Dog Nerd

09/24/2024

Tongue out Tuesday, courtesy of Grayson 😋

09/21/2024

This is a common mistake I see. The intentions are good, but it’s not the best way to go.

If you need help with your fearful dog, reach out!

A common mistake that many owners make when trying to help a fearful dog become more comfortable around something they’re scared of is attempting to lure the dog closer to the scary thing with a treat. Though the thinking behind this strategy is well meaning, it can often backfire and increase the dog’s fear.

Many highly food motivated dogs will follow the treat closer to the scary thing to get the food, but once they’ve eaten the treat they suddenly realise how close they are to the scary thing. This can cause the dog to startle or even panic, likely making them more afraid than they were before.

This is particularly important with dogs that are fearful or aggressive towards humans. After the dog has followed the treat in beyond their comfort zone and right up to the human, there is a big risk that once the treat is gone they may snap or bite upon finding the human so close.

When working with fearful dogs it is critically important to let the dog go at their own pace. Progress should be slow, steady, carefully analysed, and never ever rushed.

This reasoning also applies when socialising young puppies to potentially scary things; you can reward them for choosing to move closer to something novel that they are unsure of, but try not to lure them in blindly with a treat.

If you have a fearful dog we highly recommend working with a professional positive reinforcement trainer who is experienced in dealing with behavioural issues, and not just teaching obedience. There is a world of difference between simply luring a dog towards something scary with treats, and a systematically applied desensitisation and counter conditioning protocol implemented by someone with a sound knowledge of behavioural science. A good trainer will help set up a plan of action individualised to your dog, and coach you through the process.

That Dog Geek’s next video, “Helping Fearful & Reactive Dogs Part 1” is almost finished, and will be available to watch online soon.

Happy training Dog Geeks!

09/16/2024

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye!

When did I become my mother?!?! 😂

No eyeballs were lost in this battle.

09/10/2024

Hi everyone! Just a reminder that if you’re looking to train with me, or you have questions, please send an email.

Social media messaging is full of spam, and not always delivered in a timely manner. I do my best to respond to all emails within 48 business hours. Thank you!

[email protected]

08/27/2024

Hi everyone!

I’ve been a bit more quiet than usual lately, and it hasn’t been for a good reason. Please read on …

I’ve debated whether or not I should be posting personal things on my business page, but the situation has become desperate.

Dog Nerd has always been a one-woman-show, but without Craig, my partner of 10 years, and main supporter, I don’t know where I’d be.

Craig is also the unsung, unseen hero, creating and maintaining the website, and when I had the training building, doing pretty much everything that wasn’t dog training.

Over the last couple of years, Craig has become very ill. On August 2, 2024, he was finally put on the liver transplant list, and is awaiting a transplant. There are hundreds of people across Canada waiting for a liver, so the wait may take years. Craig is very sick, and doesn’t have years.

I’m asking for your help:

Please follow/like/share his Instagram and pages. There will be more information there about his medical conditions, as well as info regarding living donations. Craig is a very private person, and is not on social media. I have created these pages to help him spread the word, and save his life.

https://www.facebook.com/share/QtroUGLdYRjhudD1/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

https://www.instagram.com/teamcraig64?igsh=NDJjbWdpMnhjajZh&utm_source=qr

As for dog training, I’m still working hard to help families with their dogs. Training dogs helps keep my stress levels lower, so if you need help with your dog’s behaviour, shoot me an email!

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you for reading. Craig really needs a hero; please share his pages.

08/09/2024

You’ll see my dogs out and about helping reactive dogs with their skills.

What you won’t see are my dogs interacting with other dogs.

Why?

My dogs are raised to be neutral with dogs. Whether they like other dogs, or don’t like them, they don’t interact with dogs they don’t know.

That means no dog parks, doggy day cares, no play groups.

They are all well socialized, which means they are comfortable when they’re out. They have no need to interact with the environment when they’re out. That makes life A LOT easier.

Not sure what “neutrality” means, or how to train for it? I’d be happy to explain! Just send me an email: dognerd204 @ gmail.com

Many people are ✨shocked✨ to see that my dogs aren’t super dog-friendly. They’re a dog trainer’s dog, how can they be so mean?

