https://www.facebook.com/221710384837779/

Wintegrity K9, 7401 De Mello Lane, Vacaville, CA (2024)

10/10/2024

Update: Pepper and I have worked really hard to get to the point where she feels safe to lay in front of me. My leg legs are the ones in the black pants her mom is further away and she chose to be closer to me. I have reinforced that choice with a ton of treats over the last hour.

It took me a long time to earn that trust and the last thing I want to do, is lose it. Trusting me is a huge part of helping pepper live a more joyful life in our urban environment where vet visits and people are a normal normal thing.

If I had reached out and quietly her back, I would've broken that trust. It is very invasive to touch somebody who has not expressed that they are comfortable with that in your relationship. If she wanted to touch me she would've laid against me, she did not. There is a definite safety zone between us that I would have to cross to pet her.

When a dog wants to be pet they can communicate that by forming their body into a sea shape and putting the curve against your body. So the outside of the curve would be pushed against you. When you choose to pet them in that position, I highly recommend you pet for three seconds and stop and see if they reengage.

It's fairly simple if you think about how you would like to be treated. If I go to somebody and meet with them for an hour or three or four times I may get to the point where I feel comfortable sitting next to them on the couch. If I had never met them before I have probably been sitting with one seat cushion between us or perhaps on the loveseat while they sat on the couch. But once I've gotten more comfortable I might sit on the cushion right next to them . That would not be an invitation to put your hand on my knee. It would not be an invitation to give me a hug. Humans can convey what they would like as far as relationship and touching verbally. With dogs we need to read their body language and the history of our relationship with them is an important contributor to understanding what that language is translating to.

With this particular dog if I had gotten super excited and made noise or movement that also would've destroyed the small amount of trust we have built. It's important to let the dog lead the relationship when we're doing remedial work or behavior modification.

Imagine going to Therapist for the first time or the third or the fourth and you've talked about a few things that you want to work on. At the fourth visit they jump in with "hey let's talk about that issue that caused our ptsd, I know blank happened, I want to hear all about it." that would be incredibly insensitive and invasive on an emotional level. When I'm working with the dog I am looking at three aspects. Where are they mentally? As in what do they want to learn? How engaged are they? Where they at in their ability to process and understand information and move forward? Mentally today we had a huge breakthrough and that I could do hand targets with pepper and she happily jumped in and put nose in my hand. Mentally she was engaged and ready to move forward. I also look at the physical, where this physically and their ability to be near me and do things with me? Today Pepper was willing to walk over my legs and reengage with me over and over even when I toss treats 10 feet away she ran back to repeat the game. She was feeling much more confident with me today. Then I look at the dogs emotions. Is she approaching and retreating? What is her body language telling me? It's very easy to suck a dog in physically by luring with a treat but you can have severe emotional conflict I want this treat really badly, but it's awfully scary to be over here and it's actually making my fear worse.

This is often demonstrated by dogs that are doing what we call sharking. This is when a dog grabs the treats out of your hand almost biting you and sometimes they do get you because they are so anxious or aroused by what's happening.

Our hotdogs were too much for Pepper to work with from an emotional perspective. Physically it looked great because she was running back and re-engaging and re-engaging, if I only looked at the physical and mental I would've thought I was doing a good job because she was willing to work with me and stay close. But the truth was she was sharking because she was experiencing emotional conflict. So we downgraded the value of the treat. We went to a simple Dog biscuit that yes she wants and she was willing to work for but it removed that arousal level that was too high and allowed her to engage and process slowly which put her in a place where she could learn and build trust with me.

There is so much that goes on when we are working on behavior cases. You guys did an awesome job answering the question and I can't say how proud I am of you for taking the time to with me on this question but also for your amazing answers.

Today I received a great compliment.

Pepper chose to lay down by me after our 4th lesson and extensive work with me today.

There is a huge mistake most of us would make in this moment.

Who can guess what it is? Post in comments and I will come back so we can chat about it.

09/30/2024

I love this picture.

I love it because it shows harmony in our home living with both people, cats and dogs.

