Creative Canine Academy

06/26/2024

Emergencies happen. Do you know the signs that your dog needs to see a vet ASAP? Dogs are pretty good at hiding pain or discomfort, so when it shows, they're miserable. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but my general rule of thumb is if they're suddenly acting weird, I need to call my vet (or nearest emergency clinic if it's after hours) and get them seen.

06/21/2024

It’s that time of the year again… Barbecues, popsicles, hanging out at the pool, beach vacations, and temperatures so hot you could fry an egg on the sidewalk. My rule of thumb for summertime walks is if it’s too hot for me to walk barefoot on it, it’s too hot for my dogs.

Every summer I see people walking their dogs on hot pavement and it pains me. Their dog gamely follows, tongue down to their toes and high-stepping because the sidewalk hurts. Feet are sensitive, and having to endure even five minutes of broiling concrete is excruciating.

When temperatures are over 90 degrees, burns can happen quickly, depending on the surface you’re walking on and if you’re in the sun or not. Black top gets uncomfortable faster than concrete, and even grass on a sunny day gets painful, especially when it starts to approach or exceed triple digits.

So what do we do? Daily walks are great everyone, and a necessity for those who don’t have a secure yard or if your active dog needs to burn off some energy.

🐾Walk as close to dawn and dusk as possible.
🐾 Stick to shady or grassy areas, and on really hot days, shady, grassy areas.
🐾 Have them wear non-disposable dog shoes to keep their paws safe (usually needs some training)
🐾 If they are sociable, an indoor dog daycare will help them safely burn off some energy (ask indoor-outdoor places at what temperatures they close doors for safety)

Test the surface if you’re not sure! I live in sandals or flip flops during the summer, so it’s easy to check quickly, but I’ll test with my hand if I can’t kick off a shoe. If it starts to burn within ten seconds, it’s too hot.

06/06/2024

“Amy, can you work your magic and get this dog to chill?”

I’d hear this from time to time at one of the dog daycares I worked at. My secret was pretty simple: I’d take the dog for a leisurely sniff in a nearby field to help them relax, which worked wonders. After a sniff and a break, they could deal with the doggy daycare party (or mosh pit) better.

Letting dogs sniff is good for their mental health! A dog’s primary sense is smell, and they sniff their world like we see ours. By giving them opportunity and time to explore with their nose, they enjoy their walk more. Happy dogs don’t fly off the handle as fast as tense dogs do, and all that sniffing helps them learn about their environment. It makes training easier because they’re primed to learn since they’re already in “learning mode.”

If I’ve got a really energetic dog who likes to pull on the leash, this is one of my favorite ways to help stop that. Walking on a loose leash is hard: we’re slower. Learning to walk at our pace instead of trotting to the next interesting thing takes patience and self-control. When they’re busy exploring with their nose, dogs slow down. Since they’re having fun exploring, there’s a built-in reward for walking nicely to the next smell. It doesn’t take them long to learn that I’ll follow them so long as there’s no pressure on the leash. This also lets me reward good behavior outside when I don’t have treats on me. It’s a win-win for everyone.

For those who go on sniffaris, where are your favorite places to go?

06/03/2024

Does your dog listen to you when you start training, or does it feel like you're talking to a wall? Worse yet, WHY DON'T THEY DO THAT TO THE TRAINER??
It's all about attention. Waiting for eyes on you and then beginning whatever goals you have planned makes the training session go much smoother. It's how I know what I can and can't do in the moment, and helps me see if what I have planned is possible or if I need to change to something simpler.

05/29/2024

The storms (and no power) have thrown me off my mojo. Thoughts are with those who still don't have power and those who sustained lots of damage from the storm. I was lucky, I had no damage. My family was lucky, the trees were kind enough to aim for the street rather than the house.

Stay safe, y'all. And check up on your neighbors.

05/22/2024

I'm disabled. Fibromyalgia and AuDHD impact my life in some pretty profound ways. I'm fortunate enough that I can "pass" as abled, which is a double-edged sword. I avoid discrimination at the cost of my physical and mental wellbeing. Very few people have seen how bad it gets; there are days that I'm in so much pain that it takes several minutes to walk to the bathroom 20 feet away.

