Confessions of a Dog Trainer. Part 1: Feeding from the Table!
By Sue McCabe I have a confession. I sometimes feed my dogs from the table. When I go out to eat with my dog we are sharing quality time, and a meal together. So as long as my dog is quiet and calm and settled, he gets to share my food or he gets a Kong of his own to enjoy. Below is a picture of my pup Jellybean having lunch with me at a coffee shop in Warwick Bridge, England. I don’t do this at home and since he’s never been… Continued
April 17, 2019: Study Examines Use of Normal and Abnormal Behaviors to Affect Motivational State
The study concludes that abnormal behavior usually indicates poor welfare, regardless of whether it was initially adaptive, but points out that sometimes abnormal behavior can also be functional – including to modify motivational state. This, in turn, “makes it likely that certain changes in behavior and physiology, often associated with feelings and emotions in sentient animals, will occur.” Read study
Does Your Animal Have Control?
By Karolina Westlund Ph.D. of PPG corporate partner Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting Many animal trainers, veterinarians and pet owners highlight the importance of controlling animals. Controlling them, as in restricting the animals’ movement, their choices and their opportunities to control their environment through their behaviour. Sometimes you have to, for safety reasons. Obviously. But often you don’t – and more often than you might think. Actually, the trend in modern animal training is to deliberately and strategically shift control from the handler to the animal, while still staying safe. Giving control to the animal… Continued
April 15, 2019: Study Finds Emotional Mirror Neurons in the Rat
Researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience have tested the theory of empathy in rats and found the presence of mirror-like neurons in the rat’s anterior cingulate cortex that are responsive when other rats are observed undergoing a painful or unpleasant experience. The finding suggests that observing rats shared the emotion of the other rats and, according to Prof. Christian Keysers, the lead author of the study, “…this all happens in exactly the same brain region in rats as in humans.” Read study
The Reality of TV Dog Training
By Niki Tudge and Susan Nilson In recent years, much creditable scientific study has been given to dog training and behavior modification methods and their respective efficacy and consequences. The preponderance of the evidence shown by these studies indicates that the implementation of training and/or behavior modification protocols predicated upon outdated “dominance theory” and social structures (“alpha,” or “pack leader”), usage of physical or mental force, intimidation, coercion or fear are empirically less effective and often create as a consequence “fallout” behaviors, such as fear, aggression, global suppression of behavior,… Continued
Dog Training: Why I Do It
By Joanne Ometz Eight people enter the room with five puppies. I encourage whole families to attend my puppy classes. “Let’s get everyone on the same page,” I have told them, so parents, kids, couples, and single puppy parents arrive, leading or being led by their puppies. All take their places, sitting and immediately beginning to lower treats to the floor by their young dogs, who begin to slow down, sit, or lie down, to settle. Soon, we have a room full of quiet people with puppies lying at their… Continued
April 10, 2019: New Survey to Research Cases of Shock Being Used on Pets without Owners’ Permission
In the wake of a number of recent news stories, the Pet Professional Guild Advocacy Committee is starting to collect data from pet owners who have had shock collars used on their pets without their permission. Pet owners who have experienced this are invited to complete this form.
Treats that Beat Squirrels!
By Yvette Van Veen Treats that Beat Squirrels! What if I told you that tiny little treats could beat a high level distraction like a squirrel? It doesn’t seem to make sense. The distraction is clearly more desirable than a paltry pea sized biscuit. It would be like saying that people would choose to work for a strawberry rather than sloth by the pool with a six pack of cold ones. The temptation to sip the more appealing beer holds greater value than a four calorie berry. It seems reasonable to conclude that beers would… Continued
April 8, 2019: Shock Collars to Be Banned in Netherlands Next Year
Netherlands Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Carola Schouten, has announced the banning of shock collars for dog training from July 1, 2020. Schouten is also introducing new rules for breeding the Bambino Sphynx cat: “Research from Utrecht University shows that the breeding of these cats is often accompanied by health and welfare problems for the animals.” Read article. In Dutch
April 4, 2019: Study Finds Cats Can Recognize Their Names
A new study, published in Scientific Reports, has investigated whether cats could differentiate their names from four other words, including those with the same length and accent as their own names and the names of other cats living in the same household or environment. The study also tested whether cats were more likely to recognize their own names when uttered by a familiar vs. unfamiliar human. Read study
Dispelling the Myths: Tuggy, Retrieve and Safe Play
By Sue McCabe I still regularly hear from clients that they have been told they shouldn’t play tug with their dog. It causes aggression; it creates a hard mouthed dog who will damage game (if you’re into that sort of thing); you’ll never get a decent hold if you teach tug. I still hear the only way to play tug safely is to make sure the human always win the game. Would you really want to play with someone who always wins? Let’s get things straight. It is possible to play tug and allow… Continued
Portland Blog Competition: The Journey of a Crossover Trainer
By Nichola Marshall This is going to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech and it kind of is because I feel like I have won something very special – a change of perspective. So before I start crying I want to say, “thank you” to all of you for sharing your experiences and being supportive, thank you for being tolerant of my “noobie” questions and comments, thank you to the late PPG steering committee member Anne Springer and, most of all, thank you to whoever it was who said, “Don’t… Continued
March 27, 2019: Newly Published Review Debates Reliability and Validity of Behavior Evaluations for Shelter Dogs
