to help dog and cat owners resolve their pets’ issues. All the while, I’ve posted to my blog almost every Wednesday and started a second blog on Psychology Today.
If you had told my younger self that one day I would be writing about the science of how to make dogs happy, I would have been very surprised. Like many people, in the past I underestimated dogs. I’m not the only person whose dogs have prompted them to learn more about training and behavior, so this book is for everyone who wants to know more. I’m lucky to be in a position to understand (and contribute to) the science, and to have worked with all kinds of dogs. I love seeing the difference it can make to both human and dog when an owner has a better understanding of their dog’s needs.
This book is about what science tells us about dogs and what it means for their welfare. Different chapters look at getting a dog, how to train your pet, the social behavior of dogs and how to tell when they are playing, what dogs eat, how much they sleep, and how to make visits to the veterinarian easier. There’s even a chapter on end-of-life issues for those people who are struggling with this difficult time (ideally, something to read long before you need to think about this). Although I write about specific scientific studies, I’ve tried to make them easy to understand and not get bogged down in technical details. The book also includes many quotes from experts who answered my question, What’s the one thing that would make the world better for dogs?
Every chapter ends with a set of bullet points telling you how to apply the science at home. They are realistic and evidence-based. There’s a checklist at the end of the book to help you think about how to apply these ideas. The final chapter summarizes the most important things you can do for your dog.
By the end of the book, you’ll have a good understanding of how to make your dog happy (or even happier). Of course, a book is not a substitute for a professional opinion. If you have concerns about your dog, see your veterinarian, dog trainer, or behaviorist, as appropriate.
And remember, we are always learning. Whatever we thought we knew about dogs is subject to change—and, as you’ll see from this book, some of those developments are exciting, surprising, and relevant to our everyday lives. Let’s start by looking at the things that need to come together to have a dog who is happy, not just in the moment but throughout life.
1
HAPPY DOGS
GHOST LOVED THE snow and his thick fur coat was built for it. He would bound, jump, and roll in it, eat the fresh snow, and carefully sniff the yellow snow, nose twitching delicately as he took in every detail. There’s a photo of him lying in deep snow in our backyard, looking long and lean as always. He’s staring at the camera and his mouth is closed as if to say, “Why are you pointing that thing at me?” But either side of that moment, when the camera was away, he was ecstatic in his element.
Bodger loves to chase snowballs. When I kick snow into the air he tries to catch it, and as the excitement builds he goes boing! boing! boing! just watching my feet crunch on the snow. And at any time of year, he loves to be chased, especially if he has a stick. He will let me get quite close and then suddenly bound away across the lawn, stick firmly in his mouth as he does a victory lap before settling down to tempt me to come close again.
But happiness isn’t just about these moments of delight; it’s also about everyday contentment. There are several ingredients to having a happy dog: a happy dog must have their welfare needs met, which can only be done when we have a good knowledge of canine behavior and an understanding of what our individual dog needs; a happy dog of course must be happy, something we need to be able to recognize; and a happy dog must have a good relationship with their owner, because otherwise they are at risk of being rehomed or euthanized.
People want their dogs to be happy. We spend more on our pets than ever before. The American Pet Products Association estimates that Americans will spend more than $75 billion on pets in 2019 (a huge increase from twenty years ago when the amount was only $23 billion).1 It is estimated that there are 89.7 million dogs in the United States, 8.2 million in Canada, and 9 million in the United Kingdom.2 That’s a lot of dogs to keep happy.
SPOTTING A HAPPY DOG
IT’S EASY TO spot a happy dog in the moment. The eyes are relaxed and the mouth is open in a relaxed way. Some teeth and part of the tongue are visible, but the lips are not pulled back to show off all the teeth in a snarl. Maybe the tail is wagging a lovely, loose wag that makes the whole body wiggle. The posture is normal, not lowered in fear, and the ears are relaxed.
Recognizing fear in dogs is harder, something people with professional experience are better at than regular dog owners.3 Even in situations where people might reasonably expect their dog to be afraid, such as at the vet or when there are fireworks, a sizeable number of people miss the signs.4 There are many ways dogs telegraph fear, anxiety, and stress: tucking the tail, holding the ears back, licking the lips or nose, making whale eyes (wide eyes showing the whites of the eyes), looking away, lifting a paw, trembling or shaking, having a low body posture, yawning, panting, grooming, sniffing, seeking out people (looking for comfort from their owner), hiding, not moving (often mistaken for being calm), having a stiff or frozen posture, urinating, and defecating. When people fail to spot these signs, they are not able to help their dog be less stressed.
This dog’s relaxed eyes and open mouth show she is happy. BAD MONKEY PHOTOGRAPHY
Although you can see teeth, the mouth is open in a relaxed way. BAD MONKEY PHOTOGRAPHY
Gemma does not like the camera, so she looks away. CHRISTINE MICHAUD
Signs of stress. The dog is looking away, the mouth is closed, you can see whale eye, and the ears are pinned back. KRISTY FRANCIS
Not all wags are friendly; a short, rapid wag with a high tail is a threat signal. However, some dogs are bred to have only a stubby or corkscrew tail, while cosmetic procedures are sometimes used to dock the tails and/or crop the ears. These breeding and cosmetic changes can interfere with our (and other dogs’) ability to read canine body language. Some jurisdictions, such as British Columbia and Nova Scotia in Canada, have banned ear cropping and tail docking, but they are still permissible in many locations. Even other dogs get confused by stubby tails. When researchers made a robot dog that could have either a short stubby tail or a long (normal) tail, they found the tail made a difference to how other dogs behaved.5 With the long tail, other dogs approached the robot when it wagged in a friendly way and stayed away when its tail was still and upright (a threat signal). But when the robot dog had a stubby tail, dogs approached cautiously as if they were not sure whether or not its intentions were friendly, regardless of what the tail did.
We take it for granted that dogs experience happiness and fear. Charles Darwin believed that human and non-human animals evolved the ability to experience emotions, but over the years many scientists have been skeptical, in part due to our inability to know the subjective experience of animals (and perhaps also because of historical beliefs about humans being unique and special compared with other animals).6 But increasingly we have evidence of non-human animals experiencing emotion, and scientists
