Raising a Puppy
Think of your relationship with you puppy as a bank account. Every positive interaction is a deposit and every time you scowl or get cross or punish you make a withdrawal. As soon as your account goes overdrawn then things will most likely go from bad to worse but keep a nice healthy bank balance and you and you pup will soon end up as millionaires in the relationship stakes. (Issue 43, July 2020, pp.38-39). Read article
Dog Guardian Etiquette
Let’s say you have a dog who loves to charge about but is also a complete softie (I do!). He’s in area where it’s safe and permitted to be off leash and you see a dog in the distance. You shout, “It’s okay, he’s friendly!” But you have absolutely no idea how the other dog will respond to your dog or how that dog’s guardian feels about the advance. Many, many times I have worked with clients with nervous dogs on the receiving end of advances such as this and… Continued
Pets and Road Safety
To demonstrate the necessity of safely securing pets while travelling, the Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) carried out a series of crash-tests in which they simulated a frontal collision at 50 km/h, using a dog dummy weighing 22 kg (48.5 lbs) and a human driver dummy. RACE concluded that the safest way to transport a pet is in a pet carrier (crate). For small dogs and cats, the crate is best located on the floor of the car. For larger dogs, it is preferable to locate the crate in… Continued
Developing Food Manners
Food manners develop over time and are dependent on your clarity and consistency in the management and delivery of the food. In this video, I address every issue that people encounter with hand feeding horses that I’ve heard of so far. It takes considerable self-control to keep your body still while you click for behavior so it’s a good idea to practice this often. Click your clicker first and then move your hand to reach for the food in your pouch. Preloading your hand is also something to consider, as it… Continued
Technique vs. Emotional Involvement: Finding the Balance
Handlers have an obligation to be trustworthy for their dogs. A handler who is calm and affectionate at times but who becomes anxious or disconnected in some situations can lead a dog to distrust them. For handlers, trust also means trusting that the dog is doing his best, or that if he cannot do his best, he has good reason. This is very difficult for many handlers. In any given situation, the dog’s behavior tells you what his best guess is as to how to handle the situation. (Issue 43,… Continued
Respect, Routines and Redirection
Knowing when they will be fed, when the humans leave for work or school and return, when the humans go to bed and get up – all of these seemingly mundane things are important for cats, because a predictable environment makes them feel safe and in control…Like all animals, for cats, having a choice is empowering. Without their humans around 24/7, cats have more choice about how to spend their time and where to spend it. Now they may have humans in their favorite spaces, picking them up even though… Continued
Examining Anxiety Traits and Breed Specifics
Noise sensitivity was the most common anxiety trait with 32% of dogs being fearful of at least one noise, of which fear of fireworks was the most common subtrait with a prevalence of 26%: “The prevalence of noise sensitivity increased with age, especially fear of thunder.” (Salonen et al., 2020)…Over 50% of dogs who were fearful of one noise were fearful of several noises. Comorbidities are good for all dog professionals to be aware of, whether you are a veterinary behaviorist who is treating one specific condition, or a dog… Continued
Surviving the Storm
It was if the world had suddenly just stopped and everything was standing still. For me personally, not only did I take immediate action and close my physical training location, I also moved out of the premises completely. In tandem, I started delivering training services to my clients in a format I would never have previously imagined. Welcome to virtual training…Overall, I think we will see virtual training become a permanent fixture in the dog training industry. There are enormous benefits for reactive dogs, for dogs find group classes challenging,… Continued
The Power of Choice
…a basic environment has food delivered in a food bowl. An enriched environment offers food in lots of different ways including puzzles, dispensing toys and treasure hunts. A basic environment has a single litter tray in one corner of a room. An enriched environment has several litter trays, appropriate to the number of cats in the household, located in private spots throughout the house and cleaned regularly. Enrichment also covers things like play, human interaction, hiding places, vertical space and opportunities to explore natural cat behaviors – in a variety of… Continued
Aging Gracefully
It is important to bear in mind that our dogs may be experiencing physical ailments, just as we do in our aging process, and we need to ensure their lifestyle stays balanced between being too sedentary, to overdoing it because they are no longer as conditioned for high impact or long periods of physical activity. As such, I make sure I keep Lanie active with low impact activities like canine fitness, obedience training, or fun tricks. Of course, she also needs mental enrichment and so we keep learning new things.… Continued
Creating Positive Workspaces
It goes without saying that quiet and calm creates an environment which is more conducive to learning. Pick your time when the kids are least likely to be running wild and other family members need your attention. Cut off background noise from TVs, radios and other obvious external stimuli. For dogs who are particularly sound sensitive, think too about less obvious stimuli such as household appliances such as dishwashers, microwaves, cookers, home entertainment, washing machines etc. All of these devices may contribute to an inability to concentrate, especially if your… Continued
Troubleshooting the Hand-Delivered Retrieve
There are many different ways to train a dog to hold a retrieve item in their mouth. One approach involves shaping and differentially marking and rewarding for increasing duration. This approach requires very precise marking. Another strategy often used to build duration involves combining a chin rest with the “take” cue. Yet another approach involves tugging on the item immediately after the dog takes it. Most dogs will pull back in response to the tugging, and this gives the trainer an opportunity to mark and reward for a firmer and… Continued
