Better Behavior Consultants

08/19/2024

Learn from each and every dog you handle. 🙌🏽

03/17/2024

Day one was so amazing!!! Such great topics and so much knowledge in one room. Get ready for day two!

03/15/2024

This weekend we will be hosting Canine Con, a two day behavior conference. We have incredible speakers from all over the country.

This event is focused on spreading knowledge to pet professionals, the people who impact our communities and ultimately families. We have the ability to nurture the human-animal bond, create understanding between species and keep pets in homes.

Canine con is a place to connect, grow and to support each other. We make a difference every day, let’s do it together.

01/19/2024

As animal professionals, we have all been approached at one time or another by a an overwhelmed client who just wants the best for the pet they love so much; a pet guardian at wits end and just trying to get through the day.

Over the course of the two days at Canine Con, pet professionals in our community will have the opportunity to learn from some incredibly talented speakers at the top of their fields.

Knowledge is the most powerful tool you can provide to your team. Don't miss this opportunity to help them build the skillsets they need to truly make a difference for your clients, the people and pets of our community.

Check out the agenda here and sign up today to secure early bird pricing!
https://caninecon2024.betterbehaviorconsultants.com/agenda/

10/29/2023

REGISTRATION IS OPEN!
Sign up now to take advantage of the early bird discount!
https://caninecon2024.betterbehaviorconsultants.com/registration/

09/27/2023

Save the Date!

09/16/2022

Encouraging your pets to use their problem solving skills is so essential to living a well adjusted life. What is your dog’s favorite activity?

08/15/2022

Do you have a fearful dog?

The most important things to know if you have a fearful dog.

08/12/2022

Do your cats bite your ankles?

Does your cat hide under the bed and pounce after your bare ankles anytime she sees them? There are ways to change your cat's behavior and help your cat's...

07/23/2022

Awesome tips for introducing dogs and cats!

06/30/2022

We couldn’t agree more. A simple 6 foot leash sets your dog up for success when going for an outing in populated areas.

We don't know a vet hospital that likes the retractable leash. It is a nightmare. There is no control causing humans and dogs to become injured in the process. 😫 Stick with a traditional leash and everyone is much safer. 😉

06/27/2022

It’s time to start thinking about helping your pet through fireworks season. These are great tips!

In preparation for the 4th of July, here's 9 Ways To Help Your Dog's Fear of Noises. Read more on the blog. https://rescuedbytraining.com/2022/06/27/help-your-dogs-fear-of-noises/

06/21/2022

We post a lot of dog related content here but we LOVE cats too! Are your cats driving you nuts while you’re trying to get work done? Can you offer an alternative that works for both of you?

06/19/2022

Is your dog feeling safe or unsafe?

I saw something being shared on facebook the other day that really stuck with me. It was a meme generated by a highly compulsive trainer, who has had significant success (if you want to call it that) in his venue of expertise (dog sports.) He posted a bastardized version of a football coach's quote relating it to dogs. But the very first part of it was the assertion that we should be holding dogs "accountable." And that dogs with behavior, or training concerns, were the result of not being held accountable to their actions. And it bothered me. Because holding someone, or in this case a dog, accountable for their actions implies their actions are a result of a moral decision making paradigm.

Dogs are amoral. This means they have no moral decision making paradigm. They do not understand right or wrong. They have no concept of good or evil. They merely understand what is successful, and what is safe. And in opposite what is unsuccessful and what is unsafe. It is damaging to training and behavior modification to consider behavior from animals anything but what it is: an animal's best effort towards being safe and/or successful.

I have said it many times over the years but I will say it again here: behavior is not personal. Your dog's behavior is not driven by a need to personally affront, or insult you. Your horse's behavior is not driven by a need to personally offend, insult or challenge you. Behavior is not personal. And treating animals like their behavior IS somehow personal is both anthropomorphizing and devalues their emotional/sentient lives. To reduce the behavior of animals to a moral failing is a dirty trick, and serves no one to better shape the animal's behavior going forward.

06/17/2022

Well… summer is here. Is your dog going bananas being cooped up inside? Which activity do you think your dog woukd like the most?

WHAT IS ENRICHMENT … why do you need to know more about this for your dog?!

Enrichment is a way for animals (because they use this in zoos and aquariums too! 🐅🐆🦓🦍🐘🦏🦒🐬🦦) to engage in activities that stimulate cognitive tasks to help bring down adrenaline as well as overarousal while also combatting boredom and keeping them busy.

For our dogs, enrichment is a great way to keep them thinking, moving and able to expel energy and then find it easier to relax and chill nicely without us having to do a whole lot of work.

This can be achieved in so many ways that I cannot begin to list all of them. Creativity is the name of the game here as well as tapping into your dog’s own strengths and improving their weaknesses.

Dogs can also engage their senses using their best sense – smell – and really kick in a way to even out that serotonin and dopamine!

Here are a few fun things you can do for enrichment for your dog . . .

🧻 Tube-o-Snacks
Fill an empty paper towel or toilet paper tube with kibble or other fun dog-friendly snacks. Fold in the ends and let your pup do the rest! Don’t help and let them rip that thing to shreds. Just clean up afterwards!

