Who's A Good Dog Winnipeg

29/06/2025

Some excellent, thoughtful considerations on breeding a “nice family dog.”

I wish there were more purpose-bred dogs like this from conscientious breeders available for pet homes. As someone who works with behaviour, there is unfortunately no shortage of dogs, purebred and papered and non, who are neither healthy nor easy to live with.

There’s an idea that mixed breed breeders (like me!) don’t breed to any specific standards because we don’t have a written standard saying exactly what our dogs should look, move, or behave like.

In fact, DogBook loves to hate on purpose-bred breeders, ESPECIALLY my friends who breed Doodles, because there’s still a cultural narrative that a closed gene pool is preferable to an open one. And you know what? They’re not entirely wrong! Purebreds are more predictable than mixes! I adore and admire many purebred dogs, and hope they continue to be around in the future.

That said, not being a member of a breed club doesn’t preclude me from having criteria. Here’s the list of questions I ask about any dog I’m considering for my program!

Puzzle Dogs goals

1. Temperament above all else.
⁃ Could my neighbors or parents successfully live with this dog? Would they find it enjoyable and easy?
⁃ Is this dog easy to travel with (including hotel stays, walking through crowds, visiting national parks/monuments, long car rides)?
⁃ Do I feel comfortable having this dog around unexpected houseguests who may enter without my being present? Children? Elderly people? People with disabilities?
⁃ When stressed or upset, does this dog choose fawn or flight? Avoid fight or freeze, try to avoid fidget.
⁃ Is this dog easy to manage around other dogs (low to no resource guarding of low- to moderate-value resources, able to communicate and succeed in a multi-dog household with little management)?
⁃ Are they able to be left home alone for a standard workday without signs of stress?
⁃ Are they able to relax in a crate at trials?
⁃ Are they comfortable with and nonreactive to loud noises?
⁃ Are they able to be handled easily for vet and grooming cares?
⁃ Are they comfortable walking on a variety of surfaces (sand, pavement, metal grates, wobbly surfaces, etc)?
⁃ Are they easy to train, generally happy to engage with their handler, and easy to reward? Are they able to be trained without the use of aversive methods? Do they learn easily without their handler needing to have good mechanical skills or a solid grasp of operant conditioning principles?
⁃ Is any prey drive manageable with reward-based training? Can they live successfully with cats? Can they safely be taken off leash after training and social maturity?
⁃ Do they settle easily in the house? Are their daily physical and mental exercise needs moderate and realistic for the average pet owner?
⁃ Are they generally quiet at home and in the yard, without excessive barking?
⁃ Do they generally have decent impulse control with training (eg not stealing food from small childrens’ hands, not destroying non-dog items after they’re past social maturity)?

2. Physical health
⁃ Do they have a healthy gut that allows them to thrive on a variety of foods, without sensitivities or GI upset?
⁃ Do they have a healthy skin and coat, without allergies or sensitivities?
⁃ Are they able to receive all recommended vaccines without reactions or sensitivities?
⁃ Are they generally healthy, without a history of chronic ear infections, UTIs, skin infections, yeast overgrowth, etc?
⁃ Do they have healthy teeth and gums that can generally be managed with at-home dental care?
⁃ Have they completed standard disorder testing?
⁃ —- Avoid breeding carriers to other carriers.
⁃ —- Consult a specialist about any failing or borderline results - a solid temperament and otherwise good health is prioritized over removing a dog from breeding for a less-than-ideal disorder test PROVIDED THAT the dog is not negatively impacted by said issue and the issue is unlikely to cause quality of life problems for any offspring.
⁃ —- Remove from consideration any dog who has any day-to-day quality-of-life concerns due to any health-related issue.
⁃ —- Remove from consideration any dog who is likely to pass on a health issue that is likely to negatively impact future offspring’s day-to-day quality of life.
⁃ —- Remove from consideration any dog who is likely to pass on an issue that will significantly shorten their offspring’s lifespan or healthspan, or which will require lifelong medical management.
⁃ Is this dog likely to have a lifespan and healthspan of at least 12-14 years, given ancestor and relative data?
⁃ Is this dog socially mature (2.5-3yo for bi***es)? Have we waited long enough to determine that issues that don’t appear until later (eg seizures, noise phobias, allergies, spinal problems, etc) seem unlikely in siblings and other close relatives (3.5-6yo for studs)?
⁃ Does this dog have adequate pigment? Are we able to avoid high-white, double merle, whitehead, dilute (especially if CDA is known in the breed/lines), bald thigh syndrome, and other coat- or color-related issues?
⁃ Can we maintain a genetic COI of

27/06/2025

And with some, just leave the treat and walk away ☺️

Rinse and repeat!

