The Porcine Phenomenon
By Lara Joseph As we all know, animals are fascinating, especially when it comes to their ability to learn and their individuality. I am attracted to intelligent animals who learn quickly and are able to change their behavior to get a new outcome, for example, the pig, the vulture, the parrot and the octopus. I train many animals and am often asked to train pigs. The rate at which a young, healthy pig who lives in an enriched environment can learn often stuns people, including the professional trainer. This rate… Continued
BARKS Podcast with Dr. Kristina Spaulding of Smart Dog Training and Behavior: May 7, 2021
Join Niki Tudge and Dr. Kristina Spaulding of Smart Dog Training and Behavior, as they discuss canine stress. Listen to Podcast here on a choice of platforms. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. For more on canine stress, see also our BARKS Podcast with Dr. Kristina Spaulding of Smart Dog Training and Behavior: June 5, 2020. Dr. Kristina Spaulding operates Smart Dog Training and Behavior, which opened its doors in 2001 and quickly grew to become one of the most well-respected dog training and behavior resources in the area of Saratoga County… Continued
A Positive Strategy
By Tamsin Durston As I set up my dog on the start line of an agility course, I want her to feel excited and exhilarated. At the same time, I also want her to feel relaxed within the environment and completely engaged with me, focused on my communication and maintaining our connection throughout this adventure together. In human psychology we talk about ‘flow’ as being ‘in the zone,’ i.e. giving the task at hand our full attention, oblivious to whatever else is happening. Flow is also what we want to achieve… Continued
Playing It Safe
“Predation by domestic cats Felis catus can be a threat to biodiversity conservation, but its mitigation is controversial. Confinement and collar-mounted devices can impede cat hunting success and reduce numbers of animals killed, but some owners do not wish to inhibit what they see as natural behavior…” (Cecchetti et al., 2021). So, instead of interventions which work on impeding hunting behavior – including complete confinement indoors, for instance – the study looked at what it calls “non-invasive” interventions which aim to reduce a cat’s want or tendency to hunt and/or… Continued
Ask the Experts: Mastering a Schedule
A master schedule is a powerful tool, but it’s not magical. Organizing how you use your time can make you more efficient and remove a lot of stress, but it can’t change the natural laws of time. If you’re trying to fit in more than is possible to get done in a day your master schedule will break down. So your next step is taking a hard look at all that you have on your plate, and then doing the (sometimes painful) work of reducing it. What can be set… Continued
Predictive Detective Work
I often hear my clients say they don’t understand why their dog is doing this or that, or that there’s no reason or cause for the behavior at all. But of course, there is always a cause for a dog to behave in a certain way, no matter how perplexing it may seem. Sometimes, to get to that root cause, we have to don our best detective gear because it’s not always easy to figure it out. In this article, I’m going to focus on one such behavior, often described… Continued
The Complete Picture
A tail held high usually means a high emotional state of arousal or excitement, but that on its own does not tell you whether an animal is in a positive or negative emotional state. High arousal can be appetitive, meaning the animal is interested and anticipating something good, or the emotional state can be in threat and protect, so the animal is expecting confrontation. A lifted tail generally means mild arousal of interest or anxiety (threat and protect). The emotions are not strong and can easily go one way or… Continued
Thinking Outside the Box
Hei Hei is a 13-year-old male cockatiel who, at the time of relinquishment, displayed plucking behavior. During my first week observing Hei Hei, I noticed that he preferred to be outside the cage. I didn’t notice any plucking occurring at this time. At the same time, each morning I would find a few smaller feathers at the bottom of the cage but could not determine if this was related to molting, preening, or plucking. During the second week, more behavior started to surface. One night I woke up to a… Continued
Resource Guarding or Rule Setting?
