K9Hitchin Dog Training & Walking - IMDT

19/07/2022

13/07/2022

11/07/2022

The marketing department that came up with this needs to have a word with themselves

I’m sorry, but I have a few problems with this advert showing in a London tube station.

1. Lungworm in dogs has nothing to do with eyes

2. Or with slugs crawling on peoples faces

3. 2997 cases? Over what time period? If they mean 2997 cases a year, that’s rarer than a rare disease. If it’s over a 10 year period, it means that overall, lungworm in dogs is vanishingly rare. Which is it?

4. ‘Brought to you by the makers of Advocate’. Advocate is a prescription medicine and therefore by law cannot be advertised directly to the public.

What is going on here?

I suggest next time you’re thinking about using a parasite treatment on your pet, remember that it’s actually a pesticide that will kill invertebrates wherever it comes into contact with them, including in nature.

Ask yourself (and your vet) if your pet actually has a parasite problem and find out if it’s possible to test before treating.

#99%

01/07/2022

I’ve seen dogs come back from board and train absolutely broken. If you’re thinking of doing this, read this post and do your research.

Beware the self-proclaimed expert – especially those offering to board and train!

While I prefer to focus on the positives in my posts, occasionally something is brought to my attention which is too concerning to ignore. While dog training and behaviour modification remains an unregulated industry, sadly there will always be those who take advantage of the unsuspecting public and do untold harm to dogs and their people. Frighteningly, most of these experts are not deliberately deceiving the public – in fact they tend to have enormous faith in their abilities, and I honestly believe that many genuinely suffer from severe delusions of grandeur.

In the long run many of these “dog gurus” crash and burn as horror stories from their former clients spread throughout the dog community, but new ones unfortunately always pop up and by the time their popularity wanes, too many dogs have suffered irreparable harm. So, after hearing again this week of one of the most troublesome local “experts” partnering with an equally delusional individual to open a “board and train”, I felt I could no longer remain silent and needed to write a brief “warning” post which will hopefully give dog guardians some danger signs to look out for when seeking help:

1. Credible, qualified trainers do not need to boast about their popularity or status. If you come across an advertisement claiming NUMBER ONE BEHAVIOURIST IN SA, SA’s TOP DOG SPECIALIST or TOP AGGRESSION EXPERT, I can absolutely guarantee you that nothing could be further from the truth. Qualified, reputable trainers allow their credentials and their client history to speak for itself. They have no need to make grandiose claims and are not trying to impress anyone.

2. Reputable trainers and behaviour practitioners will have some form of qualification or certification and they will belong to some professional body, which requires them to hold to a code of conduct. INDIVIDUALS WITH NO EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND, THOSE WHO DALLIED BRIEFLY WITH STUDIES AND THEN DECIDED THEY KNEW BETTER AND THOSE WITH NO TIES TO ANY PROFESSIONAL BODY OR SOCIETY WHICH REQUIRES PROFESSIONALISM AND CERTAIN STANDARDS of practice are usually operating in isolation for a reason.

3. Credible, professional trainers and behaviour counsellors will be able to explain their approach to helping dogs and their people in terms of learning theory, emotionality, physiology and ethology. ANYONE WHO RELIES ON VAGUE NOTIONS OF LEADERSHIP, DOMINANCE, PACK THEORY OR “ENERGY” IS MAKING IT UP AS THEY GO ALONG and likely using punishment without even understanding what they are doing.

4. CREDIBLE DOG PROFESSIONALS NEVER GUARANTEE RESULTS – in fact you will often hear us say “it depends” …. Behaviour is complex and there are no quick fixes. Dogs are individuals and we have to move at their pace an accommodate their needs. We cannot simply “whip them into shape” with our brilliance or charisma.

5. DON’T MISTAKE GOOD MARKETING FOR EXPERTISE – many self-proclaimed experts are supremely confident (arrogant) and are happy to sell themselves shamelessly to the public. They may be very good at this side of things and easily convince people that they know what they are doing, simply due to presentation of advertisements etc. Just remember that you are hiring someone to help your dog, not market a product of yours!

Finally, to address the “Board and Train” issue – please remember that your dog is a family member and whatever is happening with them is in the context of your family, your home and your relationship with them. Removing the dog to a new environment away from everything they know is immediately going to change how they feel and how they behave. Behaviour and training issues need to be worked through holistically in the context of your dog’s life with you – a dog is not a computer who’s hard drive needs cleaning or an appliance with a button that needs fixing and which can be sent away for repairs. It really doesn’t work like that. Your relationship with your dog and how you fulfil their needs must be central to working through any behaviour issue and this won’t happen if you are not there.

Even more concerning is that in handing your dog over to someone else to “fix” you have absolutely no idea what may be done to your dog and what lasting consequences this could have on their emotional and behavioural health. If you are told your dog will go away for a night or two and come back transformed, what do you imagine might be happening during that time? I guarantee it is nothing good. You would surely not hand your toddler over to some “expert” for a couple of days to be “sorted out”, so PLEASE don’t do this to your dog!

