This past weekend Hurricane Irene caused chaos up and down the East Coast of the United States. Houses were destroyed and many families were displaced in the storm. I was lucky enough to escape the wrath of Irene with minimal damage, but others were not so fortunate. People were forced to flee their own homes as they crumbled around them or flood waters washed them away. Many dogs and cats were lost in the midst of the pandemonium of survival.
As I read these stories, I look down at my own dog, Hayley, and wonder if we were separated in the storm would we find each other? That’s a hard question to ponder and no one likes to think about the worst case scenario but if you’re prepared and the worst happens, you will be glad you made the appropriate preparations.
Forget something as catastrophic as a hurricane, what if your dog just ran from the house or slipped his collar and took off. How would you be able to get him back? What precautions do you have in place in case the worst happens? Without any way to identify your dog, how would anyone know he was yours?
That’s where microchipping comes in. Although microchipping in pets is nothing new, many owners are still unsure of what it really is and if they should really bother.
How it works
Microchips are injected into the animal just under the skin, usually between the shoulder blades. It doesn’t hurt the dog (it feels like a typical injection) and has no real side effects. Each microchip is identified by a separate and unique number that can be read by a scanner when it’s hovered over the dog. Almost all vets and shelters have these scanners are able to quickly read the microchip that has been placed in a dog.
If your dog is ever separated from you and picked up by the local shelter the first thing they will do is scan him to see if he’s been chipped. Then they can look up your information in the microchip database to get your contact info and reunite you with your furry best friend.
It’s kind of like an insurance policy in that you will most likely never need it, but if you do it will prove to invaluable. However, unlike insurance polices microchipping will only cost you about $50. Well worth it, in my opinion.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Don't Judge a Pooch by its Cover
Just about every week I get called in to do a behavior consultation for a dog whose only real problem is that he’s stuck with the wrong humans. Or more accurately, his owner chose him for the wrong reasons. It always amazes me how so many people put so little thought into their choice of dogs. Instead of making an educated decision based on close observation, deliberation and research, they just go for the cute furry face and/or the long sob story that comes along with it.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because we make the same mistakes picking our romantic partners with the same disastrous results. We’ve all been guilty of dating someone just because physically they’re a total knockout without really looking into what kind of personality they have. And all those kinds of relationships end one of two ways: quickly or badly (for me it was always both).
Getting a dog is not like buying a shirt. If the cool looking shirt we buy itches us like crazy, we just donate to Goodwill or use it to clean our toilet. That dog we brought home a week ago on a whim because he was so cute and had a hard luck story, however, cannot be so easily discarded. I know you mean well, but you’re really doing the worst thing for both you and the dog.
I strongly believe that there is the right person out there for every dog. But the other side of that is that for every right person for the dog there are a multitude of mismatches. You have to be realistic when looking to add a dog to your life and ask yourself some tough questions. Instead of beginning and basing your search for your new dog on the appearance of the dog, look first for personality and temperament. If you neglect to really research what kind of energy level and breed you’re bringing home you may be in for a harsh reality once your new pooch settles in at home.
A great example of this is when the TV show Frasier was popular many people fell in love with Kelsey Grammer’s furry co-star, Eddie and ran out and got Jack Russell Terriers. Wow, were they in for a big surprise when they discovered that their dog didn’t want to just lounge on the couch while laugh tracks played in the background, but instead required three hours of hard core, high impact exercise each and every day to keep them sane.
Then there are the good hearted people who rescue a dog with just because they feel sorry for its situations or back story. Another huge mistake. Yes, it’s amazingly admirable that you want to help this dog but if you don’t make sure you are the right match for him, you will not be helping him at all.
The decision to bring a dog into your life is a big one, both for you and the dog. Make sure you really think hard about the decision and base your search first on personality and temperament, then on looks. If you do that, you won’t have to pay me to come over and laugh at you as you tell me that you don’t know why your two-year-old Dalmatian destroyed your house, when you always give him his daily exercise of two, five minute walks around the block (on behalf of all the Dalmatians out there, thanks for nothing Disney).
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because we make the same mistakes picking our romantic partners with the same disastrous results. We’ve all been guilty of dating someone just because physically they’re a total knockout without really looking into what kind of personality they have. And all those kinds of relationships end one of two ways: quickly or badly (for me it was always both).
Getting a dog is not like buying a shirt. If the cool looking shirt we buy itches us like crazy, we just donate to Goodwill or use it to clean our toilet. That dog we brought home a week ago on a whim because he was so cute and had a hard luck story, however, cannot be so easily discarded. I know you mean well, but you’re really doing the worst thing for both you and the dog.
I strongly believe that there is the right person out there for every dog. But the other side of that is that for every right person for the dog there are a multitude of mismatches. You have to be realistic when looking to add a dog to your life and ask yourself some tough questions. Instead of beginning and basing your search for your new dog on the appearance of the dog, look first for personality and temperament. If you neglect to really research what kind of energy level and breed you’re bringing home you may be in for a harsh reality once your new pooch settles in at home.
