Canine Cooperative

08/31/2024

I’m not quite sure what has happened as a society where judgement needs to be slung just about everywhere. Opinions flow as freely as oxygen. Everyone is entitled to them, but NO ONE has to listen to them. Truth of the matter is those who are screaming the loudest, usually have the least to add to a conversation.

Nowhere do I see this more than in dog training; both between professionals & private dog owners. In fact with the holidays coming to a close, how many have been shamed for training your dog? Your Uncle John bragging about how he has NEVER had to use any tools with the dogs he has had in his lifetime. Aunt Susan who comments on how CRUEL you are for having your dog place during dinner time. Your cousin Tim who grew up with dogs (that Uncle John trained) & knows everything about dog training, yet has NEVER trained a dog of his own. And finally your neighbor Cindy, who popped over for desert, who just doesn’t understand why you can’t let your dog “be a dog”.

At the end of the day, YOU are the one who lives with your dog. Teaching your dog manners is far from cruel, it’s hands down the greatest GIFT you can give your dog. Dogs who listen & are well taught are dogs who get to DO MORE things. So while your brother Mike judges your choice to have a trained dog, smile. Because your dog gets to leave their home & go on amazing adventures & off leash hiking in the woods. While their dog doesn’t see beyond their fenced in yard because they are too out of control to even walk on a leash.

08/23/2024

Aversive & Abusive are NOT synonymous. Yet there seems to be a ton of confusion surrounding this terminology.

Aversive consequences create a negative association with unwanted behavior. EVERY living being is subject to this consequence. Both nature & society set boundaries for behavior. We AVOID events which cause us discomfort.

Human Perspective-
Nature- Shake a hornets nest, get stung.
Society- Rob a bank, go to jail.

Canine Perspective-
Nature- Put your face in a porcupine, get stuck with quills.
Society- Cross an underground fence boundary, feel stimulation.

These consequences keep behavior in check based upon the laws of nature & society. The only difference when discussing training a dog is the societal consequences are manipulated by the owner.

Abusive means engaging in habitual violence & cruelty. There is absolutely NO place for this in dog training (or anywhere else) EVER. Period.

I hope this clears up any confusion.

08/14/2024

10k Giveaway: MELLO method e course along with a 30 minute Virtual Consultation!

In honor of breaking the 10,000 mark, we have a GIVEAWAY for you all! THANK YOU for supporting this journey. We really live to spread more knowledge on successful living with our canine friends!

The MELLO method E course will help you improve your relationship & communication with your dog. You will learn all of the techniques we teach dog owners who come to learn from us!

• Set up a routine to promote a healthy lifestyle balance.
• Learn how to use your leash to better communicate with your dog.
• Teach your dog how to relax & self regulate their emotions.
•Use play & mental enrichment to fulfill your dogs biological needs.

How to enter:
⭐️Must be following
⭐️Like this post!
⭐️Comment & tag two friends (in one comment) who you think would love this giveaway!

Giveaway ends on 8/21 at 12:am EST and winner will be picked on 8/23! (This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram)

08/12/2024

Do you know your level of perception?

When we say “Level of Perception” or “Working level” on the e-collar, what we mean is the lowest level of sensation that the dog (or human) feels and responds to.

The e-collar unit we use is the Mini Educator by e-collar Technologies and has sensation levels from 1-100.

The level at which to dog perceives the sensation is specific to that individual dog (or person). No 2 being feel the e-collar at the same level.

This is why we encourage our humans clients to feel the e-collar and find their level of perception, so they can understand what their dog is feeling and responding to.

Now, proper e-collar training isn’t just about putting a collar on a dog and pressing buttons at random for everything.

Once we find the dog’s individual level of perception, we then begin to teach the dog what the sensation means and how to properly respond to it to create clear communication between dog and human.

We always advise everyone who is interested in learning how to use an e-collar properly to do reach out to a training professional who can give you guidance and/or resources on how to properly introduce your dog to the e-collar as well as teach the dog and the handle how to properly use the tool to create clear communication between the dog and human.

