When Pigs Fly Dog Training

26/09/2024

New podcast up! Where Have All the Good Vets Gone? Helping Puppy Owners Navigate the "Corporate Takeover" of Vet Medicine. https://bit.ly/GOODVETS

This week’s podcast is a fan request about the concerns one breeder has about the “corporate takeover” of veterinary medicine and how that is affecting her puppy owners:

“What information and resources do you use to help your puppy buyers, especially new/first time dog owners, screen and select a veterinarian?

In the past couple of years, and seems like more lately, I get these questions from my puppy buyers that their vet told them something that ranged from harmless but not really accurate to so aggressively incorrect it felt like a scam and even a danger to the puppy. I know stuff can get lost in translation, I know some medical professionals are better than others, and I know vets and their staff are stressed and overworked. But I also fear the rise in this issue is related to venture capital takeovers and it's going to get worse…

​Since it feels like a trend, and especially because I have a breed suitable for first-time dog owners, I would like to be more organized and proactive in providing information on how to vet a vet. I appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions.

PS - maybe this would be a good podcast episode?”

In this episode I explore:

•How the corporatization of vet medicine affects puppy owners

•Coaching puppy owners to advocate for their puppies at the vet’s office for routine care

•Finding a good vet when there’s a major veterinary problem with a puppy or dog.

https://bit.ly/GOODVETS

02/09/2024

Nora - Madcap Roman Holiday RN NAP NJP
11/17/2008 – 08/30/2024
(CH Madcap Veni Vidi Vici x CH TNG N Buoy’s Concrete Blonde ROM VAX RA NA NAJ AXP OJP)

Nora left the world peacefully last Friday. She was happy and engaged right to her last moments. We are lost without her, my office is so quiet, I miss her tap dancing to go outside and then come back in every five minutes.

Nora never had puppies herself but, in many ways, she was the foundation of our breeding program and Puppy Culture. You can read Nora’s story here: https://bit.ly/5GENERATIONS

13/08/2024

New Podcast up! https://bit.ly/JEANDONALDSON

This week, my guest, Jean Donaldson, chats with us about how to be a smart dog training consumer.

We delve into both practical and ethical questions when it comes to finding a puppy class, and Jean shares the answers to her three questions you should ask any dog trainer:

What exactly will happen if my dog gets it right?
What exactly will happen if my dog gets it wrong?
Are there less invasive/aversive alternatives to what you propose?

05/08/2024

New Puppy Culture Booklet! "Be Your Puppy’s Advocate" https://bit.ly/PUPPYSADVOCATE

One of the keys to successful puppy raising is having the foresight to avoid situations and people that could be emotionally damaging to your puppy.

This kind of foresight is not intuitive. It comes with experience. But most puppy owners don’t have that experience, which is why I put it into a booklet.

This is the booklet that I want to put in the hands of every puppy owner. It’s what you need to know to keep your puppy safe and be your puppy’s advocate.

What’s Inside:
20 pages, 8.5 x 11, printed on luxurious 100 # gloss paper

• How to avoid the five most common emotionally damaging incidents that happen to puppies.

• The six ways we can empower ourselves to stand up for our puppies.

• Infographic “12 Steps to Puppy Advocacy” for quick reference

Description Expert guidance for puppy owners, covering everything you need to know to be your puppy’s advocate. Presented in an easy to read format, with eye-catching infographics and illustrations. Features 12 steps to Puppy Advocacy quick reference infographic 11” x 8.5” 20 pages Full color ...

19/06/2024

Wow, that snuck up on me! 30,000 downloads of the Madcap Radio podcasts! If you haven't listened yet, you can check it out, here: https://madcapradiolearning.podbean.com/

18/06/2024

I get asked a lot about the safety of giving marrow bones to dogs and puppies...I did a short podcast on the risks vs benefits of marrow bones that I think you'll find helpful. The studies I mention in the podcast are on the show page (when you click on the link for the podcast you'll see the studies at the bottom of the page) https://bit.ly/MarrowBonesSafety

14/05/2024

New podcast is up! https://bit.ly/GettingFirmWithDogs

This week’s question is about your changing relationship with your puppy through his teenage months:

"I was talking with a very respected breeder about my ten-month-old Bull Terrier and she told me that this is the age where I need to start being ‘firm’ with him. What does she mean by ‘firm?’"

