Agentic Paws

15/08/2022

Do you have a dog who displays reactive or aggressive behaviours? Could you spare 30 minutes to complete an online survey?

Our Project Dog Research Programme is a series of studies aimed at improving the bond between humans and their companions dogs. As such, we have a series of surveys aimed at gaining insight into people's experiences, perceptions and expectations of dog behaviours.

For this particular survey, you'll be asked some questions about yourself, you experiences with your dogs as well as you perceptions around reactivity.

Please see link in stories/bio for more 🐾🙌

(ID: image is of a red box with 'call for participants' written on it. It asks people if their dog displays reactive or aggressive behaviours).

15/08/2022

Have a spare 30 minutes?
Here at the Project Dog Research Programme, we are seeking participants for three online surveys considering dog behaviour.

Dog Owners and Guardians:

Do you have a dog who displays reactive or aggressive behaviour? Please consider taking part in our short, open-ended survey. You will be asked to share a little about the types of behaviour your dog(s) display, as well as your general experience living with them. Click the link for further information: https://glos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/project-dog-survey-4


Dog Rehoming or Adoption Centre Staff:

Do you work in a dog rehoming or adoption centre? Please consider taking part in our short, open-ended survey around dog behaviour, adoption and relinquishment. Click the link for further information: https://glos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/project-dog-survey-3


Dog Trainers of Behaviour Specialists:

Are you a dog trainer, or behaviourist (canine, clinical or veterinary)? Please consider taking part in our short, open-ended survey. You will be asked to share some professional insights around canine behaviour as well as some experiences working with dogs and their guardians. Click the link for further information: https://glos.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/project-dog-survey-2

Online survey BOS

22/06/2022

Reminder.... The best thing you can do for your dog, is to learn their language! 🐾🙌

Check out the bio for a free webinar introducing canine body language.

(Image description: a dog (grey, with speckled black spots). Looks up at the camera. A notification reminder is in the centre with the above message)

20/06/2022

Five Tips for building confidence in your dogs...

1. Offer choices daily... One of the easiest and simplest ways to empower your dog is by providing opportunities for them to make choices. Whether it's choices on what bed and where they'd like to sleep, which treat they'd like or even respecting them when they opt out of a training session. These small opportunity can lead to big gains.

2. Practice well known skills... Across different environments and situations. Preferably skills they love. This should be done slowly and steadily though. No point asking a nervous dog who's being exposed to an array of new things to start performing tricks... This will only add to their anxiety. But gradually asking for these across different settings, can give our pups a great boost.

3. Try Doggy Parkour... It doesn't need to be all singing and dancing. Simply asking for some paws up on a bench can be great to get that confidence building started.

4. Offer outlets for predatory behaviours.... Just the movement of these can result in all sorts of feel good chemicals being released in your pups brain. If they like to chase, get a flirt pole, if they like to stalk, set up a hunt in the garden.

5. Go world watching... Probably one of our favourites. Simply pick a spot, settle down in a safe space and watch the world go by. Watch those pesky cyclists or skateboarders, those kids playing in the park or even just watch the traffic go by, all while pairing the viewing with some high value goodies.

What are your favourite confidence building activities to do with your pups?

(Image description: grey gradient square with 5 slots for 5 tips as detailed about. To the top right hand side is a logo for Agentic Paws. At the bottom right hand side is some grey paws).

09/06/2022

Struggle with loose lead walking....? Have a pup who likes to drag you from one scent to the next? Or maybe you feel you're relying on tools to keep them by your side rather than them wanting to be with you?

We've put together a webinar on how to best work with your dog in teaching them to stick with you rather than work against you. In this free webinar you'll hear about best walking gear as well as a couple of steps to get you started on your loose lead walking journey. 🐾

Check out our Free Webinar here!
https://www.agenticpaws.com/training-videos

09/06/2022

A snippet of our cooperative training walks..

🐾 Meet those needs. When first going out on a walk, our expectations can be pretty high whilst our dogs just wish to sniff, explore and... Well, toilet! So we always start these walks with some time to meet those needs. During this time, he chooses the direction of the walk, I match his speed and essentially follow his lead.

🐾 Practice those behaviour. Once those needs are met, we then start working on some of behaviours we'd like to see from a human perspective. He matches my pace (although perfectly able to sniff those interesting spots) practicing loose lead walking and focusing more on me around distractions. We work on counter-conditioning and desensitisation with certain triggers (i e. Follow triggers while working within his threshold).

🐾 Settle work. I'd always recommend settle work. Supporting our dogs to settle in different environments and around different distractions is sure fire way to support their self-regulatory skills. Start small, in duration and distraction... And steadily build up. Always taking care to work within their limits. For those more energised dogs, this can take some time and repetition.

🐾 And Decompress. Always end on a positive. This provides an opportunity to lower those arousal levels after potential triggers as well as feeding directly back into those all essential needs of theirs.

All keeping in mind their choices and threshold. Some days... Sniffing and bambling along is enough.

(Video: clips of a St Bernard in different environments. The first is of them sniffing on a green reserve, then walking loosely on a pavement, checking in with his guardian. Followed by a clip of him laying settled next to a road and some construction work. Finally, he returns to some time sniffing in some bushes)

04/06/2022

Keep tricks and training sessions:

💚 Fun....
When learning new things, your pup should be engaged, happy and enjoying the process. Learning, particularly when learning a new cue or activity, can sometimes cause frustration. Keeping training sessions short, upbeat and simple can ensure you set your pup up for success, building enthusiasm and motivation for future learning!

