Fairy Dogmother Training & Pet Care

09/19/2023

I love this FB account 😆

09/03/2023

Look at this amazing husbandry training! Positive reinforcement training 💜

08/30/2023

I love Chirag Patel so much. Check out this clip to see how you can help your dog learn to feel more safe

08/07/2023

So much this.

08/02/2023

Proud to be a Family Paws Parent Educator

Congratulations! It is time to bring your new baby home, and it’s so natural to be excited! Where will your dog be when you come home? This is a great time to brainstorm how you want things to go, where you want your dog to be...Prepare for every possible scenario! Even to go beyond homecoming, let’s envision life with baby and dog and how you want your dog to behave.

One quick tip, we want to deal with this situation with your dog like we would any other new or novel experience with your dog. A good example is, how does your dog greet or react to new people or strangers at the door?

07/28/2023

A big Yawn 🥱 by this dog as the little one enters into its space. This is a great opportunity for an adult to distract or redirect either child or dog. Yawning is a great communication for parents to respond to.

If your dog yawns, stop and think…what is happening? What just happened? 🧐 How close is my kiddo? What might I change? Yawning is a great signal to let you know there may be stress. I like to say to my dog “ you need help.” and then I give them another option or I tend to the child who might be approaching. The more we respond to subtle signals like yawning the more our dogs will offer them for help.

Acknowledging and taking action when your dog offers a yawn or lip lick or other stress signals allows them to build trust that you’ve got their back and will step in and support them when your kiddo is cruising around or near by. This is very important during the newly mobility phase.

✅ We highly recommend success stations and barriers for everyone’s safety and comfort during this time.

👧Join us for our Dogs & Toddlers Webinar on August 10 at 7pm ET to learn more about how to include your dog in a safe and fun way as your kiddo becomes mobile. Registration IS open! https://familypawsbooking.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=19391069

07/28/2023

Today I'm going to talk about what a lot of my clients wish they knew before they burned through money and multiple trainers trying to fix aggression between dogs in their home.

Red flags when hiring a trainer for intrahousehold dog aggression:

-You are being asked to physically correct or reprimand your dog.
-You are being told to use a choke, prong, or e-collar.
-They promise you they can fix this in ______ weeks, guaranteed.
-Your trainer frames this as something that can be solved simply with more obedience.
-Your dog is guarding resources and you're told to hand feed your dog, place your hand in their bowl while they're eating, take their bowl while they're eating, reach for and take their items just to show him that you can etc.
-You’re told your dog is being dominant and needs a firmer hand or leadership.
- The plan for your dogs does not have a management plan to help you live safely with them while you work.
- You are told to let the dogs work it out.
-You are told to do things to place your dogs in a pecking order type pack structure.
- Your trainer is known for basic-advanced obedience training and not behavior work.

Now, you don't have to work with me (though I'd love to have you!). But you do need to run from those red flags, and FAST. Before they take your money and leave you with a problem that's worse than where you started. Want to learn about the way your case actually needs to be handled? Schedule a free assessment and find out how I can help. I might not be your first trainer for this issue, but I'm confident I can be your last.

ID: Text on the image reads, "Red Flags when you're hiring a training to solve aggression between your dogs." The image shows two dogs facing each other with teeth bared and mouths open. The Wise Mind Canine Logo is on the image.

07/26/2023

Bodhi has a vet appointment tomorrow, and we need to bring a fresh urine sample. My preferred way to collect a urine sample is using a ladle.

Just tried it out with him. We went into the backyard and wandered around together for a bit. I was carrying the ladle, let him and Frieda sniff it and check it out. I moved the ladle around his body at a distance.

Then he walked away, I followed, he lifted his leg, and I slid the ladle under his belly from behind, and got a tiny bit of p*e!

This is just practice for tomorrow morning.

07/25/2023

This is a common question that puppy guardians ask.

UC Davis did a study on 35 breeds recently. Here's the results.

UC Davis researchers find that a dog's risk of developing certain cancers and joint disorders if neutered within the first year of life varies greatly depending on the breed.

07/25/2023

This is such an important topic.

07/23/2023

These two crack me up. Puddles sounds ferocious. And Fang is super silly.
*barking in video

07/22/2023

🥰

07/20/2023

Still one of my favourite videos.

07/14/2023

Michelle Kennedy
First poppy opened!

07/12/2023

Bodhi cracks me up with his nest making. Do your dogs do this?

