Shore Veterinary Behavior Solutions, LLC

28/05/2024

26/04/2024

Yeah, Jackson is a kewl guy!

06/04/2024

Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal condition caused by parasitic worms living in t

09/03/2024

This is a great visual aid!!

03/03/2024

For that little old widow sitting home with many many cats… this one is for you!

So many questions! 😂

31/01/2024

And justice is done!!

Can’t stop progress.

31/01/2024

OMG, this is so important. Sophia Yin was a master of animal behavior and a gift to veterinary medicine. I would search out and read or watch anything that she produced!

Never grab your dog's mouth or forcefully take items from them!

22/01/2024

Love it 😆

21/01/2024

Why we avoid ball chasing! 🚨

Some dogs will keep bringing the ball back to you until they keel over if not stopped. Have you ever wondered why this is?

The answer is in the hormones released. Chasing and catching a ball taps into the dog's predatory sequence, and causes the brain to release adrenaline for a prolonged period of time. Too much adrenalin has been known to result in heart damage, insomnia, and a jittery, nervous feeling. Alongside this, cortisol is released, the stress hormone, which increases the heart rate and has a negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing. Because it is so rewarding for the dog, a high ball drive dog will continue to perform over and over (even if they're in physical pain). Dogs are known to ignore injuries and thus make them progressively worse while playing fetch. The constant supply of adrenaline is very addictive, and dogs who play fetch a lot will can learn to seek this adrenaline all the time. You will see a dog who is hyperactive, seeks out adrenaline driven behaviour and struggles to settle or engage in calm behaviour. While adrenaline building games are physically tiring, they're mentally exciting. If you look at, for example, mantrailing or scent work, these games release feel good - calming hormones as well as being mentally and physically tiring, in a way that is gentle on the joints.

Effects on the Muscles.

Where the ball goes after being thrown is unpredictable. In response, dogs quickly break, twist, and land in ways that can result in stress and strain on muscles that aren't equipped to handle. To make matters worse, high speeds increase the force generated in the muscle and increase the chances of injury. The most dangerous part of ball chasing is breaking. The movements necessary to stop running often result in shoulder injuries. Dogs are equipped to chase down and catch prey, once. Not over and over and over day in, day out. Contrary to popular belief, we should not physically exhaust our dogs every day- imagine if we ran and jumped to exhaustion ever day- it's not good for them!

Effects on the Joints.

The repetitive twisting, jumping and running during fetch micro-trauma to muscle and cartilage which can progress to long-term damage of the joints. Slipping on landing is common, and while dogs get up unscathed, they are actually ignoring the pain and damage caused by the fall, which again can lead to long term issues.

How to Prevent the Negative Effects of Ball Chasing!

It's okay to play fetch with your dog sometimes, if done as safely as possible and kept to a minimum. Try providing a warm up first, to reduce the risk of damage. Don't throw on surfaces which are slippy, and keep your throw to waist hight to avoid jumping. Better yet, use fetch as a training exercise, by teaching your dog to stay put whole the ball is thrown, meaning they are learning to relax around moving objects and chasing a ball which has already stopped. Find the ball or scent games with the ball are also a great alternative. Make fetch games a small part of your walk, and allow your dog to sniff and " be a dog" for the rest of it. If you have a dog who compulsively fetches, try removing balls from sight. Our border collie has all the toys she fetches away in the cupboard! Dogs can't resist if they can see them!

20/01/2024

Very helpful info

It's hard as a consumer to find a qualified, competent behavior consultant or trainer. It's buyer beware, because we are an unregulated industry so there's no real standards or even minimum qualifications to look for. My post this week gives some insight on what some of the credentials mean and what to look for, but here are some additional things to look for or do when you're vetting someone you're considering hiring.

More info on my post this week, in case you missed it!

https://rescuedbytraining.com/2024/01/15/dog-profession-titles/

20/01/2024

Very well put!

01/04/2023

very interesting information

One question I got was why does my dog eat his p**p?
Technically, eating p**p is called coprophagy, and its NORMAL behavior in many animals. Research at UC-Davis found that 16% of dogs regularly eat f***s. There was no evidence it was related to age or diet, s*x, ease of housetraining or compulsive behavior. What they did find was that these dogs were more likely to be described as “greedy eaters,” and more likely to be found in multi dog households, where you would expect a greater concentration of stools, i.e., more targets of opportunity. P**p eating in dogs is believed to date back over 15,000 years. Wolves did it (and still do).
Effectiveness of additives that claim to treat coprophagy had a success rate of between zero and 2 percent (save your money!)
You’ll have slightly better luck breaking a dog’s p**p-eating habits with behavioral training, like saying “Good dog,” and offering him a treat when he p**ps. That works in up to 4 percent of cases. Best treatment? Prevention – clean up f***s as soon as they are deposited!

