Zen Critter Animal Training

10/08/2022

I get asked a lot of questions by people. Especially when someone finds out I train dogs for a living, first thing they want to know is _______ about their own dog. Sometimes these problems are the kind that really need more than a quick couple of sentences. But often times these are issues where the primary component is a lack of management.

"My dog keeps getting into the trash, what do I do?"
Put the trash behind a door so he can't access it.

"My dog steals my shoes and chews them up!"
Put the shoes away in a closet or somewhere else the dog can't access them.

"My dog pulls SO HARD on the leash! He won't stop!"
Put the dog on a harness and long line to ensure he is safe and to stop the pulling while you work on teaching better leash skills.

And the list goes on. The first step in ANY training plan is to prevent the unwanted behavior from occurring. It is about managing the environment and access to things so you dog is unlikely to continue to perform the undesired behavior, but is more likely to engage in a desired behavior for reinforcement.

Dr. Jesus Rosales-Ruiz once said "The worst time to correct a problem is after it has already happened." Manage your dog's environment to ensure his easiest, and best access to reinforcement is through behaviors you'd like to see more of!

My house is never more tidy than when I have a puppy. 🤠

09/08/2022

02/08/2022

Progress is not always linear!🐶

Source: .studio

https://instagram.com/mounika.studio?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=

28/07/2022

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!
We expect that dogs should naturally like all other dogs and want to be friends, after all they’re the same species! Many owners have the expectation of their dog happily interacting and befriending other dogs at parks or when out walking, thoroughly enjoying the chance to engage with the same species, but the reality is often very different, leaving owners feeling frustrated and irritated and wondering what’s wrong with their dog.
Dogs are not that different from us when it comes to social preferences. As people, do we like every person we meet? Do we want to be friends with everyone with meet? Are we all social beings who love to be surrounded by people? The answer is no, but somehow, we assume that our dogs should be.
The sociability scale of dogs is influenced by early socialization and experiences, genetics, environmental factors, what they have learned through life experience and their own individual circumstances. Certain breeds are naturally more reserved than others.
Early socialization, habituation and positive experiences are vitally important and should not just stop after puppy hood, but ideally continue throughout life. A dog’s social tolerance can be improved or may even change through careful behaviour modification and management, but sometimes, we just need to accept that our dog is just not that into other dogs and that’s ok. Every dog is an individual and once we have done all we can to improve their social abilities we need to just accept and love them for who they are and never force them to be something that they’re not.

27/07/2022

REACTIVITY MISUNDERSTOOD
Reactive dogs are often misunderstood. A dog that is reacting to a situation is not trying to be difficult, they are having a difficult time coping with that particular situation and are trying their best to make the scary thing go away.
Reactivity is generally triggered by the emotion of fear. The fear of whatever is scaring them, a fear of a valuable possession being taken away or a fear of a strange person or animal coming into their territory. Anxiety, stress, over excitement, over stimulation, feeling overwhelmed, trigger stacking, or a dog that is tired, in pain or even has chronic itching will often feel irritable and may be reactive in certain situations. If their reactivity is successful in making the scary thing go away, it becomes a rewarding behaviour because it’s something that works for them and it makes them feel better.
It’s not easy to be the owner of a reactive dog. One of my dogs is reactive and I know first-hand how dogs like this can leave you feeling embarrassed, ashamed, angry or frustrated. Why do they have to be so difficult, why can’t they just behave normally? Everyone is looking at me, judging me, thinking that I’m a bad owner, have no training skills, can’t control my dog or have a vicious dog that shouldn’t be taken out in public.
As hard as it may be, we need to take the focus off how we as owners feel about their reactivity and focus on how our dogs are feeling and what is causing their reaction. Whatever it is, it’s not something our dogs can overcome on their own and we need to take steps to help them cope. Reactive dogs need compassion, understanding, management, force free, positive reinforcement interventions and decompression – (a return to a normal, more relaxed state after a period of intense stress, psychological pressure, or urgent activity). These techniques take time and patience but are so important in helping our dogs to feel safe and learn more acceptable ways of coping.
I have learnt through many mistakes, to recognise what triggers my reactive dog and take steps to either avoid those situations, provide enough distance, or provide her with an alternative choice where she feels safe and in control of her environment. There will always be unexpected triggers around the next corner that are not within our control, but doing all we can to manage these triggers has immeasurable benefits.

12/07/2022

If you have a dog with a behavioral struggle like separation related behaviors, you know it is a process to help them feel more comfortable. It takes time and patience …and sticking to the plan. That last one can be tough.

