Jackie Pritchard Dog Training

12/17/2024

The 3-3-3 rule needs to be ditched.
I like to say…every dog is an individual. It takes as long as it takes.

The 3-3-3 Rule

This piece of information is usually shared with good intentions which I appreciate and understand.

However, my personal opinion is that we really need to ditch and rethink this " saying" as it can have the potential to do more harm than good.

3 Days

Decompression is referring to a period of time where our goal as guardians is to manage and adapt situations so a dogs stress levels start to reduce.

This might look like avoidance, leaving the dog alone, being there more for them etc, being there but not touching them, it's not about anything other than how can we give the dog what THEY need to just take a break and breath.

The neural pathways in the brain related to certain feelings need a break from constantly firing up and being triggered and we need to learn how to achieve this.

This takes time, normally way more than 3 days even for pretty resilient dogs.

For some dogs it can be 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, for some dogs longer!

The 3 day rule for me is the one that has the most potential to set new guardians up to feel like they are failing.

Especially when from an adopters perspective its likely, they have wanted to help a dog in need and often hope that with care and love every dog will forget their worries and thrive, some do, but for those that dont?

I can understand the feeling of frustration and even rejection in some cases when months down the line the dog is still struggling.

This phase for me is THE MOST CRITICAL and should have no time limits.

3 Weeks

Described as a dog settling into routines.

For some, especially dogs who are anxious or fearful they are likely to learn your routines much quicker than 3 weeks.

Anxiety craves predictability and nearly every dog I've had the pleasure of working with to date who were experiencing anxiety were experts as second guessing routines and preempting what's coming next.

Again each dog will take whatever time they need to get into a routine. Interestingly, most information I have read says " to settle into YOUR routine.

I just want to address that some dogs will require YOUR routine to change , some won't, again don't put this into a box, look at the individual dog.

3 Months

This period is described as the dog feeling settled and secure and ready to ' take on a bit more"

I am sure there are many amazing guardians out there who will give you various lengths of time it took or they are still working towards.

Some dogs will walk into your life like they have always been with you, Ive had this happen with my lurcher, some will take a few weeks, a few months, some dogs will always struggle.

When we are giving these fit in a box timeframes are we trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I try to think about what we could potentionally be setting the new guardian up to feel when the dog isn't decompressing as quickly as expected or hitting these markers?

Arming guardians with good honest information where the focus is not time frames or exceptions, but focuses primarily on what that dogs needs to feel safe and build trust is paramount.

How do guardians recognise how their dog is feeling, are they armed with a basic observation framework to correctly gather information?

Instead if 3-3-3 we need to focus on " I Am Me"

12/16/2024

I see trainers deceiving the dog-owning public with this flawed logic all the time.

"You don't run from your fear, you face it".

Makes sense right? However, since dogs are captive animals, they aren't choosing to face their fears, we are choosing for them. Exposing them to what they fear doesn't help them conquer that fear. It is a sink-or-swim situation and that's why qualified trainers that understand the impact of fear and trauma implement management, desensitisation and counter-conditioning. This allows the dog to be in the presence of what they fear, whilst giving them agency and choice to move away, in order to ensure they are never put in a situation that will elicit a fearful response.

Using the 'face your fear' concept is just a clever way to manipulate the masses into believing the end justify the means when using aversive methods. In reality, it totally disregards the fact that it removes all choice from the dogs and disempowers them. - Holly Leake

12/15/2024

The holidays can be a stressful time for us and our pets. This is a wonderful explanation of how to create a safe space for your dogs during holiday gatherings at your home.

12/15/2024

‼️SO IMPORTANT ‼️

Please I beg you do NOT let your child sit on or lie on your dog , or grab them by the face and kiss them, or climb into their bed or crate , or disturb them when eating or chewing, or chase after the dog to grab their toys.

I’ve lost count of the numbers of distraught parents who have contacted me during the festive holiday when stressed anxious dogs have bitten children.
Usually due to lack of parental supervision, lack of understanding of the dogs needs and poor dog management.

