Dog Smart

06/10/2023

I am busy busy with rescue rehab & training but now we have some more daylight I am starting to take on a few more private training sessions for dogs & their owners.

I met this girl and her mum today to work on her reactivity towards anything that moves, especially things with wheels.

She did very well and was able to engage with me and disengage with the triggers by the end of the session.

If you need help with your reactive dog or have anything else that you want to work on then please get in touch 🐾

28/08/2023

This little beauty is Luna and she is deaf 🥰
She is a ball of energy so I am teaching her to settle which will help her on her way to finding a new home.

25/06/2022

28/10/2021

Some great advice on how to manage your puppy when you first take them home 🐶

Puppies - how much freedom should we give them?

When we first brought Monster into our house, we had expectations for him. However, he had no idea what these expectations were.

We didn’t want him chewing our sofas. We didn’t want him annoying our other dogs. We didn’t want him chasing and annoying any of our other animals. We didn’t want him using us or our clothes as tug toys. We didn’t want him sh****ng in the kitchen. We wanted him to chill when we were chilling. We wanted him to become independent and cope with us not always being there.

All of these expectations do not come naturally for puppies. They don’t understand our rules. We can only expect them to behave like puppies and all the things we usually don’t want them to do, they want to do.

We set up an area for him. A place where he couldn’t do anything ‘wrong’. If we weren’t with him, that’s where he went. For the first 3 days he had almost zero freedom. We were constantly supervising him. After a week he became more comfortable alone and ‘asking’ to go out to the toilet. After two weeks he would actively chews his toys to chew on as opposed to us or the sofas. And now after almost 3 weeks he’s choosing to settle on his bed when we aren’t interacting with him.

He now spends very little time in his area (unless he takes himself there which he does regularly for naps - it’s open for him to go or leave). He has access to the deck and the garden. He’s out with us in the evening and with our other dogs. We still supervise him as he’s still under 10 weeks but he’s a very easy guy to have about the place.

He hasn’t had the opportunity to develop bad habits. He’s had lots of opportunities to develop the ‘good’ habits. This now allows him the freedom we want our dogs to have.

The biggest mistake new puppy owners make, is they give their pup too much freedom too soon, which helps them develop the bad habits and then remove that freedom as they get older (because they are so ‘naughty’). This will then be a big chase for behavioural issues down the line.

Do the opposite. Give less freedom early on and as the good habits develop, allow them more and more freedom as they start to learn what is expected of them.

To get help with your pup, you can follow along here:

www.thinkdog.no/members

19/10/2021

This pup is a typical teenager and loves nothing more than annoying her older sister on walks. We are working on interrupting and redirecting the play when she gets to rough and will be working on her recall.
Do you have a troublesome teen that you need some help with? Then get in touch 🐾

21/09/2021

There is a lot of misleading information out there for dog owners. If you wouldn’t want something done to you then don’t do it to your dog, simple!

There is a lot of talk about the ways in which the dog behavior field and the shelter/rescue field are not functioning the way they should individually and in the places they intersect. It’s true. There are a lot of important conversations to be had and positive changes we’d love to see made.

A massive foundational issue driving the dysfunction is bad information.

Bad information is everywhere. It’s prolific. It’s repeated so much it *feels* true to people. It is hurting dogs. It is hurting the people who care for them. And it is making qualified behavior professionals exhausted.

We are having the same conversations over and over in an endless loop. It’s information the dog’s caregiver was given by another trainer, by the shelter or rescue they adopted from, by their breeder. They saw it on tv where unqualified men are given shows to make behavior modification look flashy and revered as experts while peddling damaging misinformation. They read it on the internet or saw it on YouTube or a self proclaimed expert told them so in a Facebook comment.

They’re told not letting the dog sleep in the bed and making them work for their food will fix fear aggression with strangers. (It won’t and has nothing to do with that behavior or any number of other behaviors it’s tossed out as advice for.)

They’re told their dog needs a heavier hand. That they’re not being the alpha and that’s why their dog is doing X. (No, this is not the case. Ever.)

They meet with “trainers” who have made up all manner of ridiculous advice that has not a thing to do with behavioral science but because the trainer is in a position of trust, the client believes them.

Dogs need qualified professionals guiding their caregivers and care plans. They need humans to have an accurate understanding of dogs, their needs, and what sharing a life with them looks like. They need behavior modification grounded in behavioral science, ethics, and compassion. They deserve it to be as competent and effective as possible.

Dogs and the humans who love them need a regulated dog behavior field.

