Ricardo Ministro, Human-Dog Relationship

02/04/2024

With the intake of cases from last month, once again I come to understand The Major Impact of Stress in Family Dogs. It is a real and frequent issue which more often than not, is the foundation for all the unstable behaviours we see in Dogs, and perhaps, Humans too...? Food for thought.

How badly are many of Us Being Affected By Stress during our life?

10/03/2024

28/02/2024

Hi everyone. I am back.

In first place, I want to express my gratitude to those who showed me their support and love through the personal challenge I’ve faced a year ago.
It has been very hearth warming to read all the comments in my last post, alongside private messages and acknowledgement of my need for space.

The past year has been a very transformative one. Sometimes very tough, but very fruitful.
I went deep with the world around me, but mainly with the world inside me. Many challenges conquered and many questions answered.
Today I am a stronger, healthier and clearer being.
I am not going to get into details of my journey after my burnout and breakdown because this page is about dog behaviour, and not human spirituality… Although, if anyone out there think they will benefit from hearing my story, I am happy to share it via a private call.

Now, I am ready to re-start this mission of helping dogs, and humans.
Now, without anything to achieve or to be. But simply do, in the present moment, with love.
With the love I feel for Dogs and their lives among humans.

From now on, I will focus on improving the relationship between humans and dogs, without attachments to many of the common approaches and beliefs that are still present in this thing we call “Dog Training Industry” which has a focus and direction of its own.

I am taking a different direction, a direction which aligns with how I see the world at the present moment.
A direction that rejects the Ego, the Ambition, the Image. And instead, observes the relation between The Human and The Dog as is and works to bring Alignment into this Exchange which we call “Dog Ownership”.

The direction I am taking from now on is not about dog training, is about Education in the Interrelation on a Human-Dog Relationship. It is not about how it suits best the Human in many shapes and forms, but how it should be and feel for both sides of this relationship from a fair and compassionate point of view.

There will be many layers to peel, and I am ready for it.

Thank you for reading, and for the support!

Ricardo Ministro

12/07/2023

TIREDNESS, COMPASSION FATIGUE AND TOTAL BREAKDOWN

- Sh*t, it happened to me…

As many of you may have noticed, there as not been any update in this page for a while…

Well, that’s because I’ve been totally off for a while.

At the end of the last year, I found myself in a tricky mental situation where I experienced what it’s called in the dog training industry “Compassion Fatigue”.

Compassion fatigue comes up when we as professionals come to a point of depletion on our compassion/caring reservoirs due to the type of work we do and the situations we experience.
This can happen to anyone, but certainly faster and more intensely to those who care a great deal for their clients, both dogs and humans, and find it hard to disconnect from the situations they are presented with or the problems they are trying to solve day after day.

I faced the start of compassion fatigue well before the end of the last year, but I wasn’t aware at the time. I thought I was just tired, just in need of some holidays. And to be honest I thought I would never experience it. Cause I though I was strong, strong enough to keep facing day after day the world of fearful, reactive, and aggressive behaviour in dogs. I thought I could keep going with the demand, the requests, the problems, the solutions, and everything in between…

But no. I didn’t.

And at the end, I faced total breakdown, like a sudden wave that hits the shore.

No notice or strenght to think anymore about it.

I simply had to stop, simply had to move out, simply forget temporarily about all this work I’ve been doing for years...

Now that I feel better, I can write this, I can process all of it with a stable mind and share it with all of you who have been following my work and those who may think to request my help.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to all of those people that tried to get in touch with me meanwhile and never got an answer, and also to those people that I never got back to… I’m sorry about that. It wasn't about any of you, with was all on me...

I still love dogs, I still love people, I still find it a great mission to improve the life of them.

But at this point I need to find my way back, a way that will be more healthy for myself.

With this in mind, there are many questions I need to find an answer for, before I re-start any work in this field.

So for now and until further notice, I will continue to be off from my services and my business and I truly hope there will be someone out there who can help those in need with the same love and caring I did for all my clients, both humans and dogs.

