ACUITI: Achieving Canine Understanding In Training Interactions

20/04/2024

Is telling your dog when he has done the right thing all you need for training?

16/04/2024

Waiting is a skill, we as adult humans get frustrated with long queues and wait times.

For our dogs, it’s a skill that needs to be mastered too and we can help support the process by making the waiting just as reinforcing as the going.

26/03/2024

So many people say they’d love a Dougal.

Yet don’t want to invest in the *thousands* of hours of training and partnership. Or listen to their dog’s conversation - sometimes we ARE wrong. 😏

My relationship with the is because I work on it daily (sometimes in the tiniest of increments).

22/03/2024

Whoops… training should be happening all the time (or it’s a waste of time)!

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

20/03/2024

The beach is a marvelous place! Juno and I walk there together nearly every morning.

But this morning my heart broke a little.

First, we passed a few very frustrated dogs who were barking incessantly at their humans. They had a stick or ball and they wanted to play while their person ignored them the entire walk (from what I could see).

Second, we saw more than one dog whose human only engaged with them when they did something their human didn't want them to do. And thus, the only engagement they had with their human was "getting told off."

🐾 Dogs are social animals. They want to engage, and play, and be heard. You cannot expect them to just go off and entertain themselves. That's a completely unrealistic expectation in most situations.

🐶 If you are worried about too much fetch having an impact on their joints, okay! I get it! However, some fetch isn't detrimental to most dogs. Have a little play and teach a cue to signal when you are done and move on to something else that is also fun. If the beach is too difficult of an environment for that, try walking somewhere else!

🙈Don't ignore your dog when they are trying to communicate. Acknowledge them, validate their feelings, and give them some viable alternatives!

🐾 Alternatives? Yes! Alternative behaviour options for alternative ways to engage with you and alterative ways to gain some reinforcement! Up on stumps, spin, touch, search, dig for treats, weave through your legs, whatever they like to do with you!

🐶 Think about it, why would they ever engage with you at your request when it's so unpleasant? Make sure you have fun together

🐩 Bored dogs will seek boredom busting behaviours. If you give them some (public) appropriate activities to do, they won't make up their own activities that end up in you grumbling at them! Can you imagine always getting in trouble for things you didn't know were inappropriate to begin with?

**This does not mean they have to stay focused on you the entire walk! If they want to stop and smell the poo, roll in dead things, dig a hole, or run some zoomies, let them be! Maybe they want to amble along or stop to watch the seagulls bicker. Maybe they are busy enjoying sniffing the sniffs. There are lots of different things to do on a walk together.

And, everyone is different. Some dogs prefer doing their own thing for the most part (just make sure it's not because you are no fun). Some prefer social interactions. They will all have their own preferences about how they would choose to spend their time given the opportunity.

Here are some fun things to do to stay engaged with your dog:

1. Urban parkour: Up, through, under, and around various obstacles.

2. Play with them! Juno loves a good game of chase or tug (though I am not nearly fast enough).

3. Stop and have a snuggle. We often will stop at a bench or log on the beach, and have a little scratchy time. Sometimes she wants to snuffle around the sand and do her own thing. Provided she isn't raiding someone's picnic, go for it!

4. Play in the waves

5. Investigate new things together. "Hey, look at this weird giant barnacle, Juno!"

6. Let them ask for treats. If Juno is so inclined, she may come up and bop her nose on the back of my leg and I toss a couple of treats for her to sniff out.

7. Treat scatters in the grass

8. Communication. Me: "Want to go this way?" or "Which way from here?" Juno: stops and turns in the direction she would like to go (with or without me asking). We go that way. Usually. If it's not a good option, I just say, "not today!"

9. Stop and meet up with some dog friends!

10. Go for a coffee and play "spot the people." Every person she sees walk in wins her a treat (she usually gets bored of that game after a while).

11. And one important one, stop and wait when they stop to smell or roll or say hello to another dog. Even off lead. I might not stand and hover quite the way I would when they are on lead, but I don't just walk kilometers away staring at my phone, either.

My point is, walks are about the two of you spending time together as much as they are about sniffing, peeing, pooping, decompressing, exercising, watching, and learning. Being on my phone and ignoring them isn't what I would do when walking with any friend, dog or human.

14/03/2024

It’s easy to blow past a potentially frightening experience during a training session and push on, but that can have problematic and long-lasting consequences! Here’s a great example of how to respond when things don’t go as planned.

12/03/2024

25/02/2024

"Among the many studies supporting positive reinforcement, arguably the starkest example was a study with veterinary behaviorist Theresa DePorter, DVM, based in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, who worked with a local dog trainer who used aversive training methods in his puppy classes. After one year, an astounding 38 percent of the puppy class grads were rehomed, surrendered, or euthanized. After two years, over half (60 percent) of dogs were rehomed, surrendered, or euthanized.

