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Empathy; The ultimate gift to a dog trainer

Jill Marie O Brien | Wed, 06/23/2010 - 11:03

Recently, I made a major change in my professional life. With that, I am engaging clients more independently and getting back to what I love, working with people and their dogs directly. However, as time has moved on and I have developed professionally, I have on occasion lost what it is like to be a new dog or puppy owner.

This can be dangerous at times and unfair to people who don’t share the years of experience I do, nor have chosen the path of a professional dog trainer or behavior specialist. Many of my clients, like those of my colleagues have other priorities in their lives beyond their furry friend; which brings me to the point of this conversation, empathy.

A Treat By Any Other Name…

Kelly Gorman Dunbar | Tue, 06/22/2010 - 08:23

I have a pet peeve about dog training. Okay, actually I’ve got a few peeves about dog training; you caught me! I’m only going to mention one of them today though. It’s when people transpose the words “treat” and “reward” when talking about reinforcing a dog’s behavior. As in, “When the dog sits, give him a treat.” Or, “Reward the dog for not jumping up.”

Actually using either of the words above in a training scenario isn’t totally accurate; the word “reinforce” is the one that best suits the action and intention when acknowledging a dog’s correct response in an exercise in an attempt to increase the likelihood of a behavior.

Let’s look at the definitions of these words. All can be used as nouns or verbs; I’ve chosen the definitions of the words used as a noun, something you give to a dog.

What's It All For?

Cindy Bruckart | Mon, 06/21/2010 - 11:21

When you’re constantly preaching about the importance of bite inhibition, puppy training, socialization and getting dogs through that crazy-making adolescent period, it’s easy to forget the reason for all this work. In fact, as a trainer, it sometimes feels like all the dogs in the world are either a disaster or a potential disaster. I start to wonder why anyone in their right mind would even have a dog!

While contemplating this feeling of hopelessness this morning, I suddenly realized how quiet it was in my backyard. As I sat on the deck sipping my coffee, I looked around to see what my dogs were doing. Two were lying quietly near my feet taking an after-breakfast nap. Two others were taking a leisurely walk together through the upper property, taking turns sniffing various spots of interest. The fifth dog was casually checking mole holes and eating bits of grass in between.

Rethinking Dog Parks

Eric Goebelbecker | Sat, 06/19/2010 - 10:27

My post last week on Dog Parks caused quite a stir, with 47 comments, a rather bizarre swipe of most of the post by someone who lacks the courtesy (or the courage?) to link to what he parodies, and more retweets than I could count.

The incident I had heard about on twitter that lead me to write the post also became a blog post itself.

A few people got caught up in the particulars of what I listed as potential problems, so let me summarize: my main objection is that oftentimes you don't know what you will encounter in a dog park.

Silly Human! A Dog's Nose Knows

Kelly Gorman Dunbar | Tue, 06/15/2010 - 08:22

The other day I was practicing fun nose work in my garden with Dune and Hugo. It was Dune’s turn and I’d hidden a single cotton swab infused with just a hint of birch oil along a fence line, near some tall grasses and Mexican sage plants.

I released Dune to search and he scanned the environment with his nose before even taking a step into the area. The wind was blowing and he didn’t catch the scent right away, I could tell because he didn’t turn immediately to the left, where the odor was hidden a mere five feet away, but instead veered slightly right to begin his perimeter search along the top rock wall. Halfway through his perimeter search he abandoned this strategy and made a beeline across the garden, heading straight for the source. He found it in less than 30 seconds. Good boy!

Dog Parks and Why You Should Avoid Them

Eric Goebelbecker | Sun, 06/13/2010 - 19:43

Yesterday on twitter there was a brief discussion of dog parks among a few of my friends. The story that triggered the discussion was familiar: there was a fight at a dog park, one owner was redirected onto trying to break it up, the other was unhelpful because the fight was "not his dog's fault."

I'm not a fan of dog parks. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a trainer that is.

The idea behind dog parks is laudable. Who can argue with a place where dogs can run free and play with each other? Even in suburban areas, space is at a premium and many people lack large fenced-in yards where their dogs can safely play.

“Aggression, Emotions, Behaviour and Labels”

Chirag Patel | Sun, 06/13/2010 - 05:11

How many behaviours can you think of that you do which do not have an emotion associated with it?

Now answer the same question but think about your dogs behaviour instead.

I think most people now accept that dogs have emotions but there are probably still people who disagree.

It’s hard isn’t it? Not as easy as you first thought. I did the same when the question was first asked to me. “I thought I am sure I can come up with something… There must be something… What about pooping? Nope! I am sure you will agree that there can be lots of emotions associated with the act of defecating.

So if we think of our dogs and their behaviours, is it simple as saying “the dog is being aggressive.” Or is there more to being aggressive than the observable behaviour?

Lets consider this in a little more detail:

What If We Let Dogs Roam Free?

Kelly Gorman Dunbar | Thu, 06/10/2010 - 16:58

I recently read a blog post by Dino Dogan that asked, “Do we need animal shelters?” His question was, “what would happen if we were to let dogs roam free?” The premise being that dogs and humans have successfully coexisted for hundreds of thousands of years and that our modern arrangement, including animal shelters are only a few hundred years old, so clearly dogs did okay before they hooked up so intimately with us. Dino then lists several arguments and counter arguments to give food for thought. And thought-provoking it is!

Advocacy Overdrive - How social networking can create change and save dogs.

Drayton Michaels | Tue, 06/01/2010 - 08:47

With the touch of a button on a computer or a phone anyone can disseminate information or voice an opinion. This simple yet powerful act can transform the direction of politics, save cities and towns money and essentially save the lives of dogs. Now that’s pretty cool.

A few cases in point are recent victories in the area of Breed Specific Legislation in NJ (which at the state level declares breed specific laws unconstitutional) and Ohio, which if you know about BSL you know Ohio is one of the worst states.

On May 11th Garfield NJ attempted to enact a Dangerous Dog Ordinance due to recent incidents involving Pit Bull dogs. No humans were killed. A small child was bitten due to approaching a strange dog on leash. Though no one was hurt severely, the reason these incidents occurred was that the humans were not doing the right things. However the overblown hyperbolic press and the emotional outrage of the victims led the city council to “do something”.

Treating your dog like your kids? Let’s hope so!

Karen Wild | Fri, 05/28/2010 - 23:52

It’s often the case that you hear a criticism levelled at some dog owners. The reason, it is stated, that their dogs do not behave is this: ‘The dog is their baby’. The owner can rather tragi-comically be portrayed cuddling the dog and buying it diamante accessories. Everybody shakes their heads in disbelief. This apparently leads to all sorts of unwanted behaviours in the dog. The dog is sometimes then punished – it is ‘spoilt’, ‘naughty’, ‘cosseted’. The list goes on. The statement is ‘This dog behaves like this because they treat it like a child’.

And yet, I always felt a certain unease with the comparison. I work with dogs and I work with children. Some of them – in both groups - are pretty tough to handle! In children, what we might call ‘challenging behaviours’ can be highly disruptive and interfere with group activities, or with their own learning.