Perfect Paws - Dog behaviour and training

17/07/2024

𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗸: "All you need to do is to be very strict from the beginning so they learn what their place is".

𝗠𝗲: 🙄

A few weeks ago, I was working with a client and her cute pup, and this is what a member of the public told us when they saw us doing some training together. They might have been well-meaning - but also extremely misinformed.

❌ You do not need to use intimidation, punishment, and aversives, or be 'very strict' with your dog to show them what their place is because you don't need to show them what their place is in the first place! ❌

This type of thinking comes from what is known as the 'dominance theory'. This theory has led professionals, as well as dog owners, to design and apply training techniques based on punishment, coercion and aversion.

This tendency has been probably motivated by the belief that for dogs to be well-behaved, humans need to assert their authority using force and intimidation to be the 'alpha', the 'dominant pack leader', the 'top dog' and prevent dogs from achieving a higher social status over them and become 'dominant'.

There are so many problems with this.

📚 Early studies and flawed foundations.

The 'dominance theory' is incorrect. The early studies on wolves' behaviour have been based on groups of captive unrelated wolves forced to form artificial groups and share the same territory and resources, which inevitably led them to compete over these resources through aggression.

Wild wolves living naturally in their habitat, on the other hand, rather than a strict hierarchical organisation, form cohesive and cooperative social structures which resemble more a family group, where aggression is rarely seen between individuals and where it does not serve the purpose of achieving a higher social status (Mech, 2008; Eaton, 2011)

🐺 Dogs are not wolves.

Another problem with the 'dominance theory' is the assumption that wolves and dogs behave and form similar social structures as they share a common ancestor. Whilst the fact that they share a common ancestor is undoubtedly true, dogs have changed a lot from wolves since domestication, and the social groups they form are very different from those formed by wolves (Eaton, 2011; Miklósi, 2015).

Studies about free-ranging feral dogs show how their social structures are loose and fluid, with unrelated individuals coming and going, and that the relationship between the breeding pair and the offspring is fundamentally different too, with the mother being the main and mostly the only provider for her puppies, and with breeding behaviour being more influenced by reproductive cycles and the situation rather than by the existence of a family-like group of related individuals like in wolves (Coppinger and Coppinger, 2002; Van Kerkhove, 2004; Miklósi, 2015).

The same can be said for groups of domestic dogs, who rather than strict and hierarchical structures or 'packs', seem to form loose and fluid social groups, where their interactions, and in particular aggressive behaviours, are not driven by the aim of achieving a higher social status within their group (Van Kerkhove, 2004; Bradshaw et al., 2009).

🏆 Being 'dominant' is not about status.

It's now important to note that the word 'dominant' has been erroneously used for decades to describe an individual, as if 'being dominant' was an individual trait, a character trait.

What the word 'dominant' really defines is not a status, but it refers to those behaviours that are displayed in relation to other individuals and that have been learned in order to acquire and maintain access to those resources that a dog values the most, and that might well be different between the same two individuals when the resource in question is different (Bradshaw et al., 2009; Eaton, 2011).

The truth is that unlike wolves, domestic dogs do not need to form packs with other dogs in order to survive as they don’t need to cooperate to hunt and find food: all their needs are provided for by us, their human carers.

We also know that dogs don’t form packs with us either and that they are not in competition with us, but they are part of our social group, of our family.


👉 In other words, dogs are not domesticated wolves, and they are not trying to dominate us.

This means there is truly no need to use methods based on the need to 'dominate' our dogs. Reward-based training techniques that support kinder, ethical and cooperative methods work and, the way I see it, are just much nicer for all the involved. ✌️

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References

Bradshaw, J.W.S., Blackwell, E.J. and Casey, R.A. (2009) Dominance in domestic dogs – useful construct or bad habit? Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 4(3), pp. 109-144.

Coppinger, R. and Coppinger, L. (2002) Dogs. A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution. University of Chicago Press.

Eaton, B. (2011) Dominance in Dogs. Fact or fiction? Dogwise Publishing.

Mech, L. D. (2008) What Happened to the Term Alpha Wolf? International Wolf, 18(4), pp. 4-8.

