How to Become a Better Animal Trainer
By Karolina Westlund Ph.D. of PPG corporate partner Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting It took me years to realize this, but there are some approaches that really propelled my learning about animal behaviour management in general, and animal training specifically. Here are the four tactics or concepts that I’ve found most useful: 1. LEARN FROM MANY TEACHERS I still remember the goosebumps I got when I first came across a professional animal trainer and got to see her in action. I saw a monkey change his behavior over the course of a short… Continued
Managing an Aggressive, Fearful, or Reactive Dog
By Don Hanson When you have a dog that is exhibiting aggressive behavior, you have a responsibility to keep yourself, your family, your pets, and your community safe. A dog that is behaving aggressively is experiencing some form of emotional stress, so it is your responsibility to identify and keep him away from the stressors that trigger the behavior while working with a professionals who can help you. #1. Get Help from an Accredited Professional as Soon as Possible Helping change aggressive behavior is not a Do-It-Yourself project, nor is… Continued
The One Thing No Amount of Studying Can Teach You about Dogs
By Michelle Underwood *This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020* Observing dogs, particularly my own, is one of my favorite pastimes. I love how we can try and understand their world, but we sometimes have no idea what they are really experiencing. Dogs have such individual personalities and sometimes I don’t get hung upon the what and the why too much, I just enjoy their characters’ and the things they do for who they are. To me, being in the forest… Continued
Maintaining a Rewarding Relationship with Your Dog
By Tiff Shao *This post is a selected entry from the Pet Professional Guild Writers’ Competition for Geek Week 2020 * The aquamarine waters looked extra enticing as we approached the river crossing. It was a hot August day and the previous section of the trail offered no shade. My dog Braeburn splashed in the chilly, mountain-fed waters and drank his fill. We had a few miles under our soles, and a total of five days to trek 40 in total. Our locale was the Bob Marshall Wilderness – land of… Continued
How Good Are You at Assessing Your Animal’s Emotional State?
By Karolina Westlund Ph.D. of PPG corporate partner Illis Animal Behaviour Consulting I recently did a little experiment on Facebook. First, my friends and followers helped me name the company’s new mascot, and they also told me what species he was. Apparently, he’s a racado (rat-cat-dog), and his name is Willis. The experiment that many people helpfully participated in consisted of assessing his emotional state in different images on my Facebook page. Meet Willis. What emotional states is he in? © Karolina Westlund I must admit, not all my friends and followers saw… Continued
What Makes a Cat a Cat?
By Dr. Liz Bales What is the essence of a cat? When we understand what motivates a cat’s behavior, we understand what to expect from a cat — as a human companion and a companion to other cats in our homes. With this information, we can rethink the criteria for a minimally satisfactory physical living space in the confinement of our homes. Well-being for all living things begins with basic survival. How do cats survive and stay safe? How do they eat, drink, and sustain themselves? What are the threats… Continued
Dog Training in “3D”: Harnessing the Concepts of Distance, Duration and Distractions
By Joan Hunter Mayer of PPG corporate partner Transpaw Gear® At TransPaw Gear, we want people to have adventures with dogs that are safe and fun. One way to help ensure that happens is by teaching dogs a few key skills. Concepts that apply to teaching and refining many different behaviors are the 3Ds: distance, duration and distractions. Let’s look at each one in turn, including an example of how a versatile, well-fitting, force-free dog harness can help dogs and their humans achieve training successes together. Distance Distance, when applied… Continued
Dudley the Wonder Fish
By Sharon Empson It has been a little over a year since I trained Dudley as part of my Karen Pryor Academy Certification as a Pet Trainer. Not wanting to add more furry pets to our home, I chose a fish as my “other species.” I bought Dudley at a pet shop when he was about a little over an inch long. Cichlids are intelligent fish. I read an interesting article that stated you can see the intelligence of Cichlids in their hunting techniques. The N. Livingstonii buries itself in… Continued
Puppy House Training 101
By Sally Bradbury House training is all about creating good habits. Young pups have very small bladders and very little bladder control, so they need to be in the right place when nature calls. To house train successfully in as short a time as possible you must take your puppy outside as follows: • When he wakes. • After eating. • After taking a drink. • Before, during and after a period of activity. • When you arrive home. • Before you go out. • Before bedtime. • During breaks… Continued
The Giveaway: On the Loss of a Beloved Pet
For the first time, I missed the writing deadline for my monthly PPG blog this month. Sadly, it was unavoidable, as I could muster neither the energy or the words to do so. We each lose our beloved pets, and in the past couple of years I have read far too many posts from PPG colleagues expressing the loss of their pet, most of whom have been dogs. I read each post with tears in my eyes, sharing the sorrow with my dear force-free colleagues, remembering my own painful losses.… Continued
Feline Litter Box Problems: The Needs of the Many
By Andrea Carne The Star Trek character Spock once said: “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.” (Meyer, 1982). This movie quote popped into my mind upon reading the findings of a new study into stress levels of multicat households experiencing toileting issues. Stay with me on this – it will all become clear! I’m sure most cat behavior consultants would agree that the number one behavior problem reported by cat guardians is inappropriate toileting – both urine spraying… Continued
Overcoming Fear of Vet Visits
By Susan Nilson and Angelica Steinker Based in Adelaide, Australia, Petra Edwards is currently working on her Ph.D, which focuses primarily on how dogs experience visits to the veterinary clinic while also looking at possible strategies that could be implemented to reduce or prevent stress. Last year, she and her co-researchers published the papers, Fearful Fido: Investigating dog experience in the veterinary context in an effort to reduce distress and Investigating Risk Factors That Predict a Dog’s Fear During Veterinary Consultationsin an effort to see what measures could be implemented… Continued
