Here's a video of Self Handicapping that I took 3 years ago, when Will was a young pup and Lassie was the stronger of the two. It's a lovely illustration of appropriate dog play, showing how the stronger dog self handicaps to avoid overwhelming the weaker player. Lassie, even now, is capable of pulling with a great deal of strength, but in this video she clearly damps down both the power of her pull and intensity used when she shakes her head. She moves more slowly and with less power than she would when playing with me. There's another piece to this video that I just love: when Lassie decides she is done playing she gives Willie a very clear signal that play time is over. (Not long after she looks at me when I say "Jim! Turn the TV down" in the background!). She gives a second (more Read More
Dog Play DVD Available!
Wheeeee, the new 1/2 day seminar on play that I did in California a few weeks ago is out now on DVD, thanks to lots of hard work by Alta at Tawzer Videos. You can learn more about Dog Play on my website, but here's the summary: The seminar focused on three aspects of canine play: 1) The Natural History of Play: What IS play after all? Who plays and Why? (Those questions turn out to be much more complicated than you might think and have all kinds of interesting implications for us and our dogs!) 2) Play Between Dogs: What do we know about the development of play in dogs? The seminar includes new research out of Barbara Smut's lab in Michigan about the development of play in dogs and what is "natural" and what is not. It also includes an in-depth discussion, with lots of videos, about Read More
Behavior Modification versus Management
The seminar in Arroyo Grande was great fun; the hosts at Gentle Touch Pet Training could not have been kinder, more supportive or better organized. The afternoon half day session on Play was a joy--and all that work creating a new seminar felt well worth it by the end of the day. During the Play Seminar and the Dog-Dog Reactivity sessions I got lots of questions from the audience, some of which I was able to answer that day, but some of which I didn't get to. I thought I'd address some now, since there were some great ones that I thought deserved an answer. One written question related to dogs who are over reactive when they see other dogs: "Is there ever a point where you give up on behavior modification and recommend strict management only?" Good question, yes? And the answer is YES Read More
Off to Play with Play in Dogs
I can't write much, I've been deep in preparation for the new seminars I'm doing in Arroyo Grande at Gentle Touch Pet Training this Sunday and we're leaving for the airport in a few hours. Predictably, we are in the usual flurry of last minute packing, house sprucing and training of new house sitter. As much as I hate leaving Lassie and Will (I'm sorry Lassie, I'll be back soon, I promise), I am truly looking forward to this trip. Both 1/2 day seminars should be great fun. The half day Play Play Play seminar is completely new, and I can't wait to present it. (And will be available as a DVD sometime soon, I'll keep you posted!) I am also, admittedly, relieved that I've got it finished, at least until I decide to tweak it some more on Saturday. (These things are never finished, are they?!) Read More
Lambs Thriving, Dogs Playing Is Warming My Heart
Much warmer now, might even be up to 20 degrees. Wow, feels like an entirely different place. The lambs are doing beautifully. On Sunday Jim and I opened up the panel dividing the two ewes with lambs and let them all in together. We wanted to wait to be sure that the lambs were well bonded to their moms (and vice versa) and that they were stable and healthy enough to tolerate being shoved around a bit by the ewe that wasn't their mom. Given how vigorous Snickers was (I am being so kind here, using the word vigorous instead of several others I can think of) when she was trying to reject her own little ewe lamb, I didn't want to subject the single lamb to that kind of abuse. However, we don't call him White Dude for nothing. He looks like he's in training for a starring role in professional Read More
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