forgotten that a dog is significantly cheaper to care for. Food, veterinary costs, etc. double or multiply with several dogs. In addition, single dogs usually bond more closely to humans and have more intense relationships.

The factors in favor of multiple dog ownership.

Every dog is different and can enrich your life in a different context. For example, each dog can be trained for specific tasks based on its individual strengths, such as a particular dog sport or therapy dog work. In addition, the different characters of the dogs offer an interesting and deep insight into the dog world and intra-species communication. With a second (or more) dog(s), the dogs always have a friend available – be it for playing or just so that the single dog is not alone. A confident first dog can also teach the newcomer a lot. But beware! Undesirable behavior gets also copied.

Now, what is better?

It can not be said in general, whether keeping a single dog or multiple dogs is better. It depends entirely on the type of man and on the idea of his life. The more dogs are added, the more limited are the freedoms and the more time the dogs need. It is the same as the costs. It should be considered in any case just as with the acquisition of a first dog, well, whether one or more additional dogs fit into the life and whether one can do justice to these. It should also be noted that not every dog benefits from another dog, so it should also be looked at whether you really do the existing dog a favor with another dog. If the conditions are right and you have a lot of fun and joy in the intensive interaction with several dogs, keeping multiple dogs can be an enrichment. Equally, however, keeping a single dog can also be more advantageous.

If you are unsure whether a second dog is right for you and your dog, you can get advice from our professional dog trainers in the Trainer Chat.

The car is a popular way of transportation with a dog. Especially those who want to go on vacation with their dog appreciate the comfort of their own car. For a relaxed and safe transport of your dog in the car, there are a few basic rules to follow, which we present to you today.

Accustom your dog to the transport in the car.

Before you drive long distances with your dog, your dog should be used to the transport in the car. This includes getting used to the ride itself as well as getting used to the safety devices, e.g. the placement in a transport box or the fixation by a safety belt.

In our app, you will find exercises on how to get your dog used to both the car and the dog crate.

Avoid nausea during the car ride.

If your dog is prone to nausea and vomiting during the car ride, you can prevent it by giving your dog very little to eat before the ride or, depending on the severity of nausea, discuss the situation with your vet beforehand.

Breaks

Sufficient breaks during the journey are important not only for you as a driver, but also for your dog! Full rest areas on the highway, you should avoid with your dog, especially anxious dogs can be quickly stressed by the noise of the highway. Use the breaks to get off the highway and go for a walk, especially on long stretches. A picnic together with your dog is also a great idea.

Make sure to offer your dog enough liquid.

Drinking enough is super important for your dog especially in the summer, so keep offering him water during your trip. There are bowls that you can also put in your dog’s crate during the trip, for example, without spilling water.

Attention in the heat!

For the trip to the summer vacation, you pay attention best to the fact that you start in the early morning hours or late evening hours. Always keep in mind that your car can heat up in traffic jams or even during a long drive. Air conditioning should only be turned on in moderation to prevent eye irritation or a cold in your dog. Open windows can also irritate your dog’s eyes and cause inflammation.

We wish you a safe trip with your dog!

Your Pupy Team