Academy for Obedient Paws

05/27/2025

04/15/2025

REDEFINING BAD BEHAVIOUR

“Bad” behaviour needs to be redefined as information and communication.

When we think of a behaviour as bad, naughty or disobedient, our natural human response is to stop it, fix it, punish or suppress it as quickly as we can, so it doesn’t happen again.

When we redefine behaviour and look at it as a form of communication, as an emotional response or expression, it helps to change the way we think about and react to it.

Think about a child that is acting out at school. Maybe throwing tantrums, bullying other children, cheating, fighting or displaying some other type of “bad” behaviour.

A teacher or parent wouldn’t just label that child as “bad” or behaving badly. The reason for the behaviour would be looked into so it could be understood, acknowledged and addressed.

Bad behaviour is very often an expression of a need for help that should not be ignored.

If we do this for children, why not for dogs?
Just like us, dogs are sentient beings with a range of feelings and emotions and their behaviour is a form of communication.

“Bad” behaviour can provide us with important information as to what we need to address.

Looking at “bad behaviour” from a different perspective, helps us to acknowledge that a dog is struggling and provides an opportunity to investigate and address the cause.

Listening, understanding, acknowledging, meeting needs, perhaps managing or making changes to the environment is what “fixes” bad behaviour and promotes wellbeing.

04/06/2025

Dr. Dunbar's Doggy Tips #10: Teach Your Puppy/Dog to Bark Less
Many people say, "My dog barks all the time". However, when we representatively observe their behavior we discover, this is not true. For lengthy periods of the day, dogs are quietly chewing or snoozing... and we ignore them. Customarily ignoring good behavior is not a brilliant teaching practice.
An easy and effective reward-training technique is Representative Observation & Feedback (ROF). Every five minutes check to see whether your dog is barking. If your dog is quiet each time you check, calmly praise and stroke your dog and maybe offer a couple of treats. Yes, even if they are asleep. The more you calmly praise and reward your dog for being calm and quiet, the more your dog will be calm and quiet.
Barking is episodic; barking starts and then, barking stops and so, a bout of barking is a training opportunity about to happen. If your dog is barking, simply wait for it to stop, instantly praise from the heart for three seconds and then, offer three or four tasty treats. Shape increased silence by progressively increasing the length of the praise-delay of the food reward with each repetition.
No, rewarding your dog for stopping barking will NOT reinforce barking. Rewards only reinforce behaviors that happened in the previous 2-3 seconds, therefore the three seconds of praise might reinforce barking just a teeny bit, but the praise will reinforce stopping barking and not barking much more, and the food rewards will only reward your dog for silence.
To further stack the deck, feed your dog only from hollow chewtoys, such as Kongs. Giving your dog a partially-stuffed Kong every hour or so, reduces the number of barks and steps per day by 90% within just two days, as evidenced by my trusty old Bark & Activity Counter. Feeding from Kongs teaches dogs to lie down, calm down, and chew their Kong quietly.

11/25/2024

Great help for fleas

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/15FHXx6bdC/?mibextid=WC7FNe

11/15/2024

This is so cute

11/03/2024

Socialization is so important so we used Halloween and Lowe’s to help us out. Our new guy is pretty much bomb proof.

10/31/2024

Socializing our new guy Flynn at Lowes. He met about 10 people. Never saw his tail tuck.

10/22/2024

In an emergency, will your dog respond when you call her? This is a valuable safety skill that can benefit all dogs and their guardians.

10/08/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/No5rPdzSwHiVvJUc/?mibextid=WC7FNe

10/01/2024

Got to train this sweet girl Freya last week. She is so smart and has a family that wants to teach her as much as possible. Her name is Freya. She gets to socialize with cats, horses, goats and more.