Hound Help

07/03/2023

YAS!

Staying calm when training your dog is essential for them to be calm. This is easier said than done as training a dog can be a very frustrating process. So i...

21/05/2022

Thank you! 🙏🏻

Dear Dog Owners,

This week I have seen post after post after post on the veterinary social media pages about the struggle with larger breed dogs that are undisciplined and fearful and trying to bite at staff and veterinarians. Half of the posts stated that they, the vet, were going to stop seeing any large breed dogs, some of them said that they were going to fire all clients who had dogs that were not well controlled, others said that they were starting to refuse service to dogs that growled or tried to bite or got freaked out when they tried to examine them. Clients, this is a huge problem and it is your problem and let's be real, it is your fault.

Dogs are NOT children or humans and we need to stop treating them like they are. They are animals! They do not learn by being coddled and babied and allowed to get away with whatever they feel like doing. It does not work that way in the animal kingdom. If you are a little s**t of a dog your mom or some older dog is going to bite your head off to teach you! Once that puppy leaves its mom, you now become the teacher and trainer of what is and what is not acceptable behavior and if you don't, you and you alone are ruining your dog!

Dogs need discipline! They are like your kids! They need you to teach them, to train them, to discipline them so they learn what is and what is not acceptable. I can not tell you the number of times I have been in an exam room and a dog is growling at me and the owner does nothing. In fact, often times they pull back from the dog and they always get that sheepish look and often will say, “he doesn’t bite.” The hell he doesn’t bite! He is a dog, he bites and he is going to bite me because you have not shown him who is boss and he has no fear of humans and he has no idea that being a jerk is not allowed.

Please, if you love your dog, do your job and discipline them, train them, show them the proper way to behave and make sure they know that being a jerk gets them in trouble. If you do not, you will not be able to find a vet to help them when they are in need and that will be your fault and not the vets fault. No where in our oath does it say that we have to subject ourselves to being bitten by someones dog because they treated it like a human and felt sorry for it and never disciplined it and so it now has no respect for humans and bites. If you don’t start being a responsible pet owner, your dog is not going to be seen and you do not want that to happen.

Do not let your dog be the top dog in your house! It is not fair to them and it is not fair to us in the veterinary profession when we have to fear for our safety in order to try and help them when they are sick.

Teach them to be nice, take them to uncomfortable places, make sure they know that humans are the big dog in the relationship, that does not mean you beat them that means you show them that you are the boss by not allowing them to be jerks and get away with behaviors that they shouldn’t. Your dogs life and health depend on you being a good dog owner and raising them to be good dogs.

Sincerely,
Dr Debbie and Every Vet

06/05/2021

Just for a good laugh 😂

My most favourite is Yorkie!

19/01/2021

THIS! 😊

Don’t listen to that bloke down the park or your friend who’s had 20 dogs. Listen to the dog trainer who spends all their time studying and working with different owners and cases. That way you won’t go wrong.

07/01/2021

Training your dog can be fun and it can be frustrating.
I thought to give you few tips of what your dog is looking for from you when you ask anything of them.
Check it out 😊

17/02/2020

Food is a big drive for a dog!
They are opportunists and will do a lot for a good tidbit 😁
Use your good rewards wisely and your training will pay off:
👉🏻time the reward well
👉🏻use high value food
👉🏻only reward once dog show compliance with your request
👉🏻keep it fun

Here Rita with her naturally species diet.

31/01/2020

Just doing her thing!!! 😍😍
Just being a dog 🐶

25/12/2019

17/12/2019

WHY YOU DONT HAVE TO TAKE YOUR DOG FOR A WALK
Brilliantly put by Tony 😊

02/12/2019

The nature of the dog!
Few steps on how to stop puppies from nipping and biting 🥰
It also works for adult dogs that try to grab your arms or legs 😉
Happy Sunday Evening Everyone 🙂

16/11/2019

As the temperatures drop so is our energy..
Winter is here to help us settle and slow down. 🙂
Enjoy the time cuddling with your besties.
Drop as a pic of your cozy evenings with your four legged friends ❤️ 🐕 🤗

