Hart Behaviour - Pet Behaviour Consulting

07/01/2025

Are you interested in giving your new puppy the best start in life? Join The Puppy Club socialisation classes at Kowie Veterinary Clinic.

🌟 Why Puppy Socialisation? 🌟

🐶 Build Confidence: Help your pup feel at ease in a new environment. Socialisation builds confidence and can potentially reduce fears related to novel experiences.

🐾 Build a positive relationship: These classes encourage the bond between you and your puppy and can teach your pup to focus on you and stay as calm as possible around other dogs and people.

🧡 Prevent Behavioral Issues: Early socialisation can help prevent behavioural concerns later on, giving your pup a solid foundation for a happy, well-rounded life.

⭐What to Expect:⭐

👣 Life Skills: While our classes focus mainly on socialisation and guardian education. We also incorporate basic training cues like sit, stay and recall using positive reinforcement and fear free training methods.

💡 Expert Advice: Classes are run by a qualified animal behaviour consultant who will be there to answer all your questions, providing invaluable tips on puppy care, behavior, and training.

🎊 Fun-filled Sessions: Each class will incorporate exciting confidence-building exercises, enrichment and/or gentle obstacle courses. Plenty of tail-wagging and giggles guaranteed.

🐕Who can join? 🐕
Pups between the ages of 10-16 weeks who have had their first two vaccinations are welcome to join.

🐾 The Puppy Club is a Hills sponsored puppy school 🐾

Don't miss out on this opportunity for you and your beloved pup to learn, grow, and potentially create lifelong friendships! Limited spots are available, so book your spot today.

📍 Location: Kowie Vet Clinic
⏰ Schedule: 6 week course
💵 Price: R700
📅 Date: TBD
📞 Contact: 082 851 9521
📬 [email protected]

07/01/2025

Something to consider when adopting a dog (or cat) 🐾

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Changing a rescued dogs name can be a good thing.

If a dog has come from an unpleasant or abusive background, or even an unknown background, they may associate their name with negative experiences.

A previous owner may have shouted their name when doing something unpleasant to them.

Changing a dog’s name can be a fresh, new beginning and can provide an opportunity to rebuild broken trust and build new bonds.

There may be concern that changing a dog’s name will confuse them or may cause some form of emotional distress, but dogs really don’t see their names in the same way that we do.

Dogs really don’t care what we call them, as long as that name is associated with positive experiences it will be a good name.

A dog’s name is more important to us than it is to a dog. A name is really just a cue to get your dog’s attention so they respond.

The way a new name is introduced and taught is important. Care should be taken not to attach any negative associations with the new name.

The new name should always be paired with something positive whenever your dog hears the sound.
Call the new name and every time your dog reacts, responds or looks at you, reward this with a treat, lots of praise, a game or a toy.

Keep repeating this and dogs will quickly begin to associate their new name with something good about to happen and will start responding to the new sound in a positive way.

“It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.” - W.C. Fields. This quote sums up the importance of pairing a name with something positive so that it will always be what a dog wants to answer to.

A previous name may always be linked to a traumatic past, but a new name can be the beginning of a happy ever after and forever home.

07/01/2025

31/12/2024

Dear Dog Guardians

Fireworks may light up the sky, but they also terrify animals—especially those without a home to feel safe.

While we welcome the New Year with joy, let’s remember the little souls who face the night with fear. Instead of fireworks, buy pet food for a shelter animal.

Together, we can make the world a safer, kinder place for them. 🐶✨

In addition to the tips below, give your dog CalmEze Plus, Nutricalm, or prescription vet medication to help your dog cope better.

13/12/2024

13/12/2024

DON’T GET A DOG…UNLESS YOU CAN MAKE A COMMITMENT

In an ideal world dogs would be included as a family member and we would commit to sharing our time and life with them in the relatively short time they have on earth.

In an ideal world, we would take the time to learn about how dogs communicate through their body language, their emotions, their needs and keep learning about updated, modern, force free / pain free methods to understand or modify behaviour.

