I love having all this information in one place. Now I can easily pull some sources when I’m trying to talk to people about this kind of thing. Also, this post deserves way more notes.
I am obviously no expert in agility, and I only instruct classes at my club because there is nobody else to do it. I’m trying my best to explain to my Foundations students why I am teaching them the things I am – I’m trying to get them to understand that it’s building the dog’s (and handler’s) skills layer by layer. My lack of experience shows in my troubleshooting, but I am trying.
What I get super frustrated with is the pre-trialler students, the ones that are about where I am at or a bit below, who pay barely any attention to their handling. I think I’m going to have to really emphasise this soon because it’s driving me crazy that they are not paying attention to planning their handling and giving consistent cues. I don’t expect anyone to be perfect – I’m certainly not – but I do expect fairness and I’ve got a few students who are being really unclear in their handling and do not take my feedback on board. If I point out their bad cues and random unplanned crosses, they just shrug it off. They especially don’t care if the dog was “successful” in the end. It drives me crazy!!! Why would you keep doing this? Why do you want to be unfair to your dog? I don’t care if your dog is fast or intense, or you are uncoordinated or whatever the excuse is, if you’re going to do agility you need to develop a clear handling system that your dog understands and you need to plan your runs at least a little bit.
I instruct these handlers as best as I can, but I don’t know how to bring them up on this. I have a week off next week as I’m away for work so perhaps I can think about how I’m going to approach this issue without discouraging them.
I don’t think this dog have ever been given treats for anything ever. She’s not interested in food at all and STILL doesn’t react on the clicker.
I’ve done at least 3 sessions a day for the past 4 days. I’ve tried various treats. I have tried petting and toys. Still there’s no reaction to the sound of the clicker. I’m training indoor to limit the stressores ♀️♀️♀️♀️
I’ve trained a cat using these methods for crying out loud!?
Is it possible that she’ll never learn any commands at all? I mean…. even ‘good dog’ or ‘no’ means nothing to her. Have anyone ever tried anything like this?
I came across a chap with his terrier type dog this morning whilst out with Ziggy. He proceeded to behave, somewhat, oddly with his dog.
As we approached, he turned away from us, shortened the dogs’ lead and made him sit, all the while blocking the dogs’ line of site to us. During our approach he was also constantly feeding his dog treats.
As we reached him, he continued to try to get between his dog and us. Of course, I asked him what he was doing. ‘Stopping my dog looking at your dog’ came the reply. Strange indeed.
He explained that his dog could be a little unpredictable. I asked him to relax and allow his dog to relax a little also - as the dog sat, calmly, I offered him and my dog a treat - duly taken by both dogs.
I have seen this type of behaviour replicated a number of times now. In my opinion, this is a disturbing trend in how to deal with ‘reactive’ dogs. In fact, it is counter-productive. Instead of dealing with a behavioural issue, owners are encouraged to take this, rather drastic, avoidance action. This doesn’t serve the dog well - in fact, this may prevent him from getting over his behaviour issue.
What should be happen is that the dog with reactive issues should be exposed to dogs in a controlled manner - at distance and then ever closer as the dog begins to calm when in proximity of other dogs - desensitisation.
There are always exceptions to the rule. Some dogs are extremely reactive and it can prove very difficult to help them modify their behaviour. These dogs need to be dealt with very carefully by experienced handlers.
However, the majority of dogs, can be helped with careful desensitisation to the issue that challenges them. Simply, stopping the dog from experiencing other dogs or situations naturally is a flawed approach.
So, think carefully before adopting the ’out of sight, out of mind’ approach too readily.
okee dokee y’all, so I’m gearing up for a new pup soon (not really but some time this year) and I was wondering how y’all handle a dog that plays really aggressively. yuma’s an absolute asshole when he plays, he’ll latch onto them like a leech and drag them around the house. obviously I’m not okay with him doing that with a puppy so any suggestions? we’re working on teaching him to play softer but short of that we have nothing :/
Had a lovely reminder that Calanthe is very much A Puppy ™️
We went out to a local Bass Pro for PA training, had a fabulous day, rode and elevator for the first time, ignored her first drive by pet from a child(with a treat in front of her face, but I will take it), and ignored another dog training outside as we left.
And today I found my phone charger chewed on by vicious little puppy teeth because she was unsupervised for a few minutes.
Muzzles are a fantastic tool to help keep dogs and people safe.
The Muzzle Up! Project is here to help teach you all about muzzles and their proper use.
Did you know that dogs wear muzzles for all sorts of reasons?
Dogs might wear muzzles because:
He eats rocks, socks, or other non-food items that can be toxic or cause expensive and life-threatening surgeries.
She is nervous of other dogs, and the muzzle helps keep everyone safe during off-leash hiking or on-leash walks.
The muzzle works as a cue to tell other owners to give the dog some space.
The owner wants to teach their dog to be comfortable wearing a muzzle in case the dog must wear one someday at the vet’s office.
A properly-fitted basket muzzle can do all of this, and more! Best of all, if you take the time to train your dog to wear the muzzle, it should be comfortable for your dog”
Met with my sister and neices. It was nice. :) Pony was better at ignoring them then last time (last time he wanted to sniff my sister). Tomorrow we will be trying to go to my councler together for the first time. My anxiety is killing me!
