Smiling Pup, Holistic Canine Behaviour Consulting
24 Wolf Drive T3Z 1A3 Redwood Meadows

Something that’s easy to watch out for, yet very few people know about. I LOVE #silentconversations

The human race has a serious dark side. It’s not our fault, but it is our responsibility. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSOHOfG2yE

Oh my goodness, look who I found wandering down the hallway all on her own steam! Meet Breal. The Neanderthal with her is our boy Teddy who came to us only a few months ago. He is an amazing gentle giant, and theres a long story behind all those scars in our little boy.

Excellent presentation especially the in group/out group part. I find the fan support behind CM similar to a cult mentality, and while abuse is made acceptable toward the out group, dogs, even stronger abusiveness is also very acceptable to the human out group who criticize him and his methods. Ive seen some of their commenting bordering on violence, and I find that very disturbing because its not only abusiveness toward animals, its also supporting (promoting?) abusiveness toward other people. If we (the good guys) comment, we are never seen as someone who is trying to help, we are always seen as the enemy. https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=3s&v=JHjSZ16V8AQ

Something thats easy to watch out for, yet very few people know about. I LOVE #silentconversations

The human race has a serious dark side. Its not our fault, but it is our responsibility. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSOHOfG2yE

" the nature of reality television tends to promote the misconception that there are quick fixes to training and behavior issues, when, in the real world, a p...rofessionally devised and applied training and/or behavior modification protocol can take weeks, months or, in the case of separation-related disorders for example, even years to implement successfully. The Pet Professional Guild thus respectfully requests television channels to replace programming that promotes aversive tools and methods immediately with competent, progressive, force-free, formally-educated, scientifically-sound trainers and/or behavior consultants." - Niki Tudge and Susan Nilson on reality TV dog training. New BARKS blog: https://barksfromtheguild.com//the-reality-of-tv-dog-trai/ See more

The protest increases

https://dogdiscoveries.com/aversive-dog-training-methods/

Reactive behavior is the tip of the iceberg. Its what we see: the lunging, the barking, the snarling, the growling, etc. Its whats above the surface and its... what we often want to stop. What we dont see and whats driving this behavior is the rest of the iceberg below: the fear, the anxiety, the stress, the frustration. So if we want the behavior to change, we need to look at the root cause, not just the symptoms. When we change how a dog feels about a trigger, we help change how they act around it. We do this through the application of modern, science-based positive reinforcement behavior modification techniques including desensitization, counter-conditioning, and reinforcement of alternative behaviors. What we dont do to change how a dog feels about a trigger is use punishment and aversive tools such as prong or shock collars. No matter how these tools are marketed, packaged, and sold to us, and no matter how properly or correctly we use them, they work by means of pain and fear avoidance. They work by stopping the behaviors we seethe barking, the lunging, the growling. They work by temporarily suppressing these behaviors. They work by addressing the symptoms not the cause. They work by trying to chip away at the tip of the iceberg. But even if the entire tip is gone, the mammoth below remains. What also remain are the countless risks associated with the use of pain-based tools including increased fear, anxiety, stress, avoidance, aggression, and behavioral shutdown. The year is 2019, folks. Lets get real. Dont mistake behavior suppression for behavior modification. If your dog needs help, hire a reputable professional who understands the science of behavior and has the education, skillset, and experience (yes, those matter!) to create real, lasting, and humane behavior change.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OK, so now that I have some people all up in arms over my position of SUPPORTING SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BREEDERS, let me start to explain a bit more. First, the people who responded in, how shall I say, a negative way, all jumped to conclusions based on their own life experiences, views, and ethics, and every single person on the face of the earth has an absolute right to have their own views and ethical standards.... So, WHAT DOES 'SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE' MEAN? According to the Cambridge Dictionary being Socially Responsible is: "working or operating in ways that are not harmful to society or the environment". And what meaning do we generally associate with the word 'breeder'? Here's a list of nouns from wordhippo.com: Noun Person who produces crops, raises animals agronomist, crofter, smallholder, yeoman, husbandman, countryman, farmhand, planter, tiller, agrarian, clodhopper, cob, cockie, cocky, cropper, feeder, gardener, gleaner, grazer, harvester, homesteader, horticulturist, labourer, plower, producer, Reaper, sharecropper, sower, tender, villein, country, person, dairy farmer, hired hand, market gardener, tenant farmer, truck farmer, daughter of the soil, son of the soil Noun One who grows things raiser Ok, so some of them are a little far fetched, but my intention is to open minds and view things a little differently. For my purposes, if someone chooses, allows, or encourages an animal to reproduce - they are a 'breeder'. A socially responsible breeder is someone who operates in a way that is not harmful to society and/or the environment, and I'm going to add - to the animals themselves. SUPPORT SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE ORGANISATIONS Obviously, puppy farms and commercial breeders are not socially responsible, but neither are rescues who bring animals, who have not been properly vetted, into an area, community, province, or even into a country, exposing the new arena to the possibility of disease they are not prepared to protect themselves against. Some rescues are far from socially responsible. In our area alone, and because it's tick season I'll mention it, we are seeing a species of tick that flourishes in northern Alberta, but has now become a problem for southern Alberta. Rescues with big hearts bring animals in from other ecological environments, and with that process comes a risk of contamination not only from diseases we don't have defences against, but environmental damage as well, and this is only a modest example of what can happen by not being --- Socially Responsible! https://www.pachamama.org//social-responsibility-and-ethics

