Animal Training Workshop Day 2
🌟 Day Two of the Educating Animals Training Workshop! 🌟
This morning, our classroom sessions were packed with exciting learning and the interactive PORTL game! 🧩🐾
Here’s what we worked on:
- Meerkats: Target and station training
- Lemurs: Station training with both hands on a perch
- Baboons: Targeting with their index fingers
It's incredible to see these animals engaging and learning! Stay tuned for more updates from our workshop. 🐾✨
#AnimalTraining #EducatingAnimals #Meerkats #Lemurs #Baboons #WildlifeCare #cooperativecare
Incredible first day yesterday we finally have the list of animals we are training for cooperative care: Baboons, Lemurs and Meerkats and we got up close and personal with these gorgeous cats.
Incredible first day on the Educating Animals Animal Training Workshop we finally have the list of animals we are training for cooperative care Baboons, Lemurs and Meerkats and we got up close and personal with these gorgeous cats.
5 tips for on lead greetings
Dogs that are busy, overexcitable, or restless are often overlooked when it comes to discomfort and pain. In the park, they run around off-lead like mad, constantly pull on the lead, may not nap during the day, shift frequently during sleep, are on the go constantly or are always eager to play.
Surely, if they can do all that, there's no way they can be in pain, right?
Like us, dogs manage discomfort in many different ways.
During my pregnancy, I experienced symphysis pubic dysfunction, where my pelvis started to move unevenly, I was more susceptible to this due to other conflicting conditions I have, including hypermobility syndrome.
Although I've had physio for the condition, I still have discomfort in my pelvis when stationary or lying on my back. However, when I continue to move, the pain disappears, and I can walk for miles.
During veterinary exams, dogs like this often do not show pain when examined, if the vet even gets a chance to examine them. Add any type of fear response on top of this when being handled, and the vet has no chance of feeling or seeing the discomfort.
Adrenaline, released when fearful or even overexcited, triggers the blood vessels to contract, redirecting blood toward major muscle groups, including the heart and lungs. The body's ability to feel pain decreases as a result of adrenaline, which is why you can continue running from or fighting danger even when injured.
Many working breeds get overlooked when it comes to pain; these dogs were bred to work, and many would continue to do so until they dropped if not managed carefully. I have worked with many that remained extremely active despite severe hip and elbow dysplasia, broken bones, cruiciate tears, dislocations and more.
Dogs are stoic, which is why conducting Dynamic Dog assessments is so important and has helped thousands of dogs get the support they needed.
Look for a Dynamic Dog practitioner in your area.
Merry Christmas everyone from my family to your I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy and happy time and have the best 2024. All my Love Jo, Scott and Logan
Merry Christmas everyone from my family to your I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy and happy time and have the best 2024. All my Love Jo, Scott and Logan
Why is sniffing crucial to dogs? #dogbehaviour #sniffing #dogwalking
Are you poisoning treats for your dog? When training dogs using treats, it's essential that they genuinely desire the reward you provide, avoiding reluctance or obligation. Opt for a gentle approach by feeding from the flat of your hand instead of forcing it into your dog's mouth. * &#PositiveTraining #GentleRewards #dogtraining #dog #dogbehaviour
Keep others and your dog safe this Christmas
This is me helping Rosie feel more comfortable about the harness, she normally runs away at the sight of it.
I only had limited amount of time if I had more time, I would have built on her relaxing her body when it touched her. (I meant upper back in the video, it was actually where the harness sat on her shoulders that was a problem)
I could have got away with putting it on at the end but i would have then caused distrust with her and she was not ready as she was still really stiff. Initially she would not come near me with the harness in my hand so i started the exercise by hiding it behind my back, presenting it and marking and rewarding her immediately before she wanted to retreat.
I then moved away to see if she would move towards me to indicate she was happy to continue.
Its very common for people to end up chasing or trapping a dog like this to get it on but building on these exercises outside of walks helps her feel more comfortable this probably took about 10 minutes and the most important thing is that Rosie is always allowed to retreat which gives her choice to participate. #cockapoo #leadwalking #dogwalking #perfectfit
🐶🌟 #PuppyLove #FullCircle #NewBeginnings #flatcoatretriever #puppies #johinds
This gentle giant with his piggy 😂 Ziggy the #XLBULLY
More lemur training, with a better antecedent arrangement to help set the lemurs up for success the tree stumps worked wonders.