“Mean” because they don’t run up to other dogs, mean because they aren’t dying to meet your dog, mean because they don’t tolerate inappropriate behavior..

To me, they’re an example of dogs with healthy boundaries and relationships to others. It seems to be the “norm” for a lot of dog owners to expect other dogs to tolerate all of their own dog’s behavior. If your child was being harassed by another child, would you tell them to tolerate it? Of course not; we would intervene and the same should be happening for our dogs.

Any inappropriate behavior (posturing, face licking, jumping, excessive sniffing), or really any behavior that makes the receiving dog uncomfortable, should be interrupted or punished.

This can happen in two ways: we intervene which is the preferred method. If your puppy is face-licking your older dog and your older dog isn’t enjoying it/is trying to get away, etc, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to remove the puppy from the older dog. We should not except any dog to tolerate annoying behavior and we certainly don’t want to raise our puppies to continue this. Or if your male dog is excessively sniffing a female dog to the point she’s uncomfortable, you can interrupt or punish that with a “no,” a nick on the ecollar, separating them, etc. It is your responsibility to manage your own dog and advocate for others.

The other option is to allow the receiving dog to correct the inappropriate dog, but this is rarely efficient and should only happen under very strict circumstances. We never want to allow a dog we don’t know to correct our dog. There’s a good chance they won’t, which will teach tolerance, and there’s an equally good chance they will overcorrect, resulting in injury or fight.

Often a puppy is raised where other dogs are expected to tolerate behavior. One day the puppy runs up to a dog and starts behavior that they’ve rehearsed, the new dog doesn’t tolerate it and corrects the dog/starts a fight...

Read the full article here:

https://www.horizonretrievers.com/post/socialization-1

08/09/2024

Training dogs is fairly simple. What I can’t do is change your dog’s genetics, or ignore an environment that doesn’t work for them.

The most important part of dog ownership is choosing the right breed for your life. Some dogs don’t do well in apartments, with no regular access to off leash space. Some dogs don’t do well in the city, with a small yard. Some dogs don’t do well with small children.

Your first step? Contact me! Let’s find a dog that best fits your life. Starting there will make training so much easier.

Email for more info
[email protected]

I truly believe that if Steve Irwin were alive today, he would have a dedicated group of people who hated him for how he treated animals.

Steve always treated every species he worked with, as the species they were, not forcing them to change their nature.

More and more I find myself trying to convince people to "let the dog go outside, it's okay if they get a little dirty" or "your snake is arboreal and can't just be confined to a small tub." Or "Your working breed dog is not happy being still and lazy in your one bedroom apartment with nothing to keep them active and thinking."

It seems in this next generation of animal husbandry, we're deciding that all animals are now going to become (and be treated as) our little babies.

Now, is it okay to refer to your furry, feathered, scaly friend as such? Of course!
Is it okay to treat them as human babies...absolutely not at all.

As we see this change taking place, so to do we see more and more stressed out animals. Ones with a lack of structure and mental enrichment...but tons and tons of random toys and bags of treats.

What Steve Irwin did is create an environment that was enriching for the animals he had. Not attempt to force the animals to adjust to his environment.

Taking your Border Collie or herding, working, hunting, breed on a 10 minute walk (as long as you remember, it's not raining or just not feeling upto it) once a day, is not cutting it.

Locking your pyrenees or Shepherd breed in a kennel all day and then keeping'em in a small apartment, but still expecting the dog to be still and always cuddling...not cutting it.

Keeping your African grey parrot in a small enclosure with a few items that you've not replaced...is not cutting it.

When you bring an animal into your life. It is so important to understand what that animal is and have a structured enrichment routine and appropriate setup for the breed/species before you take in the animal.

Anything less than what your animal needs is a disservice to your best friend.

Be kind to your animals, enrich their lives (in a way that's appropriate for them). Keep them thinking. Keep them exploring. Give them understanding and structure and you will keep them happy.

~Benjamin McGill, M.C.B Owner of GoodBoy animal training.

Picture taken while visiting local aquarium store.

07/18/2024

If you think dog training is taming the dramatic “red zone” dog, you’ve been fooled by tv and social media.

