{"id":6220,"date":"2021-11-19T15:40:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-19T20:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/?p=6220"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T13:35:42","slug":"best-of-digest-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/best-of-digest-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of Digest 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

We covered it all this year, from Australian shepherds<\/a> to zoomies<\/a>. We demonstrated the basics of dog etiquette,<\/a> including the nicest ways to approach and pet a dog. We even answered the question: Who Let the Dogs Out?<\/a><\/p>

From the deep pile of dog content, these stories emerged as some of our most popular of the year. We hope you enjoy, and keep reading!<\/p>

Why Does My Dog Tilt Their Head?<\/a><\/h4>

It’s one of the most curious, and cute moves in the canine repertoire. And, until recently, it was always a bit of a mystery. We still can’t say with absolute certainty why dogs do tilt their heads, but there’s some new research that lends credence to one of the most popular explanations. Read all about it,<\/a> and while you’re at it, dip into our stories on why dogs circle before pooping, why dogs get zoomies, why dogs sniff other dogs’ butts, and more.<\/p>

Preventing Separation Anxiety as You Return to “Normal”<\/a><\/h4>

We all watched with glee as so-called “pandemic puppies” flew out of shelters as people shifted to working from home during the depths of COVID lockdown. Then we looked on with concern as reports of a mass return of dogs to shelters made headlines. Those reports may have been drastically overstated; thankfully it looks like most people kept their dogs. But as work schedules shifted, there was a legitimate worry that separation anxiety would become a bigger problem in many dog-human relationships as dogs who were used to 24\/7 companionship faced weekdays on their own. Since it’s a major issue for dogs pandemic or not, we ran down the basics of separation anxiety,<\/a> and outlined some steps you can take to prevent or manage it.<\/p>

Dachshund Breed Guide<\/a><\/h4>

Did you know that during World War I, Americans tried rebranding dachshunds as “Badger Dogs” and “Liberty Pups?” Do you know some of the keys to living a happy and healthy life with these tiny-legged titans? All of those things, and more are revealed in our dachshund breed guide!<\/a><\/p>

How to Potty Train Puppy<\/a><\/h4>

Potty training is one of the foundations of a happy dog-human relationship. And when you bring a new puppy home, it can be one of the most vexing things in your life. For a while there, it may seem like they’ll never get it. But, armed with our step-by-step guide,<\/a> some patience, and the faith that one day you’ll look back and laugh, you’ll get through it.<\/p>

5 Science-Backed Benefits of Fresh Food<\/a><\/h4>

Diet is a deciding factor in quality of life, for dogs and people. Science is uncovering more every day about just how powerful the nutrients in food can be in keeping bodies healthy, and how detrimental a steady diet of highly processed food can be. In this article, we run down the many studies that link the nutrients in fresh meat and vegetables to key components of your dog’s health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From dachshunds to head tilts, these were some of our most popular Digest posts of 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dog-people","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14145,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6220\/revisions\/14145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefarmersdog.com\/digest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}