Tried and True Canines

09/11/2024

Goldie is a puppy mill rescue who just recently discovered how fantastic beds are, and chose to spend the majority of her consultation lounging in hers💗

I like to help dogs feel as safe and comfortable as possible during our sessions, especially during initial meetings when trust is still being built. With her background in a puppy mill, Goldie is experiencing a lot of likely firsts, and gets fearful and nervous in a lot of situations, so if the bed is where she wanted to be, that’s where we did her training! She was happy to join us on a short walk, but afterwards returned right to her bed to continue lounging☺️

04/11/2024

Between taste-testing the turkey, confusing wrapped presents for chew toys, and knocking over grandpa, holidays with a dog can be a chaotic and stressful time!

We can help by providing simple solutions to your dog’s behavior problems during the holidays!

Sign up for private training lessons TODAY to prepare your dog for the holiday season so that everyone can enjoy a peaceful and relaxing time together!

www.triedandtruecanines.com
412-932-0759

30/10/2024

Halloween is a tricky time for dogs, and the second most common holiday for dogs to go missing next to 4th of July.

Here are some tips to make Halloween a safe and less stressful experience for your dog:

🎃 Kids dressed in costumes is strange and scary for many dogs. Opt to keep your dog home and inside while walking around your neighborhood or passing out candy.

🎃 To avoid constant door knocking or doorbell ringing, sit outside to pass out candy, or leave the bowl of candy outside for trick-or-treaters to take from.

🎃 Give them a quiet room away from the front door. Turn the TV or radio on to block outside noises and provide your dog with a calming activity such as a stuffed Kong or chew item.

🎃 Keep chocolates and candy out of reach. Candy contains ingredients such as theobromine and xylitol that are toxic to dogs.

🎃 Make sure your dog is microchipped and wearing a collar with ID tags in the case that they do get loose. Check that their microchip is registered with your updated information!

🎃 If your dog doesn’t enjoy being dressed up, please respect them. Opt for a Halloween-themed bandana or bow attached to the collar instead.

29/10/2024

I’m proud to say I have passed my exam and am now a CPDT-KA (Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed) through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers! I’m so grateful for everyone who has supported me and helped get to where I am today, and I’m excited for what the future holds as I continue on this journey!

Tried and True Canines
Lauren Coates KPA CTP, CPDT-KA

03/10/2024

October is Pit Bull Awareness Month! Did you know we offer discounted training services for pit bulls and pit mixes?

We are partnered with and their Scholar Pit program to make training more accessible to those who live with these fabulous dogs!

From The Proper Pit Bull: “Scholar Pit is a financial assistance program that provides pit bull/mixes appropriate positive reinforcement training for all ages and levels of training experience. The program has no income restrictions and anyone with a pit bull or pit bull mix is eligible to apply!”

Have a pittie in need of training? Reach out to us or The Proper Pit Bull for more information!

Below are just a handful of our current and past Scholar Pit students🎓

27/09/2024

💔Rosie - Rest in Peace - 9/25/2024💔

Rosie’s health declined quickly and unexpectedly this past week, and we made the difficult decision to let her go Wednesday night.

Rosie was my partner. My agility partner, my training partner while going through KPA to earn my training certification, my hiking partner, and my work partner who helped me with so many clients. Rosie was the best girl in all situations. She introduced me to the world of dog people, and all the fantastic people in it. My love and passion for dogs and training started with her. I am beyond devastated to have lost my partner. She will be missed by many❤️🌹

If you are waiting for an email, or to hear from me about rescheduling a session, I appreciate your patience as I take time to process and grieve❤️

21/09/2024

Did you know your dog’s coat can be a hint that your dog is experiencing pain?

Abnormal coat patterns such as coat flicks, swirls, waves in a smooth-coated dog, fur going in the wrong direction, and other abnormalities in the coat can be an indication that your dog is experiencing some pain in the muscles, joints, or soft tissue around that area.

The images demonstrate examples of coat changes in two of my own dogs. Everest has bilateral hip dysplasia, and the images show the change in coat pattern around his hips before and after starting chronic pain medication. Prior to meds, he had coat flicks and a “messy” look to the fur around his hips. Within a couple days of being on meds, the fur smoothed down. Charlie currently has a swirl in his coat between his shoulder blades, which I plan to follow up with his vet about.

