Coffs Harbour Dog Owners Hub

27/09/2023

They can be–just ask an emergency doctor or veterinarian how many retractable leash injuries they see every year.

21/07/2023

Dog walking is about mindfulness 😊

20/05/2023

Nice day for the beach 👍

18/07/2022

Always ask - the owner first, but also the dog. Does the dog want to approach you? If not, don't touch. Dogs dislike being patted on the head, so go for a chest scratch for a few seconds. If he asks for more - he is happy to be touched by you 😊

08/06/2022

You wouldn't want to be yanked, scolded, or told "there's nothing there."

29/05/2022

01/05/2022

That day is getting closer all the time.
😂😂😂

29/04/2022

Children must be supervised around dogs, and adults need to understand dog communication, particularly signs of discomfort

27/04/2022

Puppies need to learn about rest time

24/04/2022

One of the hardest things to do - is stop patting dogs on the head. Yep, they do not like it 😐

23/04/2022

Ball chasing - it is unnatural, hard on bodies, hard on teeth, and highly over arousing for the brain. Interesting

Throwing a ball for your dog. Should we do it?

How many of the dogs in our lives were bred to chase, catch and retrieve moving prey repeatedly? I can think of almost none. Terriers were bred to chase and catch multiple prey animals in a close area over a relatively short period of time. Sighthounds like whippets were bred to chase single prey animals over medium distances for a few minutes before rest.

The breeds which will chase and retrieve a ball repeatedly, such as collies, GSDs, spaniels and retrievers, were not bred to chase and catch moving animals. The gundogs were bred to flush and then retrieve a stationary, not moving item. The human shot the bird, the dog marked where the bird fell, then went out to search and retrieve it. The herding breeds were bred to keep the sheep/cattle in a small area and their chase behaviours are often to go and get a stray and bring it back into the fold.

Why do so many of us enjoy throwing a ball over and over again for our dogs? Firstly, we like to see out dogs running, in full flight. We like to see how far we can throw the ball and have the dog bring it back. We also like to think this is what we need to do to “tire our dogs out”. Yes, they may be tired but we are also subjecting them to forced exercise (many will chase and retrieve to exhaustion, my dog included, I don’t do it), adrenalising them, subjecting them to harsh physically demanding work without a proper warm up or cool down, addicting them to the chase endorphins, and making it hard from them to relax. We are also very likely to be needlessly exposing them to both chronic and acute injury.

I worked with a gundog breed this week. We taught him to retrieve a stationary ball. By the end of the session, he was running out to it with the same exuberance as if he was chasing. Then he rested while we set the ball up again and we only did three or four reps before we did something else. With my dog, I throw the toy up in front of him and he jumps up and catches it. He really enjoys having the opportunity to do this. And we don’t do too many of them.

Your task, should you choose to accept it. Think of games you can play with your dog which don’t involve chasing a moving ball and catching it. Play football with your dog as the goalie and try to “score” against them. Teach them to wait while you put the ball down, flick it with your foot and let them pounce on it. Teach them to search for it after you’ve hidden it. All of these games exercise both your dog’s mind and body. And their minds and bodies will be healthier as a result.

Let me know what non-chasing-the-ball games you play with your dog in the comments.

29/03/2022

just saw this and had to share

22/03/2022

Great webinar coming up on such an important topic https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/event-4730607

18/03/2022

Good advice for pups

Some tips for socialising your puppy…

1) The ‘socialisation window’ isn’t open for very long so to speak. Once it shuts you can’t technically ‘socialise’ them anymore or any less. If your dog doesn’t like the dog park/beach then don’t take them there.

2) Socialisation should be more about habituation and desensitisation towards things they will come into contact with when they get older. You don’t need to get them to play and interact with everyone and everything. That will likely create an anti-social or socially inappropriate dog.

3) Fear can be a normal response to any changes within an environment. Give them an escape route and don’t make a big deal out of it. Most puppies are pretty resilient and bounce back pretty quickly.

4) Don’t put them around dogs that are just going to tell them off. They might learn what not to do but they aren’t also learning what they should do as well. That’s very important.

