Pauz4Petz

20/01/2025

What is the 3-3-3 Rule for adopting a displaced dog?

27/12/2024

Barking too much?

Excessive barking is the result of boredom, anxiety, or a dog being pre-genetically deposed to barking, like hounds, chihuahuas, terriers, and herding breeds. If you own a breed known to bark, then work on redirection, give your dog a job, teach the “quiet” command, and provide plenty of opportunities for physical play and exploration.

In most cases, I don’t recommend the use of bark collars. 1) If the barking is due to anxiety, it could worsen it. 2) Aversive methods can result in redirected aggression towards people or other animals. 3) Citronella collars, aversive sound collars, and electric shock collars don’t address the underlying cause of barking and could result in other behaviors such as digging, escaping, destruction, or aggression.

17/12/2024

What’s a Snuffle Box?

It’s an easy way to stimulate your dog mentally by making a unique interactive experience with toys, textures, sounds, treats and kibble in a box. Use it instead of a bowl full of food.

You’ll Need:
1) Cardboard box – it’s best with flaps to close and fold or tape the box shut and cut an opening on top.
2) Box fillings – crinkle paper, toys, old t-shirt, pine cone, leaves, treats and kibble. Get creative and wrap a greenie in a brown paper bag, place green peas in an egg carton, smear a little peanut butter on a toilet tissue roll, put apple slices inside an old sock, carrots, and high-value (liver) treats, etc.
3) Supervision - now sit back and watch the amusement unfold.

Enrichment activities are essential for keeping dogs happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated.

07/12/2024

Free fun for dogs! **Update: We have enough players right now, if you want to join, I'll start a list of backups.

05/12/2024

Maybe you have a dog who has learned that counter-surfing has tasty benefits. Managing their access to counters and other surfaces like tables is essential. The more they practice the habit, the harder it will be to break. Counter-surfing is more than just annoying, it can be dangerous too. Practice management and teach alternative behaviors. For example, give your dog something else to do or somewhere else to be.

03/12/2024

What do you want your dog to do? What do you want your dog to stop doing?

There are many types of training methods ranging from adverse punishment, alpha dominance, clicker, classical conditioning, electronic tools, and relationship-based coaching. I support LIMA which is an acronym for Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive strategies. LIMA does not justify the use of punishment in place of other interventions and strategies such as differential reinforcement of an alternative behavior, desensitization, and counter-conditioning. Behavior change and learning happen when a dog feels safe and relaxed.

29/11/2024

Children often want to hug dogs around the neck and pet the top of their heads. A dog may view this as a threatening gesture rather than an affectionate one and react with a growl, snap, or bite.
Teach your child to : 1) Ask permission to approach an unknown dog. 2) Approach quietly and slowly. 3) Don’t stare at or look directly into the dog’s eyes .4) Pet the dog on the body rather than the head.

19/11/2024

Personalized coaching for you and your dog to achieve your goals. Develop your bond and build confidence. Now accepting appointments in Yuma Arizona starting 12/12/24.

Helping people build a better relationship with their dog(s).

18/11/2024

Does your dog jump on people?

Rather than coach the dog to “not” do something, coach him to do something he knows how to do that is incompatible with jumping up on you or someone else.
Your dog must have an alternate behavior on cue to accomplish this.

31/10/2024

Great book!

I was surprised and grateful that one of my books is on the list of the "14 Best Dog Training Books of 2024"!

The Other End Of The Leash was named "Best for Understanding Humans.” Thanks Spruce Pets! I’d wag my tail if I had one.
https://bit.ly/3YqGSP5

26/10/2024

Halloween hype may cause pet stress.
Before the trick-or-treating starts, put your pets in a quiet room where they will be safe from all the Halloween activity. Consider putting them in the crate with a treat-filled toy and some soft music playing in the background.

Minimize noise by sitting outside to keep trick-or-treaters from knocking on the door or ringing the bell.

Even if you are just having friends over for a Halloween party, keep your pets away from the festivities in their safe room. Masks and costumes change how people look and smell to a pet, so even familiar people may become frightening. Put a sign on the door to the safe room so your guests know it’s off-limits.

