The Social Dog NJ LLC

06/29/2024

Let’s keep them all safe

Keep the spark in your 4th of July celebrations, but keep them away from pets! The fireworks are beautiful, but pets are often scared by loud noises. Use these great tips from us and ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center to ensure your pets are comfortable throughout the day! Send this to other pet owners to help keep their pets safe. This infographic is presented by our lovely friends at BuzzRx.

03/31/2022

BE A SCATTER BRAIN – THE BENEFITS OF SCATTER FEEDING
Our dogs have so little opportunity to engage in their natural behaviours. This often leads to boredom and frustration and encourages dogs to find their own ways of entertaining themselves. These are generally behaviours that we find problematic.
This is why providing mental stimulation is so important in helping to build a more emotionally balanced and confident dog.
Scatter feeding is just one of many ways to add a little bit of mental stimulation to their day. It’s quick, simple, takes very little effort, but provides huge benefits.
I initially started scatter feeding just one of my 4 dogs. Riley is obsessed with food and would gobble everything in his bowl in a few seconds. He would then stand and watch the other dogs, hoping that they would find it in their heart to leave some for him! Scatter feeding him solved this problem, but over time something interesting happened. The other 3 dogs discovered that searching for their food was far more interesting and entertaining than eating from a food bowl. They would leave the food in their bowls and run off with Riley to search for “hidden treasures”. They come back inside a while later, a little tired, calm and satisfied and are then all ready to settle down for a snooze.
If you are feeding your dog a raw diet, this can be a little more challenging, but is still doable. Some ideas are to use small silicone or paper cupcake holders, tiny shot glasses, small tubs (supervise to make sure your dog doesn’t chew or eat these containers, or make small frozen balls of raw food which can then be scattered around.

10/28/2021

EMOTIONS MATTER!
Dog’s emotions really do matter, far more than we may think. Emotions matter because an emotional state drives behaviour. When a dog’s emotional needs are not being met, behaviour problems often result.
Dogs experience emotions like anxiety, fear, stress, depression, frustration, anger, helplessness, pleasure, happiness, relief. Although there will always be debate on whether a dog’s experience of emotion is similar to ours, science is continually providing a better understanding of how a dog’s brain works.
The way that emotions are processed in the brain is probably where the emotional experience of our species differ. Because the cortex of the human brain is five times bigger than a dogs, we experience emotions on a far more advanced level. To put it simply, when a dog feels an emotion, it’s a simpler, purer emotion, not complicated by a complex mixture of human thought process.
So many dogs live a life where their needs are not met, but have owners that insist on a quick fix to change an unwanted behaviour. Behaviour shouldn’t be looked at independently or singled out as a particular problem that needs to be fixed without first looking at whether the needs of a dog are being met. When needs are met, a dog’s emotional state will change, which will in turn bring about positive changes in behaviour.