Dog Care Archives - Page 6 of 20

Category: Dog Care Page 6 of 20

A fun photoshoot for Donna

On June 12, 2014

A behind-the-scenes look at Donna’s behaviour during our photoshoot with food

You may have realised that most of my photos are candid shots from our day-to-day lives. It helps to capture those moments and diary our life with Donna, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with such shots.

And I actually don’t like to spend time staging for pictures. I’m just plain lazy.

But it was one of those days, when I had a little bit of energy to do something different for once. So I decided to try to stage a picture of Donna launching up the table with her front paws, grinning at some treats.

The treats were plain boiled protein, nothing fancy. The fancy part involved having Donna stand on her two feet with her fore paws on the table supporting her vertical pose. And hopefully, I would be able to capture her grinning at the yummy treats.

The result was more outtakes than anything remotely useful.

Trial shots. Lots blurry shots because of bad indoor lighting. Decided the background over here is ugly.

Of course, Donna was tempted by the fresh cooked food. But it’s easy enough to distract her from the styled food by rewarding her with the rest of the cooked food that was not being photographed.

She does know the “Leave it” command, but it was just funny looking at her struggling that I just let her mess up the display after a while :P

So the whole time, she was like a jack rabbit, hopping up and down the table with her front paws. She can’t hold the position very long, so she kept dropping and popping up again.

All that action made it very exciting for her so even though she usually doesn’t like the camera, she actually had quite a bit of fun with this shoot.

Moved treats to the other side of the table next to the wall so I get a clean background.
Made sure there is space for Donna to hop around between the table and the wall.

And you know what, all that jumping is quite a workout for her!

Donna preferred the bigger space on the ugly side though. So she kept hopping up, dropping down, running to the other side and hopping up again. Almost like a those games where a head pops out of the hole and you’re supposed to hammer it back down again. :P

She was a very happy dog that day because she had a lot of extra fresh cooked protein in her system during and after the shoot. And all for having a great time because hopping around rather than sleeping made it an exciting afternoon for her. ;)

The shot of the day:
And also the only shot that was close to what I wanted. Have to say the image quality is poor because of poor lighting indoors, which meant I had to over-process. Not a good thing, but I’ll live. ;)

Donna the Explorer, now with Goggles!

By weliveinaflat

On June 7, 2014

In Training

While I was away, I bought Donna a pair of Doggles or doggie goggles. It was an impulse buy. :P
So now poor Donna has to start to learn to like wearing her new doggles :P

Dog sit-stay on wall

She doesn’t wear the goggles at home, only when she is out for walks when she is happiest, to build that positive association with the goggles. And since she is mostly busy walking and sniffing, she is too preoccupied to think about scratching the goggles off with her paws :P

Donna discovers the garden of lost toys, all staked to the ground. Brutal, isn’t it?

Dog explores garden of lost toys
toys staked to the ground among plant pots
hello kitty toy on a pole with a dog in the background

Zombie Kitty keeps an eye out for Donna while she does her business behind the erm, potted shrubs.

dog in the foreground with toys staked in the background

Business done, it’s time to get out of the sun and visit the bakery next door!

Oops, bakery doesn’t allow dogs, so Donna has to sit-stay outside. That’s why I took her out with me, finding opportunities to consistently reinforce her sit-stay in more distracting environments than at home :P

sillouette of dog doing a sit-stay

We don’t do this very long, just enough time for me to hop in, ask about the bakes for the day, transact and hop out again. No pictures of the bakery since photography wasn’t allowed but I was in full view of her the whole time.

She doesn’t meddle with her doggles while she sit-stays. Perfect!

Back home, googles off! Here’s what the human bought from the new bakery…

bread sitting before baked goods
Donna: What do you mean “leave it“, I don’t even care *looks away pointedly*
And then sneaks glances as I took pictures :P

What’s on the plate? A cream cheese souffle and chocolate muffin.

She can’t eat human baked goods, so here’s a piece of freeze-dried lamb tripe for her. You can’t see it but she does. :P And she is very focused on it. :P

dog before white sheets

Yet another failed attempt of an action shot of her catching the treat in her mouth, so this photo of her looking at the treat is the only one you’ll get today :P

Does your dog leave human things alone?

By weliveinaflat

On June 6, 2014

In Behaviour

A flower stuck over the doorway to my dog’s room. Kind of remains me of the top down photos people are forced to take of rooms that are too small for even a wide angle lens :P

Over the Chinese New Year period at the beginning of this year, I playfully stick this faux flower in Donna’s crate to give the ugly black thing some festive cheer.

And since Donna seemed to not care that it’s there, I left it there long after Chinese New Year had passed.

But will a dog always leave human things alone?

