Bourne to Be Good Dog Coaching and Behaviour

12/28/2023

10/22/2023

How well do you know your dogs stress signals?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=825120582948554&id=100063518584230&mibextid=I6Nr5F

I don't like saying this to people when I see it.
For some its a revelation, a lightbulb moment and for others I feel like the bearer of the worst news in the world.
Many dogs do not enjoy hugs.
Some do, many do not. Some may tolerate them and some dogs really dislike them
Worse still is when a dog is giving clear signals they are really uncomfortable....and the person knows this, the dog is told "don't be silly" and is pulled even closer or hugged harder.
The "kisses" given by their dogs are "proof" they like hugs.
Unfortunately, those kisses given are not a sign of affection....at all.

In saying all that..... some dogs do enjoy hugs and will use their tongue to show affection. If you have any doubt, look at older videos and watch for all the tell tale signs in their posture.

They will show us if they want to be hugged or not...we just have to listen.

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09/21/2023

Fear.....Completely individual, complex and what your dog is afraid of needs to be noted (even if we do not understand it, it seems irrational...or if they are afraid of something we view as harmless).

I have seen people laugh when dogs are afraid of something that we view as "innocent"....it is not innocent to your dog.
Sometimes the objects dogs are afraid of are shown again in front of others...almost like party trick to make their dog have the same reaction.

Social media is full of these videos too.

New objects or situations can make some dogs extremely nervous and afraid, and it makes no difference whether we understand it....we need to respect it.

This graphic is about the 4 F's and the first F covers a lot and is a bit more in depth than what is shown on the graphic....dogs may disengage, fiddle, "faff" about, fidget or show behaviours to self sooth.
There is a lot of movement in the first F.

The others are more self explanatory.

Many stress signals or calming signals precede or accompany these 4 F's ....even freeze.

Important to note is the fight.....All dogs, of EVERY breed given a unique set of circumstances are capable of fighting.
It doesn't necessarily mean your dog is aggressive....it is simply your dog feels forced into action.

If your dog is fearful.....you need to help.

Repeatedly exposing your dog to fear is never a good idea...and we can do this all the time, and we justify it.

Dogs that need to be groomed are often forced into the car .....you may know they are really afraid of the car but they need to go, so a highly stressed, scared dog is forced into the car......
They will never get over this fear if they are continually forced to confront their fears (or even phobias) again and again.
...it can morph outwards.
The car is in the garage and now suddenly your dog refuses to go near the garage or even near that side of the house.

Fear needs help.
It needs understanding, often unique solutions.....but your dog deserves the time and effort to help them through this.

09/12/2023

When Your Dog Is More In Tune With You The Easier It is For Them To Tune Out The Environment

02/04/2023

Been doing some updating of my skills. Getting new ways of explaining things that might be a bit easier to understand..
Like instead of going over threshold, their bucket is filled and over flowing.

And making things a bit more fun in the classroom!

Keeping up my learning is very important to me! I will keep you all updated on how this all goes.

01/02/2023

Cues....We all have them and they can produce behaviour both wanted and unwanted. Do you have a particular cue that you may not realise you are doing?

The advantage of having a trainer come into your home or to watch your videos is that we have a fresh perspective on what is occurring and often cues are involved.
An easy way to see if you do have any cues is to have someone video you and watch it again for signs of a change of behaviour in your dog.
They can be both verbal or physical and cause an immediate change in behaviour.
Hyperarousal and overexcitement in dogs can lead to so many difficulties in all other areas....and often cues are involved.
You may have seen this yourself when getting a lead out, or going to a cupboard to get a treat...or even something as simple as walking to the front door can cause an immediate change in behaviour of your dog and create a high level of excitement.

So have a look at the cues you give your dog and see how you can change them.
Happy New Year Everyone !!!

Change the habit....change the cues.

12/23/2022

I have a huge passion for reactive dogs.
They are challenging but SO rewarding. They are complex, challenging and their behaviour can be a puzzle to piece together.
It has been six months since I last shared this post, since then there has been a few thousand more followers....(thankyou to each and everyone of you 😊) and boy...some big names too.

Anyway...this is a post about thresholds, but more than that it is about deciphering body language and that is so important when working with reactive dogs.

I hope you find it helpful if you have a reactive dog or need help deciphering some body language in your own dog.

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I get asked a lot about what is a THRESHOLD.

What doesn't help with anyones clarity, is everyone has a slightly different interpretation of what a threshold actually is. So this is my interpretation.
What is over or under threshold ?
For me, there is a point where your dog is either so hyper focused or reactive to whatever trigger it sees that it will now no longer listen and distraction is almost impossible.....OVER threshold.
If your dog is calm and relaxed, it is UNDER threshold.

Why is this helpful?

Knowing the signs of when your dog is starting to show its discomfort is KEY. If you can see the signs of stress rising (BEFORE) your dog goes OVER threshold....you can keep your dog from getting to the next level....where distraction becomes difficult and in some cases ...impossible.