Ponyboy and I during the Black Friday rush at Dunkin Donuts. It was his first time in a coffee store like this, and the noises were weird. They had coffee grinders, whipped cream dispensers, and a hand-dryer that blows air in the bathroom that were all new to him. He was very interested, but was able to instantly focus on me- so I think he did well for his first visit. ;)
Hey yall. Pony And I went black Friday shopping accidentally.
And it was great! We needed to grab dog food, then went to a dollarstore, and then went to Lowe’s so Pony could meet new friends and have fun in the chaos, and then we went to Dunkin Donuts. I have only just started to recover lol. But it was super fun and nice. Pony did amazing, and absolutely nailed it at Dunkin donuts, which was a new very different place for him.
Yall there is so much dust in my house. No wonder I have problems with my asthma. Need to clean more often.
But here is a video of Ponyboy running to grab my med bag. I need to upgrade to a bigger one, and I’m planning on getting one that has a blue pattern, this brown one is very hard for him to see. He’s learning to scan entire rooms and look for it. This time it was hidden on the table.
We were going to go inside- but I forgot his vest. Darn brain fog! But we went out to train in front of dollar general anyways, and I am proud of how well he did out of vest, at night, after his first snow storm. Especially after not heading out for the past week, and even longer since we went out vested. Such is the life of a hermit, lol…
Would anyone be interested in more videos like this? Where we are either practicing tasks he already knows, or training new ones? I also have older videos I can post of us training, all the way back to when he was 8 weeks old!
[Video Description: Ponyboy is wearing a red and green sweater with a snowman on the back, who has a scarf. He has on his head halter and typical black leash, along with his head halter and his blue collar. He also has on his Ruffwear boots. We are outside of a store at night, on the pavement- it is wet from the snow. He is working on picking up a small white paper card from an old doctors appointment. At the very beginning of the video, he gets distracted by the snow, but then redirects to picking up the card.
When your service dog is more photogenic than you’ve ever been.
[Image Description first photo:
Ponyboy the pitbull is sitting in a empty shed, wearing his head halter, collar, and a purple, green, white tie-dye bandana. A black leash is hanging from his halter. He has green boots on his front paws, grey on his back. He is looking past the camera to his handler, and his left lip is stuck folded under itself, while his ears are perked causing his forehead to be wrinkly. His right paw is lifted up and under himself, mid wave.
Second picture description: Seconds after the first picture. His paw is lowering now, and he has shifted his eyes from me to the treat in my hand.
On today’s episode of “things I’m pms-ing too hard to handle”
My new puppy and my heart dog took a nap together this afternoon, side by side blepping
Yes I got a new puppy!
She can see and hear (which is so weird lol) and she looks exactly like a Tasmanian devil so her name is Tasmania. She is 8 weeks old and she likes to launch herself off of high ledges which has been so fun and not at all stressful.
On today’s episode of “things I’m pms-ing too hard to handle”
My new puppy and my heart dog took a nap together this afternoon, side by side blepping
Yes I got a new puppy!
She can see and hear (which is so weird lol) and she looks exactly like a Tasmanian devil so her name is Tasmania. She is 8 weeks old and she likes to launch herself off of high ledges which has been so fun and not at all stressful.
And all these dogs are super fear-aggressive towards strangers as well. The vast, *vast*, majority of dogs a year old or less that we have come in for my shelter’s spay/neuter services are either borderline-traumatized fearful and shut down or they are trying to bite me for the crime of existing within 10 feet of them.
It is not ‘normal’ for a 4 month old shih-tzu puppy to be growling at me from 5 feet away.
It is not ‘normal’ for a 7 month old aussie to lunge for my face when I offered him some food.
It is not ‘normal’ for the 9 month old lab mix to be completely uncontrollable by the owners, up to and including grabbing their arms with his mouth when they tried to put him on the scale and literally knocking them over and dragging them away.
It is not ‘normal’ for the 6 month old golden to be cowering and urinating in fear.
This is a major issue that every level of veterinary and animal care professional is going to be dealing with for the next 15+ years. I sincerely believe that in a few more years, the rate of behavioural euthanasias is going to skyrocket and we’ll be seeing massive increases in incidences of dog bites.
@ all the people in the notes shrieking that because of the pandemic you couldn’t take your dog out: unless you were in one of the few places that had a truly extended lock down, most of this year you have been totally able to take your dog out and let it see the world. Socialization isn’t all about meeting and greeting- exposure is a big part of the program (and too often neglected, but I digress). But meeting “strangers” was not impossible. You probably have people and dogs in your life already you trust enough to meet your puppy at the end of a leash while you stand back. This is honestly who I want a new dog’s first experiences with “strangers” to be with anyway-no surprises because they’re not strangers to me.
It’s also not impossible to avoid separation anxiety when you work from home most of the time. People who work from home or stay home already schedule alone time so their dogs are OK when they do go out for a day.
There were always options. People were ignorant, and wound up with dogs that know them and only them, and the consequences are here. Ignorance isn’t a crime, but you need to own up to all your mistakes as an owner, even the ones you weren’t aware you were making. It’s how you grow as an owner and trainer.
Also it’s never too late to train! Yes some of you may have older dogs, but they just need a little more time, attention, and patience. There’s still hope to socialize them again and help them become the happy pups they were always meant to be. Just make sure to get good info from experienced people and trainers. In general don’t be afraid to ask for help, it’s been a rough year. But usually people are willing to provide help if they can tell you want better for your animal <3
