Dogology

26/12/2022

How my dogs spend their Christmas 😂🐾

28/11/2022

Echo and I tried out our first Fun Rally competition yesterday. I was very impressed with his score of 97.5%. Super proud of you my boy 🐾

23/11/2022

Puppy class isn't going to cut it.

Especially not with all the high expectations we have with our dogs. Doing a six week puppy course with your dog is an incredible start, but it is the first stepping stone of many.

Expecting a dog to be able to just do all the behaviours consistently and not miss a beat, is the same as sending your child to pre-school thinking that's enough education to get him to be an engineer.

So start that puppy course. But continue learning. You don't have to go to dog school for the rest of your dogs life, but you, as their guardian need to continue rewarding all the good things, redirect the unwanted behaviour and help them through the bad times. Use life for training. You don't only have to train for a set hour every week, use situations that come about your daily life. If you have people coming over, train!
If there is a thunderstorm, train!
If there is a dog walking past you on the road, train!

Learning never ever stops. So please, don't use the excuse, "the puppy class didn't work" because I can guarentee you it did the job, but we have to continue to practice and work hard.
It builds an incredible bond and it only makes all our lives easier.

08/11/2022

If you have a high energy, hard to settle, anxious, cannot switch off, ball obsessed or reactive dog then you may be interested in how changing some things in your dogs life can help.

Your dogs body can respond the SAME to both psychological AND physical stress and it can respond the exact same way.....by releasing hormones. Cortisol and Adrenaline.
If your dog is either physically stressed or psychologically stressed often then there is a "loop" of these hormones released over and over. Your dogs brain is becoming "stressed" because of the continual release of these hormones.......decreasing can take many hours, days and even weeks as every time your dog has a release of those chemicals, it can set you back again.

The hormones released in the following activities can be exactly the same.
High energy play.....Cortisol and Adrenaline
Obsessive Ball Play......Cortisol and Adrenaline
Reactiveness........Cortisol and Adrenaline.

Your dogs brain reacts the EXACT same way whether it is faced with a snarling dog or chasing that ball again and again.

Often when people see their dogs energy rising, or anxiety creeping up they come up with the same answer....exercise, exercise and more of it to "tire" them out......So the ball is thrown for 20 minutes, the walk may now be a run or they let their dogs play longer at the dog park.......and all these things do is release more of the very hormones your dog needs a break from.
Physically tiring out dogs only physically tires them BUT their brains are STILL under a great deal of stress....and if you expose your dogs again and again to these Cortisol and Adrenaline activities it WILL be a very long time till you see any difference.

How knowing this can help you.
If you have a reactive dog and want to play or exercise....ball play, and play sessions with your other dog may be working against you and not helping the reactiveness.

If you have a highly anxious dog that really loves its ball and you throw that ball for 20 mins.....you may be "feeding" the anxiousness as your dogs brain cannot differentiate the release of these hormones from psychological or physical stress.

Give your dogs brain a rest from all the things that you think can contribute to Cortisol and Adrenaline surging in their brain and body.

05/11/2022

All the Aroha Hills Aussies in Rally free class today 🐾

04/11/2022

25/10/2022

21/10/2022

I am a dog trainer and my dogs are allowed on the sofa.

They are allowed on my bed too. In fact I tuck my staffie into his own blanket on my bed every night and have for 8 years.

They don’t have to sit and wait for their dinner.

They don’t always walk with loose leads.

They bark when the door goes.

They don’t sit when I recall them.

The jump up on me.

Sometimes they get the zoomies in the house and knock things over.

This probably all sounds like I have woefully badly trained dogs but that’s not true. My dogs are trained for my lifestyle. They rest when I ask them to, they recall when I ask them to, they don’t barge out of doors, they love their sports they train and compete in.

Every week I get clients say ‘is my dog allowed on the sofa?’ Or ‘my dog waits before they are allowed to eat is that good?’. Honestly I really don’t care. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate your rules, but your rules are yours and your dog only needs to be as trained as you want and need them to be for your life.

You’ll read online that you shouldn’t allow dogs on your bed or should always eat before them or go through doorways first. At best these rules are weirdly controlling, at worst they are absolute bu****it.

Your rules are your rules and your dog is your dog. Want your dog on the sofa? Cool. Don’t want your dog on the sofa? Cool.

Take the pressure of yourself and your dog. Train what’s important to you. For me I want my dogs to be indifferent to people and dogs. To be confident and happy in novel environments. To recall when I ask. To not chew my house. To not pull my arm out of its socket. To not affect members of the public when we are out and about. That’s all I want from my dogs and they are pretty cool to live with.

