Case Study: Introducing a New Dog to Resident Cats
I used clicker training to help introduce my newly adopted dog, Ness, to the four cats in my household. Ness was under-socialized and had no experience with cats prior to adoption. The cats had only occasional exposure to visiting dogs during family holidays. During those visits, I provided my cats with a safe retreat and positive distractions such as Kongs filled with salmon paste. At the start of the introductions, Ness was tethered to me at all times on a loose leash while I was home. Since Ness was near… Continued
Partying or panicking? How to be a separation anxiety sleuth
By Julie Naismith Dogs like company. They like being with us. I heard Dr. John Bradshaw say in a radio interview this week that ”All dogs hate being left on their own. You can train dogs to be ok with being on their own. But you do need to train them”. And some dogs hate being alone so much they tip over into full-blown anxiety. They’re not just unhappy that you’ve left them. They’re in a panic. But how do you know which it is? Are they disappointed you left… Continued
Prepare Clients for Potential Emergencies
As I write this, huge areas of Northern California are on fire. I lived in Sonoma County for a while and have many friends there. I now live in Missoula, Montana, where we had a brutal fire season. Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes due to the fires. Over the summer, thousands more in Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean evacuated due to hurricanes. What happens to all of those people’s pets? Here during the most intensive fire activity, two local organizations helped with pet and… Continued
Halloween Hazards for Pets
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. A bag full of treats and scary costumes make me happy, but these things can be a real terror for some pets. Hazards come in two flavors: environmental and edibles. I once trained a Dachshund puppy named Sparky* and he was a happy little guy, until he entered adolescence and a developmental fear stage. Then he became alarmed at every person passing by his home. He often stood guard at the window waiting for scary things to bark at. For Sparky, environmental things… Continued
An Open Letter To Pet Owners About The Pet Professional Guild’s Shock-Free Coalition
According to the American Pet Products Association (2017), 68 percent of Americans return home to a pet (or pets) each day. An estimated 48 percent of US residents are dog owners while 38 percent share their home with a cat (or cats). In spite of this, for many people, more time is spent planning the family vacation than on bringing a pet into the home. Compounded by the fact that many of us not only work full time and raise children, we are also swamped with family commitments and countless… Continued
No Magic Bullet
A recent New York Times article discussed growing skepticism of a common test that supposedly assesses dogs’ aggressive tendencies. The test uses a fake hand, called an Assess-A-Hand, to “determine” whether a dog will be aggressive in protecting his food bowl. The idea is to identify dangerously aggressive dogs in shelters. In many cases, this is done so that aggressive dogs could be “euthanized,” leaving scarce resources for the more adoptable, non-aggressive dogs. However, the concept of culling dangerously aggressive dogs is tough to put into practice. The Assess-A-Hand test, like any test, is… Continued
Pet Professional Guild launches Shock-Free Coalition to end use of electric shock as training tool for pets
Initiative calls for the worldwide elimination of shock devices in animal training, care, management, and behavior modification; seeks consumer transparency for pet owners seeking professional advice The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has launched the Shock-Free Coalition, a global advocacy campaign which aims to end the practice of using electric shock to train, manage, and care for pets, build a strong and broad movement committed to eliminating shock devices from the supply chain, and create transparency on the methods used for consumers seeking professional advice on pet behavior or training issues.… Continued
Do Helicopter Moms Impede Pups’ Success?
Talk about a tough graduate research assignment: Watching puppy videos. Where can I sign up? Seriously … it’s been done. A research team watched hundreds of hours of video of puppies interacting with their moms. The goal was to evaluate how the way moms treated their very young puppies affected the pups’ future success as guide dog candidates. But the results are interesting to any dog lover. An early paper by the team, led by researcher Emily Bray, looked at variations in maternal style. A later paper, just out, looks… Continued
A Lesson in Tolerance
By Susan Nilson An estimated 40 – 75 percent of all cats that present with behavioral symptoms have some kind of elimination disorder, making it the most commonly reported feline behavior problem of all (Overall, 1997) and the most common reason cats are abandoned or surrendered to shelters. In this particular case, nine-year-old Ruby had started urinating around the house for no apparent reason. Ruby was an indoor spayed female domestic short-hair who lived in a four-cat household comprising her male sibling and two much younger cats, one male and… Continued
Expectations, Disappointment And Opportunities
When we get a puppy or a rescue dog, as a first time or an experienced dog owner or as a competitor in a dog sport, we have certain expectations. We hope for the perfect companion or the perfect agility dog. Depending on our level of experience we try to make sure we get it right. We might research first the breeds, then the breeders, look for the best puppy pre-school and best teenage dog classes, join a club or train with our ‘doggie’ friends. However, regardless of how well… Continued
What To Do If You Find a Lost Pet
What To Do If You Find a Lost Dog or Cat Have you ever been out and about and found a lost dog or cat? I’m sure if you have, your heart started to race thinking about how you would feel if your pet was lost. I just can’t imagine what I would do if Dexter the dog got out of the house and was missing. My heart would break and I know I would be beside myself. So, what do you do if you find a lost dog or… Continued
Thinking Outside the (Litter) Box
By Marilyn Krieger Litter box avoidance is one of the most common reasons cats are surrendered to shelters and euthanized. It is so sad and so unnecessary. Although the problem is hard to live with, it is also one of the easiest to solve. Some of the solutions are simple — others are more involved. Male and female cats of all ages can develop litter box challenges. There is always a legitimate reason for cats to avoid using their litter boxes. They are not bad cats, nor are they misbehaving.… Continued
Getting It Right First Time
By Marilyn Krieger Like any pet, cats enhance lives and make a house a home. They excel at helping their people unwind after a stressful day. There is nothing quite as comforting as having a cat serenely napping nearby. Although cats bring joy and are great companions, they are a lifetime commitment. Think seriously before adopting—it should not be a spur of the moment decision. Make sure that you can support and provide the cat a loving, safe environment for his or her whole life. Before making the decision to… Continued
#iSpeakDog Campaign Aims to Bridge the Communication Gap Between People and Their Dogs
Global Educational Campaign and Website Launch the Week of March 27, 2017 WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – March 27, 2017 – To help improve the relationship people have with their dogs, The Academy for Dog Trainers, the Humane Rescue Alliance, The Bark Magazine, and The Pet Professional Guild have teamed up to launch iSpeakDog, a global campaign and website designed to educate people about dog body language and behavior. iSpeakDog, which has launched as a weeklong campaign March 27 – April 2, 2017, comes at a time when canine behavior… Continued
The Right Touch
By Deirdre Chitwood I especially enjoy practicing Tellington TTouch® on cats at the shelter as it gives me an opportunity to use my skills in a place where there are so many different cats with so many different issues, both behavioral and health related. More importantly, it can also mean the difference between a cat spending his life in the shelter or getting adopted, and having the chance of a new start as a loved and cherished pet. I am also fortunate to have a cage-free, no-kill shelter in my… Continued
Dominance in Canine Behavior: Reality or Myth?
