Dog parks 🐶 yes or no??
There are a few reasons I’m not a fan of busy dog parks :
🐶 Most people don’t have an effective recall on their dog which means that stuff can go wrong quickly and there’s more chance dog play will get over threshold and drama will happen
🐶 Most people don’t understand what normal dog interactions look like. One very important component of appropriate dog play is breaks and often incorrectly socialised dogs don’t understand this. If you’re taking your dog to a dog park, they are going mental for 20 minutes with other dogs and that’s the only dog interaction they know, they are going to be pretty annoying! Coexisting and chilling together is an important skill for dogs to learn.
🐶 The people 🫢🫢 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked someone to call their dog away and they’ve said ‘it’s an off lead area’ …. Or the people that sit on their phones and ignore their dogs completely then wonder why they don’t have a good recall …
For confident, socially mature dogs with solid recalls and personalities then dog parks can be a good option. Most likely if you are a regular user of a busy dog area your dog will be inappropriately interacted with (attacked, harassed, humped, chased) at some point and they need to be solid enough to come back from that.
Dog parks are NOT the place for puppies, anxious dogs, non dog social dogs, or teaching your dog to get along better with other dogs.
What’s your dog park experiences??
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Reactivity training session 🐶
By ‘reactivity’ I mean that Charlie has a reaction to seeing/hearing her trigger (dogs) over and above what we would consider ‘normal’. This is not fun for her and not a behaviour she is ‘choosing’ to do.
This can be because of fear, frustration or a combination. The behaviour we overtly see can be barking, growling, lunging, inability to focus. Training can help the dog learn new behaviours other than these and help the team feel more confident and comfortable 😊
It’s important with any training to practise a lot in many different environments and have a long history of reinforcement for desirable behaviours. This is especially so for difficult behaviours - such as checking in when there are triggers around 🐶
The most important thing is to go at the dog’s pace and never put them in a situation they are unable to cope with. Good training often looks like we are doing nothing - because that’s what we want to be good at!
Putting a dog in a situation where they can’t cope and therefore react by barking and lunging is completely unfair and is going to perpetuate the issue.
There are lots of ways we can help dogs feel safer and calmer around things that stress them out and it’s important we rule out any medical reason first.
When I’m doing reactivity training I look at the dog’s whole life to make sure there are other things contributing to or exacerbating the situation.
Underlying pain, allergies, GI issues and general lifestyle have a huge part to play.
If your dog is showing reactive behaviour consult an experienced, aversive free professional trainer 🐕
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We expect dogs to always be happy, love everyone, love all other dogs, never say no, read our minds, live in our society happily - all often without having their canine needs met.
Today I feel sick. So I have cancelled my plans and am having a lazy day. Yes, sometimes we have to push through and do the things even though we don’t feel like it but given the choice I would rather not.
Dogs can feel sick too. Have a bad nights sleep, have a sore foot, be overtired, feel overwhelmed and just have a bad day 😕
Simply labelling them as ‘stubborn’, ‘disobedient’ or ‘naughty’ is really unfair. I didn’t go to the gym today. But because I am ‘disobedient’ but because I feel like 💩
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ON YOUR MAT - part 3 🐾
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ON YOUR MAT - part 2 🐾
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ON YOUR MAT - stage 1 🐶
Here I am teaching lovely Cassie the first stage of ‘on your mat’ 🐾
Stage 2 coming soon! ⭐️
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Capturing calm 😴
My main priority getting Birdie was that I wanted her to be a calm dog. Which is a big ask since she’s a Jack Russell! 🐶
The main training I have done since day 1 is captured calm moments. Any time she is lying down or sitting I walk past and drop a little snack next to her.
I have some pots of snacks around the house so I don’t disturb her by cutting up treats or opening the fridge. 🥓
Her default from about 11 weeks old became lie down and be quiet.
Aim to do this 50 times a day. 50 little biscuits or tiny bits of dried treat is not that many!
The first couple of days your dog will jump up and think that you are doing something but work through this. Just keep going about your business so they realise the reason they got rewarded was for doing nothing.
This will also help with polite greetings (not jumping up) and mat work in the future.
This is fantastic for dogs that jump up when you are eating and cooking. Remember - things that are reinforced get repeated 🤗
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#dog #dogwellness #jackrussell #jackrussellterrier #jackrussellpuppy
WHAT TO DO INSTEAD ⬇️
If you know someone with a calm, safe older dog you can go for walks together on a long lead. Start at a distance where your dog is comfortable and not showing signs of stress 🐶
Take it slow and have lots of breaks until your pup is feeling comfortable.
