Almost all the owners said their dog had at least one problem behaviour, such as issues with control, attention-seeking or aggression. By the time the pets reached 21 months old, owners reported an average of five problem behaviours, while 20% said their pets had eight or more.

A study by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has found four in five (82%) owners of ‘pandemic puppies’ have reported using aversive, or punishment-based, training methods to try to improve their dog’s behaviours. Aversive techniques, such as shouting at a dog, or jerking its lead, are linked to further behaviour issues and are also ineffective, researchers said.

The most frequent behavioural problems were control behaviours (84%), attention-seeking (77%), fear/avoidance behaviours (41%) and aggressive behaviours (25%). As to how they trained their dogs over the same period, nearly all (96%) owners said they praised their pets verbally, but 80% also reported using one or more aversive methods or aids and 39% admitted they used two or more.

RVC lecturer, Dr Rowena Packer, who led the study, said problem behaviours “are extremely common in pandemic puppies, and in many cases, are potentially being exacerbated by owners using punishment-based training techniques.

The study is part of the RVC Pandemic Puppies project that follows a group of puppies bought during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 under the age of 16 weeks from breeders in the UK.

source: Sky News

Hannah and Danielle Reed were born a minute apart but in two different years.

Hannah was born via cesarean section at 11:59 last New Year’s Eve, and her sister, Dannielle, was born just 40 seconds after midnight, making her the first baby of 2014 in Abilene, Texas.

Their mother, Veronica Reed, 32, said they celebrated Hannah’s first birthday Wednesday night with dinner, presents and a cake. And they’ll do itall over again to celebrate Danielle’s birthday today.

“They’re just perfect,” Reed said. “They’re healthy. They have eight teeth each. Danny’s crawling around, and Hannah’s well on her way”.

The girls look alike, but it’s already clear to Reed that they have very different personalities. Danielle is on the go all the time fromsun up until sun down and her big sister is quieter and likes to observe before she does anything, Reed said.

But they also have a few things in common. “Both love to laugh and play and clap,” Reed said. “And they love music.”

They also love the telephone because Reed had a job in the African country of Djibouti for about four months this year, and that’s how they used to keep in touch, she said. As a result, the girls like to pretend they’re on the phone.

“They say ‘hello’ and immediately put their hand to their ear like they’re on the telephone,” Reed said.

They’ll have a birthday party on Sunday for family and friends, but each girl will get her own theme: “Winter wonderland” for Hannah and “sugar plum fairy” for Danielle.

Kérdések:

1. Miért volt különleges Hannah és Danielle születése?

2. Hogyan ünneplik a születésnapjukat?

3. Hogyan fejlődnek? 

4. Miben különböznek?

5. Miben hasonlítanak egymásra?

6. Miért szeretik a telefont?

Válaszok:

1. Egy perc (negyven másodperc) eltéréssel születtek, de két különböző évben.

2. Két külön napon (vacsorával, ajándékokkal és tortával). Van közös születésnap is a családdal és a barátokkal, de két különböző témával a két gyereknek.

3. Nyolc foguk van, Dannielle már mászik, Hannah is hamarosan fog.

4. Danielle reggeltől estig aktív, mozog, Hannah nyugodtabb, szereti megfigyelni a dolgokat.

5. Akülsejükben, és abban, hogy szeretnek nevetni, játszani, tapsolni és szeretik a zenét.

6. Mert anyukájuk négy hónapig Afrikában dolgozott és telefonon tartották a kapcsolatot.