19/09/2021

Long lines aren’t just for lockdown, they are great for walking your dogs in busy areas so you don’t have to keep calling them back and brilliant for puppies who don’t quite have a solid recall yet.

Find out what impact slightly increasing the length of your leash has on your dog's welfare, health and happiness.

04/09/2021

A great mini course from constructive canines on how to socialise your puppy during lockdown.

03/09/2021

Think you have a naughty dog? They are more than likely just practicing normal dog behaviours 🐶

25/08/2021

Getting puppies to sit still can be a challenge but these litter mates are doing fantastically with their clicker training.
This is only the second session but as you can see little Cooper is very focused!
It’s been great working with the pups and seeing how different they are. Videos of his brothers in the comments - Cooper & Ozzy are available for adoption ❤️

13/08/2021

Some great puppy socialisation tips from Fluent Dog

12/07/2021

A veterinary behaviourist covering the BOP & Waikato 🐶

Veterinary Behaviour Services NZ provides online and in-person Behaviour consultations NZ wide

08/06/2021

⭐️ Muzzle training ⭐️
This girl has big feelings about other dogs and people when she’s out and about so I am doing a refresher session with a muzzle in case she ever needs to wear one.
We haven’t done this for a while so I am starting off by asking her to put her nose in the muzzle before marking and rewarding her.
The muzzle I’m using would be to heavy for daily use but it’s fine for training, if you don’t have a muzzle then a yoghurt pot or plant pot will do the trick.

07/06/2021

Having a catch up with this beauty whilst her owner is away 🥰

29/05/2021

A great post on how to read your dogs body language 👏

24/05/2021

Some great socialisation tips here ❤️

🐾 Quick socialization Tips:

🚗Short car rides to different places.

💥⛈Gradually desensitizing your puppy to loud noises in a gentle way like sounds of rain, thunder, fireworks, construction sounds, etc... You can find these sounds for dogs on YouTube and play at a low volume, then gradually build on increasing the volume. Play it in the background while you play with your pup so it's a positive experience.

🦽🏠🧹Household appliances, umbrellas, brooms, rakes, vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, etc... When using these items you can randomly throw kibble at a distance away from where you are sweeping or vacuuming etc... This will help create a positive association for the pup. For example: 'I like it when the vacuum cleaner comes out, It rains down treats!'.

👶🚴‍♂️🛴Let them see anything that moves on wheels like bikes skateboards, prams, etc... Always be at a distance that the pup is comfortable in. As the puppy looks at the object, phrase your puppy and give them a treat.

👨‍👩‍👧Slowly meeting different people of different ages, sizes, men, women & children. Always let the puppy approach someone on his / her own terms. Do not force interaction.

🐶Whenever a puppy is exposed to something that's foreign to them it needs to be done at a slow pace on the pup's terms. Always try and make it a positive association by using a happy gentle voice, phrasing, and encouraging your pup in a happy gentle voice as well as using delicious food/ treats to make the experience really fun and rewarding.

17/05/2021

Met these two on Saturday to help their mum work on a few things with them.
The girl on the left needs help with her stranger reactivity and the pup on the right keeps getting up to mischief and bugging the cat 😅

13/04/2021

This beauty is only 10 months old and 30kgs 😳 walking like a pro with a nice loose lead after 2 sessions ❤️

12/04/2021

Practicing my girls recall and staying with me until I give her the ‘all done’ cue

08/04/2021

Met this good boy and his owner tonight to help him work on his dog reactivity.

For the first few sessions we will be concentrating on building his focus and helping him to make the right choices without any dogs around, once he can do this then we will introduce a dog at a distance he is comfortable with 🐾

13/03/2021

A great video on the ‘guilty’ looking dog ❤️

19/02/2021

Off to our first scent training comp today. All kitted out in gear from Confident Canines NZ

11/02/2021

Some great tips on how to socialise your pup

Poor socialization can be just as bad if not worse than limited socialization.

09/02/2021

A bit of a refresher for my dog today just because we usually walk where there aren’t many people around. She practiced her recall and we played the engage disengage game.

https://www.choosepositivedogtraining.com/single-post/2014/07/01/the-practice-of-selfinterruption-the-engagedisengage-game

08/02/2021

There is a lot more to it than just giving treats 🐶

I'm a proud snack leader

To all my fellow , owners trainers and behaviourists. I see you.

I love being a I'm saying that it's literally the tip of the iceberg! I know what's going on underneath the water, I know what's going on in the background.

We do so much more than just toss food.

You are doing a great job keep it up.

