My Hero Dog Training (& Sports)

06/24/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/AKkTQ1QJWL5QVysF/

06/24/2024

I haven't found a dog who doesn't LOVE these treats.

06/24/2024

06/21/2024

Progressive dog behaviour modification utilises positive reinforcement to modify behaviour by breaking down activities into small achievable steps and rewarding the desired behaviour with verbal praise, treats, toys or other rewards.

Rather than punishing undesired behaviour, this approach emphasises gradual learning through rewards. Punishment is an ineffective long-term strategy for training as it often leaves dogs fearful, aggressive and lacking trust in their owners.

In contrast, positive reinforcement encourages desirable behaviours in the future by providing rewards such as treats or toys when they obey instructions well. This helps strengthen the bond between dog and guardian while providing a safe environment where learning can take place without fear of punishment.

Reinforcement strengthens behaviours by making them more likely to recur over time; for example if a dog is regularly rewarded for comming when called then they will become increasingly likely to come when called due to the reward reinforcing this behaviour. Reinforcing wanted alternatives can also help reduce undesirable behaviours; e.g., rewarding alternative behaviours like sitting rather than jumping on humans may result in less jumping occurrences overall over time.

06/21/2024

06/21/2024

06/21/2024

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The wolf never eats corpses, neither animals, nor people; it spends its whole life with a partner, it does not mate with its mother or sister; it is a monogamous animal, it does not deceive.
If a partner dies, the wolf remains alone; it knows its young ones well: it is the only animal that helps their parents after deep old age and brings them food.
When you kill a wolf, it looks you in the eye until its soul gives out; it's 25% smarter than the smarter dog, and it's the only animal that doesn't obey training, they say...
*sometimes the bad thing in the movie is not how they portray it

06/19/2024

Trainer Tip Tuesday:

06/19/2024

LETTING GO OF THE LABEL
People love to label things - from containers to personality types, physical or mental differences and everything in between.

Why do we like labels so much? Labels are comforting, they help us to feel more secure.

Labels allow us to close that particular “box”, because it now has a label and we no longer have to think about it or be concerned about it.

It’s been judged, identified, labelled and we can now move on, confident in the belief that there’s nothing more to be done.

We may also be very good at labelling dogs. My dog is stubborn, aggressive, lazy, shy, timid, greedy, jealous, untrainable…. It’s comforting for us to assign a label because it takes the pressure off trying to find out why they behave that way because we might believe that it’s just the way they are.

If we remove the label and take note of the behaviour in context and the circumstances or environment it’s happening in, we may realise that our dogs need our help to cope, not our labels.

Look into what can be done to improve or change that behaviour if it's something you’d like to change.

Sometimes a label does fits, it’s just the way it is and we need to accept that, but sometimes labels hide the need to look beneath the surface and discover what the real cause of that behaviour is.

06/19/2024

I have many experts here that would agree 🤣

06/15/2024

06/15/2024

Teach your dog tricks - it will teach your dog obedience, build your relationship and IS FUN for both you and your dob!

Roni & Rhythm are following in Adrian & Hurricane's footsteps! The dancing dog duo performs to "California Dreamin'" by Sia.Watch AGT Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC...

06/15/2024

𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗜 𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗥𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗔 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗬 𝗖𝗔𝗥

The dog was being walked on a pavement next to a road....

On a retractable lead

The dog suddenly leapt into the road

Luckily due to my lightning reflexes ⚡ I swerved my car just in time

Thankfully there was no other vehicles coming towards me in the opposite direction. Thankfully as I was able to swerve rather than suddenly brake I avoided the possibility of the car behind colliding with mine

There could have been 1 dead dog, a devastated owner, a traumatized me (and other driver) and two damaged cars. All because someone chose to use a retractable lead next to a road

I'm shaken

The owner got angry with his dog and gave it a big tug with the lead and shouted. I understand the frustration, especially when a dog that usually keeps to the pavement suddenly does the unexpected, but the dog didn't deserve a telling off because the dog was just being a dog

This could have been avoided by clipping the dog onto a short lead

Now I'm not against retractable leads unlike most dog professionals. I do actually think they a few specific and appropriate uses. But we must put safety first and consider others around us

A retractable lead is not the right lead choice while walking along the pavement. If you use the extension of the lead in an open area then you need to carry the retractable lead with you, and attach your dog onto a short lead while you walk to that destination.