Miklósi, A. (2015) Dog Behaviour, Evolution and Cognition. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press.

Van Kerkhove, W. (2004) A fresh look at the wolf-pack theory of companion-animal dog social behavior. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 7(4), pp. 279-285.

10/05/2024

Happy International German Shepherd Day! Lacey thinks every day should be German Shepherd Day! 🥰

16/04/2024

Looking pretty in the daisies 🥰

16/04/2024

Grooming!

Whether you have a long haired, double coated Shepherd or a short coated Jack Russell, grooming is a hugely important part of caring for your dog. It helps keep skin and fur healthy, it gives a good opportunity for a health check and it also acclimatises a dog to being touched all over which may come in handy for vet visits.

It’s interesting that so many of us work at training basic obedience but for some reason very few people ever think to train a dog to be groomed. Many dogs will enjoy a brush and will be quite happy to sit there all day for the pampering session. However there is also a large number of dogs who just don’t tolerate it well at all. Even the dogs that are happy to be groomed may have certain areas they don’t allow to be done; typically the tails, legs or tummies may be problem areas.

Grooming can be a frustrating exercise for all involved if a dog isn’t cooperative, as a result you may avoid it all together which can lead to issues such as matted fur, skin problems and a build up of dirt.

If you plan to send your dog to be professionally groomed on a regular basis, it is still important to work on grooming at home. It is not the professional groomer’s job to teach your dog to tolerate grooming. They have limited time and a demanding job, the last thing they need is to be worrying about how your dog is behaving. Unfortunately many dogs don’t enjoy their trip to the groomers. They may need to be restrained or muzzled to complete the groom which will only lead to more fear/anxiety in future. Dogs at a groomers are typically exposed to ‘flooding’ where they are continually exposed to a stressful situation. While some dogs will cope despite the stress, others can become increasingly fearful and escalate their reactions to try and express themselves. This is not a criticism of the groomers, they are just trying to complete the job as effectively and safely as possible. Teaching your dog to accept all aspects of grooming at home will make for a happier groomer and a more relaxed dog. You will also still need to keep up regular brushing at home to keep the fur in good condition between visits.

Lacey is a prime example of a dog that may have been very difficult to groom without training. Like a lot of German Shepherds, she is very touch-sensitive and wasn’t keen on the sensation of the brush. As a boisterous, bitey puppy, our first attempts at grooming involved lots of chewed brushes, chewed hands and barking. If that behaviour had continued, brushing her as an adult could have been extremely dangerous. However, with lots of positive training in her first year, she now gets very excited when the brushes come out. We can brush her all over with no hassle and clip her nails as needed. We don’t bath her because she doesn’t need it, but for other dogs that will also be an area to train.

So, for happy dogs, happy owners and happy groomers, take the time to teach your dogs to accept grooming!

12/03/2024

Long ramble alert;

Dogs with ‘learning difficulties’?

I came across an interesting thread where someone was asking if dogs can have ‘learning difficulties’ because their dog is struggling to learn Left and Right cues for agility. This prompted a rather irrelevant and angry discussion in the comments with people disagreeing over specific diagnosis and what could be categorised as a disability in humans.

But the question did raise some interesting ideas for me.

Firstly, how do we as owners and trainers quantify intelligence and learning ability in dogs? Is it how many cues we can teach them? How quickly they learn? Or how many puzzle toys they can solve? Judging a dog’s (or any animal’s) intelligence by human standards has always seemed like a strange concept to me. Certainly it’s interesting and, I suppose, the only standard indicator we have. But is a dog less intelligent if it only knows 3 cues instead of 20 or is it just not motivated to work?

Disabilities that limit learning capabilities in humans will typically effect a person’s ability to learn the skills needed to survive independently, learning difficulties may not be a disability but can mean a person takes longer than average to pick up certain skills. But our dogs will probably never live independently. They are fully provided for in every aspect of their lives. A dog that isn’t able to learn to hunt or scavenge may not survive alone in the wild but a pet dog will have a bowl of food conveniently placed in front of them so they will cope perfectly well. Survival skills then are also perhaps not an indicator of learning ability in the modern dog. Furthermore, with so many variables in training, I’m not sure there is any reliable data on ‘average learning times’ for dogs.

