Happy 5th birthday to the world's best dog: Hector
My beautiful butt headed boy, I love the enthusiasm you bring to every single thing you do. You light up my day. Every single day. My birthday wish for you is that in the next 5 years and the 5 years after that, you get to experience all the love and joy I have felt by being in your life. Never grow up Hek ❤️
Check the comments to see who won Employee of the Month 🤣 this month he was nominated by his friends over at Lady&Co who also supplied this wonderful cake. Hector rates the food 5 stars and will be dining again.
They grow up so fast 🥺 I always like to take the time to appreciate the last few days of bottle feeding before the mess and chaos really begins.
I cant believe how hard these kittens will fight even with all the odds stacked against them. From abandoned, cold and hungry, sometimes sick. Without being able to see or hear the world around them, they trust in a stranger of a different species. They power through and grow into perfect cheeky little family members ❤️
These kids will be looking for their forever families in a few short weeks.
Follow Tropical Queensland Cat Clinic and keep an eye out for adoption notices 😍
🎉 JANUARY EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH 🎉
You guys aren't gonna believe who won employee of the month this month! It was HECTOR!
For being kind and soft and gentle with anything little. For being Barry's first playmate, for providing him his first real social interaction and first affiliative groom. For treating Barry like just another one of those stupid foster kittens mum brings home.
Barry is an orphan puppy who has been raised by nurse Jess from Vet2UrPet & Veterinary Day Surgery . He came into the clinic alone when he was less than a week old and is just now big enough to start navigating the world. It's hard for puppies without mothers and littermates to grow up and understand social interactions. For Barry, meeting neutral older dogs like Hector means he has the chance to learn some of these necessary skills. Barry isn't quite old enough for the rough and tumble of a real preschool class yet but he will be joining us from next week to sit and watch other puppies play and learn and do things at his own pace.
If you see him around in your classes, feel free to say hello. It takes a village to raise a singleton puppy and lots of positive interactions now will help set him up for life ❤️ (also his little tail wags non stop now and it's impossible to resist his charm)
🎈 EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH 🎈
November employee of the month is awarded to Hector for eating my whole bowl of Ramen (+karaage chicken) while I was outside trying to help a stray dog that had rocked up at the front door. Then later the same day, nabbing my tuna pesto pasta dinner right out of the pantry, while I was busy pushing my broken down car out of a carpark in North Shore alone in the dark.
For eating SO MANY things he shouldn't that he is being made into an illustrated children's book.
For getting so good at deep breathing that he reminds me to breathe.
For teaching me patience.
Congratulations Hector. The prize for employee of the month this month is an all expenses paid trip to Snakeweed Flats SNIFF SPACE to play silly geese (gooses?). The whole team at TWH is so appreciative of all your hard work and we hope you enjoy your prize. ❤️
"But your dog doesn't look reactive"
I've said it before and I'll say it again: when working with a reactive dog, it should never look like you're working with a reactive dog. The key to overcoming reactivity is keeping the dog under threshold. If they are barking, lunging, growling, pulling on the lead, freezing or hard staring without breaking focus on their trigger they are in fight/flight mode. Once they get to this point, their capacity for learning is greatly diminished. They need your help to get to a place they feel safer in order to learn effectively. I like to think of it as trying to learn algebra with a grizzly bear in the back of the classroom. That's not a healthy learning environment and neither is overfacing your dog.
If they are barking, lunging, growling, pulling on the lead or hard staring - your dog is afraid. Help them out by adding some distance to your trigger. The sweet spot is a dog who is looking at and engaging with the trigger but not reacting. THEN you can start to train.
Check out Bolt and Maddie absolutely nailing their desensitisation exercises at the park.
THIS is what I like to see from a reactive dog.
🎊 CONGRATULATIONS 🎊 Bolt & Maddie for all your hard work. I'm so proud of you both for achieving this.
(Special thanks to the giant white floof in the dog park for showing some awesome neutral behaviour when they realised Bolt wasn't there to play. Rewatch the video to see a lovely calm approach, the dog quietly reads Bolt's body language for a few seconds and walks away to reduce tension)
What does health care look like for you and your dog?
