Art and Science Behavior Services

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Art and Science Behavior Services Behavior consulting services specializing in anxiety, reactivity, aggression, and hyperarousal.
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We use the most up-to-date, scientifically backed methods to build new behaviors for both people and animals that set families up for a lifetime of success!

13/08/2024
10/08/2024
08/08/2024
07/08/2024

A lot of my clients seem to be very uncomfortable with the idea of separating their dog and child for safety reasons. But I recently had an epiphany - they all assumed that separation was the same as isolation. And it's not.

Using management strategies, such as using a pen to cordon off an area for a child to play, provide separation between the dog and child. But neither the dog or child is isolated. Everyone can still see each other. The parent can still interact with everyone. And with time and patience, everyone can be very comfortable and safe with such an arrangement.

So now, I am always reminding clients that "Separation is not the same as isolation." It's simply a way for parents to function and do the impossibly difficult job of raising kids and dogs together.

05/08/2024

I recently came across the video in a Facebook group and the theme of the video is one that I have encountered countless times before.

The video was a dog being walked by a dog trainer.

The dog had on a harness attached to a long leash.

The person was using food.

The dog was given time to sniff.

What the public saw in this video is a dog who was highly responsive, focused on the handler, responding promptly to every cue when it was given.

Cues like when to sniff, when to turn and when to walk in heel.

The comments gave nothing but praise.

You may think that the video would fill me with joy, but what I saw in this video was different.

I saw a dog under complete control.

A dog fixated on food.

I saw a dog who wasn't performing natural behaviors - even when they were given the opportunity to.

A topic that is left out of the conversation when discussing how we teach our dogs is how positive reinforcement can suppress behavior.

The positive reinforcement can be controlling.

Understandably highlighting how damaging and coercive positive reinforcement has the potential to be is not a popular topic.

But it's one that I think about often.

It's also a topic that I guide clients through shifting their mindset around.

When a client asks me how to teach their dog something I will often ask "Why do you want to teach your dog _______?"

Asking why allows me to understand what outcome they are looking for so I can guide them to the most dog-centered approach.

When we have all of the power and control over a vulnerable species like our dogs it's important for us to be intentional on what we teach.

Questions you can ask yourself to assess if something is important to teach:

❓Why am I teaching this? (ie Is it necessary?)

❓What is the least invasive way to teach this?

❓Am I suppressing a natural behavior?
Follow on Q: Am I routinely providing an alternative outlet for this behavior?

We want to believe that if we are using treats, toys and kindness to teach our dogs that this is enough, but there is more nuance that needs to be explored in the conversation so we are safeguarding our dog's mental health.

Follow .plus.dogs for more 💜

04/08/2024

"Training Takes Time"

Have you watered your dog today?
(Also, because the world needed more Laekenois content)

03/08/2024

Is it surprising to you? Is that what you would have expect to be the first step? Would you expect it to be "kindness" or even "education" to be first? Or perhaps something a little more in line with how we have traditionally been taught to view those under our authority? "To be disciplined." "To be a leader. Or the dreaded "You must be alpha."

But the truth is it starts with Curiosity. When I look at any relationship a guardian has with their dog, no matter how rosy it might seem on the outside, the first thing I do is start asking questions. In fact as soon as people schedule a consult I send them a long intake form to get more information, and it's full of questions. When I find myself in a position where I am struggling to connect, or relate to dogs in my charge (be they a client's or my own) the thing I challenge myself to do; is take a step back and ask Why. I ask why this is happening, why am I struggling, why is the dog behaving the way they are ... And why does it matter that their behavior changes?

If you find yourself struggling with your dog, your horse, your cat, or even a human in your life; start by asking why. Be curious first, kindness, empathy, freedom and wonder will follow.

02/08/2024

You go to a restaurant and you use your phone: it works the same way it does at home. It works the same way it does in the restaurant as it does when you go to the grocery store. You pass the phone to a friend, it will work the same way it does with you. Alone, at a party, even in another country, same response. If the signal is spotty you may not get as fast of a response, but you don’t wonder if your phone just doesn’t respect you or needs to be shown who is boss.

