Fighting for Fido

20/09/2023

There is a lingering misconception that using force free and fear free methods consists of just ignoring any 'bad' behaviour and giving a dog food. The reality is that force free training is so much more than that.

It requires an understanding of the history of dogs, why they do the things that they do and how to change their behaviour. Of how to manage the dog's environment so they don't get to practice the behaviour we don't want to see while reinforcing the behaviours we do want - dogs do what works for them so reinforcing alternative behaviours makes the original behaviour much less likely to repeat.

Most of all it means having an understanding of the dog in front of us, their needs, likes and dislikes, so that we can help them with their fears or show them the behaviours their humans would like without danger of fear and pain, or of the dog becoming frustrated or scared.

10/01/2023

I think everyone by now knows reactivity is a passion of mine.....some trainers fear reactivity work as it is not your "typical" training.....and they are right.

It is emotions.

One thing that I do see over and over is people choose the distance to start this work rather than let their dog choose....and it is usually far closer than their dog can handle. They may not be barking but the hackles, hard stare, tensing still shows they are too close.

Some people insist on a sit or a down in the face of a trigger.... but many dogs become instantly stressed by being in a position they cannot remove themselves from quickly.

Choice means everything to a reactive dog.

Can I please ask that if you see my charts elsewhere and my logo has been removed and replaced with theirs to please let me know. Also please feel free to share these graphs but often the post itself is an important part of the whole picture. They do need to go together.

Thanks everyone.
All the best on your own reactive journey.

28/11/2022

Barking can be for many reasons, including pain. Remember, it's their way of communicating with us 🐾❤️🐾

08/10/2022

03/09/2022

🐹💙🐰
Either you choose a guinea pig or a rabbit, make sure that you are prepared to care for them for that long.😊

Responsible pet ownership should be learned about before acquiring a new furry family member! 🥰

🍉Read more about guinea pigs and rabbits by clicking the link!
https://guineadad.com/blogs/news/rabbit-vs-guinea-pig-which-pet-should-i-get-with-infographic

15/08/2022

Punishing dogs for displaying normal behaviour is the mark of unqualified abusers.

16/07/2022

15/07/2022

PLEASE vaccinate your pets!! Vaccines save lives.

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of our sweet Edith who lost her battle to parvovirus this morning. She was rescued on Saturday by our amazing Mama Fido with FIDO's Companion Rescue Inc. and was started on meds immediately. Unfortunately her poor body was not responding and they could not get her vomiting and diarrhea to stop or slow down. Our hearts as well as everyone at Fido's and West Park are completely broken for our sweet girl and this is why we stress so much to vaccinate your dogs.

We thank Mama Fido, Dr. Nicole and the rest of the staff at West Park Animal Hospital for doing everything they possibly could to help her. We love you so very much beautiful girl and we are so glad that we were able to get to know you, fall head over heels for you and shower you with as much love as possible before your passing. ❤️

Please consider making a donation in Edith's honor to Fido's, who ALWAYS steps up for our dogs when they are in need. Run free at the bridge, beautiful girl. We will see you again some day and know that you will never be forgotten 🌈

09/07/2022

04/07/2022

It took time to help Buddy learn how to live in a humans world. (And like all of us, he is still learning)
Being passed around from home to home he struggled with confidence, trust and had had no guidance on basic manners.
But now he WANTS to settle in his own space (he loves his man cave pillow bed)
He stays in the same county as me when off lead 😜
He comes to me when called because fun time begins
He walks next to me because it's a safe place that also pays out big time.
He knows that leaving something usually means something even better is coming.
Yes, these things have taken time but his welfare was/is more important than my ego.
There is no quick fix if you want to train a dog.

Any idiot can shut a dog down using aversives, and the dog may "look" calm, but the underlying emotion is still there, the dog is just to afraid to show it.
Any idiot can choke a dog it stop it pulling on a lead..... but that is not training
Any idiot can shock a dog to stop it in its tracks, or shut it up .... but that is not training
Any idiot can threaten a dog to stay in one place.... but that is not training.

And yes if you are using pain, fear or intimidation you are an idiot,
There is never a need to use these things on a dog.

02/07/2022

ROGERS, ARKANSAS This beautiful 7 month old, 40lb "lap dog" is "Frosty Possum"! 🥰 A double Merle, she was found as a stray, most likely abandoned for being special needs. Being deaf and partially sighted is a common genetic fluke in Merle dog breeding. However, these dogs still make amazing family pets once in the right home! The ideal home for Frosty would be one with people familiar with deaf and vision impaired dogs, and no children under age 10. A dog like Frosty is completely trainable and can live a comfortable life. If you are interested in adopting, fostering, or can help this pup in any way, please contact us here or message Angela Lea Head.
Thank you! 😊

02/07/2022

If a fear reactive dog is in the height of a reaction your dog is beyond learning anything. It is in its flight, fright or fight state and correcting this does absolutely nothing to teach your dog how to not be reactive.

