BARKS Podcast with Zazie Todd of Companion Animal Psychology: July 16, 2021
PPG president Niki Tudge chats to Zazie Todd, animal behavior expert and award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy, and creator of the Companion Animal Psychology blog. Listen to Podcast here on a choice of platforms. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Zazie Todd Ph.D. (psychology, University of Nottingham, England) MFA (creative writing, University of British Columbia, Canada) graduated with honors from Jean Donaldson’s Academy for Dog Trainers and has a Certificate of Feline Behaviour with Distinction from International Cat Care. She is a shelter affiliate member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, a… Continued
BARKS News – July 2021
Listen to the July 2021 edition of BARKS News! Highlights include: Geek Week 2021 – Early Bird discount available till July 31, 2021! / Special options for shelter and rescue / Schedule now available / First scholarship tickets awarded Upcoming Facebook Live events This month’s Cat and Dog Lounges Project Trade update New BARKS Podcasts July BARKS from the Guild PPAB fee waiver This month’s live and discounted webinars New on the Guild Archive…and more. Prefer to read your BARKS News? Click here to read BARKS News online.
Meet Geek Week 2021 – The Sequel
By the Pet Professional Guild We’re Back – and Better than Ever! Geek Week: November 13-17, 2021 Early Bird Discount till July 31! We had so much fun last year and learned so much about hosting virtual events that we only had one choice: hit the replay button to bring you Geek Week 2021 – The Sequel. It’s not just a repeat event. It includes all the best from Geek Week 2020 and more. Based on attendees’ professional feedback, we have incorporated many of last year’s most popular features, and added… Continued
Case Study: From Reactive to Relaxed
By Dr. Sheryl L. Walker Of all my years studying animal behavior and consulting with individual clients and animal shelters, there was one case in particular that stood out, partly because it featured two incredibly dedicated guardians. Ironically, it was also one of my most complex cases. It was a case of canine anxiety- and pain-induced dog-directed aggression involving a young neutered male named Gerhardt who had approximately six bite events between August 2009 and November 2012, beginning when he was approximately 7 months old. The environmental trigger, initially, seemed… Continued
BARKS Podcast with Rain Jordan of The Fearful Dogs Project: May 29, 2021
Join Niki Tudge and Rain Jordan of The Fearful Dogs Project, as they discuss how the initiative helps dogs — and the humans who care for them — move beyond fear and enjoy their lives together with as little distress, and as much joy. as possible. Listen to Podcast here on a choice of platforms. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. The Fearful Dogs Project is currently offering 10% off its Advanced Fear Abatement Mastery Program for PPG-member canine training professionals seeking the CFDP (Certified Fearful Dogs Professional) certification. Additional group rate… Continued
Alone Training
By Don Hanson Dogs are social animals, and most will actively seek out our companionship. They can quickly become accustomed to having their people around all the time (especially during these pandemic times when many of us are spending more time at home than usual), but this is not a necessarily good thing if they will need to spend some time on their own at some stage. And as much as we might want to believe we will always be with our dogs all the time, that scenario is improbable.… Continued
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
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
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 Leslie McDevitt of Control Unleashed®: February 5, 2021
Join Niki Tudge as she Chats and Chuckles with Leslie McDevitt about the upcoming educational event Reactive to Relaxed: Next Steps in Control Unleashed. Reactive to Relaxed: Next Steps in Control Unleashed will take place virtually on March 8, 10 and 12, 2021 – three webinars with 6 hours of education! 1. Pattern Games – March 8, 2021 / 5 p.m. ET. 2. Look at That – March 10, 2021 / 5 p.m. ET. 3. Cooperative Counter Conditioning – March 12, 2021 / 5 p.m. ET. All webinars will have… Continued
Companion Bird Foster Programs – A Review
I have volunteered at several local brick-and-mortar rescues (private shelters) in my area (north of Boston, Massachusetts) and have seen, over time, companion birds being returned because of the same behavioral issues. Adopters may say that a bird was “not trainable” or “would not bond” with them. Now, the rescue’s policy is to improve the welfare of the companion bird by getting him into a good and knowledgeable home. This strategy may reduce the undesired behavior. However, some rescues avoid placing birds in foster homes because, if returned, the upheaval… Continued
Dominance: The Horse’s Perspective
In reality, dominant behavior in the world of the horse is a way of gaining and maintaining access to valuable resources without breaking the elastic connection between herd members. It is a way of reducing the risk of injury and lowering the stress — and, according to Linklater et al. (1999), the resultant impact on health — of constant aggression. A horse who is very thirsty may use a dominance display to gain preferential access to a water hole. But that’s it. He gains access, he drinks and he leaves.… Continued
The Need for Safety in Learning
It is worth noting that in environments where basic needs cannot easily be met, it is easier to capture feral animals. An animal who is starving or dying of thirst or needs shelter will move into potentially unsafe situations in order to satisfy the basic need(s). By contrast, in a resource rich environment, if the animal has ready access to food, shelter and water, they may consistently avoid any situations that make them feel unsafe, such as a bowl of food placed in a humane trap. we can artificially elevate… 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
BARKS Podcast with Paula Garber and Tabitha Kucera of the PPG Feline Committee: December 4, 2020
Niki Tudge, PPG president, chats with the PPG Feline Committee chair, Paula Garber and vice-chair, Tabitha Kucera about all things feline. Topics range from pet cats and veterinary visits, to what we know we don’t know about cats, and to feral cats and the myths about cat colonies. The trio also spend some time talking about all the great things the Feline Committee is doing, including the popular Cat Lounge! Listen to Podcast here on a choice of platforms. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Paula Garber is the owner of LIFELINE Cat… 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
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
The Fearful Rescue Dog Who Changed My Life
By Gloria Schmidt *This post is the Pet Professional Guild runner up entry in our Geek Week 2020 Writers’ Competition* Back in 2011, I had accepted a job at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital that required moving to a new state, 13 hours away from home, to a place where I initially knew nobody within a five hour radius of Memphis. As an anxious and quieter type of person, I was frequently asked if this life change was the best idea for me. My constant answer was, “It will be… 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
Phoenix Blog Competition: A Rough Start
By Kim Jukes Zeus had a rough start to his days at Fuzzy Friends Rescue in Waco, Texas two years ago. Early one morning, the staff came in to find that someone had thrown a young German shepherd puppy over the fence. When they did, he had cut his underside on the fence. Fence Jumper The staff at Fuzzy Friends Rescue, being compassionate as they are, took him in, neutered him and doctored his wounds. Then, they found out how high spirited he was. As a young pup, they couldn’t… Continued
Phoenix Blog Competition: Blake’s Story – Adopting a Prison Program Dog
By Rhonda York One of the many things I get to do as a dog trainer is train inmates at the Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas in tandem with the Leavenworth County Humane Society. It helps both the residents and dogs and we work together to train the dogs in the program to have good manners and basic skills. Last November, one of the dogs, Blake, had finished his training but hadn’t been adopted yet. I didn’t want him to go back to the shelter, so knowing he should be… 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