There is a new Cesar Millan in Canada - BEWARE. Or rather, BE AWARE. Be aware - that these two boys are NOT professional behaviour consultants, but they are charging hundreds - thousands of dollars to pretend they are.... Be aware - that these two boys are using out of date techniques that have been proven, for well over 20 years, to be harmful to animals. Be aware - that there are much better ways to communicate with the animals we share the planet with. Be aware - that there is no governing body to regulate who can call themselves a dog trainer. Be aware - that anyone can call themselves a dog trainer, without the slightest level of education or professional experience. Be aware - that these boys, and people like them, can cause irreversible harm to your dog, and charge you hundreds of dollars to do so. Be aware - that there is no recourse if your dog is harmed by these uneducated, unprofessional Cesar Millan wannabes! BE AWARE OF PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANTS WHO HAVE AN EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE, AND WHO WILL NOT CAUSE HARM TO YOUR DOG! https://www.facebook.com/dogdudes/?hc_location=ufi

Your dog doesn't know the meaning of "don't" -- teach the meaning of "do" instead.

Such an important topic to understand, especially before you get your next puppy, and why we should avoid puppy mills like they are the plague. https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/event-3119384

The AMAZING MARC BECKOFF and our just as AMAZING LISA TENZIN-DOLMA of the even more AMAZING INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF CANINE PSYCHOLOGY (The ISCP) which is MY school for canine behaviour studies https://www.youtube.com/watch

Note the text box in the centre of the graphic - all of those things are affiliated with puppy mills and other breeders who are only in it for profit.

"While we all need to do our best to ensure that our dogs are well socialised and trained and all their needs are fulfilled, the truth is that there are things that are out of our control. Many people are guilty of nothing more than making an ill-informed choice in the first place. Blaming them for their dogs behaviour and denying any possibility of the dog being predisposed to problems is not helpful. It sets people up to have unrealistic expectations and to be wracked by g...uilt and inadequacy when things go wrong. ***What we should be doing is taking a good hard look at the type of dogs breeders are producing and that shelters are adopting out and put pressure on them to be more accountable and honest.***" This is where puppy mills, commercial breeders, and even Rescue organisations fail so badly! In a puppy mill or even in a commercial breeding outfit (which is probably only one step up from a puppy mill), generation after generation, after generation do not receive proper nutrition, handling, or even see the light of day. All the problematic behaviour that can develop from such an inadequate beginning is passed on to the puppies, and, in turn, to the unsuspecting people who are led to believe that they are about to take home their wonderful new family pet!!! Rescues often take in puppies and dogs from terrible situations where, again, the animals have not received proper nutrition, care, and proper socialisation. Again, generation after generation after generation has lived in a way that has not prepared the animal to live with the high expectations we put on pets in today's society. https://www.tarynblyth.co.za//There-are-no-bad-dogs-only-b

This is an excellent free video series, but it's only available free for a limited time. https://illis.se/en/why-emotions-matter/

https://www.facebook.com/powerofpositivity/videos/516608855451519/

My latest instalment for Lester the Pester on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/notes/lester-the-pester/commercial-breeders/2231068517180407/

It's important to understand this in order to really help our dogs. https://www.tarynblyth.co.za//Counter-Conditioning-%E2%80%

