Joyful Dogs Training

11/18/2024

I often get asked, “Which piece of equipment will stop my dog from pulling on the lead?”

The answer is straightforward: unless you resort to aversive (positive punishment-based) methods that cause immediate pain and/or discomfort, and potentially create an avoidance of pulling, no equipment alone will stop your dog from pulling on the lead.

Equally, no equipment alone will teach your dog to pull on the lead either.

‼️It’s your actions that teach your dog how to behave on the lead‼️

If they pull and you follow, you’re reinforcing the behaviour.

YOU are teaching them the VALUE in pulling.

By following them when they pull, you are teaching them that pulling is the FASTEST way to get what they want.

Additionally, when you consider that humans walk slowly and in straight lines, while dogs often walk faster and in more erratic patterns, it makes perfect sense why they so often pull on the lead.

To stop your dog from pulling on the lead, you need to reduce the reward they get from pulling and instead reward the behaviour you want.

This is achieved by teaching your dog the value of following you.

11/09/2024

If you don't follow SpiritDog Training , what are you waiting for???
They put out exceptional content that we are always proud to share.

Thank you, SpiritDog Training!

Service dogs.
Probably one of the most unpopular topics for any pet dog trainer.
And with the recent rise of scammy online courses offering to train your dog to get "service dog level obedience in 2 days" 👀 this has gotten even worse.
I cannot begin to count the amount of service dog training requests I receive.
“Can your online courses train my dog to be a service dog?”
“I need to make my dog a service dog so he can ride on the bus with me” (Yes, someone seriously asked me this)
“Do you certify service dogs?”
No - no - no - and more no.
Service dog training is completely different from pet dog training.
If your dog is trained to walk nicely on a leash and sit and stay, they are a pet dog.
If your dog comes up to you and nuzzles you when you are sad - they are still a pet dog.
If you want your dog to accompany you into stores or fly in-cabin on planes … they’re still only a pet dog and these privileges are not for them.
Service dogs are task-trained.
They are specifically taught to work for people with disabilities.
A dog that solely provides comfort is not a service dog.
I see a lot of people acquiring dogs, labeling them as “my service dog” and *then* going about training them.
This is not how that works.
You cannot just select a dog, put a service dog harness on them and figure the rest out as you go.
We regularly receive requests from dog owners who tell us that their “service dog” pulled them over on leash or nips at visitors.
That their service dog relentlessly chases wildlife on walks or has intense anxiety in social settings.
One time I got a request from a lady who told me that she got a dog from the shelter to be her son’s service dog, but that “service dog” was now biting the son and could I please fix it.
I’m sorry - none of those dogs are not service dogs then. And they likely won’t be service dogs in the future either.
Please be honest about the dog you own.
Unless you worked diligently to train them as a service animal with specific tasks, they are a pet.
A beloved, (hopefully) well-behaved, wonderful pet.
But not a working dog, and you should not demand the privileges that are reserved for true service dogs and their disabled handlers.
Staying clear with this distinction protects the actual service dogs and their owners 🙂

09/09/2024

I know clients think I'm crazy when we start this way but it gives your dog a better base for success.
Build distraction in gradually.

08/31/2024

Trick Woofs, Thank you for this wonderful video.

08/21/2024

Expecting?
I highly recommend this very informative webinar for all parents to be 🩷🩵🍼👶

This course is designed for expectant families, families who are adopting a baby, and anyone who has dogs and cares for infants up to three months of age.

07/26/2024

Brilliant post by Dogs Disclosed 🐾🐾

I NEED TO FEEL SAFE!

Like all living creatures, including us, dogs just want to feel safe – it’s a basic survival need.

When we think about feeling safe it’s natural to just think about not being harmed or being in danger, but it’s not just about physical safety - feeling emotionally or psychologically safe is just as important.

While physical safety may be obvious and simpler to address, emotional safety is far more complex and not always easy to recognise or identify.

The same applies to our dogs – they are sentient beings whose behaviour is triggered and driven by emotions.

So many behaviour problems that we see in dogs stem from the brain saying– “this is not safe!”

A dog that lunges and barks or behaves aggressively with another dog or person is probably doing so because they feel unsafe. They are trying to make the scary thing go away.

A dog that is guarding resources is doing so because they are afraid that the resource will be taken away – they don’t feel safe when another animal or person approaches that resource.

A dog that is reacting to fireworks or thunderstorms or other noises is doing so because they don’t feel safe. The same can be said for separation distress – the feelings of panic when left alone – “I am not safe!”.

Some dogs may never get over a specific fear, but doing all we can to help dogs feel safe in our world is one of the most important gifts we can give them.

Our first responsibility should not be about training, obedience or trying to change behaviour, but to focus first and foremost on building trust, self-confidence, resilience, creating a safe and secure base and being the person that our dogs can rely on and trust.

In the words of Dr. Gabor Maté - "Feeling safe is the treatment and creating safety is the work".

In my words (as it pertains to dogs) – It is our responsibility to put in the work to enable our dogs to feel safe and when they feel safe, this will be part of the treatment or the solution to the problem.

05/11/2024

Miss Toona(Border Collie) and Annie (Australian Shepherd) had a blast this morning!

It was Toona's lesson, but Annie always likes to hop in and show off her skills at the end of each session.

I'm so grateful to work with such intelligent, hard working dogs.

Two very Joyful Dogs!!!

05/04/2024

Puppy people!
Paws 'N Effect host fabulous puppy classes!

