Paws in Harmony - Sydney Lupton, FDM

07/28/2024

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07/18/2024

Stay cool, friends!

Entertain your bored pup by building an obstacle course, playing brain games, or finding a place to swim.

06/27/2024

You might have bought your pet Labrador, Golden Retriever, Spaniel, or Vizsla with the expectation that they will simply fit into your everyday life like any other breed of dog.

Before they arrived, you might have imagined them sleeping next to you while you work from home, having a leisurely stroll on your daily dog walk, or inviting them to accompany you on trips to the local dog-friendly pub and days out to the beach.

What you’ve got instead is a ball of chaos and energy that struggles to settle anywhere, let alone somewhere exciting like a busy pub.

A hunting machine that pulls you from scent to scent on what has now become known as the daily drag.

A dog you don’t trust off-lead in the local park or countryside because you’re never sure if they will come back when you call them.

Indeed, owners who are uninitiated to a gundog’s way of thinking and naive to their hunting prowess do struggle to teach reliable recall and loose lead walking or heelwork in the presence of distractions such as wildlife and scent.

We all remember the desperate cries of Fenton’s owner as his Labrador failed to recall, choosing to chase deer through Richmond Park instead.

But on top of that, with no outlet for their innate desires to hunt, chase, and retrieve, pet gundogs are more susceptible to developing lasting and damaging behavioural problems.

Sadly, I have seen it all: resource guarding, constant frustration barking, obsessive shadow or tail chasing, destructive chewing, and general over-arousal and over-excitement.

To find out why it is so important for non-working, pet gundog-breeds to do some gundog training head to
https://clickergundog.co.uk/blogs/news/what-is-the-point-of-doing-gundog-training-with-my-pet-dog-if-i-don-t-want-to-take-them-on-a-shoot

If you know someone who has a pet dog that would benefit from participating in gundog training, even if they will never go on a shoot, please consider sharing this post or blog link with them.

📸 Alice Loder Photography

06/23/2024

We have exciting news! 🤩
The final form of our website is officially live and we are currently accepting 1-2 new clients into our program!
Check out the new digs and book a discovery call if you'd like to work together!

Holistic-based, force-free dog trainer in the Kootenays offering walk and training and private dog training

06/17/2024

Allowing and encouraging our dogs to engage and exhibit natural behaviours like sniffing, air scenting, marking, kicking the ground, digging, shaking off, etc. can help our dogs in challenging times.

Engaging in these behaviours are a basic need for our dogs, but they can also help our dogs destress and from a startling incident or provide them with an alternative, reinforcing behaviour to engage in while something potentially worrying is in the environment. That’s why it’s so important to refrain from suppressing and punishing away these behaviours.

I’ve always attributed Dave going from “dog-reactive” to “dog-nonchalant” to being able to engage in natural behaviours more and have more choice and control in his life.

The feedback from many of my clients has also been that once they started using a longer leash and letting their dogs sniff, their dog’s reactive behaviours reduced. Sometimes their dogs are busy enjoying sniffing and aren’t bothered at all about another dog (or worrying stimulus) they’ve noticed at a distance.

This means so much more to me than a sit or down-stay, forced “place”, or a forced tight “heel”, where we could perhaps restrict a dog from displaying reactive behaviours, but we may likely be creating more discomfort with our dogs unable to be move naturally and freely.

Of course, this absolutely doesn’t mean we shouldn’t teach our dogs skills or work systematically on counter-conditioning and desensitisation with them. That’s all still important and part of helping them feel safer in this world. But we mustn’t neglect the importance and power of letting them engage in natural behaviours which is also a big part of giving them more choice and control in their lives.

“Let your dog be a dog” isn’t a frivolous concept or just a “trend”. Encouraging, appreciating, and allowing natural behaviours has real benefits to our dogs in so many ways.

ID: The background photo is of Dave, a brown Singapore Special dog with pointy ears and a curly tail, walking and sniffing off leash on a dirt path in a field. The text says “Encouraging our dogs to engage in natural behaviours helps them in challenging times.”