Thank you for reading,

Ricardo Ministro

27/09/2022

DO YOU REMEMBER MIA THE ROMANIAN RESCUE?

A few years ago I got a message from Stef about her recently adopted dog, Mia.

Mia, like many other dogs I work with, came from Romania to Scotland to be loved and cared for by her new family.
But things were not easy, especially at the start.

Mia was very fearful of new people, cars and other noises.

Stef could not walk Mia in public for a very long time, and I still remember the first time I met Mia - she barked and lunged at me the moment I entered the house.

Today things are very different.

Nowadays Mia is a very happy and social dog. Every time we meet she's super happy and this is also happening with other guests.

She enjoyes her walks in nature and can also be in public parks without much problem.

The dog that she is today is not the dog I met a few years ago. She went from a scared and unstable dog to a very happy and beautiful dog to share a life with.

Yes, not everything is perfect, Mia still has a few issues with certain noises and will avoid crowdy places and loud bangs, but the improvements made since day 1 are many. Too many to tell on this post.

This is, obviously, a very successful case, which of course could not have happened without an amazing family like Mia's family.

She is truly cared for and loved by mom and dad and now she is even a professional dog model!

Check out the images in this post!

Stef @ Stef Brennan Photography is a skilled photographer with a special eye for dog portraits, and knows how to capture those special moments that many of us miss when thinking about all the challenges that we may face with our dogs on daily basis.

Thank you Stef for all you have done and continue to do for Mia.

17/08/2022

Extremely busy at the moment. I'm taking longer than usual to reply to contact forms. Thank you :)

19/07/2022

REACTIVE BEHAVIOUR - THE ARRANGEMENT OF LEARNING SETTINGS

Behaviour is affected by the environment, we all know that, right?



But how seriously should we take that insight, and with whom should we apply it?



Working with reactive behaviour is far from simple or easy. Both for regular owners and professionals like myself. 
There are so many things to consider, so many factors to control, and so many possible challenges to overcome.

But even then, with all that, we can still achieve a positive result, and more often than not, achieve what we had in mind initially as “the final destination”.



But that requires a lot…

And one of the things that are required is making sure we can set up the needed training environment for Positive Learning to occur through the full process.

 Both for the dog, AND the human.



- Yes, welcome to the reality, that both dog(s) and human(s) need to learn new skills, and there are no positive results if one of the parts “fails” to learn what’s needed.



So when we start a behaviour modification process, more often than not, our attention is mainly on the dog. Understanding how the dog responds to the environment, how the dog responds to the training exercises, and how the dog responds to the handling provided by the human (handler).

But then, very fast, we need to compare all that to the handler himself and the skills (or lack of those) and make sure that both dog and human are on an upwards learning curve, parallel to each other, maintaining more or less the learning speed required so that things remain in balance and we are all going forward.



Arranging the learning settings, arranging them well, I mean, is very important for both dogs and humans. This will increase the success rate of each repetition of the exercise, which will then increase the success rate of each session, which will then increase the success rate of the process, which will then increase the probability of complete success by the end of the process.


By arranging these learning settings, we will also lower stress levels, both for the dog and human, which, again, will raise the probabilities of success, and build as well those positive associations with such experiences (for both human and dog) and that, those positive associations accumulating through time, will have a massive impact on the process.



Now, the reality of this is that sometimes you, myself, or whoever is in control of the process, will need to think outside the box. Will need to consider and maybe even change plans at any point in time to achieve the correct learning settings to make sure that the process is moving forward, and we are achieving the results we want to achieve.



Regardless of what you want to teach your dog, or the behaviour you would like to improve or change completely, make sure the learning settings are correctly arranged, through time, so that the success rate is high enough to have the impact you are looking for, and as a result, achieve the final goal.



One of the most common mistakes I see when others try to deal with behaviour problems in dogs is the lack of awareness regarding this topic, so I hope this article will bring some light to this.



Thank you for reading!



- I would like also to thank Stef Brennan for the amazing photos. If you do not know Stef, then have a look at her website at www.stefbrennan.com/ or her FB page Stef Brennan Photography. Stef is a Photographer specialising in Pet Photography and her work is something worth having a look at.

