Puppy Specialist and Dog Trainer

05/01/2024

I was asked how to get a fussy puppy to eat...
Be tough. Lol.
Offer her normal food a few times a day. After 10 minutes pick it up. No treats either. If she eats, say nothing. Just leave her and don't make a big deal.
If she hasn't eaten by night meal don't worry. Try again the next day. No dog has ever starved from missing a meal. This advice works on children as well...

03/26/2024

01/06/2024

Just a second for cuteness...

11/13/2023

Onions, leeks etc.
Deadly to our pets.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p2X8wXpWThSjJm6j/?mibextid=xfxF2i

10/14/2023

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

10/14/2023

09/03/2023

Hello. I hope you all had a great summer!
I will be starting up my puppy training on September 15.
I come to your home, do basic training and work on issues you may be having.
Call and leave a message....see you soon.

09/03/2023

This is just suggestions, check for yourself or call a vet if you're not sure.

09/03/2023

The puppy we raise, is the adult we get.
Please don't wait until they grow out of it. They won't.
It's like raising a child that's always allowed to eat whatever they want, whenever they want, never do homework, doesn't have bedtime and will not go to school.

They don't wake up one day and think 'Oh snap, I should start eating healthy, go to bed early, hit the gym and start studying.'
You nurture that from an early age that, that is a healthier lifestyle. You set rules and boundaries since they were teeny tiny.

You HAVE to do the same with dogs.
Repeat after me: They do NOT grow out of it.

08/09/2023

https://www.facebook.com/723845906/posts/10161055999355907/?mibextid=Nif5oz

07/26/2023

**MPORTANT PLEASE READ**

It is with a heavy heart that I am telling you that a family member's dog died yesterday after playing with the garden hose with my nephews.
He suffered secondary drowning and devastatingly this was fatal. He was fit & healthy; he was the tender age of 3!
Fly high Basil 💔🐾🙏
I personally wasn’t aware of secondary drowning and play with my dogs with my garden hose to cool them down. This is one of Blake’s favourite games.
What is secondary drowning??
Your pet has likely inhaled water into its lungs, and even after coughing it up or after observing water draining from the nose or mouth, there could be residual water remaining in the lungs. This could lead to pneumonia. Secondary drowning has been known to occur, even up to three days after the initial near-drowning. Exhaustion is almost always the cause of drowning. With a hose or even a sprinkler your dog can inhale the water and this can be fatal.
❤️🇨🇦❤️

06/13/2023

05/31/2023

PREVENTING DOG ATTACKS
As dog parents we hope that this will never happen to our dogs, but in reality, many of us have personal experience with this really traumatic event.

The consequences of a dog attack are immense - not just the potential physical injuries, but the emotional trauma that often changes a dogs behaviour from there on.

I often wish that I could go back in time, knowing what I know now. I wish that I could have prevented what happened to my dogs if I had tried some of these methods. All I did at the time was scream – I didn’t know what else to do. Screaming only escalated the situation.

My dogs were attacked while out walking in the neighborhood as a person arrived home and opened their front gate just as we had walked past. 2 big dogs chased us up the road and attacked my dogs. One of my dogs had serious injuries requiring stitches, drains and days at the vet. She recovered physically, but years later is still fearful of bigger dogs and hides behind anything she can find in the environment until they have disappeared.

One of my other dogs, although not physically injured at the time, began reacting to any dog that was bigger than her and still does this, years later. The emotional trauma is often far greater than the physical.

Knowing what methods to try in an attempt to prevent a dog attack are so important. It may seem like a hassle to have to carry a few extra things when out walking or to always have to be aware of the environment.

It may sound terrible to have to resort to putting your little dog into a nearby dustbin to protect them or to use a spray or horn device to deter the approaching dog, knowing that it will affect your dog as well.

There is never a guarantee that these methods will work and every situation is different, but we need to do all we can to prevent an attack from happening.

05/31/2023

IS YOUR DOG AGGRESSIVE OR REACTIVE?

Reactivity can certainly look like aggression. Lunging, barking, snarling, growling are just some of the behaviors we might see that lead us to believe our dogs are aggressive.

I believe that too many dogs are labelled as aggressive. Yes, there certainly are some dogs that are truly aggressive and genetics play a big role in this, but this is not what this post is about.