In reality, dogs are so often seen as an item of property, an object, a commodity to be bred and make money from, a cheap, replaceable security system, a garden decoration, a toy to play with when the kids are bored or an accessory that looks good while out walking, running or taking selfies.

Dogs are not objects, just like us they are sentient beings with the capacity to feel a range of emotions.

Dogs are naturally social beings and need to spend time with their human family.

A life spent confined to a backyard or fenced in with little or no human companionship is not a life.

They need love and attention, exercise and mental stimulation. They need routine, consistency and predictable patterns to feel safe and secure in our world.

Having a dog requires commitment, understanding, patience and dedication.

It’s hard work, it’s sometimes messy, dirty and stinky, it costs money and requires changes to our lifestyle.

It’s a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly or without making a long term commitment, but the rewards of forming a secure bond with another sentient being can bring so much joy and enrichment to both our lives and theirs.

11/12/2024

Pet Safety Matters

Keep dogs leashed on the beach, and never allow them to approach seals or dogs you don’t know. can spread to pets, so ensure that their rabies vaccinations are up to date.

This campaign is brought to you by VTech Veterinary Pharmacies



Image credit: CapeNature

19/11/2024

ARE YOU MANAGING?
Are you managing your dog’s environment to prevent or improve unwanted behaviour?

As people, we tend to prefer and look for the more complicated solutions to problems. This tendency is termed “complexity bias” - the tendency to prefer complicated explanations and solutions instead of looking for the simpler ones.

Surely a complicated, time consuming, detailed solution has to be more effective, superior, impressive, or correct?

Complexity bias is so relevant when it comes to changing a dog’s unwanted behaviour. We often get so stuck on trying to modify behaviour through counter conditioning, desensitization or detailed training plans when sometimes the simplest solution to the problem lies in simply managing the environment.

Dogs will do what dogs do – when an opportunity arises to help themselves to food left on a table, to bark at the gate at anyone passing by, to have a drink from that big water bowl at the perfect height, that we call a toilet, to running off with irresistibly smelly dirty underwear, to rummaging through bins in search of anything that may or may not be edible, to running out an opened door in search of adventure - the list is long - dogs will be dogs.

Parents of little children use management all the time without giving it much thought. Baby locks on cupboards, covers on electrical sockets, valuable or dangerous items put far out of reach, fences and locks around pools, etc.

We wouldn’t just train a toddler not to stick their fingers in an electrical socket, not to open cupboards, not to touch a hot plate – it’s far safer, simpler and logical to first manage the environment, to prevent potential incidents.

The same principle should apply to managing a dog’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviour.

The more a behaviour is practiced the more difficult it is to prevent. The more a behaviour is rehearsed the better dogs become at it.

Preventing the behaviour from happening in the first place by using management is the logical, simple and effective way to address it.

Be a good manager – it’s far less stressful, for both us and our dogs.

18/10/2024

ABILITY TO COPE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OBEDIENCE.

🟡In today’s fast-paced world, there’s often too much emphasis on ensuring dogs are obedient, while their ability to cope with an increasingly chaotic environment is overlooked. While being well trained is important, it should be secondary to helping our dogs develop resilience and emotional stability. The modern world presents dogs with constant noise, busy streets, and frequent changes to their environment, which can lead to anxiety or stress if they aren’t prepared to cope with these challenges.

🔴Research supports the idea that emotionally balanced dogs are more adaptable and capable of learning. A 2019 study from the University of Helsinki found that training that focuses on a dog’s emotional state, rather than just their behaviour, leads to a stronger overall ability to handle stress and unfamiliar situations. Dogs that are trained solely for obedience without addressing their mental resilience can often struggle in unpredictable environments, which increases the risk of behavioural issues.

🟢When dogs are allowed to learn to cope first, their ability to navigate a busy world with confidence vastly improves. And more confident dogs respond better to training cues, not out of fear or command alone, but because they trust us and understand how to manage their environment. Building that foundation makes all other training a natural extension, rather than the primary focus.