A great example of this is when the TV show Frasier was popular many people fell in love with Kelsey Grammer’s furry co-star, Eddie and ran out and got Jack Russell Terriers. Wow, were they in for a big surprise when they discovered that their dog didn’t want to just lounge on the couch while laugh tracks played in the background, but instead required three hours of hard core, high impact exercise each and every day to keep them sane.
Then there are the good hearted people who rescue a dog with just because they feel sorry for its situations or back story. Another huge mistake. Yes, it’s amazingly admirable that you want to help this dog but if you don’t make sure you are the right match for him, you will not be helping him at all.
The decision to bring a dog into your life is a big one, both for you and the dog. Make sure you really think hard about the decision and base your search first on personality and temperament, then on looks. If you do that, you won’t have to pay me to come over and laugh at you as you tell me that you don’t know why your two-year-old Dalmatian destroyed your house, when you always give him his daily exercise of two, five minute walks around the block (on behalf of all the Dalmatians out there, thanks for nothing Disney).
Monday, August 15, 2011
To Treat or Not to Treat
Food rewards are one of the most effective ways to train your dog. Not really a big news flash there - just about everyone knows that Fido will do just about anything for some freeze-dried liver. The question isn’t if food rewards are effective, it’s when and how often should they be used? Should we use treats for every behavior we want to teach, and should we use them for problem behaviors we want changed?
Some trainers rely on the use of treats solely and rarely do any kind of training without their trusty treat bag, while others downright refuse to use treats at all. So it’s not surprising that there is some confusion on when is the appropriate time to use treats when working with our dogs. Personally, I believe that treats are a very powerful tool to train dogs, but that many situations are better addressed without the use of food.
To shape a new behavior (like teaching a dog to sit, or down), there’s nothing better than a tasty tid-bit to lure your dog. Treats should always be the first thing you go to when teaching any obedience command or trick. It’s simple, it’s easy and it works like a charm in almost every case. For those rare dogs that are not all that food motivated, the treats lose their power and we then to try another reward (like toys or affection). However, ninety five percent of dogs will perform quite well when motivated by their favorite snack.
I do not use treats for many behavioral issues though. For example, something like dog reactivity is best addressed without treats. I’ve seen people literally throwing treats at their dogs in an attempt to distract them from an approaching dog. Even if the distraction works and the dog ignores the other dog, at best you are putting a very temporary band aid on the problem. Instead, you need to work with the dog at a distance, change his state of mind and him move him forward. I’ve found simply walking dogs together to be the best way to work on this – with your treats holstered.
The big exception here is for cases of anxiety or fear. Then in addition to be very respectful of each dogs threshold of tolerance to a given stimulus, treats (especially high impact treats) can be used to encourage the dog to work slowly past his fears and reshape his perception to something positive.
Every situation and dog is different, so it’s not as easy as black and white. As a general rule I always use treats to shape new behaviors and rarely to alleviate a problem behavior. Since I think that raising dogs is very similar to raising kids I’ll give you an analogy with my kids. If my one daughter hits her sister and then stops hitting her, I’m not going to give her a reward for stopping. The rule is you don’t hit your sister and it’s time for me to do some parenting. But if my daughter refrains from hitting her sister in a situation that she usually does, I would reward her like crazy.
Now let’s take a similar situation with your dog. Let’s say my dog is chewing the rug and then stops as I come into the room. I’m not going to reward the cessation of her chewing, but instead I’m going to do some leadership (aka parenting). However, if my dog is a rug chewer and is headed toward the rug and she ignores it on her own or with a mild verbal correction from me, I’ll shower her with treats.
That’s my take on the treat paradox. Remember treats should always be used as rewards and not bribes. Treats are great but be cautious about spitting them out like a popcorn machine.
Some trainers rely on the use of treats solely and rarely do any kind of training without their trusty treat bag, while others downright refuse to use treats at all. So it’s not surprising that there is some confusion on when is the appropriate time to use treats when working with our dogs. Personally, I believe that treats are a very powerful tool to train dogs, but that many situations are better addressed without the use of food.
To shape a new behavior (like teaching a dog to sit, or down), there’s nothing better than a tasty tid-bit to lure your dog. Treats should always be the first thing you go to when teaching any obedience command or trick. It’s simple, it’s easy and it works like a charm in almost every case. For those rare dogs that are not all that food motivated, the treats lose their power and we then to try another reward (like toys or affection). However, ninety five percent of dogs will perform quite well when motivated by their favorite snack.
I do not use treats for many behavioral issues though. For example, something like dog reactivity is best addressed without treats. I’ve seen people literally throwing treats at their dogs in an attempt to distract them from an approaching dog. Even if the distraction works and the dog ignores the other dog, at best you are putting a very temporary band aid on the problem. Instead, you need to work with the dog at a distance, change his state of mind and him move him forward. I’ve found simply walking dogs together to be the best way to work on this – with your treats holstered.
