5.01 Puppy Husbandry Practices

 

In this episode we continue our puppy training  theme by talking about proper puppy husbandry procedures.  What exercises can you do with a puppy to prepare them for being groomed and treated by...

Puppy Classes And Canine Parvovirus

I have just read a paper in the March/April issue of the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association describing a study that concluded, puppies vaccinated at least once prior to starting puppy...

Adopting an Adult Dog

Adopting an adult dog can be a marvelous alternative to raising and training a puppy. Alternatively, a new adult dog can be a full-time project. Adult dogs can be perfect or problematic — carrying

Pet Food and Canine Nutrition: Best Brands

I just read the Independent Pet Food Nutrition Research Study by John Martinez based on a modification to Goldstein’s Wellness & Longevity Program — Natural Care for Dogs & Cats.

245 pet foods...

Choosing Your Puppy


Choosing a puppy is a very important decision, and everyone who lives in the household should agree before any puppy is brought into the home. If the puppy is to truly become a member of the family,...

A workshop with Ian Dunbar: Solving "impossible" off-leash, real-life behavior problems, real-time.

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Service Dog Training - Public Access Outing

Rachel Friedman  |  Thu, 06/13/2013 - 09:54

Dogs with jobs, like people, require a strong core of foundation skills and opportunity to practice in order to be functional in their job. If the intention is to incorporate a dog into service, working for  you in a variety of public settings, taking the dog in public is fundamental to service dog training. Maintaining reliablility of their skills out in the world requires continued practice.

In this video, Service Dog Team in Training Dory and her human partner Julie, venture out to a large, indoor mall. While for some the mall is a fun outing, for others it can be an overwhelming and

 
Tags:  service dog psychiatric service dog training in public A Better Pet Har-Vest

Advocacy Overdrive - Walking The Talk

Drayton Michaels  |  Sun, 06/09/2013 - 13:26

I am releasing a new series of dog advocacy videos called Walking The Talk. They are short 1 – 3 minute videos of my exchanges with people while on a dog walk. These are real life occurrences not set-ups.  

Many people advocate for dogs and as much as they do via avenues such as Twitter or Facebook nothing is more powerful than real honest exchanges with dogs and people that result in a learning experience. 

For years I have taken it upon myself to speak with anyone that may have an interest or perhaps be slightly concerned about a dog I am walking. As long as the dog in my charge is social,...

 

A workshop with Ian Dunbar: Solving "impossible" off-leash, real-life behavior problems, real-time.

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Tue, 06/04/2013 - 12:20

In this vlog post Ian Dunbar describes one of his latest workhops and what he most enjoys about teaching people and dogs in this format. He loves bringing "impossible" problem behaviors into the workhop and resolving them in real time. He teaches handlers how to quanitfy progress, test reliability, and improve performace vastly. This put the responsibility of reliability and performance on the handler and on training, rather than on the dog. Far too many dogs are being punished in the name of training or due to disobedience, when the fault actually lies within the teaching process. 

 

5.03 Deprivation in Dog Training

What is deprivation, and is there a place for it in dog training?  Is it a good idea to keep you dog confined or isolated to get them more excited about training or working with you?  In this episode the Dunbars discuss the concept of depriving a dog of access to desired behaviors and items as a tool in training.  For some things like food or mental stimulation, there’s a minimum level which the dog needs for physical and mental health.  For many other things, the notion of deprivation can be a relative thing that depends on the dogs’ environment and experience.  Far better than simply...

 
iWoofs Seas:  Season 5

5.02 Beyond Puppy Classes

We’ve been talking a lot about puppy class lately, but the vast majority of any dog’s socialization takes place outside of classes.  It’s incredibly important that a puppy’s socialization and household manners training begins in the first few weeks of a pup’s life, and continues uninterrupted when the puppy is taken home by its new family.   Ideally, a puppy class should function as a place to check in with a professional trainer to make sure that your pup is progressing appropriately.  Of course, if a pup is has not been sufficiently socialized by the time they show up for their first puppy...

 
iWoofs Seas:  Season 5

5.01 Puppy Husbandry Practices

In this episode we continue our puppy training  theme by talking about proper puppy husbandry procedures.  What exercises can you do with a puppy to prepare them for being groomed and treated by veterinarians in the future?  Pet dogs will get petted, restrained and handled by strangers, whether  it’s by a groomer, a veterinarian or a neighborhood kid at the park.  If your pup has been properly prepared for this sort of handling it won’t be a problem.  If they haven’t been prepared they are likely to suffer anxiety in these sorts of situations, and they may react aggressively as a result.

 
iWoofs Seas:  Season 5

4.13 Are Puppy Classes Harmful? (Part 2)

For this episode we return to an article that was on the Kennel Club’s website which suggests that puppy classes and social play sessions are responsible for increasing reactivity and aggression in pet dogs.   The article focuses on poorly managed classes, and uses this as justification for condemning the whole concept.  The Dunbars explain how a well-run class or socialization session is actually the best way of preventing reactivity and aggression, and creating friendly, easy-to-handle and reliable adult dogs.  

 
iWoofs Seas:  Season 4

Give Your Dog The Gift of Sniff with Nosework!

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Mon, 04/15/2013 - 11:34

It’s no secret what a dog’s nose knows. While we humans have only around 5 million scent receptors, dogs’ olfactory receptors number in the hundreds of millions! Dogs use their noses as a primary source of navigation and information gathering. They use scent-marking a source of communication. Dogs take in scent the way most people take in visual and auditory information.

 

Yet in our human-centric world, dogs are constantly thwarted or punished for gathering info/exploring/expressing themselves via sniffing and marking.

 

The human equivalent would be to live with blinders on, our

 

Pet Food and Canine Nutrition: Best Brands

Dr. Ian Dunbar  |  Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:42

I just read the Independent Pet Food Nutrition Research Study by John Martinez based on a modification to Goldstein’s Wellness & Longevity Program — Natural Care for Dogs & Cats.

245 pet foods were scored according to quality of protein, fats and carbohydrate (whole grain and grain-free), absence of additives & preservatives, with a premium based on uncooked foods and vitamins, presence of phytonutrients, antioxidants, probiotics, prebiotics and lecithin and absence of non-beneficial nutrients to help reduce gas and form stool. (Obviously, with a good diet, dogs have good-looking...

 
Tags:  pet food canine nutrition best brands dog food dunbar

4.12 Are Puppy Classes Harmful? (Part 1)

In this iWoofs episode we address an article that appears on The Kennel Club website, by Robert Alleyne, a Board member of the Kennel Club Accreditation Scheme for Instructors.  As major advocates for puppy classes you can probably imagine that we have a few bones to pick with this article.  We find many of the assumptions to be flawed, along with much of the reasoning and the conclusions.  We do agree with the article that there are some puppy classes that are not as good as they should be, and we agree with some of the criticisms that are made of poorly managed classes.  However, we

 
iWoofs Seas:  Season 4

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