See Spot Sit

07/12/2024

TRAINING TUESDAY - Christmas & pets

A little preparation can make a big difference for a more relaxed festive period.
🎄Is the tree safer behind a barrier?
🐾Will your pet be more comfortable in a separate room, or behind a gate when visitors arrive?
🥕What can you prepare now in terms of enrichment, to save you time on busy festive days?

Whether it's management, training comfort in a new area, or getting enrichment planned & pre-prepped.
This article has a couple of other tips to consider: https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/Owners/Advice/Dogs/Preparing-Pets-for-Christmas

26/11/2024

This is wise advice…

The problem with gatekeeping breeds

Anyone who has spent more than a minute online in dog world will have seen the rhetoric of how it takes someone very special to own a power breed such as a Belgian Malinois or a Cane Corso or an APBT or the like. Social media platforms are filled with posts either showing these breeds doing incredible things, or posts about how you should never get a breed like this unless you are going to work them and unless you are able to fulfil their needs. These posts are spot on and I couldn’t agree more. But they are creating a problem.

Everyone thinks they are special.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

As humans we have an ego and our ego often leads us to believe we are more capable than we are. The problem with gatekeeping breeds is that it makes them more desirable. People want to say ‘yes I can handle my Belgian Malinois because I am special’. We desperately need approval and admiration from others, especially in a world that is chronically online.

We saw it happen real time with the XL Bully. People saw this incredibly powerful breed and said ‘I’m special enough to handle one of them’ and then promptly bred them in the hundreds of thousands leading to many ill equipped homes owning a dog they absolutely could not handle.

The truth is, that to own a truly intense, working bred dog, you actually need to have an incredibly small life. You need your entire being to be obsessive about training, handling and working with the dog. It’s a full time career in itself to truly meet the needs of these dogs. You need to be absolutely addicted to it. That level of obsession however isn’t ‘cool’ or ‘sexy’. It doesn’t make for great online content either. That level of obsession however is what makes the dog easy to live with.

Even as I’m writing this, I know someone out there will read it and go ‘yes I can do that’. If you’re that person, please really look inward and be truly honest with yourself. Confront your ego.

I work at a rescue centre and years ago all we had was bull breeds, terriers and lurchers. Now all we have is fad colour Frenchies, Cane Corsos, Shepherds and Malinois/Dutch Shepherds. It speaks volumes.

I don’t know what the solution is. The more we say ‘not everyone can handle this breed!’ The more that is perceived as a challenge to the ego, and the more the ego grabs at a chance to prove itself.

We are heading down a very dark road of breed bans and dog legislation and those of us in the industry can see the patterns unfolding. We don’t know how to stop it, or even if stopping it is the right answer.

The issue is that our human egos and our desperation to be seen as ‘worthy’ is ruining our dogs and creating real danger for the general public.

Look inward. Really question why you want a certain breed. Take pause from the online rhetoric on both sides. Choose a dog that you and those around you need, not just one that you want.

- Kahla

📸 Alison Bowkett

20/11/2024

Interested in doing Nose Work with your dog? Get in touch - private lessons or classes available - text 0402 063 664

Opportunities to use the nose and be autonomous in nosework are good for dogs’ welfare.

12/11/2024

12/11/2024

The power of anticipation!

Equipped with a rodent version of a Cybertruck, these driving rats reveal that positive experiences may sculpt the brain just as powerfully as stressful ones

06/11/2024

Please sign and share…

Allow Dog Training Professionals to use Community Space for Community Education!

30/10/2024

Puppy Class commencing Wednesday 6th November @ 7pm for four weeks.
email: [email protected] or text 0402 063 664 for more information or to enrol.

24/10/2024

🆘🔔🆘🔔MISSING ELDERLY DOG ALERT ~ BOWRAL (NSW). Have you seen Abbie? Abbie escaped from her home on Centennial Rd, Bowral on 20/10/2024. Abbie was last seen by a witness and on CCTV on 21/10 on St Clair St, Bowral.☎️0406 834 001 with any information or potential sightings. If you have seen/do see a dog like Abbie, please report the sighting and the location as soon as you can. If you have found Abbie, please either contact us ASAP or take her to any vet in NSW. Abbie is microchipped, desexed, and was wearing a collar with her owners details and an AirTag that is not working unfortunately. Please note that Abbie is VERY friendly, elderly and deaf and she is NOT threat to you, your livestock or pets. Please share to help precious Abbie make it home safely 🙏

22/10/2024

17/10/2024

Dogs Disclosed offering excellent guidance for reactive dogs.

DISTANCE ASSISTANCE
It’s not easy having a reactive dog. As much as we may feel frustrated, restricted, angry or even ashamed or embarrassed, our reactive dogs are also experiencing a range of negative emotions when they react to something that triggers them.

This reaction is usually caused by anxiety, fear, feeling threatened, frustrated or related to pain.

These emotions cause high levels of stress and stress prevents both us and our dogs from being able to process information, think clearly or learn a different, more acceptable way of reacting to whatever triggers us.

This is why creating enough distance is so important. I’m really scared of snakes and even struggle to look at them. The only thing I want to do is run away and create as much distance as possible.