In my experience, it appears that for dogs, possession is truly 9/10ths of the canine “MINE!” law, i.e. if it’s in your possession, you have the right to retain possession. These seem to be the details of what constitutes “mine” in the dog world: • You can hold it in your mouth.• You can eat before anyone else does.• You can carry it away.• You can lay on or near it.• You can cover it with your head, neck and/or chest.• You can control, deny or permit access to the… Continued
The Essence of a Dog: A Free Education from a Free Choice Walk
One cold day last spring, snow still clinging to the ground and ceding to the warm sun only on the tips of south-facing hillocks, I decided to do something new. I wouldn’t walk my dogs; nor would I walk with my dogs. I would instead be walked by my dogs. I decided to simply follow my dog Mischa for our whole walk. Wherever he chose to go, well, I’d go just the same. I crawled under logs, I lumbered across frozen wetlands sinking thigh-deep into the granular spring snow, and… Continued
BARKS Podcast: Expert Panel Discusses Growing Your Pet Business
Join pet industry experts (above, left to right) Niki Tudge, founder and president of the Pet Professional Guild and DogNostics Career Center, Veronica Boutelle, founder, consultant lead, and DWA director at dogbiz, Colleen Ellis, founder of the Two Hearts Pet Loss Center, and Tracey Lee Davis, founder of ZingPop Social Media discussing how pet professionals can grow their businesses. The chat includes packages, social media, pricing… and much more. Direct from PPG’s free-for-members business event, Up Your Business Game! that took place April 19-23, 2021. Listen to the Podcast here on your preferred platform. Or… Continued
Pet Professional Guild Announces Geek Week 2021; Invites Proposals for Presentations from Industry Experts
Following on from success of inaugural event, second edition of Geek Week will take place on November 13-17, 2021 The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has announced that the second edition of its virtual event Geek Week will take place on November 13-17, 2021. Jointly hosted by PPG, Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) Australia, INTODogs UK, Pet Professional Guild Australia (PPGA), and Pet Professional Guild British Isles (PPGBI), this year’s event will build on the success of the inaugural 2020 event and take on an expanded, more streamlined format. PPG… Continued
Compare My Dog Dot Com!
We most definitely live in a ‘comparison society.’ Many of us are prone to comparing ourselves to others, their merits or otherwise, what they’ve achieved, what they own, don’t own, their assets – everything, in fact! I find this a lot in the dog world, e.g. ‘my previous dog never did this,’ ‘my other dog does this much better,’ or ‘I’ve owned dogs all my life and never had these issues’ and so on. Or maybe it might be comparisons with others. e.g. ‘my neighbor tells me what I’m doing… Continued
BARKS Podcast with Victoria Stilwell: April 23, 2021
Join Niki Tudge and Victoria Stilwell of Positively as they chat about all things “positive.” Listen to the Podcast here on your preferred platform. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Victoria Stilwell is a world-renowned dog trainer best known as the star of the international hit TV series It’s Me or the Dog. She is also editor-in-chief of Positively.com, which features a roster of Positively Contributors comprised of the world’s leading veterinary behaviorists, dog trainers and behavioral scientists, and CEO of Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Training (VSPDT) – a global network of world-class positive reinforcement dog trainers. She is also… Continued
A New Trend in Dog Boarding
By Rachel Brix Pioneered by Dr. Hal Markowitz in the 1960s, enrichment originated from a focus on zoo animals. He called zoos “concrete wastelands” (Bender & Strong, 2019) and was determined to improve the animals’ lives in captivity. He first developed ethograms, or inventories of behaviors, for each species; then, after determining the animals’ needs, came the task of how to meet those needs in captivity. Our pet dogs, although not captive wild animals, still have instinctual and natural behaviors. Although domestication has softened many of these behaviors, as we… Continued
BARKS Podcast: Expert Panel Discusses Sales in the Pet Industry
Join pet industry experts (above, left to right) Niki Tudge, founder and president of the Pet Professional Guild and DogNostics Career Center, Gina Phairas, founder, consultant lead, and dogbiz U director at dogbiz, Colleen Ellis, founder of the Two Hearts Pet Loss Center and Dr. Robert King, director of graduate business programs, assistant professor of marketing, and Wilder professor of business at West Texas A&M University as they discuss the business of sales for pet professionals. Direct from PPG’s free-for-members business event, Up Your Business Game! taking place April… Continued
Life Beyond Leash Reactivity
As far as behavior consults go, it’s fair to say that reactivity is probably my most commonly encountered issue. The term ‘reactivity’ has become, I feel somewhat of a buzzword over recent years but what I’m referring to in this post is dogs who are reactive on the leash when they encounter unfamiliar dogs. Symptoms might include vocalization (barking, whining, howling, growling, yapping for example), lunging, pulling and straining, wild and frantic spinning, attempts to bolt and multifarious postural displays – from the very subtle to the overt. Some dogs… Continued
BARKS News – April 2021
Listen to the April 2021 edition of BARKS News! Highlights include: FREE member event Up Your Business Game! New PORTL workshop dates New member job posting board & member profile options New Facebook live sessions Sneak peek at May BARKS from the Guild What’s new on the Guild Archive and BARKS Blog New BARKS Podcasts This month’s webinars and more. Prefer to read your BARKS News? Click here.