👃🏼 Yard Scatters & Sniffs
Toss a handful of your dog’s kibble into the yard, or a grassy area, and let your dog sniff and eat until his little heart is content . . . and his nose too! If you don’t have a yard, find a place that’s safe and let your dog sniff on a loose long line.

🎾 Muffin Tin-o-Balls
Put some snacks of some kind in each little compartment of a muffin tin. Place a tennis ball on top of the food in each compartment. Let your pup find out how to move the ball to get to the snacks!

🧊 Ice Cubes in the Pool
Place chopped blueberries, strawberries and bananas in an ice cube tray. Pour chicken broth over the fruit to fill the compartments. Freeze. Toss the cubes into a pool, if you have a full-sized one, or a kiddie pool filled with water if you don’t. Great for summer treat too! If you want to make one huge ice cube, just put all the ingredients in a bowl and freeze the bowl to make one large ice cube that takes longer to melt!

💎 Dig-a-Treasure
Got a digger? Tap into that by redirecting it to appropriate places for fun. Keep this operation running fulltime if you have a heavy digger and you can stop digging where it shouldn’t be!

🚜 Fill a kiddie pool, or area you mark distinctly in your yard, with soft sand. Bury frozen food snacks, the ice cubes above, fun toys and anything your dog will find rewarding to dig up!

There are many, many, many other ways to do this. I have a lot more info and ideas on this on my blog post here: bit.ly/canineenrichment

⚖️ Keep your dog busy and know that doesn’t always have to mean exercise! It’s great to give both exercise and enrichment to maintain a healthy balance!


--
Stacy Greer, CPDT-KA
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sunshinedogtraining.com

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Copyright©

06/12/2022

Who can relate?!

06/10/2022

🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

06/09/2022

Shout it from the rooftops!

COMMUNICATION 🗣️

Good communication is not about how well your dog responds to your cues when you present them, that is only the final product of a previous history on you listening to your dog - and the context of the moment.

Listening by first training in low distraction environments with simple, clear cues followed by rewards your dog finds motivating.

Listening by not asking your dog to do something which isn't necessary, is arbitrary or compromises them.

Listening by not suppressing their emotions through aversive tools, punishment or corrections.

Listening by stepping in to speak up when outsiders invade their space, comfort or safety.

Listening by educating yourself with an ability to observe your dog's body language, understand it and take appropriate action.

Listening by assessing situations, environments and routines to provide our dogs with comfort and security.

Listening by meeting our dogs needs as a dog, not what we think their needs are.

When we take the time to listen we learn that not only are our dogs are great communicators, but a lot of what we ask them is completely unnecessary and/or too difficult in the context we are asking it for.

06/06/2022

What is really driving the outward expression of the behavior your dog is presenting?

There are a lot of different reasons for your dog's behaviour, intentional vindictiveness or naughtiness isn't one of them.

All behaviours have a function. They serve the individual in some way. Behaviours are the observable actions of any number of underlying environmental and internal processes. Assumptions are not only unhelpful, they are potentially damaging and neglect to address your dogs' reality.

Step back and take a moment to observe what your dog is telling you. If you need help, reach out to a certified and qualified professional.

05/30/2022

Sometimes we just need to put aside our categorizations and really listen to what our dogs are telling us.

05/28/2022

We totally understand that barking can be a lot sometimes but it’s how dogs communicate and we may just need to listen to what they’re telling us.

Imagine if we treated our barking dogs like Lassie.

What's that Nero, you need something?
Thank you for letting me know.
I'm going to go get that for you right now.

Although Lassie was a caricature of a dog there is a lot of validity in the interactions between Lassie and Timmy. Lassie was trying to communicate - and for the most part Timmy always listened.

Unfortunately, we don't always offer our own dogs the same courtesy.

I certainly learnt my lesson from all those episodes of Lassie I watched as a child!

Our dogs bark to communicate with us.

When my dogs bark at me, I quickly run down a list in my head of what might be the reason so that I can address it for them.

Are they hungry?
Are they thirsty?
Do they want to play?
Are they overtired?
Do they want some affection?
Do they need to go outside?
Have they done enough today?
Do they need some comfort?
Have I spent enough time with them today?
Do I have something they want?
Is there something going on outside?

There are many reasons why your dog may bark at you and none of them are because they are just trying to annoy you.

So when your dog is barking at you - be like Timmy and try to figure out what they're saying.

If you are looking for more information on barking, check out our latest two-part episode of the .podcast - LINK IN BIO

How do you handle your dog barking at you?

05/24/2022

This might be The Onion but the message is spot on.

What are we asking of our dogs?

Are we taking them on walks because they enjoy them or because we “know” dogs need walks?

If aliens invaded and adopted me as a jogging partner, I would be miserable and they would be sorely disappointed. I would be a much better hiking partner.

Are you listening to what your dog is really telling you?

MORRISTOWN, NJ—Complaining that he is never able to relax and just be himself, local dog Crackers reported Thursday that he feels as though he always has to be “on” when he’s around the family to whom he belongs. “It’s like I always have to put on this show, whether it’s chasing a sque...

05/22/2022

How many words do your dogs know?