Thanks again, Ricardo Ministro

20/06/2022

ERRORLESS TRAINING - A ROMANIAN RESCUED DOG CASE

Training… Errorless Training…

I read about Errorless Training Approach for the first time in one of James O'Heare's books.

The first time I read about it I did not quite understand its application in real life, but the more times I went back to read about it, the more I understood what it really meant, and how important it was to apply this approach in real training setups.

One thing I came to realise some time ago is:

"The more positive responses we get in a training session, the more positive responses we will get. And the more negative responses we get in a training session, the more we will get"

I shared this quote with my clients many times because it is so true.

Back in time, when I started training dogs, several times I failed to create the most successful scenarios to develop the needed skills - things would still go forward, but there was a big element of "50/50 chances"…

Nowadays, I aim to create the perfect training scenarios to develop the skills needed, both for the dogs and the humans.

Through time, I've come to learn all the main factors that can negatively affect each case, and avoid these at all costs.

"If one cannot control the environment to a high degree, one may simply decide to not even start"

Environment affects learning, and not controlling the environment is a big flaw in the process.

At the moment one of the cases I am working on is Elvis's case - a Romanian Rescued Dog who could not cope with any unknown person around and inside the property. Elvis would engage in an intense barking, growling and lunging repeated response until the unknown person/guest would leave.

And I experienced this first hand during our initial consultation - while seating in a chair inside the garden.

It was obvious how stressful this was for Elvis, to see a "stranger" inside the property…

We had to start the training process outside the home, well outside, about 20 meters from the front door.

This was the starting point for Elvis, and that's a very common start for many of these dogs.

Anyway, fast forward a few months, and we are now back inside the garden, but this time, things are much, much better.

Elvis is now fairly comfortable seeing me inside the garden, seating in that same chair, and we are able to stay for a fairly long time in the same space, while I chat with Elvis' family.

We have been progressing every session, and even though things did not look very good at the start, the results we have achieved so far are just amazing.

And the main reason for these results is the successful application of an Errorless Training Approach.

And you may now ask, but what does it really mean?

Well, it basically means creating a training setup where almost or 100% of it goes without errors/setbacks/negative responses.

When we work with a dog who is showing aggressive responses, the first thing to do is to manage that, to avoid more aggressive responses in real-life situations.

Then, we want to avoid any aggressive responses as well in the training sessions, while still creating setups to develop the skills.

If the dog shows an aggressive response in a training session, that is an error, that is a setback, that is a negative response, and that means we are not going forward. That means we need to improve the setup.

So the goal is to analyse all factors that lead to that response and prevent those from happening again.

If you are learning about behaviour and training, understand that it is normal to see negative responses more often at the start of the process, but you must learn what triggered that and control that factor next time.

Distance, movement, handling, reinforcement, repetitions, duration, frequency, and training skills (of the human), are all possible factors that need to be controlled, and these are specific to every dog. The task here is to learn which ones are in place with a specific dog in a specific training setup.

Again, the idea is to get to the stage where everything goes extremely well, both for the human and for the dog, until the needed skills are in place, the behaviour problems are not seen anymore, and the goal has been achieved.

I will say though that applying an Errorless Training Approach can be extremely hard for those who did not go through an extensive study on behaviour and training. Many many factors can affect the result of a training session. And on top of that, every dog is an individual, and there is the need to access the dog and the dog's response through time to everything we do. But I will also say that, if we successfully apply an Errorless Training Approach, that is like getting the highway to the final goal.

Thank you for reading!

15/05/2022

TAKING A BREAK UNTIL THE END OF MAY

Hi everyone, just want to let you know that I will be completely offline from the 16th to the 26th May and any emails coming through in between these dates will only be replied to once I'm back.

Besides the opportunity to rest, I will also have the opportunity to expand my thoughts on everything I've been doing with humans and their dogs. It is usually in these periods of time that I am fully capable to analyse and improve everything I've been doing and this is definitely something I find extremely important.

