Helping fearful dogs
When I was a young child and our family visited a body of water to swim in my parents instituted the the belly button rule. The older, more proficient swimmers could swim out to rafts in the middle of the lake or play in the waves, but the little kids could go no deeper than their belly buttons. If we lost our footing ...
I realize it's a simplistic way of looking at a brain's reward system, and that's because of my limitations, not yours dear readers. But if we can sneak our way into our dog's brain's reward system we can grab a hold as tenacious as any baseball fan's in the stands who manages to snatch a foul ball. It's glaringly obvious that brains have people and ...
People often think of a dog’s behavior in much the same way as they think about a sandwich. It’s usually the meat in the middle that they are most concerned with. But behavior, like a sandwich has more going on than just the filling. What’s around the filling can matter a lot. Imagine going into a deli and ordering ham & cheese on rye and ...
Dogs trainers are veterans when it comes to hearing- "I tried that, it didn't work." This is often spoken by a client or potential client who after finally contacting a rewards based trainer explains why they don't use food rewards. Their immediate assumption is that because they handed a few treats to their dog, and didn't see an immediate change in the dog's behavior, using ...
Understanding the physiological effects of fear on a dog's autonomic nervous system (ANS) is not just a bunch of big words tossed out to make me feel smart. Truth be told, it's sentences like that that make me grateful for spell check. Fear can cause a dog to become more or LESS aggressive. When frightened, some animals will experience an increase in heart ...
Professional dog trainers often seem like a touchy bunch. There's little we don't have an opinion on, and a strong one at that. When someone seeks advice on the best way to market themselves as a 'dog trainer' boasting of little experience other than growing up with a dog or training their own family pets, it might be best to either step away or put ...
People like rituals. We have holiday rituals and religious rituals, seasonal rituals and daily hygiene rituals (hopefully). If my dogs are representative of the species in general, I'd say dogs like rituals too. Some rituals make our lives richer and easier, others can get us into trouble. That after dinner cigarette ritual can make quitting tough. I have created a number of rituals that I ...
Meditation has never been a complete success or bust for me. I usually come away from attempts at it with a grocery list and the recollection of where I put those papers I need for filing taxes. Although 'stillness' is something I readily attain given a lawn chair and some sunshine, this 'quieting' the mind stuff isn't so easy. Over the years I've discovered recreations ...
So yes, Nibbles in now my dog. I didn't want a 4th dog, I didn't want Nibbles, but when the head of the rescue group responsible for him (legally that is) told me they were going to send someone to my house to pick him up and transport him a 7 hour car ride and plane or ferry ride away, I panicked. I had been ...
A common misunderstanding about ways to work with dogs who are fearful is that we can show them that they don't have any reason to be afraid of something. We think of it like this (you can replace anything that might scare a dog for the 'man with hat'). Dog sees 'man with hat'-feels fear-nothing bad happens. If the dog sees 'man with hat' frequently ...
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