K9 Positive Works Behavioural Training

17/09/2024

17/09/2024

Did you know that 46% of people with low or no vision have faced taxi or rideshare refusals in the past 24 months? 😔 Over a third (34%) had their rides cancelled, and 15% experienced ridicule or discrimination. This shocking data comes from a recent Ernst & Young Sweeney report commissioned by Guide Dogs Australia.

Help us to raise awareness, spread the word that "Guide and Assistance Dogs Can Go Anywhere", including Puppies In Training.

Living in a supportive and inclusive community is essential for our quality of life and wellbeing. Let’s make sure everybody has the same opportunities to live a life without barriers.

01/09/2024

We're on leave!! We'll be back in the office on Tuesday the 17th of September. See you all then!! :)

20/08/2024

"So ditch dominance. Park the prong. Stop the shock. Use treats to train your dog. If you stick to reward-based methods only, you’ll have a dog who is happier, has better manners, and has a better relationship with you." Read more in my NEW post at Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fellow-creatures/202408/more-treats-please-no-tugging-the-leash-in-dog-training

16/06/2024

Let's talk about this photo. It's cute, except it's not. I see a dog who cannot get up without telling the child to get off. How do you think a dog is going to do that?

The 7 Golden Toddler Dog Rules:
#1: If a dog walks away from you, you DO NOT FOLLOW.
#2: Always leave room for the dog to walk away from you.
---that right there is 90+% of dog bites eliminated---
#3: We do not climb on the dog.
#4: We do not grab or pull on the dog.
#5: We do not hit or throw anything at the dog.
#6: We do not touch the dog's food.
#7: We do not go into the dog's kennel.

I promise these are not overly difficult concepts for littles, nor will they rob a kid of their bond with the family dog. It will deepen that bond, while keeping everyone safe.

"Oh, it looks like Moose is walking away from you. She is saying she wants a break. Let's play with this instead!"

"It's Moose's dinner time! Let's give her space to enjoy her yummies."

"That is Moose's room(kennel) and only she is allowed to go in there."

"If Moose wanted a break, could she walk away from you right now? No she really couldn't. Let's move away from the play house. You can keep playing but now she can leave when she wants a break."

In conclusion, ***parent your child or your dog will do it for you, and you will not like how they do it.***

31/05/2024

This is a heart. The heart of an unhealthy animal...
I use it to get your attention....

Our animals behaviour is often initiated by their physical health.
Damaged physical health will often result in unwanted behaviour.

Assuming you can "train" away unwanted behaviour but ignoring their physical state is quite frankly abusive...
I bring this up because of a specific case ..

A painful dog with reactivity. A medically diagnosed severely painful dog. (Chronic severe spondylosis and narrowed airways- I can share the x-rays)

Yet a "trainer" stepped in to solve the behaviour with a prong collar and a slip lead.
The dog is now presenting with severe neck pain and physiological stress.

The "trainer" views this as fixing the reactive behaviours.... but the reality is the dog not only still feels fear and anxiety but the "fix" has exacerbating the underlying painful cause.

Stop Using Pain To Train...

22/12/2023

We're going on vacation!! Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year. We'll be back in the office on the 9th of January :)

19/12/2023

One of the ways to assess the welfare of dogs trained using different types of training methods is to look at cognitive bias, or whether the dog is optimistic or pessimistic. This study by Casey et al 2021 finds "We demonstrated that dogs appear to show a more pessimistic cognitive bias where trainers report using two or more aversive training methods, and this has important implications for the kind of advice given to dog owners by veterinary surgeons, breeders, behaviourists or trainers, particularly for new owners or those acquiring a puppy." This is just one of many studies that shows it's important to stick to reward-based dog training methods.
Read the full paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-97743-0

13/11/2023

18/10/2023

Ever thought about what your dogs needs are?? Starting with the bottom of this pillar this should help you consider everything which your dog needs!!

02/07/2023

Hi everyone! We're going on leave for a little while to recharge the batteries! When I'm back we'll have some Lulu updates and other great posts ready to go! See you all on the 18th of July!

05/06/2023

““I am also saddened when I hear people say medication should be used as a ‘last resort’, when they would probably never say the same thing about any other medical treatment. This ultimately means that dogs who truly need to be medicated end up being deprived of proper medical treatment for many months or even years while their owners work their way through thousands of dollars worth of over-the-counter products, and training sessions that don’t work because the dog has a medical condition that is preventing it from being able to learn. This line of thinking also assumes that behaviour vets like me enjoy giving medication out to patients who don’t really need it.”

With Georgie, after a few weeks, several key things began to shift. First, she began to sleep more (deep restful sleep is as important for dogs as it is for humans), some of her noise phobias began to disappear and, slowly but surely, she started showing a willingness to venture further from the front door. She began to walk with us rather than trying to tow us into the next postcode.”

Our wild, loud, disobedient dog turned out to be a terrified dog.

02/06/2023

Illustrated for PetHarmonyTraining.com
What is Pet Enrichment?

12/05/2023

04/04/2023

I'm continuing my review of the research on dog training methods. Back in 2017, Ziv published a review of the literature that looked at all the available evidence and made a strong case for only using reward-based training methods, because of the risks of aversives (like prong and shock collars and leash corrections) for dog's welfare. Read all about it here: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/2017/04/new-literature-review-recommends-reward.html

12/03/2023

Things people say about their dogs that I can totally relate to.

“She really doesn’t like strange men approaching her”

Same.

“He hates being restrained”

Same.

“She’s super food motivated”

Same.

“When we go somewhere new with a lot of noise, he gets really anxious and wants to leave”

Same.

“If you touch her while she’s eating she gets really stiff and looks at me like she might growl”

Same.

“He doesn’t want to go to the bathroom outside when it’s raining”

Same.

“I can tell when I ask her to do something, she looks at me wondering if she’ll get a reward”

Same.

"He's fine with new people, but gets uncomfortable if they try to touch him"

Same.

“If she’s in the middle of doing something and distracted, and I ask her to come over to me, she doesn’t do it right away she finishes that and then maybe she’ll listen but I usually have to call her again”

Same.

Why are these behaviors that are so totally normal and understandable with humans and other animals not acceptable or “problems” with dogs? Why are we so quick to assume that just because we have dogs in our lives, that their personal preferences, individual personalities and also natural behaviors should just change simply because it’s more convenient for us? Seriously.

Maybe the first step is looking through a new lens. A lens of understanding and empathy and realizing dogs are the ONLY creatures on this earth we do this to….. other than our kids but that’s a whole other can of worms. No one has ever called me in tears after trying to give their cat a bath and told me the cat didn’t like it hissed at them, and they don’t know what’s wrong with it - but I get calls like this for dogs all the time. It’s just assumed that dogs should and will tolerate what we expect and when they don’t, that’s a problem. But what if it isn’t? What if it’s just that dog? Why are we doing this to them? It’s making them crazy…. And making dog trainers even more crazy.

Take a step back. Look through a new lens. Behavior can be worked on, of course. But maybe it’s your behavior that has to change first, then we can talk about the dog.

24/02/2023

Puppy socialisation is NOT just about playing with other dogs.

In fact, too much uncontrolled exposure to other dogs can cause so many unintended consequences.

If you have a puppy, make sure you try to work on ALL aspects of socialisation, as listed in the bottom graphic.