5) Quality over quantity. I’d rather my puppy have 2 really good interactions as opposed to 20 with 10 undesirable interactions/outcomes.

6) Dog parks are usually the worst place to take puppies imo.

7) If you’re concerned with anything, seek professionally help ASAP. The longer you leave it the harder the issues will be to resolve.

8 ) Change the way you think about training dogs. It shouldn’t be ‘I have a problem. The dog behaves badly and I need it fixed’ to ‘I want to learn how to effectively communicate with my dog so we can both have better lives’.

www.thinkdog.nz

28/02/2022

Bit of a read but worth it. Feeding meat eaters dry crackers will never meet their nutritional needs.

GREAT TESTIMONIAL TO THE POWER OF REAL FOOD FROM TURID RUGAAS, THE QUEEN OF CANINE BODY LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIOUR...
Turid Rugaas has always been a bit of a hero of mine. We studied her lessons in depth in Guide Dogs. Fabulous insight, revolutionary at the time. I was lucky enough to have been invited to her symposium some years ago to talk nutrition and we have been friends since. She just sent me this wonderful testimony for the powers of real food in a recent case (I edited it a touch for brevity/clarity):

"I had a client with a dog who was biting everybody. They came to my house so I could see and control what was happening.

The first session was just getting used to my home and me. He was stiff as a pole, alert, worried, stole things and was restless.

He received only kibble which he ate a bit of now and then. He never felt full at all, so after our first meeting, I decided to put emphasis on feeding. .

When he came to me the next day I gave him breakfast and then he fell asleep.

That afternoon I instructed the owner to begin feeding him with proper food.

He went home yesterday, walking towards the car with proper strides, soft muscles in the back and legs, walking normally for the first time instead of stiffly trotting, looking around, enjoying the traffic, people, a helicopter passing - and all with a sweet, curious face.

It was a complete transformation, I have never seen anything like that in such a short time. He was not hungry for the first time in his whole life.

I usually have a calming effect on dogs but this was different. His whole body changed."

As a trainer myself, with a background studying the effects of food on behaviour, I can very much testify to seeing (and now hearing of) the same effect in a great number of dogs. Many trainers have told me the same.

I would add a note to the above that there are two types of starving, and both drive unwanted behaviour in your pet. The first is giving a meat-eater a handful of rapidly digested crackers for breakfast, inducing an actual hunger in the dog soon after, and hungry dogs are significantly more likely to exhibit unwanted behaviours because of it.

But there is also "nutritional" hunger (this is the overfed, undernourished of the world) whereby if you continue to feed a product where studies show 62% of the "complete" kibbles off the shelf in the UK cannot even manage to meet the minimum nutritional standards set out by the kibble manufacturers themselves, you will get a similar effect - an animal not only deficient in certain mind-calming nutrients and bioactive compounds, but one driven to get them.

And hunger is really only one part of it - why is it kids go crazy at birthdays after we give them all the crap food? Is it the rapidly digested carbs? The artificial colours? Dry food has all these en masse but also poor quality protein, stale fats, erratic vitamin content (notoriously deficient in b complex, for example), chemical preservatives that decimates the gut flora (central to good behaviour), on and on.

There is surely no one solution to problem behaviour in your pet, and nothing replaces the advice of a good trainer, but if you're feeding them ultra-processed kibble folks, you sure as hell aren't helping matters. The foundations must be solid before the lessons can percolate in.

Has anyone else experienced this positive change in behaviour in their pet?

***
Catch up with Turids' work here
http://en.turid-rugaas.no/

She also makes available a huge amount of great info for free on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj7BWxC6iVs

26/02/2022

Training methods matter

The science supporting positive-reinforcement dog training is abundant. It's more effective and more humane than force-training. Here's why.

25/02/2022

THEORY THURSDAY - canine body language
Stress is part of life. It can help ensure we're well prepared for a meeting, test, job interview and so on. Understanding when our dog may be experiencing low-level stress helps us to decide if they need our support. We're empowered to help as needed.
Thanks to Silent Conversations

23/02/2022

Puppies left to 'cry it out' increase the risk of developing separation anxiety. Keep them comforted and close and build their confidence

Cry It Out – Why What We Learned from Children Applies to Puppies.

