Positive Vibes Dog Training

25/06/2022

Thunderstorm season is upon us, and firework season is fast approaching. Keep an eye on this page to learn ho to help your pets stay safe and comfortable during this noisy time of year.

All animals need a place where they feel safe and can decompress. A safe zone is a special new area we’ll create together for your dog. We may use a gate or pen to create this new area, or start with a new crate or bed. You and your trainer will discuss the most appropriate place to designate as a safe zone for your pet. The goal is to build lots of positive associations in this new area so your pet loves their new spot.

The safe zone should have:
An extra comfy bed/blanket
An Adaptil diffuser
A noise buffer
A high value, long lasting food dispensing toy such as a stuffed Kong or a snuffle mat sprinkled with chopped up hot dogs or cheese, unless your pup will guard this resource.

First, condition your pup to relax on their new bed (see relaxation handout). Then, every day, place your dog in the safe zone for 5-10 minutes with high value treats in a food puzzle (e.g., stuffed Kong) to help create a conditioned positive emotional response to this whole area.

08/05/2022

When a dog trusts you they are more likely to listen, understand and respond when you want them to do something. And if they don’t, it’s not because of a lack of respect. It is due to a lack of understanding or a break in communication on your part, and rather than punishing your dog because you think he is being disrespectful, you must spend more time teaching and helping him negotiate the human world he lives in.

https://positively.com/victorias-blog/does-your-dog-respect-you/

01/04/2022

This is so important to remember!

16/03/2022

Dogs might not be able to recognize themselves in a mirror, but that doesn't mean our pets don't have some level of self-awareness.

14/03/2022

Did you know that sniffing can make your dog’s outlook more positive? A 2019 study by Dr. Charlotte Duranton (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz (Barnard College) compared dogs participating in nose work with their owners to dogs participating in heelwork. The dogs were then giving a cognitive bias test, which gauges optimism using one bowl that always contains food in one specific location, and a second that never does in another specific location. The test is what the dog does when they come across a third bowl in a new location, right between the other two. An optimistic dog would get to this new bowl more quickly, thinking it contains a snack; a pessimistic dog would get there more slowly, unsure about the snack or thinking the bowl is empty.

After two weeks of sniff- or heel-training, the nose work dogs went to the third bowl significantly faster time than they had before; the heelwork dogs showed no difference in time to reach the bowl before and after the training.

Why is this? One possibility is that dogs engaged in sniff training are encouraged to move around and make their own choices; heel training requests the opposite, remaining in a specific spot and not moving around or investigating. Smell is also an incredibly important sense for dogs, so sniffing allows a dog to engage in a natural behavior while obedience heel work is more artificial, and this may have an effect on how each dog is feeling at after the training.

28/01/2022

THIS IS A PSA

Puppies bite. They bite a lot. They bite hard. Their teeth are sharp. You might bleed. It might seem relentless.

Scaring the pants off them by yelling, pinning, shoving or shouting will not only do precisely zero, it will potentially create a fearful adult dog.

Puppies bite more when;
They are tired
They are hungry
They are bored
They are overstimulated
They are teething

Read that again. They bite MORE when they are the above. They will also bite when they are absolutely fine. They are dogs not dolls.

Be compassionate not scary. They will grow out of it but only if you teach them a good alternative. Trade for toys. Use a pen or a crate. Teach calmness. Reward gentle interactions. Grit your own teeth and ride it out while reinforcing good stuff and proactively managing bad stuff.

Be proactive when you know biting happens like after some play, when excitement goes up, when they are overtired (7-9pm witching hour anyone?) and give them a good chew or help them settle, or channel that energy into some training.

It does get better basically. Don’t panic. Most puppy biting isn’t aggression. Be CONSISTENT and PROACTIVE and expect more than a few bites along the way.

Signed,
Aalto the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (aka the ginger shark)

24/01/2022

What I embody as well at Positive Vibes.

This sums up everything we strive for at SWDS ❤️

Credit to Sarah Fisher

24/06/2021

Love this.

Training Tuesday...Train without Pain. Thank you to https://www.facebook.com/dogsdisclosed/ for the nice infographic.

01/06/2021

Contrary to popular belief, dogs that pull on the leash while being walked do not want to be pack leader, top dog, alpha, or dominant over their human. There is a much simpler explanation: dogs love to be outside, and the walk is a stimulating and exciting part of their day, so the desire to push ahead is very strong.

https://positively.com/dog-behavior/basic-cues/loose-leash-walking/

30/03/2021

16/02/2021

Training using food involves so much more. There is an evidence-based plan in place.

(Edit: we learned that The Pet Behaviourist - Vanessa Ward created this infographic. Thank you, Vanessa, for this representation of the nuance of animal training!)

03/02/2021

You want to reward good behaviors, not use tools to punish negative ones.