Every individual in our home has a different personality.

We try hard in this house to respect each other and allow us all to live the life that makes us happiest without harming others.

There are things you don't see in this picture. You don't see our two cats. SamSam at 14 is asleep and his favorite humans bed. Eagle Scout is outside enjoying the sun.

On the human side both kids are at school and Ray is at work. Of course I'm home to take the picture.

You also don't see Alex in this picture. He is our male Russell terrier. Alex is a daddy's boy through and through. Daddy sleeps in his master bedroom and that has Alex is happiest he loves being in the bedroom with his toys and the giant bed he gets to call his. This might be something that's hard for a lot of people to accept, perhaps they want all their dogs to sleep in the same area or hang out in the same area during the day. But Alex goes to the door and asks to go inside. In human terms he's a bit of an introvert.

Then we come to this picture. What I love about it is how completely each animal is doing exactly what they like and they have the freedom to do that.

The Golden Retriever, Sam, enjoy the wire crate but absolutely does not like a solid crate like a rough land or Varikennel. She loves her expen with plenty of room to play with food toys and stretch out. She is super sweet and doesn't have a dinner to tell the other dogs when she's done playing. So she will head to her expen and wait for me to close the gate. Then she can rest and relax without all the attention of a rambunctious Red and White Irish Setter.

Daisy is next in a Ruffland crate. Daisy is a dog that loves a soft bed and at night she sleeps in bed with her owner but during the day she wants to be part of whatever's going on in the front area of the house. She also prefers an opportunity to let her know she'd like to rest or chew her bone and goes into her crate whenever she would like to do that. Track her husband taught that when somebody is in their crate we give them privacy. We are not allowed to stick her head in somebody else's crate and still things or beg them to come out and play.

Last in the picture is Tracker. At night he sleeps in his favorite boys bed but during the day he really wants to be a part of whatever is happening in the house. He also happens to love the woodstove when it's running and has chosen to steal my chair and his absolute favorite place to rest during the day. He will chew his bones in that chair and that is a place where his off switch works beautifully. Tracker is a high energy dock but he has been taught when he lays down in that chair wonderful things happen like bones being delivered to you.

This morning I walked over to the jar to pick out some Red Barn Bully Slims and all of the dogs immediately ran to their respective favorite places.

Then hand-delivered each dog a yummy chew and left them to it so I could go do the things I need to do.

This photo makes me so happy because it shows a household living in Harmony every single member of the family is having their needs met, is peaceful and happy.

To me this is the joy of the partnership between humans and animals. To me this is a life well lived for all of us.

09/29/2024

Let's talk about this post by a veterinarian has been practicing for 30 years.

First I want to say I work with and get referrals from about 14 veterinarians in Solano and Yolo County. They are amazing people and professionals who pursue continuing education and stay abreast of changes in behavior theory. They attend conferences to learn more about behavior and they peer reviewed studies to understand what we are learning as science and advances in the behavior field.

I am going to guess this person is frustrated by the changes and behavior he sees in some dogs and their owners who don't know how to address those challenges.

30 years ago when he started practicing we did not have the rescues that we do today. We did not have the shelter population that we do today. We did not have Puppy mills. Most of the dogs you saw were either backyard bred dogs that ran around the neighborhood which provided a measure of temperament testing. Think about it if the dog chased somebody's Livestock or bit somebody's child the dog was culled. Your other dogs were provided by reputable breeders for the most part. The demand for dogs was nothing like it is today. Many dogs were more resilient, because they had to be. They were treated almost like robots. Those that were not resilient were culled. We still see that today. Dogs should do what they're told, when they're told, the way they're told. If you think about it some people still believe that about women and children.

Many of the dogs coming out of backyard breeding, rescues, shelters and Puppy mills have two strikes against them. Genetics and environment. They were not genetically bred to have sound temperaments. Their environment, from the time they were born until they end up in somebody's hands who tries to do their best, was not sufficient to prepare them to live life without fear of the things in our modern world.