Why You Should Avoid “Obedience” Training Tactics for Dogs and Consider this Alternative Instead
By Animal Courses Direct Firstly, let’s look at the definition of obedience – ‘It is a form of social influence that involves acting on the orders of an authority figure.’ The word ‘obey’ is all over the internet when it comes to training dogs, and unfortunately, it is giving the wrong signals to dog guardians and their position of power. Whilst trying to achieve a status of authority could be a desirable outcome for a parent, teacher, or law enforcement, it’s not the same when it comes to your dog.… Continued
BARKS Podcast with Dr. Karolina Westlund: April 9, 2021
Join Niki Tudge and Dr. Karolina Westlund of Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting as they discuss emotional learning. Listen to the Podcast here on your preferred platform. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Read Dr. Westlund’s January cover feature in BARKS from the Guild: Associate Prof. Karolina Westlund of Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting helps pet parents and animal professionals attain happier animals that thrive in the care of humans. She grew up pining for a kitten and pestered her parents until they finally gave in. The resulting black, green-eyed, half-Siamese cat she got for her seventh… Continued
The Essence of a Dog: A Free Education from a Free Choice Walk
By Kristi Benson One cold day last spring, snow still clinging to the ground and ceding to the warm sun only on the tips of south-facing hillocks, I decided to do something new. I wouldn’t walk my dogs; nor would I walk with my dogs. I would instead be walked by my dogs. I decided to simply follow my dog Mischa for our whole walk. Wherever he chose to go, well, I’d go just the same. I crawled under logs, I lumbered across frozen wetlands sinking thigh-deep into the granular… Continued
A Safe Escape
By Dr. Lisel O’Dwyer The Adelaide Hills, South Australia have recently faced severe brushfires, an unfortunate situation that has prompted the discussion of the logistical differences between evacuating and housing horses versus dogs and other small domestic pets in the face of natural disasters such as brushfires and floods. The most obvious difference between evacuating dogs and horses is that it is, of course, much easier to evacuate dogs. The average horse owner can only transport his or her horse(s) with a horse float (also known as a horse trailer… Continued
BARKS Podcast with Alex Pietraszko: March 26, 2021
Join Niki Tudge and Alex Pietraszko, head of marketing for PPG corporate partner Animals Courses Direct, discussing all the great programs they offer to pet professionals — as well as the new courses they are working on (more details about courses below). Listen to the Podcast here on your preferred platform. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Animals Courses Direct is the largest organisation in the UK offering Ofqual regulated animal care courses that meet rigorous government regulated standards. Their Ofqual qualifications comply with Animal Activity Licensing Regulation requirements and the animal courses… Continued
The Itch to Scratch
By Andrea Carne Regardless of whichever behavior issue I have been called upon to assist a cat guardian with – whether it be inappropriate toileting, aggression towards humans, or aggression between cats in a multicat household – I can almost guarantee that when I ask at the end of a consult, “Is there anything else you wanted to chat about while I’m here?”, the response will always include some variation of, “How do I get them to stop scratching the furniture?” My first response is generally to explain that scratching… Continued
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