Vdawg Dog Training

05/04/2024

05/04/2024

There is a very good reason why we say never punish a growl. If a dog is punished for growling they may well stop growling, but that doesn't change the fact that they are extremely uncomfortable or scared in that situation. Without the growl to be able to warn us, they are left with little choice but to escalate their warning signals to us. Perhaps even forced to the point where they feel feel their only option to escape a situation is to bite.

05/04/2024

MORE CORPORATE SHENANIGANS,...

(Caveat before we begin: Not ALL corporate buy-outs are bad. Many can and do leave the practice alone to do as they wish, even if they are naturally-minded, particularly if the old owner / manager stays on, just as long as they are profitable.)

𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑠; a word of unknown and relatively recent origin (first recorded use was during the Californian gold rush, it’s assumed to stem from the old Irish/Gaelic word for fox, sionnach), meaning a deceitful confidence trick, a cunning ploy.

***

Who uses Village Vets in Dublin? Lovely local name with just 13 wee clinics about the place.

Well, that’s about to change having just received major investment from Inflexion of Medivet fame in the UK. Heard of them?! Awesome business. I did a piece on them some years back. I highlighted that in 2016 alone, Medivet turned over £52.2m. Gross profit on that a staggering £24.5mil. Better still (for them, obviously not their patrons), during that one year alone they managed to increase their operating profit by a staggering 17.3%.

Just to highlight - they managed to squeeze an extra 17.3% out of a business that size in a single year.

How did they manage that?! Well, with the near bottom supply of investment cash from Inflexion, Medivet managed to buy Complete Animal Care Ltd (suppliers of veterinary products) and took a 33% ownership in Lab Service Ltd (a veterinary laboratory), neatly sewing up the whole kit and kaboodle. More products, essentially.

So, part of this enormous jump in profits is simply a mega corporation selling more stuff to their clients. Nothing much wrong with that, perfectly entitled to do it. Pet owners need stuff. And, hopefully, once the current investigation into price gouging by veterinary corporates in the UK is complete, Medivet will come out unscathed…

(𝑔𝑜𝑢𝑔𝑒, potentially another Irish term, stemming from the latin goia / gubia / gulbia, meaning to chisel, pierce, borrowed from old Irish gulbā / gulbi meaning beak or bill. “Your man there is an awful gouger, don’t go near him, use the fella down the road, the lad with the enormous wait list…).

…unlike in 2010 when Panorama produced an undercover special on Medivet called “It Shouldn’t Happen at a Vets“. They planted a journalist posing as a vet nurse in training in one of their branches. She revealed evidence of questionable bills, animals poorly treated, and an unrepentant vet struck off for dishonesty. They uncovered more shady practices in one clinic, most notably one vet that was defrauding insurance companies with grossly inflated costs.

And for bringing the side into disrepute, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, who governs how vets practice in the UK, of course immediately swooped in and did….absolutely nothing to this vet (the RCVS too is currently under investigation for its role in corporate shenanigans…),

It reminds me of the Bloomberg piece back in 2017 that highlighted the Mars/Banfield approach to pet health in the US, where the vets were given software (Petware) that REQUIRED vets in clinic to recommend a whole host of products and therapies at the checkout for something as prosaic as an itch and then actual sales targets each month, in case any bloody do-gooders tried to use their own training and recommend, perhaps, that the dog stop eating McDonalds every single day of its life.

(Just to remind you, as of 8 years ago, Mars/Banfield had more than 50,000 vet health professionals on the payroll in the US alone, owning the lions share of vet clinics and hospitals and now, since buying ANTECH & Banfield, the majority of the laboratories and diagnostics…so you might worry this was going on in a few other places about the US too…).

“It was definitely intimidating”, said one vet.

It’s fair to say, with just 2/5 stars on TrustPilot, Medivet, at least at the time, left quite a lot of disgruntled UK customers in its wake.

What’s UTTERLY IN-CREDIBLE is that Medivet has managed to turn this dire rating around in just a few years and now has an enviable 4.6 stars out of 5 (instantly and ironically relegating Trust Pilot’s trust factor to somewhere around Wikipedia or RTE levels).

Shenanigans.

Unperturbed by the poonami of bad press, the Medivet juggernaut carried on regardless. In 2017, they secured another £20mil to buy 50 new sites and by 2018 Medivet was up to it’s 250th vet practice and today this charming company has more than 500 branches and 27 state-of-the art, 24-hour veterinary centres across the UK, Germany, Spain and France.

