Maintaining a correct and respectful relationship with your patient’s owners is of utmost importance! If you want to keep the private practice up and running, of course. However, every once in a while you will come across a statement or two about their dogs which simply aren’t accurate. Busting the dog myths that just keep on popping in general conversations with old and new customers takes time. It takes effort and an enormous amount of patience. We are hoping that in time people will ask a vet first before building a general opinion about dogs.
But does every veterinarian know exactly which common dog myths are true? If you want to make sure you don’t build your professional career on false information check the dog myths list following.
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Dry and warm nose as a sign of interrupted health
How many times did you have a case-too-late brought into your private practice? Just because the owners saw the dog’s wet nose
and thought everything is okay. A dog’s nose isn’t always dry and warm when the dog is ill. Moreover, a dog’s nose can be wet and cold while the animal is suffering from severe diseases.
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Dangerous breeds will always attack
Even though some breeds of dogs require additional or specific training, it has never been proven that some breeds are more prone to aggressive behavior than others. Every dog is born with the same potential to become aggressive in time if not taken care off properly. The general causes for disrupted behavior in dogs are the owners that didn’t provide proper training and socialization for their pet. Viciousness and aggressiveness cannot be inherited.
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It is better having a litter of puppies prior to spaying
Not only that this myth has nothing to do with health benefits for female dogs, but it’s also one of the reasons for dog overpopulation. Veterinarians hustle with owners that think that spaying the dog will be easier and better for the dog after she gives birth to a litter of puppies. Still, while explaining this to people you should be careful because many just want for their dog to be a mother at least once, for humane reasons of course.
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Dogs only see in black and white
Maybe the dog’s vision isn’t as well developed as ours, but the retina of a dog’s eye can register some colors of the spectrum. Except for black and white, dogs register gray, yellow, blue and green colors.
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7 human – 1 dog age
This method for counting how old is your dog in “human” year is incorrect and outdated. There is a significant breed difference in the aging process in means of large vs. small breeds. At about a year the dogs reach puberty (10-14 years of human age). Large breeds mature faster so more human years are added per one dog year and it’s the opposite for smaller breeds.
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Dogs eat grass to induce vomiting
It’s hard to believe that 90% of the world dog population is constantly sick. Eating too much grass like eating too much of anything will make the dog vomit. However, that doesn’t mean that the initial cause for consuming it is a state of illness. Wolves consume berries and grass and intestinal and stomach content from herbivores, which is pretty much grass, and guess what, dogs like and need grass too.
If you want to read more go to our blog.
DISCLAIMER: This article was originally published on July 25th, 2017.
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