Rethinking Dominance in Horses
By Dorothy Heffernan In 21st century horse keeping, we require a range of behaviors from our horses. Some of these involve the horse staying near us and not leaving, such as grooming, tacking up, leading, waiting to have a head collar, halter or bridle put on, not moving away when we climb on their backs, walking next to us when led, not moving away when we ask them to lift their feet, when we use clippers, give injections, and administer medications. At the same time, we have a whole range… Continued
Cats: In Crisis
By Dr. Liz Bales America loves cats! In fact, we have more cats than dogs living in our homes. We currently live with more than 94 million cats, compared to 90 million dogs (Daily Dog Stuff, n.d.). Nearly half of all millennials have cats: 57% consider their feline friends as important as the humans in their lives and 86% consider their cats to be loyal companions (Purina, 2015). But even the most passionate cat lovers among us are not always aware that our cats are facing something of a crisis… Continued
Project Trade: Revisited
In March of 2016, the Pet Professional Guild rolled out Project Trade, an international advocacy program promoting the use of force-free pet equipment by asking pet guardians to swap aversive gear for a discount on services. The aversive gear was identified as shock, prong, and choke collars. I was one of the initial members of Project Trade, who now number about 56 pet professionals in several nations. Together we have collected many aversive collars and freed pet dogs from the fear, pain, and intimidation that equipment once inflicted. Just as… Continued
Puppies Being Puppies
By Sally Bradbury Preventing food guarding at mealtimes is usually pretty straightforward: simply allow puppy to eat in peace. If you have more than one dog, feed them separately and teach them that the presence of a human near their food bowl always means they are there for the sole purpose of adding a tasty treat to the bowl. Food Guarding Don’t be persuaded that you need to take your dog’s food away or put your hand in the bowl while he eats to make him tolerate or accept you… Continued
A Problem Like ‘Down’!
In a training class, I always find that a significant number of dogs (and their guardians, of course) have some trouble when it comes to learning/teaching how to lie down on cue. Why Teach Lie Down Anyway? If we can ask our dogs to lie down on cue, it can be really useful in terms of helping them relax and settle. Obviously, it’s great to have our dogs stay in one place and not leap all over the place or all over the furniture or our house guests, but for… Continued
Young Dogs Might Be More Similar to Human Teenagers Than We Think: New Research
By Naomi D. Harvey and Lucy Asher Speak to many dog owners and they will tell you that their once perfectly behaved puppy started to become “difficult” at around six to 12 months of age. There are articles all over the internet that advise owners on how to cope with teenage dogs. But until now there has been no scientifically documented evidence of behaviour changes in dogs during puberty. Our new study, published in Biology Letters, confirms what many dog owners and dog professionals have long suspected: that dogs have… Continued
Preventing Resource Guarding in Dogs
Resource guarding is a dog’s natural tendency to protect valued possessions such as food, toys or resting locations. From a dog’s perspective, the approach of a person or animal is a potential threat to losing the valued possession. The behavior reflects a lack of trust and a fear of loss. Dogs in the wild must guard their food, water and shelter or they cannot survive. Domestic dogs will of course survive if someone takes their chew bone away, but their behavior is influenced by 32,000 years of evolution. If a… Continued
Phoenix Blog Competition: Choices Matter
By Maria Zarate As a veteran shelter professional, I’ve always sought outside the box to find effective and efficient methods to help residents skill build. Here are three “go to” methods we use regularly in the shelter environment and I hope you find them helpful too. Pillow Case Feeds What to do with all those donated pillow cases? Don’t toss them, use them instead to feed the residents who eat quickly or who enjoy a good game of “find it”. Pillow case feedings make meal times fun and help slow… Continued
The Importance of Ethograms
By Dr. Sheryl L. Walker With a background in behavior analysis and animal behavior, I am easily captured by behavior in the wild. I was driving to work a couple of weeks ago and stopped to watch a family of geese walk across the street. One adult was in the front, one adult was at the back, and they were separated by four juveniles. The adult at the back was moving his head back and forth with his beak open, I’m assuming making some type of noise. Those 30 seconds… Continued
Getting Exercise Just Right!
By Robyn Lowe of PPG corporate partner Canine Arthritis Management Exercising and the Arthritic Dog I would like everyone to meet Daisy, the apple of my eye. She’s a Chihuahua cross Jack Russell terrier and is extremely active for her size (2kg). Unfortunately Daisy has osteoarthritis (OA) in her hips; exercise has changed a little now. I now know how hard it is to get it right, not over do it so they are sore the next day but not to restrict exercise so much that you ruin their fun!… Continued
Practice Makes Perfect
By Joanna Moritz Nobody likes going to the vet’s office with a sick pet. But here are some simple rules to follow that will make your trip more pleasant for you, your dog and the office staff – and that’s a win-win-win. 1. Practice Makes Perfect The less stressed your dog is for an exam, the better for everyone involved. So: If you have a puppy or a small dog, put him on your washer or dryer occasionally and practice touching him all over – and give him treats while… Continued
Celebrating National Dog Day 2020
By Bella / Animal Courses Direct, a PPG corporate partner In honor of our canine companions, Animal Courses Direct are celebrating National Dog Day 2020 with some truly inspirational stories from some of our students. “My Four-Legged Glasses Called Karma” Anne, from London, is completely blind and so depends on her wonderful helper Karma to get around. Karma, the dog, is the perfect supportive companion, helping Anne with day-to-day life. One day, Anne had to go into the city center to deliver some documents to a particular office. Karma did… Continued
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