If you are interested in learning more about how to use an e-collar to help you and your dog live a full life together, click the link in our bio to learn about our ALL IN training program.

08/12/2024

Dogs never react out of nowhere!

When we talk to owners about their dog’s reactive behavior, we often hear that people feel like their dog goes from completely relaxed to freaking out without any sign of a mood change.

But that’s never the case.

Our dogs are communicating with us and the world around us all the time through body language and if you don’t know how to recognize and interpret what your dog is saying with their body, it can feel like your dog is reacting or responding randomly.

We teach owners how to read and interpret their dog’s body language so that they can not only have a better understanding of what their dog is saying, but also so they can recognize when their dog’s mental state is shifting into a reactive state and to guide their dog into a better choice.

While mood shifts or shifts in your dogs mental state can happen very quickly, once you get good at reading your dog’s body language cues you can begin to see the reaction before it happens and start to pattern behavior change before the explosion, not after.

08/11/2024

There are many methodologies, ideologies & techniques when it comes to training your dog. For owners, it can be an exceptionally confusing experience to navigate. However the ONE aspect which should never falter while training your dog is COMMUNICATION.

E Collar training should be looked at as the “icing on the cake” of a great foundation you have created with your dog. An electronic collar does NOT solve your behavioral issues or provide a magic wand type of experience. The truth is an E Collar provides no context or direction, it only enhances it. An owner must use this tool in conjunction with this in mind.

Clear communication- E Collars allow communication with dogs through a language they already know and understand, touch. E Collars are muscle stimulators. They “grab” the muscle & pulsate them. Think of it as tapping someone on the shoulder or even grabbing them by the arm.

Reliability- E Collars create non negotiable boundaries you are able to enforce in a non confrontational & neutral way.

Off Leash Freedom- E collars allow for communication with dogs at a distance. Many collars have a range of 1/2 mile! You can feel confident in letting your dog off leash after training.

Relationship- Clear communication improves any relationship. E Collars can bridge the gap between human & dog.

07/06/2024

What’s your dog’s tail saying?

A dog’s tail carriage and movement says a lot about what’s going on in their head! Different dogs will have different tail carriages depending on where their tail naturally falls. Some dogs have long tails, short tails, curled tails or almost no tail at all!

You should know what your dogs “neutral” tail carriage is, so you can further observe when It is different. Typically, a high tail means over arousal. A low tail carriage means submissive. A tail between the legs means fearful. But all of these things will look different on a dog with a high set tail vs a low set tail. This is why it’s important to remember your dogs neutral tail carriage.

When a dog changes their body features to look larger (tail up) It usually will mean they are offensively motivated. You will need to pay attention to the rest of your dogs body language to find out if he is alerting to a potential threat, or just something interesting.

Another important thing to note is tail motion. It is a myth that a wagging tail means a happy dog. A tail that is wagging fast from side to side is typically a friendly wag. A slow side to side wag is typically not a friendly wag. A tail straight up and almost motionless indicates an alert or focused dog.

05/22/2024

Ever had that bad start to the day lead to an even worse part of your evening?

You know, you overslept. In a rush got up & stepped on your dog’s chewed Benebone (ouch! if you know, you know). No time to shower or eat breakfast. You get to work; cranky & hungry. You take a deep breath, go to the break room to get a cup of coffee. As you walk out, Linda from accounting rushes by & causes you to spill your coffee all over your shirt. Work day over, you head home.
Too exhausted to make dinner, you call for delivery... they don’t have a driver tonight. You go OFF on the person who answered the phone, telling them how unprofessional it is to not have a back up driver & hang up in a huff.

THIS is trigger stacking. While maybe none of these events separately would not cause you to needlessly explode, all of them compiled together take you way past your threshold of tolerance. The end result is blowing up at an event which normally would not illicit a response by itself.