06/17/2024

Wanting a behaviour from our dogs to stop is common. Sadly, there are so many 'trainers' who appear on television or have massive social media followings who will advocate using devices and methods that 'will stop it fast'. Let's be honest, as humans we are often results driven, so I can see why these would appeal to people who don't know why these things should not be recommended and used. The reality is that they can make the situation so much worse.

Suppressing a behaviour doesn't mean that the reasons that behaviour happened aren't still there, just that the dog can't do what they feel they need to in that situation. That can lead to increased frustration, stress, fear - depending on what the driver for that behaviour is. Think of it like a pressure cooker, adding more and more pressure, with no way to reduce that pressure. Eventually there comes a point where the pressure is just too much and boom.

If a behaviour is something we can't live with, there are things we can do without suppressing that behaviour. Manage the situation so that the dog is not in a position to practice that behaviour - for example baby gates to stop them jumping up at arriving guests or finding quiet areas to walk if your dog is uncomfortable with other dogs close up. If there is something you would prefer them to do in that situation keep using the management and then, using kind and ethical methods, teach them what you would like them to do instead. If the behaviour is not something that we can simply train an alternative for - a dog who reacts to other dogs around for example - find a behaviour consultant who uses modern and kind methods to help the dog no longer feel the need to use that behaviour.

Behaviour suppression is never the answer.

There are links to a couple of blog posts exploring the topic further in the comments.

06/06/2024

05/23/2024

Many companion dogs are afraid of thunder. Research shows how guardians' actions and home environment affect their dogs’ fear development.

05/22/2024

Imagine 💭.. being:

- the ultimate lap cat
- social with other cats
- absolutely stunning

And receiving no adoption applications.. Matty is one special boy looking for a home to call his own. This handsome fella came into our care after he was abandoned and found complete matted. We are completely shocked that he hasn’t been scooped up already.

Submit an application today, you don’t want to miss out a cat as PURRfect as Matty: https://meant2blovedpetrescue.com/apply-to-adopt-a-cat/

05/19/2024

East Kootenay’s (and beyond) - Thank You! 💙❤️ FOSTER FOUND - Thank You!

We wanted to provide an update on the dog that we shared with you yesterday. Miss Peri, also known as Pinky, is doing well and we can’t thank YOU enough for all the love.

This sweet girl has a long road of recovery ahead of her but has demonstrated that even through discomfort, she is kind and gentle and just a dog who enjoys a snifari. She is also a smart girl, knowing sit and shake a paw. We anticipate a lot of treats coming her way in the next several months.

If you would like to contribute a donation to Peri’s road to recovery, donations can be made on our webpage through the link in the comments or by etransfer to [email protected] - Please put Peri in the comment section so we can allot your donation to her care.

💙❤️ A special shout out to the finders and the team at Steeples Vet Clinic!

05/19/2024

05/19/2024

We wrote a blog! Check it out!

Help! My puppy has lost his mind.   Got a puppy that’s driving you crazy every night before bedtime? Read on because I have a dog training hack for you that’s going to rock your world. The Karl Hack is one of many dog training hacks developed by Applied Ethologist, Kim Brophey, CDBC, BA. Kim Br...

05/18/2024

05/17/2024

Over the last couple of weeks in The Shouty-Bark Dog Group we've been talking about frustration. More than 50 brilliant people joined in with the conversation, and this is what I've learned.

When we talked about people's instinctive emotional response to frustration,

➡️ 15 people said they got angry
➡️ 9 people shut down quietly
➡️ 8 people cry
➡️ 8 escape the situation
➡️ 2 became impatient,
➡️ and there was a smattering of snarkiness and panic.

🔥 17 people recognised that their emotional response to frustration is very similar to their dog's emotional response 🔥

Whilst dogs aren't human, putting a human slant on our dog's behaviour can be a helpful way for us to empathise and understand them better. And of course, better understanding leads to more effective adaptations and training protocols.

SO WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT IS IT THAT LEADS TO FRUSTRATION?

There are many different frustration flash points.
Some examples are during play; when things don't happen fast enough; when we want something but can't get to it.

What's happening here is that the being (human or dog) that is frustrated has made a prediction error. They've predicted that something will happen, and it hasn't done. The reward that was expected hasn't happened, and we get a dopamine dip.

And when that happens repeatedly we get frustration flash points.