Have you noticed changes in your dog’s coat? Don’t ignore it! Bring up your concerns with your vet and discuss next steps with them.

18/09/2024

September is Animal Pain Awareness Month. So many dogs go through life with unrecognized pain, and they communicate this pain in many subtle ways besides the tell-tale signs of limping and yelping. In fact, many dogs will not exhibit the more obvious signs until the pain is more severe. This isn't exclusive to seniors either. A study revealed that in North America, 20% of all dogs over the age of 1 yr. old suffer from chronic pain.

The second and third images in this post list some of the common, more subtle signs of pain in dogs. Below are descriptions and explanations of some of the signs that are not as self-explanatory, and the situations in which some of the signs are seen the most.

✅ Difficulty Standing up After Laying Down — You may notice your dog first pushes up into a sit with their front legs, before slowly hoisting up their back end.

✅ Reluctance to Jump onto Surfaces — Most commonly seen when jumping onto the couch or into the car.

✅ Bunny Hopping — Moving both hind legs in unison with each other, like a rabbit. This is especially recognizable when the dog is running or going up and down stairs.

✅ Hip Sway — Back end moves side to side as the dog walks, rather than staying aligned with the rest of the spine and back.

✅ Painting — When not hot or recently exercised. Panting may also be due to anxiety, stress, or excitement.

Pain is often an unrecognized contributor to behavioral issues, including, but not limited to, aggression and reactivity, anxiety, noise sensitivity, jumpy/mouthy behavior, attention-seeking behavior, and compulsive type behaviors. If you suspect your dog may be suffering from pain, don't ignore it! Talk to your vet about diagnostic and treatment options to help relieve your pet’s discomfort.

09/09/2024

While hugging is a natural form of affection for humans, it is unnatural for dogs, and, due to feelings of being trapped and restricted during a hug, the majority of dogs do not enjoy them.

While many dogs will tolerate a hug from someone they know, they often display subtle stress signals that go ignored or unnoticed during the hug. If these signals and attempts at conveying discomfort are repeatedly ignored there is a risk of pushing our dogs past the point of tolerance, and they may resort to louder communication in the form of growls or bites “out of the blue” to get their voices heard.

For the vast majority of dogs, hugging is not their preferred way of showing affection, and that is something we should all respect! Fortunately there are plenty of other ways you can express love to your dog that they will enjoy!

08/09/2024

Happy National Hug Your Hound Day!

Did you know that dogs don’t like hugs? Since we’re all responsible dog guardians who respect our dogs space and comfort, share a pic of you loving your pup in a way they enjoy!

Stay tuned for more on dogs and hugs tomorrow!

26/08/2024

What better day to celebrate your dog than on National Dog Day? Give your dog some extra love today and appreciate them for everything they are❤️

23/08/2024

DOGS IN PAIN STILL RUN AND PLAY

This is Twig my yorkie, as many of you know she was born with deformed back legs. She has patella issues, cruciate issues, malformed hocks and also elbow disease.

Despite all of this, Twig would play all day. She is a young dog and would run non-stop, play with toys, play with my other dogs 24/7 if she could. She always wants to go for a walk- she never wants to turn to go home, she would walk all day if you let her.

She’s never grumpy, never shows any aggression even when she’s in pain. She partially ruptured a cruciate a few months ago and despite not being able to use her leg she was still desperate to go for a walk and kept dropping balls in my coffee (obvs I didn’t let her walk or play!) 😳

She has phases where her legs are really bad and she is in pain. It would be really easy for me to think she’s ‘fine’ and not in pain as she would still play all day if I let her. My only behavioural signs of pain with her are that she wakes in the night and takes a while to settle again and she barks a bit more than normal at outside noises.

I’ve also seen night-waking with my Dalmatian, Lucky, when he was in pain and my first sign of his back issues was that he would wake up and wander around in the middle of the night. He also still wanted to walk and play.

People often think that a dog who is in pain won’t want to go for a walk but dogs in pain are often still keen to go for a walk and they will want to chase a ball etc and play if you let them. Don’t ever assume they aren’t in pain because they want to run and play!