This is about just labelling a dog as aggressive and not looking at what emotion lies beneath the surface that may be causing the behaviour.

Fear, anxiety, frustration, hyper arousal, negative experiences, learning history etc. can all cause an overreaction or abnormal level of arousal in response to whatever is triggering that particular dog.

Although reactivity and true aggression are inherently different, a reactive dog may become an aggressive dog. The behaviour becomes a default response or a learnt behaviour.

Reactivity and what is triggering it needs to be understood and addressed through either careful counter conditioning, desensitization or managing the environment.

Our words matter – our words influence our state of mind and our thoughts.

Rather than saying "My dog is aggressive", try saying "I have a dog that reacts to certain triggers or in certain situations and I’m working on ways to improve this"

05/31/2023

DO YOU WANT AN OBEDIENT DOG?

CHOOSE TO BUILD CONNECTION INSTEAD OF OBEDIENCE OR CONTROL

Is having an obedient dog that you can control all that society makes it out to be? Do we want a relationship with our dogs or a robot that complies with our every command?

If our dogs are not obedient, are they challenging our power and authority over them? Are they plotting to dominate the human race because they are trying to be the alpha? Are they an embarrassment to us or a bad reflection on our ability to control another living being?

Everyone wants a well-behaved dog, but contrary to popular belief, a well-behaved dog is not the same as a controlled, obedient dog.

What we need to focus on is building connection, relationship and a deeper bond with our dogs.
Focusing on these things is often the answer to many behaviour problems. When this is in place it results in a dog that chooses to do the right thing, wants to be connected to us, feels safe and secure in their environment and builds resilience from having a secure base to rely on.

Take the focus away from control and obedience and instead focus on building a connection with your dog. When we have established connection and built a secure relationship our dogs will automatically be more “obedient’’ not because they are forced to but because they freely choose to.

05/31/2023

A WORD ABOUT WAGS
Contrary to popular belief, a wagging tail doesn’t always mean a dog is happy. You may have heard - “I don’t understand why that dog reacted badly to me; his tail was wagging!”

Dogs communicate through so many different types of body language, but the wag and the tail position are probably one of the easier to notice.

As with most things dog behaviour related it depends on the individual dog. Some breeds naturally carry their tails in a different position and some breeds wag their tails differently to others.

Wags and tail positions should always be looked at in context and in conjunction with the rest of a dogs’ body language.

By taking note of how your dog’s tail usually looks or how that tail behaves when they’re really excited or happy to see you, provides a good base line to interpret other types of tail language.

I’m probably odd, but I often watch my dogs’ tails with fascination as they stalk or hunt for something, bark at something outside the gate or see another dog approaching while out walking.

The type of wag and position of their tails gives me so much information about their emotional state.

Although some people won’t agree, I definitely see wags to the right when my dogs are happy and wags to the left when there is arousal, uncertainty, predatory behaviour or other emotions going on.

Not only is the tail an important method of communication but it also plays a role in balance, stability, movement and counterbalancing when a dog quickly changes direction.

I believe that tail docking destroys an essential part of a dog's ability to communicate with other dogs by creating a distinct social disadvantage or misunderstanding as tail signals can’t be read.

People with working dogs believe that tail docking is necessary to prevent tail injuries or improve permormance, but many countries have banned this practice either completely or only under specific medical circumstances.

Start taking notice of what your dog is doing with their tail - you may find it interesting and it may open up a new way of understanding how your dog is feeling.

05/31/2023

BRIBES OR REWARDS?

A bribe is something that is offered before a behaviour, while a reward is something that is offered after a behaviour. It’s all about the timing.

Using rewards as a way to communicate with our dogs what we want them to do should no longer even be debated.

Rewarding the behaviour we want is an invaluable, effective, scientifically proven way to build communication and maintain a wanted behaviour.

Using rewards is not what this post is about. This post is about the belief that using rewards is just about bribing our dogs to do something. It’s about the all-too-common problem that many people have – “but my dog will only do something if I show him a treat first”.

In these cases, the reward has become a bribe because it has to be offered before a behaviour is performed. The reward prompts, influences and encourages a behaviour and without it, the dog will not “perform”.