Yep, business is GREAT for Medivet.

And all it took was a little investment from Inflexion, private shareholders whom, it might be feared (hence the investigation…), care a touch less for dogs and a touch more for bottom lines.

This is who has invested in Village Vets in Dublin, just so you know.

And best of all, to ensure the success of the business, they have appointed the former Chief Visionary Officer of Mars / Linnaeus veterinary group (the other major veterinary corporation in UK) as their CVO.

That’s Village Vets, invested in by the people that brought you Medivet, run by a guy from Mars Inc. and coming to a town near you soon.

I guess, when corporate shenanigans is your game and you’re under the kibosh, come to Ireland!

Sure didn’t we invent the word?!

04/04/2024

Proactivity v reactivity!🦮🐕‍🦺

This is by FAR one piece of advice that can help everything. Especially if you have a reactive dog 💥
It can take a while to get into the habit of actually doing this though.

There is one thing that ALL good trainers have in common.
We are TOTALLY aware of EVERYTHING around us.

We may be helping the dog in front of us but we are totally aware of what is behind us, around us, the sounds, the movement....the possible and probable.
The environment and what is around can both positively or negatively affect your dog....immensely.

Windy day ?
Your dog was aware of the 20 dogs on your street...now it is aware of 100 in the area and cannot pin point their distance as well as before. This can make some dogs on edge. The information is distracting.
Most trainers dislike wind.

Car parked ?
There could be a cat under it, a dog about to be let out of the back seat or boot area. Is there a driver in the front about to drive off....is it likely to be a very noisy car ?

Children in a front yard playing ?
Are they about to run out the gate ? Does one have a scooter about to leave ? Are they quiet or are they excited ?

Dog behind a gate ?
Is it older ? Is it there to alert its humans ? Is the gate secure or is there a section of the fence it could easily jump?

Dog on lead being walked ?
Is the walker aware of their own dogs behaviour ? Is the dog straining on the lead (this can lead to a reaction for some dogs). Is this dog giving yours a heavy stare or just a glance ?

At a local field....
Is there another dog or more than one ? Is someone throwing a ball nearby and oblivious to how close it can get to your dog. Is a dog off lead running and in a hyper excited state ?
Is one dog barking incessantly ?

So....how on earth can this help your dog ?

Awareness, awareness of environment, possible issues and most importantly how your dog reacts.
Many times I am told behaviour has come "out of the blue".
In the vast majority of cases it hasn't come out of the blue......all signs were already there.
Just not picked up on.

If you can tune into the environment and watch your dog you WILL learn valuable information.

Is the wind too much ? Does it negatively impact your walk every time it is windy ?
That is information you can use. Walk when it is calmer.

Is your dog ball obsessed ? The dogs at the field have a ball 30 metres away from you.....is that why your dog has changed their behaviour ?

Does your dog suddenly dislike large white dogs ? Are you aware that the dog that barks the most on your walk is the large white dog on the corner by your house....the same corner where loud cars speed past ?

This takes a while to perfect but you can absolutely start to tune in more by stopping a few times on your walk and listening to the environment around you.
That is a great start.
Can you hear that loud motorcycle down the block heading your way?.....you can now prepare your dog that doesn't like motorbikes (with focus on you, encouraging sniffing to relax or pull out a treat/toy to focus on or sniff out).

Did a mower just start a few doors in front of you ? Cross the road and encourage calmness and reward looking at the mower from a distance instead of forcing your dog to walk right past the object it dislikes.

All of this helps you make better decisions, but much more than that you will begin to see and hear things that affect your dog that you would have never noticed before.
You will KNOW that your dogs tail is bristling because you are coming up a parked car that a cat has just ran under, you can cross the road to avoid an issue......or get focus on you as you pass.
You will KNOW that the hesitancy in walking past a certain house is because there is a dog on their path that stares heavily at yours...again you can help your dog through that now you are aware.......BEFORE an issues occurs.

So give it a go.
Start to listen.
Start to look for possible issues rather than be forced to be reactive.

I promise you it will change everything.

03/04/2024

Don't wait for the bark.💥
Unfortunately too many people only react to their own dogs reactivity when there is a bark.
A bark is just an audible sign of a reaction but there are many other signs given before that bark and when we don't recognise those signs, guess what happens ?....Barking, Lunges, Spins, Jumps and a dog unable to control their own emotions.
There is a LOT that is shown before the bark....even if it is very fast, it is still shown.
So why is it so important to know the unique signals and changes in posture and body language your dog shows ?
So you can STOP the escalation....and yes, even stop the barking from occurring in the first place.
Barking is often at the END of a longer chain of events.
First is usually (not always) a hard stare, a fixation.....THAT is a reaction.
It is not audible but it is often the first sign your dog has changed their emotional state....they ARE reacting.

