Looking for a dog? Don't let behavioral issues make you pass over untapped potential!

Looking for a dog? There are many great candidates at your local shelter, but don't let behavioral issues cause you to pass over what could be the "perfect dog" for you! Meet "Pokey" from the Humane Society of Sumner County. Pokey shows us that with just a little work, he has tremendous potential at being a superstar!

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Do you need help choosing just the right dog for your family, or need help bringing out the Ability of the one you already have?  Contact us today to learn how we can bring out the ABILITY in your dog!

 

Canine Ability's 10 Top Tips for a Happy, Well-behaved Dog

Canine Ability’s 10 top tips for a happy, well-behaved dog
  

Dogs want to be good and above all, please their owners.  Behavioral issues are usually merely a symptom that a dog is not getting everything he needs to be healthy--physically and mentally.  The following tips can help guide you to a happier, well-behaved dog!  


 1. Exercise, exercise, exercise!! Did you know that most dogs do not get the required amount of exercise they need to be healthy? Daily, structured exercise is as important as fresh food and water to your dog, (running around in the backyard doesn’t count).   Honor your dog by giving him/her fun games to play that exercise their breed traits for no less than 20 minutes twice a day, on a daily basis. You wouldn't even consider skipping feeding/watering him even for a day, right?  Exercise is just as important to your canine friend!

2.      Do you speak fluent Canine?  If you don’t, you’re missing out on the most effective way to train your dog, and may actually be created behavioral issues through mis-communication.  Effective communication is required for any successful relationship.  Your relationship with your dog is no different! Learn effective canine communication (Canine Ability can help you with this), in order to create a firm foundation for learning and behavior modification.

3. Remember that respect is earned.  Be sure to always be kind to your dog.  If you are in a bad mood, get angry or frustrated during a training session, it’s time to end it immediately and come back later with a positive attitude.  Training should be fun! Positive applications produce positive results! 

 4.  Ditch the “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks” wives-tale! It’s never too late to train your dog!  Dogs live in the moment and are environmental sponges…just waiting to soak up whatever you have to teach them! We’re always training our dogs—its up to us to determine whether we train good traits or bad ones.  Just as humans do, dogs require education throughout their lifetime in order to keep them well-balanced. Keep at it, even after formal training classes have ended. Training is for the lifetime of the dog—not just for a six-week course.

      

      5.      It is very important to get professional help from an experienced behaviorist, such as Canine Ability Dog Training for behavioral issues as soon as they arise.  It is much harder (and much more expensive) to treat a problem that has developed deep roots.  Better yet, learning how to build a foundation of leadership (as Canine Ability teaches), will prevent many issues from starting in the first place.    

      

      6.       Do NOT pet a dog without permission—and never pet it on or reach over its head!  Putting your hand out for the dog to sniff is an antiquated method; one which can induce a bite.  The head of the dog is the information center.  Having strangers near the head is very uncomfortable for most dogs.  Let the dog sniff you while you stand still at its side, then once the dog relaxes, stroke its back to make friends. 

      

      7.      When walking your dog on a leash, never let your dog say “hello” to another dog, or allow another dog to greet your dog.  This can induce a fight.  

      8.      Take up a new activity with your dog!  There are many wonderful dog clubs, activities, and events you can participate in together.  Things like agility, lure coursing, obedience, therapy, backpacking/hiking, dock diving, flying disc, canine drill teams, fly-ball and more!  These activities are beneficial to both you and your dog and will strengthen your relationship as well.  

      9.      Treat your dog like the dog he/she was created to be.  It is unfair to treat dogs like fur-children.  If we truly love and want to honor our dogs, we owe it to them to learn their ways and treat them in a way they innately understand.  Doing anything less is a huge disservice to our canine friends!  

     10.  A dog who has no pack structure, outlet for mental/physical energy, and rules often exhibits unwanted behavioral issues.  A trained and tired dog is always a happy a good dog! 

Want more tips for a well-behaved dog?  Contact us today to learn how we can bring out the ABILITY in your dog!  (Proudly serving middle TN for in-home training and group classes, and world-wide for email/phone consulation!)

When the family dog attacks... My Friday night case was to be a basic obedience/leash training lesson---what I found was a dog who'd just "snapped" and tried to kill his owner. A must-read for all dog owners.

I was on a very disturbing call Friday night...one that no behaviorist ever wants to discover---the family dog "turning" and viciously attacking a family member.   I'd originally been called in to provide leash training and basic obedience to this formerly wonderful family pet. 

Before my arrival for our first session, the dog unexpectedly, and out of nowhere, launched an attack which was brutal and relentless in nature. The attack was focused on the mother (who was home alone with five small children). The dog literally "snapped" and tried very hard to kill the mom. The family is very shaken, Mom is healing; but praise God, is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.

The family has agreed to allow me to interview them for an article that I will be publishing soon, highlighting the absolute need for folks to have any dog they bring into the family home, temperament tested and evaluated--and to be sure that where ever they get the dog is a reputable place. These clients learned this lesson the hard way, and are brave and gracious enough to share their difficult story in order to help save someone else.

Please keep this family in your prayers and stay tuned for more of their story... It's one no dog owner (or anyone planning to get a dog), should miss.

 

Is your dog tuning you out? Effective canine communication

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·         Have you ever wondered, "Why does my dog do that when he knows he's not supposed to?"  "Why does my dog ignore me?"  "Why does my dog refuse to walk on a loose leash?"  "Why does my dog eat my stuff when I'm away?' 

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·         Do your answers to yourself sound something like this? "He knows better; he's just doing that for spite." "He's so happy to be out, that's why he pulls on the leash."  "He's ignoring me; that's the stubborn streak in him."  "He gets mad when I leave him, that's why he eats my stuff..."