In this episode I explain:

•What we mean by “firm”
•Your process for deciding when and how to be “firm” as your puppy matures
•Why being “firm” is important as puppies mature into teenagers, but inappropriate and harmful for young puppies

20/03/2024

Can puppy testing help you match puppies to homes? My latest podcast explores this topic 🙂. https://bit.ly/PuppyTestPodcast

13/03/2024

New podcast up! This turned out to be a surprisingly hot topic, so please head back here and share your thoughts after you take a listen ❤ https://bit.ly/MENTORSFORPUPPYOWNERS

22/02/2024

Hey kids, will you go on our new website and see if you can break it lol? We have some new stuff coming but we wanted to launch the new website and get the bugs out, first! Let us know if anything looks amiss or does not work for you

Puppy Culture, for PUPPY OWNERS -and- BREEDERS THE POWERFUL FIRST 12 WEEKS That Can Shape Your Puppy's Future.

13/02/2024

New podcast is up! https://bit.ly/WhentoPlacePuppies

This week’s question is about when puppies should go to their new homes:

“I've known breeders who keep their pups till 8 weeks, and some till 10 weeks. Some even until 12. What are the deciding factors in how long pups stay with the breeder? Does it depend on breed, the specific litter, or does it just come down to breeder preference?”

In this episode, I talk about:

•Optimal age for placing puppies.
•Factors that go into determining what that optimal age is.
•Extenuating circumstances that influence the decision when to place puppies.

06/02/2024

New podcast just dropped! Talking about teaching puppies to take treats gently from hand :). https://bit.ly/SoftMouthPuppies

When it rains it pours, and this week it’s pouring puppies who bite fingers when taking treats. We got FOUR posts on this topic this week!

The questions came from both puppy owners and breeders, and in this episode, I give you a fresh perspective on this “problem”:

•Why puppies take treats roughly from hand
•What you should do about it
•Tips for working with puppies or dogs in groups

30/01/2024

New Podcast up! https://bit.ly/HowMuchChallenge

“How much frustration should a puppy have before changing the game a little to make the session successful?
Did the barrier challenge for the 1st time today...he was continually going to the wrong side to a closed section...At the 3-minute mark, I pulled the food bowl so a small portion went beyond the barrier, then placed him back at the starting point again. He was able to complete the challenge then.
Should I have waited him out? I am second guessing myself.”

In this episode I cover:

•How do you know how much challenge is enough and not too much in any given training session?

•Why is so important that we try to guess right about the amount of challenge the puppy or dog can handle?

•What do you do if you guess wrong and make the challenge too difficult?

23/01/2024

New podcast up! https://bit.ly/PuppyTerrorists

Today’s question is about puppies who terrorize adult dogs:

“Does anyone have experience with a pup obsessed with chasing the older dog (Labrador pups adult GSD). The GSD runs from him and has turned and bark/snarled at him, but he won’t leave her alone when he sees her. Suggestions?”

In this episode, I talk about:

•Is this normal puppy behavior?
•What to do about it.
•What the long-term outlook is for this situation.

09/01/2024

New podcast just dropped! https://bit.ly/TeenageDogsPodcast

Today’s question is a fan request for an episode on teenagers:

“I wonder if you could do a podcast covering what you have learned works best regarding how to frame the adolescents mind and some general guidelines around training and general standards we should be aware of at this time in her development. You know, like with the puppies at their different stages.”

“Adolescent dogs” is a huge topic spanning several developmental periods, but in this episode I’m throwing out some big, universal landmarks that I have observed in adolescent dogs. I discuss:

The shift in reinforcers around the time of teething – why it happens, what it looks like, and what to do about it.
The shift in brain capacity for different kinds of learning – when it happens, how you know it’s happening, and what to do about it.
Major considerations and priorities for guiding dogs through adolescence.

Photo courtesy Austerlitz German Shepherds

04/01/2024

We've gotten a number of posts on the theme of when to place puppies and I just want to make some very general statements on this.