Service dogs are a topic near and dear to my heart. They save lives and help those with disabilities live a happier, more independent life. I get angry at people who try to pass off their pets as service dogs, and untrained or poorly trained service dogs being put into situations they aren't equipped to handle. The impact that it makes on people who put countless hours into training and rely on their service dogs cannot be overstated. Discrimination sucks, and those of us abled enough to not need a service dog need to remember that "harmless" lie impacts people you will never meet.

When researching this, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many women have made an impact in this. From Dorothy Harrison Eustis to Dr. Bonnie Bergin and Kerry Knaus, women have been instrumental in helping people with disabilities have better lives.

05/17/2024

You will find a lot of information on your dog food bag, it's your best friend for finding a quality food. I first check the ingredients, looking for a protein and carbohydrate in the first five ingredients while also looking out for red flags like Heart, Liver, or lungs listed separately or ingredients listed after Vitamin E, Mixed tocopherols, or rosemary oil. These tell me that the ingredient label or formula has been tweaked to appeal to consumers and it may not be adequately balanced. A lot of the super-premium food is also high-calorie, coming in well over 400 kcal/cup, meaning that most dogs on these diets will become overweight or obese, **even when you feed according to the package directions**. I don't think a high protein diet is appropriate for all dogs, so I prefer to find a food with a more moderate protein count, around 25%. Your vet is a fantastic resource for nutrition questions, and far more reliable than the internet (says a lady on the internet)

05/08/2024

Our dogs should fully participate in training, they learn better and faster that way. Having a “start button” behavior, like attention, makes sure they are present and ready to work. In order to listen, dogs have to be heard. We have to respond to their needs so that they feel confident and happy, which makes training faster and easier for everyone.

05/01/2024

Trainers are passionate about animal welfare, it’s why we get into this business. I chose to train without fear, pain, or intimidation because I believe that dogs should be treated with dignity and respect. Knowing the Five Freedoms of animal welfare helps me make sure I’m doing everything I can so that all the dogs I come into contact with get the high level of care that they deserve.

04/30/2024

CW: animal cruelty
(Image courtesy of Google Gemini)

Like most animal lovers, I’ve read the accounts of Kristi Noem’s story of shooting her juvenile dog Cricket with a mixture of shock, horror, and anger. Cricket was set up to fail and lost her life for it.

Noem took Cricket, a poorly trained/untrained juvenile into a large, open space, let her off leash, and got mad at her for doing what energetic puppies do. When Noem began to shock her (probably at the highest setting), Cricket did what any reasonable dog would in that situation: run away from the hostile person. Maybe Noem saw this as an affront to her authority, and it made her angrier. When she left, instead of properly securing her dogs in her vehicle, Cricket was able to get free, chase more birds (something she was bred to do), and killed a few. When Noem finally caught up to her, Cricket responded to an angry person grabbing her roughly with a bite, a perfectly normal reaction in this situation. Any dog will bite when cornered and fearing for their safety, no matter how good they are. That wasn’t an aggressive dog, that’s a frightened one.

I don’t blame Noem for being angry and embarrassed in that situation. I think most people would be. She claims that a story like this shows she’s willing to do the dirty work. She’s wrong. We might agree that she needed to make damn sure that Cricket never chased and killed chickens again, but it’s easy to shoot a dog and be done with it. It’s much harder to look your failure in the eyes every day while you make slow and steady training progress, or find a suitable home for her. That’s the real, hard, dirty work that should have been done. Kindness and compassion are incredibly hard when we feel offended or hurt. It’s a vile story and people like her should never be in power.

Her excuse that this was 20 years ago doesn’t cut it. That would have been around 2004. For context, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004. A landmark paper came out comparing training methods and the outcomes for dogs (spoiler alert: +R led to better outcomes than +P). Dr. Sophia Yin published her book “How to Behave So That Your Dog Behaves” that year, and both Petsmart and Petco’s training programs were rooted in positive reinforcement by then. We knew better. She knew better.

04/26/2024

Does your dog run out the door the moment it opens?

There's nothing I hate more than running down the street in my PJs, chasing my dog while they dart off on an adventure. This is why I teach all my dogs how to wait at the door. Join me, Kyleth, and Izzy as I show you in this short online lesson how to teach your dog the self-control they need to NOT dash the moment they see daylight!

https://www.creativecanineacademy.com/wait-at-the-door

04/24/2024

I was going to crochet, but Izzy has other plans for my WIP😆

04/24/2024

It's the kind of week where everything is hard. I know this will pass, it usually does. To paraphrase a friend, "Hydrate. Take Meds. Move." They're one of the bravest people I know, going out in a harsh world and moving forward no matter what. They're starting to see a little success in their own business, and I'm so happy for them. Their mantra is one that I need to use in my own life.