So the key to thresholds is to work out those subtle signs that ALL dogs have...
The happy dog you know may be loose, bouncy and its tail wags in a certain way.
Your stressed dog behaves in a completely different way, it stiffens, may stare intensely, its tail may stiffen or "flag"....and there is a point that you can STOP the escalation...and that's why thresholds are important. So you can recognise (and STOP) when your dog is soon to go OVER threshold.

12/20/2022

DON'T RUB MY NOSE IN IT...

Question - what happens when I rub my dog's nose in his p*e?

Answer - he will wait for you to leave the room before eliminating, or do it in another room where you won't notice it immediately as he is terrified of you. Rubbing his nose in it is regarded as punishment and inhumane. It will make him afraid of you and negatively impact your relationship with your dog.

Rather - limit access to his favourite spots while embarking on a rigorous house training schedule. If you see an accident, say nothing and clean it up when he is not looking with a non-enzymatic cleaner (no ammonia). Even your body language while cleaning it can be scary, so wait for him to leave. If he is wanting to eliminate in front of you, rather hustle him outside to a grassy in a friendly, upbeat voice. As soon as he is eliminates, reward and praise him. Always keep treats handy.

Dont scare or punish your pup. Rather try and see how you can help him go potty in an appropriate place...without punishment but with positive reinforcement only🙂

See post for more house training tips
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=133133528863766&id=102240818619704&mibextid=Nif5oz

12/20/2022

12/09/2022

Is It A Kiss Or A Dismiss?
By: Jennifer Shryock BA, CDBC

“We just don’t understand why he bit her out of the blue! He always gives her kisses! He loves our daughter!”

These are the very words I heard repeated over and over through our Family Paws Dog & Baby Support line that led me to dig deeper. So frequent is this type of call and situation that over time I began to pay attention to the pattern of the description “kisses.” I wondered why so many bite calls included the mention of a dog licking or “kissing the child.” I became curious if there was a correlation and if so I wanted to understand more. Was a lick a “kiss?” Or was it possibly a “dismiss?” Licking can be many things. Grooming, care taking, self-soothing, appeasement — but what about distance increasing or a cut off cue?

Read the entire article here ⬇
http://bit.ly/3uwdIiW

12/04/2022

12/04/2022

If we can successfully train predators using ethical and reward based methods, then we can absolutely train our dog (our best friend and family member) using force free training methods. 🙌

Credit to Lili Chin https://www.doggiedrawings.net/

11/19/2022

https://www.facebook.com/100063680973651/posts/567243058741722/?mibextid=Nif5oz

DOMINANCE IS A DIRTY WORD!
We hear it so often - “my dog is dominant” or “trying to be the alpha” or “I have to be the pack leader to show my dog that I’m in control”.
It’s so easy to attribute any unwanted behaviour to these popular labels. It’s easy to use what many people believe to be “educated” phrases that enable them to feel “knowledgeable” about what’s causing their dog’s behaviour.
The definition of dominance - dominant in the chain of command / occupying or being in a commanding or elevated position / having a controlling, prevailing, or powerful position in a social hierarchy. Do we really believe this of our dogs? Are they really trying to take over our households and rule the world? We control what and when they eat, when they go out, their choices, where they sleep, who they interact with, their entire environment etc. etc. and yet we still label them as being dominant.
Research clearly shows that the outdated theory of an alpha wolf controlling a pack through aggression and dominance is a myth. Decades of observation by wildlife biologists studying wild wolf packs show that leaders actually observe from near the back of the pack when moving around, not by taking the lead. In times when food is scarce, rather than eating first, the leaders allow the young to eat first. There is no evidence of leaders seeking high positions over the pack, no evidence of moving a lower ranking member from a desired resting place or pinning down another pack member to exert authority. These biologists describe the role of leaders as parents— guiding, teaching, looking after and caring for their family members. When their offspring reach sexual maturity, they don’t battle it out to overthrow the leader, but leave the pack, find a mate, and start a family of their own. In addition to all of this – domesticated dogs are not wolves!
As dog guardians we have a responsibility to take the time to understand our dogs and meet their needs. Mentally, emotionally balanced and confident dogs are achieved through understanding the emotion behind the behaviour, positive reinforcement, force / fear free methods and allowing choices when appropriate. Believe in the research, believe in the science and help to dispel the untruths that cause so much damage to our dogs.

11/16/2022

Dog trainers don’t possess any magic. What they do possess, if they’re good at their craft, is a highly developed set of skills. But remember, at one point they knew very little, and likely got into this line of work because they were struggling with their own dogs.

So what’s different between a skilled and knowledgeable dog trainer and a struggling owner? Yep, you guessed it, skills and knowledge.

These people that you now hire for help were once struggling much like yourself. What did they do? They developed within themselves—likely with the help of another dog trainer—what was necessary to be able to solve their problems, and now, with all that ability, they help others with theirs’.

