Today, it's all about the farm. I had a blog written about the effect of acoustic environments on us and our dogs, some new products available for us to use to calm our dogs, and some new results of "calming" music that Katie and I have seen with our dogs. And then I erased it all with one key stroke. I'm sure that has never happened to you.... So I'll save that topic for later (and promise to catch up in the next month or so on other topics I've promised you, like exercises to calm the sympathetic nervous system, and the methods of the clicker versus no-clicker study ). Right now I have to get home to the dogs and work on the talk that Karen London and I are giving at the Interdisciplinary Forum on Applied Animal Behavior next week in Phoenix. So here's the second half of the blog, Read More
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
So many books, so little time! Here are a few I'm enjoying: Magnificent Mind at Any Age by Daniel Amen. This is a fascinating book by a psychiatrist who began doing SPECT scans of his patients brains and discovered how many psychological/behavioral problems related to brain function. It's an inspiring book for anyone looking to improve their health and behavior, and besides being motivated to exercise more and stop drinking diet soda (I know, I know), I find myself thinking about dog behavior on every page. Daniel relates multiple cases of people with behavioral problems (fear, depression, anger, impulsivity) that are improved through diet, exercise, supplements and medications that specifically work on areas of the brain related to those problems. Anyone out there see any dogs who are Read More
Explodo Ewe Finally Delivers
I know this has nothing to do with dog training or behavior, but may I mention how relieved I am that Barbie FINALLY had her lambs? I just happened into the barn a few minutes after she had her first, and was there while she had little ram lamb number two: Here they are about 20 minutes after the first one was born, perhaps 5-7 after the second. Here's the first attempt to stand from lamb #2, about 10-15 minutes after its birth: MEANWHILE, also on the farm: Poor Willie is bored silly, I'm working all the time or traveling to visit my ailing relative, and he can't work sheep, play with toys except on a limited basis or run around outside. Poor Willie; I do keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. I wish I could tell him that. (But thanks for the comments from Read More
Willie’s Exercises & Honoring Your Dog
This video tape of me and Willie doing his exercises reminds me how important it is to "honor your dog." (I think that is originally Kathy Sdao's phrase, and I just love it.) The video shows us doing two exercises, "Flex" and "Paw," both designed to strengthen his shoulders before the surgery. We first began doing one set of 10 reps each with very short durations, about 2 seconds max, and have worked our way up to 10 seconds duration for the first set and 5-6 seconds for the second set. But the therapist warned me to watch for signs that we were pushing it too far, and those showed up recently, which we caught on video. Watch the video first, then I'll tell you more about it. It's a little under three minutes. We cut out about 30 seconds just to keep it short, I'll describe more about Read More
Positives of Negatives & Negatives of Positives
Thanks to all who have commented so far in answer to the questions "Are you a 100 % positive trainer?" and "Would you sign a pledge to only use positive reinforcement and never use punishment?" I appreciate the thoughtful discussion that the questions have generated. I'll jump in now, with the caveat that this topic deserves an all day seminar (at least) and I can't begin to say all I'd like to in one post. I'll start however, by summarizing some of my thoughts on the issue. Let me start by saying that I consider myself to be an overwhelmingly "positive" trainer. I would imagine that those who have seen me work would agree that I am a kind and gentle trainer, and primarily use positive reinforcement when working with dogs. That said, I'd never sign a pledge saying I'll only "use Read More
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- …
- 11
- Next Page »