29/06/2022

Sounds about right…

27/06/2022

All of this ⬇️⬇️⬇️

On the note of things that make me squirm/twitch/reach for the gin and grab my loudspeaker ...

I also often hear people saying that they are planning to 'socialise' their reactive, fearful or aggressive dog.

You cannot socialise an adult dog. Socialisation refers to the period of time during early puppyhood, where if the pup does not experience something within their first 16 weeks of age (it does vary between individual dogs, breeds and size of dog but it's a fair estimate) then they will fear it for the rest of their lives unless they are taught otherwise via counter conditioning.

You might be thinking, do semantics really matter here?
Yes they absolutely do.

In the hope of 'socialising' their dog to be more sociable, people deliberately place their dogs in doggy daycare. They deliberately choose dog sitters who have dogs. They deliberately take their dog on group walks with multiple dogs. More often than not, the well-meaning dog guardian will do this on a daily or regular basis to teach their dog that it's ok/nothing bad happens/dogs won't harm them. Makes sense to us, right?

If you want to make your reactive/aggressive/fearful dog worse, by all means do all of the above and otherwise force them into situations with as many dogs as you can in as restricted a space as possible.

Many dog reactive/nervous dogs are quiet when put in these situations. *Occasionally* a dog feels more comfortable in these scenarios - almost like 'safety in numbers' - but 99% of the time, the dog feels so frightened and overwhelmed that it shuts down, goes quiet, offers passive/inobtrusive behaviour and otherwise looks cured! Don't be fooled by their quietness.

Best case scenario, you make your dog's fear stronger. Worse case scenario, you're putting them on a runway towards chronic anxiety, depression and/or aggressive behaviour.

Most dogs are dog-selective. All dogs will be reactive/aggressive when put in the wrong situation. It is completely acceptable to avoid situations your dog can't cope with, to never meet unknown dogs on walks, and to stick to your dog's few actual doggy friends.

01/06/2022

True story

03/05/2022

🐾 True story

30/04/2022

This study has been poorly represented in many of the summary articles I have seen.

I would encourage anyone interested in this topic to read the study in full, rather than relying on second-hand summaries, as there is a lot of misinformation being circulated about its findings.

A massive new study suggests dog behavior is not linked to breed. The results of this 18,385 dog survey might surprise you!

29/04/2022

Dog longevity: How long will my pet dog live? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61262371

A sophisticated analysis shows that Jack Russells live longer than other breeds.

27/04/2022

Your puppy will need to drink more frequently than an adult dog, since they are growing and have a higher metabolism and they also lose more water through respiration than adult dogs. Puppies pant and breathe more rapidly than adult dogs, which contributes to your puppy needing more water.

A good rule of thumb is 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight, per day. For example, a 3-pound puppy would need 3 ounces of water each day. If you’d rather use the metric system, that’s 85ml of water for a 1.3kg puppy.

27/04/2022

Lovely work from little Rolo

25/04/2022

😂😂

20/04/2022

It’s the law round here that all dogs are known as puppy - even if they’re 11 years old!

17/04/2022

Finally…. I can’t tell you how long I’ve been looking for a car boot liner for my tiger!

15/04/2022

Dogs have NOT been proven to do better on vegan diets!

There has been some very poor and unbalanced reporting today over a survey published that essentially found that dog owners feeding a vegan diet, felt their pets were healthy on that diet.

Which isn't very surprising, you are hardly going to feed your dog something you think makes them unhealthy and vegans in particular are often very passionate and dedicated about their lifestyle choices.

There was no actual measurements of the dog's health in this study, just the owner's opinions of their pets.

Which, to be fair the authors do point out, along with other significant points of the limitations of the research but this has been conveniently ignored by TV and papers simply keen for a headline.

So, you can feed your dog a majority vegan diet if you wish but the only one I would advise is Purina HA, which is a soy based allergy diet but is complete and balanced for all dogs and has been through extensive food trials to ensure your dog won't be nutritionally deficient on it. The same cannot be said for the vast majority (if any) of the rest of the commercially available vegan diets on the market.

Read this excellent evisceration of the reporting here from Vet Help Direct; https://vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/2022/04/14/poor-journalism-by-bbc-over-vegan-pet-food/

And you can read the study for yourself and decide if it deserved the hysterical headlines here; https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0265662

The Guardian

14/04/2022

Don’t we all?

09/04/2022

Solid plan 👍

07/04/2022

Yup!

02/04/2022

Every time…

15/03/2022

Amazing stuff

12/03/2022

“…you too can turn your Cavalier into a Beagle with this amazing pet vacuum…”

23/02/2022

❤️❤️❤️

23/02/2022

Turn it sideways

22/02/2022

This is Barney on a weekly basis! Who else can relate?

18/02/2022

I think we can all relate to this one 😂

15/02/2022

What’s the dog thinking?
I’m going with “Really?” 😂

14/02/2022

Who says romance is dead?