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Food Aggression

Michelle Douglas  |  Tue, 06/02/2009 - 11:33

This is in response to a comment asking for suggestions on how to deal with food aggression. The original question was regarding a dog who would snarl over his food bowl and snap at his owners if they approached. He was not walked and had never had any formal training.

For food-guarders, I generally put them on some version of a ‘Nothing in Life is Free’ program, with hand-feeding as the major component. Simply teaching the owners how to teach some basic cues and adding an exercise routine may make a world of difference! While each case is different, some general recommendations for food guarding include:

1) The owners need to teach (at least): eye contact, come, sit and lie down. I would also suggest targeting (touch hand with nose OR ‘paw’) and go-to-your-place.

 

Being Honest About Our Dogs

Laurie C Willia...  |  Tue, 06/02/2009 - 02:09

My close friends and I have an agreement, and I'm talking the pinky swear, Ya Ya sisterhood, Thelma and Louise type of pact that's meant to be taken very seriously. We've pledged to keep each other honest about our dogs' behavior and our relationships with them by immediately blowing the whistle when either of us attempts to make excuses for, fails to acknowledge, or attempts to overlook inappropriate behavior (on either our dog's or our part). We've promised to be each other's system of checks and balances, which everyone needs, because when we're in denial about our dog's behavior, we become enablers and the behavior will never improve. Dog trainers in particular, serve as that voice of reason for our students and clients, so it's very important that we have someone to serve in that capacity for us.

 
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Puppies Doin' Time

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Mon, 06/01/2009 - 10:52

Sometimes people just can’t see the forest for the trees, and when it comes to puppy raising this can be a grave mistake indeed. Yesterday on Twitter, WellBalancedPup brought a letter to my attention that appeared in the ChicoER. In the editorial letter the author is enraged because she feels taken advantage of by the local animal control because she has to pay a fee to impound her puppy for a ten-day bite quarantine.

I too, was enraged by the decision to quarantine a young pup for nipping, but for different reasons entirely. Sure quarantine costs and municipal fines are costly and damage the pocketbook, but money comes and goes, it’s material. The true cost of this situation is far greater than losing a few bucks and the damages are much more difficult to recover.

 
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Advocacy Overdrive – Numbers, Criteria, Intentions and Motivation

Drayton Michaels  |  Sun, 05/31/2009 - 13:13

This is the first part in a new series I’m calling Advocacy Overdrive. It will be a chronicle of happenings, events, and discussions surrounding The Pit Bull Hoax DVD and other subsequent media related advocacy projects. The purpose is to get more people involved, hence the word overdrive in the title. Past that it will be a way for people to better understand the subject matter at hand as well as who is behind the media.


What is the percentage of “pit bull” dogs?


The numbers that are associated with dog information is often times fuzzy. In some cases the math is fuzzy because the people involved are fudging numbers, sometimes it is because there is just no accurate way to arrive at a number so the results are distilled through research and let’s face it personal bias.

 
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Ch Ch Ch Changes

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Fri, 05/29/2009 - 09:20

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or something like that. I’ve just spent two years keeping a close watch on Hugo-Louis to keep him on track with his potty training. Yes, you read right. He’s been good for a looooong time now, but I must say he was a tough nut to crack potty-wise.

He’s a Frenchie, and while I thought that wouldn’t matter (potty training is easy as pie after all and I am darn good at it, even tough cases) something made it difficult for him to learn to pee exclusively outside. Not one of my finer moments in training. The first year was rough and I stayed in my hyper-vigilant-pee-patrol role for way longer than I anticipated.

Well, Hugo turned two in April and I decided I could chill a bit now. He’s a big boy and gets the game. It’s exhausting to always be on alert. Sigh of relief.

 
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What’s the deal with food & bribes?

Drayton Michaels  |  Thu, 05/28/2009 - 15:27

Often when I am working with clients there are questions about food rewards. The main concern it seems is “Will I have to use treats forever? The second question is the often misunderstood notion that the food is a bribe. It can be, if used in the wrong order.


Let’s first get a few things established. 1 – Shifts in context create behavior changes and secondly consequence drives behavior. Dogs do not do things simply because they are filled with undying servitude; dogs do things because it pays off in some way.

 

Twitter - Woofs Too

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Thu, 05/28/2009 - 15:23

Not only do we have an online archive for newsletters now, but we're on Twitter now too. 

 
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Monthly Woof & Puppy Bite Archive Now Available!

Kelly Gorman Dunbar  |  Wed, 05/27/2009 - 12:29

I got over my fear of creating an archive! I'm not sure what my problem was, it was very easy and I've wanted to post our newsletters forever because I hate to see them go. There are so many gems in the Weekly Puppy Bite and Monthly Woof. Lots of cool links to cool people and products too.

 
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PTSD in Dogs Redux

Rachel Friedman  |  Wed, 05/27/2009 - 09:44

As Memorial Day has recently passed and May winds down, I make a mental note that I have one full year left to the biennial renewal of my LISW and have successfully received a few CEU's already by attending and even participating in a recent autism conference. Bean and I went to learn from other experts as well as share with others the benefit a well trained dog can provide clinically for children and teenagers and adults with special needs including but not limited to autism / Aspbergers or PDD/NOS diagnoses.

 
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Is Your Dog Training You?

Gillian Ridgeway  |  Wed, 05/27/2009 - 08:58

Someone once said, “doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity”.  While that brings a smile to us and seems to true, have we thought about the flip side?  If we continue to repeat our actions over and over again we should be able to count on the result.

In fact, we might even say that this applies to the general thinking when it comes to dog training.  If we repeatedly give a biscuit to our dogs for sitting when asked, we should be able to count on the result.  This reward Vs no reward concept is widely used in dog training.  

However, have you ever stopped to consider that this method is the one used by our dogs to teach us what they want?  We are not the only clever ones in the scenario, in fact I think that dogs do a great job at teaching their humans and seem to get the upper hand in many homes.

 

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