What brings you joy? Share it so we can make the world a kinder place.

04/17/2024

I read Turid Rugaas’ book, On Talking Terms With Dogs over a few sunny afternoons. It opened my eyes to the world of dog communication and changed my life. I was working as a daycare attendant at the time, I wanted to prevent fights instead of stopping them after they began. In my typical AuDHD way, I devoured as many books as I could get my hands on for months. It was both a blessing and a curse to finally understand the dogs under my care. Their behavior towards me changed and the whole daycare vibe became more relaxed. I could see their stress, and as an empathetic person, it was sometimes hard to see pain, loss, or fear in the dogs I loved. They’d given me so much, but I and the people around them weren’t always as kind as we should be. Those sunny days helped to lift the fog of a very deep depression and slowly I began to heal from the pain and trauma a decade earlier. It seemed fair to give back to the animals who helped lift me out of one of the darkest moments in my life. Now I pass the “blurse” off to you (being both a blessing and a curse) so that we can all live in a kinder and more understanding world.

04/12/2024

Do you know how to be a tree?

April 7-13 is Dog Bite Prevention week, so in honor of that, I thought I'd share a coloring page I did a while back for dog safety. You can download it at https://www.creativecanineacademy.com/dog-bite-prevention

Be a Tree is a simple and effective way to teach children to remain still and boring so that a dog leaves🍃 them alone. It's also a useful stance for greeting dogs they don't know, so practice with your family dog! (They're more likely to say "Yes, I'd love to be pet!")

04/10/2024

How good are you at reading dogs?

This is Dog Bite Prevention Week, and learning how to recognize signs of fear, anxiety, or stress in our dogs is one of the best ways to not get bit. If we’re able to stop and change our approach when a dog is stressed, they never get to the point where they feel they need to bite. Living in a human world can be stressful for dogs, and it’s our responsibility to keep them under their bite threshold and our friends, family, and community safe. Studies show that people are terrible at recognizing fear, anxiety, and stress in our dogs. I think it’s because we see the signs often, and if our dog isn’t flying off the handle, we assume they’re fine, even when they’re not.

04/08/2024

Difficult dogs leave an indelible mark on your heart. They’re frustrating and draining, but seeing them blossom is unlike any other experience. You’re trying your best to help to have the kind of life they deserve to have, and it’s emotionally draining work. A single outburst can set you back and make you feel like you’re not making any progress, but you are. Every day you work with your dog, you make a difference in their life.

Take notes or track your progress. Maybe this is a vlog of sorts, a diary, or a colorful bullet journal spread, or any other way that tracking your progress is easy and fun for you. The s**t show of a day today is better than your best day when you began this journey, and that perspective shift can make it easier to go forward when it feels like you’re never making headway.

04/05/2024

What do you do when your neurodivergence makes coping with puppy shenanigans impossible but the puppy insists on pooping inside, chewing on the table, or worse, acting as a one-dog demolition crew?

I discuss this and some of my own struggles in a new blog post: www.creativecanineacademy.com/behavior-bites/managing-meltdowns

I'm okay. I've got a wonderful support system, meds that seem to be working, and every day gets a little better.

04/03/2024

Dog training isn’t all rainbows and puppy breath. Sometimes it’s frustrating! Dogs don’t always know or understand what we’re trying to teach them, and that communication breakdown can derail the entire session. So what do you do when everything is going wrong?

I’ve been there. I don’t know a single trainer who hasn’t experienced that stab of panic when our tried-and-true doesn’t work with a dog. The good ones learn how to pivot so that the dog in front of us can keep up their momentum, and sometimes that means a break so that the dog can regroup and try again.

It’s easier to problem solve if I start from the headspace of “my dog is confused” instead of “my dog is defiant”. This is why learning body language is so important: this is how our dog tells us what they’re feeling. Do their ears twitch and rotate as they hear you give the cue? They’re uncertain. Is it because you’re a little mad, or are they confused about what you want? Do they turn away and sniff? Maybe they need some space, or a quieter environment. Take some time to listen to your dog. Training is a conversation, not a demand.