Stop reading arbitrary rules on Google and choose your own (within reason!). Your dog is your dog. Your life is your life. Train your dog to suit your life and no one else’s. It will immensely improve your relationship and both of your mental well-being!

28/09/2022

PREDATOR PARKS

I wonder whose idea it was to put a bunch of domesticated predators together in one area, who don’t know each other, and call it a good time?

While many dogs do enjoy the company of other unknown dogs, it’s important to understand that most do not. It is completely normal for dogs to socially mature and no longer desire to engage with other dogs outside of their immediate circle or household.

So when someone comes to me with the complaint of “my dog started to become aggressive to other dogs at the dog park” and their goal is to “take their dog to the dog park” I make sure to tell them that their dog is normal, while predator parks are not.

Altering expectations to encompass normal dog behavior vs human projection is always priority.

25/09/2022

How humane is our interaction with dogs?

Dogs show their body how they feel. They bark to tell you they are scared of what they think is going to happen or to avoid conflict. They growl to let you know you are invading their safe space.
Domesticated dogs express their emotions to protect humans.

Unfortunately, some humans consider themselves dog professionals, have high expectations, make negative assumptions, are biased, wait for dogs to make mistakes so they can inflict pain or fear, and put dogs in inhumane situation to change a behavior because theyre afraid of pain or losing their lives.

Dogs are sentient beings. They have the right to safety and to live without the fear of pain or having their safety taken away. That's non-negotiable.

Do no harm is more than a training concept.
It’s the ultimate expression of humanity toward the environment.

Suppose you see injustice towards an animal or a person; if you see an animal being forced into a choice between pain or no pain. You have a human obligation to intervene and intercept.
That makes you humane.

This is my personal opinion.

15/09/2022

For some dogs the presence of other dogs is totally irresistible. They don't think twice than to run over to them to greet and play.

Have you ever stopped to think why?

For these super friendly dogs who are just looking for a good time, other dogs are routinely a source of that. Other dogs bring no demands, no commands, no obedience. It's pure fun.

Recall can fail when you try to mix other boring obedience with coming back to you. If you had to choose between going to a friends house for a party or staying home and doing maths, what would you more likely choose??

Please don't call your dog back and immediately ask them to 'sit' and 'stay' so they are forced to watch the party over there and pretend they don't care to join in.

Of course they want the fun. That's what a dogs life is about... Finding the fun!

Bring the fun to your feet. This lovely lady has guardians who can't offer the typical "run with me instead!" reward that works so well. So today we brainstormed and had the treats giving the chase instead. She needs more than just a food reward. She needs fun with it too. So we found a way to offer her that.

Recall is one of those life skills that could save your dogs' life. It is worth all the excitement you can muster to keep them wanting to come back, day after day after day.

Give your dogs a reason to choose you over another dog. BE THE FUN! 🐾💜

15/09/2022

Everyone loves enrichment toys!! Let’s see your collections 🐶

11/09/2022

So proud of this girl! First place in the Novice Rally show this weekend, qualifying with 98% 🐾✨

26/08/2022

Happy birthday my sweetheart ❤️

24/08/2022

Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks? Training and enrichment helps keep their minds active, resulting in a happier dog 💚🐾

15/08/2022

I saw something being shared on facebook the other day that really stuck with me. It was a meme generated by a highly compulsive trainer, who has had significant success (if you want to call it that) in his venue of expertise (dog sports.) He posted a bastardized version of a football coach's quote relating it to dogs. But the very first part of it was the assertion that we should be holding dogs "accountable." And that dogs with behavior, or training concerns, were the result of not being held accountable to their actions. And it bothered me. Because holding someone, or in this case a dog, accountable for their actions implies their actions are a result of a moral decision making paradigm.

Dogs are amoral. This means they have no moral decision making paradigm. They do not understand right or wrong. They have no concept of good or evil. They merely understand what is successful, and what is safe. And in opposite what is unsuccessful and what is unsafe. It is damaging to training and behavior modification to consider behavior from animals anything but what it is: an animal's best effort towards being safe and/or successful.

I have said it many times over the years but I will say it again here: behavior is not personal. Your dog's behavior is not driven by a need to personally affront, or insult you. Your horse's behavior is not driven by a need to personally offend, insult or challenge you. Behavior is not personal. And treating animals like their behavior IS somehow personal is both anthropomorphizing and devalues their emotional/sentient lives. To reduce the behavior of animals to a moral failing is a dirty trick, and serves no one to better shape the animal's behavior going forward.