Dogs never bite out of the blue . They are usually giving subtle warnings repeatedly before they snap
Always supervise child to dog interactions
Teach children to respect dogs
Sit on the ground - not the hound
Pet pet pause - 3 second contact
Let sleeping dogs lie
Give them space
Create a safe space for your dog that’s a NO GO area for children
Don’t become that statistic .

Photo author unknown

12/14/2024

I posted this in my dog pro group 2 days ago because I needed to share. I’m sharing here now to educate. I changed the breed so that there is no finger pointing.
Imagine if this person was walking wearing a shock collar and the person behind her kept shocking her for walking to far ahead.
Would she know why she was being tortured or just believe that life was hard and painful, a terribly scary world.
I suppose that if the woman were able to understand, she would stop walking ahead even though it would mean walking at a slower and uncomfortable pace. No one would want to go for a shock walk:

Hello, my loves,
just finishing up a walk.
I often see this couple who walks a grey hound with a shock collar.
I have had a few runs with them before over the years.
Once when I was on a walk with Sally, we were in close proximity. The grey hound looked at Sally, just looked at her. Sally looked at her as well with a happy body language.
When the woman saw her dog, looking at Sally, she gave her a firm “No!” And shocked her!
The poor dog yelped and jumped.
Sally was startled and scared by this. She of course, didn’t know what happened.
I yelled are you kidding me because it just all happened so fast.
Over the years, they see me coming and go the other way. I do the same.
Today I was walking without Sally. I saw them up ahead.
Once again, the grey hound’s tail was down.
Without having Sally, I noticed the woman holding the remote in her hand.
She walked the dog on a leash, 6 foot leash. But today I saw that Anytime the dog got a foot in front of her. She shocked the dog. The dog jolted and would stop walking. And this went on.
Of course, here, I am crying on my way home. I just can’t stop thinking about this poor dog every day when they say time to go on our walk, how she must dread it.
She can’t say no thank you or she will have pain and yet she knows when she goes if will only be a walk full of pain. She is never allowed to move to the left or the right. Never allowed to smell or to relax at all. Just awful.
Sorry to start your morning this way, but after all, we are all here for each other right.
So I appreciate whoever reads this or doesn’t. I just appreciate that I can vent.
Grateful for every person who just won’t stand for such nonsense and wishes that we could end it all tomorrow for them.
I’m gonna go and get Sally out now and let her run after the geese and sniff after her moles. I’m going to be so happy and grateful that her and I found each other instead of her ending up in the hands of someone like them.
And my poor Fitzy. You wouldn’t last a day with those folks.
I can’t understand how it can be so normalized.
I can’t understand how people can feel OK and even good about causing pain to one who they share a home with whom they claim to love.
Who knows do these people love her? Can love be so distorted? We know it is in families. We know that we see this in families where things are just so messed up. It’s not real love or is it? We know at the very least that it’s a terribly dysfunctional love.
How do dogs endure this?
How long will it be until we can change this?
Love all of you who are here.
Love all of you who care.
Grateful to to be a dog behavior consultant, speaking for dogs.
Grateful for all of you.
❤️‍🩹🐾

12/14/2024

This is an important message. Pain is often a contributing factor to behaviour issues. It’s important to find the root cause of the behaviour. A dog can’t tell us what hurts but there are often signs that they are experiencing pain.
Before putting together a behaviour modification plan for any dog, I always try to make sure that we rule out any medical issues first.

At this point in time, most folks understand the link between pain and behavior. It’s logical: you don’t feel well, you have less patience and tolerance, you lash out or shut down or otherwise are not the best version of yourself. It makes sense that the same would be true for dogs.

But how do we know there is pain with animals who cannot verbalize that pain?

The short answer: we can’t know.

The longer answer: we also can’t know there ISN’T pain.

Meet Malus.

From puppyhood, he’s been a little spicy. But he’s a terrier, so that’s normal, right? He didn’t like having his feet handled. No biggie. And as he got older, he got a little reactive to other dogs - again, see “terrier” in the dictionary. And after he got neutered at 2.5 years old, his behavior spiraled - going after his housemates, aggression directed at his owners, even less tolerance for handling, increased fence fighting. But there’s some evidence of increased aggression after neutering, so maybe he just got unlucky.