When going out trick-or-treating, leave your dog at home. Dogs can be easily excited by the Halloween commotion, and a bite or a lost dog will quickly end the evening’s fun.
(Adapted from HSUS.org)

16/10/2024

12/10/2024

**Things to avoid when looking for a dog trainer**

Trainers who guarantee their work: Qualified behaviorists and trainers will always do their best for you, but cannot guarantee outcomes, because animals have minds of their own, and another’s behavior can never be completely controlled.

Trainers whose primary methods focus on fear, intimidation, or punishment: If their recommendations involve choking, shocking, hitting or slapping your pet, confinement or isolation, this indicates little or no understanding of animal behavior.

Trainers who misrepresent their qualifications: People who call themselves animal behaviorists, even though they’re not academically trained in animal behavior.

Trainers who want to train your pet for you: Most behavior problems are a result of interactions between the animal, the owner and the environment. Giving your pet to someone else to “fix” the problem is rarely successful because these three elements aren’t addressed. Owners need to work with the animal in the home environment.

(Adapted from material originally developed by The Association or Professional Dog Trainers.)

12/10/2024

Be cautious with pet Halloween costumes -
Instead of a costume, try photoshop. If you do choose a costume for your pet, consider your pet’s personality and what type of costume they may tolerate and for how long. Masks and hats that fit around the face, for example, may be OK for the length of time it takes to snap a quick pic, but they can pose dangers and make your pet feel uncomfortable. Best to keep pet costumes minimal.

08/10/2024

Most dogs are friendly and curious about their environment, but to be on the safe side, here are some tips.

What not to do when you see an off-leash dog

- Don’t run in the opposite direction. Running will often cause a dog to chase and can create more arousal in the dog.
- Don’t scream because this will alarm most dogs and could cause agitation.
- Don’t directly look at the dog in the face.
- One of the most harmful things you can do in a tense dog situation is to get tense yourself. If you’re imagining a dog attack, you’re far more likely to make one happen if you get tense.

What you should do instead

- Remain calm without being tense. Instead of imagining the worst-case scenario, try to imagine success.
- If the encounter happens when you are walking your own dog, the most important thing to do is remain in control of your own dog. Do whatever you normally do to calm your dog, ideally, your dog will look at you and walk calmly on a loose leash. Turn slightly away from the approaching dog and calmly keep walking.
- Firmly say “GO!” and gesture with one hand away from yourself.

03/10/2024

** Canine Enrichment **

For days when it isn’t feasible to exercise your dog, there are many types of canine enrichment activities to entertain your dog. Be creative and have fun!

• Hide-and-seek: When your dog finds you, reward them with belly rubs, a treat or a favorite toy.
• Scavenger Hunt: Hide some treats in sneaky spots around the house and let your dog use their strong sense of smell to find them.
• Lick mats: Are small silicone mats with raised ridges, you can smear food on it for the dog that likes to lick food.
• Shred stuffed toys: Get child-safe stuffed animals from a thrift store and let your dog have a shred party.
• Beef Cheek Roll: Are a great alternative to traditional rawhide bones and rolls. Unlike a rawhide knotted bone, beef cheeks are less dense, made out of one continuous piece of beef cheek (rather than smaller scraps cooked together in a mold) and more digestible.
• Nature Sound Apps: Sit with your dog and play nature sounds such as waterfalls, rain, bird calls, and the wind. You can also play non-scary sounds such as windchimes. There are a lot of free apps and videos on-line to choose from.

24/09/2024

You can use treats, toys, and lots of fun things to get your dog to want to listen to you. But if you’re a good coach, you won’t need to bribe your dog with treats forever. Eventually, you can treat your dog randomly, and praise often, and the dog will still respond to the cue. The great thing is, once you understand the principles of learning theory, you can apply them to many different situations. What does coaching your dog mean for you? A happy companion who pays attention walks near you on or off the leash, sits when you ask her to sit, and hangs out politely while you enjoy a mocha with your human friends. If you aren’t sure how to accomplish this, please contact me about my services.

18/07/2024

We are still traveling in Alaska and Canada. We’ve gone on excursions not appropriate for Luna. Instead, Luna had her own fun at The Barking Lot Daycare in Anchorage and The Seward Dog Lodge. Both experiences went well , and she was very content at the end of the day. This is one of her “report cards” which came with photos of her day.