The big exception here is for cases of anxiety or fear. Then in addition to be very respectful of each dogs threshold of tolerance to a given stimulus, treats (especially high impact treats) can be used to encourage the dog to work slowly past his fears and reshape his perception to something positive.
Every situation and dog is different, so it’s not as easy as black and white. As a general rule I always use treats to shape new behaviors and rarely to alleviate a problem behavior. Since I think that raising dogs is very similar to raising kids I’ll give you an analogy with my kids. If my one daughter hits her sister and then stops hitting her, I’m not going to give her a reward for stopping. The rule is you don’t hit your sister and it’s time for me to do some parenting. But if my daughter refrains from hitting her sister in a situation that she usually does, I would reward her like crazy.
Now let’s take a similar situation with your dog. Let’s say my dog is chewing the rug and then stops as I come into the room. I’m not going to reward the cessation of her chewing, but instead I’m going to do some leadership (aka parenting). However, if my dog is a rug chewer and is headed toward the rug and she ignores it on her own or with a mild verbal correction from me, I’ll shower her with treats.
That’s my take on the treat paradox. Remember treats should always be used as rewards and not bribes. Treats are great but be cautious about spitting them out like a popcorn machine.
Monday, August 8, 2011
CSI: Canine
I don’t really watch too much TV, but just looking at the daily television listings of shows I see that there are quite a few versions of the CSI series. Every so often my wife lures me into to watching one and I’ve quickly learned that the CSI team can uncover any mystery by doing three things. The formula is always the same and I think it’s applicable for just about any unsolved problem, including issues with our beloved pooches. Those three key ingredients that the CSI team relies on in every episode are investigation, observation and questioning.
As a dog behavior consultant I use these skills in every single session I do and they are skills that you should employ when trying to understand why your dog does some of those unexplained things. I have cracked many of my cases wide open by interviewing my clients and going over details of their home environment and their dog’s daily activities. The more questions I ask, the more information I gather and the more I’m able to watch the dog, the clearer the puzzle becomes.
This is especially important when your dog does something that is out of his usual character or behavior patterns. Once you see a behavior problem begin where before there was none, something must have changed to cause the shift in behavior. You need to do some investigating to begin to uncover the reason for the new behavior problem.
Nothing happens “out of the blue” or for no reason. There is always an underlying cause that has triggered the dogs new behaviors, we may just not be aware of them yet. That’s why you really need to sit down and think about the issue from all angles and take a number of external factors into consideration. You need to think about what is going on in your environment and look for possible triggers that may have put the behavior in motion, and/or are continually reinforcing the troubling behavior.
As you make your observations and do you’re investigating you have to remember that dogs think differently and have very different motivations than we do. So you need to try to put aside your human way of thinking and get inside the mind of your dog. Try to understand his perspective and remember that even though he’s your furry little guy, he still behaves according to canine patterns.
You should also question all family members even if you think that they are in no way involved with the behavior issue. They are possible witnesses and even suspects (that may be unknowingly contributing to the behavior) that need to be questioned. The more digging you do, the closer you will get to understanding what’s really going on.
This three step process of investigating, questioning and observing is the systematic approach I use each and every time I work with a behavior problem. And although I may not have the high tech equipment of the TV CSI team or the witty one-liners of the stars, I’ve been pretty successful in solving quite a few unsolved mysteries using their same formula.
Make your own CSI team and start to investigate the perplexing cases with your own dog and see if you can uncover the real reason for any new issues and then you can accurately work toward making them right.
As for me, I’ll continue my relentless cold calling of the television networks pitching my CSI: Canine.
This is especially important when your dog does something that is out of his usual character or behavior patterns. Once you see a behavior problem begin where before there was none, something must have changed to cause the shift in behavior. You need to do some investigating to begin to uncover the reason for the new behavior problem.
Nothing happens “out of the blue” or for no reason. There is always an underlying cause that has triggered the dogs new behaviors, we may just not be aware of them yet. That’s why you really need to sit down and think about the issue from all angles and take a number of external factors into consideration. You need to think about what is going on in your environment and look for possible triggers that may have put the behavior in motion, and/or are continually reinforcing the troubling behavior.
As you make your observations and do you’re investigating you have to remember that dogs think differently and have very different motivations than we do. So you need to try to put aside your human way of thinking and get inside the mind of your dog. Try to understand his perspective and remember that even though he’s your furry little guy, he still behaves according to canine patterns.
You should also question all family members even if you think that they are in no way involved with the behavior issue. They are possible witnesses and even suspects (that may be unknowingly contributing to the behavior) that need to be questioned. The more digging you do, the closer you will get to understanding what’s really going on.
This three step process of investigating, questioning and observing is the systematic approach I use each and every time I work with a behavior problem. And although I may not have the high tech equipment of the TV CSI team or the witty one-liners of the stars, I’ve been pretty successful in solving quite a few unsolved mysteries using their same formula.
Make your own CSI team and start to investigate the perplexing cases with your own dog and see if you can uncover the real reason for any new issues and then you can accurately work toward making them right.
As for me, I’ll continue my relentless cold calling of the television networks pitching my CSI: Canine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