PLEASE if you use a retractable lead, you need to do a quick risk assessment. Is the environment an appropriate place to use this lead? What could go wrong? If you are near a road then the answer is no and you could be risking your dog's life

There are people that will be reading this that will think it won't happen to them and that I am being dramatic. Surely nobody thinks it'll happen to their dog? Nobody attaches their dog to a retractable lead, walks near a road and expects their dog to jump into oncoming traffic

I actually know two dogs that lost their lives by being hit by cars due to inappropriate use of a retractable lead. Those people didn't think it would happen to them either.

The truth is this can happen to any dog. Dogs are unpredictable, even he most 'obedient' and well trained dog. The dog I nearly hit today was simply SNIFFING something interesting in the road

No dog is a robot

Dogs get startled

Dogs instincts take over

Don't risk it. Not only is it not fair on your dog to put them at risk like this, it is not fair for road users

06/15/2024

Let's talk about this photo. It's cute, except it's not. I see a dog who cannot get up without telling the child to get off. How do you think a dog is going to do that?

The 7 Golden Toddler Dog Rules:
#1: If a dog walks away from you, you DO NOT FOLLOW.
#2: Always leave room for the dog to walk away from you.
---that right there is 90+% of dog bites eliminated---
#3: We do not climb on the dog.
#4: We do not grab or pull on the dog.
#5: We do not hit or throw anything at the dog.
#6: We do not touch the dog's food.
#7: We do not go into the dog's kennel.

I promise these are not overly difficult concepts for littles, nor will they rob a kid of their bond with the family dog. It will deepen that bond, while keeping everyone safe.

"Oh, it looks like Moose is walking away from you. She is saying she wants a break. Let's play with this instead!"

"It's Moose's dinner time! Let's give her space to enjoy her yummies."

"That is Moose's room(kennel) and only she is allowed to go in there."

"If Moose wanted a break, could she walk away from you right now? No she really couldn't. Let's move away from the play house. You can keep playing but now she can leave when she wants a break."

In conclusion, ***parent your child or your dog will do it for you, and you will not like how they do it.***

06/15/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/6DBXgv6KMtWZr5GP/

A picture is worth a thousand words...image credit International Canine Behaviorists

06/14/2024

Friday Funday with Bleu's Brothers DeXter & Jasper Today's enrichment: Reading!

06/13/2024

LOL

06/11/2024

THE LOOK AWAY
Looking away is one of the calming signals in dog body language.

Just like a hard stare or prolonged eye contact may be a sign that a dog’s about to react, looking away is meant to calm a situation down.

The head position when looking away will vary – from side to side, holding in one position or subtle quick turns are all common variations, all while avoiding direct eye contact.

I have often watched in fascination when one of my dogs uses this form of communication with an insect! Her favourite thing to do is to hunt, catch and then play with a Parktown Prawn (King Cricket).

She means them no harm (I think) and just wants to engage in a game of how high can you jump before I can catch you.

She will carefully carry the cricket in her mouth without hurting it to the middle of the garden where there are no bushes where it may escape to.

After a quick play bow (from her, not the cricket!) the games begin. The game can go on for some time and when the cricket gets tired or plays dead, she will stop playing, sit quietly, avoid eye contact and keep looking away before starting the game again.

By this time, I usually feel really sorry for the cricket, will rescue it and put it out of reach, but I think this is a good example of how she uses the body language of looking away to try to calm the situation down, even if her intentions are completely selfish! I have no idea if the cricket understands what she is trying to communicate.

Body language can be subtle and fleeting, but with careful observation and knowing what to look for most of us can learn to recognize and interpret what our dogs are saying.

It’s always important to look at the context, the situation and especially what the rest of the body is doing when deciphering this amazing language.

Being able to understand a dog’s emotional state through their body language helps us to predict behaviour, prevent potential problems or allows us to just enjoy observing their language.

06/11/2024

DO LITTLE DOGS TELL BIG LIES?

