Different Breed Pet Services

Too funny! And I think some have too many legs...

CATCH YOUR DOG DOING GOOD!! It's tough to overstimate the power of simply reinforcing behaviours we like. Ryan & Mallary, below, are a pair of retired show dogs. In their former careers, Sit was not encouraged, but by consistently & generously rewarding when one spontaneously happened, in 4 short weeks, both dogs now Sit on cue. The technique is called Capturing, and can even extend to treating reactivity or helping a constantly aroused dog learn to settle.

It's important to understand the role genetics plays in our dogs. It's true that there tends to be significant variation, even among individual dogs of a certain breed, but when specific traits (like chasing things) has been selected for over dozens of generations, one needs to understand that their Border Collie will likely chase, their Sibe will likely enjoy pulling, and their German Shepherd will likely be wary of strangers. It's not impossible to help a dog work around ...these breed tendencies, but it will take more effort than it does for a dog whose breed isn't predisposed to those characteristics. Similarly, the tendency towards fears/phobias can have a genetic component which can present a significant challenge to improve or overcome. Part of loving our dogs means understanding who they are, and helping them be the best they can be with the cards they have. https://www.sciencenews.org//dog-breed-behavior-geneti/amp

Management - like a well-fitting lid - is often our first line of treatment for behaviour concerns. Plus....puppy butt

Cool study on the effects of sniffing on our dogs. It lowers pulse rate pretty significantly and provides a calming effect which can help greatly with stressed or reactive dogs, and the benefits extend to the more mellow pooches. Let. Them. Sniff http://www.dogfieldstudy.com/node/1

It's important to avoid ambiguous or unclear cues when working with our dogs. Being poor generalizers and largely nonverbal communicators, our dogs will likely struggle to understand cue words inserted in sentences - 'Rover, could you sit down please' is unlikely to get the response we're hoping for unless we're dealing with a highly experienced dog. Similarly, words like 'No' or 'Stop It' may interrupt a behaviour, but convey very little useful information...much better to... cue a specific behaviour such as Sit or Leave It. In multi handler households, make sure everyone is using the same cue for the same behaviour whether using verbal or hand signals, and only reinforce for correct responses. When cueing a Sit, for example, don't reward if the dog melts into a Down. Simply take a step or 2 back, call the dog, and re-cue the behaviour. Avoid practicing behaviours in sequence...mix them up - Sit-Down-Sit-Up-Down-Up-Sit-Up - rather than Sit-Down-Up-Sit-Down-Up. It keeps the dog engaged & helps avoid accidentally creating an unwanted behaviour chain. Have fun! Stay positive!

Got a text from my wife about 5 minutes to 5 telling me that Roscoe had left the yard. Not a common occurrence, but it happens from time to time, so I drove around a bit, then came home, called his name a couple times, whistled, and when he came thundering up the driveway, gave him a few treats, a quick pet & praise, then told him to go get a drink. Many might have been angry, scolding him for leaving the yard, forgetting for the moment that he's been deprived of his walk fo...r 2 days in a row - due alone to MY laziness. Ignoring, perhaps, that while he DID leave without permission, he also came racing back when called, so scolding at that time would serve only to poison the recall. So mental note - shake off the lazies & attend to the basic needs of my dog, focus for a while on positive boundary control and recall. Learn from this misadventure & don't waste energy being mad at the dog for something any Sibe owner could predict.

Reminder that I'll be at Paulmacs Pet Foods plus Pets tonight from 5pm to 8pm

Happy International Dog Day!!

What better way to spend a Saturday than in the company of puppies? Their happy faces tell us everything we need to know about Positive Reinforcement training!

If you or anyone you know is in need of some training advice, I'll be at Paulmacs Pet Foods plus Pets from 5pm-8pm on Friday, July 26. Pop in! It's FREE!!

Tolerance for frustration - Level 0

The dog-wolf ancestry is comparable to that of humans & apes. Very distant cousins separated by tens of, if not hundreds of thousands of generations. A huge evolutionary chasm.

