54 Secrets Your Pets Won't Tell You

Mistakes Even the Most Loving Owners Make.

- Michelle Church and Chitra Subramanyam

You think my tail wagging is al-ways an invitation for you to pet me more. Wrong! Italian researchers found that dogs wag their tails slightly to the right when they see something they like and to the left when they’re confronted with something they want to back away from.

You might buy any old dog-grooming brush at the pet store, but you should really pick the right one for my coat. A rubber brush will promote circulation and loosen dirt. A bristle brush removes dead hair.

Your favourite cat game to play with me involves a laser pointer. The result: I get really frustrated be- cause I can’t catch it, and I live for the hunt. So, if you’re going to use a pointer, please sub in an actual toy at the end, so I have something to catch and kill. Then, it makes the game worth it.

Humans often tend to confuse love with food and, sometimes, instead of showing us love they feed us. So the next time we come to you, don’t automatically reach for that food treat. Instead, why not spend time with us? Take us for walks, play games or give us a massage.

Grooming day means you bring out the big blow-dryer. Don’t! To make dogs like me look fluffy, shake a little cornflour into the base of the fur and then brush. It will absorb oil and grease and detangle matted fur.

Please don’t rush me when I’m going to the bathroom—there’s a reason dogs circle around before get- ting down to business: We have an instinct to be aligned with the earth’s magnetic field before we poop. In fact, researchers watched 70 of us engage in 1,893 defections over a two-year period just to figure this out.

You may think it’s nice to let me sleep all day, but too much nap- time can affect my personality. A lot of behavioural problems can be solved by just taking your dog on a daily walk or by playing with your cat for 20 minutes every day.