1. The optimal time to place a puppy splits the end of the critical socialization period between the breeder and the puppy owner. So the breeder gets to shepherd the puppy through the first part and do all the "firsts" and the puppy owner gets to customize the socialization experience to their lifestyle. The breeder is typically more experienced and better able to navigate those tricky first intros, but the puppy owner typically has more time and energy to pour into individual socialization and training.

2. That having been said, there is no magic in warehousing puppies for an extended period of time. If the breeder is not going to be willing or able to do active socialization, training and enrichment protocols, the puppy is not going to benefit by staying longer with their litter than traditional placement age. So when you're looking at the breeder, are they doing things like leash walking, outside socialization experiences, and crate and confinement training? Or just keeping a bunch of puppies in a pen with lots of toys and gadgets?

3. For us, this works out to placing puppies at about 10 weeks of age. That gives the puppy owners a solid two weeks to customize the socialization experience. But I will not lie to you, those last two weeks between 8 and 10 weeks are a LOT of work and we take that responsibility of keeping those puppies for that extra time very seriously.

4. And, as I mentioned, developmental differences are huge...at 9 weeks our puppies are beginning to look for "their people" but are still very flexible...GSD puppies are beginning to take on their littermates and mistrust novelty...and Norwich Terrier puppies are still nursing. So, no, there is not "an age" that is best to place puppies.

5. I think the operant question is not so much at what age the breeder is placing the puppies as what is the breeder doing with the puppies while they have them? Are they keeping them long enough to complete important protocols? Are the actually doing that work? Are they careful not to place the puppies during a fear period?

6. All that having been said, there are certainly outside limits to this. I think it's safe to say that a breeder who is looking to place puppies at 6 weeks old is not doing what needs to be done with those puppies, at least in terms of what we at Puppy Culture believe should be done. It's just an enormous red flag.

7. But, even then, there are some cases where placing the puppies really early could be a legitimate decision. The example i always use is a giant breed puppy that would have to fly in cargo if you waited until 10 weeks to place the puppy. I would place a puppy at 7 weeks old in an experienced home with a good adult dog before I would have a 10 week old puppy be shipped in cargo. So there is some nuance, here.

8. My final comment, and I have warned about this before, do not bring up "it's illegal where I live to place puppies before x age." The people who write those laws are not breeders, don't know dogs, and don't know what's best for puppies. I'm sorry for you if you live in a place that is governed by an ignorant animal rights cabal. But the fact that "it's illegal" does not somehow legitimize or lend credence to that practice.

9. And, OK, my final final comment is that I get how frustrating this is as a puppy seeker. I am trying to help my sister find a kitten of a specific breed and it's just really frustrating to navigate the waters of breeders who are ethical in the sense of health and good genetics but really just warehouse kittens and sell them. If you have a very specific breed in mind it's really just dumb luck if you find a breeder who truly does it all. I don't really have an answer, just sympathy for your position ❤.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year! Here's a NEW podcast that's a fan-favorite question that we get a lot...motion sickness in puppies! https://bit.ly/MotionSickPuppies

***************
This week’s star question is from a puppy owner whose puppy is drooling and throwing up in the car.

They’re wondering, is it general anxiety or carsickness? It’s very troublesome because these puppy owners have lots of big plans for travel with their pet and it’s important that their puppy ride well in the car.

What can they do to fix this situation?
In this episode I answer these questions and look at:

•The evolutionary reason we experience motion sickness
•How to treat and manage carsickness
•Carsickness prevention protocols for breeders, and
•The prognosis for carsick puppies

19/12/2023

New podcast talks about puppies who wake up screaming for attention...https://bit.ly/TooEarlyAwakePuppies

Today’s question comes from a viewer who has a puppy that wakes up at 5AM and screams her head off.

They’ve been ignoring the screaming but it’s not going away... what should she do?

This is a common problem that both puppy owners and breeders regularly write in about.

​In this episode I cover:

•Why puppies scream at seemingly odd hours of the morning

•What you should do to stop “early risers” from screaming

​•How to effectively look at the total picture to see why your puppy is screaming and if it’s an “I want” or an “I need.”