Alex, the world’s most famous African Grey parrot, died September 6, 2007, and the world is a sadder place for it. You may be wondering why a column about dog behavior would begin with a memorial to a parrot, but there is an important connection between Alex’s behavior and that of your dog. It w...

05/21/2022

Help with loose leash walking is definitely a common problem pet companions want help with.

Baby steps start inside.

WALKING ON A LOOSE LEASH: 🦮🐕‍🦺🐾
Big request for trainers to help with their clients. "My dog pulls!" "OMG, please how can I get my dog to walk next to me on a leash and not pull?!"

1️⃣ Get a well-fitted harness. Yes. I prefer harnesses for dogs. I recommend the Freedom No Pull Harness and the Modular Perfect Fit Harness.

2️⃣ It's critical that dog owners understand that no tool will train your dog to walk nicely on the leash. It is up to you, the dog's handler, to do this. I like the harnesses to give added control and comfort but they aren't magic training tools. You provide the magic!

3️⃣ Start in your home, don't slap a leash onto a dog that's jumping and going crazy. You've already lost at this point. You need to work on desensitizing your dog to the harness and leash being put on.

🎥 I love Chirag Patel's video on how to get your dog comfortable putting a harness on. You can find that here: https://youtu.be/IW1OHXdlFeU

4️⃣ Work on the leash work inside, then work up to outside and then more distractions. Don't start leash work at the park! Way too much over-stimulation there. Must start in a clam and focused environment first, then add difficulties later as your dog progresses.

5️⃣ Get a treat pouch and wear it every time you put the leash on your dog - at home or outside. When taking it outside, and when you reach the ability to go to higher distracting places be sure to take yummy, yummy food with you (boiled chicken, hot dog pieces, cheese cubes, etc.).

👉🏼 Your dog is training all the time. If I go somewhere with my dogs I always take food, because every outing is a training opportunity! 👈🏼

📎 I'm attaching a link to download 2 illustrated posters from Doggie Drawings by Lili Chin, created for Irith Trietsch Bloom of The Sophisticated Dog. You have to visit this link to get the posters. Part II poster is in the text below the first poster at this link: https://bit.ly/LLWpostersdownload

05/19/2022

Dang. That’s some good perspective!

I think that's fair. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

Writer Unknown.

05/17/2022

It can be tempting to bring pets with us but when the weather gets warmer it's just not worth the risk.

DJ HOTDOG in the houseeeee with this new banger!

It's straight FIRE outside, bruh. Skrrt! No cap. This heat just hits different. We are DJ HOTDOG stans and have this hit on repeat. Be the main character and be responsible - leave your pet at home and not in your car. We're trying to stay low-key, but it gets us in our feelings when we hear about dogs or cats outside in this heat or in parked cars.

You understood the assignment. Bet!

*Find a Gen Zer to translate, but we actually don't know if we used these cool words correctly because *

05/13/2022

Have you eve noticed your dogs telling time?

I NOSE WHAT TIME IT IS !
Dogs just seem to know when it’s time for food, time for a walk or even what time we’re expected to come home, sometimes down to the exact minute!
Yes, they may know this simply from daily routines that create predictable patterns or certain cues that predict certain events, but there is far more to this ability to tell time than the obvious reasons.
One theory is that time has a particular smell. Different times of the day smell differently. Morning smells differently to afternoon or evening. As air heats up over the course of the day, air currents change and move around, carrying molecules of different odours with it. These changes become predictable and a dog’s incredible sense of smell enables these odours to become their “clock”.
One example is when you leave the house to go to work, leaving a strong scent behind you. As time passes, your scent becomes weaker. Dogs predict that when your scent becomes weakened to a certain level, it’s time for you to come home. The level of your scent predicts what time you come home. As dogs can detect both strong and weak scents and all the levels in between, it means that they are actually interpreting events across an interval of time.
Another way dogs may tell time is through circadian rhythms. Just like us, dogs have fluctuations in systems like hormone levels, neural activity or body temperature and these rhythms may help them to understand the approximate time of day - just like when our stomach starts growling when it’s nearly time for dinner or we feel tired when it's time for bed.
Dogs are not the only species that can interpret time. Animals that migrate or hibernate follow seasonal cues from nature in the form of daylight and temperature to know when it’s the right time.
Having hundreds of millions more scent receptors than us, a dog’s amazing ability to smell is a likely reason that dogs just "nose" what time it is.

05/11/2022

Another great resource from our friends at Rescued by Training!

05/10/2022

This beautiful girl is Pixie! We LOVED working with her and her amazing mama. Pixie is so smart she knows when her favorite humans are calling on the phone and she just can’t help but say…scream… “hello” herself.

We’re hoping by asking Pixie to offer an alternative behavior we can help channel her excitement into something that works a little better for all involved!

05/06/2022

Vet care doesn’t have to be scary!

There are many vets who are more than happy to slow down and work with your pets in a way that causes as little stress as possible.

There is also a lot you can do to prepare your pet for a happy visit! Laura Monaco Torelli - Animal Behavior Training Concepts posts some awesome tips to prepare your pet for happy vet visits using cooperative care.