26/10/2019

Good sleep is a meaning of a mind that is free of stress and worry 👍🏻
Dogs and especially puppies need between 16-18hrs of sleep a day.
So if your dog sleeps a lot rest well assured she/he has no worry or much stress in their life! 🙂
It is a great sign of your dogs emotional health. “Snoozy” dog is the biggest complement to you, meaning you provide the safety and comfort for them to be well relaxed in any environment you take them to. ⭐️ Let the sleeping dog lie. ⭐️ Enjoy the view and when you want a cuddle simply call them over to you instead of going into their space.
As approaching or touching them when they in deep sleep can startle the dog and cause them to react, with an effect of them thinking it is not safe to fall into a deep sleep again
#

24/10/2019

Whether you struggling with your dog pulling on the leash or any other “undesirable behaviours”, to your dog it all means a leadership, hence decision making.
This questions will help you to establish what your dog is thinking of your relationship.
➡️Who makes the decision when you walking the dog?
➡️Who exits the house first?
➡️Who changes the direction when out on walk?
➡️What speed are you walking with?
➡️Am I in the front of behind the dog?
➡️Who is making these decision? Is it me or the dog?

You can’t lead from behind. 🙂

No gadgets of sorts can change dogs mind of who owns the leadership and choose the direction and speed of the walk.
Only your time invested in teaching them what is expected with reward based system can produce the results.
Teach with patience and kindness.
Practice in small quiet areas first and once you are happy with the progress move to bigger places and farther away from home.
Creating trusting relationship takes time. Enjoy the process 😊

04/10/2019

Are you having trouble with your dogs recall on the walk? :-)

Evading capture

It is very common for owners to find that when calling their dogs back to them, the dog stands looking at them for a while and then gets to within a few feet of the owner, only to race away again when the owner reaches out to catch the dog.

The reason for this is simple, as the dog believes that it is the leader of the family and makes all the important decisions, such as the pace and direction on the walk.

To the dog the owner is their 'baby' and the dog is waiting for that 'pack member' to follow the leader and being a patient and very affectionate parent a dog will give the 'baby' time to work out what is expected.

When the 'baby' fails to follow the leader and especially if they are making a commotion (yelling) which the dog believe is the person showing fear, then the leader will naturally want to encourage the 'babe' and will slowly walk toward them hoping that at any point this will encourage the subordinate to take a step forward.

Consequently as the dog gets closer and the owner reaches for the dog, the dog believes that the 'babe' has taken a positive step in the right direction and will move away again hoping that the 'dependent' will now keep coming and follow.

As always when we look at a situation through the eyes of a dog then it is obvious and subsequently easy to resolve by exchanging places with the dog by allowing the dog to choose us as their leader and then they will keep up with us when out for a walk and not expect us to keep up with them.

Jan

08/09/2019

How treating the cause of your dog’s behavior can solve the problem quicker than you think?
When I get a call from a dog owner, most of the time it is to help them with a behavior problem that seems to be too difficult to overcome.
They have, at this point, tried a lot of things and in many cases are at their wit’s end.
When desperation sets in, we simply feel defeated.
And we have no idea how we can in fact help our beloved pet.
As we know in life, whether we choose to be aware of it or not, we always have an intention or certain belief behind what we do and how we act. Very often it is the belief that shapes the way we respond and it can be in some cases not very effective, and does not solve the problem.
Dogs are no different. For example, if they believe they have to protect you they will display behaviours like this:
• Barking at the door or passers by
• Chasing bikers, rollerbladers and/or cars
• Lunging, barking at other dogs on walks
• Growling at other family members when they come close to you
• Barking or nipping you when you try to leave the house
When dogs bark and lunge at the window or the door at those who come to visit or passers by, he/she is trying to protect its territory and you, those who belong to its pack. When we make an attempt to treat only the symptom (barking) with all sorts of gadgets and involve our own feelings of frustration, we can in many cases make things worse. It is in fact easier to understand the magical mind of “man’s best friend” and remove the dog’s belief that he has the responsibility to protect us, and its territory at all. That would reduce the stressful reaction to a thinking state and only a warning bark.
Taking our time to listen to our dogs does have very powerful effects on how they behave. As we learn how to respond and converse with them in the way they understand, things become easier and offer us stress free life with our four legged companions.
Get in touch if you have any questions on how you can learn to help your dog overcome the stress and need of being responsible for you that causes various behavioral issues.