Once I know how my dog is feeling, I can set them up for success and some easy wins. If the game is too hard, our dog will give up. We want them to expect to win and get rewards, so once they’ve said “I don’t think I can win”, we need to lower our expectations and set them up for some easy wins.

And sometimes, the best answer is to try again later, when we’ve both had a chance to cool down and re-set.

03/29/2024

Kyleth is blowing out her coat and I am finding tumbleweeds of brown hair everywhere! Many dogs don't like getting brushed. I know I relate! I don't really like it much either. I've been hurt too many times, but that's because I'm stupid-sensitive to touch. (neurodivergent much?) Cooperative care is my hands-down favorite way to help a dog become tolerant and confident with brushing.

www.creativecanineacademy.com/behavior-bites/brushing-doesnt-have-to-be-a-chore

03/27/2024

One of the most common thigs dog trainers hear is that they want their dog to stop jumping. Internet advice like ignoring them is a good start, but it's only half the problem. Sometimes we've got to take a step back and address their emotions before we can see any real progress on jumping.

If you haven't seen progress, DM me and we'll schedule a free consultation to talk about your dog problems and how I can help!

03/24/2024

Okay, hivemind... I need some advice, especially if you are neurodivergent or LGBTQIA+

What are some of your struggles with dog training, or your dog in general?

What would have made working with a trainer or a class easier?

What makes you feel safe and seen in such spaces?

03/24/2024

Okay, hivemind... I need some advice, especially if you are neurodivergent or LGBTQIA+

What are some of your struggles with dog training, or your dog in general?

What would have made working with a trainer or a class easier?

What makes you feel safe and seen in such spaces?

03/23/2024

In honor of : Something for those who have dogs whose love language is "bite"

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03/23/2024

In honor of , here's a little help if you struggle with puppy biting.

You can return to our homepage by clicking here, or you can try searching for the content you are seeking by clicking here.

03/23/2024

Being silly with AI while creating a blog post on puppy biting. Anyone have this dog?

03/20/2024

Getting to know dogs has been one of the most profound experiences of my life. I didn't know that those sunny days spent learning how dogs think and communicate would change my world so much, but I began to see how harmful the training method used at my first job was. I could see their stress during training, and it always upset me.

Positive reinforcement training is the only ethical way to train an animal. Our presence should never stress them out, and learning should be fun. If it's good enough for a lion or elephant, it's more than good enough for our dogs!

Outdated ideas about "alpha" and "pack leader" have done dogs so much collective harm over the years. Now that we know better (and have for decades) we should do better by our dogs.

We should give the animals under our care the best life we possibly can, becoming a source of comfort and joy, not anxiety. This means using training methods that feel good so that our pets learn how to behave and navigate the world while we help them through the scary bits, whether that's thunderstorms, traffic, or when fences start barking along our walk.

And along the way, we get to know a unique individual and be seen in a way that only my family does. I'm learning how to share more of that person I've hid away for most of my life, and as silly as it sounds, Izzy's acceptance and concern for that person makes it easier.

03/18/2024

One of the biggest things I learned in my time at a doggy daycare is when to interrupt play. I always kept an eye out for these clusters and would step in if it looked like someone wasn't listening to "no". Now that I'm no longer with the Mosh Pits, I still use these skills when I'm supervising the dogs. Izzy's not much for wrestling and she's a sensitive girl (I blame the iggy side of her), so she doesn't play for very long before needing a break. I interrupt play when Izzy looks like she's in over her head, even if Kiki is just being a goofball and doesn't mean any harm. Luckily, Kyleth is a very good puppy and is pretty good at taking the hint... eventually 😁

03/15/2024

It's that time of year again...

Maybe it's because I live in Dallas, which is notoriously bad for allergies, but spring doesn't just come with bluebonnets! It comes with a lot of sniffling, sneezing, and runny eyes. I'm lucky enough to have pretty mild allergies, but poor Izzy isn't so lucky. Just like us, dogs can suffer from allergies to pollen, dust mites, and mold.

While any breed can get them, some pups like Golden Retrievers and Char Peis are more prone. The infographic with this post has some common signs to watch out for.

If you suspect your dog has allergies, the best thing to do is talk to your vet! They can help diagnose the problem and recommend the best course of action.

03/15/2024

Somebody has gone gremlin