We have been selectively breeding dogs for thousands of years, usually for physical attributes and personality traits. But I suspect for most of that time, little thought has gone into what it has done to our dogs brains. Dogs are bred for all sorts of purposes and even within each breed there will be variations; anyone who has a cockerpoo from working-spaniel lines as opposed to show-spaniel lines will know only too well how much of a difference it can make! Working breeds are often selected for their intelligence, so maybe, learning ability depends more on the genetics of the individual dog.

Close genetic lines will surely make anomalies such as brain defects more likely. And some studies show that selective breeding has physically altered the neuroanatomy of certain breeds (Selby et al, 2020). But if a breed is not selected for its intelligence or is in fact bred in such a way that inhibits its brain function, this wouldn’t exactly count as a learning difficulty. We wouldn’t say a Sloth has learning difficulties in comparison to a Dolphin; just as a Pug doesn’t have learning difficulties in comparison to a German Shepherd, they just have a different purpose in life (no offence to Sloths or Pugs!).

We also have to take into account human error, just because one person has struggled to train a dog to do something, doesn’t mean the dog is not capable of learning it. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told ‘my dog won’t do that trick’ or ‘you won’t be able to teach them that, I’ve tried before’. Only to watch the owner’s face in shock 5 minutes later when the dog starts to learn the behaviour. Just because the dog isn’t learning using the method we know, doesn’t mean the dog can’t learn. And if the dog needs a different method to the one we know, that wouldn’t make it more or less intelligent necessarily, just different.

I feel like this might be one of those topics that lends itself to dozens of separate conversations. - I haven’t even started on the effects of early life experiences or sensitivity to environmental stimuli.

I would often have owners ask me if I felt their dog was cleverer than others, and I was never sure how to answer. They wanted me to say ‘yes’ because everyone wants to win the un-spoken Dog Intelligence Top Trumps game that seems so popular at the local park. But surely the better question would be ‘does my dog have the necessary learning capability and drive to do the things I want them to do?’. There’s simply no point buying yourself an Oxford Graduate dog if you just want to sit on the sofa with them and watch Love Island.

So I suppose my answer to ‘can dogs have learning difficulties?’ would be, it depends what you’re comparing them to. If a dog has a neurological or genetic defect in comparison to dogs of a similar type then, yes, it’s absolutely possible. But if your dog is just not learning the way you would like them to compared to the fancy Border Collie on YouTube with the professional trainer, is it really a reasonable comparison to make?

06/03/2024

Our Dog Training Mindset -

So often in dog training the questions from owners are along the lines of ‘How do I stop my dog…..’ or ‘How do I teach my dog not to…..’ . The problem is, both questions imply the dog is already performing the undesired behaviour and neither tells us what the owner would like the dog to be doing instead.

Humans are often very negative creatures and it’s in our nature to phrase these questions in a negative format (negative being to remove undesirable behaviour). The negative phrasing in-turn lends itself to aversive methods of training because our brains will conclude that in order to stop a behaviour we need to make it unpleasant/punish for it.

But wouldn’t it be better if we could re-phrase these into a more positive format that actually tells us what we are striving to achieve?
‘How do I teach my dog to….walk on a loose lead / go to toilet outside / come when called’
‘How do I encourage my dog to be….. confident when left alone / calm around the house’

Once we know what we want to achieve, it’s much easier to come up with a training plan. Plus, if we are looking to promote a wanted behaviour we are more likely to teach it using positive reinforcement methods.

It’s also important to remember that our dogs don’t instinctively know how we want them to behave. They naturally have different instincts, different objectives and different social structures to us. So it’s never enough just to tell them what we DON’T want because they’ll just find another behaviour that suits their own needs.

How many times have you seen an owner running around after their dog shouting ‘no’ to every behaviour? Or maybe you know you do this yourself! We have to teach them what we DO want and set them up to succeed in those behaviours.

06/03/2024

I haven’t posted on here for a while, as many of you will know, my life has changed a lot in recent months and I’m still figuring out what happens next. I haven’t been in a position to take doggy clients since August ‘23 but I do miss them and I miss helping owners with training work. So I’m going to try to start posting again - no promises I might do one and then completely forget!