Well, I must say that my day started out AMAZING! I logged on to my computer to find an invitation to join the International School for Canine Psychology & Behaviour Steering Committee. WOW!... My finding the ISCP was a lifesaver when I was dealing with my dog Raines. He had developed some pretty serious problems from my using a shock collar invisible fence with him, and the organisation I was working/studying with at the time made things much worse. There was far too much stimulation and 'socialisation' for him to handle at the time, and I ended up with a hyperactive, overly sensitive dog who was more than willing to let anyone he didn't recognise know exactly how he felt if they came too close. It has taken me years to overcome the issues that developed, but, thankfully, I can report that Raines is doing much, much better now! The best advice I got at the time was through Annie Phenix and her book, The Midnight Dog Walkers, and the ISCP. Dogs are living, breathing, sentient animals and learning more about them through achieving a diploma in Canine Psychology and Behaviour has made all the difference in the world! I joined the ISCP through the Emotional Healing for Dogs program, and I must say - the organisation and all of its members are the best, of the best, of the best throughout the world!!! I am honoured and proud to be a member of this group and representing Canada as one of the over 50 countries involved with the ISCP, which has been listed among the top ten education providers! I just can't say enough about how thrilled I am to become more deeply involved in the ISCP and to have the opportunity to work with this AMAZING group of people!!! https://theiscp.com/

New page to bring awareness to irresponsible breeding of animals.

BLOCKING THE VIEW THROUGH WINDOWS FOR REACTIVE DOGS The other day we had a bad experience with an off-leash dog coming on our property and behaving quite aggres...sively. Both my dogs got pretty wound up with the experience, but it's still Lester that I'm having the most challenges with. He's still pretty wound up at the sight/sound of another dog outside, but, right after we had that experience, and I mean within a half hour, I brought out my stuff and blocked the view to outside on all my windows. We have floor to ceiling windows, so that offers extra challenges and 'opportunities' for the dogs. Years ago, while working with Raines and his reactivity to people and dogs outside our home, I bought rolls of sheet craft foam and cut it to size for my windows. The sheet craft foam is a solid visual block, so the dog doesn't even see shadows or blurred images of the action outside. The point of blocking the windows is to prevent the 'rehearsal' of seeing/hearing the trigger and running to the window to bark and carry on. After a while of 'no fun' at the windows, the behaviour of over-stimulation and over-excitement will fade. It also helps to stop that shot of adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress hormones from flooding the body with constant stimulation (which can keep the body in 'over-drive' for days), and not rehearsing the behaviour will help the brain to calm down and 're-wire'. As they say, neurons that fire together, wire together. For Raines it took the better part of a year of blocked windows, so it's not something that's necessarily done as a quicky one-time fix. It depends on how much time and effort you can put into desensitizing and counter conditioning, and, of course, the length of time the dog has already been rehearsing the behaviour. But, even without a lot of DS/CC, the charging the windows and over-excited behaviour will fade with time if the opportunity to check things out and bark and carry on is removed from the overall equation. Even after only a couple of days of blocked windows, I'm already starting to see Lester calm down much more and his reactivity is fading. The sooner you tackle the issue, the sooner the challenges can be overcome, but nothing is an instant, or guaranteed, 'fix'.

Raines and I centre stage at Dogwit Calm Dog class with Drae Fitchett - look at the BEAUTIFUL attention from Raines!!!!! All three dogs with loose leashes!!! T...his is a dog who, in the beginning, was barking, carrying on, and ripping curtains down from the windows if another dog/person walked by the house, and who bit our neighbour quite badly - after my, unwittingly, using a shock collar invisible fence with him. We've been with Drae since DAY ONE when she came out for the evaluation after the bite. She was head trainer through my dog training and behaviour apprenticeship and - the best mentor in the world!!! #DogwitCalmDogOutdoors

I dislike the term 'command'. Hearing and/or seeing the term instantly brings Hitler to my mind. I'm a little older and using that term for most of my life was the acceptable thing to do, but - now that I understand the relationship reward-based training has in our minds and lives, I think the terminology we choose is important. Choosing to use 'commands' is a frame of mind. Using 'cues' to help the dog understand what we are asking for is far more appropriate and helpful ...in the long run. Back in the days of dinosaurs when I went to school, I still clearly remember one math teacher I had. She was brutal! She pulled us by the hair and used yardsticks to whack us with. Our principal used the 'strap' as punishment. We were to do what we were told to do - or else! Not happy memories!!! If those ways made me feel bad and afraid, and I have the big brain to understand why, how do you imagine an animal feels - not understanding why he is being treated that way? The terminology we use tells the world what we are inside. https://www.thinkingpaws.co.uk/to-cue-or-command-in-puppy-/

THROUGH A DOGS EYES submitted by: Smiling Pup, Holistic Canine Behaviour Consulting www.smilingpup.ca...Continue reading