A change in ear position IS a reaction.
Puling harder on the lead IS a reaction.
A lengthening of the neck/leaning in IS a reaction.
A wrinkled face IS a reaction.......use that information!

Remember a reaction is a change in their emotional state.....and those non verbal signs are a reaction.

A bark is just a reaction we recognise more.

Imagine how we can help our dogs with their reactivity if we started to recognise all those other changes and escalations in their emotional states as easily as we recognise a bark.....

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03/04/2024

If you don’t advocate for your dog, who will!

No one can ever know what experiences our dogs have had or are due to have but us.
No one can know how they feel but us.
No one can know what we are working on and no one can know our dog’s medical needs, but us.

Being assertive is not always easy for everyone but when we are, when we become our dog’s voice, so they don’t need to shout.
They thank us for that, for creating a safe space with us.

27/03/2024

❤️

IF DOGS COULD WRITE ….A BILL OF RIGHTS

Dogs are held captive in our human world but and are not born to understand our human ways.

We expect so much of them. We expect them to know, conform and behave in ways that are “acceptable” to us.

So many dogs are subjected to force, punishment, intimidation, aversive tools or outdated training methods as humans attempt to change and control them.

There is nothing admirable, ethical or intelligent in physically or emotionally forcing any sentient being to comply.

Take the time to learn and understand how they communicate, their emotions, their needs and use updated, modern, scientifically based methods to modify unwanted behaviour.

Guide them with understanding, with patience, with compassion and kindness.

If dogs could write a Bill of Rights, these are some of the things I believe they would want us to know.

26/03/2024

Using 'corrections' to alter behaviour only tells the dog what not to do. It gives no information on what to do instead, and doesn't take the reasons for the dog showing that particular behaviours into account. In particular it suppresses the emotions that have prompted the behaviour and, while it seems to have worked as the behaviour stops, the emotions are still there. Those emotions can then lead to fallout later, with the potential for much more serious issues than the original behaviour their humans wanted to stop.

When we focus on building a connection, understanding our dogs and their behaviours and why they do the things that they do, we can see the 'why' of the behaviour and take any action necessary to remove the need or reasons for that behaviour.

Whether there is something the dog is struggling with in that situation or if they need a bit more reinforcement history or help to understand that the cue we are asking them to follow means the same thing out in the world as it does when we first taught them it at home.

Whether the root cause is fear, frustration, confusion, pain, or any more of a list of possible underlying causes, having a strong connection and understanding of our dogs will let us see what they need and how we can work to provide it for them.

24/03/2024

When the results start to show, there’s no better feeling, and there’s nothing more rewarding when you look back from where you’ve started and see how far you’ve come.

24/03/2024

It makes perfect sense when you understand what socialisation isn’t!

24/03/2024

Happy National Puppy Day🥰
Such a lovely stage in our dogs life, everything is new and exciting. However, it is also a time of rapid learning about life on this planet, humans, their siblings, new foods, living within a household, leaving their mum and siblings, a new house with new people, the humans’ world, the environment, textures, noises, tastes, smells, other animals, how to navigate what humans want or don’t want them to do.
It is a time when puppies learn what is safe and what is not, who they can trust to always have their back, who will make sure they have water, food, warmth shelter, but will also allow them to have fun, explore, make choices, be dogs and guide them to help them feel confident, will give them space when they need it, but not isolate them, not leave them all alone until they have the skills to cope ( and even then, not for long periods), to “listen” to them when they communicate with us and the rest of the world and to love and care for them for all their life.
We humans are indeed deeply privileged to share our lives with dogs, but with that privilege comes responsibility, the responsibility to always do the best we can for them, to build a relationship with them that respects them as sentient beings, beings with feelings, emotions,thoughts and instincts.
Keep that bond sacred.
Love❤️, respect and thanks🙏🏻 to all the puppies🐶 of the past, the present and the future.🥰

My boys then and now!❤️

21/03/2024

It's not just a word, it's about our attitude.

There are 170k words in the English language. Let's teach our dogs what we want them to do without the baggage of this word and attitude.