A month back I found the flower missing a leaf, hunted for it and found it half chewed on the floor covered with drool. No prizes who has been at it.

So now the crate is back to its original spartan self sans flower.

I have no need for sissy flowers!

Just because the dog left a human thing alone for now, does not mean she will leave it alone forever!

So the other day, after not getting my attention because I was busy hanging out the laundry to dry. Donna decided she needed to entertain herself in a corner of the room where she usually does not go to.

You know when the dog is quiet and sniffing around human furniture, alert bells go off…

So I strolled by and see my dog with a tea bag in her mouth. – – That lemongrass and ginger teabag was left on the bookshelf to keep lizards away. Not an afternoon snack for you, my dear.

Took it out of her mouth, half bitten, but still with the paper tag stapled to the string intact. That’s the thing I worry about most when she hunts down the teabags… the metal staples accidentally swallowed and piercing her on the inside.

I retrieved the tea bag with one hand so it’s not like she really wants to eat it. I guess she was just bored and once she had my attention, she was happy to let it go.

Sometimes, the dog doesn’t need attention and goes to her room to chill out by herself.

Now I know I wanted the crate to be the safe place for Donna. A place she feels that she can retreat to when she needs some “me time” on her own.

But when I find her with her one ear sticking up like this, I just couldn’t resist poking my camera in her face and intruding in her safe place. :P

Leave the dog alone, human! I’m sleepy… zZzZzZzZz…

Wouldn’t it be nice if both of us get bored at the same time rather than at different times?? :P

This post is as much about the dog’s behaviour as it is about the human’s! :P

Pose, Stay, Say cheese

By weliveinaflat

On May 24, 2014

In Training

Dog stay on branch - long shot

I have never deliberately tried to get her to hold a pose (other than sit) specifically for a photo, and certainly never at a great distance away. So this photo is a first time for me.

We were just out for a walk.

Nothing special.

If we took photos, we took photos. If we didn’t, we didn’t.

But I was in the mood, and look at her face. She was in the zone!

She knew she was going to get treats, got excited and started jumping up against the tree. On the wrong side.

It helped that I could direct her to the spot and direction I want her to be with her following my fingers using the Nose cue. That she knows I want her to climb on something when I say Up. We do that a lot for doggy parkour.

There wasn’t a lot of distraction, just a playground with children playing, random joggers and cyclists. They are not strong distractions for her.

She didn’t use to Stay that well.

When we first got her, I couldn’t get her to understand the concept of staying, she wanted to follow me instead of stay. Of course it made sense to her. The treats were with me and they were moving further away from her because I moved further away from her.

But somehow, when I tried to teach her to stay on her bed it helped her to grasp the concept more easily. The bed just had a sort of anchoring effect for her that I couldn’t explain. She mastered stay with phenomenal speed (compared to previously) after that. We practiced it consistently at every meal. I would send her to her bed and ask her to stay before I go mix her kibble and canned food in the kitchen. Nowadays I don’t bother to do that, but she makes a run for her crate anyway.

It sounds quite structured because I basically followed the textbook when it came to positive training.

Set the dog up for success so he will feel confident and find training fun and rewarding.
Don’t scold or punish the dog because make it less fun for him and he could become more hesitant to try for fear of doing wrong.
Keep it short so that the dog looks forward to the next training session.
Slowly raise the level of distraction, so that it doesn’t get too difficult for your dog suddenly. That sets him out for failure instead.

The consistent repetition day in and out started to make following the Stay command a habit for her. It was time to move her to a slightly more distracting environment.

So every morning we went to this fitness corner. It was outdoor but still enclosed by walls up to waist height and seldom used.

Dog stay on step up platform in fitness corner

I would ask Donna to sit on one of these step up platforms and stay as I walk a wide circle around her. She would sit, but her head would follow me as I walked around. And if she couldn’t see me she would stand and peer at me around the board that lines one side of the steps. It mattered to her that she should be able to see me. It didn’t matter to me that much that she stood to peer, although I preferred her to sit. As long as she stayed on the platform step, I left her be.

There were times when I took it too far and she grew impatient as I circled. That’s when she would stand up from her Sit, panting a little, perhaps break her stay. I guided her back and released her much faster after that hoping that that meant the training ends on a successful note. :P Don’t know if that’s really the case. Haha!

I started with small rounds, rewarding her with treats every time I come back to her from my circling.

As the weeks passed, and she got better at sit-stay there, I widened my circles around her.

It took time, but eventually I lengthened the time she stayed by increasing the number of circles I walked around her. It helped me a lot because walking occupied me. I don’t like standing around waiting for time to pass as she stayed. I wouldn’t be consistent doing something I don’t find fun.

More and more, she stays on the step.

