Been on holiday, playing with kids and grand kids visiting from Oregon. Hope you had a lovely weekend, and for those of you in the U.S., a wonderful July 4th holiday. Maggie and I spent a heavenly two days at a Scott Glen clinic, learned bunches, and the weather was perfect. The next day, Willie and Maggie got some play time with a good friend's new dog, Colby. The Day Lily garden is coming into its own, and the daisies, who I sprayed with a "vitamin mixture" are growing almost head high. Such a beautiful time of year for flower lovers! I'm off to frost the carrot cake for grand kid's birthdays (a few days apart). Wish me luck that I don't make a mess of it! Never been a great cake-froster.... Read More
Archives for 2016
Behavior Adjustment Training 2.0
Grisha Stewart's new book is an impressive piece of work, and I highly recommend it to trainers, behaviorists and dog owners who are ready to dive into the deep end to help their dog. Behavior Adjustment Training 2.0 (BAT 2.0) is a comprehensive and detailed approach to working with "fear, frustration, and aggression in dogs". No matter what one's field, I always am impressed by people who continually re-evaluate their perspectives and advice, and I love that BAT 2.0 resulted from Grisha sitting back and asking what worked about BAT 1.0, and what could be better. If you don't know the original concept behind BAT, here's a primer: BAT is Grisha's term for the use of Operant Conditioning to change a problematic behavior, emphasizing what Behavior Analysts call "Functional Reinforcers." Read More
Pointing Out The Contribution of Both Nature and Nurture
Julie Hecht (keep up with her blogs in Scientific American) has a new article about dogs following pointing gestures in Bark Magazine that not only adds to our understanding of the evolution of the domestic dog, but also points out (sorry, but really, who could resist?) the importance of both 'nature' AND 'nurture' in communication between people and dogs. You may recall an article I wrote in 2010 about this issue, (Do Dogs Inherently Understand Pointing Gestures?), questioning the statements of researchers Hare and Tomasello who argued that even young puppies inherently understand the meaning of a pointing gesture. My experience suggested the opposite: When I extended an arm and finger in one direction, young puppies would sniff my hand and lick my fingers. Not exactly what I was Read More
The Canine Kingdom of Scent, Tootsie Style
Tootsie's taken a back seat lately, given all the sheepdog work I've been doing with Maggie and Willie lately, so I decided it was high time that she and I did something extra fun together. I was inspired in part by a book and a DVD related to scent games. After all, Toots is a spaniel, and even seven years in a puppy mill couldn't destroy her love of following her nose. I first watched much of Jane Killion's DVD Puppy Scent Games, after having been impressed with her Puppy Culture DVD, as I wrote about in a blog about Puppy Culture. This new DVD, Puppy Scent Games, includes Jane's upbeat and thoughtful attitude, but it became clear early on that it was focused on starting a puppy on tracking. If I wanted to start a puppy tracking, this would be a great video to watch, but I was looking Read More
Take Your Dog to Work Day, 2016
Friday June 24th has been designated “Take Your Dog to Work Day.” Begun in 1999 by Pet Sitters International, they suggest that we all take our dogs to work to emphasize the human/animal bond, and indirectly encourage people to adopt homeless dogs. I wrote a blog about this issue in 2011, and because our "official office dog," Millie, is sitting beside me, I was inspired to write about this issue again. In general, although I'm a big fan of the importance of the "human/animal bond," I'm cautious about suggesting that people who don't usually take their dog to work do so on a special, designated day. There are a variety of reasons for that, both from a human and a canine perspective. Here are three ways to look at whether you should take your dog to work: From the dog’s Read More
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