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·         Ever stop to think about the reasoning behind your answers and realize that all of those thoughts are brought about by the human mind and emotions; things that the dog doesn't operate with, and therefore, can't possibly abide by?

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·         Learning how a dog communicates, and responding to him in his own innate language is a gift that all dog owners should bestow upon their canine friends.  It's not as hard as some might think; we're constantly giving off signals to our dogs---often they are the wrong ones, which lead to many complications.  Learning how to properly and effectively communicate with our canine friends is easy, fun, and a great way to get lasting training results.

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·         Canine Ability Dog Training addresses these common issues and provides dog owners with an clear, concise way to effectively communicate with their canine family members. Want to learn more?  Contact us today to learn how we can bring out the ABILITY in your dog! 

    (Proudly serving middle TN for in-home and group classes, and world-wide via email/phone consultation). 

How DARE you call my dog a...DOG!!??

There was a question posed recently by a dog lover's page on Facebook: "Do you treat your dog like a dog or a human?"  There were hundreds of answers; everyone said how much they loved their dog, but not one said they treated their dog like a dog.

While I find treating my dogs like the dogs they were created to be, (and not humanizing them) to be the kindest form of respect I can bestow on them, I'm often brought up short by clients who are absolutely abhorred when I point out that their furred-family member is, in fact, a dog.

Treating a dog like a person is unfair and sets them up to fail. Even more upsetting is when people get frustrated at their "babies" for not understanding what is required of them and punish them in human-like ways (time-outs, spanking, yelling) when they don't react in the human way that was expected.  Not surprisingly, these discipline methods don't work with dogs, and only frustrate our furred-family members to no end. This is the cause of nearly ALL the calls I am brought in to evaluate--people treating their dogs like humans, and getting frustrated when their human ways don't work to correct canine "errant" behavior. 

It is an indisputable fact that dogs operate with an entirely different communication/operating system than we do. So based upon that fact, it stands to reason that in order to have a good relationship with our canine friends and family members, we absolutely need to treat them differently! I feel that the best way to show that we truly love our dogs is to take the time to learn to communicate with them and understand their ways---never forcing them to learn ours.

Dogs are dogs.  They are amazingly, wonderful creatures---beautiful on the outside and inside; forever versatile and fun-loving. Their greatest gift in life is to be with their owners, upon whom they lavish an unmatchable, unconditional love that stems from an honest, compassionate place---never from ulterior motives.  They are self-proclaimed sitters for our children, and most would lay down their lives for us in a heartbeat. I believe dogs to have the best moral compasses and uphold the best qualities (such as loyalty, devotion, bravery---they are loving, insightful, joyful, funny, forgiving), the list could go on and on.  Dogs are not vindictive.  Dog's don't lie or steal. Dogs don't kill (without a darn good reason). Dogs don't pretend to be something they are not--only humans do these things.

"Dog" is not a derogatory word. So why is it so hard for some people to admit that their furred-family members are, in fact, dogs?

As for my own dogs, and the dogs I'm blessed to have as clients; I love and respect them for exactly who they are; not for who I would like, or need them to be.  I feel like its my job to become partly dog in order to effectively communicate, rehabilitate, and bond with them--not the other way around.

What are your thoughts on the subject??

Leadership training---Canine Ability tip of the day

Looking for ways to earn your dog's respect and influence his behavior more calmly and effectively?  Leadership is a key factor in influencing your dog, and solving/preventing many unwanted behaviors.  There are many ways to define leadership with your dog, and I'm going to go through them one by one over the course of the next few weeks.

Scientific learning theory dictates that if you change the environment, you change the dog (or human, or whatever species you're modifying the behavior of).  In keeping with environmental control, I want you to try something very simple, that will speak volumes to your dog.  But before you try this, I want you to promise that you'll write to me and share the results of this exercise.  Okay? Once we get some results of this exercise, I'll explain why its so powerful..and that will be a golden key to unlocking many of the secrets of your dog's behavior. 

Most owners, upon arriving home show great excitement to their dog. Perhaps they talk in a high-pitched, excited voice, or have a running commentary with them about their day, petting them, playing with them and allowing them to jump for joy with or on them. (Many of you will be very surprised to learn what you are actually saying to your dog when you do this!)

Ready for a significant change (for the better) in the way your dog relates to you? For one week, I want to challenge you to change the way you interact with your dog upon your arrival home, or after any time of separation.  Okay...here's what you do: Upon arriving home, or after any significant time of separation with your dog, take at least five minutes to ignore him.  That's right.  Ignore him (there's a scientific method to this madness...and your dog already knows this exercise; trust me!) 

If he's crated and he barks at you from inside his crate, do not let him out until he settles.  Once he's quiet, go ahead and open his crate, but walk away and don't interact (pet, talk to, look at) until he's as quiet and relaxed (The dog must show NO signs of excitement before you pay any attention to him, or the entire exercise will fail.  Each day you will notice it takes less and less time for him to settle...ooops!  Giving away too much information!).   You can let him out to potty in the interim (just no talking, petting or eye contact), and when he comes back in, the rules are the same until he's completely and totally quiet and relaxed---then you can invite him to come over to you for some quiet bonding time.

That's it!  Simple right?  I can guarantee you, that as simple as this sounds, it will be a profound statement that you are making to your dog---one he will innately understand and respond to.  Now don't forget---write to me and let me know how it goes!  Explanation and further expansion of the theory to come...






*Interested in getting one on one advice?  We offer award-winning in-home training throughout middle Tennessee, and phone consulting throughout the world! Take a look at the pages on the right side bar for more about our training and contact information.