21/06/2025

Strix and TED will be performing today with Manitoba’s own X-Treme Dogs at the East St. Paul recreation complex today at 2PM!

Be sure to come check it out if you are in the area. Come for the dogs, stay for the foam party afterwards 🩵!

12/05/2025

04/05/2025

These are great classes! Highly recommend ❤️🩵

Summer is around the corner. Imagine walks without pulling and a dog that comes when you call! Level One and Level Two life Skills classes start this Thursday, May 8. Pembina & McGillivray area. Email [email protected] to register

26/04/2025

Sometimes in a real crunch either timewise or painwise certain things just have to Get Done with our companion animals.

This is a great short article by Sarah Reusche,Paws Abilities Dog Trainingog Training on how to differentiate those “crunch times” from the regular cooperative care you do WITH your dog, as opposed to TO your dog. ❤️🐾

Cooperative care is incredible and should be used whenever possible! Making sure our dogs can be an active part of their own care and can opt in to cares is important in giving them autonomy, decreasing fear and anxiety, and improving long-term outcomes.

It’s also NOT necessary or right for every single thing.

Rig has a painful injury right now. We don’t know what’s wrong, but she hurts enough that she’s getting injectable pain meds over the weekend to keep her comfy until she can get x-rays on Monday.

The injection stings. It has to happen three times a day.

She’s trained to opt in to injections by resting her chin on an open hand when she’s ready.

I can’t think of a better way to ruin our start button behavior.

So for this particular care, we’re making it look NOTHING LIKE her monthly Adequan injections or yearly vaccines. My spouse picks her up and holds her in his arms. I inject her. We feed her a large, high-value treat and tell her how proud we are of her. No choice, no opt in, but also no poisoning of an important cooperative behavior. The goal is to be efficient and kind without a lot of fuss. It’s over before she can psych herself up about it, and then there’s an immediate distraction of something extra tasty.

For non-emergent and non-time-sensitive cares (think nail trims, ear cleans, tooth brushing, or yes, even Rig’s monthly Adequan injections), “no” from her is an acceptable answer. “No” means that we need to do more training and help her feel more confident, comfortable, and in control of the process. “No” isn’t her being stubborn or disobedient or “dominant,” it’s her telling us that she needs additional support to feel ok with that care - support we can provide by splitting down the training steps further and encouraging her to participate through easy, fun, highly-reinforced training sessions. But for controlling pain when she’s already feeling icky, that’s not something we can just put off until later.

Kindness is important in all things. Choice is also important for our pets, who have so few opportunities to make choices for themselves in their daily lives. For some situations, though, the former means that we can’t provide the latter, and that’s ok.

As our pets’ parents, we should always strive to provide the best life for them, free of pain and uncertainty. Training is an important piece of that, and we can help you develop robust communication to empower your dog be an active participant in their own cares and lives! We also advocate for responsible stewardship in making informed decisions about when NOT to use trained skills. For Rig this weekend, that includes avoiding her usual injection protocols.

Do you want to develop a cooperative care routine for your dog? From starting with solid foundations in Puppy Camp to tackling extreme aggression at the vet or groomers, we can help! Check out the comments section for links to solutions!

Picture: Rig, enjoying her pain meds.

11/04/2025

Do you like being petted on the head?

Dogs tell us all the time that they don’t want to be petted on the head -in most contexts-, even by the people they know best. And yet there we go, being human again. The funny thing is most humans don’t love being petted on the head either. Your dog will tell you very clearly what kind of interaction they would prefer- you just need to listen.

INAPPROPRIATE TOUCHING

I'm reading an amazing book called Amphibious Soul by Craig Foster, the Academy award winning documentary film maker of "My Octopus Teacher".

If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it, it is simply profound.

In the book he says "As a rule, I never touch an animal unless they touch me first".

In my work building relationship with horses, I do this too. Most times a horse will touch you with their nose/muzzle first, and matching that greeting (versus labelling the horse as a biter) is a game changer.