People can and will say mean things. It can be demoralising and hard.
But don't let anyone else tell you other methods are better. This works. Science is on our side. We got you.

19/01/2021

Met this cutie yesterday to help him work on his recall.
First we practiced at home and got him focusing on me and then went out for a walk with him on the longline.
Always start off your training in a low distraction area and gradually build up to practicing in busier areas.

18/01/2021

Teaching my dog to back up to the mat:
First I practice the ‘on your mat’ and ‘back’ cue separately and then add them together.

The first attempt she isn’t quite on the mat so I reset her by throwing a piece of food away and she nails it the second time.

If you are teaching a new behaviour then reward your dog for trying even if it isn’t perfect, when they understand what you are asking then you can start to fine tune the movements and only reward if all 4 paws are on the mat etc.

11/01/2021

Do you know the difference between a label and a behaviour?

Labels can be a dangerous thing. When someone tries to describe their dog’s behaviour, they unintentionally humanize the animal’s behaviour and emotions. We forget that they are in fact, a completely different species.

So many times, you hear dogs being described as dominant, lazy, stubborn etc.… however, an animal will only naturally behave as they do for their species and us humans tend to somewhat get offended by it. Dogs are family but they are not children. Dogs behave and interact completely differently to humans and us humans tend to hold unrealistic expectations when it comes to our dog’s behaviour.

When we misinterpret their body language and communication signals, we tend to then send conflicting messages to the dog which can cause anxiety and other unwanted behaviours.

When we train our dogs, we ideally want them to preform desired behaviours on cue, e.g.: come when called, sit when asked etc… We also need to address undesired behaviours and deal with them in a manner that does not cause fear or affect the relationship between dog and guardian.

For example:
Dog digs hole in garden. Owner calls dog and disciplines dog for digging. Dog is now conflicted and fearful whenever owner calls dog as the dog now perceives the owner as unpredictable and scary and, is now reluctant to come when called as the dog was disciplined. The owner now labels the dog as stubborn and disobedient.

The word dominant is one of the most commonly used words when trying to describe a dog behaving unfavorably or disobedient. This leads to the thinking that a dog is ‘controlling’ or ‘taking charge’. The problem with this is that the dog is now labelled as something that is trying to ‘influence’ its owner in order to ‘control and be the leader’. By saying this you are saying that a dog has the advanced cognitive development and function of a human brain and is emotionally capable of making complex decisions. Now, does that not sound ridiculous?

Dominance is a behaviour, not a personality trait and using outdated terminology only serves injustice to the animal as then outdated techniques are usually followed. Dominance is exerted as a threating behaviour when an animals is guarding valuable resources such as food, breeding rights, or territory.

‘In animal behaviour, dominance is defined as a relationship between individuals that is established through force, aggression, and submission in order to establish priority access to all desired resources (food, the opposite s*x, preferred resting spots, etc.). A relationship is not established until one animal consistently defers to another – Dr Sophia Yin (2009).

Think of it as priority to resources and survival of the fittest not control and pack leadership.

For example:
The dog is being dominant because he is pulling one the lead….

Instead: The dog is pulling on the lead because it gets him where he wants to go. Does this make him dominant or does his behaviour work to get him to smell the smells? If a behaviour is successful it will be repeated.

The dog does not listen

Instead: Have you asked in a different manner that may have confused the dog? Is the environment overwhelming or distracting? Is the dog able to hear you and concentrate?
Food guarding or aggressive behaviours while eating means he’s dominant.

Does it? If you tried to take my food from me while I was eating, I would probably stab you with my fork. Food is a valuable resource that is vital for living. By trying to control your dog by putting you hand in the food bowl may just be setting up both of you for failure.

Lastly, think if the dog is actually able to perform the cue that’s being asked instead of assuming the dog is stubborn. If you ask for a sit and the dog does not comply, does this mean he’s stubborn or is he able to physically sit? Some dogs with undiagnosed hip dysplasia or ligament problems may be reluctant to sit as it could cause pain and discomfort.

Instead of saying my dog is dominant, change the word association and sentence to my dog is fearful, anxious, frustrated or confused. Would you then treat your dog differently and have a different approach? Would you still label him spiteful, stubborn, or dominant?

Describing something your dog is doing needs to be in dog terms not human terms as you may be incorrectly describing a behaviour.

06/01/2021

Next puppy school start date is Tuesday the 19th of January at 5.30pm, 94 Valley Road in Kawerau.
Please message me for more information.

29/12/2020

The struggle is real 🤦🏻‍♀️