There has since at least 1913, been a school of thought that suggests allowing tiny babies to ‘cry it out’, ie, cry until they give up crying, with the parent no longer responding to cries for attention, comfort or contact, is beneficial or indeed, necessary in raising children.

Somewhere along the line this also became the advice applied to puppies, with the warnings that if you did respond to a pups cries for attention, you would as with the child oriented version of this advice, create a needy individual who was insecure and lacking in confidence.

We now know the opposite is true, unfortunately from a dog perspective very few studies are done on dogs, simply because there isn’t the money in it to do them.

So we are left to extrapolate from studies done on children, but that’s actually ok, because a dogs brain is very comparable to the brain of a child under 2 years of age. They have similar needs for comfort, warmth, food, physical contact, social support. They have similar difficulties in communicating orally, in lacking impulse control and lacking fine motor skills.

So here’s the grim truth.

Young mammals left to ‘cry it out’ do not ‘self soothe’. In fact what they learn (Bowlby J. 1960’s) is that after going through a cycle of protestation, then despair, they reach a third phase of detachment – in effect they give up trying to get a response, get comfort or contact and become apathetic. Their distress is still present, they simply have learned it will not be alleviated as a result of their behaviour, they have shut down.

Whilst the theory ran that if you provide attention constantly so that the young mammal in question does not need to cry, or you respond promptly to their cries, they will cry more, seek attention more… in fact the opposite is true.

A study in 1986 demonstrated that the more the mother holds and carries her baby, the less that baby will cry and fuss. Other studies (cross cultural but still human, not dog) showed that those parents who responded quicker to crying babies also have babies who cry far less often!

Going back to puppies – we have taken them from their mothers, their litter mates and their familiar environment.

If we compare our domestic dog to feral and wild dog populations we see that our domestic puppies experience this separation from their primary care giver and litter mates at (on average) between 6 and 12 weeks of age.
Their wild/feral counter parts are in the constant company of litter mates and the near constant company of their parent until weaning. Beyond weaning, they are still in the constant company of littermates, parent and other relatives unless they choose to be alone, which is unlikely to happen before adolescence and the hormonal changes that are related to adolescence.

It is true that domestic dogs and wild or feral canids are not the same, but the difference is that domestic dogs actively want to be with humans rather than with other canids.

That being so, they are in no way equipped to be isolated and alone, any more than the feral or wild dogs would be.

So what are the risks of subjecting a puppy to isolation from a social group or new primary caregiver,and ignoring cries for company, comfort or contact?

* The increased cortisol levels can actually damage or kill off neurons and the neuronal interconnections – this can affect how well your dog copes with stress, anxiety and fear in future, predisposing them to be more reactive and fearful.

*Stress hormones go up faster than they come back down – so that stressful experience is affecting the dog for much longer than you might think. Possibly days.

*Repeatedly putting stress hormones up will inhibit learning, affect sleep, affect bonding and attachment.

*Repeated stressful experiences that the subject cannot escape from leads to PTSD in humans – we have no evidence to suggest that this does not also happen in dogs. Given the similarities between the human and canine brain, it is reasonable to assume dogs can also experience something similar to PTSD.

The short version of all this is – there is no benefit to leaving a dog to cry it out, separation anxiety is normal for puppies, they need to be with someone most of the time!

Separation anxiety as an abnormal behavioural issue comes about as a result of an insecure dog, who has not been taught how to cope by themselves, not as a result of creating a secure, confident dog who is given what they need as a puppy.

©Emma Judson

13/02/2022

The gold standard in dog training courses in Australia. Best thing i ever did 😊

10/02/2022

Yes! Say "Yes"! Love this graphic from Dog Latin Dog Training and Behavior Consulting.