I would like also to leave here a big thank you to everyone who has been supporting my work.
I can't express my gratitude for all the people who have been recommending my work and the amount of dogs I'm able to help.

I'm fully aware that my online presence recently has been very minor, but that is a reflection of a major presence in real life, dog behaviour cases.

With that in mind, once the time and space is properly aligned, I am planning to implement more ways to share more knowledge with you all so that we can help more dogs have better lives.

One thought and request I have to every dog owner/guardian, based on my experience, is learning about dog body language - this is a huge barrier between humans and dogs - the lack of understanding of it, I mean.

If we all would know the basics, the life between humans-dogs, and dogs-dogs, would be much better.

Don't know where to start?

Start here:
https://www.silentconversations.com/dog-body-language/

Thank you for reading and I will get back to you soon!

25/04/2022

DOGS SHOWING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR IN THE VETS
- WHY DOES IT HAPPEN AND WHAT CAN WE DO?

Recently I've had a number of cases of dogs who showed aggressive behaviour during vet visits and I thought it was worth to expand a little on this topic and help you understand what's going.

The first thing I want you to know is - it is not uncommon.

It is not uncommon for a dog to show aggressive responses during the vet visits, and more often than not, understandable why these behaviours come up.

So, if your dog has shown aggressive responses to the vets or nurses in the clinic, do not panic.

BUT, it is something you should try to solve because dogs need to be able to have "stress-free" visits to the vet.

So let's try to understand first what may be the motivations for a dog to show aggressive responses in a vet clinic.

The dog does not trust stranges
And as a result, if a stranger (the vet or nurse) approaches the dog or tries to handle the dog, that may trigger an aggressive response.

The dog gets stressed with events pre-vet visit
These events may be the car journey, the unknown location, the out-of-order daily routine, the dog's owner feeling stressed about the experience before-hand, the amount of dogs and/or other animals waiting in the front of the building or in the waiting room. All these are possible reasons to raise a dog's stress levels before the actual consult and set the dog for failure.

The owner not being present
During the pandemic many vets did not allow the owners to enter the building and be with their dogs during the consults.
A less confident dog may feel highly stressed and overwhelmed with the experience without their owner.

Some vets are not nice
The reality is that some vets are not very kind to animals and will behave in a threatning way to perform their tasks. As a result, the dog may feel the need to show an aggressive response to stop this type of interaction.

The dog does not trust cerain tools
During a vet visit, the dog is being handled and checked with the help of vet tools. These can be strange and threatning to a dog, and even if the dog likes humans, he may still show an aggressive responses because of the tools involved.

The dog does not trust or feels threatned with body handling
Some dogs have problems with body handling. Be that overall body handling or just specific body' part like their paws or belly area.
The vet may need to check the dog and once they reach "that" part of the body, the dog shows an aggressive response.

The dog has had very intrusive medical procedures during his life
If a dog is unfortunate enough to have severe health issues during his life, he will naturally feel less and less happy about going to the vet and the whole experience may become aversive.
...

These are all possible motivations for a dog who has shown or may show aggressive responses during vet visits.

In some cases, only one of them is in place, but in others, there are multiple motivations in place. And if there are multiple motivations in place, the chance for a dog to show more intense aggressive responses is higher.

With this in mind, what can we do?

The first thing we need to understand is what are exactly the motivations for each dog.

Is the fact that the dog does not like strangers? Is the fact that the dog does not trust his paws being touched? Is it about the tools? Is it actually the vet's fault for being too intrusive and sharp? Is it maybe the fact that the dog had to wait in the waiting room for 30min around other barking dogs and after that had a needle stuck in his rear end?

Whatever is the reason, you need to understand what is it.

And with that, I strongly recommend any dog owner to be present in every vet consult to SEE what is happening. You cannot see what's happening if you are not there. And that is a big question mark.

Further more, if you ever get a call from your vet saying that your dog is showing or showed aggressive behaviours in the clinic, you must ask WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED?
WHAT EXACTLY DID MY DOG DO?
AT WHAT EXACT MOMENT DID HE DO IT?