But, and this is a big but, all they can do is help. They can share information, teach skills, coach, and root you on—but only you can put in the work to take what is being shared and make it something personal, integrated, and useful.

You don’t have to become a dog trainer, but you do have to become a skilled, and knowledgeable owner—to whatever extent needed to match your goals.

Otherwise you’ll have to settle for watching your dog “magically” excel with your trainer, and “mysteriously” deteriorate with you.

11/13/2022

If you have trained dogs for a while you probably heard “Dogs are bad at generalizing”.
I explain this concept at least once a day to an online student …
But how “bad” are dogs at it really? Or do we all struggle with generalizing?
Teaching dog training really means to teach humans how to train dogs.
Just this past week, a student approached me asking why her dog seemed to completely “forget” his Stay cue at a local park.
We discussed the impact of distractions, how to advance them gradually and why it takes a while for dogs to understand that the same concept applies in different situations.
The next day she said “So … but why is my dog coming when called at home and ignoring my recall at the park?”
Dogs are not the only ones “bad” at generalizing … in fact, humans are so bad at generalizing that they cannot even generalize how dogs struggle with generalizing :D
If you think about it, generalizing is a high level cognitive skill.
It means being able to extract the “core” of a concept regardless of accompanying circumstances and applying it to any other situation.
This is HARD both for humans and dogs.
When I started dog training, so often students would come to me with questions and I thought “But I told you this.”
I had shown them how to teach a Sit Stay and now they were asking how to teach a Down Stay. It confused me - I had explained the concept and now they should be able to apply it to any duration behavior, right?
No, not right. Just like the dog who can Sit Stay at home cannot automatically Sit Stay anywhere, the brand-new student who had learned how to teach one duration behavior cannot automatically apply it to any.
Both dog and student need to be shown the skill in more situations so they *can learn* how to extract the “core” of it.
My goal is not to have any one student forever, but to teach them how to work through training puzzles on their own eventually.
The longer I am teaching dog training, the more I think that what this actually means is teaching them how to generalize training concepts.
“Break the behavior down into small steps” sounds obvious - but it takes hundreds of training sessions to be able to actually do this skillfully and effectively.
“Adjust the criteria based on your dog’s success rate” - sure that seems easy … but it is so hard to always do correctly.
“Use great timing” - well, as long as we don’t have instant reaction times we will always be working on improving this one …
We are all students of generalization.
Nobody is inherently great at it.
So next time you're irritated by your dog’s lack of generalization skills … Remember that we are JUST THE SAME.

10/03/2022

Hu***ng or Mounting is not dominance.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=475598487944051&id=100064817121250

Is mounting or hu***ng a sign of dominance in dogs?

Hu***ng or mounting is a fixed action pattern (FAP), which are innate behaviours. These are behaviours that are common to all members of a species and require no learning. A Fixed Action Pattern (FAP) is a predictable series and stereotypical sequences of complex actions triggered by a cue - www.simplypsychology.org. www.sciencedirect.com.

Hu***ng or mounting is NOT:
Dominance
Controlling you or another dog
Alpha behaviour
Only seen in unsterilised dogs
Only seen in males
Only seen in younger dogs
To cause you embarrassment
To get your attention or get back at you

Hu***ng or mounting by male or female dogs of any age CAN be due to:
Excitement
Sexual rehearsal
Burning off pent up energy
General stimulation...yipp*e, something’s happening!
Stress/Anxiety/Displacement behaviour
Play
Hyperarousal
A medical issue
Boredom
Frustration
Burning of excessive energy (like zoomies)
Ambivalence about a situation or a dog
Unease
Tiredness

If you are worried:
Make a note of how many times a day this is happening.
Take your dog for a medical check up.
Contact a up to date science-based behaviour consultant to identify the triggers and the emotions to be able to develope a modification plan to improve the emotional state and hence the behaviour.
What to do in the moment - if the dog underneath seems uncomfortable and stressed then please interrupt. It may mean that the 'top dog' is unable to read the body language of the other one. Rather redirect that energy to a toy or chew as opposed to saying off. Give him something mentally stimulating to do instead. If they are having turns and alternating this behaviour with other behaviours like chasing, tumbling, play bows, etc., then leave them be.
Be careful of your dog doing it to random dogs in a park that he does not know. The unknown dog could become aggressive due to not wanting the behaviour.

Note - many Google searches for this behaviour will bring up the word dominance. The behaviour is not due to such a simplistic, misunderstood term. Dogs do it to pillows, toys or furniture - do you think that they are trying to dominate those inanimate objects? Every dog is an individual with unique emotions. The feelings and motivations for the behaviour will differ from dog to dog but it is certainly not about dominance. Don't believe everything you read on Google and check your trainer's/behaviourist's credentials. Let's not label every behaviour beyond our understanding as dominant 🙂

Most guardians rush to sterilize their dogs when this happens...it may not make a difference.