Training (aka learning) isn’t dramatic. It’s a process.

Remember learning math, or French, or piano?

Same deal.

Our dogs are learning new things.

Done properly, it doesn’t make for great tv, or flashy reels that get a million views. It does make dogs easier to live with, and families happy, and that’s the goal 🙂

Social media has evolved, and sharing pictures and text is no longer what’s in favour.

I’m a dog trainer, not an influencer. I’m going to keep doing what I’m do — getting the best out of each and every dog I work with!

Pictured: sweet Darby, working on her travelling skills.

If you’re struggling with getting your dog to listen, reach out!
www.dognerdwinnipeg.ca

07/06/2024

Nailed it!

06/27/2024

Prevention is best, but if your dog has overheated, get them cooled down immediately.

Emergency Cooling of Canine Heat Casualties: critical thinking

There has been lots of information going around on cooling hot dogs, some really good, some really bad!
With some of the new updated information (which isn't actually new) from professionals on the advised best methods of rapid cooling including cold-water immersion for young/healthy dogs, or evaporative cooling for older/unwell dogs there has been the usual comments on this being dangerous even though the available evidence and experience says otherwise.

Comments I've seen in the last 2 weeks include...

"I put cold-water on my dog once because he was overheating and he died, my vet said this was the wrong thing to do as it caused him to go into shock", "never put cold water on a hot dog it causes the blood vessels to constrict and has the opposite effect", "the race vets (leading ones at that) all say this is dangerous and is forbidden at international races".

In dogs, there are various reasons you hear (even from some vets) why you shouldn't use cold water, such as "Shock" or "Cold Water Shock" being the most common from pet owners, trainers, and sport dog owners etc. Cold-water causes peripheral vasoconstriction and slows down cooling being the most common from some vets. And sometimes DIC (a blood clotting disorder) which is caused by the heat damage, NOT cooling.

Let's take the following scenario...

A heatstroking dog arrives at an emergency vet clinic where the team are waiting, upon arrival they immediately begin rapid cooling measures with cold water to bring the dog's temperature down fast, but the dog dies.

Did the dog die because the water used for cooling was too cold and the dog's temperature was dropped too fast?

Some would say yes, but some people tend to lack the ability to critically evaluate a situation and see beyond what is right in front of them, it is extremely unlikely and association does not mean causation, before you come anywhere near that conclusion you have to look a little deeper and ask a few important questions such as...

1. How long was the dog above a critical temperature?
2. How long before the owner realised the dog was in trouble and sought help or began cooling measures?
3. Did the owner apply any active cooling measures before transport? What did they do? How long for?
4. If they did cool did they monitor temperature and stop cooling measures at a safe temp?
5. Is the owner telling the truth? Most vets will agree pet owners don't always tell the truth in these cases for various reasons, guilt, or being judged maybe?
6. Is that particular owner able to critically evaluate the situation?

All these things matter because it is generally well accepted in human and veterinary medicine that it is the length of time above a dangerous temperature that determines the chance of survival, and that temperature is different for different dogs.

Veterinary professionals also talk a lot about evidence based medicine, yet there has only been one study ever that compared the temperature of the water or the use of ice for external cooling in dogs, and it showed that ice water and cold water cooling were the fastest and most effective method of cooling. The concept that ice or cold water causes vasoconstriction and slows the cooling process has never been scientifically validated.

People worry about cooling when their first concern should be that the HEAT is the immediate life threat and you need to get it down to a safe temperature fast, and the earlier you recognise the signs and start cooling measures the better the chance of survival.

Vets generally work in a clinic or hospital, they see patients after the event, when what often determines outcome is what you do in the field at point of injury, it used to be the accepted practice to get to a vet fast, now it's becoming more widely accepted to cool before transport because again it is length of time they are above a critical temperature.

Added to this a lot of what has been taught, and is still being taught in veterinary medicine including first aid is all based on clinical medicine, not field medicine which is a completely different environment and although not always a huge deal clinical medicine doesn't always translate well to the field setting. There is not and has never been any formal training in prehospital care in the veterinary industry, it doesn't exist (unlike human medicine).
However over the last decade or so and mostly in the US there has been a lot of work to establish guidelines and training, with the Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) publishing their best practice recommendations in 2016, Hot Dogs UK refer to these guidelines in their article.

