All About The Dog

07/07/2025

Sometimes you just need to replenish together! 🩵

04/07/2025

Physical safety and emotional safety are not the same. Feeling and being both are essential. Thank you to Dogstar Crew for being will to share some of their personal story.

“Why are you still like this? We took you in, gave you a home, gave you our name, you’re supposed to be like us now. What's WRONG with you?”

I heard these words as a foster teen, from a family that later rejected me because I couldn't be who they'd imagined I'd be.

I had the audacity to come with a past that didn’t disappear when they signed some paperwork, a nervous system with memories, and a neurotype they didn’t even try to understand. Their early promises turned to pressure and conflict, and then they just stopped loving me.

This isn’t just my story. It’s a common experience for many “rehomed” kids. And I’m reminded of it every time I hear about a rehomed dog being returned or passed along because it didn’t meet expectations or wasn’t “a good fit.”

Do those dogs feel the same confusion, stress, and fear as human kids when placements fall apart? From what we know about dogs, they probably do.

So we need to do better.

Better preparation. Better understandings. Better support for all involved. And much better management of expectations.

Because even when foster/adoption works, even when its beautiful and uplifting and life changing in all the best ways, its still messy and complex and non linear. Because thats the reality of sharing life with another living being.

We’re all shaped by our genetics and our histories. Those things don’t just disappear because we want them to, or because a placement seems like a good fit on paper.

For placements to truly succeed, we have to work with those realities, not against them. Real belonging happens when we accept and support each other as we are, past and all. And a real Home is having a place where you’re allowed to be yourself, work through the hard stuff, and know you’re still wanted.

Whichever species you are.

23/06/2025

Need to look deeper to find the emotion causing the behavior. Love this graphic and explanation. Thank you Good Guardianship.

It can be all too easy to look at a behaviour, particularly one that we find problematic, as an isolated thing that just occurs, or is put down to false and outdated ideas like 'dominance' or 'stubbornness'.

Think of behaviour as a symptom - underlying that behaviour there is an emotion driving that behaviour. Behaviours don't happen just 'because', there is always a reason for them and so it's up to us to learn how to understand what they are trying to tell us so we can work out what that emotion is.

And at the root of it all there will be a need. Something that is causing the dog to feel that particular emotion and so lead them to show the behaviour that we are seeing. Once we have discovered the emotion the dog is feeling, we can work out what the dog needs and help them to get whatever that may be.

The three pictures here give an example:

Behaviour: the dog is barking at something. If you look at their posture and body language the body is leaning back, away from what they are barking at. The ears are back, whiskers flared, and eyes fixed on something. The front paw is slightly lifted and there is a back paw in the air, and the back end of the dog may be lowered towards the ground a little.

Emotion: what the overall picture of the body language is telling us is that the dog is scared of the thing they are barking at, so the emotion they are feeling is fear.

Need: What this dog needs is immediate space from the thing that is bothering them, so they can feel relief from that fear and feel safer again. What they need going on is an increased feeling of safety and security, more trust in us to help them if they need it or get them out of a situation if it's too much for them.

When we can understand the need and emotion driving the behaviour we can understand our dogs far better and see where they need our help.

21/06/2025

So many people bring a dog, even very young puppies into their homes and against their belief of getting this well adjusted happy new member to their family, find themselves with a fearful new member. We need to be able to accept, adjust, and adapt to their emotional needs even when the fear might be shown to an inanimate object such as a hula hoop laying on the floor. It may feel strange but walk by that hula hoop and while saying to your dog, you are safe that is a toy, emphasize the word toy. You can take that label of toy to other objects your puppy may appear afraid of, even if the object isn't a toy. For instance a paper bag, an umbrella. And for goodness sake, don't pick up the object making noisy and scare the puppy or dog even more. Thank you Crimson Hound Training for making the month of June about helping fearful dogs.

FEARFUL DOGS It’s June and we are going to look at FEAR … what is fear, why are dogs fearful, how can we recognize it and how can we help our fearful dogs.

Day 21: Talk To Your Dog

Why is solitary confinement considered to be the highest form of punishment in our prison systems? Because silence and lack of feedback is scary.

Think about going to the doctor for an exam. Suddenly, two people come in and hold you down while the nurse gives you 4 shots. EEK!
BUT, what if you knew two weeks ahead of time that you would be getting a vaccination. Then, when you arrive, the nurse asks you which arm you prefer, tells you “okay, just a quick poke … and all done!”.

It is easier to cope in almost any situation if you know what is going on. So …
- talk to your dog
- use toddler speak (single words or short phrases)
- label things like triggers - you can even group things (e.g., all people out on walks are ‘neighbors’)
- create rituals
- set up patterns

Whether you need advice on how to help your fearful dog, have concerns about aggressive behavior, are struggling with puppy issues, or just want to set your dog or puppy up for success, I can help. Contact me today at [email protected] or visit my website at https://www.crimsonhound.com .

20/06/2025

Yes, please leave them at home and paws off of roads and sidewalks.

With the extremely hot temperatures here, Fort Wayne Animal Care & Control wants to remind pet owners to pay extra attention to their pets!

Animals cannot regulate their body temperature like humans and the excessive heat can cause them to become ill very quickly. In some cases, exposure to high temperatures, high humidity and inadequate ventilation can cause death.