It's never too early to start your pup out right! 🐾🐾

We have a couple of openings in our Puppy Kindergarten class that starts this Monday, 6 - 7pm. PK is for puppies 8 weeks up to 5 months.
To sign up or for more info, please call the office at 203.281.7150

04/25/2024

Fantastic post from No Monkey Business Dog Training!

Here’s a PSA on behalf of all dogs.

Stop correcting your dog for sniffing.

Stop it. Please.

How would you like it if I corrected you for looking around a room? Imagine if you raised your head to look around a new place and I popped you or shoved you or said “HEY! PAY ATTENTION” You’d get pretty upset pretty quickly I’d imagine.

Dogs don’t smell because they are ignoring you or being stubborn. We humans primarily depend on sight, but dogs use smell AND sight to assess their surroundings and communicate. People spend more time interpreting visual data than olfactory information. Dogs are just the opposite.

Dogs devote lots of brain power to interpreting smells. They have more than 100 million sensory receptor sites in the nasal cavity as compared to 6 million in people, and the area of the canine brain devoted to analyzing odors is about 40 times larger than the comparable part of the human brain. In fact, it’s been estimated that dogs can smell anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 times better than people.

Scent gives information. Smelling is normal. Smelling is necessary and natural. Smelling is relaxing. Air scenting is HUGE for recovering reactive dogs. LET YOUR DOG SMELL!

Correcting a dog for sniffing is one of the worst things I watch people do. It’s another example of how controlling we try to be in our dogs lives. If you don’t want your dog to smell, teach him to focus on you instead for part of the time, and then give other ample times to smell. If he’s pulling you to smell, use a different tool that inhibits pulling but still allows for some nasal exploration. Even better work on collar pressure work too so your dog learns to smell when there’s less pressure! Walks on a long line on a dirt road or in a field for your dog to zig zag back and forth on to smell is MUCH healthier and more tiring for them as animals than trying to keep them within 6 feet of you on a neighborhood walk.

Please accept that smelling is normal and work WITH your dog on it, rather than just trying to suppress it. Just because that blade of grass or tree isn’t interesting to YOU doesn’t mean your dog deserves a correction. Who cares if you don’t walk the extra block - spend those 5 minutes on that one tree if you need to. Your dog doesn’t complain when you watch YouTube videos of kittens for hours or read the news or binge on Netflix, so let him get his scent binge in to.

Happy smelling pups!

04/12/2024

We should not expect our dogs to be okay with these behaviors, if we wouldn't be ourselves.

04/12/2024

Thank you, Bless the Bullys for this valuable post!

TN education, advocacy (& retired rescue) group dedicated to restoring the image of "pit bulls" since 2004.

04/06/2024

I thought tired terrier was supposed to be an oxymoron.😉
Little Miss Devon begs to differ.
She worked so hard today and really deserves this nap.

03/16/2024

Dogs can be very humbling...

Here's a shout out to all of my hard working students, especially the kids!
You guys are doing a great job of keeping your parents on track.😉
I'm seeing wonderful progress.

Keep up the excellent work!
I am in awe of your commitment to your dogs. ❤️🐾🐾

03/10/2024

Let them sniff!

Did you know that sniffing can make your dog’s outlook more positive? A 2019 study by Dr. Charlotte Duranton (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz (Barnard College) compared dogs participating in nose work with their owners to dogs participating in heelwork. The dogs were then giving a cognitive bias test, which gauges optimism using one bowl that always contains food in one specific location, and a second that never does in another specific location. The test is what the dog does when they come across a third bowl in a new location, right between the other two. An optimistic dog would get to this new bowl more quickly, thinking it contains a snack; a pessimistic dog would get there more slowly, unsure about the snack or thinking the bowl is empty.

After two weeks of sniff- or heel-training, the nose work dogs went to the third bowl significantly faster time than they had before; the heelwork dogs showed no difference in time to reach the bowl before and after the training.

Why is this? One possibility is that dogs engaged in sniff training are encouraged to move around and make their own choices; heel training requests the opposite, remaining in a specific spot and not moving around or investigating. Smell is also an incredibly important sense for dogs, so sniffing allows a dog to engage in a natural behavior while obedience heel work is more artificial, and this may have an effect on how each dog is feeling at after the training.

01/29/2024

Had a wonderful session yesterday with this beautiful girl!

Sybil and her mom are having great success with a more reliable recall and have been learning to add a bit more joy to their training.
I'm super proud of them!

I was honored that Sybil chose to work with me, as she struggles with a little bit of stranger danger.
She's incredibly smart and learned quickly how much fun training can be with an extra person in the mix.

It's always an honor when a fearful dog chooses to bring me into their circle.

Sybil is blessed to have a very savvy handler who's always putting her dogs first.
Keep up the excellent work, Laurie!

I'm so grateful you're part of the Joyful Dogs family!

01/24/2024

Thank you, Bless the Bullys for this fabulous post!

People hear "socialization," and they think it means dogs playing together...you know, being social.

But socialization is not about playing with other dogs.

Honestly, it's easy to understand why people have a hard time understanding the concept of dog socialization. When you look at the root of the word, "social," it makes sense that we interpret it as interacting (or playing) with each other because that's what it means when talking about human behavior.

But in reality, socialization involves introducing a dog to a wide variety of stimuli (sights, sounds, smells, experiences) in a positive and controlled manner.

Socialization is building positive associations with and being neutral when exposed to those stimuli. (An easy example: the vacuum cleaner.)

Socialization helps your dog to be comfortable with other animals, people, places, and activities.

Socialization helps create a behaviorally well-rounded dog that is more confident and comfortable in a variety of environments.