Tell the Tail Dog Training

08/01/2023

Fear is the easiest things to condition in dogs and the hardest to resolve. Fear can come from many places, many of which we don't control. This infographic is my most downloaded and shared resource. Download your copy here: http://rescuedbytraining.com/fear-in-dogs-infographic/
and for a deep dive into each of these, read the accompanying Fear In Dogs blog series here: https://rescuedbytraining.com/tag/fear-in-dogs-series/

07/22/2023

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🛑 FREE FEEDING YOUR DOG: Are you a free-feeder?

Is your dog a picky eater? Guess what - Free-feeding, defined as putting food in the bowl and leaving it until Fluffy eats it all, or until you put more in there - is why you have a picky eater!

WHY DOES FREE FEEDING CAUSE PICKY EATERS?

➡️ If Fido knows food is always available he has no reason to have to finish it right when it's placed in the bowl.

➡️ If Fluffy learns that if she walks away from the bowl that tells you she's finished & you pick up the bowl, she'll learn that food is not always available.

➡️ When a dog learns that food comes 2 x a day & goes away if he chooses to walk away from the bowl, he'll quickly learn that he eats it all then or waits until the next meal.
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⚠️ Some dogs do not eat well regardless, so when this occurs it's important to seek the advice of your licensed veterinarian to rule out medical reasons for poor eating habits.

Schedule Feeding is so much more beneficial to dogs! This is defined as - you put food in the bowl, if/when Fido doesn't finish in either a certain timeframe (10-20 minutes) or once Fido walks away from the bowl you pick it up so he has no more access to it until the next meal. This happens regardless of how much food is left in the bowl when you pick it up.

From a professional trainer standpoint most dogs that are picky eaters are taught to be this way unintentionally. I see many dog owners add multiple things to their dogs food in an attempt to get them to eat. I've also seen some dogs not finish food because they either don't like the food or they are actually being over-fed (usually unbeknownst to the owner).

Medical reasons aside, all dogs will learn to eat when given their meal if they are properly schedule fed.
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KEEP IN MIND

🥩 Sometimes you need to add fresh foods to your dog's food: boiled/scrambled eggs, boiled chicken, cooked ground beef, plain yogurt, to name a few. These are not only healthy but variety can help keep your dog looking forward to the next meal.

📏 Sometimes those dog food bags are not a good guide for how much to feed. Use the guide loosely but then watch your dog's waistline. If you cannot feel your dog's ribs when you press in to feel them without trying really hard, she's likely overweight. Cut back on the food a bit, or if she feels too thing or is visibly thin add more.

🚽 Potty training will not go smoothly if you do not know how much or when your dog last ate. Also if your dog is able to eat throughout the day because you free-feed be ready for pooping throughout the day with no set schedule!

🤒 If you don't know when your dog last ate or how much you won't know if her eating habits are normal or not. If you have a dog that eats when you put food down you'll be able to easily tell if she stops eating and that it's not normal. This is a first sign of illness and reason to call your vet. If your don't know this you may not know when your dog is ill because she has no real eating pattern.

🦮 If your dog is able to have free access to food most of the day your dog won't value food much. Why should he? He can get it really whenever he wants. So, to make training easier you also want to be more in control of your dog's eating. So, schedule feed and make food a valued item to your dog!

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Stacy Greer, CPDT-KA
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
©️ 2023 Stacy Greer
All rights reserved. Feel free to share via the “Share” link to the original post. Downloading for redistribution online or in print form is strictly prohibited.

07/22/2023

I will not introduce an ecollar, prong collar, choke collar or physical corrections to any training plan with a reactive dog.

Why?

1. Because they suppress. Generally speaking, if these methods work, it’s usually because we’re stopping the undesirable behaviour (e.g. barking, lunging) rather than actually changing the motivation for the behaviour (helping a dog feel less scared, conflicted or frustrated, and therefore improving the behaviour caused by these emotions). When we suppress, we see a quick change in the behaviour, but it will very likely come back when you remove the aversive, not to mention the welfare implications of leaving a dog in a state of distress and punishing them for expressing it.

2. Because they have dangerous side effects. Aversive training methods have been linked to increased aggression and fear. If we are suppressing a dog’s warning signs, they are more likely to bite “out of the blue” because they can’t communicate with us the way they would otherwise.

3. Because your dog needs to enjoy working with you! A big part of changing reactive behaviour is helping your dog learn to default to engaging with you around triggers. If training is scary or unpleasant, your dog won’t develop happy feelings about you, their triggers or the training process.

4. Because I wouldn’t do it to my own dogs. I believe strongly in not recommending something I wouldn’t do to my own dogs due to welfare concerns.

So what do we do if the training plan isn’t working? We troubleshoot! There are always things we can try to make the plan easier for your dog without introducing pain or intimidation. And if we’re still not making progress? There are plenty of other force free pros we can consult with or refer to.

https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/policy-and-outreach/position-statements/statements/humane-training-of-dogs/ #:~:text=Owners%20are%20responsible%20for%20humanely,bond%20(3%2C4).

https://avsab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AVSAB-Humane-Dog-Training-Position-Statement-2021.pdf

https://animalkind.ca/wp-content/uploads/AnimalKind-Dog-Training-Standards.pdf

07/16/2023

As humans we tend to project our own thoughts and emotional attributes to our animals. While this is most often well meaning, it can be a disservice to them as we aren't seeing the entire picture as a whole.
We interpret certain facial expressions in our dogs as happy or smiling, when in reality they're under high levels of stress. They lack the complex ability we have to rationalize safe vs dangerous, so something we see as normal and non-threatening, they may see differently.
We also sometimes associate quality of life for animals (and each other) with bare minimum needs such as food, water and shelter, but it goes much farther beyond that. Learning to accurately read our dog's body language creates a two-way communication system, providing a higher quality of life. When an animal's (or even human's for that matter) needs aren't properly met, you will get behavior problems.

Stress-panting like in the picture of this graphic so often gets mistaken for a dog “smiling” and happy or just hot. But especially in combination with the other stress signals this dog is giving, they’re potentially experiencing high levels of stress and discomfort.

If there is only one thing we could do that would improve the wellbeing of the dogs in our lives, it would be to learn to read their body language.

Learning to read dog body language would give us so much helpful information to provide better care for our dog. For example, we would know when perhaps they are uncomfortable, scared, or overwhelmed and help them out and help them feel safe as best as we can. We would be able to meet their needs better.

If we put ourselves in our dogs’ shoes (or paws), imagine how we would feel if we were trying to communicate but end up just getting ignored, misunderstood, or punished. Our freezing out of fear being mistaken for “calm”, our “please stay away and don’t hurt me” being mistaken for wanting more interaction, etc. It would be so frustrating and exhausting, perhaps we would feel the need to escalate into more aggressive behaviours to try to be heard.

Many dogs unfortunately experience this a lot. Considering how much they listen to us (and they really do more than you think), it’s important that we listen to them too.

Our dogs communicate with us so much, it’s just not with words. When we learn to understand what their subtle and also obvious body language signals mean, we can then help them with what they need and provide them with better care.

A great place to start learning about dog body language is with Lili Chin’s !

ID: The background photo shows a black and tan dog with pointy ears with their ears back, eyes wide, face tense, commissures pulled back, and tongue sticking out. The text says “Prioritise learning dog body language.”

07/14/2023

07/13/2023

Welcome to Tell the Tail! We are a local dog training business offering private lessons, and homeschool residency programs in Knoxville and surrounding areas. We specialize in humane training methods backed by science.

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