Signs of pain can be subtle and these are some that I commonly see in dogs I work with -

🛌 They may wake in the night or find it hard to settle in the evening, pacing or moving from bed to bed

🐕 They may vocalise more (whine or bark) and be more attention-seeking (nudging your hand to stroke them all the time or following you from room to room)

🛋️ Hesitating or unable to climb on/off the sofa, go up the stairs or get in and out of the car or needing a bigger run up to get in. Being slower to get up from resting.

😔 Being unhappy about being handled (groomed/dried etc) or unhappy about people sitting next to them on the sofa or walking past their bed

🐩 Changes in interactions with other dogs on walks- less keen on interacting or less keen on certain types of play etc

🏀. Lying down on walks or walking at a slower place but also conversely running excessively (‘runners high’ endorphins make them feel good temporarily)

You may also notice physical changes (the way your dog moves or the way their body looks.

💊 Please chat to your vet if you see any changes, dogs don’t suddenly change and start or stop doing things for no reason.

Pain is one of the primary causes of many aggression in dogs. Dogs also often don’t stop running and playing when they are in pain- signs of pain can be subtle and easy to miss so please, please seek advice from your vet if you see changes

Laura McAuliffe, Dog Communication 2024

22/08/2024

Meet Wall-E and Roux! Tell me they’re not the cutest pittie duo?😍 These young pups are learning all the good dog things, in addition to Wall-E working through some big feelings around people and other environmental activity💕

06/07/2024

Recently my family and I went to a water park that had cliff jumps. Starting at 10 feet, then 15 feet and the highest at 20 foot.

I was standing at the 20 foot jump and as soon as I looked over the edge I was super scared and said “no way!” And went to back away but was pushed over the edge instead. 😬

Did I die? Nope. Did it help me conquer my fear? NOPE! I will tell you what it did, it made me not trust standing by a ledge by the person who pushed me and I was also pretty irritated!

I didn’t get to choose to jump and being pushed did nothing for my confidence.

So many times we do this to our dogs! Either accidentally or on purpose, it does the same damage. Just because YOU don’t think the situation is scary doesn’t mean it’s not terrifying for them.

I watched kids much younger than me jump off that cliff that day but I couldn’t. I watched a couple people doing a back flip! You know what though? I love to hang out with snakes and often go snake “hunting” (I go search for them to observe) I know many people who can’t stand the sight of snakes and run the other direction if they see them. I also know if I forced a snake on their lap it would do nothing to help them through their fear!

The next time your dog is afraid of something, please don’t force them to “get over it”. Be patient, go slow and set up a training plan to help your dog work through the fear and build confidence! 👏 Working through fear doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and effort.

If you dog has a fear that is affecting their quality of life, or you want to help them overcome a fear and don’t know how, please reach out to us today! 🙌 We are here to help!

04/07/2024

01/07/2024

There's been a longtime belief among dog owners that you should never comfort a scared dog, as petting and comforting them will reward the behavior and make the dog more fearful in the future. I'm here to tell you, please comfort your dog!

Fear is an emotion. Emotions are involuntary responses to perceived threats in the environment and cannot be reinforced. In human relationships, it's normal (and even expected) to comfort and support each other when someone is upset, scared, or anxious. Does doing so make the person more likely to exhibit those emotions again in the future? No! Comforting someone who needs comfort helps them to process their emotions and feel better. It helps people learn that you are a safe person, and someone they can go to in the future for comfort and reassurance.

The same is true in dog-human relationships. Comforting your scared dog will not reinforce the fear. Instead, it will help your dog to process their emotions and see you as a place of comfort and security, someone they can seek out whenever they're feeling scared or anxious. Evidence has shown that comforting a scared dog can result in decreases in stress and anxiety, and overtime, may reduce the intensity of fear your dog feels in similar future situations.

25/06/2024

I had such a fabulous time at the CTP Meetup this weekend connecting with fellow KPA-CTPs (Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partners). It was a great day of networking, sharing stories, and learning from each other. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by a network of like-minded trainers aiming to promote reward-based and evidence-based methods of learning for our canine (and feline) companions!