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Observations |
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| Day 1 I observed my dog, Lady, playing. When I came home from school, Lady started barking and whining. When I let her in the house from outsied, she started licking me and went crazy. I played with her for a few minutes and when I started pulling her front paws, she started whining and biting at me. Then I saw hwer trying to catch my little brother running in a circle around our kitchen table. She would chase him for at least 5 minutes, barking the whole time. She acted like she was having fun. | The conclusion I drew from Lady barking at me when I came home from school was that she was very happy to see me, and wanted me to pay attention to her. She wanted to come into the house so badly because she had been outside all day while I was at school. She licked me and acted extremely excited when I let her in the house. She was showing her gratitude towards me for letting her in the house. When I started teasing her by pulling her front paws, she started whining and biting me because she didn't like being teased. She thought that I was going to pinch her paws. As part of her playing, she likes to chase things. When my brother started running around, she wanted to play and get some exercise. She doesn't get a lot of exercise, so when she has an opportunity to run, she will do it. |
| Day 2 Today, when someone knocked on the front door, Lady started barking. Her bark wasn't a "happy to see you" bark, but more of an alarm because she didn't know the person at the door. The person was kind of scared, but then he put his hand down to her and she sniffed it. Then, she stopped barking. | Dogs have different barks for different occasions. This time she was barking an alert to her family to make us aware that someone she didn't know was trying to get into our house. After she could smell him, and saw that we were not alarmed by the "intruder," she stopped barking and started wagging her stubby tail. |
| Day 3 Today I saw Lady eating. She would put her pay into her food bowl before she started eating. Then, I gave her a hot pepper to eat. She sniffed at it, and then started barking and refused to eat the pepper. | Dogs are pretty smart. When Lady woudl eat out of her bowl, the bowl would slide around and she had a hard time getting the food out. She learned that she could hold the bowl still with her front paw and eat her food at the same time. I also learned that dogs will not eat spicy food. When she was unsure of the pepper's smell, she expressed herself by barking. |
| Day 4 When Lady was getting tired, she walked into her kennel. Then she walked in a little circle looking for a comfortable spot to lie down before going to sleep. Whenever I looked at her, she know that I was looking at her. She would open her eyes. Whenever I got close to her, she would wake up. At night she always sleeps on my bed, and tries to dig up the covers and make a hole for her bed. She woudl get he covers in her mouth and pull them until she was satisfied that she had made a good bed. | I think that dogs are very picky about where they lie down. Everything has to be just right. Dogs are also light sleepers. I think that dogs have good hearing, and that they are usually very alert. They are natural guards. |
| Day 5 I observed Lady looking for sunshine reflecting on the ground, and then lying down when she found it. When I opened the back door, she woudl awake very easily. | Short-haired dogs, like Lady, don't like the cold. They are smart enought to figure out that sunlight gives off heat, and if given a choice, dogs would rather sleep in a warm place than a cold one. I suppose this is only true in the winter months. During the summer, she would probably rather look for shade. Because dogs are warm blooded, I think they need a more constant temperature to be comfortable. |
| Day 6 When I came home from school, I saw that Lady had urinated on the carpet in my bedroom. Whenever I let her outside, she does not go to the bathroom, but when I let her in the house, she ends up going on the carpet. Then my mom and dad get mad at her and me, and I have to clean it up. Now we are trying to train her by giving her liverwurst when she goes outside. My dad says it's working. Slowly, but working. | Dogs have favorite places that they like to urinate on. I think that they mark a place and remember that place when they smell it. Some dogs are harder to train that others. If you give a dog a reward, like food, when they do a certain activity, after a time they will do that activity out of habit. |
| Day 7 When I woke this morning, Lady was lying down in the flower garden. When I opened the back door, she started barking. | Dogs sleep wherever it is most comfortable to them. The dirt in the garden is soft and warm. |
| Day 8 I saw her licking her paw and biting her back. She was cleaning and scratching herself. | Dogs clean themselves by licking wherever they need to be clean. They don't like fleas, and try to kill them by scratching and biting at them. Maybe they just itch, and don't know how to kill fleas. |
| Day 9 I saw her chewing on our rug after we scolded her. She grabbed a rubber toy and started chewing it. | Dogs chew when they get frustrated, angry, or don't get enough attention. Puppies chew on things so their teeth will get stronger. |
| Day 10 My brother gave Lady a bone and she started chewing on it. When I tried to touch it, she snapped at me. She put the bone in her kennel. She broke a piece off the bone and started walking around with it, whining because she couldn't fine a place to put it. | Dogs are protective of their food, no matter who tries to take it from them. Dogs also like to save food for later, and they try to hide it. Sometimes they bury bones, sometimes they just try and hide them behind things. Later, when they are in the mood to chew again, they go find the hidden bone. |
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The Wild Ones
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