By Don Hanson BFRAP CDBC ACCBC CPDT-KA It was in the September of 2002 that the first version of this article appeared in Paw Prints, the Green Acres Kennel Shop newsletter. I update the article on a regular basis because sadly there are still too many people promulgating the dominance myth. Unfortunately a popular reality TV show has captured people’s attention and is talking about dogs as pack animals and again perpetuating the idea of using “calm-assertive energy” (read: fear and intimidation) to resolve issues with problem dogs. Like most… Continued
Transparency in Training and Behavior
Those in the world of canine training and behavior know there is a wide gap between philosophy and methods employed by professionals, and even some rifts between professional organizations. It can be confusing for those of us in the field, and more so for pet owners who just want help. I have heard the founder of The Pet Professional Guild, Niki Tudge, speak passionately about the need for transparency as a consumer issue. Until I heard her say so I never thought of it that way. Now I am more… Continued
Marshmallow Tests for Dogs
A guide dog partner, Deni Elliott, devised a dog version of the marshmallow test for her guide dog. She administered it to her guide Alberta a few years ago. Alberta did well; she actually did many of the things that children who take the marshmallow test do — she looked away, she distracted herself. She didn’t use her toes as a piano or sing a song, but she did distract herself from temptation. In her case, temptation was a bowl full of dog cookies. We were delighted with her response,… Continued
Pet Professional Guild Announces New Look, Innovative Educational Events for 2017 and 2018
Conventional annual summit in Orlando, Florida will be supplemented with practical, multi-species behavior and training workshops in Kanab, Utah WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – Jan. 9, 2017 – The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has announced the dates and location of this year’s annual summit, as well as a smaller educational event next year to incorporate a number of hands-on, multi-species workshops with internationally acclaimed animal training and behavior experts. PPG’s third annual educational Force-Free Summit will take place at the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista hotel in Orlando, Florida from November 16-20,… Continued
Countering The Aversive
Some pet dog trainers that are either using aversive methods or some that call themselves “balanced”, and use a combination of both aversive approaches and food rewards, may carry the notion that positive reward based trainers are against them personally, or that are looking to have them stop training dogs. While I can only speak for myself, it is not personal at all. What it boils down to for me, and many others, is the potential fallouts of using shock or choke, and/or physically reprimanding a dog that has me and… Continued
It Was Coming Right At Me!
I am so interested in how dogs perceive things, and how they notice differences that we don’t, or that we take for granted. Those differences can matter to them a great deal. An example of that was the focus of my recent post, “Intruder in the Yard!,” about Zani’s response to a landscape timber in my yard that had rolled out of place. Clara, with her feral puppyhood, appears to discriminate between people to an extreme. She socializes with a few people besides me now, but each person has behaviors Clara is comfortable with, and everybody’s… Continued
#iSpeakDog Campaign to Bridge Communication Gap between People and Their Dogs
To help improve the relationship people have with their dogs, The Academy for Dog Trainers, the Humane Rescue Alliance, The Bark Magazine, and The Pet Professional Guild have teamed up to launch iSpeakDog, a global campaign and website designed to help people better understand dog body language and behavior. The iSpeakDog Campaign, which will launch as a week-long campaign March 27 – April 1, 2017 but is already posting on Facebook, comes at a time when canine behavior is being studied more than ever — revealing that people often misinterpret… Continued
Total Recall
I suspect most dog owners wish their dogs could be off leash and enjoy themselves without restriction, or at least be free of the leash in most situations. In that ideal world a dog could assuredly be called back on cue and no harm would occur if he occasionally strayed afar. My personal dog stewardship is limited to five Labradors. Three of them were very safe off leash, one was pretty reliable and the other was…a bit sketchy. To tell the truth his recall was not sketchy at all. It… Continued
Pet Professional Guild Lines Up Canine Behavior Specialists for Podcasts on Breed Specific Legislation
In light of ongoing events in Montreal, PPG podcasts will feature a host of dog training and behavior experts to explain why breed bans are ineffective in reducing frequency of dog bites Starting next month, Pet Professional Guild (PPG) is to host a number of canine behavior experts in a series of podcasts to discuss why Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) is ineffective and potentially misleading. The move is part of PPG’s ongoing mission to deliver quality, up-to-date education on dog bite safety and force-free training and pet care to both… Continued