Dog's Best Friend Training

11/23/2024

08/25/2023

I love fetch and encourage it regularly to owners. Playing it properly can have a ton of benefits… playing it improperly can be detrimental.

This is a great graphic. It highlights a few things that people need to think about when providing their dogs with physical exercise.

Chasing a ball, flying disk, bumpers, whatever, can be a great way to get your dog to blow off some excess energy, but there are things to consider:

1) The unintended consequences of lots of stimulating chase games is a high level of frustration and arousal.

2) De-conditioned dogs exerting themselves for prolonged periods of time can seriously injure themselves if not adequately physically prepared for strenuous exercise.

3) Repetitive use injuries associated with quick accelleration, sudden turns and stops can impact joints and soft tissue long-term

There's a right way and a wrong way to do this-

Thanks for the graphic, Heather!

08/22/2023

Puppy Preschool

September 9th • 10-11:30AM • $10 min donation (benefiting Proud Pups Rescue)
Puppies under 5 months and under 40lbs accepted
Up to date on all shots
Email or Text to reserve your spot
[email protected] • (740) 917-5071
columbusdogtrainer.com

If you don’t have a puppy but need help with excessive barking, pulling, jumping, anxiety, etc., we would be happy to set up an evaluation to talk more!

04/27/2023

Hi all, I know many dog owners feel that dog parks are great for socializing dogs, but there are many factors to consider.

When talking with one of my students that is a local Emergency Room Veterinarian about dog parks she told me about how many cases she gets on a regular bases caused at dog parks. I asked her for a quote to share to help educate more dog owners to the realities of taking your dog to a dog park.

🩺 Here is Stephanie Silberstang, DVM, Emergency Medicine full quote;

📍"The majority of dog bite injuries that I see in the emergency room occur at the dog park. Large groups of dogs, of varying sizes and play styles, in small spaces is a recipe for disaster. I have treated anything from a nick on the ear to loss of life after a fight at the dog park. In addition to bite wounds, I have also treated kennel cough, gastrointestinal infections, heat stroke, foreign body ingestions, and injuries after escape from the dog park. Generally speaking, dog parks are unsafe."

📍 Please understand to properly socialize dogs we must advocate for all the dogs, and create a environment that is safe for them. In NYC most dog parks are so small it does not give many dogs the option to get away from uncomfortable situations, and most owners are not learned how to see dogs' stress, avoidance and appeasement signals, which puts dogs past their threshold, that lead to many fights.

📍 Many dog parks do not have large and small sections to separate dogs to allow appropriate sized dogs to play and when they do many owners do not abide by them leading to smaller dogs being in very dangerous situations.

📍Owners bring their dogs to the dog parks before they've formed a relationship with them, have formed a common language through training, and have learned to understand their dog's triggers, which can lead to dangerous situations.

📍There is so much unknown about the other dogs at dog parks, including their health, and vaccinations so it causes many dogs to get sick after visiting them.

📍I understand there are dog parks that have great members that do a better job at abiding by the rules but we must be cautious and set our dogs up for success. if you feel you want to take your dog, please take the time to get to know your dog better after adoption. Let your puppy mature and go to a controlled puppy socialization class, teach your dog to have at least basic obedience and a solid recall. Research the dog park and how the attendees monitor their dogs, every time before entering.

02/27/2023

“People seem to think that border collies need a ton of exercise or constant mental stimulation. That they always “need jobs”. They do not. They just need rules and and to be taught to do nothing.

Stop worrying about keeping your puppy mentally stimulated all the time. Don’t put it on a treadmill, or walk it for hours, or play a ton of fetch. Teach it to do nothing. Teach a place behavior. Watch Netflix with it.

Tricks are fun and walks at your puppy’s own pace without over doing it are fine. Train your puppy to have an off switch and don’t create a dog that is reliant on being physically or mentally exhausted to be able to relax.”

Credit: Rebecca Ireland

11/12/2022

Talking in terms of defensive aggression, most folks don't realize how they facilitate the behavior and often make it worse.

It is a survival tactic. If an organism can defend that which it possesses, it's likely to survive to procreate, or challenge and hold off competitors for resources and potential mates in the future.

What is commonly considered 'resource guarding' in dogs is actually visible in litters of pups about the age they become ambulatory, at around 3 weeks of age.

Of course at that age, it's mostly experimenting with the noises they can make and developing muscles in tiny legs and bodies, but make no mistake, the fight for control is present as they stumble over each other for the warmth of their dam, and as they age, for the prime sleeping spot, toy, or center of the food dish.

Since it is such a powerful behavior and so easily triggered, the easiest way to control it is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

Owners tend to endorse possession games and allow resource guarding to develop by wrestling their dogs for objects like articles of clothing, the proceeds of trash raids, etc. It's easily avoidable by managing the dogs behavior ~better~ through appropriate confinement when ownership is absent, and leash restraint when ownership is mindful enough to supervise adequately.

Chasing a dog down so it runs and hides under a bed and then snatching something out if it's mouth is a surefire way to teach your dog how untrustworthy you really are and that they need to be protective over their possession. It's also a great way to teach your dog how to bite indiscriminately when a hand reaches toward it.

So, don't do that.

There are so many tiny things an owner can do to prevent resource guarding from becoming so entrenched it requires professional intervention. Start by making cooperation a prerequisite to 'gaming' with the dog.

Use a specific toy. Allow access to the toy only through interaction with a handler. Apply some simple 'rules of engagement'; interaction only occurs when the handler animates the object, dog is made to release object through passive means, not by yanking it out if the dogs' mouth. Require simple obedience. Build patience. Put these things on cue.

It's not that hard.

If your "training" includes ripping things out of a dogs mouth, sticking your hands in the food bowl, or yeeting the dog like you're fly-fishing every time it shows interest in something, you are making the problem worse, not better.

Cooperation engenders it's own reward. If the dog believes there is a benefit to giving up it's prize voluntarily, owners will be far less likely to have to contend with an angry, defensive, toothsome predator protecting it's interests.

Training isn't just for dogs.

If you need help, we're just an email away.

https://lionheartk9.com/contact-us/

12/12/2021

11/19/2021

11/15/2021

I know I don’t post here enough, but I had to share some of my favorite dog pictures - the first time puppies see snow!