Because aggressive behaviour can be anything between a growl and a bite, it is very important to understand what exaclty happened.
A dog who growls at the vet is not the same dog who bites the vet.
These are very different stages of a problem and we need to know this.

Getting answers for the questions above will provide a massive amount of information needed to solve the issues long term, and if you cannot get answers for this from the vet, something is really not right.

Furthermore, I think it is also important to recognise your dog's capabilities.

For example, if you cannot check your dog's hear, your vet will certainly not do it (in a positive manner).
If your dog does not trust strangers touching him, your vet will certainly not do it (in a positive manner).
If your dog does not trust tools touching his body, he will certainly not trust the vet doing it (in a positive manner).

Again, we need to know what causes the issue; what's the stage of the issue (low - growl ; very high - bite); what can be done to improve it; and then follow the process to improve the issue or resolve it completly.

If instead, you do not try your best to find a resolution, you may have a bigger problem later on, where the dog needs a sedation in every vet visit for the rest of his life because he cannot tolerate any part of it.

It is also worth mentioning that muzzles are useful to prevent a bite, but muzzles do not make feelings go away.
A dog may not be able to bite, but that does not mean he feels good about the experience. And for that reason, muzzles ARE NOT the solution for dogs showing aggressive responses during vet visits.

This information should help you understand your dog better a hopefully direct you in the right direction to avoid future problems and/or be closer to solve them.

Thank you for reading,

Ricardo Ministro

15/02/2022

RESCUING A DOG FROM ABROAD AND THE POSSIBLE ISSUES WITH AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR INSIDE THE HOME

Recently I've received several messages from people who have rescued a dog from abroad (mainly Romania) and are having major issues with the dog's aggressive behaviour' responses towards guests in the house.

The behaviours seen are the typical barking and lunging, possibly snarling and growling intensely at the guest(s) when inside the home (and sometimes outside).

These can be triggered by the simple presence of a guest inside the house. But in some other cases only or mainly if the guest moves.
For instance, entering the living room and or simply by standing up from the sofa.

In reality, there are many versions of what are the main triggers, but more often than not, the presence of the guest is enough to trigger an intense aggressive response from the dog.

Now, why is this happening in the first place?

Well, that is a complex question with a long answer, but following the topic of Romanian rescues, I will give you a intro on the most common reasons.

In these cases, the most problematic ones, I usually see a livestock guardian type dog, which may have lived on the streets at some point in his life. And in some cases born in that same environment.
Just in these two points, we have two major reasons for aggressive behaviour - genetics and adapted behaviour responses

Then we also have possible traumatic experiences around humans and as a result - the lack of trust with strangers

On top of that, we have the most common reasons for problematic behaviours - the almighty "Learned Behaviours" which have been practised and reinforced again and again.

As you might understand, all makes sense.

It makes sense that a dog from a specific background with a specific set of experiences (before and after birth) will show such aggressive responses.

The real problem starts when this type of dog makes his way into a town in the middle of the UK where he is faced daily with events that he was not "shaped for".

This is a very sensitive topic, and the majority of people still prefer to think that it is all pink and roses - and that's how so many "dog rescue organizations" are still portraiting these dogs, instead of being more honest and real about what it actually is (That is a conversation for another article though).

It is the truth that we can always help these dogs, and in many cases, a behaviour modification plan is very successful (it usually requires really hard work and dedication for a long term before things reach a better stage though.)

BUT...

And here is the but... sometimes it is not, sometimes training is not enough, sometimes, some dogs are just not fit for "this environment" that we bring them into, and sometimes love and affection is not the only thing they need (as many organizations like to say) to fully adjust into our lives.

I think it would be better if we all understood the real story, and with that, do our best to move forward with these dogs. With real compassion and dedication, and respect, and less frustration for both the dog and human side.

Thank you for reading.

Ricardo Ministro

30/01/2022

My agenda keeps filling up and my email inbox as well. If you have contacted me, I will get back to you ASAP - it will just take a bit longer than usual. Thanks

08/01/2022

28/12/2021

OFFICIALLY DONE FOR 2021

That's right people, I am officially done for 2021.