We’ve become so conditioned to machines and devices that just DO and respond the SAME way in every context they are put in that we often lose sight of the fact that animals, sentient beings, and ourselves, behave differently in different contexts and that’s completely normal and expected and part of life. I know I behave completely differently in a crowded party with strangers than I do alone with my best friend. I know that when I’m in pain or stressed or feel pressured my behaviors will be different than when I’m relaxed and comfortable. How I handle a conflict with a stranger versus my husband, in public versus at home etc etc, This isn’t new information, yet I find myself reminding clients this all the time. Your dog can be wonderful and love playing with other dogs off leash, but on leash in another context behave completely differently. This isn’t weird or bad. This is normal. Context will often change behavior, unless you’re a machine.

Your dog is not programmable, and even when we think they are predictable they can still surprise us. Your dog may love handling and enjoy you rubbing his belly on the couch, but absolutely panic and get defensive when handled and restrained at the vet. Different context, different relationships, different responses. This doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with your dog, it means you need to work on coping skills in those particular contexts that elicit that response, even if that means management to prevent further escalation. The problem comes when we just assume because our dog is FINE in one scenario and context, they should be fine in all. They aren’t cell phones or laptops or cars.

I know this is hard sometimes to grapple with because predictable feels safer when it comes to animals. So unfortunately we often resort to training that gives us that predictably simply by suppressing any reaction at all. DONT move, don’t react, don’t do anything unless I say, immediately when I say. But that’s not healthy. That’s not a relationship, that’s a dictatorship.

Real relationships happen and develop and strengthen when you accept someone (this goes for people and dogs and all species) for what they are, who they are in all contexts and allow them the space to be that way and support them. Just as you would want yourself understood. What’s amazing is when you do that, you actually get MORE predictability in different contexts than less, because there’s trust between you now. It’s taken me a long time to learn that, and love the fact that they are animals, and I’ll never fully understand or know them and they will still surprise me. But, I’m here for the lessons and the journey.

09/06/2024

Looking at the why behind a behaviour is the best thing we can do for our dogs, and ourselves.

When we see behaviour for what it really is, we realise it’s not personal, just practical for our dogs at the time.

08/06/2024
07/06/2024

TIME WELL SPENT: A GLIMPSE INTO ACTIVITY BUDGETS IN DOMESTIC DOGS

A time activity budget is a detailed record quantifying how animals distribute their time across various activities. These budgets are typically represented as proportions or percentages of time spent on activities such as feeding, resting, grooming, or social interactions. Time activity budgets are essential for understanding the natural behaviour patterns (also known as ethograms) of animals.
Out of the 900 million dogs worldwide, only 15-25% are kept as pets, which equates to approximately 135-225 million dogs.
Comparing time budgets of free ranging dogs to pet dogs has its limitations but can provide a valuable blueprint for functionally assessing behaviour issues in pet dogs. It may help in identifying deficits and can also play a role in understanding stereotypical behaviour.
Several studies have been conducted on Free-Ranging Domestic Dogs (FRDD) but creating comparable data sets of time budgets in pet dogs is much more challenging due to individual variability ,regional and cultural differences.

However, a paper by Griss et al, 2021, comparing the movement-specific activity of healthy adult FRDD, farm, and pet dogs across three continents using a Fitbark monitor revealed some interesting findings:

• A bimodal activity pattern was observed in dogs under the least human control, showing two peaks in a 24-hour period, similar to findings in other canids such as wolves and foxes. In owned dogs, the activity pattern was more adapted to humans.
• The second important finding was that dogs in all categories (FRDD, farm, and pet) were equally active overall across all sizes of home ranges. The pet category showed little bimodal activity; however, the total activity levels was similar across the groups.
• Pet dogs had high activity and higher rest compared to FRDD but their moderate activity was shown to be lower.

These new findings are relevant because they impact our understanding of locomotory effects such as exercise, movement, as well as confinement ( link to study in the comments)

Other studies, such as by Banerjee and Bhadra 2019, have examined FRDD dogs’ time distribution in areas such as feeding, resting, grooming, and social interaction ( ref pie chart) We might compare some of these data sets to pet dogs, but how can we know pet dogs are fulfilling their role as ‘dogs in their environment’? It is a complicated and nuanced issue.

