Classes for Saturday May 21st

Outdoor Adventure will be held at Twin Brooks, 9:30 am as planned.  Wear your mud shoes and bring a large towel to wipe your pups paws with!

Feisty Fido will be moved to my indoor class room at Tender Touch Veterinary Hospital on Gorham Road, 11:00 am.  Remember to have these dogs wait in the car until I arrive, we need to walk them in one at a time to set them up for success as we will be working in a confined room.

Small Dog Socialization Tonight!

It's Thursday, so we will be holding our Small Dog Socialization at Tender Touch Veterinary Hospital on Route 114 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. tonight.

Come meet some of our new guests:  Jess, Nala, Poncho and Benny!  This is a great way to get some energy out of your dog with this yucky weather we are having.  In addition, we will cover topics of interest such as conditioning new behaviors, potty training and and how to build confidence!

Hope to see you there!

Make a New Association

Does your dog have a negative association with something or someone?  Does he/she always bark or growl at a neighbor, mailman, motorcycle, cars, strangers, dogs?   Would you like to change it?

Try simple classical conditioning (make a new association) to whatever it is your dog fears or growls at.  It is helpful if you know the trigger, which can be something your dog hears, sees, tastes or even smells.

Introduce the "scary stimuli" at a distance that makes your dog curious but not reactive, then add something positive like food, play or a game.  Over time and with repetition, the scary stimuli will make your dog feel good instead of the current fear emotion.

With strangers, have them toss treats from a safe distance for weeks until you see your dogs behavior change.

My boys helping change Digs association 

 If a motorcycle sets your dog into a crazy fit, let him see a stationary one and reward him with a high value food treat!  Repeat this with the motorcycle moving, but with no sound. Again, reward with a high value treat for calm behavior, then start the bike but do not move it. Have someone toss treats while sitting on the bike.  You may need several repetitions of this progression before your dog feels good each time he/she hears the sound of a motorcycle.  Start the motorcycle, toss cheese, repeat this process over and over again.  Soon, the sound of the motorcycle will elicit your dog to drool rather than the old emotional response!  Hence your dog will have a new association to this trigger.

Changing an association sometimes happens quickly, while others may take more time depending on how much practice the dog has to barking or chasing the stimuli.  So for the best results, practice this classical conditioning for months, and for some dogs maybe even a lifetime.  But remember, behavior that is not practiced will fade.  So add Classical Conditioning to your daily life, make it part of your routine!  You will have a more confident and less anxious dog.

Helping your Dog Feel Safe

Many of us Love,  Love, Love our dogs, however we are slipping into a relationship of too much of a good thing for us, but not for our dogs.  I know you LOVE your dog.  I do too, which is why I want all my dogs to feel safe all the time. Nothing is For Free with me.  They know I am always the calm confident leader.

Denise is a Confident Pack Leader to Finn!

Consider you are camping in a tent in the woods and you hear what you think is a Grizzly Bear outside your tent.  You want to scream at the top of your lungs to scare it off!!  You wake everyone in the tent and tell them to make lots of noise to scare the bear away, however the "guide" says 'NO, trust me.  You do not want to attract attention, just sit and be calm".  Having been in this situation before, you say, "But it works, I have done it once or twice before and it will make the bear go away"  "SHHH.....Be.... Calm...Trust me." says the guide.  What do you do?

This is how your fearful dog feels when you confine him on a leash with scary dogs or people around.  You are asking him to trust you.   If all week you have earned his respect by having him work for his food, avoided petting him every time he asked and used placement cues (moved his feet) several times he may just respect you enough to trust you and Be Calm in a scary situation.

However if you LOVE your dog without rules and direction, he may not.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Have you found yourself yelling at your dog or becoming very frustrated with him?  Is it possible you are misunderstanding each other?  Dogs understand body language and we talk and talk and talk!

Feisty Fido Class

If you are frustrated with your dogs behavior, you can be sure he is frustrated with yours.  Understanding how dogs really learn and how to help them through their own conflicts are key to you having a happy relationship with your dog.

In our Reactive Dog Class, better known as our Feisty Fido Class we build the communication between reactive dog and calm owner.  Notice in this photo the dogs are all focused on their owners and their owners are all using Body Language to communicate with them in a rewarding way.  This is only our second class and each owner is learning to use their own body to modify their dogs behavior.  Using varied durations of a stimulus dog, we are able to see our dogs go from reactive to a "switch over" behavior and simply learn to look rather than react.

So, if you think your dog barks at or scuffles with other dogs because he is simply a dominate or alpha dog, maybe you should consider having him evaluated to find out what is really going on.
When you learn how to change your body language your dog will see you as his calm pack leader, he will in turn become more calm which will reduce the frustration barriers you are experiencing with each other.