Same goes for "eh eh, oopsie and tssst"

A cultural change is needed

Edit - for those new to this page, this isn't a discussion forum. I've heard all the excuses/reasons for using "no." I'm not interested in a discussion on why anyone thinks it's ok. I'm inviting you to consider why it's not and how to change it.

I also understand that people won't like that it's not a discussion page, I make no apologies for that.

16/03/2024

The best thing we can give our dogs is us, just time with us, whatever that looks like.

What dogs miss so commonly when they find themselves without a person is simply the consistent presence of someone. It doesn’t matter if you’re too tired to play, too unmotivated to train, because having you with them doing nothing is so much better than not having you at all.

15/03/2024

When we punish dogs for growling, we aren't helping them feel better about whatever it is that is threatening them. Instead, we are teaching to stop letting us know when they feel unsafe.

The result? A dog who stops giving us warning signs and "bites out of the blue."

And, that's how we create dangerous dogs.

12/03/2024

👍🏻Your dog isn’t trying to give you a hard time, he/she is having a hard time!
When you start to pay attention to the things they are trying to tell you, the communication between you both will become more refined, more defined and a more frequent “ dialogue”😊

BEHAVIOUR REDEFINED

Behaviour is neither good or bad, behaviour is communication and an expression of emotion.

When we think of bad behaviour, our natural human response is to fix it, stop it from happening or suppress it as quickly as we can, so it doesn’t happen again, especially when it comes to dogs.

When we redefine behaviour and look at it as a form of communication, as an emotional response or expression, it helps to change the way we think about and react to it.

Think about a child that is acting out at school. Maybe throwing tantrums, bullying other children, cheating, fighting or displaying some other type of “bad” behaviour.

A teacher or parent wouldn’t just label that child as “bad” or just a child that is badly behaved. The reason for the behaviour would be looked into so it could be understood and addressed.

Bad behaviour is very often a cry for help that should never be ignored.

If we do this for children, why do we not do it for dogs?

Dogs are also sentient beings with a range of feelings and emotions and their behaviour is a form of communication.

“Bad” behaviour can provide us with important information as to what we need to address.

Looking at “bad behaviour” from a different perspective, helps us to acknowledge that a dog is struggling and provides an opportunity to investigate and address the root of the behaviour.

12/03/2024

If you are going to be helpful to dogs, you have to be helpful to the humans who live with them. R VanFleet

This pie chart illustrates the impact of non-verbal communication.
Many people believe that the most crucial aspect of communication is the spoken words.
However, as shown here, words only account for about 7% of the overall communication between individuals.
Around 38% of communication is influenced by the way we deliver our words, including our tone and pitch.
Surprisingly, it is widely acknowledged that approximately 55% of communication is attributed to our body language.
It's not only about what you say, but also how and where you convey your gestures.

11/03/2024

🙏🏻

"Why is cruelty legal when it's branded as training?" .- from my friend Sandy Machado (who shared an excellent post about this, please check it out on her page)

I will never stop educating about this.

It's not just about tools, it's also about attitude.

"I've never seen them do anything aversive or cruel with my dog"

This is a common cry from those who defend "trainers" who use these tools. It's because we fundamentally lack the knowledge to recognise it or it's because we are so indoctrinated into thinking that harshness, however slight, is necessary for teaching.

Consider our upbringing by parents, clergy, school teachers. How much of it was truly kind, gentle abd effective? How sensitive were we to the adult's breathing pattern, their tone of voice, then tension in their face and body, the harsh eye contact, the just-harder-than-necessary physical contact (hand or arm holding)? When we grow up with these and actively don't take steps to learn other ways, this is what we do with those in our charge when it's our turn.

When it comes to our dogs, it doesn't even have to be those tools. It's the tightening of the lead, the pull back, the setting of the jaw, the holding of the breathe, the clicking/snapping of the fingers, the "tsssst," the "eh-eh," the leaning forward, taking space, the finger point,, lack of humour, humility, understanding, compassion, kindness, the dismissiveness. And on and on.

This takes work. A lot of work. Constant work.

I decided to do my best never to be harsh with my kids over 20 years ago. I've in the main succeeded with that. It took my longer to apply this to my dogs, but in the main, I'm succeeding. Because I committed to it. It takes effort not to fall back into old patterns when I'm tired, stressed, unwell. It's not easy but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Slow down, respond, rather than react. Give your dog a minute. Or two. Let them sniff. Understand that the walk is hugely about enrichment, not about distance travelled in a certain time. Give your dog space to move, put their lead on and take it off with consideration for their body. Do the same when drying them. Put their food out with kindness, warmth, humour. Enjoy them. Love them.