This year I've had a total of 701 appointments with clients to help with their dogs' fearful, reactive or aggressive behaviour. That is +700h of work with dogs in a single year.

I want to thank everyone for their support. And I want to give a special thanks to the vet practices, dog trainers, past clients, and friends who have recommended me - and my work, to those who were looking for help with their dogs. As the time goes by this is happening more and more and I can't explain how much this means to me.

I also want to say that I've met many amazing humans and their dogs this year, probably more than any other year, and this without a question is really special. To know that there is more and more people tuning into a more modern perception and approach to dogs, and wanting to do their best to help their dogs.

I also want to send a special thank you to Shikashio, for being such a good human and professional to follow. Thanks for everything Mike!

I feel this year has been a turning point for me in many senses and this makes me more certain and clear of how to approach the future and everything I want to do.

Stay tunned because I have new projects in mind for 2022, and you may want to be part of those!

Thank you again, and Happy New Year!

Ricardo Ministro

26/12/2021

HI AND WELCOME!

Thank you for visiting my page!

I'm Ricardo and I am a certified Dog Behaviourist working exclusively with dogs showing Fearful, Reactive, and Aggressive Behaviour problems Towards Humans and/or Dogs, be that inside or outside the home.

I am based in Dunfermline, Scotland. And it is where I spend the majority of my working time. Although I am happy to see clients further away if my agenda allows it!

If you are looking to book with me please head to my website at www.reactivedogs.solutions and use the contact button in there.

*Facebook is not a very good tool to handle messages or booking requests so I will ask you to use my website instead.

In this page you will find a myriad of content regarding dogs's behaviour. Especially Fearful, Reactive, or Aggressive Behaviour in Dogs.

Posts frequency is irregular as my work with clients is a priority and takes the majority of my time, but I do my best to share some info with my followers every few weeks.

Thank you,

Ricardo Ministro

____

PT

Olá e Bem-vindo!

O meu nome é Ricardo e sou um Comportamentalista Canino certificado que trabalha exclusivamente com cães que mostram comportamentos problemáticos de medo, reatividade e agressividade com humanos ou cães, dentro ou fora de casa.

Eu estou baseado em Dunfermline, Escócia. Passo aqui a maior parte do meu tempo. No entanto, disponibilizo-me para trabalhar com clientes de outras áreas se a minha agenda o permitir.

Se tem interesse em agendar uma consulta por favor use o meu website www.reactivedogs.solutions e clique no botão de contacto.

O Facebook não é uma ferramenta muito ágil para trocar mensagens e efectuar marcações. Por isso, peço que use o meu website sempre que possível.

Nesta página, encontra uma miríade de conteúdos relacionados com o comportamento de cães. Especialmente comportamentos de medo, reactividade, e agressividade.

Publico posts com pouca regularidade tendo em conta que o meu trabalho com clientes é a minha prioridade e ocupa a maioria do meu tempo. No entanto, faço o meu melhor para partilhar alguma informação com os meus followers de duas em duas semanas.

Obrigado,

Ricardo Ministro

22/12/2021

THE BEST REINFORCER I CAN GET FOR MY WORK IS THIS:

"We got in touch with Ricardo a few months after adopting Maya. When we first brought her home it was apparent very quickly she was terrified of everything, especially men. She would also never play with toys no matter how hard we tried.

Having worked with Ricardo over the last few months on learning behavioural techniques and understanding what triggers Maya we have seen a HUGE improvement in her.

She is now comfortable having people over to the house and doesn’t bark or run away from them. She also now LOVES to play and her toy box is overflowing with nearly every toy you can think of.

It’s been amazing to see Maya really come out of her shell. The best comments have been from family and friends saying ‘she is a different dog now’ which really shows how much she has grown in confidence around humans since we started training sessions with Ricardo.

We have learnt so much as well as Ricardo is a fountain of knowledge and really knows his stuff. He is also so patient and understanding and truly wants the best outcome for the dog as well as the owners.

We can’t thank him enough for his help so far and would definitely recommend him to anyone and everyone!"