Station and target training Lemurs ❤️
I am so lucky to get to work with so many wonderful dogs and their caregivers, this is the gorgeous Ziggy the #xlbully, we have been working on lead walking, recall and his relationship with his companion Luna the #romanianrescuerescue. He is 11 months old and such a character love him!
Did you know the fear response ‘fawning’ is frequently confused with over exuberant behaviour in dogs, would you know the difference?
“Fawning" is where the brain decides to try and please whoever is triggering the fear response to prevent conflict.
These dogs and puppies are often excessively jumping up at visitors or lunging when walking pass people or dogs on walks. Along with this behaviour they can sometimes be nipping, humping, repetitive licking, ears back, panting with the dog generally restless and not able to relax in peoples or dogs presence.
You may find you are out with a group of people with their dogs and your dog spends most of their time jumping up at the other people and you, avoiding interacting with the other dogs. This maybe an indication that the dog is feeling uncomfortable with the dogs presence and is looking for a way out of the situation or is trying to avoid conflict. You see the jumping up more towards the other people in the group particularly when the dogs care giver, has wanted to socialise their dog and the dog has wanted to move away but the signals have been missed in the past.
Sadly these behaviours are often punished as jumping up is usually frowned upon, as it can be frustrating for the care givers, particularly when it’s visitors or strangers because it is embarrassing and of course it can put people at risk of getting hurt, depending on the size of the dog.
You might have worked at asking for sit at the door or when greeting people and it has never worked because sitting is a vulnerable position to be in when you are uncomfortable. It is like putting a lid on a boiling pot, you can get more over the top behaviour when released, as a forced sit is not a relaxing behaviour, it causes more tension.
Telling off can then exacerbate an already uncomfortable dog. The dog gets more stressed in the situation because their care givers are agitated, which then increases the dog behaviour further, with the dogs desperat
It’s common to think that young dogs do not have any physical problems, I often can spot gait and posture adaptations at a really early ages and things like hip displasia can start to be seen in dogs from 6 months.
Remember dogs are stoic so often will not show obvious pain on a vet examination they can be nervous or over excited to which can mask discomfort. It is thought that dogs do not show signs of limping etc until a dog is at a pain level of 6 and does not yelp, until it’s reached a 10. Like us chronic pain is all the time so often you might only see changes in behaviour.
If there is no obvious pain many dogs that are diagnosed with mild hip and elbow displasia for example are not treated before the dog is showing significant discomfort. Even if they might not be in pain now, in the future it will be different. If these dogs are diagnosed at an earlier age there is so much that can be done along with aquatic treadmill, physio and keeping the inflammation at bay with specific joint supplements and more.
This lovely Golden Retriever is called Leo and I have been working with his amazing care givers since he was just 8 months old he is now 13 months. Since working with him I have been observing him on a regular basis with behaviour change as well as watching movement and other factors, I recently did a dynamic dog assessment. Now his movement wasn’t very obvious you can see in the video he looks pretty active right, which is where video footage and behaviour assessment massively helped. If he just walked up and down the vets car park it would have unlikely have been spotted.
Today he was X-rayed by an awesome vet who had review my report and video evidence of some abnormalities in his movement I noticed. He has be diagnosed with a mild case of hip dysplasia, so he will now be having physio and hydro physio. Although there is no cure this will help towards keeping as much of the discomfort at bay and also build the muscle around the joints. The vet h
Met this little 11m chihuahua cross a few weeks ago, who was restless, very rarely slept woke up constantly in the night only would sleep on someone. Hardly eating really under weight. Separation anxiety.
This dog had been to the vets prior to my visit but unfortunately on normal examination there was no obvious signs of pain/discomfort dogs can be very frightened or over excited in the vets and the adrenalin can mask it. He is a very stoic little fella.
I provided a dynamic dog assessment as part of my behaviour consultation reviewing the dogs gait, posture and other elements and the vet agreed there was something going on he went to Fitz Patrick referrals and they said he has dislocated shoulder or elbow, both bones have grown wildy and won't fit together, he now needs bespoke metal plate to fuse bones together!
We are now going to put a plan together to support him through the operation and 12 weeks recovery.
Dogs give many signals to indicate they are uncomfortable, stroking is one area where this is often missed.
Can you read the signs in these dogs?