Then start applying this to everyone we come into contact with (I'm still working on that one, as you can sometimes see from my sarcastic, and often hilarious, retorts to some people on this page).

Kindness is not softness nor weakness. Neither is gentleness. Our dogs didn't decide to be here, humans did. We need to step up.

07/03/2024

GOING BEYOND FIGHT OR FLIGHT - THE FIDGET/FOOL RESPONSE IN DOGS

We speak a lot about Flight or Flight responses in dog. But so many dogs exhibit fool around or fidget responses and we misinterpret their behaviour as play as opposed to discomfort, stress or fear.

When dogs are in uncomfortable or stressful situations, they may engage in behaviours that may seem out place or odd. It’s a similar reaction to coping mechanisms seen by some people who joke around inappropriately. They do it because they are feeling self conscious, shy or uncomfortable.

In dogs, the fool/fidget response includes acting silly such as jumping around, performing play bows, playing and acting over the top when they are feeling stressed. For instance, a dog at the vet’s office who starts rolling on the ground or bites the leash in play, may be trying to transfer the focus off of one situation and onto another. It's their attempt at making an inappropriate joke to lessen the tension or divert focus from them.

When dogs behave this way, their stress is often clear but it’s not as straightforward as a dog who is showing his teeth or growling. Some dogs are labeled just as playful, acting silly, or worse, they are reprimanded for being stubborn.

Next time your dog is acting 'silly', step back and think about it. Are there certain situations that brings out these behaviours? Could it be stress and he is trying to tell you that he is uncomfortable with the situation or what you are asking of him? Like getting into a car or putting on his jersey or putting on his harness?

It's not funny so instead of making videos of it while giggling, pay attention to your pup. Also stop saying that your balanced trainer said it's ok. Your pet is asking for help so please show up for him.

The fidget/fool behaviours can be misinterpreted as play or silliness but it's actually a stress response!

Edit - I am not referring to the daily FRAPS or Zoomies here as thats not a stress response but a sign of excess energy...if your dog does it after a stressful event or in a certain environment or situation only, then it could be a stress response. This will be coupled with other appeasement signals like yawning, lip licking, looking away, etc. The bottom line is - pay attention your dog's body language and emotions!

07/03/2024

The first thing we should focus on when it comes to the relationship with our dogs is making them feel safe. Showing them we are their safe space, their escape, their security.

When working with dogs who haven’t had the best start, often first we see behaviour escalate when they start feel safe to express their needs and stop fearing consequences. Then they seem to relax, play, show you parts of their personality they haven’t been brave enough to reveal before.

There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing the little signs our dogs share with us, to say they feel safe.

07/03/2024

The benefts of Scentwork…….

Why should we do scentwork with our dogs?
Sniffng is how dogs “see” the environment. His world is through his nose!
-A dogs sense of smell is estimated at 10,000-100,000 times stronger than a human's.
Every time a dog sniffs, he is taking in and processing information about the world around him. He is learning about who has been this way, people, dogs, other animals, how many, their health status, their emotions, life stage, s*x status, etc.
- It is therefore an outlet for existing behaviour, tapping into a natural ability and then teaching them how to react and respond to it.
- Sniffng improves happiness and mood, whilst relieving anxiety and promoting calmness.
- Scentwork helps to improve focus. It helps to engage the “thinking” brain, improving calmness and confdence and helps switch off the stress response (Fight/ Flight/Freeze etc.).
- It gives him a “job”. It teaches him to refne his abilities and confdence to detect and differentiate odours.
- It encourages thinking and choice and it helps to build the all important human-dog bond.
- It is enriching, it activates the brain parts that other activities and training don't do.
- It is a feel good activity for any dog and especially helpful for anxious, fearful and easily aroused dogs.
- Sniffng and scentwork is tiring for the dog too!
15 minutes of constant scentwork = approximately 1 hour of physical exercise = a calm, contented dog!

The beauty of Scentwork is that it can be done anywhere, indoors and outdoors, so we don't have to be curtailed by weather or lack of daylight hours.

Vdawg🐕‍🦺🦮

06/03/2024

Being able to ask our dogs to walk close beside us is important for safety at times. For instance, walking near a road, keeping the dog nearby when around livestock to avoid scaring them, when passing others on a path to make sure everyone has room. Outside of these, even when on lead, there is no need to make our dogs walk at heel right beside us. Give them some slack in the lead where possible, let them sniff and explore their environment. Let them enjoy their time out in the world.



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