Bark For Life

Bark For Life
Bug Light Park, South Portland

May 19 2013

11:00 Registration Opens - Participants, Survivors & Caregivers check in.

11:45 – Noon Opening Ceremony
Noon - Walk Begins with the Survivor & Caregiver Lap around the park (both 4-legged and 2-legged) Participants will join in the 2nd lap

A variety of beautiful walks are available in the area. Maps are available
Noon – 1:00pm  Food & Refreshments available for a modest donation
Noon – 3:00pm Music, activities, silent auction, and demonstrations
3:30pm Closing Ceremony

 

Click here for more information and to register!

Here is a list of exciting demonstrations and activities that will be happening at Bark!

•   Poetic Gold will be doing a Rally-O demonstration
  
•   The American Red Cross – will have information for emergency planning for your family and your pets!
  
•   Bobby Silcott, head of the POM Project (Pet Oxygen Mask) will be in attendance to spread the word about this important project that could save the life of our “best friends”. He will also be representing Harvest Hills Animal Shelter
  
•   Judy Moore of Canine Behavior Counseling will be doing a behavior demonstration, and show us all tricks with her dog Pablo (he is a really cool dog)
  
•   Chris and Sully – dog therapy team!
  
•   Finish Forward Dogs will at the event to do a weight- pull and a mini-agility demonstration, and they will also be raffling off a gift certificate for a training class at their table!
   Gayle Hickok of Pawsitive Results K-9 Rehabilitation will be raffling two passes for her salt-water rehabilitation pool, two initial evaluations, and her famous doggie chicken jerky.
   DJ-Paul Robart will be keeping the energy high through the whole event.
    Roosevelt the Border Collie will be present. Roosevelt is in a wheelchair because he doesn't have use of his front paws
    My First School Preschool and Childcare will be doing face painting
    South Portland Police Department will be doing a K-9 demonstration
    Uptown Hound will be doing nail trimming.
    Kathy Young will have information about Reiki for pets and people
    Lori Sirois will also have a table representing Therapy Dogs Incorporated
    CCART – Cumberland County Animal Response Team will be in attendance
    Rescue Organizations that are participating: Lucky Pup Rescue, Almost Home Rescue, Fetching Hope Rescue, Border Collie Rescue, Tall Tail Beagle Rescue, CT Underhound Railroad Rescue, and Pug Rescue of New England.
    We are excited too that Guiding Eyes For the Blind – Maine Puppy Raising Region, and Maine Veterinary Referral Center will be attending!
    Silent Auction, games, and contests for dogs, adults and kids 

They're Watching You

Body language helps the dog
know what you want.

Are you in the process of training your dog?  Maybe conditioning new behaviors in a puppy or rescue dog, or maybe you are trying to correct an unwanted behavior.  I believe our dogs learn by watching us or simply being with us, more than listening to us.

With your dog on a retractable leash walking down the road, a new scent is caught by your dogs keen sense of smell. So, it pulls off the path to get more information, and you quickly push the button to extend the leash so he can explore just for fun.  This pattern continues for weeks or months until your dog is conditioned to pull hard to get to where he wants to go.  Not until one day when his pull creates a searing pain in your shoulder do you yell and yank hard on his neck.  Your dog is startled by this outburst of negative energy directed his way and turns away to avoid your hard face and scary sounds.  

Getting low and rewarding with a treat
 for recall is inviting and works.

How about when calling your dog?  Are your voice and body saying the same thing?  What do you do if your coworker says "the boss is in a bad mood!"  Might you stay away just to avoid conflict?  Dogs are masters of avoidance if it keeps them safe.  If your body is stiff and tense when your voice sounds sweet calling your dog, they may choose to sniff the ground as a way of avoiding conflict.  If then you shut the door and grumble to yourself about how stubborn your dog is,  your dog learns that avoidance works as the scary tension just went away.  Your dog may ground sniff in the future as it just learned that this behavior worked. And, we know dogs learn to repeat any behavior that has a positive consequence.  How many times has your pup jumped and then sat, in order to get your attention or a yummy treat?  The dog is simply learning that jumping earns him good things.

This chow is definitely keeping one eye on me as I flat
hand massage him under his harness.

Your dog is watching your body movements and listening to the sounds you make, as he did his mother, in order to obtain feedback on what works.   Although dogs do learn many verbal spoken words that are repeated to them, they were born with skills to read body language. 