Is it stressful and frustrating to restrain a wiggly dog for basic things whether it's veterinary procedures or day to day care?
Believe me when I say I know all about that. I've lived it. I've been frustrated, I've struggled with necessary care, I've felt sad for my dogs when I can see they don't want to be touched. Prior to learning about behaviour I was even bitten in the face performing a nail trim on my first dog.
Hector (in the video) has some really big opinions about being touched. He's not a touchy feely, cuddly dog. He's incredibly tolerant but has been known to leave the room in a huff if you give too many pats. He is also known at the vet clinic for being anxious, uncooperative and struggles with restraint.
Hes more than half my weight and I'm a work smarter not harder kind of person. So we started asking consent for touching and performing procedures. You can see in this video he is given a choice. I don't tell him what to do and if he got up and walked away, I'd allow it. He took a minute to think about if he wanted me poking around in his ears again and came to the conclusion that he was ok with it.
We are currently working on eye, ear and teeth exams as well as vaccines and nail trims.
For anyone struggling with at home health care and vet visits, you're definitely not the only one and it can get better!
What can you see gorgeous girl Rosie doing here? Looks like not a lot of anything. And the reality is that we didn't actually cue her to do anything prior to or during this video. Let me break down what's going on here:
This was Rosie's first time at Anderson. Our goal was to work on some heel work and recall. Rosie was pretty overaroused and struggled to concentrate with all the new sounds and smells and she wasn't really sure what she should be doing. So initially our session on recall and heel work looked a lot like Rosie ignoring us or trying to run off or chase some birds.
So we changed plans. We did a tiny bit of focus work . We rewarded Rosie for looking at things and checking them out. We rewarded any offered calm behaviour and when Rosie was ready, we did some breathing.
So what you're seeing in this video is Rosie putting all these skills together ON HER OWN. She's sitting (uncued), she's calmly looking at ducks flapping around (uncued) and she's taking a bunch of really deep breaths (also uncued).
These are the moments I live for. When a dog is a bit worried and unsure how to handle a new environment, I'm not going to push for heel work or recall. Could you learn algebra while you're being chased by a bear? No. We help the dog through their big feelings before we ask them to learn something tricky. Rosie and her owner worked so well together through this session. And it meant that Rosie learnt that she can ask for help when she's worried. She can stop and take a moment when she's worried.
They had a follow up a couple of weeks later. Watch this space to see how that went.
*BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY DRAW*
I want to apologise to everyone for being so late. I really got bogged down in uni and admin. But here it is. Congratulations to all the winners. Can't wait to work with you.
"You're a dog trainer. Your dog must be perfect"
Negative. Hector's a delightful fella and is perfect FOR ME . But sometimes I don't explain things to him properly. Sometimes he would rather play the game a different way and sometimes he would prefer not to be involved at all. I thought about not sharing the first part of the video. But I hope it helps you all realise that our pets are sentient beings with their own thoughts and emotions and feelings. We should take those into account when interacting with them.
Did my video go to plan? no. Did I still get to play a fun game with my dog? Absolutely! Was my dog able to engage in a game joyfully despite struggling with anxiety at the moment? Absolutely! Was my dog able to ignore some of his biggest triggers like barking dogs and mowers? Absolutely! Those are the things that are important to us.
What life skills are most important to you and your dog?
Life's really been getting crazy lately. I'm blessed to have the opportunity to learn and grow so much and work with all my favourite people and animals. But being on the go all the time takes its toll eventually. Today Hector and I took the time out to smell the roses (or the dirt) at Snakeweed Flats Sniff Space.
Fully fenced off lead area with a dam. Your own private dog park with no other dogs or people. Great all dogs especially introverted or reactive ones (also great for those introverted or reactive people 😅)
My boy's currently sleeping soudly after a big day of adventure. Thanks Teegin ❤️
https://www.sniffspace.com.au/space-detail/301/snakeweed-flats
Uncle Hector doing a wonderful job of cleaning the Kitten Nuggets after a big feed and a run around. Pocket and Pingu are big enough to start exploring the whole house. They are getting super speedy and very strong! They've had the opportunity to interact with all the animals in the house (except the snakes) and Hector is by far their favourite!