A lot of the k9 field medicine (including heat injury prevention and management) comes down from the military who for obvious reasons have a lot of experience in this area.

To quote one working dog Vet...

“We know with Heat Related Illness fatality rates are high, and what you do in the field makes a difference, not how fast you transport to a vet, you eventually have to get them there, but what you do in the field, how fast you cool those dogs down will make or break the life of your Canine, and we're still seeing too many preventable deaths.”

The bottom line is healthy dogs don't die because they were cooled down, they die because they were too hot for too long, and dogs that have been too hot for too long tend to die no matter how you treat them, so then the cooling process often gets the blame (especially when cold water and rapid cooling are involved) when they were going to die anyway because the damage has already been done.

Those that understand this, that work with working dogs in hot environments, that have treated hundreds of these cases in the field, rapidly cool these dogs as fast as possible with whatever they have available, with cold water if they have it, and they save these dogs when they catch it early.

It's probably a luxury if you have multiple cooling methods to choose from so just use what you have to cool the dog as fast as possible while ideally monitoring temperature which is another important point, you can cool too far if you continue to cool past the point the dog's temperature has reached a safe temperature, and because temperature continues to drop for a short time after you stop active cooling measures (plus re**al temp lags behind core temp during rapid temperature changes) it is advised to stop cooling just above normal resting temp, the exact number varies depending on the source but in the range of 103–104°F (39.5–40°C) re**al temp, monitoring is important and doesn't get much attention, the dog should be continually monitored during transport but most pet owners etc. are probably unlikely to have a thermometer (you should have 1 or 2 in your first aid kit) and in that case you have to rely on the person's ability and experience understanding the signs and reading the dog which is not ideal, but in such a case even 10mins of any rapid cooling method before transport will give the dog a better chance. So cooling too far is another reason cooling methods get the blame.

Added to this it is very difficult to change some people's heat philosophy when these outdated ideas have been around a long time, takes a lot of strength of character for some to admit there might be a better way, but it is going in the right direction, albeit slowly, and because of the hard work of some professionals.

It doesn't matter what you learned from your very experienced breeder, other mushers, what you learned from an expert Vet years ago, or what a Vet learned in Vet school 20 or 30 years ago, things move on, if you are not constantly evaluating what you learn, looking to improve, gain new ideas, move forward, keep learning and improving instead of looking in the past then whatever field you are in you will never improve and be any better than you are at this moment.

Those at the top of their game in any field don't get there by doing the same old thing because "that's the way we've always done it" or "that's what I learned years ago", they're constantly learning, looking for new ideas and ways to improve to be the best they can be and improve outcomes, learning from others, if some people didn't have that mindset we would still be in the dark ages, and there are some good people out there to learn from.

There is a lot of debate and argument in this area making it more complicated than it needs to be when the simple message is...

The key to field treatment is simply to cool the dog down as fast as possible using whatever methods are available!

Further information:

MYTH BUSTING – COOLING HOT DOGS with the UK Veterinary research team
https://heatstroke.dog/2023/07/20/myth-busting-cooling-hot-dogs/?fbclid=IwAR07ChOSq-PTfc-DN_B_aePTMzKGq06I7GGuzw3-QBmskg3MipglcSys2Js

ARE YOU READY TO BEAT THE HEAT? COOLING HOT DOGS – MORE MYTH BUSTING
https://heatstroke.dog/2024/04/12/are-you-ready-to-beat-the-heat-cooling-hot-dogs-more-myth-busting/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1sud0ZKqfM3PF0_xcaQRgdXzmHKfFT5nkuHsZTOq6UYGpjbryDpPmfzbA_aem_RZ7l8lh3RN0PoPvFQMltTA

Royal Veterinary College
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass/news/the-rvc-urges-owners-of-hot-dogs-to-cool-first-transport-second?fbclid=IwAR023ZAXQm_1n9FQwo8aVCP2SZdxdmBhXMgwH-e_m3iaX2OHyK0nujbO_Ws

