Sara had another great chat on Talk TV today. This time all about ethics around bringing a new animal into your home! Have a listen!!
**Importance of listening to body language**
Knowing your dog is so important when observing body language, subtle changes can tell a story and Hannah, my 12 year old Retriever told me one today. Through subtle communication signals, she told me she wasn't 100% comfortable with Jack being laid on the floor next to her.
I have spent a lot of time in the early days attempting to create positive associations between Jack and the dogs. As Jack grew from a baby into a toddler, he became mobile, louder and unpredictable. Today, Hannah let me know she wasn't too comfortable with Jack being near her. There was no grumbling and no lip curl as she has never had to shout how she feels - only whisper. You may ask, why didn't she just move herself? Well, Hannah has Osteoarthritis in her front paws and Spondylosis of her spine - it takes a lot of energy and, even though she is on pain relief, probably causes her pain to move, so I ensure I don't put her in a position where she feels like she needs to escalate her behaviour.
Instead, when Hannah whispered, I answered by simply lifting Jack onto my knee and within a minute saw a difference in her behaviour..... take a look....
Chin rest with Theo
Husbandry behaviours are really useful to teach. These behaviours can enable your dog to have choice and control over their daily care and build a trust account.
I've not done much training with Theo and his chin rest for a little while but would like to get to a point where I can clean his teeth. Today we started lifting his lips. If Theo lifts his head, that is his signal for me to stop. We have a conversation so he is in complete control.
You can see the first time I do this, he lifts his head so I stop and go back to a part of his head he is more comfortable with. The next time, he looks much more relaxed. We will continue to build this at his pace ❤️
Oscar demonstrating his fantastic recall. He finds those bushes in the garden very distracting but due to his mums hard work, they have achieved a great recall response!!! Well done!!!!
With the light at the end of lockdown getting ever closer, I have put some advice together regarding how we can support our dogs and help them cope with being left alone.
Many dogs will have coped well with being left alone pre-lockdown but after a year of having their family members around much more, some may struggle with now being alone. Its time to start preparing them as much as possible.
If you have further issues with separation related problems, get in touch!
When work is done for the day and the little human is in bed, it's the dogs turn for one on one time. This may be training, grooming or playing. This evening it was playtime. Ensure you give your dogs one on one time daily, they really will thank you for it!!!!
The fantastic Jo Mason from Educating Animals has created this video to illustrate just how much enrichment can lengthen your dogs mealtimes ❤️ Thank you Jo!!!!
Enrichment: Part 3
Good evening everyone!
Here is the long awaited Enrichment: Part 3! This focus is on encouraging licking behaviours. Let's make these mealtimes more interesting for our furry friends ❤️🐶
Enjoy!!!
Good evening everyone!
Welcome to Enrichment:Part 2 Let's get rid of the food bowl. In this video we look at two activities you can do with your dog to help encourage sniffing and foraging.
Do let me know if you find this useful and feel free to upload videos of your own dogs enjoying their enrichment activities!!!! Let's create an enriching movement!!!!
Enrichment - Part 1
Happy weekend everyone!
I am creating a series of videos to give you ideas of enrichment activities you can do with your dogs in and around your home.
There are many different definitions of enrichment but when I talk about it, I mean providing opportunities for your dog to exhibit natural behaviours and provide important mental stimulation.
These activities are especially important now during lockdown whilst many of us are restricted on what exercise we do and also can be useful for dogs who are elderly and cannot walk as far or dogs on restricted exercise for health reasons.
Really hope you enjoy these videos and do let me know if you find them useful!
Stay safe!
Sara is an accredited and qualified clinical animal behaviouist and trainer.