The biggest red flag for me is the veterinarian's statement regarding clients who are petting and comforting their dog when the doctor walks in and the dog growls. This veterinarian, this professional, does not have enough behavior knowledge to understand you cannot reinforce an emotion. Growling is caused by an emotion, we want our dogs to growl. The growl is communication.

Imagine walking into a house and the family dog doesn't say anything just stands there. You walked up to the dog and suddenly! Without warning the dog bites you! That is what happens when you punish the growl. When you walk into that same home and the dog growls at you, you are given the information you need to be cautious , assess the situation, and keep yourself and the dog safe. Sadly this veterinarian doesn't understand that.

He goes on to say that the dog shouldn't have that reaction in an exam room when nothing bad is happening to him.

Yet it does not discuss at all how this dog was raised? What has happened to the dog previously in an exam room? Or any understanding of learning theory related to bad experiences.

Think about it this way. If you got mugged in aggressive manner and you were walking down the same street and saw somebody dressed in the same type of clothing come towards, you how would you feel? If it were me, I would turn around and go a different direction, I might say something like I'm really uncomfortable I'm going to back up please don't come close to me I've had a bad experience, I might just turn and run. But if I were alone or restrained on a leash and couldn't choose to leave I might just say something Really loudly, I might just growl.

You see this doctor doesn't take into consideration behaviors that dogs do to keep themselves safe. Dogs are creatures that will leave a situation they are not comfortable in. But when you're in an exam room and on a leash you don't have that option. How would you react?

I can't say to my dog, yes I know last time we came here got poked in the butt with a needle multiple times and it hurt like hell, or you had an ear infection and they messed with your ear and it hurt like hell, but today You're here for them to see you because it's a basic exam, we're not doing any treatment so you don't need to be scared. I'll be honest with you, my daughter is 16, as a young child she had many hospital stays and visits and she is afraid of needles as a result. She gets panicky when at the doctor and a needle is going to be involved. Here's the difference. I can explain all of this to her in the language she understands. I can't do that for the dog.

For my dog I have to build up a relationship of trust, I need the people working with my dog to have the same care and concern for their emotional well-being that I do. That way we can partner and helping dogs learn in a kind respectful manner that the world is not so scary.

I can tell you as a victim of violent crime that 40 years of therapy, being surrounded by amazing people, reading every book I can find on the subject, does not take away the fear. I still get triggered. If I, who have put in so much work to overcome my fears can't do it completely, why would I think that somehow Dogs or anything is capable of completely eradicating their fear in some situations?

In the next paragraph this doctor discusses the fact that dogs are dogs and humans are humans so we shouldn't treat them like a small child. He has completely forgotten about cognitive ability and the basic rules of behavior which tell us that behavior is behavior across all species.

What he is really telling you, is that although I'm sure he loves dogs, he sees them as less than. Less than deserving of compassionate care. Less than deserving of respect for their physical being. Less than deserving of kind treatment at the veterinary office to build confidence and trust. Less than deserving of consent to treat them

He's absolutely right behavior problems and dogs are increasing. There are many factors that contribute to that challenge.

We have more dogs than ever being produced by people without the knowledge to breed them intentionally to have sound temperaments and bodies. This means we have more dogs than ever who are genetically not happy go lucky dogs and who physically have alements that hurt. Dogs that are in pain are going to have a lower threshold for tolerance. Very similar to how when you're in pain you are not quite the mom, Wife, or Friend you strive to be. If you don't believe me ask my husband or kids what I am like when I'm in pain.

This doctor is most likely no longer treating labradors, well bred , cockapoo's, and other breeds that were bred to be fairly mild mannered. There has been a tremendous movement toward fat dogs by the pet owning population. Anybody look at the number of Malinois being bred right now? we have mixes coming into Rescue that are dogs that are bred to be independent thinking, and willing to stand in the face of danger to protect their flocks. To stand up to lions, literally lions. And we have mixes showing up in shelters and purebred that are badly bred of these extremely strong powerful breeds bred people without any knowledge at all showing up at shelters rescues and pet owning homes who don't have the knowledge to handle the dog.