Some may be training and behaviour tips, some may be rants on dog-related issues that spring to mind, some might just be photos of Lacey looking pretty - who knows! Just going to see what happens, but in the meantime here is a photo of Lacey enjoying the sunshine today.

17/08/2023

🐾🍰🏵️🐾🍰🏵️🐾🍰🏵️🐾🍰🏵️🐾🍰🏵️

In September Paws in the Paddock joins Macmillan cancer support for 2 big events, the dog show will be the first on September 16th then September 23rd we have coffee cake and dog play morning.
I will follow with our story and link to the just giving page, every penny from both events is going to Macmillan to support the amazing work they do.

🟢⚪️🟢⚪️🟢 OUR STORY ⚪️🟢⚪️🟢⚪️

Paws in the Paddock with MacMillan cancer support you may be asking what has bought us together here’s our story.
On 25th July 2023 my forever friend was diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 51.
With her fight and determination she will recover in time. This shocking news has reminded us that not everyone has the opportunity to fight cancer and we therefore are making it our mission to raise as much money as possible so those who won’t get better can enjoy their time the best they can.
I first met Kel when I was 15, trust me that was many years ago!
Very quickly I realised I wanted to be like her, in my eyes she is the animal superhero, rescuing, rehabilitating and re homing a wide range of animals was only a small part of what she did, she would nurture, comfort, hand rear any animal that needed her and soon teaching me the ropes. We have been scared, happy and sad together but she has always known what to do. Our relationship quickly developed from friends to sisters. She will always be my hero.
Thank you so much for supporting us,
Sarah, Kelly and MacMillan cancer support

https://www.justgiving.com/page/k-snelling-paws?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=one_page&utm_content=page/k-snelling-paws&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=59a80b8b387d404e93e6ced4aeb68912

08/03/2023

So our YouTube channel is officially up and running! In a series of videos that are likely to be highly embarrassing for me, Lacey and I will show you how to teach your dogs loads of skills from basic obedience to fun tricks. Please click the link below to head over to the channel. In the meantime, here’s an outtake of Lacey demanding more speaking parts in the script!

Huge thank you to our camera operator/director/technical advisor Olivia Grimwood Photography

https://youtube.com/

26/10/2022

16/10/2022

Wow what a brilliant day at Discover Dogs! So many beautiful dogs to meet, shopping and lots of displays. I’ve tried to make the best of the footage I managed to get (tricky to get non-blurry photos of wriggly puppies in a crowd!). I have a few purchases I’ll be trying out so will let you know if any of them are successful.

Video bingo (or drinking game if you’re in the mood!) - spot the cheeky dogs not quite following the script. I left a few in because anyone who know me will know I just love the ‘naughty’ ones! Also spot my new bestie, Cassie the Golden Retriever, who decided to sit with me for a while waiting to watch her sister in the Golden Retriever display team. 🥰

15/10/2022

🤣🤣🤣 plenty of owners out there being taken for walkies!

🙈😂

28/09/2022

The weather has definitely taken a turn towards winter now, long walks in the cold and the rain are about to become a regular activity. Sometimes we have to treat ourselves to something to make the winter a bit more bearable and I was very pleased with my EQUIDRY coat this week keeping me warm and dry all day!

16/09/2022

I thought a lot about what I should do on Monday 19th September and have decided to work as normal for the clients who would still like their slots. (Obviously some will have made plans for the bank holiday which is absolutely fine).

Queen Elizabeth was famous around the world for her love of dogs and I’m sure she would appreciate that even on the day of her funeral our dogs still need to be cared for.

Rest in peace Your Majesty and thank you for your decades of loyal service.

03/09/2022

It’s so important to avoid trainers using outdated and unreliable methods! This is a great post on some things to watch out for when working with a trainer.

23/08/2022

Travel skills! Teaching our pups to travel well in the car is such an essential life skill. Whether it’s just for daily journeys or longer trips, most dogs will have to travel in a car at some point.