This Chow is fearful of body handling, but the fact he is laying down shows he is somewhat comfortable with me. However, he is watching for me to do anything he finds threatening, as not all human hands have been nice to him.  I am careful that my pitch and body language are consistent to avoid pushing him over threshold.
I recommend your words are in sync with your body language.  Dog owners whose body language is the same as the pitch of their voice have much better success getting their dogs to comply, than owners whose body language says "you are in big trouble" but their voice says "come here sweetie."  If unsure, dogs will default to your body cues so make sure your body is conveying the correct message!

Puppy Socialization Classes

New puppy owner's may be unaware of the importance of Puppy Socialization Class.  Puppies have a "Critical Period" in which they should be exposed to a variety of environments, noises, smells, strangers and, of course, friendly dogs.  Without this process the puppy will grow up to be limited to where he can go and who he can be around.

Inadequate socialization with new stimuli does not only make the dogs life much less enjoyable, as confinement to the home or yard is boring and incredibly frustrating. Dogs who are poorly socialized also make life much more difficult for their owner.

Maizy, a foster scottie, was highly territorial and fearful of dogs.  She learned to meet and greet appropriately and made several friends while she was with me.  The approach used was called BAT, or Behavior Adjustment Training, which is a slow process of helping a dog obtain much needed information from a new dog in a way the dog can process it comfortably.

With BAT, older dogs can be socialized. But, keep in mind, it is a much slower process and becomes frustrating for many owners as you need to go at the dogs pace.

So, please set yourself and your new puppy up for success and join a Socialization Class by a Certified Pet Dog Trainer (CPDT). I recommend one where you stay in class with your puppy, and learn what play is appropriate and what is considered too much for your pup.  The AKC S.T.A.R. puppy class is a great way to get your pup started on being a canine good citizen and avoid aggression and other unwanted behaviors. I think we can all agree, that a trained, social dog makes a wonderful family pet, and unsocialized dogs that exhibit fear and aggression are often given up or euthanized -- a result that really could be prevented with proper socialization as a puppy.

Positively Rewarding

While working with a private client and her pup this week, she repeated herself many times by saying, "she is so smart", "I had no idea my dog was so smart!"  The funny thing is, I hear this from many clients when teaching their dog a new behavior.

When pet owners learn to teach their dog new behaviors using positive reinforcement, their reaction is always, always, the same: "I had no idea how smart my dog was!"  The only thing they did

differently was quickly rewarded the dog when it made the right choice, then repeated the reward when the dog did the correct behavior again.  We were able to teach her puppy to touch her hand with its nose and to lie down, in a matter of minutes using the pups mid-day meal.

Seeing how happy this owner was, and how quickly she became more connected to her pup, reminded me once again how effective positive reinforcement training is -- both for the dog and owner!

Staying Positive

I recently attended a Behavior Clinic where we taught our dogs new behaviors using a technique called shaping which is where we rewarded our dogs for making the slightest attempt at the behavior we wanted.

What I LOVED about this training seminar was that everyone was happy, smiling and really positive as they changed their dogs behavior.  Yes, that is right, we were getting new behaviors and everyone was happy!

Maisey's mom is always smiling and rewarding her!

So why is it when you teach your dog a trick like paw, high five, or roll over you get super excited when they make the right choice, "YES",  click, click "YES" as if one marker is not enough? Many of us repeat the marker due to our excitement!  The dogs clearly get that they did something right because our feedback to them is exactly that: "positive and rewarding."  Many of you can't stop there, you need to go show someone how smart your dog is, so you repeat the cue, your dog does the behavior and you again, shrill with "Yes" "Good Dog" and shower him with positive and rewarding feedback. 

You must be smiling by now because you know this to be true!  So, I want you to use the same positive feedback to reward your dog the next time you

Maisey's dad has a soft tone, loose leash and
 is smart to tell her what she is doing right!

are working with him.  The way I see it, behavior is behavior, and, although you may feel the need to be serious when asking for a specific behavior, your dog just knows you are tense and not as much fun.  So, I ask you to be more fun, smile and make a big deal when your dog does any small behavior you like.  I do think you will see a softer, happier dog that will be able to focus on you longer because you are relaxed, fun and rewarding to be with!

Can you still change your pitch while training?  Yes, but make the "positive" much more exciting and rewarding!