Animal Affinity - Behaviour & Training

02/01/2024

Just to clarify as I keep getting asked this.

NO I will not be exempting Lula. She is an American Bulldog.
She has a long pedigree, has won 2 ABA conformation classes, and looks like an American Bulldog - funnily enough.

and if you're not aware what an American Bulldog looks like, here is Lulas pedigree which can be easily traced back to the mid 50s when the breed was formalized. (https://www.pedigreedatabase.com/american_bulldog/dog.html?id=2674236-lejabulls-need-for-speed?_v=20221113164437)

The breed was recognised by the UKC in 1999, and the AKC in 2019. Largely because most pedigree breeders breed for work & sport, less rarely showing. The majority of the American bulldog population in the UK and USA is made up of non-pedigree pet dogs. The acceptance of ambulls by the AKC is not endorsed by the ABA. The ABA has a standard which you can have a look at here: http://www.ababulldogs.com/conformation-.html

Compare this to the American Bully - the Bullys were bred with showing and conformation/appearance in mind and its played a huge part in their success. They were recognised by the AKC in 2013 because of this.

The American bulldog is still in the "foundation stock service" of the AKC, meaning non-pedigree dogs can apply to become AKC registered.

American Bulldogs are a lean and athletic breed. They should be powerful dogs but not exaggerated in broadness, size, or shortness of face (there are 2 varieties with the unfortunately named "bully" variety with a shorter muzzle).
American bulldogs do not come in a vast array of colours and are typically predominantly white. Bullys are rarely as white as ambulls, and do not have the squared proportions of well shaped ambull.

Photo of my beautiful american bulldog for comparison

04/06/2023

Wow! Shocking and a frustrating read.

Too often I have/am advising dog owning people on how to safely deter people from touching their dog, but this makes me need to say:

If someone tries to touch your dog without invitation, body block them.
Get in the way as best you can.
Shout STOP if you need to.
Be firm.
Do not make an excuse.
You owe a stranger nothing.

Put away the niceties and protect your dog.
You can live with embarassment, but your dog is at risk of being the "perpetrator" of any injuries or fear of injury should they jump, scratch, growl, or bite when their space is invaded.

If you have any further advise you have found to work, please feel free to comment below.

15/04/2023

We are not currently seeing any cases :-)

Just a reminder that I am not taking on any behaviour or training clients at present.

I hugely appreciate all of the recommendations I have been getting, but I won't make any exceptions on this. I am currently in a full time behaviourist role for a national dog charity on weekdays. My evenings and weekends are dedicated to my family 😊

If you are looking for an experienced qualified behaviourist in the West Midlands, please contact Second Nature Behaviour for parrots, cats and dogs or use the APBC, ATBC, or CCAB register 😁

11/01/2023

Amending a previous post, I have decided to take a hiatus from taking private clients as Animal Affinity for the forseeable future, with immediate effect.

With my full-time charity behaviourist job, Ive come to realise that I really want my evenings and weekends to be anything BUT more work. I want them to be mine and totally stress free!

To spend time with my family and do my hobbies is far more important to me than "earning on the side".

If you would like recommendations of qualified and wonderful behaviourists in the West Midlands, do drop me a message and I will try to help.

13/11/2022

Out with Bruno again today! 2nd of 3 sessions.

Bruno is an old boy and as such has a lifetime of experience under his belt for doing things in certain ways.
We figured out today that a huge part of his bark/lunge behaviour towards dogs is.... HABITUAL! And also changes depending on whether a dog is new, appears suddenly or makes a bark/movement, or if the dog is known and doesn’t approach.
The former entails a more gruff series of barks and stiff body position, the latter a sharper single bark which may be followed by more barks in staccato, with softer and less forward body language.

It is important when we look at our dogs reactions to notice these subtle differences. They show that dogs behaviours are emotionally fluid and not solid for their entire lives.
Training is the formation of patterns of action, but it doesn’t necessarily address emotional components, or what the final associations are (especially since even *I* cannot read your dogs mind!).

Going forward I advised Bruno’s person to let out as much lead as she could, so not to add tension into the situation for Bruno. We also discussed and observed how movement and soft physical touching really helps Bruno, especially since Bruno is not always super keen on eating treats!

This photo was taken whilst I handled my own dog, and Bruno was stood about 3/4metres away! You can see the lead is loose, and he is free to turn around and sniff etc. Really excellent session, looking forward to our last one this week 🙂

12/09/2022

Please be aware that I am away on holiday as of this Friday 16th - 26th September.

The rest of this week is full, so I will not be taking any new enquiries until AFTER 26th.

I will not be contactable on my break, and any of my clients who haven’t already been offered emergency contacts for this time period, please do let me know if you want them.

Please also note if you don’t hear from me on a booked call, this is always due to circumstances beyond my control (typically dog related). I am always happy to prioritise your reschedule at your earliest convenience.

I am a one person business with no assistance.
I do everything myself.
I will always put my current clients and my own dogs and family first.
I am looking forward to my proper time off 😍
See you all soon!

19/08/2022

Ive written a blog twice this week, todays was about dogs and cats!

Let me know what you think 😄

https://animal-affinity.com/blog/f/why-do-we-treat-cats-so-differently-to-dogs

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching "Inside the Mind of a Cat" on Netflix. It is a show which I was hesitant to watch, primarily due to Netflix's other choice of animal entertainment not always hitting the mark, or ...

03/08/2022

Beautiful sweet Meg is on her 5th week of training with me. Ive been doing the training myself for 2-3 mornings per week.

Meg is a dog from stock herding lines and has been practising chasing cars for 3 years now! Her owners have done a super job getting her to the point she will ignore tractors, cyclists, and large goods vehicles, but they were having trouble changing her habits with smaller cars.

Ive been videoing our sessions and the progress has now gotten us to the point Meg wont chase or lunge or bark at cars *unless* they are in her immediate local area.

So come friday we will be introducing all this work into her local streets, and making her walks more managable or even resolved for her owners in time for their September holiday (is the goal!).

Videos to come 😁