25/03/2023

This is great information about changing your pet's behavior.

I often have clients that come to me after failed attempts at modifying their dog's behavior. They have either been counseled or done some research on their own and started a counter-conditioning process - their dog sees an identifiable trigger, and they feed the dog yummy treats in hopes of changing how their dog feels. They are frustrated with the limited results and either seek professional help or decide that using food in training does not work.

The truth is that pairing triggers with food is an effective behavior strategy, but only after we have addressed the following:

👉 Preventing the rehearsal of undesired behaviors: We can make great strides by manipulating our dog's environment, so they are no longer rehearsing the behavior we are attempting to modify. If we are making an effort to train around triggers, but our reactive dog is still barking each day at the window, then it will affect our progress.

👉 Meeting basic needs: This could include a vet check, more mental enrichment, setting up the environment, so your dog feels secure, or increased physical exercise. If we skip this essential step, your dog will never reach their full potential.

👉 Changing your dog's distance-creating strategy: If our dog has learned to bark and lunge at things that frustrate or concern them, we must first teach them that a different strategy can pay off. They must learn that avoidance is a viable option and trust that their person will no longer put them in situations they do not have the skill set to navigate successfully.

👉 Repairing a relationship: Behavioral challenges can be difficult and change how you feel about your dog. I often recommend taking a break from training and focusing on meeting your dog's needs while having fun. If we have management in place first, we can do that when feeling overwhelmed.

If you are making limited progress with your behavior modification plan, take a step back and focus on management, meeting your dog's needs, and press pause to remind yourself why you love your dog!

22/03/2023

even looks like fun!!

22/03/2023

This is VERY important. Retractable leashes are NOT a good way to control your dog!

Why are retractable leashes bad? It turns out that they can be dangerous for not only you, but also for your four-legged friends — here's how.

11/03/2023

This is a SUPER way to learn how to read body language. Recommended reading for both dog owners as well as those who want to be able to predict how an unknown dog may behave.

It is packed with 131 secret signals your dog is using to communicate with you (from dog body language to different types of barks and sleeping positions).This beautifully illustrated book contains little-known tips and tricks that you won’t find anywhere else.

02/03/2023

the truth comes out! believe it or not

Most people have heard the term “alpha wolf,” and imagined snapping fangs and fights to the death for dominance. The idea that wolf packs are led by an aggressive dictator is pervasive, and has unfortunately influenced the way people look at domestic dogs.

But it turns out that the alpha concept is a myth (in wolves AND dogs), and the term “alpha” has been dropped. In the wild, researchers have found that most wolf packs are simply families, led by a breeding pair, and bloody duels for supremacy are exceedingly rare.

26/02/2023

The problem is real..... and now there is help!!

Osteoarthritis in cats is a very common with 40% of all cats having clinical signs of arthritis and >90% of cats older than 12 years showing evidence of osteoarthritis and pain. Signs of osteoarthritis in cats includes weight loss, loss of appetite, depression, change in general attitude, poor grooming habits, urination or defecation outside the litter pan, reduced ability to jump on and off objects and chase toys.

There are new and effective ways to treat pain and reduced mobility in cats - ask your veterinarian.

19/02/2023

THis has some really important info. Please take a minute to read it, especially if you have puppy.

Please. For the love of dogs everywhere, stop taking everything out of your puppies mouth. You’re often creating more problems than you’re solving.

Puppies put everything in their mouths the way newly crawling or walking babies do. It’s the age of exploration and discovery and inquisitive little minds with teething little mouths means everything must be tasted. This is 100% normal developmental behavior. It shouldn’t be punished or discouraged.

When we sn**ch things out of their mouths, or chase them or grab it away from them, we run the risk of several issues, the top two being -

1. We teach our puppy that anything they have could be lost the second a human comes near, and that can very quickly snowball into resource guarding - which is already a natural behavior - but we are actually just encouraging it by validating to our puppy that they lose things when we are around. This is especially true in homes with children and toys out all the time. Then this spirals into all kinds of relationship issues down the road.

2. We can teach our puppy the best thing they can do is INHALE the item so they don’t lose it. This gets dangerous and ugly very quickly. It can also create puppies and dogs to then not even think but just grab consume.