Cooling methods used in dogs with heat-related illness under UK primary veterinary care 2016-2018
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=108153058936611&id=100092257509484

Rethinking Heat Injury in the SOF Multipurpose Canine:
A Critical Review.
Janice L. Baker, DVM; Paul J. Hollier, DVM; Laura Miller; Ward A. Lacy
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227176693_Rethinking_Heat_Injury_in_the_SOF_Multipurpose_Canine_A_Critical_Review

Heat Injury in Working Dogs Webinar with Dr. Janice Baker
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=108093635609220&id=100092257509484

06/20/2024

Dogs are dogs. They are living beings with emotions, just like us.

They can’t be perfect all the time (whatever that means). Let’s give them a break, and not attempt to control everything about them.

Society has bought into a false dichotomy with regard to dog behavior. We expect dogs to act like Lassie, and when they offer even the most innocuous warning, we are shocked and take great personal offense. We expect dogs to be grateful for us taking them in and caring for them, and refuse to accept that they have likes and dislikes, fears and frustrations, and that they absolutely obey the laws of conditioning. Even though humans are far much more violent and aggressive as a species, we expect dogs never to be aggressive. If our dogs exhibit aggressive behavior, the shock and sense of betrayal lead us to fear the “aggression problem” and attribute more significance to the incident than is rationally justified. In short, we are more the “problem” than the dog. Put in proper perspective, as Bradley (Dogs Bite: But Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous, 2005) has done, dogs do (though rarely) bite and injure or kill people, but they are not nearly as significant a risk as slippers or balloons.

— Aggressive Behavior in Dogs, James O’Heare

06/16/2024

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads — kids, furred, feathered, or finned. Thank you for all you do! #

- From your friends at Dog Nerd

06/15/2024

Kids + dogs can be amazing together, and here are some ways to keep everyone safe.

Let's talk about this photo. It's cute, except it's not. I see a dog who cannot get up without telling the child to get off. How do you think a dog is going to do that?

The 7 Golden Toddler Dog Rules:
#1: If a dog walks away from you, you DO NOT FOLLOW.
#2: Always leave room for the dog to walk away from you.
---that right there is 90+% of dog bites eliminated---
#3: We do not climb on the dog.
#4: We do not grab or pull on the dog.
#5: We do not hit or throw anything at the dog.
#6: We do not touch the dog's food.
#7: We do not go into the dog's kennel.

I promise these are not overly difficult concepts for littles, nor will they rob a kid of their bond with the family dog. It will deepen that bond, while keeping everyone safe.

"Oh, it looks like Moose is walking away from you. She is saying she wants a break. Let's play with this instead!"

"It's Moose's dinner time! Let's give her space to enjoy her yummies."

"That is Moose's room(kennel) and only she is allowed to go in there."

"If Moose wanted a break, could she walk away from you right now? No she really couldn't. Let's move away from the play house. You can keep playing but now she can leave when she wants a break."

In conclusion, ***parent your child or your dog will do it for you, and you will not like how they do it.***

06/14/2024

Happy Gotcha Day, Roo!

Seven years ago today, the most amazing dog came into my life, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. He’s been my rock, and I’ve been his. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this absolutely perfect dog in my life. Luv u 💕💕

06/09/2024

One of the most common things we hear when we are out and about and a dog comes running at us is 'It's okay he's friendly'.
The response when you say 'I don't care, leave me alone', is often 'Well take your reactive dog elsewhere then'.

I fully disagree with that statement, but I also want to point out that there is MANY reasons why someone may not be interested in hanging out with you/your dog when they're out and about with their dog even if they are in a public place.

Effectively what you're saying when you say 'Well don't go to this public place with your dog then' is:
- Your elderly dog is not allowed to use the beach because my dog has the right to run right up/into him.
- Your small chihuahua isn't allowed in this park unless he's okay to play with my giant German Shepherd and be okay with being trampled because my dog has the right to say hi and play with your dog.
- Your dog who is recovering from surgery and can only do short walks is only allowed to do that on pavement but not in his favourite public park where he can watch the ducks because my dog has the right to say hi and play with your dog.
- You can't come here with your nervous dog to slowly teach him the world isn't so scary because my dog has the right to say hi and play with your dog even if they're not ready for it yet.

