Here's Hailey, who was one of the demo dogs in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. Crystal is fostering Hailey, and had only had her for about a month before the seminar, and we were both concerned that her general arousal levels might make the seminar too much of a challenge for her. As it turned out, she did very, very well. She was definitely reactive when she saw other dogs, but it did not appear that she was fearful or intent on aggression. Hailey was the classic bark/lunger who became so excited when she saw another dog that she lost control. She could work herself up into increasing levels of excitement until her behavior became difficult to manage. Managing arousal did seem to be the name of the game here. Hailey was extremely friendly to me, mildly stressed about being on Read More
Case Study – Dog/Dog Reactivity – Ceilidh
I did a seminar last week in Pittsburgh for the Westmoreland County Obedience Training Club, and worked with 3 dogs who had "dog-dog reactivity" problems. In choosing those dogs I had a problem myself: I had to choose from over 12 people who offered their dogs for demo's. Right now I'm working on choosing dogs for a similar seminar in DENVER next weekend and have the same problem: too many dogs, too little time. And so I thought it might be useful to use one of Pittsburgh's dogs as a case study in the blog, and her owner, Jan, graciously agreed. I should say here that I don't have the depth of information I would if they were my clients, but here are the basics: Ceilidh (pronounced Cay-lee) is a 6.5 year old female Border Collie who fixates on other dogs with what I call the "locked Read More
Super Normal Sign Stimuli (What the heck?)
Perhaps "Super Normal Sign Stimuli" is not a phrase that you often use? Ah, but it should be! It summarizes a common behavior that is relevant in both human and canine behavior. SNSS refers, first, to stimuli that elicit an inherent response in individuals of a species. Red flowers, for example, attract hummingbirds, no matter what the bird's experience. Hummers are naturally and inherently attracted to the color red, as Orioles are attracted to the color orange. The other part of SNSS, "super normal" refers to the size or intensity of a stimulus. A good example of this is from the ethologist Tinbergen, who learned that nesting female sandpipers will sit and try to incubate anything that is egg-shaped with the appropriate size and spotted patterns that look like real eggs (even if they are Read More
Help! Willie Bored, Me Brain Dead.
Here's the challenge: Besides 3 sessions a day of physical therapy, Willie is now supposed to walk for 10 minutes three times a day. On the flat, on leash. No trotting, no spinning, just slow, controlled walking. Sounds simple, but then, life being what it is, it isn't. There's very little flat on my little hilly farm in southern Wisconsin. We basically have 2 paths to take, about 60 strides each. Otherwise, all the rest of my 13 acres is off limits. I could take the heavy ramp he uses to get into the house (to avoid the 3 stairs) and load him into the car and take him into town where it's flatter, but it's a big hassle to get the heavy ramp set up to get him in, put the ramp back in the car, take it out to load him back up, etc. It'll be worth it when he can walk for longer periods, but Read More
Take a Dog to Work? Maybe, Maybe Not.
Friday June 24th has been designated "Take Your Dog to Work Day" by Pet Sitters International. Begun in 1999 with a goal of encouraging adoptions, Pet Sitters Int'l suggests that we all take our dogs to work to emphasize the human/animal bond, and indirectly encourage people to adopt homeless dogs. This could be a great thing to do; many of us take our dogs to work regularly. If you work in the dog world, it's almost a gimmee, and one of the perks that I love about my job is that I can take Willie to work whenever I want (except, of course, when he is recovering from surgery). However, there's nothing like being an Applied Animal Behaviorist to stimulate the waving of red flags when we read about something that, in some cases, could also be described as "take your dog into a completely Read More
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