🟣If we want our dogs to be truly well-adjusted, we must prioritise their emotional well-being and coping abilities. By shifting the focus, we are ensuring that dogs not only follow commands but also feel calm and capable in an ever-busier world.

18/09/2024

‼️ FREE RABIES VACCINE ‼️
September is Rabies Awareness Month and we are offering FREE rabies vaccines for 3 days. Bring your pets and get them vaccinated. 🐶🐱
Rabies is a deadly disease, with no cure. The only way to stop this dreadful disease is through vaccination!
Vaccines will be available in consultation hours: 8:00 - 18:00, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday (25-27 September 2024) 💉
Keep your animals, your family & the community safe through vaccination ‼️💉

16/09/2024

"We should more closely examine systemic issues of how we view and treat nonhuman animals as a whole. Until there is a greater focus on ethical values and animal well-being, this discussion unfortunately remains incomplete. But one thing is clear: It’s time for us to reject and speak out against outdated practices."

Balanced dog training using positive reinforcement (rewards-based) methods and aversives (physical punishment) is no better than simply using force-free positive methods and love.

02/09/2024

What are shock collars and why are they so ineffective (and unsafe) to use on dogs?

06/08/2024

Knowing which professional you need to contact to help you with your pet is vital. Use this handy infographic to decide whether you need a trainer or behaviourist. Keep In mind, some behaviour challenges may require both training and behaviour modification so often these go hand in hand. What's great is that when you choose a COAPE Certified Animal Behaviourist, you can be sure that they have the skills to help you with both training and behaviour. ​
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For a list of COAPE-endorsed trainers and behaviourists you can go to our website here: https://coape.org/find-a-behaviourist/

19/07/2024

Instead of asking, “How do I get my dog to obey me?” we should ask, “Is my dog happy?” and “How can I make them happier?”

11/07/2024

What force free actually means...

Given the statements that we see so often from those using aversive or 'balanced' training methods, those of us who use a force free approach need to clear up some of the issues with what is said.

As well as the red flags so often seen of 'positive only' or 'purely positive', these statements will usually trot out the old misunderstanding that all we do is toss cheese at a dog when they do something right and ignore everything else. This is absolutely untrue and does not reflect the force free approach at all.

Successful force free training involves SO much more than that.

• It needs a deep understanding of learning theory.
• What the dog's welfare needs are and how to make sure they are met.
• The potential impact of health on behaviour.
• The emotional states that underly behaviours.
• How to manage situations so that the dogs don't carry out the undesired behaviours and perhaps get an internal reward for doing them.
• How to train other behaviours the dog can do in that situation that will be rewarded so that the undesirable behaviour is no longer the best choice for them in that situation.
• When training isn’t the right answer at all.

The factors involved in getting the force free approach and training right are far too many for me to list in this post or on this image, but these are the things that a good force free trainer or behaviour professional is doing every time they are working with a dog and their humans.

It's so much more than just lobbing food at a dog.

23/06/2024

LETTING GO OF THE LABEL
People love to label things - from containers to personality types, physical or mental differences and everything in between.

Why do we like labels so much? Labels are comforting, they help us to feel more secure.

Labels allow us to close that particular “box”, because it now has a label and we no longer have to think about it or be concerned about it.

It’s been judged, identified, labelled and we can now move on, confident in the belief that there’s nothing more to be done.

We may also be very good at labelling dogs. My dog is stubborn, aggressive, lazy, shy, timid, greedy, jealous, untrainable…. It’s comforting for us to assign a label because it takes the pressure off trying to find out why they behave that way because we might believe that it’s just the way they are.

If we remove the label and take note of the behaviour in context and the circumstances or environment it’s happening in, we may realise that our dogs need our help to cope, not our labels.

Look into what can be done to improve or change that behaviour if it's something you’d like to change.

Sometimes a label does fits, it’s just the way it is and we need to accept that, but sometimes labels hide the need to look beneath the surface and discover what the real cause of that behaviour is.