Ask the Experts: To Discount or Not to Discount?
Stand your ground when clients ask for multidog discounts. If it helps, consider the discount request in any other field or context. For example, no one would dream of asking for half off their second child’s college tuition, or dental exams. Most vets don’t give clients discounts on treatment for second and third animals, and pet supply stores don’t offer half off your second dog’s food. Treat your services with the professional regard they deserve, and clients will follow. Read article.
Professionalizing the Pet Industry
In industries such as the pet industry, where quality impacts public safety and protects against dangerous practitioners, there may be room for a model of regulation that provides the necessary competency and operational guidelines, as well as a level of oversight and ethical supervision for trainers and behavior consultants, while protecting the needs of pets and their owners and providing for transparency and consumer protection. Licensing alone that requires an annual fee with oversight solely from a government body is just not going to cut it. Read article.
Sam, I Can
People would ask me, “How do you prevent him from flying?” and my response was always, “A blind bird isn’t going to want to take off in flight if he doesn’t know where he’s going. Just don’t scare him.” A few times I also heard, “Why wouldn’t you just euthanize the bird. What kind of quality of life does he have?” Quality of life? I’ll show you quality of life! I began live streaming my work with Sam and soon the whole world fell in love with this amazing creature… Continued
Cooperative Care: It’s Not Just for Dogs!
Horses, as a species, are prey animals. They are often space conscious and uniquely aware of their surroundings and sensitive to the elements within them. Physically large and robust animals, horses easily dwarf their trainers or handlers and are incredibly strong. Although these are important traits for livestock animals, their size and strength can result in a “heavy-handed” approach being taken to physically manipulate and coerce them into a specific behavior or position. This approach still pervades all aspects of traditional horsemanship and even extends to routine medical care or… Continued
Starting Friendships on the Right Hoof
Bear was clearly not happy being on his own and needed company. Toffee’s owner thought he only had a few weeks left and wanted him to have some happiness and time out of his stall. The hope was that Bear would no longer be on his own and that Toffee could live out his last few weeks in a natural environment. Pertinent to that was the knowledge that Bear had already lost a companion, and the loss of another so soon might not be in his best interests. The plan… Continued
The Impact of Social Isolation
Current protocols available vary widely in suggested human interventions to prevent fights. I wonder, though, how much our methods affect fight frequency and intensity. Are there more fights and more injurious fights when we elicit frustration (and frustration related behaviors like barking, thrashing and lunging) by overmanaging social interactions with leashes and restraint? Are we creating, or reinforcing, fear of other dogs by punishing any normal, noninjurious display of aggression or distancing signals? Or, as some people do, punishing normal displays of even nonaggressive behaviors like mounting or chasing? Read… Continued
The Right to Choose
So much of what we provide for the domesticated cat is not about their choice at all. In reality, our domesticated kitties are not that far removed from their wildcat cousins, genetically speaking. And yet we have placed them in an environment in which humans make all the decisions – where they live, who they live with (humans and other animals), whether they have access to outdoors, whether they are desexed, what they eat and when, what enrichment they have, where they toilet, and so on. Read article.
A “Spoiled” Dog or a Frustrated Dog?
Respond to behavior, not the dog’s history. Imagine that you just found this dog in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot with no information available. What would you know? You’d know what the dog shows you in his behavior. Start there. Do not bring the judgment of “he is spoiled” into an assessment of how the dog is behaving, or how you will respond to him…“Ignore unwanted behavior and it will go away” is inaccurate, and often ineffective. If you ignore a behavior that requires external reinforcement, then yes, that will… Continued
Testament to Targeting
Training is not a luxury, but a key component to good animal care,” states Ramirez (qtd. in Gordon, 2012). Working with an animal on a targeting behavior helps to build a solid foundation for a positive relationship; because it does not involve any physical manipulation it is less “scary.” Instead of taking hold of an animal’s body part, we are helping him to use his brain to touch a nose, ear, or chin to a target and thus to gain access to favorable consequences. We teach that touching the target… Continued
Teaching Your Dog to Self-Interrupt
By Eileen Anderson Here is something I taught with positive reinforcement that enhances Clara’s life and mine. I’ve taught her to respond positively to being interrupted, and even to interrupt herself. This trained behavior helps us get along smoothly from day to day, and also helps keep her safe in the world. Self-interruption is related to a whole batch of desirable dog behaviors. I mean desirable to us humans, but they are beneficial to the dogs, too. People refer variously to reorientation, offered attention, checking in, and more. Even recall is related. By whatever name, these… Continued
A Cry for Attention
By Lara Joseph Foraging is defined as searching for food. From my observations, however, much more is involved than the mere hunt for food when a parrot carries out this behavior. I am fascinated with watching birds forage because it has such a profound impact on their behavior in so many ways. It seems to come naturally to some companion parrots while others need to be taught. Incorporating foraging opportunities in our birds’ cages, rooms, aviaries and other environments can really help engage and stimulate their minds and fill their… Continued
The Problem with Shock
By Angelica Steinker It isn’t that shock collar training doesn’t work, because it does. The question is at what price? Some extremely skilled trainers may be able to offset some of the problems shock collars can cause. However, shock collars are for sale at almost every pet store making them readily accessible to the general public. A shock collar can potentially lead to very serious problems. There are a multitude of other powerful training options including obedience, behavior management, and positive reinforcement. Malfunction The first potential problem is that the… Continued
PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Do Scientists Really Know What They’re Talking About?
BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Workshops in Phoenix, Arizona *Early bird discount available if you register before January 31, 2020! Session Details: Presenter: Dr. Karolina Westlund Session Title: Do Scientists Really Know What They’re Talking About? Session Type: General Session (1 Hour) In the last 100 years, what we know about animal behavior, learning and cognition has been completely rewritten. But how many of today’s assumptions will hold true another 100 years from now? Which areas need further study? What claims are yet to be refuted as… Continued
Personal Trainer or Dog Trainer? The Case for Day Training
By Veronica Boutelle of PPG corporate partner, dogbiz Frustration over unfinished cases and low client compliance—endemic issues in our industry—often lead us to view clients as lazy, uncommitted, unskilled, uncaring, cheap. As positive reinforcement trainers, we teach “Don’t blame, train.” But while we’re quick to apply this mantra to dogs, we’ve largely failed to do so with our human clients. The human client equivalent would be, “Don’t blame the client, train their dog.” Our primary service modality, of coaching clients to train their dogs, does not serve our human or canine… Continued
Living and Working with Deaf Dogs
By Morag Heirs Our canine companions are remarkably adaptable and, based on current thinking, this ability has allowed them to take advantage of the rubbish dumps created by primitive humans and shaped the transformation from wolf-like ancestor through to domesticated dog. I often feel that their talent at interpreting our sometimes hurried and chaotic verbal language is nothing short of miraculous! In some ways then, the deaf or partially-deafened dog has an advantage over the hearing dog. Born with restricted senses, these dogs not only are largely oblivious to our… Continued
Fetch More Dollars: Like Peas in a Pod
By John D. Visconti In a previous article (see Fetch More Dollars: Selling Is Helping, BARKS from the Guild, June 2014, p.59), I discussed the negative association many trainers have with the words ‘selling’ and ‘salesperson.’ Additionally, I pointed out that a professional salesperson is in the business of helping people, not exploiting them. Hopefully, because you embraced these concepts and now possess a different perspective on what it means to be a salesperson, you will never experience beads of sweat forming on your brow should someone ask, “Are you… Continued
“I Will Never Use the Shock Collar Again!”
By Eileen Anderson This is a story from a client of one of my professional trainer friends. Let’s call my friend “Phoebe.” My friend had met the client for some coaching for her young, exuberant dog, Raven. But it was a very long distance for the client to come. My friend received this email after she hadn’t heard from the client in a while. Some details were altered for privacy, but I’ve left the email essentially as the client wrote it because she tells the story so eloquently. I am… Continued
The Elephant on the Stairs
By Bob McMillan Positive training is not a new idea. With starts and stops over the last century, it has been used by empathetic individuals to bring out the best in their animal companions. A recent book, Elephant Company by Vicki Constantine Croke, reveals a surprising chapter in the evolution of positive training. It is a rousing tale of an Englishman whose love of the jungle giants persuaded him to open an “elephant school” in colonial Burma that saved hundreds of lives in World War Two. It is the story… Continued
The Miracle Mutt
By Gail Radtke Changing your career in your 40s is nerve-wracking at the best of times but I was lucky enough to have a very special friend to inspire and guide me towards following my passion. That special someone was Lanie, a Shar-Pei-Chow-Malamute-shepherd-mix girl who completely changed my life. Up until 2007 I had had a rewarding career at British Columbia Provincial Corrections in the Greater Vancouver area as a Correctional Supervisor and Instructor but then a car accident left me with injuries that would change my ability to carry… Continued
The Power of the Clicker
By Donna Savoie Dickens’ family purchased him from a breeder when he was five months old. The breeder did not allow the family to see the entire litter nor the dam and sire before they took him, but brought him up a flight of stairs and simply told the family, “I pick this pup for you.” The family was slightly upset by the interaction and the inability to view the entire litter or meet the dam and sire, but Dickens ran right over to them and snuggled and won them… Continued
When Food Toys “Fail”
By Eileen Anderson How many of us have heard about food-toy failures from our friends and clients? “I tried the Kong with my puppy, but she didn’t like it,” or, “My dog is not smart enough for those puzzle toys!” There is an ever-increasing variety of food toys for dogs and other animals on the market. There are toys of differing complexity. There are toys that demand problem solving and toys that necessitate complex motor skills. Dog owners are fortunate to have more and more choices to enrich their dogs’… Continued
On the Danger of Dog Collars
By Karolina Westlund Ph.D. of PPG corporate partner Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting There’s a debate raging in Sweden about whether choke collars are potentially dangerous to dogs. Pros and cons of choke collars? Photo: Elf, Wikipedia Several influential dog coaches on TV use and recommend them, other experienced dog professionals argue against them. It’s currently causing all kinds of shock waves to ripple across social media, which inspired me for a blog post. I’m not a dog owner – I’ve never owned a dog. I’m guessing that in some people’s eyes, this… Continued
All Hallows and…..All Positive
By Anna Bradley October 31 (and the following week up until November 5 here in the United Kingdom) might be exciting, colourful and full of fun and entertainment, particularly for youngsters, but for pets and pet parents it can be a stressful time. The issue has been compounded in recent years, no thanks to the easy availability of fireworks and sparklers, in the UK at least, which has meant that the former are frequently released both before and after this particular period and at erratic and unpredictable times of the… Continued
Trigger Warning!
We’re all familiar with the term “threshold,” the magical line where, when kept under it, our dogs can focus and learn. During behavior consultations, the concept of a threshold and how to stay under it are, in my opinion, a trainer’s best friend. But how do we know that our dogs are actually under threshold? Certainly, we’ve all been in situations where progress, at times, looks like one step forward and two steps back. In this article, we will look at what one particular dog’s threshold looked like and how… Continued
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