As people, we are likely completely unaware of the actual content and intention of the many messages left by dogs when they urinate.

“Pee mail” messages allow dogs to communicate their size, social status, health, gender, age, reproductive status & even their current emotional state.

This is conveyed through pheromones present in their urine, which other dogs are able to read and interpret.

Urine marking is generally a very “honest” and accurate scent-based message, but little dogs may have found a way to make this less accurate and less honest by aiming much higher than would be expected.

Many male dogs prefer to mark vertical surfaces. Releasing urine as far above ground level as possible allows air currents to carry their “mail” much further.

The higher the marking also makes it less likely that another dog will mark over it and delete or dilute the original message.

Although this is mostly seen in male dogs, I have a female miniature schnauzer that consistently performs really impressive handstands against vertical objects to pee at the park, often losing her balance and falling flat on her face in the process in her attempt to mark as high as possible.

Maybe her less than trim and slim body shape plays a part in her lack of balance.

She avoids conflict or interaction with any dog that is bigger than her probably due to her being attacked by a big dog some years ago.

I believe she is telling “lies” about her size to avoid conflict, interaction and to tell dogs bigger than her to stay away – “I am bigger and stronger than I look”

Have you noticed your little dog telling “lies”?

06/10/2024

ESSENTIAL ENRICHMENT

Imagine being kept in the same space each and every day. You know every blade of grass, every scent, every brick, every piece of fence. You have no books to read, no TV to watch, no one to talk to, no interaction with the outside world and absolutely nothing to do.

Would this situation begin to affect your behaviour and influence your emotional, mental or physical state? What about our dogs?

Many dogs live in this type of environment and yet we wonder why they develop behaviour problems, bark excessively, destroy the garden, become over excited, over aroused or maybe just shut down or sleep all day having completely lost interest in the world.

Many behaviour problems are caused by boredom, a lack of mental and physical stimulation or being confined to the same space every day.

Providing enrichment for dogs is so important for their wellbeing and really doesn’t require that much effort from us.

There are so many simple ways to provide enrichment. An online search for DIY enrichment ideas will provide lots of ideas.

Older dogs may enjoy a ride in the car, sitting at a window watching the world go by, bringing the outside in – sticks, cones, grass etc. from different areas placed in a box for them to rummage through and smell, dinner in the park, or even just playing some doggie music will make a difference.

“Chronic inescapable boredom can be extremely aversive, and under-stimulation can harm neural, cognitive and behavioral flexibility.” - A biological perspective on animal boredom and suggestions for its scientific investigation by Charlotte Burn - The Royal Veterinary College

Here are some links for enrichment ideas -
Enrichment ideas by Laura Gendron
https://missbehaviortraining.com/blog/diyenrichment

DIY boredom busting toys by Luke Balsam
https://wunderdogmagazine.com/care/awesome-diy-dog-toys-our-dog-trainer-made-some-boredom-busting-toys-and-you-can-too/

Link to a free introduction on ACE free work by Sarah Fisher -
https://animalcentrededucation.teachable.com/p/watch-this-space

06/09/2024

Enrichment on walks is a great way to provide mental and physical stimulation for your dog while also making walks more enjoyable for both you and your furry friend. Here are some ideas for enrichment on walks:

Sniffing: Allow your dog to stop and sniff interesting smells along your walk. Sniffing is a natural behaviour for dogs and can provide mental stimulation and enrichment.

Obstacle Course: Use natural elements in your environment, such as logs or rocks, to create an obstacle course for your dog to jump over or weave around. This will provide physical and mental stimulation.

Hide and Seek: Hide treats or toys along your walk and encourage your dog to find them. This will provide a fun and stimulating game while also reinforcing positive behaviours.

Change of Scenery: Vary your walking route and explore new areas with your dog. This will provide mental stimulation and new sights, sounds, and smells for your dog to investigate.

It is important to always prioritise your dog's safety during walks and to be aware of your surroundings.

06/07/2024

The dogs LOVE the homemade, organic treats!!

06/07/2024

Intro to Obstacles and Handling 1 students at their fourth class. They are amazing!!

06/04/2024

❤️🐶