But there's a phenomenon I have noticed going on with people trying to build relationship with their horses that I have labelled "inappropriate touching", and it looks a bit like the photo below.

This picture was taken at a horse expo in Pennsylvania recently, where I worked with a demo horse who has a "biting issue". He would reaching out in a way that his owner was termed as nipping, whereas I interpreted as him saying hello, similar to reaching out to shake hands with someone.

When he reached out I would greet him with a flat hand that he is able to to nuzzle, lick or even scrape his teeth on. After doing this a while his snappy acting motions got less so, and he was no longer needing to say "hey, pay attention" , but was more "hey, how's it going". I was explaining to the audience that I was meeting him in the way that he was meeting me (with his muzzle) and that it's not an invitation to touch other parts (yet).

I then said that it's many people's default to reach up and rub a horse between the eyes, whether that's what they are offering or not, and that if you do, it's inappropriate touching and it gets in the way of connection. It doesn't meet their needs, and is all about yours.

With the horse in the picture, he'd been engaging me with his muzzle, and I said to the audience "watch what happens when I try to rub him between the eyes". As you can see in the photo, he has raised his head up and is clearly indicating "No, not there, on my muzzle".

We had a Connection And Attunement retreat here at the Journey On Ranch a week ago, and I used my wife Robyn to illustrate this point to the participants. I said "imagine I'm at a gathering and meeting Robyn for the first time". We walked up to each other in that way people do when they see someone new and they can tell an introduction is shaping up, Robyn reached out with her hand to say hello and instead of me reaching out to shake her hand, I gently reached up and lightly brushed a wisp of hair from her cheekbone and tucked it behind her ear.

The participants all gasped and the ick factor was high.

Even though it was caring, and gentle, it was inappropriate at that moment.

Now Im not saying you can't rub your horse on the forehead. I'm saying if your horse has a disregulated nervous system around humans because they don't feel seen (and safe), try to meet their needs first, before trying get get yours met.

I recently saw an instagram post from a University in the UK, and the professor was explaining that they were doing studies on horses to determine levels of stress. In the background a horse was standing with his head out over a Dutch door. While he was explaining their investigations on stress, a female student (or maybe another professor, I don't know which) walked up to the horse. The horse reached out with his muzzle to greet her.

She ignored this and reached up to rub the horse between the eyes.

He turned his head 90 degrees to the left to communicate that wasn't what he was offering.

Her hand followed him and kept rubbing.

he then turned his head 180 degrees to the right, saying "No, not like that".

Smiled, gave him another pet between the eyes, and walked of camera.

While the professor was saying that they are doing experiments determining the amounts of stress horses are under, someone in the background was actually creating stress, without either of them even knowing it.

Once you understand how sentient horses are, and how subtle their communication, you can't unsee it.

10/04/2025

Who is Dr. Jim Crosby?

Canine Aggression Consulting LLC. Dr. James Crosby M.S., PhD., CBCC-KA, is a retired Police Lieutenant (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville, FL) and has professionally trained dogs, taught individual and group obedience classes, and addressed canine behavior problems since 1999. He served as Division Management Consultant of Jacksonville Animal Care and Protective Services, the municipal agency responsible for rescue and adoption needs, investigation of animal cruelty, animal fighting, and regulation of Dangerous Dogs for the 964 square miles and nearly 1 million residents of Jacksonville.

Holding a Master of Science in Veterinary Forensic Medicine and a PhD in Veterinary Medical Science, Dr. Crosby is recognized in and out of Court as an expert in the US and Canada on Dangerous Dogs, canine aggression, fatal dog attacks, and related issues. He has personally investigated over 30 fatal dog attacks on humans and, has post-attack, evaluating over 50 dogs that have attacked and killed humans.

Dr. Crosby teaches safe handling and rehabilitation of Dangerous Dogs and Investigation of Fatal and Serious Dog Attacks to police, animal control agencies, and others across the US and Canada. He has been instrumental in a number of successful prosecutions focused on dog related fatalities. Dr. Crosby continues to present training seminars internationally in Italy, Canada, the UK, Warsaw, Poland, in Australia, where he was project Chair for revamping and improving Animal Services for the Australian Capital Territory. During the Fall of 2023 he will be presenting training internationally in Liverpool, England, Dublin, Ireland and Gold Coast Australia. Domestically he will be presenting training in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Dr. Crosby also maintains on-line training offerings through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.