07/10/2023

These 2

07/06/2023

07/05/2023

Sometimes it gets so noisy, we need to sit with some quiet just to hear our own thoughts and opinions.

One of the hardest parts of challenging behaviours is having to listen to the advice we never asked for.
It comes from a good place but sometimes the best thing we can hear or the best thing we can say is “I’m listening,” or “I respect that”.

If someone is struggling, it’s not your advice they are looking for. It’s your sympathy and space to let them do it their way. And that can make all the difference.

07/05/2023

Got to hang out with Adelaide and Fezzik today. Fezzik’s humans have made the space under the stairs into a snuffle mat for him!
Adelaide is a good supervisor 🥰

06/30/2023

This is a good memory. Bodhi ♥️

06/29/2023

sqwumey - Salish Wool Dogs

sqwumey, or Salish Wool Dogs, were a special breed of small, white dog raised by the Coast Salish Peoples. They resemble Shih Tzus, Pomeranians, and dogs within the Spitz family. They were highly cherished, and were passed down matrilineally (from mother to daughter). Small islands (like Cameron Island in downtown Nanaimo), caves, and large pens were used to keep them separate from other dogs which lived in the villages.

These dogs had very long and fluffy fur, and they were sheared like sheep. Mountain Goats didn't live on Vancouver Island, and their fur was very expensive, so dog hair was used in its place.

Unfortunately, due to the impacts of colonization, the Salish Wool Dog went extinct at some point in the mid-1900s.

📌: Caption from the feature exhibit stem ’al̓u ’u’ ni x̌e’x̌e: What is Sacred? by exhibit curator Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun

📷️: Salish Wool Dogs in Tsawout territory (Saanichton, near Victoria, BC), 1936. The owner had the dog sheared every autumn and sold the wool to a relative on the lower mainland who knitted the wool into mittens.

Photo Credit: WSANEC Leadership Council and University of Victoria Libraries' Special Collections & University Archives; lan McTaggart-Cowan fonds, AR514

https://bit.ly/WhatIsSacred2023

06/29/2023

Active Supervision!! A big YES!! ✅ Now THIS is what we're talking about! Full active awake supervision is when the adult is physically present and also not distracted and engaged with dog and baby/toddler.

There can even be both adults in the room. 👏 We're talking, dog on the scene, parent in between, everyone doing their own thing in their own space. If engaging, then inviting the dog to come over, yet giving them the option that if they don't want to, that's ok! They've got choices.

We hope that this series showing the 5 Types of Supervision helps you plan and prepare ahead and think actively about management throughout the home. A dog and baby on the scene, a parent in between!!

06/29/2023

🥰

06/28/2023

Ears? Eyes? Tail? Muzzle? Gather the clues to solve the puzzle. We can’t see the tail, but we sure can see the ears, eyes and muzzle, right? It is important to respect what we observe in our dog’s body language.

This dog is being clear with the whale eye, the still intense face, and focused ears. This dog is hanging out on the couch relaxing. What if a toddler were to cruise over to the couch? This dog IS communicating please don’t approach ( with body language), but the toddler would not recognize this. This is where Parents and guardians must be very skilled in their Dog Aware skills. A supervised child could easily approach this dog IF the adult does not recognize these signals and help the child or dog make another choice.

If approached, the dog may escalate and display more signals, such as growling or a snap, to really be clear. This can happen very quickly, and it can be very scary. We want to prevent this type of situation!

If your baby is 3 months old, then it is time to begin to look around and think about where your dog hangs out and where you and your baby will most often be. IF the couch is a comfy safe place, how can we keep it that way? Or is it time to introduce a new comfy safe space. This situation is very common, and we believe it is preventable with a little planning.

06/22/2023

Look at this beautiful training with big cats! Fantastic positive reinforcement training 🥰

06/17/2023

Let’s get comfortable with the uncomfortable! We can’t always do it right, sometimes our actions might increase undesirable behaviour in our dogs.

The first thing to help this is to realise it. Then we are almost there. Working with behaviour challenges is as much about working on our own reactions as our dogs.

Because it’s a journey and the best part is we get to go through it together!

06/16/2023

Fireworks are right around the corner!!

It's time for the yearly reminder that fireworks season is approaching. If your pets are in need of medication to help reduce their fear/stress/anxiety you need to be contacting your vet clinic for that medication *now* (and not at the last minute)!

I'll also link my video with additional things you should be doing to help your pets cope with fireworks as a comment.

06/13/2023

Feels like a lifetime ago