This is very general advice so if you do have a nervous or reactive dog please contact an aversive free professional who has experience in this field (like me!)
Don’t let your dog ‘sort it out’ or think they ‘have to get used to it’. Especially when dealing with unknown dogs! The amount of times I’ve seen young or nervous dogs clearly indicate they don’t want to interact with dogs and the person have no idea makes me sad.
At the very least learn about canine body language and appropriate play. Look for subtle stress signals and err on the side of caution.
So no, we are not ‘socialising’ dogs by throwing them in the deep end 😕
Let’s call bullsh*t on some dog myths 😠
Let’s look at this from a behavioural analysis point of view 🤔 When looking at changing behaviours we can look at what the function of that behaviour is. Dog wants attention, dog jumps on person, person pays attention to dog, therefore that behaviour will be reinforced.
The function of the aspects of fear (fawn, flight, fight, freeze) is usually to create space from the things causing the fear. It might also be fear from an overall situation, such as being alone.
If I had a panic attack and a friend comforted me, I wouldn’t look for more opportunities to have panic attacks. My friend comforting me would probably lessen the feeling of fear and also strengthen our bond. Even more so with a parent or other primary caregiver comforting a child.
Dogs are not manipulative. They do what works and, while they are always learning, the purpose of the behaviour is not to be ‘in control’.
Last night we had a storm and Lola has a fear of thunder. I sat with her and comforted her as the storm passed. Was the purpose of her panting, pacing, salivating, racing heart and muscle tension to get my attention? No.
Providing comfort to anyone in distress is the right thing to do, both from a behaviour and kindness point of view.
If someone tells you not to comfort a dog in fear, tell them to go educate themselves.
Puppies are not blank slates 🐶
Quite often you hear “it’s all how you raise them” and that’s simply untrue. There are a lot of things that go into a personality - many of which you don’t have control over.
The four main ones are :
🧬 GENETICS - genetics and epigenetics play a big role in anxiety, resilience, confidence among other things. Two anxious parents are going to produce offspring with a lower bar to develop anxiety. We know that in utero stress effects developing fetuses and trauma has a genetic link too.
Genetics in terms of breed behaviours (herding, chasing, retrieving etc) also play a huge role.
🐶 EARLY SOCIALISATION - the first 12-16 weeks are incredibly important and you might not be with your pup for part or all of that. If your pup has been in a rural area for the first 3 months if it’s life then is in a busy area they are more likely to be anxious around traffic or busy places.
Making sure your breeder/foster care/ shelter is doing positive and proactive socialisation to the world is important.
🤔 LEARNING HISTORY - what previous experiences has the puppy had? Maybe they’ve learned that bigger dogs are scary from some bad experiences or that going to the vet is awful. Maybe they’ve learned that dogs are nice and going to the vet means treats.
There are single events that can really effect your pup for the rest of their life. That’s why I am so cautious that Bird doesn’t get terrified while she’s still developing.
🥰 PERSONALITY - some pups are naturally more confident than others. My sister and I have had very similar upbringings and the same parents and we are very different people. Asking your breeder / foster carer/ shelter about the different puppy personalities can tell you a lot. I deliberately got Birdie as she was a shyer, more independent and calmer pup than the rest of her litter.
You can definitely tweak this and build confidence or calmness but you can’t turn a shy dog into an extrovert.
So
Dog play 🐶❤️
This is an area where I see a lot of tension and misunderstanding. For the most part I avoid busy dog parks because there are so many inappropriate interactions, leading to some dogs getting bullied and others being bulldozers.
When introducing dogs we would ideally go for a walk together on long leads to let them get used to each other while not completely focused on each other. We are closely watching body language to make sure both dogs are comfortable 🐕
Consent testing is a great way to make sure both dogs are ok. This involves gently holding back the more confident dog and seeing if the other dog wants to engage or reengage with play.
We did this many times in this play session to make sure Chester (and Brucie) were ok with the interaction.
Making sure the humans and calm and moving around can also be helpful.
Play can look rough so remembering these points can be useful ⭐️
🐶 loose body language - play bows, relaxed face and body, gently wagging almost horizontal tail
🐶 taking breaks - changing activity, having a sniff, waiting to see what the other one wants
🐶 taking turns - while some dogs love being chased it’s nice to take turns, especially with wrestling
🐶 taking it easy - although dog play can look rough and get noisy for the most part pups and dogs don’t bite, grab, chase or body slam to full capacity. This allows dogs of different sizes to play nicely
Great work Chester and Brucie ❤️
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