To use rewards effectively and avoid this issue, the reward needs to be presented after the behaviour has been performed. It then becomes a way of communicating – “Well done, I really liked your behaviour!”

There are times when bribes or luring are necessary. Teaching a new behaviour, helping a dog that is fearful, unsure, establishing trust and building relationship, bribing a dog to drop something by trading it for a yummy treat or at times when you temporarily need to address a potentially dangerous or frustrating situation.

When correctly timed, rewards are not bribes. Rewards are an effective tool in helping our dogs understand what to do. Keep on rewarding a behaviour well done.

05/31/2023

RAISING DOG FRIENDLY CHILDREN
Teach children to be dog friendly before teaching dogs to be child friendly

I’m often asked - “How can I make my dog more child friendly?”

The question really should be - “How can I make my child more dog friendly?”

Children don’t come with an inborn ability to know how to treat dogs. It’s up to us to teach them.

I’m amazed that there aren’t more dog bites considering how often I see children treating dogs like stuffed toys.

If you think about it, dogs are actually amazingly tolerant and patient with people even when their attempts to communicate through their body language, that they’re really uncomfortable, are completely ignored or not understood.

As parents, it’s an important responsibility to teach our children about how to respect and behave around dogs.

Always supervise children and dogs, even if a dog seems relaxed and friendly.

Here are some links to free, on-line resources if you’re looking for more information on how to keep children and dogs safe together -

https://kidsarounddogs.co.uk/pages/free-resources
https://www.familypaws.com/resources/
https://www.cooperandkids.com
https://www.gooddoginabox.com/top-20-ways-keep-kids-and-dogs-safe/
https://poochparenting.net/blog/

05/31/2023

I NEED TO FEEL SAFE

Like all living creatures, dogs just want to feel safe – it’s a basic need.

When we think about feeling safe it’s natural to just think about not being harmed or being in danger, but it’s not just about physical safety - feeling safe emotionally or psychologically is just as important.

While physical safety may be obvious and simpler to address, emotional safety is far more complex and not always easy to recognise or identify.

The same applies to our dogs – they are sentient beings whose behaviour is very often triggered and driven by an emotion.

Many behaviour problems that we see in dogs stem from them feeling unsafe.

A dog that lunges and barks or behaves aggressively with another dog or person is probably doing so because they feel unsafe. They are trying to make the scary thing go away.

A dog that is guarding resources is doing so because they are afraid that the resource will be taken away – they don’t feel safe when another animal or person approaches that resource.

A dog that is reacting to fireworks or thunderstorms or other noises is doing so because they don’t feel safe.

The same can be said for separation anxiety, certain types of aggression and other behaviours.

We can help our dogs feel safe by acknowledging their fear even if that fear doesn’t make sense to us.

We can be a source of comfort, predictability, allow them to make choices where we can, never force them to face a fear, never use punishment but positively reinforce their good choices, all while doing what we can through management, desensitisation or counter conditioning to help them feel safer.

Some dogs may never get over a specific fear, but doing what we can to help dogs feel safer in our world is so important.

Be the person that your dog can rely on and trust to help them feel safe.

Be a secure, reliable, stable base that they can count on when they feel unsafe.

05/31/2023

CHOOSING A DOG BECAUSE OF THE WAY THEY LOOK
We wouldn’t choose a partner or make a commitment to sharing our lives with someone based purely on the way they look.

We would hopefully first get to know them, their personality and who they really are before making that sort of commitment.

Yet people continue to choose dogs just because they may have pretty eyes, are really cute or just really like the look of them without any understanding or desire to learn about what that particular breed was selectively bred to do and what behaviour they might expect.

The way a dog behaves is not always specific to the breed. Dogs are individuals, with their own unique personality and their behaviour is shaped not only by genetics but by their specific life and learning experiences and environment, but problems can happen when the traits of that breed and their specific needs are not taken into account.

Some breeds may just not be compatible with a particular family’s needs, lifestyle or expectations.

Is it fair for us to suppress, try to train out or even punish breed specific tendencies when we keep a dog in a captive environment that is not suitable for them.

Research the breed and learn all you can about their potential traits before making a choice.

Understand the breed and make sure that you are able to provide appropriate outlets for those needs.