Harassment in the Workplace
…so much more is needed in terms of education, reporting procedures and protection for individuals not shielded by corporate harassment policies. How, then, does one get help as an independent and small business owner when predatory behavior flies just below the legal radar or when an individual is not sure what constitutes harassment, sexual or otherwise?…As a businesswoman who has had multiple contacts with professionals, over many years, I have heard directly from multiple victims of harassment, social bullying and sexual harassment across a range of disciplines in many industries.… Continued
Teaching Recall: A New Standard
A favorite expression amongst pet trainers is that we should aim to have a “constructional approach” to changing behavior. This means we should be working to build the most appropriate behaviors rather than focusing on a punitive approach toward what humans consider to be annoying or frustrating behaviors their pets may, at times, exhibit. As such, rather than punishing a particular behavior, we must ask this simple question: What behavior would we prefer the pet to perform as an alternative in this situation? Once we have identified this, we can… Continued
Everything Was Fine Until…
I’m reminded of a young dog who had been housebroken, but suddenly began to refuse to go out in the backyard and would urinate in the home as soon as she had a chance to do so unobserved. The veterinary exam had shown nothing unusual, the diet had not been changed, work schedules the same, no new additions or losses to the household, etc. Watching the dog as the client and I talked, I noticed that every tiny sound outside the consultation room was registering with the dog. Her ears… Continued
Setting the Right Criteria
Why do trainers and dogs reach these impasses? When progress plateaus, trainers begin to consider more invasive measures. Dogs risk being sent to boot camps and being subjected to shock or prong collars because “treat training” didn’t work. The problem is rarely motivation, of course, or the effectiveness of positive reinforcement. The problem is the trainer’s inability to set appropriate criteria…The ability to set good criteria isn’t just for jumpy, mouthy dogs who find themselves in a shelter environment. It is even more important in cases of fear and aggression.… Continued
Learning to Love the Business Side of Your Business
Here’s the honest truth – it’s hard to run a successful business. Let’s face it, you got into this because you want to help people and their animals have a more fulfilling life together, right? You have the passion, dedication, commitment, and interest. But knowing what your vocation is, can be quite different to knowing how to turn it into a reliable and stable source of income…Price setting is a tricky part of running a business, not least because the whole issue of money and worth can be caught up… Continued
E-Fence Fallout
Labradoodle Charlee…started to respond fearfully when the telephone answering machine beeped. She became afraid to enter the room where it was located, even when there was no beeping sound. She traversed a roundabout route through the house just to avoid that room. Her fear further generalized to beeping sounds on television programs, but the most “heartbreaking” response was when the smoke detector battery died and the device emitted a constant screeching beep which terrified Charlee. Read article
Sign Up for the Virtual Summit!
PPG and PPGBI are to join forces and host an international online event next month to celebrate the launch of the Pet Rescue Resource Behavior and Welfare Toolkit, a brand new product designed by PPG’s Shelter and Rescue Committee. Registration for the Virtual Summit is already open for business and you can sign up either through the PPG or PPGBI website. Registrants will gain access not only to the live event, but also to audio session recordings for their own personal use for 12 months. Read article
Building a Shock-Free World for Pets
The Shock-Free Coalition will be launching a 61-day pledge drive on April 1, 2020 and will be awarding prizes to those that get the most people to sign the pledge at https://www.shockfree.org/2020-Pledge-Drive. This event is open to anyone that has signed the Shock-Free Pledge and will end on May 31, 2020. Read article
Ask the Experts: Finding Longevity
Change is hard, especially when you’re already stretched thin. And feelings of guilt and fear are challenging to wrestle with. It’s always painful to adjust a relationship or end an era, and the fear of missing out—of leaving a void for another trainer to step into—can be paralyzing…keep in mind that while everything on your plate likely has value, that value is not all equal. You know you can’t continue to fit everything, so you must pick and choose based on how well each thing vying for your time and… Continued
A Change of Perspective
Let’s take the example of an elderly horse. An owner may base all their decisions about him with his age in mind, but there are still other things to consider. When, then, they ask questions such as, “Does the horse need a rug on or not?”, “Should he be brought in at night or not?”, or “What should he be fed?”, the answers should take into account all aspects of the horse and his environment and not just the fact that he is elderly. This would include assessing his body… Continued
Lessons from Exotics
As my experience working with this lemur pair shows, training the multiple varieties of species the exotic world encompasses helps us fine-tune our application and understanding of the Laws of Behavior: What does that behavior mean? When does the behavior happen? When doesn’t it happen? Is this a positive reinforcer or an aversive and how do I find out? Am I actually using a negative reinforcer and, if so, how can I change my approach? Read article
Reading Cats’ Minds
Has your cat shown a physical change to the way he goes about his normal daily routine? Has he stopped jumping up into his favorite chair, couch or cat tree? Often, this is the first sign that there may be some pain issues going on. Jumping hurts, so the cat simply avoids it. Has the cat’s gait changed? Does his walking style seem a little odd? Again, he may be experiencing pain and is walking in a way that helps alleviate the discomfort. Read article.
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