When we have a super fast learner, or a jackpot prize was predicted, it doesn't even need to happen repeatedly - once will do it! And that's frustrating for us, the humans, because this dog is clever, why can't they learn!!

🐶 Traditional training is unlikely to help our dogs to overcome these frustration flash points because there's so much emotion, driven by hormones, behind the response. 🐶

Once we've got a dog stuck in a frustration flash point loop, we need to make changes and adaptations to get them out of it.

We're looking to create a NEW pattern or habit that changes our dog's predictions around what's going to happen next.

SO, IF YOU HAVE A DOG THAT GETS FRUSTRATED OFTEN, TRY THIS:

💥 Express your dog's desire in human words, in the first person. "I want..."

💥 Add the frustrating element. "but I can't because..."

💥 Then add the emotional component. "And I feel..."

💥 Now think about what the prediction error was and come up with an adaptation to that situation that would help your dog to make a true prediction next time.

This might sound complicated so let's work through an example.

** I want to go and play with that dog, but I can't because I can't get to them, and I feel upset and angry and it's NOT FAIR. **

In this case, the prediction error occurred because the dog is on a lead and for whatever reason, it's not appropriate right now to go and play.

A suitable adaptation to the pattern or habit around this frustration flash point might be that when we see an approaching dog in the distance, we tell our dog that there's a dog and we're just going to walk past, or that we're going to make some space. We then engage our dog in a rewarding action game that we've practised lots at home.

Remember, what makes a game rewarding for your individual dog is very much led by your individual dog. It needs to be active and involve movement, otherwise we'll be adding in even more frustration.

Try it and let me know how it goes.

Of course, this isn't going to be the ultimate answer if we're dealing with more than simple frustration, but it's a really great start.!

🐾

Stephie

🔥 ps this was the topic in my membership, The Calmer Canines Club, this week. We also dove into canine vs human social norms, emotional attribution and theory of mind, why practicing prediction errors is a really bad idea, and we ran through a few live examples for members of the club.

🔥 If you'd like to join in with conversations like this, you can join here for £25pm https://www.calmercanines.co.uk/courses/the-calmer-canines-club-with-stephie

05/05/2024

Got a puppy or adolescent dog that just WILL NOT listen when it comes time to train?
Finding yourself saying their names over and over again? Clapping your hands? Yanking their leash?
And they're STILL off in la la land?

Sure, training time is important but did you know that play and exploring are also places where your dog (especially your young dog) is learning SO much?

Play is a ritual for your dog - it allows them to figure out social rules amongst the group, explore tactile senses and get adjusted to the big and overwhelming world outside! It also allows your puppy to get out all of that pent up energy that might be left in them from spending a day in confinement while you're at work!

Meet the amazing, Scout - at the time of this video, she was just beginning to enter adolescence! A gorgeous Labrador Retriever who has a heart of gold and LOVES to use her mouth to explore. Scout is a youngin - and we all know youngins' have a hard time focusing for a long time.

The below two videos were taken about 5 minutes apart. The first video is of me trying to do some basic 'It's Yer Choice' work for Impulse Control with Scout during our Walk and Train time. As you can see, Scout just cannot stay focused. She is just SO excited over all of the smells and sounds that accompany the outdoors! Scout had just gotten outside from her x-pen and the last thing she wants to do is SCHOOL!

Nagging Scout by saying her name or a command she might know over and over again, pulling her away from the grass to get her to stop sniffing or trying to increase my level of control over her by bossing her around would only do one thing - teach Scout that school is boring and the teacher isn't much fun to be around.

Instead of getting angry with Scout, I get goofy! Wiggling my butt, getting down to her level - and offering her some easy and fun ways to earn some treats when she does step back into the room with me.

Scout's not being a bad dog - she's being A DOG! A teenage dog at that.

The second video is of Scout 5 minutes after the first video was taken ready to focus and learn. We didn't achieve this by saying her name over and over again or by pulling her away from anything. Instead, we gave Scout time. We allowed Scout the very deserved opportunity to get her wigglies out. Once she's had that, she CAN'T WAIT to train! Just look at her in her beautiful default sit (her owners have done such a good job teaching her how to live on Planet Human).