Dogs have more mental illness than ever before, three thoughts on this, first of all in the past those dogs would've been disposed of, they would've been culled from any breeding program. Many breeders in today's world instead of doing that sell them to pet owners, the very people who aren't experienced enough to deal with it.
Instead of disposing of the dogs that have challenges shelters and rescues do what we call abdicate responses ability by outsourcing euthanasia. This means they take a dog that's too aggressive to adopt out of their shelter and in the state of California they are required to allow rescues to take those dogs deemed too dangerous to adopt out of their shelter for liability reasons. Dogs are then adopted out to the general public by the rescue.

We have to demand that dogs with serious behavior challenges not be adopted to the general public because it puts all of us at risk, including our veterinarians.

third dogs are developing behavior challenges because their needs aren't being met. The world and our society have changed tremendously and we are not equipped to meet the needs of dog is supposed to be watching over flock of animals to keep them safe. We are not equipped to go hunting every weekend to satisfy the needs of our field. And I could list more needs. So we have developed things like enrichment and sports that can be done in urban environments to help these dogs lead happy lives. This veterinary did not address at all these dogs are not getting that are going to have behavior problems because they're crawling out of their skin with energy and mental need to do something if we don't provide with the dogs we cannot be surprised that they have trouble living in our society.

This veterinarian wants your dog to walk into the clinic Happy, controlled and willing to stand there and tolerate whatever procedures need to be done.

I want to take my dog to clinic staff is willing to work with me to help my dog develop confidence and trust and offers options when we have to do procedures that are going to be emotionally traumatizing and or physically traumatizing to my dog so that we can have the least negative long term emotional impact possible.

I'm sure you have figured out by now that means I would never go to this veterinarian.

09/23/2024

The many places today Sam visited. The courthouse filing office, the waiting area, the paperwork processing area, Costco, Happy Tails Animal Hospital, ( I was there on other business, Sam is fine) Burger City for lunch.

09/21/2024

This sweet thang.

A couple weeks ago I was asked to help this dog. He is 7 months old and had gone from loving the world to reactive to outside people and dogs. He also became fearful at family members and friends who he previously liked and who visit his home often.

Last weeks lesson he was in his crate when I arrived and was loud and scary for about 40 minutes.

I worked with him in the crate ( protected contact) and then released him. He was fearful, coming forward then jumping back. We used techniques that room the pressure to interact with me off the dog. We gave him choice in our interactions. We spent 20 minutes then he was crated and I left.

This week I arrived and entered by the front door near his crate. Last week we used the garage door to reduce the trigger.

I sat down and he was released. In just a few minutes he was a soft silly puppy, curled in a c shape asking for pets, and I pet him and stopped and he asked again and repeat. He then became my best friend and this pic showing his head resting on my chest for ear rubs was joyous for both of us.

Why the quick change? His mom reached out as soon as he had his first nip.

She did not wait until he got worse, she is amazing and proactive and that has made this 7 month old pups journey to being his best joyful self so much easier!

He has done better all week with visitors and we have lots more to work on.

This is why I love my career. Thank you to his mom for inviting me into your lives to be part of the joyful journey.

09/18/2024

Am I seeing double?

I teach a class that encompasses everything from basic obedience, CGC testing, conformation showing, and anything else we can think of to discuss regarding dog language, breeding ethics etc.

This week everybody brought two dogs lol

Enjoy the Cairn Terriers, Border Terriers and Bassett hounds.

09/17/2024

This post is directed at all the dogs out there in Facebook land better known as dog book.

It is 931 at night. It is imperative that I go to the restroom with my mom to keep her safe, but why did she go so late? Don't these humans realize they're interrupting our beauty sleep? How am I supposed to be a happy go lucky dog when I'm woken up in the middle of the night to keep her safe in the bathroom?

It's a ruff life I lead.

Alex, The Russell Terrier

Wintegrity K9

10/10/2024

09/30/2024

09/29/2024

09/23/2024

09/21/2024

09/18/2024

09/17/2024

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Other Dog training in Vacaville