www.houndhelp.com

27/08/2019

Little info of why dogs become LEASH REACTIVE

There is little wonder that the instances of undesirable dog behaviour are growing when the information provided is so wrong and with trends that misunderstand or misinterpret, natural dog behaviour, what chance do dogs and their owners stand.

One such ‘trend’ is to incorrectly add a 4th ‘F’ to the chosen means of defence for all canines, which is being labelled ‘fuss’ or ‘flirt’. The consequences of this mistake can cause a person to not appreciate what a dog is feeling and respond in a completely counterproductive way.

The correct ‘3’ means of defence are ‘flight–freeze-fight’ and it is bad enough that these are so often placed in the wrong order of preference but to confuse things further is unacceptable.

When all canines feel threatened, their first action is to get away (flight), put as much distance as possible between themselves and the danger and If that is not possible then they choose to ‘freeze’, pretend that the ‘danger’ is not there and hope that it just goes away without spotting or troubling them.

When both are not possible then they have no other choice but to fight, which is why dogs are often more aggressive when they are on lead, as the preferred two options are removed.

On a very rare occasion a canine, rather than challenge, will attempt to appease the attacker in, but this is a very risky strategy as it leaves the submissive dog vulnerable to serious injury or being killed.

The fact that many domestic dogs adopt this posture is because they have no opportunity to put real distance between themselves and the ‘danger’, as the domestic encounters usually happen in a confined space, such as a fenced park and as the usual flight distance is over a mile, they are desperate and certainly not ‘flirting’ or making a ‘fuss’ but simply trying desperately to save their own lives.

I am aware that this error is being taught in accepted educational situations but that does not make it right, just as with the actions of the student of an animal management three-year course, who caused my Honey to growl at her, when she approaching to ‘make friends’.

It is too easy for people to be led to trivialize a situation because they are given poor information and then the dog will suffer, yet again.

Jan

04/08/2019

FLIGHT – FREEZE – FIGHT

These are the 3 defence mechanisms for dog to let you, or anyone in any situation know, they feel uncomfortable and want to be left alone.

FLIGHT. – simply remove themselves from the place, persons space or other dog without causing any harm to themselves and others.

FREEZE – stop moving and remain in one position, avoiding eye contact and most likely turn their head away. Just to pretend that they do not exist, hoping this thing will go away and remove themselves from their personal space.

FIGHT- if any of the above has not worked and they have repeatedly tried to communicate politely with using Flight or Freeze, the dog will need to take farther action and steps to “speak louder”. In this case these behaviours become visible: snapping, growling, barking and in the worst case a bite occurs.
Most likely, if not always that works for the dog.
The person or the dog moves away…and…the problem is solved, in dogs eyes.
Therefore this is worth repeating.

Learn with us how to listen to your dog and recognize his stress and what makes them uncomfortable.
Which effectively give you amazing training tool that leads to have well behaved and stress free dog.

04/08/2019

Judge not that you may be judged.

In our modern societies the growing practice of judging dogs, whether it is called 'assessment' or 'testing', results in misguided 'findings' based on beliefs and or wishful thinking.

Yesterday Honey met a young person who is a student of 'animal management' at the agricultural college in Lincoln and due to them being in a room together I did remind the all present that Honey had been reported to have defended herself when a stranger approached her..

Honey was on lead, as she was in an unfamiliar place and had chosen to look away (freeze - defence strategy number two) from the three strangers that were with us when she did something that I had never experienced with her before, she growled.

I immediately looked only to see the young student was looking directly at Honey, leaning forward and extending a hand towards her.

I did ask the 'student' to stop the approach and this was adhered to, which meant that my dog no longer had to do the telling, but my problem is that how it is that a person on a registered educational programme, after at least one year of 'study', had not been told to never, never, never approach any animal.

