Serenity Canine Behavior

08/31/2024

If you are a behavior professional who works with or is considering taking stranger-directed aggression cases, this is for you! See the original post for details, plus early bird and BIPOC discounts.

As a behavior professional, YOU are the stranger in stranger-directed aggression cases. You need a strategy in place before you arrive at the first appointment.

Join me for this 3-part series all about stranger-directed aggression cases, and learn how to screen clients, take a thorough behavior history, keep yourself safe, and design practical and effective behavior plans for your clients.

Sessions:
October 6th 1pm PST
October 13th 1pm PST
October 20th 1pm PST

Each session will be recorded, so you won't fall behind if you can't attend live.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Use code EARLYGRR before 9/4 to save $100 off registration

BIPOC DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE. Please message me for details.

Pending CEUS for IAABC and CCPDT

https://www.serenitycanine.com/sda

08/27/2024

It's back! This 3-part series for behavior professionals covers the practical side of consulting on these challenging cases, including client screening, gathering a history, safe setups, creating a behavior plan that meets your client's goals, and more.

We will meet on October 6, 13, and 20, with live Q&A at the end of each presentation.

Register before September 2nd with code EARLYGRR and save $100 of the full registration!

YES, each session will be recorded and made available the next day.

IAABC and CCPDT CEUs Pending

Information and registration at:
https://www.serenitycanine.com/sda

10/20/2022

When is a dog asking for a belly rub and when are they asking you to back off? The differences can be subtle.

When a dog rolls on their back, does it always mean they are asking for a belly rub?

09/12/2022

Station/mat training and capturing attention are two behaviors that have so many uses, regardless of a dog's behavior challenge.

Simon is highly motivated to greet new people. But his low level of frustration tolerance used to result in barking and straining at the leash.

Teaching a new behavior is easy. The hard part is learning how to practice those new skills around triggers and distractions with success!

06/23/2022

It's that time of year again (ugh). Here's a list of strategies, tools, and resources to help dogs get through the fireworks.

https://www.serenitycanine.com/post/is-your-dog-ready-for-fireworks

06/15/2022

"Littermate syndrome" is not a behavior or cause of behavior problems. Dr. Reisner, as always, lays out the reasons why.

Little Felicity was found unconscious and “possibly missing an eye” on her family’s property earlier in June after being attacked by four 12-week-old puppies

06/10/2022

Nice graphic from Dogs Disclosed. Whether with people or other dogs, we need to stop the binary labels of "friendly" or "aggressive." Just like with us, there's a range.

I would add, though, that there are plenty of social, tolerant, and selective dogs who display reactive behavior in the right situation.

DON’T FORCE ME TO BE SOCIAL!
We expect that dogs should naturally like all other dogs and want to be friends, after all they’re the same species! Many owners have the expectation of their dog happily interacting and befriending other dogs at parks or when out walking, thoroughly enjoying the chance to engage with the same species, but the reality is often very different, leaving owners feeling frustrated and irritated and wondering what’s wrong with their dog.
Dogs are not that different from us when it comes to social preferences. As people, do we like every person we meet? Do we want to be friends with everyone with meet? Are we all social beings who love to be surrounded by people? The answer is no, but somehow, we assume that our dogs should be.
The sociability scale of dogs is influenced by early socialization and experiences, genetics, environmental factors, what they have learned through life experience and their own individual circumstances. Certain breeds are naturally more reserved than others.
Early socialization, habituation and positive experiences are vitally important and should not just stop after puppy hood, but ideally continue throughout life. A dog’s social tolerance can be improved or may even change through careful behaviour modification and management, but sometimes, we just need to accept that our dog is just not that into other dogs and that’s ok. Every dog is an individual and once we have done all we can to improve their social abilities we need to just accept and love them for who they are and never force them to be something that they’re not.

06/01/2022

A common belief is that fearful dogs need to "get used to" the things that they fear. This often involves immersing the dog in an environment where they cannot escape whatever triggers their fear. In psychology, this is called "flooding." But before we consider using it with dogs, we must first look...

05/17/2022

Whenever I write something about dominance, I get a number of questions along the lines of, "My dog does _______. If it's not dominance, what is it?" For so long, we've been trained to put labels on behavior. Dominant. Submissive. Stubborn. Spiteful. As if these words will somehow unlock the secret....

04/11/2022

https://pawsandreward.com/episode20/

An aggressive, biting dog is often an owner’s biggest nightmare. So what can you do? Get our best dog training tips for biting and aggression.

04/11/2022

https://pawsandreward.com/episode9/

Living with and training difficult dogs can be frustrating. But these simple tips can make the process easier. Click to read more.