Crackerjack Canines

09/14/2025

🐾Great info from Michelle Stern - her website is in the comment section

“Here are SEVEN unfiltered lessons from coaching families raising kids and dogs together in 2025.
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1. Supervision Isn’t Optional — It’s the Whole Job
Parents often think they can “teach the dog” or “teach the toddler” enough to leave them alone together. That’s a dangerous myth. Kids don’t have the judgment, and dogs shouldn’t be set up to fail. True supervision means eyes-on, ready-to-intervene, every time.
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2. Baby Gates Aren’t Bandaids — They’re Lifelines
Many parents feel guilty about “blocking off the dog” as if it means they’re failing. But separation tools like gates, pens, and crates are how families prevent accidents. Keeping your dog and your baby safe is not a training shortcut — it’s smart parenting. A gate isn’t a failure, it’s a seatbelt.
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3. Your Dog Didn’t Sign Up for Parenthood
When the baby comes home, the dog’s world shifts overnight. Less attention, more noise, unpredictable routines. Expecting your dog to instantly love the baby is unfair. Your dog deserves patience, management, and proactive support, not punishment for struggling.
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4. Parents Often Worry About the Wrong Things
Most parents ask me about jealousy — “Will my dog be jealous of the baby?” But jealousy isn’t the problem. Overstimulation, fear, stress, and lack of escape routes are the real dangers. Focusing on “jealousy” distracts from what actually keeps kids safe.
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5. Kids Are Wildcards, and That’s Okay
You can train your dog perfectly, but toddlers still toddle. They scream, grab, wobble, fall, and break rules. Dogs experience this as chaos. Your job isn’t to make your child “perfectly gentle” — it’s to buffer the dog from normal child behavior.
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6. Bites Rarely Come Out of the Blue
Most dogs give plenty of warning before they bite: lip-licking, yawning, walking away, stiffening, growling. Parents often miss or dismiss these signs. If you only react once the dog snaps, you’ve ignored the whole story they were trying to tell you.
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7. Good Parenting Means Managing Both Species
Raising kids and dogs together isn’t about being the perfect trainer or the perfect parent. It’s about recognizing that you are responsible for both species. The safest homes are the ones where parents admit: “I can’t do it all, all the time” — and then use tools, structure, and support to make life easier.”
~ [email protected]

09/05/2025

"If your dog is scared of people, your dog doesn't have to meet your guests." That's Kristi Benson speaking in the most recent edition of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation in which we share tons of tips to help you with your reactive or fearful dog. Sometimes a little bit of understanding what it's like from the dog's perspective goes a long way to helping. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, via the link in bio, or via these links.

Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17695165
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-to-help-your-reactive-or-fearful-dog/id1685998335?i=1000722651589
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1mpy2QgJgBGyMg3flyTAAF
Youtube: https://youtu.be/Ju-Id_vg5lA
Website to listen, watch, and read a transcript: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2025/08/how-to-help-your-reactive-or-fearful-dog.html

Bark! is available from all good bookstores, including your local indie and my Amazon store https://amzn.to/4lCp5h6

08/25/2025

Judging at our local dog show yesterday I noticed a couple of the dogs refusing treats.

Some owners get surprised when their dog loves food at home but ignores it on walks or in busy places, but this is actually super common, and it doesn’t mean your dog is “being “stubborn” — it’s usually about how the dog is feeling in the environment.

- Stress or Anxiety
When dogs are stressed, their nervous system shifts into “fight or flight.” Digestion slows down, and food loses its appeal. Bustling streets, loud noises, unfamiliar settings, or a busy dog show can all cause this response.

- High Arousal / Excitement
For some dogs, the environment itself is more rewarding than food. New smells, moving objects, and social opportunities can make it hard for them to focus on treats.

- Low-Value Reinforcers
What works at home (like kibble or biscuits) may not be motivating enough outside. High-value food — soft, smelly, and novel — is often required in stimulating settings.

- Generalization
Dogs don’t automatically transfer learned behaviors across locations. A dog may sit happily for food in the kitchen but not understand that “sit + food reward” applies at the park.

So How Can You Help Them..

Begin training in quiet, low-distraction areas and gradually build up.

Use higher-value food when practicing outside.

Recognize that sniffing, exploring, or greeting can also be valuable rewards.

Keep sessions short and end on success.

If your dog is refusing food outdoors they are giving you feedback.
They are trying to tell you they are too stressed, over-aroused, or under-motivated by the reward.

Giving them a little extra space always helps. Never force them into situations they are not ready for, and always try to set them up for success

08/24/2025

08/23/2025

Important statement and information that we should all consider (excerpt from a Losing Lulu post)

“Folks, I need to ask a HUGE favour.
Lately a lot of people have been talking about "kill shelters", and "kill floors" in both posts and threads. I want to share with you why we do not do that.
The first is the term kill shelter; this is a horrible way to identify a shelter that is mandated to take in any animal that is presented to them. The correct term for this kind of shelter is an open admission shelter. Open admission shelters will always have a lower number of live releases than do selective shelters that can turn animals away.
If you live in a small town, you are likely only going to have an open admission shelter because if you have a selective shelter, that can turn away some animals either because they are too difficult or too sick, then those animals will not get the help they need.
When we identify an open admission shelter as a kill shelter, all of the kind people who work there or volunteer there feel like you are judging their important work as unkind, thoughtless and cruel and this just is not true.

The other truly egregious term that is getting tossed around from time to time is kill floor. This unkind term is used to indicate a thoughtless and cruel form of death. Whenever a shelter animal is euthanized, you have to understand that a kind and loving person cries.
Every. Single. Time.
And calling the euthanasia room the kill floor is unkind to these people.”

08/08/2025

Training can be simple! 🐾 Capturing Desirable Behaviors is a quick, effective technique that takes just minutes a day. Perfect for caregivers of all experience levels, this colorful guide helps shape new behaviors in dogs, cats, and even people! Ideal for puppy kits, adoption packages, training centers, and vet clinics. Transform your space into a learning hub for positive reinforcement! 🌟

08/08/2025

08/03/2025

Maple is part of the team at MSU’s Pollinator Performance Center doing critical pollinator research and education. A retired police K-9, she uses her super sense of smell to detect bacteria in bee colonies to help prevent disease from spreading.

Currently, beekeepers must manually inspect colonies for disease, but dogs like Maple can identify disease much faster, which could make a big impact on the industry.

This project is one of many occurring at the Pollinator Performance Center. Operating since 2021, the center allows MSU to be at the forefront of honeybee and other pollinator research.

07/31/2025

🚨 Alert for pet guardians!!🚨 Blue-green algae blooms can be quickly fatal to dogs. 💔
Keep your dogs safely away from lakes and ponds this summer that show signs of blue-green algae

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/canine-health-information/blue-green-algae-poisoning-cyanobacteria-toxicosis

07/18/2025

Today starts a new series, 10 Dog Myths of Summer.

Myth busters 1: Dogs will bite out of nowhere.

Being able to read animal body language is a critical skill for anyone working or living with animals. Humans are physical and verbal animals: we use gestures, touch, facial expressions, and language to communicate. Dogs are non-verbal, using their body more to demonstrate emotion.

Animals rarely use aggression until they feel they have little to no choice. Early signals of stress and frustration include avoidance, looking away, and lip licking which can then escalate to body stiffening, staring, growling, then snapping and biting.

If those early signs are ignored, or worse, punished, the animal will choose tougher body language since they had been previously corrected or ignored for their earlier warnings. The dog that bites out of nowhere likely had been giving signals they were uncomfortable, but no one listened.