Sadly for so many dogs their death is the result of the human ignorance and I can only hope that the education of the student provided by my loving, gentle dog will be passed on to others studying on the same course qualifying course.

Jan

02/08/2019

TRUE TO SEPARATION ANXIETY IN DOGS

'Following the leader?'

Many people experience their dogs following them constantly and that can easily be misunderstood as the dog(s) perceiving the owner/carer, as the leader but unless you have actually looked at the dog's eyes and invited it to come with you, as I had in this picture, the opposite is what is happening and the dog sees the owner/carer, as ta member of the family that they are responsible for 24/7

Of course, this might seem cute but if we think this through then we realise that when we leave the dog at home then that dog has lost the being that it is supposed to take care of and this can easily result in Separation Anxiety.

Meaning that the dog is not desperate to find 'mummy' but out of its mind having lost a baby.

When a dog has elected us leader, of its own free will, which is what adopting AB achieves, then when we go out the dog will relax, as a leader can look after themselves.

Jan

01/08/2019

BARKING DOGS SOLUTION👍🏻

06/06/2019

The small dog trend is fuelling an increase in the number of people being hospitalised for bites, the Royal College of Surgeons has said, as they warn that their owners do not realise they can be aggressive.

25/05/2019

Practice practice and practice! ...and practice.
We wish all the dogs and owners amazing and joyful walks today!
☀️ 🌱 🐕 💕 😊

04/04/2019

💖

22/03/2019

Dogs breeds and their traces! 🐕💖 Often as Dog Listener I hear from dog owners:
“My Dog is a Australian Shepard and that is why it’s hearding other dogs and people. How can I deal with it?”
“Chihuahua’s tend to be the loudest barking dogs ever. It is what they do”
“My beagle pulls on the lead as all it wants to do is sniff”

There is a purpose to the picture I posted. I would like you to ask yourself a question?
How different are you to these people in the picture? 👉🏻the way you look
👉🏻age difference
👉🏻personality
👉🏻dressing style choices
👉🏻culture
Has this ever stopped you to be a good friend with them beyond all of the above?
Dogs breeds are our own design and the way the look has been shaped by us people for a long time. If you believe they do what they do because of their breed you may be limiting yourself to approach training your dog and getting the results you want.
Learn with us on how to understand the dog itself first and apply this knowledge to guide and teach your dog how to live peacefully and happy in humans world.

18/03/2019

Mother Nature at work 👍🏻

Wolves lead, dogs follow—and both cooperate with humans. The statement is a bold one, especially as wolves have received a lot of negative attention in recent years. A recent study conducted by behavioural researchers at Vetmeduni Vienna, however, shows that dogs and wolves both work equally well ...

01/03/2019

Check this out on dogs aggression.
Tony explains it well in few words on how to avoid being bitten by a dog.

11/02/2019

So blessed to spend this beautiful day with my little Lady Rita.
Hope you had amazing day with your pups 🐾🥰💖

15/10/2018

Every question has its answer.
How you answer your dog will determine its behaviour.
:-)

01/10/2018

I heard a very kind and loving owner call her dog to her in a very authoritative manner and asked her if she would invite a friend that way.

There was a pause and then the lady looked shocked and sad and replied that she did not realise, as her tone had been instilled in her at the 'training' classes that she had attended in the past.

There was another pause and the lady then invited her dog to 'come' in a warm and affectionate way and both were very happy with that.

Importantly the affectionate invite was exactly what this lovely lady would have naturally used, so I was delighted that she was liberated now.

Jan

24/09/2018

Which one are you? Boss or Leader? 🐕❤️

Words will affect how we view life.

In the last week I have heard from owners who have told me that their dogs know who is 'boss' and that their dogs 'do as they say', which I find sad, as these terms are harsh and imply that the dog is beneath them somehow and when repeated can influence other people too.

When we set out to help our dogs by becoming the leader that they willingly choose then we are showing them that they can trust us and relax, leaving the worrying to us and that is the role of a 'leader'.

Jan

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