Unfortunately many puppies struggle to settle in the car at a young age and owners end up avoiding putting them in the car only to end up with more problems when the car can’t be avoided. But perseverance is key to conquering the car trips!

Giving your dog lots of positive short trips and, if necessary, slowly building up a good association of just getting into the car without driving can really help build their tolerance. Speak to your vet about travel sickness if necessary to help make it more pleasant for everyone. Also make sure you and your dogs are safe using appropriate restraints, either a crate or seat-hammock. A harness/seatbelt combination will also help keep everyone safe and secure.

Like many puppies Lacey was not keen on the car as a young dog, but before long she was hopping straight in and a 7 hour road trip yesterday was no problem. A couple of toilet breaks and we almost forgot she was there for most of the journey as she was so calm and quiet!

10/08/2022

Long lasting chews are often a useful tool when training/working your dog. It can help to teach them to relax by themselves or after a stressful event. They can also alleviate boredom while owners are busy, help with teething puppies, build positive associations with activities your dog isn’t keen on… the list is endless!

Unfortunately there aren’t many chews that last more than 5 seconds in the jaws of a German Shepherd! Those that do are usually very big chews which don’t help when you need to watch the calorie intake.

I’ve been very impressed with these Kangaroo Dental Chews from .with.sarah, great quality ingredients, a good size for her to have without me panicking about her weight but most importantly tough enough to actually last a while!

08/08/2022

Super proud of Queenie today, just goes to show what you can achieve with the right technique! She has a history of lunging, snapping at and chasing other dogs which I quickly found was due to her fear of them coming into her personal space. She would then panic after she reacted, unsure of what would happen.

I’ve spent lots of time on our walks acting as a barricade between her and other dogs to show her that she doesn’t need to deal with the situation and today, despite lots of off-lead dogs attempting to bound up to her, she didn’t react once. She knew I had it under control and was even happy to stand while I talked to another walker with their dog just a meter away (the closest she’s been while I’ve been walking her).

Her owner told me when we first met that she would love to feel confident enough to take Queenie out and sit outside a Cafe, last week, they did just that and Queenie was perfectly behaved.

Sometimes ‘training’ isn’t about obedience, or knowing commands, sometimes it isn’t big flashy training sessions or special equipment. Sometimes our dogs just need to know we’ve got their back, that they won’t be left to defend themselves and won’t be punished for expressing their fears.

03/08/2022

Teaching Lacey a new trick tonight - ‘Find the treat in the cups’! This one requires some persistence from both you and your dog. First learning to touch a paw to the cup then learning to figure out where the treats are. This is just our first attempt and I’m sure will become a much more polished trick in time.

Thanks to Walkies with Sarah for the amazing Pheasant and Sweet Potato training treats which have been a huge hit with Lacey. Having high value treats is so helpful when teaching new skills to keep your dog motivated. Even better when you know those treats are filled with only the best ingredients.

Also very proud of Lacey demonstrating her impulse control to look for the treat under the cup rather than grab the whole bag right next to them (she thought about it while I got the camera ready 🤣) - just goes to show how they can learn to differentiate between activities and multi-task, find A while ignoring B.

01/08/2022

A lovely relaxed walk out with Lulu today! It was nice to get out with her again as the hot weather had put our walks on hold for a bit.
Today sniffing everything in sight seemed high on her agenda. This is why I love using the long line, so they can have some freedom and take the world in at their own pace without me having to chase after them every few minutes!

19/07/2022

With the hot weather, we’ve all had to make changes to how we exercise our pooches! Even going out early it was still above 20 degrees! So to help prevent Queenie overheating we did some observation training by the water. It may not look like much but this is a fantastic way for nervous dogs to get used to the world.

Pick a spot that’s quiet enough your dog won’t feel threatened but with enough activity that they’ll be intrigued. The was the perfect spot for Queenie to observe, walkers, dogs, wildlife and traffic. She soon realised that from our bench she could watch the world but was not forced to interact at close range. As a result she became less nervous and more curious about things going on around her.

This is a brilliant exercise if your dog is still too nervous to take food rewards on walks because they can be allowed to relax in one spot and not feel like they need to be on high-alert at all times.