Funny little conversation with some clients in for Week 2 tonight. They were telling me how a friend of theirs, who trained his dogs with aversive tools (prong collar) had been visiting & commented on the fact that not only is their dog doing well in his obedience, but he appears to truly enjoy it & seems very happy. Of COURSE he's happy & eager! It's ALWAYS more encouraging to work FOR something than it is to avoid! The thing with Positive Reinforcement training is that w...e teach our dogs what to do & reward them for doing it. Incorrect responses are studiously avoided in the training process. Imagine you're in a room with 50 numbered chairs & I want you in chair 27. I could poke you with a sharp stick 49 times & you'd eventually get it right, though you may not care much for me or sitting in chairs by then. Another option is to direct you to #27 & set you up with a piece of cheesecake once you're settled. My bet is that at the next presentation (which you'll happily attend), you make a beeline for Chair 27, ignoring the other 49 choices entirely. Positive Reinforcement is so much more impactful as a teaching tool, and far less damaging psychologically to both student and teacher.

If you or anyone you know is having behaviour or obedience concerns with their dog, come see me at Paulmacs Pet Foods plus Pets from 5pm to 8pm tonight!

Punishment or revenge? Sometimes our dogs make mistakes. More accurately, sometimes our dogs act like dogs at times that are inconvenient for us. Chewing, barking, dumpster diving, digging..., all completely normal & natural dog behaviours. Unfortunately, we humans deem most of these behaviours inappropriate or 'bad', and what do we do for bad behaviour? We punish it so it won't hapoen again. We yell. We confine. We sometimes get physical. Again, and again, and again...... The behaviour continues. Maybe we manage to suppress it while we're around, but as soon as we leave, our dogs become dogs again. Here are some things to consider: Punishment is an unpleasant consequence meant to reduce the frequency of the immediately preceding behaviour. IMMEDIATELY preceding. Immediate. Like whatever the dog did in the 1-3 seconds before the punishment. So here's the scenario - while watching our favourite tv show, we get thirsty & head to the kitchen for a drink. On entering, we discover that Rover has been in the garbage. Again! 'Rover, come here!' we say, and the instant our pup arrives, we lay into them, 'You bad dog! Don't you EVER do this again! I'm so sick of cleaning up your mess! Get outside NOWWW!!' We confine Rover to the yard for the rest of the night and spend the evening fuming, periodically yelling out the window for (stressed, confused, and barking) Rover to 'SHUT UP!', then at bedtime, we grudgingly open the door to let the transgressor in & discover that over the hours outside, holes were dug, the garden hose was gnawed to bits, and our new patio furniture looks like it's been run over by a bulldozer. The cycle begins again... What have we accomplished? Well, we've successfully ruined any recall we had, because IMMEDIATELY before the yelling started, we called Rover to us. We've begun the creation of a recreational barker (yelling 'Shut up' just means you're joining in), hobbyist landscaper (bored dog & soft earth), and frustrated chewer (dogs chew to relieve stress), and we've perfectly set the stage for Rover to be the next 'Just Arrived' on our local rescue or SPCA website. So what's the solution? Simple training & management techniques like supervising the dog to redirect to appropriate hobbies, putting garbage & laundry out of reach behind simple locks like we'd use for human children, create appropriate chew habits by feeding exclusively from hollow chew toys like Kong, and teaching our dogs to engage in dog behaviour at appropriate (convenient) times, in appropriate places. Don't be vengeful. Be your dog's best friend.

Positive Reinforcement training is so old, it's new again. Regardless of breed or species, it works because animals - all animals - do things for only 2 reasons; for benefit or to avoid.

Adequate socialization is crucial to a well balanced dog. Check out 'Before You Get Your Puppy' and 'After You Get Your Puppy' by Dr. Ian Dunbar, available for FREE on dunbaracademy.com.

'Have you ever heard of Pavlov?' 'I think so...the name rings a bell...' Classical Conditioning is probably one of the most powerful tools in the Behaviour Modification toolbox, indeed, in the Training tolbox. Timing, management, and application are important, but at the root lie the principles set out by a man and his dogs nearly 150 years ago.

Good rule of thumb - if you wouldn't do it to a human friend, you probably shouldn't do it to your dog either.

Environmental cues are a handy way to have your pup operate on 'autopilot'. Objects or events can be used to trigger a behaviour from the dog; in this case, an automatic Heel when crossing the street with the curb acting as the cue.