When a dog is reacting it means that the dog has lost control of logic and his brain is flooded with stress hormones. This makes reasoned thought or learning impossible.

Your dog cannot learn in a reactive state.

Counterconditioning and desensitisation, while keeping your dog under threshold is a proven, effective way to lessen reactivity.
The best thing to do if your dog goes over its threshold and reacts is to walk away in the opposite direction.....keep going until your dog stops and do a U turn to reengage at a better distance.

If you do not reengage your dog will begin to think its reaction worked (it created distance between it and the fear)....and you can have a cyclical reaction.

Always work under your own dogs threshold .

Celebrate the wins and remind yourself this is a process.

27/06/2022

Shelters are reaching capacity. Please consider donating, fostering, or adopting! Anything helps.

We are officially waving the white flag. 2022 wins, we give up.

Viva Fam, we have tried for months to find the light at the end of the tunnel. We aren’t getting adoption applications on dogs that should be very easy to find great homes for. We have no foster homes, donations are just trickling in and barely cover the cost of the dogs we already have who we can’t find homes for. We spend a out $4,000 a month taking care of the pups in our care. We’re not receiving donations even close to that. We do not receive government funding, we are literally only able to do this important work because of your kindness and support.

We have done some AMAZING work! We know this. We will continue doing amazing work, it’s just going to take us time to get back to that place.

We cannot responsibly take on any new dogs until we are back to operating in the black. Today alone, we have had to tell three separate shelters we cannot help them. We know they’re full, we know that saying No will likely result in lives lost… but we just can’t.

We don’t have $ to vet new dogs. We don’t have $ to feed new dogs. We barely are BARELY managing to take care of the dogs we already have who are looking for homes.

Rescue has never, in our 10 year history been this hard. Ever. We are broken. We are sad. It’s really hard to find the hope to go on.

We need you. Now, more than ever before. We really, truly cannot go on without your help. We desperately need donations so that we can get back into the black… so that we can again say YES to dogs in need. There are so many. More than we have ever seen… we need to get to a place to help them, and we cannot do it without you.

We know times are hard for everyone. We know. The world is a really ugly place. We feel it as well. No amount is too small, really. If every single one of our followers donated just ONE DOLLAR, we would be back in the black, and able to say yes to dogs who have no other hope.

If you can help, you can donate directly through this post or via Paypal to: [email protected]

17/06/2022

Aversive tools are devices used to decrease unwanted behaviour in an animal using physical and/or emotional discomfort via the use of positive punishment. Examples include: prong collars, choke collars, shock collars, slip leads, martingales, and even misused leashes and flat collars. Positive punishment is defined as adding something a dog finds unpleasant or scary to decrease a behavior.

Imagine a dog is out for a walk while wearing a prong collar, and he begins to pull on-leash and/or a correction is applied by the handler. If this happens while he is looking at another dog, he may stop pulling toward this other dog because of the pain and discomfort the prong collar is causing. However, he is also making a negative association with the other dog ("that dog caused me pain"), and potentially many other stimuli that were observed or experienced while the punishment was applied, even if that was not the intended association. The more this happens, the more likely that dog is going to become increasingly concerned about other dogs and environmental stimuli while wearing the prong collar. This could start with slight worry, and possibly lead to full-blown leash reactivity: barking, growling, and lunging. This is how something as simple as pulling on-leash can evolve into more severe behaviour concerns. What started as innocent excitement or frustration from not being able to socialize with the other dog has now turned into an even bigger behavioural concern, resulting from pain, fear and anxiety.

Positive punishment can decrease and suppress behaviour, that is why it works! That’s not the argument. But the side effects and consequences are plenty. Increased fear and fear-related aggression, inadvertent and unintended negative associations, damage to the human-animal bond and it also leads to apathetic learners. You can start to see how positive punishment actually slows down an animal’s learning! So, while aversive tools do appear to work on a surface level, remember the possible costs to you and your pet before using them.

For FREE animal training resources, visit 👇🏼

https://www.companionvet.ca/dog-resources/

27/05/2022

Many of them are bought from commercial breeders supplied by puppy mills and backyard breeders.

16/05/2022

Please adopt if you can, and have patience with your pets. They need you!!

Returning to in-person work and rising cost of living has left many pet owners unable to care for their animals.