💚 Cooperative....
Training is a human requirement. The only reason we do it is to ensure our pups are able to cope with our modern way of life and behave 'appropriately' in line with societal and our expectations. And when it comes to tricks, often, these are purely for fun or enrichment purposes. So keep the sessions cooperative. If they opt out, listen. A dog who knows that they'll be listened to if they're not feeling 100 into it, will be far more likely to engage in future sessions.

💚 Fear Free....
There's a huge evidence base for fear free training methods. Not only do they strengthen bonds, they increase your pups mood, general well-being and learning potential (among many other things).

What are some of your pups favourite tricks?

(Accessibility: Bungle, a red and white St Bernard, is in the garden with his guardian, a white woman with salt and pepper hair. He's doing some tricks including a middle, some spins and touches. Each one he does with big enthusiasm)

04/06/2022

Top tips for safe child-dog interactions....

🐾 Teach kids some common stress signals to look out for, and how these are requests for space. Yawns, nose or lip licks, turning away or even whale eye are common signals our pups can offer when they'd prefer some space from the little humans.

🐾 Supervise all interactions. Yes, some dogs are naturally more intuitive when it comes to children and can be far more tolerant. But at the end of the day, they are dogs and our little humans can be pretty testing.

🐾 Teach and practice consent testing. A simple and oh so effective way of determining if a dog is wanting the fuss on offer. Pet, pet, pause.....if they don't move or move away... Leave them be. If they orient towards us or paw, n**e etc... Keep offering the pets.

Some simple steps to keep everyone safe & sound 💚

(Accessibility: Bungle, a red and white St Bernard, lays on his back asking for belly rubs from a young girl. She offers them and then gives him space. He turn, reaches out to her asking for more pets)

18/05/2022

Teaching Kids and Bite Prevention

Probably one of the most important things to do is teach kids how to interact with dogs. Here's a couple of tips on how to support a budding and safe relationship:

- Teach kids the consent test and how to listen. Pet the pup for 3 seconds or so and then pause. Pup comes back for fuss... Keep petting. No interaction.... Stop pets and give them space.

- Better still, teach kids how to offer fuss rather than forcing it on dogs. Rather than going up and just starting to pet, show them how to offer the fuss and let the dog come to them.

- and fundamentally... Teach kids how our relationships with dogs are build on trust and respect. This includes cooperation, listening to their needs and respecting their space.

Such simple things to teach to ensure everyone is safe and sound!

(Who's the beast and who's doing the taming? 😉🤣)

(Video : Bungle, a white and red St Bernard, and a young girl with dark blond hair and pink PJs are in the clips. They start with the girl petting Bungle and pausing to see if he wants more. He paws as a request for more. Then it goes to the young girl standing and offering her arms out for fuss. Bungle then goes over happily for cuddles. Finally the young girl is on the sofa with bungle upside down on her lap (well his head))

30/03/2022

What should you do when your pup clearly wants to give something a go but is too unsure to take the plunge?

Don't try forcing them or inadvertently applying pressure through lots of encouragement. Rather, be their safe base. Dogs are great observational learners. That on top of their bond and trust in you can be powerful in lifting that courage one extra notch.... Empowering them to take that leap themselves.

In the clip, for example, you see Sid showing lots of interest in the stream but not quite having the confidence to pop into it, even though Bungle is pottering around in it beside him. So what does his guardian do... Without a word to him, she simply stood in the stream to show Sid that all was well. No pressure, no explicit encouragement, simply showing him there was nothing to be worried about.

This is a perfect illustration of how having such a strong bond with your dog, built on trust and respect, feeds into so many other areas of your dogs behaviour and training.

(Video Sid, a white, grey and tan fox terrier, is on the edge of a stream. He's looking intently at it, crouching forward repeatedly but not quite confident enough to take the step into the water. Then the clip moves to another with his Guardian, a blond woman, who simply stands in the stream silently. Sid finally gets the confidence to take that step)

29/03/2022

What's a positive interrupter?
Basically, it's a word or phrase that has such a positive association, it results in immediate attention from your dog.

Why is it useful?
Sometimes, our pups might be getting into a little 'mischief' and while it's easy to tell them 'no', for dogs 'no' often has no clear behaviour or cue associated with it. This vague information can often result in negative affect and a dog becoming frustrated. Instead, conditioning a positive interrupter can actually enable us to manage the situation more productively, preventing or stopping unwanted behaviours.

Take this example, Bungle can sometimes try and get to the mud under the tarp (he likes an occasional dig and roll)... To prevent this even starting, I use the positive interrupter to refocus his attention back onto me and ask him for more desirable behaviours. Note his body language.... It's far more exciting to respond to that interrupter than engage in some good old digging.

(Video Bungle, a red and white St Bernard, is standing on top of a tarp with mud underneath it. Just as he's nosing, someone off screen says 'what's This'. He whiplash turns and comes running happily with a wagging tail... Completely forgetting the potential digging pit).

28/03/2022

Why muzzle train your pup?

Check out our latest blog for why muzzle conditioning should be high on all training plans..... Including a free 5 stage protocol for conditioning a muzzle. 💚🐾

https://www.agenticpaws.com/post/proactive-vs-reactive-why-muzzle-train

A muzzle is a safety 'tool' that covers a dog's mouth to stop them from being able to bite at things. There are numerous styles and shapes, and they can often come in plastic, leather and wire materials. But this post is not about what muzzles are. It's about why we at Agentic Paws think every guard...