If someone was restraining me, forcing me to sit down and look at the snake while trying to feed me my favourite chocolate, telling me there was nothing to worry about or trying to educate me about the specific species, it would do nothing to alleviate my fear and would only increase my stress levels.

Doing this at a sufficient distance, where I felt safe would be far more effective and my stress levels would be much lower. In time, with patience and practice, I may even be able to get much closer to the snake without having a negative reaction.

The same principle applies to reactive dogs. Creating sufficient distance where they can see the trigger but still feel safe and don’t react is the best way of helping them to cope with their feelings.

Some dogs (and people) may never be able to decrease that distance and that’s also okay.

Accept your dog for the unique individual they are, keep working on the things you can change and accept the things you can’t.

09/10/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/ThjNsAfHKYx3om4C/?mibextid=WC7FNe

08/10/2024

Puppy Class Commencing Wednesday 6th November 2024

Classes are held at Hazelbrook and run for four weeks from 7-8pm. Cost is $190 per puppy.

All training is based on Positive Reinforcement.

Contact me now at [email protected]
or text 0402 063 664

01/10/2024

This!

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!
It may be really disappointing and frustrating when our dogs are not the social beings we expected them to be.

Many believe dogs should just naturally get along with other dogs, after all they’re the same species.

Some believe the “unsociable” dog has a behaviour problem that needs to be “fixed”.

Early, appropriately timed and correct socialisation is vitally important, but sometimes despite all of this, some dogs are just not that sociable.

Sometimes this can be improved, especially if the cause is from a negative experience, but genetics, breed tendencies, individual personalities, health and age all contribute to tolerance and sociability, which also change throughout life.

If we, as a human species, don’t get along with everyone we meet, how can we expect our dogs to?

Do we label every person that has an argument, doesn’t make friends with everyone they meet, doesn’t like every other person, prefers not to socialise - as having a problem that needs to be fixed?

Why is it so easy to accept that every individual person is different than to accept that every individual dog is different?

When we have done what we can to improve our dogs’ social skills, we need to accept and acknowledge our dogs for the individuals they are, allow and respect their choice of whether to be sociable or not and never force interactions that a dog is not comfortable with.

28/09/2024

Take the opportunity to be present when you are walking your dog. Bring your attention to the moment. Build your connection with your dog through this as well, they can tell as well as we can when your thoughts are elsewhere.

DISTRACTED DOG WALKERS

The distracted dog walker is commonly seen chatting on their cell phone, wearing headphones or socializing with other people while oblivious to what their dog is doing, how their dog is feeling or what is going on in the environment.

This may not sound like a problem to some, but it is something that many people have a problem with, even more so if you have a reactive dog.

I compare walking a dog to driving a car. It’s not so much about our driving skills, but having to constantly be aware of the driving skills of others – trying to predict what they will do, which rules of the road they will ignore and how distracted they are. This is especially true in the country I live in, where driving can be a stressful experience.

I understand that we often need to multi task – there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time in our day to accomplish everything we need to, but walking our dogs should not be one of these times.

Some people might say – “but my dog is really friendly, well socialized, gets on well with everyone, is well trained, knows this environment well etc. and I hear that.

But another dog might not be – maybe they need space, are reactive, are not sociable, are recovering from an illness, might be terrified of another dog racing straight towards them chasing a ball thrown from a ball launcher etc.

If distracted dog walkers have no regard for other dogs or other people, they should at least have regard for their own dogs. Walking your dog should be a time of bonding, of relationship, of seeing the environment through the eyes of your dog, of reinforcing and teaching wanted behaviours, of keeping them safe and protected from the unknown.

Our dogs need us to be focused, to pay attention, to be aware and attentive.

Our dogs depend on us to advocate for them.

21/09/2024

He has, unfortunately, been very influential. What is it about machismo that draws us in, convinces us?

BEYOND CESAR MILLAN

20 YEARS LATER.....The following review was submitted to National Geographic by Dr. Andrew Luescher, DVM, Ph.D, DACVB (board-certified veterinary behaviorist).

Dr. Luescher, former director of the Purdue University Veterinary Behavior Clinic was asked to provide feedback on "Dog Whisperer" tapes prior to the show's airing.

In this letter to National Geographic (date unknown), Dr. Luescher writes,

"I think this series, if aired, would be a major embarrassment for National Geographic. It is not stimulating or thought-provoking, since none of the presented techniques are new. They are outdated and have long been abandoned by most responsible trainers, let alone behaviorists, as inappropriate and cruel. I very much hope National Geographic will pull the plug on this program."

Please read the entire letter (It's not long.) and share: http://beyondcesarmillan.weebly.com/andrew-luescher.html

This program and trainers who have mimicked the behavior seen in this program have done so much damage to the dog training industry, dogs, and the human-animal bond.

I have met and spoken to Dr. Luescher personally, and I share his sentiments, as do all other trainers in the evidence-based, best practice camp. Meanwhile, much of the unsuspecting public still looks to National Geographic as an authority and has no idea it has thrown science to the wind, at least in terms of dog behavior and training.

Cindy Ludwig, MA, BS, RN, KPA-CTP, CPDT-KA
Canine Connection LLC
Willard, MO

Image copyright Valder Beebe Show, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Cesar_Millan_Mar_2018.png