The next time you're feeling frustrated that your dog is blowing you off, get goofy. Take a deep breath. Wiggle your butt. And, for a moment, ask yourself "Is my agenda as important as I think it is?". Once you do that, you'll likely find that your dog starts getting on board with your agenda faster and without argument.

04/26/2024

fascinating stuff!!!

SPRINGTIME & DOGS: AN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY PERSPECTIVE

Spring is often a long awaited event for many of us after a wet and cold winter. A mere glimpse of daffodil bulbs, and the promise of longer and warmer days can see us cleaning our homes and doing chores we had been putting off for months. For dogs however, a change in seasons can signal multifaceted physiological and behaviour patterns that have been determined from evolutionary biology.

Animal neuro-endocrine systems undergo seasonal shifts. In winter, melatonin activity for example (which is directly related to duration of sunlight exposure) decreases firing of the retinal nerves which trigger hormones for breeding in some species Seasonal breeding is commonly seen due to this, with some groups being assigned as 'short-day breeders’ (eg: sheep , deer and fox ) and long-day breeders ( eg: wolves, horses)
This is also referred to as a 'photoperiod' (an organism’s daily exposure to light) The ancestral control pathway of photoperiodism is thought to have originated before the divergence of mammalian and avian vertebrate lineages in the evolutionary timeline.

However, dogs and other species such as cattle and pigs, are polyestrous, which means they can cycle all year round. Fascinatingly, some exceptions are seen in Basenji and sled dogs who breed photoperiodically.
Dogs are shown to not require a photoperiod to regulate the reproductive cycle ,but their shedding cycles and immune systems are affected by photoperiodic mechanisms.

Most certainly breeding and feeding patterns of other species of both plants and animals affect our dogs’ behaviour seasonally.

Spring brings new and exciting smells from plant and animal activity. Dogs senses typically heighten during this time, and this can mean they get easily immersed or distracted, often manifesting in hunting, amplified olfactory or foraging behaviours depending on the breed and location of the dog. In multi-dog homes this can become challenging if one dog is more prey or scent driven than others, or if all are.

While these fall within perimeters of normal behaviour, dog professionals might get increased enquiries during this time about dogs not recalling , hunting excessively, grass and plant ingesting , not coming inside from the garden, or suddenly becoming fixated by some prey animals. Puppies exposed to the wider world for the first time after their vaccinations can experience sensory overload as well as adolescent dogs who's pre-frontal cortexes are still under development.

Another seasonal affect potentially in pet dogs, who mostly follow human like diurnal sleep patterns, might see an increase in crepuscular activity, like waking at 5.30am or becoming restless around dusk.

Diurnal sleep patterns in pet dogs are hypothesized to be an adaptation to living alongside humans, because variations of nocturnal and crepuscular patterns are observed in most other canids whereas diurnal activity is rarely seen. There are some data to suggest that dogs can benefit from a dark room to achieve sleep efficiency. This might be relevant in the modern environment where open plan light filled rooms are commonly seen.

Spring can therefore quickly become a frustrating time for both dogs and their humans, but recognising the effects of evolutionary biology and making some adjustments can help.

Depending on what is reinforcing for the dog, some ideas for springtime could include providing targeted exploratory enrichment, long line walks to avoid predation or avoiding prey species photoperiodic activity , safe opportunities to dig, scent work or simply some good naps on the sofa together.

Boo Blackhurst CDBC

References:

L. Senger, Phillip 2005, Pathways to Pregnancy and Parturition

Robert Bodiz et al 2019, Sleep in the dog: comparative, behavioral and translational relevance

Brian J. Prendergast 2005, Internalization of seasonal time

Lofts B 1978, Animal Photoperiodism

04/21/2024

SJDAWC 2023 Webinar Serieshttps://awc.upei.ca

04/11/2024

04/11/2024

Waiting is a skill, we as adult humans get frustrated with long queues and wait times.

For our dogs, it’s a skill that needs to be mastered too and we can help support the process by making the waiting just as reinforcing as the going.

04/11/2024

Sometimes when our dogs our taking their time, they are also reminding us to slow down.

04/09/2024

04/05/2024

If you've ever wondered how the adoption process works for HugABull Advocacy and Rescue Society, please see the infographic we've created.