Especially when you encounter a setback. We all know that learning is not a straight line, but when you have put in a lot of hard work in and then your dog has a set back it can feel crushing.

Feel the feelings, take a break if you need to, but get back to it when you can. It is sticking to the process that will help your dog be successful in the end!

If you are feeling lost, overwhelmed, conflicted, lonely, or/and would just like someone help you make a plan, to cheer you on, and help keep you accountable, I am here for you!

19/06/2022

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.

06/06/2022

One of the many reasons people still fall for the use of compulsion training (under the guise of "balance") is that the fall out that is well documented with aversives in training is often not immediate. Particularly in the case of aggression it can take a while for that to really manifest as a side effect of compulsion training. And it often appears as a maturing adult dog turning reactive, or aggressive behaving with other dogs or strangers. Because fall out is often not an immediately visible side effect of aversive training many people convince themselves they are using compulsion the "right" or "correct" way. But the heaps of scientific papers on the subject are very clear; aversive training causes substantially increased amounts of fall out, and increases the severity of it as well.

But in case you wanted to wade into the depths of scientific inquiry here are some papers to check out: (These are a drop in the bucket but a good place to start!)

* Overmier, J. Bruce, and Martin E. Seligman. “Effects of inescapable shock upon subsequent escape and avoidance responding.” Journal of comparative and physiological psychology 63, no. 1 (1967):

*Hiby, E. F., N. J. Rooney, and J. W. S. Bradshaw. “Dog training methods: their use, effectiveness and interaction with behaviour and welfare.” Animal Welfare 13, no. 1 (2004)

*Schilder, Matthijs BH, and Joanne AM Van der Borg. “Training dogs with help of the shock collar: short and long term behavioural effects.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 85, no. 3-4 (2004)

*Blackwell, Emily J., Caroline Twells, Anne Seawright, and Rachel A. Casey. “The relationship between training methods and the occurrence of behavior problems, as reported by owners, in a population of domestic dogs.” Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 3, no. 5 (2008):

*Herron, Meghan E., Frances S. Shofer, and Ilana R. Reisner. “Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 117, no. 1-2 (2009)

* Rooney, Nicola Jane, and Sarah Cowan. “Training methods and owner–dog interactions: Links with dog behaviour and learning ability.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 132, no. 3-4 (2011)

* Cooper, Jonathan, Nina Cracknell, Jessica Hardiman, and Daniel Mills. “Studies to assess the effect of pet training aids, specifically remote static pulse systems, on the welfare of domestic dogs: field study of dogs in training.” (2013). Government report: DEFRA AW1402a.

*Deldalle, Stéphanie, and Florence Gaunet. “Effects of 2 training methods on stress-related behaviors of the dog (Canis familiaris) and on the dog–owner relationship.” Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 9, no. 2 (2014)

* Casey et al.Casey, Rachel A., Bethany Loftus, Christine Bolster, Gemma J. Richards, and Emily J. Blackwell. “Human directed aggression in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris): Occurrence in different contexts and risk factors.” Applied Animal Behaviour Science 152 (2014)

*J. J. Cooper, N. Cracknell, J. Hardiman, H. Wright, D. Mills. Open Source version of the DEFRA studies above. 2014.

*Arnott, Elizabeth R., Jonathan B. Early, Claire M. Wade, and Paul D. McGreevy. “Environmental factors associated with success rates of Australian stock herding dogs.” PloS one 9, no. 8 (2014): e104457.

* Ziv, Gal. “The effects of using aversive training methods in dogs—A review.” Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 19 (2017):

*Masson, Sylvia, Silvia de la Vega, Angelo Gazzano, Chiara Mariti, Gonçalo Da Graça Pereira, Christine Halsberghe, Anneli Muser Leyvraz, Kevin McPeake, and Barbara Schoening. “Electronic training devices: discussion on the pros and cons of their use in dogs as a basis for the position statement of the European Society of Veterinary Clinical Ethology (ESVCE).” Journal of Veterinary Behavior (2018).

*Vieira de Castro, Ana Catarina, Danielle Fuchs, Gabriela Munhoz Morello, Steafnia Pastur, Liliana de Sousa, I. Anna S. Olsson, "Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare" Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal (2020)

*China L, Mills DS and Cooper JJ (2020) Efficacy of Dog Training With and Without Remote Electronic Collars vs. a Focus on Positive Reinforcement. Front. Vet. Sci. 7:508. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00508

04/06/2022

This article examines the growing body of research indicating that reward-based training, and the subsequent absence of stress, anxiety, pain, force, and fear, may improve an animal’s ability to learn; and that aversive training techniques can have adverse effects on a dog's behavior   ...