Hull & Humber Animal Behaviour Services

15/08/2022

Early morning cooler visit to this adolescent brother and sister who have joined for a variety of individual issues.

Today we focused on safety in the home around a less mobile resident and implementing management to lower arousal and build focus.

✅️ Identifying hyper arousal and management.
✅️ Diagnosing reactivity types ready for his bespoke sessions in cooler weather.
✅️ How shouting 'no' can actually be misinterpreted as attention and actually increases un desirable behaviour.
✅️ Environmental management
✅️ Appropriate outlets for behaviours
✅️ Building focus into routines.
✅️ Mental stimulation appropriate to owners goals.
✅️ Getting valuable swap training in to prevent the item stealing and keeping becoming a guarding issue.

And most Importantly we had some fun! Using their brains definitely ran their batteries out!

21/07/2022

A day with dogs is never wasted!
What a lovely pack at Adore My Dog 🐕 🐶🐩

20/07/2022

🐕‍🦺Do I need a dog walker??🐕‍🦺

🐶 I get asked this often and I always try and promote the use of walkers and daycare as they can be a priceless addition to your dogs welfare in the long run (I don't offer these services unless it's sickness cover so theres no underlying conflict of interest in this post)

🐕 However always go with what suits your dogs individually!
Any experienced walker will let you know how suited your dog is to solo or groups and in the right setting your dog not only gets an exercise break but gains valuable skills, training and enrichment all in the real world whilst maintaining a close bond with their caregiver.

So wheres the problem?

🐩 Quite often during the holiday seasons many peoples routines change and the use of the dog walkers are put on hold. This can effect dogs as they thrive on routines meaning implementing a walker again can surface a sudden change in behaviour (positively or negatively) or trigger different reactions.

If your dog thrives under the care of a walker/ sitter/ daycare I would always recommend to sustain this routine if possible over the holiday periods, even at a reduced capacity to prevent any negative issues.

18/07/2022

When you put the places you sweat from on black tarmac that's been in the sun 😢

16/07/2022

When we seek help for our dog's behaviour we tend to focus on stopping something unwanted.

Our aim is to make that behaviour go away.

But there's much more to it than that.

Dogs act how they do based on their feelings and their motivations.

They can’t tell us what either of those things are unless we know their language.

Unless we identify what they need.

Then work out another way to meet that need for them.

Ethically, we can't dive in to make the dog stop doing something.

We must start by watching and listening.

Learning from the dog.

Asking the following questions.

16/07/2022

An early morning shaded low intensity session with these 2 handsome chaps and that's the outdoor work done for the day.

I hope you're all keeping cool as its far too hot out there 🌡🌞🌡

These handsome but noisy boys make leaving the home and any activity too stressfull for their owners (and themselves).

Today we worked on
✅️ Reducing self reinforcement for undesirable behaviours
✅️ Preventing trigger stacking
✅️ Reducing frustrations and identifying frustration tolerance
✅️ Increasing confidence and alternate behaviours.

And most importantly we had fun without needing to lunge and bark.

Well done boys 😃

04/07/2022

Is your dog hyper? Do they find it impossible to settle down? Do they chew your furniture and destroy your home? If any of these apply, do you know the reason for them behaving in this way?

The reason behind any of these behaviours could be stress.

Stress can often lurk under the surface of your dog’s seemingly happy demeanour. It niggles away until they reach a point where they simply can’t take any more. The more stressed and anxious your dog feels, the worse its behaviour will likely become.

Dogs can’t talk to us and tell us exactly how they’re feeling. Dogs rely on other ways to communicate with us. So, this results in chewing, barking, destructive behaviours and hyperactivity.

Many guardians may recognise the more obvious signs of stress, including; shaking, drooling, cowering, holding their tails underneath them, pinning their ears back or hiding. However, the more subtle signs that your dog feels stressed can often go unnoticed.

Recognising the subtle signs of stress enables you to remove your dog from the situation faster to help them feel better sooner.

02/07/2022

🐶This handsome old boy has been learning how to settle in situations he would usually jump and bark for attention.

🐶 Due to medical issues and surgery its even more important to teach alternative behaviours rather than giving him a restricted lifestyle to prevent increasing frustration behaviours.

Today we worked on

✅️ Understanding body language and communication (including pain)
✅️ Calm and settled behaviour
✅️ Placement and reward
✅️ Reducing frustration barking through alternative 'jobs'.
✅️ Mental and physical stimulation that meets his personal needs.

Look at him all prepared for his mat training exercises with his matching mat 😄❤.

👏👏

25/06/2022

⚠️ I can't stress this enough after seeing another dog out in a cloth muzzle.

Muzzles are a great resource when used correctly, they are not just for reactive dogs as they are often used for those dogs that eat things they shouldn't when on walks.

Cloth muzzles are ONLY designed for short specific scenarios and NOT for walking, especially in hot temperatures.

If you use a muzzle when out walking make sure that-
✅️ The dog is comfortable both physically and emotionally (see my videos on muzzle training)
✅️ There is a gap from the nose to the end of the muzzle.
✅️ There is adequate space for the mouth to open and the tongue to relax out.

Forcing a dogs mouth to close prevents their main adaptation for reducing temperature (they don't sweat like we do!)

If you need any help with a reactive dog or muzzle training get in touch!

25/06/2022

Welcome Alan to our seperation anxiety programme 🥰.

☂️ Did you know seperation anxiety is an umbrella term for a range of problems that occur when left alone and not a diagnosis in itself?
✅️ By ensuring a thorough assessment by a qualified professional and developing a bespoke training plan your dog is more likely to cope on an emotional level.
🚫 This isn't kongs, crates and a military lifestyle this is lifelong learning!

🟡Unfortunately Alan suffered an injury during his fear stage and socialisation period which means he missed out on vital stimuli due to being house bound. This alongside the beginning of adolescence means he is often anxious out of the home and is easily frustrated.
🟡This also stresses the importance of ensuring your vet is happy to refer your dog and that there is no underlying pain still involved!

Today we worked on
✅️ Building confidence
✅️ Measuring his thresholds for different stimuli
✅️ Mental and physical stimulation
✅️ Avoiding trigger stacking
✅️ Reducing arousal and impulsivity
✅️ Setting him up to succeed in his first steps of reducing owner vigilance.

And of course we had some fun!

Does this sound like your dog? Why not get in touch to get the ball rolling!

01/06/2022

09/04/2022

'Out of office'
If I get any enquiries this week I may not reply until next week.
🐶🐕🐶🐕🐶

28/03/2022

Today I met this little superstar ⭐️
Such a switched on little brain in such a little body!
Her owners have had many dogs previously and have already worked on her anticipatory and seperation related issues but wanted some help with her heightened arousal around their older dog and her reactions to certain stimuli outdoors.
Today we covered-
✅️ Schedules of reinforcement
✅️ Sub threshold leaving exercises
✅️ Age appropriate exercise and duration
✅️ Frustration tolerance and barking
✅️ Reading her reactions to novel exposures and redirecting undesirable behaviours.
✅️ Recognising stress and sub threshold techniques.
✅️ Rapid recall and 'leave its'
✅️ Breed specific enrichment
✅️ Promoting calm around the older dog and cats.

We also put measures (and games) in place to prevent any future undesirable behaviours that may arise such as guarding issues due to her impulsivity, frustration tolerance and possible underlying fears.

Look how well she did 😄

27/03/2022

Happy furmum day! 💖