For many folks, that explanation would’ve been enough. They would’ve worked on behavior modification, or just accepted a crate and rotate household, or managed the heck out of all of his triggers… or, honestly, would’ve ended up euthanizing him for his dangerous behavior.

Luckily, Malus’s mom is Katrina, who is essentially a terrier in a human body. She dug in.

Training, a veterinary behaviorist, consulting with other behavior experts, expensive testing - and then we got our first physical explanation: low zinc.

But even with a zinc supplement, his aggressive episodes remained unpredictable. Katrina had noticed some very, very intermittent lameness, foot chewing, butt/tail biting, so off they went to the first orthopedic specialist - one who cleared him orthopedically for all activities.

So they did physical therapy, and pain meds, and kept working on training.

But the weird, mild lameness continued, and so did visits to specialists. A neurologist who recommended an MRI, then more physical therapy for a possible psoas strain, different meds, another orthopedic/rehab specialist consultation, adjustments to physical therapy, a PEMF bed for home use, adjustments to behavior meds, consults with nationally respected trainers and behavior specialists, and finally - FINALLY - a recommendation to see a pain management specialist.

“I think he may have Tethered Cord Syndrome. I’m going to try different pain meds, but there’s a specialist in Massachusetts you should get in touch with.”

With the new meds on board, his behavior improved. He was brighter, happier, had fewer episodes of lameness, self mutilation, and aggression.

Yesterday, Malus had a dynamic MRI at Tufts, where Tethered Cord Syndrome was confirmed.

Today, he had surgery to relieve the adhesions to his spinal cord that have been causing him pain.

He was never “just being a terrier.” He was not acting out for no good reason. He didn’t need harsher training methods. He wasn’t aggressing for no reason.

He was in pain.

There are no words to adequately describe how thrilled I am for Katrina and Malus to have this diagnosis and surgery in their rear view mirror - it has been a long time coming. The strain on Katrina and Kevin’s emotions, time, resources, finances, and household over the last 5 years cannot be overstated. Most folks wouldn’t - and couldn’t - go to the lengths they did.

We can’t rule out pain. We can only rule out specific issues and diagnoses. For Malus, it took finding the right vet who had heard about this rarely diagnosed issue to connect them with the vet who could help.

To my clients I encourage to work with their veterinarian to try to find any physical explanations: Katrina and Malus are the reason why I will push you more if your primary care vet shrugs you off. It’s why I will push and push and push, especially if your commitment to training and management is excellent but we still are struggling to make progress. Malus is on my shoulder (sometimes literally), poking me with his nose, screeching in my ear to look harder.

If you’ve ever heard him, you know how hard that ✨ delightful ✨ noise is to ignore.

(PS - Here’s your sign to sign up for pet insurance.)

To learn more about Tethered Cord Syndrome:
https://vet.tufts.edu/news-events/news/breakthrough-surgical-procedure-relieves-dogs-chronic-pain

12/13/2024

Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love.
They depart to teach us about loss.
A new dog never replaces an old dog, it merely expands the heart...
Erica Jong ✨
Credit to unknown artist

12/12/2024

12/12/2024

You are NOT the alpha. Neither is your dog/s.
It’s time for the myth of “alpha” to disappear once and for all.

What’s the difference between a dire wolf and an alpha wolf? Dire wolves actually did exist.

Dire wolves seem like fantasy, and star alongside dragons in Game of Thrones, but they were real and actually did wander on our planet.

Alpha wolves are just made up fantasy and don’t exist. It’s an old, outdated term used to describe the mating male in a wolf family. Otherwise known as “dad”. However, you’ll not only hear it as a term used to describe modern day wolves, but it comes up in dog behaviour as well. Don’t let a backyard trainer spin myth to justify using corrections on you dog!

12/11/2024

12/10/2024

Oh how I miss my boy.
And summer weather.