Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
10 Life-Threatening Behaviour Myths in Dogs
This is a fantastic article by Valerie V. Tynes (that can be handed out to clients) about behaviour myths in dogs. Some of these myths literally cost dogs their lives; they certainly impact the quality of life of many, many others. How many of these myths do you believe? Check out the article, and learn what the truth is!
Friday, July 15, 2011
The Gift of the Growl
Here is a wonderful article by Pat Miller that explains why we should never punish a dog for growling. The growl is a gift; it is information for us on what the dog is feeling. She also talks about what to do if your dog growls at something. This information is so important! If a dog is punished for growling, you will eventually have a dog that bites without any warning whatsoever, and that is much more dangerous than a growling dog.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Free house training guide from Dr. Sophia Yin
As you have noticed, I think Dr. Sophia Yin is fabulous. She has just released one of the chapters of her upcoming book, Perfect Puppy in 7 Days; it deals with how to house train a puppy. This guide to potty training is free, and excellent! You have to download it, and you can't print it, but it's still a fantastic resource.
Bite prevention
So, it's been forever since I posted, and I apologize.
It's the end of Bite Prevention Week, so I thought I'd share some related resources.
This is the first part of a series on meeting a new dog, and how to judge the body language that you see. This article talks about the "green light", or go ahead, signals that tell you that a dog wants to be greeted by you. Here is the second part, which talks about "red light", or signals that should tell you to stop and be careful; this dog probably doesn't want you to greet him/her. Here is the third part, which talks about some more red light signals. I really like that the author (Casey Lomonaco) talks about how we need to ask permission twice before we meet a new dog: first from the owner/guardian, and second from the dog. If we see red light signals, that is the dog's way of telling us to back off. The final part of this series talks about how to greet a new dog, assuming you get the green light!
Dr. Sophia Yin also has some great bite prevention resources at her website. These resources are all free, and include a PSA (public service announcement), a poster called The Body Language of Fear in Dogs, an article about how dogs bite when people greet them inappropriately, a poster of how to greet dogs appropriately, and some other articles about bite prevention.
There is also the classic site, doggonesafe.com, which is dedicated to bite prevention and teaching children how to be safe around dogs.
There are a ton of other resources out there on preventing dog bites, how to greet dogs appropriately and safely, and how to read dog body language. I would really encourage everyone to learn everything you can; dogs don't really bite "out of the blue", there are almost always signs that the dog is uncomfortable and wanting you to leave him/her alone.
It's the end of Bite Prevention Week, so I thought I'd share some related resources.
This is the first part of a series on meeting a new dog, and how to judge the body language that you see. This article talks about the "green light", or go ahead, signals that tell you that a dog wants to be greeted by you. Here is the second part, which talks about "red light", or signals that should tell you to stop and be careful; this dog probably doesn't want you to greet him/her. Here is the third part, which talks about some more red light signals. I really like that the author (Casey Lomonaco) talks about how we need to ask permission twice before we meet a new dog: first from the owner/guardian, and second from the dog. If we see red light signals, that is the dog's way of telling us to back off. The final part of this series talks about how to greet a new dog, assuming you get the green light!
Dr. Sophia Yin also has some great bite prevention resources at her website. These resources are all free, and include a PSA (public service announcement), a poster called The Body Language of Fear in Dogs, an article about how dogs bite when people greet them inappropriately, a poster of how to greet dogs appropriately, and some other articles about bite prevention.
There is also the classic site, doggonesafe.com, which is dedicated to bite prevention and teaching children how to be safe around dogs.
There are a ton of other resources out there on preventing dog bites, how to greet dogs appropriately and safely, and how to read dog body language. I would really encourage everyone to learn everything you can; dogs don't really bite "out of the blue", there are almost always signs that the dog is uncomfortable and wanting you to leave him/her alone.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
A Fearful Dog Speaks
A great post by Kevin Myers about some things to consider when dealing with a fearful dog. I suspect most people wind up with fearful dogs without knowing in advance what they are getting themselves into, or even that the dog in question is fearful. Kevin Myers really touches on some of the really important things to remember when working with a fearful dog.
We've seen quite a few fearful dogs lately at the training centre. Patience, as Kevin points out, is an absolute requirement. Fearful dogs, even more so than dogs generally, really benefit from routine. And a dog's fears are real for them, just like my fears are real for me. Anybody have a phobia of spiders, for instance? :)
Fear isn't necessarily rooted in a bad experience, either. I have an intense fear of mice, but nothing bad has ever happened to me involving a mouse. No attacks by crazed mice, no traumatic incident of any sort. I'm just terrified of them. So if a dog is afraid of men, or people in hats, or of the sound of thunder, for instance, it doesn't mean that dog has had a bad experience with men, or people in hats, or thunder. It might just be that the dog is afraid.
Of course, it might also be the case that the dog in question HAS had a bad experience with the object of it's fear. But quite often, we'll never know whether this is the case or not. And the way to deal with the fear is the same whether you know where it came from or not.
Kevin refers readers to Debbie Jacobs' fabulous website, www.fearfuldogs.com. I second that advice; Debbie's website is the place to start if you know a fearful dog.
We've seen quite a few fearful dogs lately at the training centre. Patience, as Kevin points out, is an absolute requirement. Fearful dogs, even more so than dogs generally, really benefit from routine. And a dog's fears are real for them, just like my fears are real for me. Anybody have a phobia of spiders, for instance? :)
Fear isn't necessarily rooted in a bad experience, either. I have an intense fear of mice, but nothing bad has ever happened to me involving a mouse. No attacks by crazed mice, no traumatic incident of any sort. I'm just terrified of them. So if a dog is afraid of men, or people in hats, or of the sound of thunder, for instance, it doesn't mean that dog has had a bad experience with men, or people in hats, or thunder. It might just be that the dog is afraid.
Of course, it might also be the case that the dog in question HAS had a bad experience with the object of it's fear. But quite often, we'll never know whether this is the case or not. And the way to deal with the fear is the same whether you know where it came from or not.
Kevin refers readers to Debbie Jacobs' fabulous website, www.fearfuldogs.com. I second that advice; Debbie's website is the place to start if you know a fearful dog.
Should we hug or kiss our dogs?
Another great article by Dr. Sophia Yin, this one about a book called "Smooch Your Pooch". It is NOT advisable for anyone, kid or adult, to hug or kiss a dog -- quite often, this is how a dog bite arises. This article talks about some great alternative ways to show affection to our dogs (such as trick training, playing fetch and going for a supervised walk), and how to read whether a dog is enjoying our physical affection or not.
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