Different Moods

This week we had Tuesday of from school. So I had the chance to observe Tyara in the morning for once, since all the other days I observe her after after school. With me observing her on Tuesday in the morning, I noticed there was a change in her behavior, she started to jump on me when I went outside . She also seemed to be more awake and out going in the morning.  I didn't pay much attention to it until I observed her on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon that I saw the difference in her attitude. "She kept running around with her bone in her mouth. I started to chase her and mess around with her when I saw she kept wanting to run." field notes 11/4. This is a video that I recorded of Tyara while she was in a good mood on Tuesday. (Please ignore my awkward sound effects in the back.)

In the video here, Tyara is really happy and energetic, she jumps on me twice. She has done that a couple of times before but now I was wondering why she does that? I know it probably has something to do with her being happy, but what does it mean? With this question I decided to do some research in why dogs jump on people. According to  ASPCA:"Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump on People",  dogs jump on people to try to get their attention. Since when they meet a new dog, they will smell their face, dogs try to do the same thing to us humans. They try to sniff our faces, but since we are way much taller than them it causes them to jump up. I never really thought of it that way, I just thought Tyara jumped on me because she was happy and had a lot of energy in her.

The rest of the week Tyara wasn't as happy and energetic as she was on Tuesday in the morning. I had more fun observing her in the morning than I did any other day that week.

Pic taken by me 11/4 (Tyara playing with her bone)

Work Cited

"Teaching Your Dog Not to Jump on People." ASPCA. N.p. n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2014.



















Memory

"Today I saw she had mud on her paws, I got a bit worried because I thought she was digging up my mom's flowers." Field notes 10/31. When she saw me she went running back to where she had been digging, there was just a tiny hole. It made a big mess because the dirt was wet. I saw Tyara grab something and the first thing that came to my head was that it was one of her dog bones. Once she went to the grass she dropped what she had in her mouth and yes, it was an old dog bone. We gave her that bone like 2 weeks ago. That just made me think, how does she know where her bone is after she buried it?

With this question wondering in my head, I decided to do some research. According to Rena Sherwood, dogs use "visual markers" in order to know where it would be easier to bury their bone. The visual marker can be something like a plant, rock, or anything that is near that will stand out to the dog. Something else that Sherwood states that a dog uses for memory is their sense of smell. Dogs can smell a bone even if it's buried down piles of dirt. Since a dog's nose is way better than a human being, they can smell a bone that has been buried for months. But in the end if a dog can't fine where they buried their bone, Sherwood says they will just start digging in random places hoping to find something new. This came familiar to me, because Tyara will sometimes be digging different holes in different places, I always wondered why she did that. I thought it was because she likes to dig and has fun doing, but now I see it is because she is hoping to find something new.

After I saw what Tyara had found (her old bone) she just went back to playing with it again. There was still some mud stuck on it, but that didn't seem to get in between of her and her bone. Field notes 10/31.

Tyara chewing on her bone pic taken 10/31

Work Cited

 

Sherwood, Rena. "How Dogs Know Where They Buried Their Bones." eHow. N.p. n.d.    

 

       Web. 1 Nov. 2014.