Agency, or lack of it, is likely the largest difference between the groups. But also highly relevant, that within the time budget of FRDD, they are rarely observed alone; one or more members of their social group are always present ( which may include humans) Compared to dogs under full human control, FRDD have a higher prevalence of agency. Both these factors fundamentally affect behaviour diversity in all groups, as behaviour diversity has been shown to be a robust measure of positive animal welfare. That said, lives of FRDD aren't all rosy despite higher levels of behaviour diversity and agency, as the mortality rates are high from disease, accidents or culling.

Interestingly, in FRDD, as seen in the chart, vocalisation behaviours make up a significant part of their repertoire. While this might be considered a nuisance in some areas, these vocalisations are largely accepted and even warranted as many of these dogs serve multiple functions in their ecology, such as guarding and alerting. In stark contrast, pet dog owners spend considerable time and resources trying to prevent or stop this behaviour. Descriptive phrases such as ‘demand barking,’ ‘boredom barking,’ or ‘anxious barking’ are commonly used. But, it goes without saying that convincing pet dog owners to accept an hour of vocalisation per day as normal, is unlikely!

One other point of interest is the high proportion of moderate movement activity, which Griss et al have identified in their study also . Again any comparison to pet dogs should factor in variables such as breed , location, age, health, but it's so starkly different to FRDD who are not only moving and exploring but are doing so with a high degree of agency. It's almost impossible for a pet dog to achieve in the average home.
It is clear that the FRDD time budgets are quite different to pet dogs and likely to remain so. Though by being guided by them, we might narrow the gaps between these groups while maintaining high levels of welfare.

One way to delve into this would be to create an activity budget for our own dogs or clients’ dogs, by using the pie chart example in the image. This can easily be done using Word or Excel. You would need data on all the categories beforehand, though if kept a simple exercise, it need not be extensively collected.

If anyone would like a document with more detailed information on time budgets and how to create a chart, please drop us a message with your email.

Boo Blackhurst, CDBC

References:

Griss et al 2021,If they could choose: How would dogs spend their days? Activity patterns in four populations of domestic dogs, Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Volume 243

Banerjee & Bhadra, 2019 Time-activity budget of urban-adapted free-ranging dogs

Miller et al, 2020 Behavioral Diversity as a Potential Indicator of Positive Animal Welfare

Majumder et al, 2014, A dog’s day with humans – time activity
budget of free-ranging dogs in India. Current Science 106, 874–878

06/06/2024

If a fear reactive dog is in the height of a reaction your dog is beyond learning anything. They are in their flight, fright or fight state and correcting this does absolutely nothing to teach your dog how to not be reactive.

When a dog is reacting it means that the dog has lost control of logic and their brain is flooded with stress hormones. This makes reasoned thought or learning impossible.

Your dog cannot learn in a reactive state.

Counterconditioning and desensitisation, while keeping your dog under threshold is a proven, effective way to lessen reactivity.
The best thing to do if your dog goes over its threshold and reacts is to walk away in the opposite direction.....keep going until your dog stops and do a U turn to reengage at a better distance.

If you do not reengage your dog will begin to think their reaction worked (it created distance between themselves and the fearful stimuli)....and you can have a cyclical reaction.

Always work under your own dogs threshold .

Celebrate the wins and remind yourself this is a process.




















05/06/2024

An IAABC Foundation Publication

04/06/2024

When people introduce a puppy to an existing cat, one of the common mistakes they make is to just let the pets get on with it, thinking it will work out okay. Research shows that it's much better for the guardian to lead the introduction, including keeping things slow, and using pet gates or other barriers to keep the puppy away from the cat. Read more on my blog: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2023/05/you-can-set-your-puppy-up-to-be-friends.html

25/07/2023

This is true for dogs too! Everyone wants to be successful. If you're not seeing success, look for and remove the barriers - your dog wants to be right!

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