Check the comments 👀
I'm out of town for a few days. Touching grass, spending some much needed time with family and working on some continued education to provide you with the best services possible. I'll also be heading off on placement for my Vet degree for a week.
I may be a little slow to reply over the coming weeks and apologise in advance. I'll be back in full force from Saturday 24th June. Until then, I appreciate your patience.
🏳️🌈 HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 🏳️🌈
Training With Hart is proudly LGBTQIA+ owned and operated. I will never hide my pride. I always have and always will be a safe space for my community as well as all other marginalised groups.
Im here. I'm queer. And I'll help your dog overcome their fear.
Big love to you all,
Erin ❤️
P.S. Phillip also wanted to be involved. Peep the comments for his purrrride photoshoot
Shoutout to my client Shannon for this hack! Amazing mess free kong filling method. 👌
Hector earned his Novice Trick Dog Title just in time for his 4th Birthday today. We had a blast doing something a bit different and learning new things. These skills are by no means perfect but this experience enriched both our lives and brought us closer together. I am predominantly a behaviour trainer and the majority of Hector's education has focused on teaching him to regulate his emotions, manage stress and anxiety, reducing reactivity, aggression and overstimulation and counter conditioning triggers. We didn't practice a lot of obedience or tricks.
I was hesitant to share this video with you all because I can see many mistakes I made (ineffective hand cues, lures and missed timing) but as I watched it back, I realised that through the entire video, Hector had a beautiful waggly tail, loose body language, fantastic engagement and he was enjoying himself without getting overstimulated. There was a ton of wind, wildlife all over the place, lots of dogs barking, distractions from his little brother and he hadn't had a walk. But he coped with all of that without a second thought. The work we have done together on his behaviour problems has created a resilient dog that trusts me, ENJOYS training and has an incredible capacity to learn.
It's really easy to get bogged down in the details and the societal pressure to have the "perfect dog". But really, I do have the perfect dog (for me). We enjoy a lot of activities and adventures together, communicate effectively with one another and enjoy eachother's company.
Happy Birthday big fella and Congratulations on your achievement! Thanks for being a 12/10 good boy always!
Pop in the comments and tell me some of the ways your dog is perfect for you!
check out https://domorewithyourdog.com/DogTricks/
Peep the @Feral Kelpie Tugs at the end of the video that was kindly donated by Hector's friends over at Smelly Dog Training
*UPDATE*
Winner of the Puppy Preschool giveaway has been drawn.
Special thanks to Hector for his help in choosing a winner and to Phillip for always being in the way <3
When training a reactive/aggressive/anxious dog it should not look like you are training a reactive/aggressive/anxious dog.
Just like us, dogs can't learn as effectively when the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight) is activated. This means that when I work with dogs with these issues, we keep them under threshold at all times. We slowly expose them to the things they are afraid of so they can learn new behaviours. We don't flood them and create shut down dogs, we give them tools to manage their feelings and make appropriate choices. We create confident, resilient dogs that are able to think for themselves.
Both dogs in this video have a history of reactivity and anxiety. Both have been in fights with other dogs that required hospitalisation. How did we achieve this behaviour? Slow introductions, lots of rewards and the help of the fabulous Dr. Angela from Vet 2 Ur Pet. Neither dog has been pushed over their individual threshold and after just 4 days, this is what we see.
Please don't read this and think that reactivity can be fixed in 4 days. These 2 still have a long way to go. Theres a moment towards the end of the video where the big dog lays down and the smaller dog is a little unsure of how to handle it. He licks his lips a couple of times and walks away (which is exactly the choice we want him to make). Every dog is going to be different and we need to work on the dog's timeline not ours.
Remember: if it looks like you are training a reactive or anxious dog, take a step back and reassess if the dog needs more time or space from the triggers.
Here at Training With Hart, we are working on creating virtual training options for you. Shadow helped out this morning and had a blast exploring the classroom.
Thanks very much to Shadows family for your help!