People with 'friendly' dogs don't get to decide where you walk your dog.
And before people go on about it: this is about any public space that dogs are allowed in on/off leash but are NOT dedicated fenced (off leash) dog parks.

06/07/2024

I was on my normal walk today with Twig and Lucky, it’s a nice walk through a meadow by the river to a park in the middle of town. It’s busy with people and dogs (which mine love) and a mix of onlead and offlead dogs.

As I got to a narrow bit this morning, a saw a couple approaching with two dogs on extendable leads and as they saw me they shortened the leads right up and I could see that the people looked really worried about walking past me and my dogs.

I put my dogs onlead, took my dogs off the path into the undergrowth, and distracted them with food (made sure they didn’t look at the dogs) as the people walked past. If I had seen them coming sooner I would have asked them if they wanted me to move off the path. Not everyone feels comfortable to ask you to give them space but it’s normally pretty obvious when people are worried about walking past you and it’s easy to help them out.

The people and dogs walked past and thanked me for giving them space- no drama and we both went on our way.

I have no idea why they were worried about walking past me- the people may have been worried about strange dogs, their dogs may have been worried about strange dogs, the dogs may have been unwell or in pain or elderly or in season. Honestly it’s NONE of my business why they wanted space but it’s my job as a decent human being to be empathetic and respect that these people wanted some space.

I didn’t offer them advice, as it’s not my place. I’m sure we’ve all had unwanted advice over the years and most of it is awful. I bet every day they get told they ‘should let their dogs off lead’, or that ‘they were making their dogs anxious by making the lead so tight’ or that ‘they shouldn’t be walking in that place as it’s an ‘offlead’ dog place’.

I know people who’ve had reactive dogs carry on helping out other owners long after their own reactive dogs have passed away as they remember what it felt like. It costs nothing to try and make someone else’s day a bit less stressful. Even if your dog is totally fine with other dogs you can help other owners out who look stressed (and it’s none of our business why they might be stressed) by giving them space.

Laura McAuliffe, 2024 Dog Communication

06/05/2024

How’s your dog looking?

Not sure? Ask your vet for an honest opinion.

Let’s talk about the #1 killer of dogs: Obesity ⁣
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This photo represents what a fit/healthy dog should look like— ⁣
a healthy dog should have a waistline with a clear abdominal tuck just below their ribcage. ⁣
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If seeing a corgi like this makes you feel uneasy or uncomfortable, you’re not alone. ⁣
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We, as a society, have normalized fat dogs. By using phrases like thicc, chonker, and big b***d, we’ve altered our perception of reality. Fat is the new normal and healthy is the new unhealthy. ⁣
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We, as a society, have told ourselves that fat dogs are cute. ⁣
But, let me ask you a question. Is that “thicc” dog still cute when they develop life altering heart problems, joint problems, or cancer? ⁣
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Yeah I went there. ⁣
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Is it a strange coincidence that 56% of dogs are overweight, and 50% of dogs get cancer? OR, is this proof that we are literally killing our dogs with their own food bowls?⁣
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We owe it to our dogs to do better. We must do better.⁣
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Here’s how you can start changing perceptions:⁣
- Every time you feed your dog, assess their body condition⁣
- Measure your dog’s food for every meal (don’t eyeball it)⁣
- Exercise your dog EVERY day⁣
- Don’t defend your dog’s overweight-ness⁣
- Don’t glorify other people’s overweight dogs⁣
- Don’t use words like chonker, thicc, or big-b***d to describe a dog⁣
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Most importantly, DO NOT chastise your vet for mentioning your dog’s weight. ⁣
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Matter of fact, you should be discussing your dog’s body condition during every vet visit. If they don’t bring it up, ask them about it. ⁣
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It’s important to have an open mind during these conversations. ⁣
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Recognize that society has skewed your perception of “healthy” and actively work on being better for your dog. ⁣
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Your dog’s health is quite literally in your hands.

www.instagram.com/stumpsandrumps

06/01/2024

Happy Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌈

Dog Nerd is a proud supporter of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community — every day of the year!