Dogs operate similarly. Stressful events which stack themselves on top of each other cause our dogs to unnecessarily explode or have less tolerance for events that seemingly caused not reaction at all. Be aware of all the stressful scenarios your dog experiences through out the day & have realistic expectations for their reactions.

05/17/2024

Did you know that reactivity can manifest for different reasons?

It’s important to understand that reactivity isn’t a classification of dog or a final diagnosis.

It’s just a description of a certain behavior!

Dogs who practice reactivity do so because it helps to alleviate an emotional issue they are having.

The 3 most common emotions a dog tries to solve with reactive behavior are

1- Frustration
This is generally the dog who gets super excited or aroused by things in their environment and becomes frustrated when they can’t freely engage with those things. The excitement they feel in there body mixed with being restricted or restrained on leash or behind a barrier builds until the dog “explodes” or reacts on leash.

2-Fear
This dog is the one who is nervous, afraid or becomes overwhelmed by things in their environment but because they can’t move away from the “scary” and they can’t avoid it because it’s unavoidable, they “fight” it or react to it.

3-Aggressive intent
This is the dog who genuinely wants to cause harm either due to prey drive or because eliminating threats has become a learned behavior as a way to solve their emotional needs.

Understanding what drives your dog’s reactive behavior is just one piece to the puzzle to creating a successful experience with your dog.

Which emotional state do you think fuels your dog’s reactive moments?

05/17/2024

Do you want to get your dog on a paddle board with you and aren't sure where to start? Well, we've created a workshop especially for you--and your dog! Check out the deets here!

Stand-up Paddle Board workshop presented by the Canine Cooperative. This spans over two days and goes over the proper placement on the board, tips and tricks on how to safely and confidently cruise on the water.

05/08/2024

SAVE THE DATE! Canines & Cocktails workshop.

📅 June 2
📍 Kitchen & Beer Bar Haskell, NJ
⏰ 1-4 pm

Includes:
-Appetizer
-Entree
-Dessert
-2 drinks
-1:1 and group training

(Canine Cooperative clients only)

Sign up in the app! Can’t wait to see you there!

05/01/2024

When you live with a reactive dog, it’s normal to wonder “where does this behavior come from?”.

We often hear people blaming it on the breed or lack of socialization or bad genetics or a traumatic experience.

But the truth is, it can be one or all of those things.

So let’s look at how nature & nurture both can play a part in developing reactive behaviors in dogs.

NATURE- how the dog was born.

-Breed: certain breeds are genetically predisposed to have high working drive, prey drive, or predatory instincts depending on what job the breed was created to perform.

-Genetics: different than breed, weak genes can play a part in creating an insecure, defensive, or aggressive reaction in dogs. It can always affect health, cognitive functioning issues, hormonal imbalances, and overall health which can also play a part

NUTURE- how the dog was raised

-The dog’s birth mom is the first teaching the dog will have. If she was feral, skittish, shy, or reactive herself, and living in a flight or fight response for survival, that has an impact on how the dog is first introduced to the world.

-Socialization or, more commonly, the lack of, is usually the most common culprit. When a dog isn’t exposed to the world in a way that educates them on how to respond to all the random things they will encounter, being stressed by those things when they do encounter them in almost inevitable.

-Reenforcement, both from the owner and the environment can encourage reactive behavior.
When an owner rewards, pets, loves on, or unconsciously encourages a negative or reactive head space, the dog will continue to react.
As well as if a reactive moment results in something the dog is looking to resolve, the reactive moment is also reenforced.

Reactivity can stem from any combination of these things, but it’s important to remember that not matter where the dog’s behavior came from- you CAN improve it!

None of these things can keep you from having the walk or the relationship you want to have with your dog.

