Given the recent news about antidepressants and the 'placebo effect' I thought I'd go there first before folks get themselves all in a lather about those medications and their usefulness treating dogs with fear, phobias and anxiety disorders. That there are other ways to treat mild depression other than medication is not news. Research demonstrating the 'placebo effect' in patients suffering from depression dates back ...
When we have a dog who is afraid of people we often focus on getting the dog to move closer to them. What we should be focusing on is encouraging the dog to do whatever makes them feel more comfortable around us. If whenever I stand up, lean or move toward a dog, and that dog moves away, I will put the moving away behavior ...
Years ago when my husband worked at a Boys & Girls Club he came home one evening and shared his day with me. The adventure of the day occurred when one of the kids attending an after school arts & crafts program became upset and shut herself inside a locker. The little girl, living with her mother and brothers in a hotel room to escape ...
Yesterday I attended a seminar with Suzanne Clothier to learn more about her Relationship Assessment Tool. It was, as expected, informative and thought provoking, but that's not what I'm going to write about. I'll save that for another post. The seminar was held at the Monadnock Humane Society in Keene NH. It's a pleasant facility with lots of outdoor space for dogs and an open, ...
When I read many of the blogs, forums or other posts regarding dog training I get the impression that the writer is well intentioned but the information they are sharing is either wrong or misleading. Words are loaded. They come with meanings we may agree with, or don't. I have a list of words I hate. Or at least strongly dislike. I dislike ...
A light bulb moment occurred for me in regard to my fearful dog Sunny when I understood that he was limited in his abilities by his brain. It wasn't that he was choosing not to come to me, or that he refused to move out of the corner, as conscious choices, it was that given the development of his brain, these behaviors were how he ...
Years ago a friend decided he was ready to adopt a dog. As a young man he had traveled cross country with his beloved chihuahua and he was hoping to find a small dog to add to his and his children's lives. Small dogs were not easy to find at nearby shelters so he looked online and found what seemed to be a good match, ...
Owners of fearful or shy dogs are often told that they need to build their dog's confidence, but just what does that mean? I start with the definition of 'confidence' which is to my thinking, the ability to reliably predict that your actions will have a successful outcome. A dog's definition of 'success' will affect whether or not something actually helps them feel more confident. ...
If you are living with a fearful dog who has inappropriate responses to the things it's afraid of, cowering, lunging, barking, growling, fleeing, etc., it is important to understand something about how animals (including humans) behave when stressed. When your dog is afraid, it is experiencing stress. When an animal is stressed and needs to respond it is more likely to perform whatever behavior it ...
Imagine you have to study for a big exam or are trying to learn to use a new computer program or figure out your taxes. Do you pack up your supplies and go sit in the middle of a busy city intersection? Or perhaps more realistically do you invite the neighbor kids over to play video games in your living room while you replay in ...
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