The new paper, What is the Evidence for Reliability and Validity of Behavior Evaluations for Shelter Dogs? A prequel to “No Better than Flipping a Coin,” presents the following highlights: Colloquial usage of scientific terms such as “validated” can be misleading. No shelter canine behavior evaluation meets accepted standards as being validated. Published error rates are too high to justify routine use in shelters. Behavior evaluations are heterogeneous and often not comparable with each other. A lack of face validity may explain the high error rate for behavior evaluations. The authors… Continued
Teach Your Dog to Cooperate with Grooming and Vet Visits
By Debbie Bauer Brushing, combing, cutting toenails, being held for vet examinations and treatment – these things are a part of life for our dogs. These aren’t events that will happen once and never again. Instead, these are lifelong skills that our dogs will need to learn to deal with as ongoing events in their lives. Yet these are also things that some dogs get very stressed about. The good news is that we can teach our dogs to think more positively about all of these activities, and we can… Continued
March 13, 2019: Shock-Free Coalition Launches Survey on Use of Shock Collars in Dog Training
The study will help the researchers understand various aspects of the use of electronic collars on canines and is being conducted primarily by the Shock-Free Coalition and Dr. Nathaniel J. Hall from the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at Texas Tech University. The survey takes a few minutes to complete and will provide important data for the Shock-Free Coalition. It is available until April 2, 2019 and is pertinent to anyone who shares, or has shared, their life with pet dogs, who works with dogs, or who has any other interest… Continued
Skipping Reinforcements? Rethink That
By Yvette Van Veen We’ve all heard it. “When do the rewards stop?” The knee jerk reaction by many, especially on social media is to cave, to placate, to give the client at least some of what. ” Variable reinforcement, skip rewards. It will actually make the behaviour stronger!” Not….so….fast. Skipping reinforcements (rewards) does make a behaviour more resistant to extinction. Think of constant pay as a soda pop machine. Put in coin. Get a soda. Broken machine? You walk off pretty fast. You’re unlikely to put in another coin, at… Continued
What Makes a Pet Fence Humane?
By Jennifer Smith of EasyPetFence.com, a PPG corporate partner Dog trainers, animal shelters and pet owners alike choose to fence-in yards for several reasons. For one, pet fencing allows dogs and cats to exercise; play; and socialize with other animals. Fencing is convenient for pet owners that may not have nearby dog parks to visit, or much time to take their dogs on adventure hikes or lengthy jogs. And, pet fencing keeps domestic animals secure and protected against potential wildlife attacks. While there are many types of pet fence on the… Continued
Portland Blog Competition: Changing a Dog’s View of the World
By Kathleen Godfrey As a trainer, my goal is to help to help both dogs and their guardians have the best possible life together. New client Angie heard about me through a friend I’d helped the friend work with a rather “wild” foster dog (he was truly a good dog, he just had no idea what behavior was expected of him and so we had to teach him). The dog did a 180 degree turn and is now happy with his forever family. But back to Angie and her dog,… Continued
Giving Dogs Choices
By Stephanie Peters Many of the parents who invite me into their homes are swimming in a sea of misinformation, just trying to stay above water. They may have been told, or read on the internet, erroneously of course, that when their dog mouths or jumps on or steals food from their children, he is trying to “dominate” them. They may even have been told, again erroneously, that the dog must view children as superiors, not subordinates, and that the parents have caused the disruption in the hierarchy by not being a… Continued
Feline Behavior Unmasked: Wakefulness, Whisker Fatigue, and Water
By Paula Garber and Tabitha Kucera Cats’ whiskers are very sensitive because they are filled with sensory collecting nerves that collect information about objects, vibrations, and wind currents around the cat. Whisker fatigue commonly occurs when a cat’s whiskers are regularly being squished and brushed up against food and water bowls…when choosing a place for water bowls, many cats do not like them placed right next to their food. In the wild, cats go out of their way to keep their food and water sources separate to avoid having the food contaminate… Continued
The Journey of a Crossover Trainer
By Nichola Marshall My dogs are livestock guardian dogs and some people will tell you that they cannot be trained to be “obedient.” My old girl was trained “old school.” She is a very good girl and now I understand why – she has been conditioned to avoid an aversive (leash check) by responding to a verbal cue…It seems so obvious now, but mentally it was a total paradigm shift for me to reward behavior rather than “obedience.” Feed my dog just to make her happy? Yes. Without her having actually… Continued
Canine Aggression: The Public Perception
By Hannah Blumenfeld I have spent a lot of time watching how people interact with dogs they don’t know. A handsome boxer was tied up outside a shop, and a woman went right up to him, got in his face, like mere inches away, and told him what a good dog he was. The dog tolerated it. He kept peering past her, toward the shop his person was in. He was pointedly ignoring the woman, but she didn’t notice. A friend of mine was visiting an apartment where I was… Continued
Putting the Social in Socialization
By Anna Bradley The goal of puppy socialization is to “convince the amygdala, that part of the puppy’s brain that reacts emotionally to his world that, in general, the best/most appropriate emotional responses are calm, relaxed and happy.” (Miller, 2014). Scott and Fuller (1965, cited by Overall (2013)) identified four main stages in a puppy’s development:• Neonatal• Transitional• Socialization• JuvenileOf most significance in terms of behavioral development is this socialization period. Read article
Helping Owners, Helping Dogs
By Veronica Sanchez How many times have you nearly walked right into a tree while training a dog? Multitasking is hard even when you do not have a limitation. Keep in mind that for someone with a mobility impairment, simply walking can require more of their attention. Holding a leash, using a clicker and rewarding the dog while walking is a learned skill that requires quite a bit of multitasking and coordination. Asking clients to put these skills together too quickly can make it more likely that the client trips… Continued
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