04/16/2024

The Canine Cooperative is looking to expand! We are offering a paid apprenticeship opportunity in order to teach the right applicant to grow with our team and learn our trademarked training methods. While previous training experience and behavior knowledge is appreciated, we are ready to coach the right individual. Must be willing to work with dogs of all sizes and temperaments.⁣
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Please send letters of interest and resumes to [email protected]⁣
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Currently searching:⁣
🐾 P/T position (approx 25 hrs/wk) ⁣
🐾 Tuesday-Saturday⁣
🐾 10-3pm

04/01/2024

Our April topic is a hot one- REACTIVITY! We know so many people struggle with reactive dogs. Stay tuned this month for all things reactivity!

Most people who have a reactive dog want to know where this behavior comes from.

It’s important to understand that reactivity itself isn’t the problem.
Reactivity is the symptom of the problem.

Your dog is behaving that way because they are experiencing certain feelings and emotions about the world around them.

They could be experiencing
- Fear
-Insecurity
-Frustration
-Anger/ aggression
-Overwhelm
-Over excitement

When your dog experiences feelings that are uncomfortable, they are going to respond to them in whatever way comes most natural to their personality and what come instinctually as a dog.

We can run from it, we can pretend it’s not happening, we can accept it, or we can chase it away.

Eventually, if your dog experiences these feelings for a long period of time without being taught how to properly respond to them, your dog will get to the “Chase it away” part.

That’s when we label it “reactivity”.

When your dog “explodes” at something or someone going by them and it causes either the person or dog to go away or it causes you to remove your dog from the situation, your dog soon learns that if they feel uncomfortable and bark, lunge, or explode at the thing that makes them uncomfortable, the uncomfortable thing will go away.

The “explosion” then is rewarded by the fact the the thing that made your dog uncomfortable is now gone which reinforces the “reaction”.

Your dog thinks “Hey, if I feel uncomfortable by something and then I freak out at it, it will go away!”

That association then becomes the lens through which your dog views the world.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on creating a healthy state of mind in every area of your dog’s life and not just as the reactivity is rearing it’s head.

Your dog needs to understand how to properly process and respond to the emotions that they are feeling so that they are better able to manage the situations that overwhelm them when they arrive.

03/23/2024

Do you know how dogs manage stress?

Understanding how dogs respond to things that cause stress or make them uncomfortable is key to successfully rehabilitating behavioral issues.

They usually respond to stress 1 of 4 ways

1. Fight- when presented with a stress trigger the dog will move forward in an aggressive manner in order to “fight off” or move the stressor away from them to gain space or safety.
2. Flight- when presented with a stress trigger the dog will choose to “flee” or run away from the stressor to gain space and safety.
3. Avoidance- when presented with a stress trigger the dog will “avoid” or pretend like the trigger isn’t there or happening in order to wait it out until space or safety can be found.
4. Acceptance- when presented with a stress trigger the dog will analyze the situation calmly and rationally and decide that all is well and safe with the world and co-exist with the stressor well.

Every dog can move into and out of each stress trigger depending on the situation and what their emotional needs are.

For example, if a dog is on leash and a trigger is moving towards the dog, the dog can’t avoid it and can’t run from it. Accepting the trigger doesn’t feel safe to the dog and so fight (reactive behavior) is the only logical option the dog has to gain space and safety.

But if the same dog is off leash and the trigger approaches, the dog may choose to run away from the trigger to gain space and safety.

Learning how dogs think and feel instinctively as a dog, especially during stressful events, can help you understand yours dogs behavior and begin to guide them into better choices.

03/16/2024

Do you know your dog’s 4 basic needs?

A lot of people know that they have to care for their dog and fulfill their needs, but most owners don’t really know what their dogs needs are outside of food, water, and bathroom.

Dogs (just like humans) actually have 4 basic needs they want met in order to feel fulfilled.

They are

Social = Time with family & friends doing things together

Emotional = Time doing things that make them happy

Mental = Challenging their mind & problem solving abilities

Physical = proper nutrition, physical exercise, access to bathroom regularly

If one of your dog’s 4 needs buckets is low, then you are probably dealing with behavior issues.

But the good news is that taking your dog for a walk or playing a game of fetch can fill all of your dog’s needs buckets 😁