11/07/2022

Hope everyone is staying cool this week! It’s far too hot to go out walking unfortunately. Some walks have been swapped to home visits and others moved to very early morning.

Meanwhile Lacey is at home practicing one of her favourite games - splashing in the paddling pool!

Remember mental stimulation can be just as tiring for your dog as a long walk so if you’re worried about your dogs energy levels from missing walks, try teaching them some new tricks or playing hide and seek with toys/treats in the house.

Please don’t risk your dogs safety by taking them out unnecessarily, it won’t hurt them to miss a few walks!

09/07/2022

Lacey was practicing her stable-dog skills this morning! The moving broom and shavings fork are very tempting toys for dogs with a high prey drive. It’s taken a few attempts to find a treat she values enough to hold her stay while I get jobs done but this morning I think we cracked it!

As you can see at the end of the sweeping clip she almost breaks the sit so I immediately stopped, rewarded the sit/stay and started again, it’s so important to build dogs up in stages rather than just expecting them to stay put for as long as we tell them to because we say so.

This is one of those times when it’s so important to have good basic obedience training that you can use in daily life, you might not have a stable to clean out but I can guarantee there are situations in everyone’s lives when we need to get on and have our dogs sit still for a while.

23/06/2022

Sorry I’ve not posted in a while, the days have just been flying by!

But here is the beautiful Queenie enjoying her training walks recently. Little Queenie hasn’t had the easiest life which has caused her to show aggression towards other dogs.

Her new owners were struggling to get her out for walks due to their own health and the risk she could pull them over to get to another dog.

On our walks we’ve been figuring out her behaviours and like most dogs her ‘aggression’ stems from fear. She is already learning that she can ignore other dogs and I can’t wait see how her confidence grows as our walks continue.

25/05/2022

A great summary of why positive reinforcement is such an effective training method! While this article talks about horses, the same is true of our dogs.

Often I have owners tell me that they want their dogs ‘to behave because I say so’ but the reality is ‘because I say so’ is no incentive for behaviour. Our dogs will comply either; because they have formed a good association with performing the desired behaviour with a full understanding of what we want or, because they’re afraid of the consequences of not complying.

A dog that is positively rewarded is more likely to perform the correct behaviour again and even to try and improve the behaviour rather than just doing the bare minimum to avoid a negative consequence.

“I want my horse to be in this for me, not for the food”⁣
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👆This is a really common concern for people when they contemplate trying out positive reinforcement🥕⁣
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Let’s take a closer look at this from a scientific lens 🧐⁣
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If you have not been using any food in your training, and you’re interacting with your horse in a standard way (haltering, leading, grooming, riding, groundwork, etc)…⁣
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What’s the motivation for your horse doing what you ask?⁣
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Is it truly “for you”… or is he *responding to the release of pressure?*⁣
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Of course, horses can absolutely enjoy aspects of their time with people. But even so, the primary motivation for performing numerous tasks that expend lots of energy? ➡️ Seeking a release of pressure. We’re not saying this is wrong or bad… we’re saying objectively, that’s the motivation.⁣
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Now, when positive reinforcement in the form of food rewards is the primary motivation, things start to change drastically in ways you may not think to expect! 💫⁣
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Using food rewards, your horse is gaining something that HE wants on an instinctual level. Food is a primary motivator based on physiological needs 🐴⁣
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When the horse gets something so desirable out of his time with you, something magical begins to happen ✨ well, it feels magical anyway! But in reality it makes total logical sense:⁣
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He begins to offer you even MORE than you’re asking for.⁣
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When you use pressure and release, the horse essentially must do what you want in order to experience relief. ⁣
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Whereas with positive reinforcement, he has a *choice* and the opportunity to get something he wants.⁣
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When the horse WANTS to do something, he starts going above and beyond. He starts to offer more effort and energy, and loves participating in training 🌱⁣
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Kind of like how you may do the bare minimum at a job you need, just to pay the bills… But you’d put in longer hours or more creativity into a passion project that fulfills you deeply 🌸⁣
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As much as we’d like it to be true, horses don’t do everything just for us. They have their own wants, needs and desires. When you give back by motivating him with something he wants, you’ll find that both of you are more fulfilled ♥️