City ordinance requires animals to be brought into a temperature-controlled structure when temperatures are above 85 degrees or when a heat advisory has been issued by a local, state or national authority.

It’s important to understand that when it’s 70 degrees and comfortable outside, it only takes 10 minutes for the temperature inside a car to reach 90 degrees. Animal Control Officer Baird took a reading from a vehicle in the parking lot at 10 am, and with outside temperatures at 73 degrees. The vehicle was parked for less than an hour and the window was left slightly open; the reading was at 94 degrees.

FWACC wants to remind everyone if you see something, say something – call our department right away if you see an animal in distress outdoors or inside a car, and stay on the scene until help arrives. Your actions could save a life!

Our phone lines are open Mon-Fri from 9 am - 8 pm and for after hours or weekends, you may call (260) 449-3000. If the situation is extremely time sensitive, please dial 911.

20/06/2025

Management, patience and consistency. Great advice from The Dog Witch.

We all need rules but they must be consistent.
We all have different levels of tolerance to things, my perception of a messy house is very different than my husband's perception of a messy house.
Rules for our dogs are pretty lax in our home.
They are allowed anywhere they like, this includes beds and sofas. I like to keep things nice which means I'm obsessed with throws and blankets, to the dismay of my husband

Other people are happy for dogs to be on sofas, not beds, some beds and not sofas, some people have sofas especially for their dogs, some people like their sofas to be pristine and others just don't care.

We often share our food with our dogs, making sure it's safe and we are not creating fat dogs. One of my favourite things is to eat a yoghurt and then give them the pot to lick out. If dinner has been doggy safe we even let them lick the plate. I can see the look of disgust on some people's faces at the thought Its actually very handy when you live in a van and have to be careful with what ends up in our grey water tank. We don't mind our dogs watching us eat, we find the gentle blinking eyes and look of "I will starve if you don't share" quite endearing.

Other people don't like sharing food with their dogs, prefer them in another room or away from them so they can relax and eat their dinner in peace.
Harry LOVES to put his front paws on the kitchen work surface and watch me cook, he never takes anything, just stands and waits for me to offer a bit of carrot or if he's lucky a bit of raw beef.
Others don't like their dogs in the kitchen, they find it unhygienic or dangerous when they get under their feet.
The thing is, all the above is ok!
It's ok to have your dogs on the bed and it's also ok not to.
It's ok to share your food with your dog and it's ok not to.
It's all ok as long as everybody understands the rules. As long as we teach them what our levels of acceptability are.
If we leave food on the worksurfaces, of course they are going to jump up, their a dog.
If we don't teach them not to go on the bed of course they will go on it, dogs like comfort as much as us and also often enjoy sleeping and relaxing on raised surfaces.
If we feed them from the table, of course they are going to beg.
We all have our own ideas of what is ok and what isn't, just remember your dogs ideas of what is ok and isn't will be very different from yours. We need to teach them in clear, kind ways how to live with us.

Management is often seen as a cop out but is actually one of the most important things in teaching our dogs.
If you don't want them in certain rooms, shut the door, use stair gates.
If you don't want them to jump up at worksurfaces, make sure there is nothing on them your dog wants.
If you don't want them to beg, don't feed them from the table. Give them a nice chew, stuffed Kong, in their bed whilst you eat.
If you look at how different each of our expectations, level of tolerance and ideas of acceptability are, it makes you realise how difficult it must be for our dogs to understand all our weird, species specific, ideas are. We must be so odd to them at times.
Manage your environment to prevent unwanted behaviours and teach them what you do want! And remember how amazing they are to be able to adapt to living in our world with all our bizarre ideas and quirks.

19/06/2025

Thank you Sparky Smith. I listened to this YouTube and found it an easy practical approach to listen to our dogs through observation, color coding what they are saying. I actually made a graphic to take with me on client calls. I felt it would be a nice way to begin conversation on dog body language. Also feel this isn't only about stopping a bite, it is about getting to know your dog. Did I drop enough hints that you are now intrigued to listen?

When available, free companion resources for select episodes can be accessed here: https://www.dogparentology.comIs your dog biting — or on the verge of it? ...

18/06/2025

The paradigm shift in action. This morning I was doing my usual routine of under the desk elliptical. There was the sound of thunder and Harmony comes to me and puts her head on my leg, seeking comfort from the sound. I heard her noiseless voice and stopped what I was doing to have a conversation with her while gently touching her, you're safe I heard the noise too, you're safe we can listen to the rain. Thank you Trick Woofs.

When we change our wording and think of the real need behind the behaviour. We can meet it with more purpose and calm.

16/06/2025

16/06/2025

Thank you Bethany Bell for such heartfelt words for our dogs as well as us. I often hear people say animals give unconditional love, which on the surface level I understand, their love may not be conditional in the sense of codependency. I also see the emotional and physical harm that can be done with a mindset of, they (the dog) give love or tolerate what is done to them. That is another whole can of worms to open.

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10/06/2025

So much more to behavior than what is seen. Always need to peel back the layers to the reason the behavior is happening and stop wanting to stop the behavior we don't like. Gratitude to Sparky Smith for these paradigm shift models. The podcasts she has done are excellent and can be shared with clients.

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