Leaves, sticks, grass, mud, dust bunnies, socks (depending on your puppies size), shoes, all the things within reach are fair game for mouthing and chewing on. And yes, I let my puppies explore them all. Their teeth and jaws at this infantile stage aren’t going to do extreme harm to an item right now, so go head and feel what a shoe sole feels like, get it out of your system. If I don’t want certain things explored, I keep those things out of reach, end of story. Management and supervision is key to safety at this age. Baby gates, playpens, even only pottying in areas of the yard where there’s no gravel. The ONLY things I will readily tackle my puppy over is medicine and/or broken glass. Everything else, even if it’s something I truly don’t want them to have, like a pair of underwear or a doll, I take my time in retrieving it, but more often than not, the puppy will spit it out anyway and move on to graze on the next thing they can find, especially if I toss something more interesting nearby. (Drop that stick to come chase this leaf on the ground)

The majority of puppies will explore the item with their mouth, shred it if they can, then move on to something else to repeat this process with. IF they consume any of it, it’s usually very minor and they will p**p it out later. We have to remember dogs have been existing for 18,000 years, 80% of them still living the way they always have, and going through this stage just fine, our human interventions are not always needed, even though we mean well and are trying to help.

Of course there are exceptions to this, and in those cases we have other solutions, but the majority of puppies I see exploring with their mouths DONT a need hands constantly grabbing them and removing it out of their jaws. If you find yourself doing that all the time, it may be on YOU to manage the environment better!

This process combines with the work we teach in all our puppy classes of having a puppy HAPPY to have you approach them when they are enjoying something in their mouth. We call it the “exchange game” where we teach how to trade. But we also teach the puppy we don’t always take it away either. This helps puppies feel safe in letting you take something from them by learning they won’t ALWAYS lose it.

So, long story short, let your puppy - puppy. Grab a leaf, lay in the grass and shred it. Then find a stick to chew on. We have to get better at picking our battles with dogs if we are both as a species going to enjoy our time together.

Editing this post to add - I’d hope it would be obvious but apparently it’s not, so please know in no way shape or form am I encouraging or saying it’s okay to let your puppy chew or mouth dangerous objects or to leave them unsupervised in places that may have serious objects in them. Environments have to be managed just the same way they are for babies, as I mentioned above, and puppies/dogs need to be supervised. I am however, stating that we have to stop helicoptering around puppies that are just being puppies in order to help alieviate some of the behavior problems that develop from not the managing itself; but the micro managing.

15/02/2023

Basket muzzles are excellent training tools. They fit comfortably, allow dogs to drink and take treats, and make it safer and easier to walk dogs with some aggression issues.

We love this handsome sweetie! Pumbaa can be fearful and overwhelmed seeing people he doesn't know. He is very comfortable wearing his basket muzzle which allows him and his person Kamryn to safely takes walks. Muzzles are just like wearing a bike helmet when we mountain or road bike - comfortable for the dog they add a layer of safety that protects everyone if something unexpected happens!

11/02/2023

great ideas

08/02/2023

Let's face it, we ask our dogs to do a bunch of stuff that, at best, doesn't seem logical and, at worst, goes against their genetic grain. It doesn't seem logical for an opportunistic scavenger to wait for their dinner or lay on a mat while a turkey sandwich is on the counter. It doesn't seem logical for an athletic species that navigate their world via their nose to "wait" at the door or come to you when called in an open nature area. It is a big ask for a drivey, working breed or an adolescent dog to walk on a six-foot line with a loose leash at a slow human pace.

These are all expensive behaviors that require a paycheck if we want them to remain consistent. Here are some reasons why you should be paying your dog for behaviors:

👉 Behaviors that are paid become more reliable. There is a link between behavior and responses. We know that behaviors followed by a desirable outcome will increase in strength, whereas those followed by punishment decrease in strength.

👉 It is a deposit in your dog's trust account. Dogs are aware of the times you are being stingy! They will keep track of the beautiful recalls that didn't get paid or meant that they got called in from a fun activity. Training is a team event that should promote healthy communication and a sense of trust.

👉 The dog (not you) gets to decide what is reinforcing. If you are using praise to reward your dog for walking with a loose leash, but they cannot remain focused, then your dog is telling you that happy talk will not cut it. Audition and identify what your dog finds reinforcing and match it to the task's difficulty level.

07/02/2023

excellent demonstration of body language

07/02/2023

great easy to understand lessons!!

01/02/2023

Tuesday's Pearl (actually a Mini-Pearl...groan, I know, but I hope at least one of you gets it :)):

If you live with two or more cats who get along well, and one of them passes away, don't assume that the remaining cat(s) "need" a friend to replace the one they've lost. That relationship can't be recreated any more than our own relationships with the people we miss.

The best way to bring more than one cat into a home is to adopt them at the same time. All cats are certainly social, but they do *not* easily absorb unfamiliar cats into an established social environment. Bringing a new cat into an established cat home, especially when the household cat is elderly, can backfire with spectacular stress.

01/02/2023

Does your dog act like this? I can help!