Some dude in the park ask me if I had food on me. Yep, and if he did, he might be able to help his dog learn to stop jumping & hu***ng! ☺

I have food on me because I want to say thank you for:

💚 Not jumping on people
💚 Not hu***ng people
💚 Coming back to me
💚 Not touching deadly fish & snakes
💚 Playing nicely
💚 Leaving another dog's ball alone
💚 Not rolling in smelly crap

So, try saying yes to your dog & see the results! ❤

09/02/2022

Did you know that your puppy’s socialisation period ends before they are fully vaccinated?

While some vets still recommend not taking your dog out until they are vaccinated, we now know that this lack of exposure to day-to-day life experiences can have a negative impact on a dog's behaviour later in life.

It's important to find ways to let your puppy experience the things you want them to be able to cope with throughout their life, and with a bit of creativity you can achieve this without risking their health.

07/02/2022

Think about this the next time you think your dog should play with all dogs they see..... yes our dogs can and should have some "friends" who they play with nicely on a regular basis.

➡️ It is not normal for dogs to WANT to play or say hi with all dogs. It's not normal and it's not SAFE!

Teaching your dog to ignore other dogs and people (without being fearful of them) is a valuable skill 🙌

01/02/2022

There are only two reasons why your dog doesn't respond when you ask them to or do what you want

1. There is a problem with comprehension - they don't understand what you already asking

2. There is a problem with motivation- There us not enough reason for the dog to do what you are asking.

That's it. Only two reasons. Clear communication through repetition helps with comprehension. Understanding how behaviour is built helps with motivation.

Ways we can motivate a dog

- use things the dog will work to achieve
- used things the dog will work to avoid/escape

Modern, progressive methods concentrate on using things the dog likes. Traditional or so called "balanced" trainers use things the dig doesn't like. These coerce the dog into compliance rather than working via cooperation.

Which conditions would you rather work under?

31/01/2022

26/01/2022

This

21/01/2022

On leash reactivity - a very common problem - and probably not what you think it is

By Mary Jean Alsina Leash reactivity can be one of the most common (and embarrassing) problems dog owners deal with on a daily basis. It is also one of the most requested behavioral issues I work o…

20/01/2022

I find there seems to be rather a lot of miss guided assumptions when it comes to reactivity. People assume a reactive dog is an agressive dog.
This is NOT the case, a reactive dog, is a dog that over reacts to an external stimuli (people, animals, noises, other dogs)
It is the EMOTIONAL state when in the presence of the object of their anxiety or frustration.

A dog might overreact by barking, lunging, growling etc for several reasons, it is a communication.
Trying to shut down this communication though fear and pain (lead flicks, choking the dog, startling noises, yelling/shouting, prong or e collars etc.) may well look as though the dog is "fixed" but the underlying emotion will still be there.
The dog just learns there is no point asking for help, none will come...... just pain, so they shut down

Keeping a dog in close proximity to the stimulus with no chance of escape (say a dog reactive dog in a enclosed area with several other dogs) thinking they will "get used" to other dogs, is a very outdated and dangerous technique called flooding.
This again does NOTHING to help the dog, they will just shut down
(They are ticking time bomb dogs)

Whereas if you actually listen to your dog and work on changing that underlying emotion, you will be surprised how the behaviour automatically changes.

Behaviour modification takes time, dedication and knowledge, each dog is different as to how quickly they can move forward.
It's like us going to a psychiatrist/counsellor for a mental issue, you aren't going to be "fixed" after one session.

You DONT "CORRECT OR TRAIN" a reactive dog, you "HELP" a reactive dog.

There is NEVER a need to use pain or fear when training any animal

25/12/2021

Another consequence, particularly from tennis balls, is completely worn down teeth

3 Reasons Why You Should Bin The Ball Launcher Encourages Obsessive Behaviours Whilst many dogs do undeniably enjoy the thrill of the chase...

24/12/2021

Let sleeping dogs lie.....literally

19/12/2021

Christmas tips for dog owners

09/12/2021

kindness - always

07/12/2021

Learning to 'speak dog' helps keep people Doggone Safe:

02/12/2021

If your dog met their breeder years later would they react like this? Good breeders put so much effort into their pups, it has positive consequences for the dogs entire life