Dr. DePorter then persuaded that same trainer to offer positive-reinforcement classes and instructed him on how to do so. The five weekly in-hospital puppy socialization classes were for pups ages 7 to 12 weeks. This wasn’t a typical tiny study of a pawful of dogs; she followed 519 puppies for a year. And one year later, 94 percent of dogs remained in homes, compared to aversive training in which over a third of puppies were rehomed, surrendered, or euthanized a year later."

https://fearfreepets.com/dog-training-methods-matter/?fbclid=IwAR01lmT1jygMNWek6NJuMomBPnxqqQ4yVzeOILFg0ks5QeULcjCBoMOGjEM

The science supporting positive-reinforcement dog training is abundant. It's more effective and more humane than force-training. Here's why.

15/02/2024

Training using food involves so much more. There is an evidence-based plan in place.

(Edit: we learned that The Pet Behaviourist - Vanessa Ward created this infographic. Thank you, Vanessa, for this representation of the nuance of animal training!)

11/02/2024

Yes

17/01/2024

The first step to any training plan is to manage the environment to the best of your ability. Behavior change in particular is dependent on management strategies to ensure the undesirable behaviors are not practiced and perfected. Often times when I get contacted by someone about inter-household conflicts the first thing I say, before I even sign someone up to consult on the case is that the offending parties absolutely need to be kept separate until we can come up with an intervention plan. That is because I do not want the dogs or other animals in the house continuing to practice, and build the tension in their interactions that are going to make changing those feelings and underlying motives harder to change and heal.

Step One is always management, and often that can (and should) be done prior to discussing plans and programs with a professional!

11/01/2024

The pet professionals in your life should always be advocating for your animals. ❤️

06/01/2024

Management is something every trainer I know talks about - it’s one of the first conversations I have with clients. Baby gates, x-pens, leash tethers, the list goes on…

I’ve always thought I was good at finding adaptive solutions but today I walked into a lesson and was blown away by the genius of my client! Their dog is a big boy who loves to counter surf, but also struggles with being confined.

Look at this beautiful AND creative solution they came up with! This is a portable ping pong net 🤯 I am so in love with this and was so impressed with their ingenious idea.

You can find them on Amazon - get one while you can because I think this is gonna be a new trend 😂

29/12/2023

21/12/2023

There we said it…

A “friendly” dog respects the space of others, listens to corrections or avoidance behaviors from other dogs, plays equally, and doesn’t jump up on dogs or humans to say hello.

If your dog rushes other dogs and people, doesn’t listen when they’re asked to go away, pursues a dog when they retreat, jumps on, mounts, or herds others…

They are being rude. Leash them.

11/12/2023

I’m also a pro biscuit eater…… it’s a dog trainers staple lunch 😝

10/12/2023

Holiday tip!
With the fast approaching holidays where we have visitors or visit family and friends, it can be such an exciting time. And, an easy one to get distracted...we get it! We’re all in the same boat.
One important tip is to ensure that no child has access to any dogs without adult supervision! This is so important ✅ it’s ok to set out dogs up in a success station away from the festivities with a special frozen goodie! It will help decrease stress for everyone.

Depending on you dog’s comfortability levels with guests, you may or may not need a leash. For us, Bear doesn’t need a leash. But, years ago we had a dog who required more management and planning if we had a gathering. If your dogs are comfortable with guests, that’s great! If not, that’s ok too. If there are kids at the gathering as well, it. can be fun to have parent supervised activities - like having the kids help with stuffing KONGS or Toppls!

Feel free to also check out our Doggie Detective Coloring Sheets :) They’re free to download at the link in our bio. That might be a fun addition to your activity kits!

08/12/2023

Deb's talk on blind and deaf dogs was so great. While trust and safety is important for ALL of our pets, developing that special social currency with blind and deaf dogs is even more crucial for their wellbeing.

27/11/2023

21/11/2023

There is a lingering misconception that using force free and fear free methods consists of just ignoring any 'bad' behaviour and giving a dog food. The reality is that force free training is so much more than that.

It requires an understanding of the history of dogs, why they do the things that they do and how to change their behaviour. Of how to manage the dog's environment so they don't get to practice the behaviour we don't want to see while reinforcing the behaviours we do want - dogs do what works for them so reinforcing alternative behaviours makes the original behaviour much less likely to repeat.

Most of all it means having an understanding of the dog in front of us, their needs, likes and dislikes, so that we can help them with their fears or show them the behaviours their humans would like without danger of fear and pain, or of the dog becoming frustrated or scared.

13/11/2023

If we can achieve the same behavior with joy, why do it with fear?

09/11/2023

When searching for a responsible breeder keep these 10 red flags in mind. If you're searching for the perfect puppy for your family knowing these red flags in dog breeders can help you make an informed choice. With bio security issues number 1 and 2 are not always a possibility but today so many breeders to use apps to Live stream their litters to give you some peace of mind.
During National Pet Adoption Week, consider supporting our effort to put an end to puppy mills.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-put-an-end-to-puppy-mills