Then it was time to go to an even more distracting environment. A nearby park that is quiet but much more open than the fitness corner was. I felt I have less control here because there was always the possibility of someone walking a dog that would distract Donna. I didn’t want her running off since she wasn’t very good being off-lead or having a strong recall then. So I started with her close to me on the lead, until I was comfortable enough to put distance between us.

Dog stay on stool

Around the same time, we start working on off-leash heel and recall again in the same low distraction environments mentioned earlier.

I wasn’t ready to walk her off-lead in the park then, but I felt comfortable enough to have her sit-stay un-tethered to my hand for short periods, knowing that her stay was pretty strong by then.

Dog stay on table

Nowadays, her sit-stay is strong enough that I can finally take the type of long distance photos that Jen K. does with her Newfoundland dogs.

And then I realised, perhaps because Donna is smaller and less fluffy, she just doesn’t have the type of presence that the Newfies have in a distance shot. Oh jeez… :P

Dog stay on wall

Note: The Sit-stay is great at home. She used to run to the front door when someone walks past or rings the door bell. But not everyone wants to be greeted by a dog, even if she is friendly. It was easy enough to practise Sit-stay with her in the crate with zero distraction at first as part of crate training. Eventually, she got good at it so that even when the door bell rings, she would go and stay in the crate when instructed. Nowadays, when she hears the door bell ring, she rushes to the living room in a hurry but heads for her crate.

I am not a trainer. I am just recording what I did with my dog, what worked and what didn’t. It probably also helped a lot that my dog is very food-motivated and has an almost non-existent prey drive.

Nail Cutting and Chicken

By weliveinaflat

On May 23, 2014

In Training

1 Day 1 World Project: Donna at 2:00pm – 3:00pm Thursday

Sometimes I do silly things.

I called the groomer down the street wanting to book an appointment to cut Donna’s nails. Which basically means that I’ve been procrastinating cutting her nails ever since I accidentally cut her to the quick and drops of blood formed on the floor. D: I don’t like to cut her nails.

The groomer was of course happy enough to take a booking but no, we do not allow customers into the grooming station to give the dog treats while she gets her nails cut.

I explained that Donna didn’t like her nails cut, and the groomer’s immediate reaction was we’ll use a muzzle if she is likely to bite.

I explained that Donna doesn’t bite but she’ll likely be trembling like a leaf… and I’ll like to make the experience a positive one by treating her while the groomer cuts her nails. It was still a no go.

I remembered the other shivering dog I saw standing by itself on the grooming table when I walked past the other day. And I decided, no, I’m not going to make the appointment. I think the groomer was just as happy not to take on a difficult customer.

There were enough dogs gracing their store, lions at the door turned snivelling worms on the table. One less didn’t matter.

Piqued, I immediately marched to the kitchen to cut up bits of chicken. Because I was positively going to get her nails cut that day!!

Chicken!!!

I only cut a small amount of chicken because that prevents me from overdoing things which starts making it a bad experience for Donna. She gets treated a piece for every small sliver of nail I cut. I intended to repeat this process three times that day.

The following images are highly positive because I try not to take pictures of Donna when she is stressed. She doesn’t like me pointing the camera at her so no point making her more uncomfortable when she was already nervous about cutting her nails.

I only started taking pictures when she was more relaxed.

Donna’s long black nails.

Eyes on the chicken

I try to get her to lie down so that it’s easier for me to work with her nails, especially those on her hind legs. But when she gets nervous, she insists on sitting.

So I didn’t really get to cut the nails much on her hind legs.

So this is not the before and after photo. Haha.

She doesn’t resist the cutting tool touching her foot.

She only really starts getting more nervous when the nail is between the blades and I take a long time because I’m trying to see and reassure myself that I’m not going to hurt her again when I force the blades together. That’s the reason why I thought it might be more effective to get a groomer to cut her nails for now, while I feed her treats.

Towards the end she got more relaxed. That realisation hit me. She was not as adverse to the experience as I was. She used to be worse but with the previous counter conditioning work she was better. That one bloody clip did not dent her as much as it had dented me!

That was one good thing that came out of this hated exercise of nail cutting.

With the bits of chicken now in her tummy, I started packing up and she gives me this look.

What do you mean there’s no more chicken?!!!

For 24 weeks, weliveinaflat will post photos taken for a specific hour in that week.
We will cover 24 hours in 24 weeks. (I’ve no idea how we will do the sleeping hours, lol!)
More about the 1 Day 1 World Project here.

Donna finds shelter from Thunder Phobia

By weliveinaflat

On May 22, 2014

In Behaviour

The situation with Thunder Phobia thus far

We adopted Donna in January last year so the battle with thunder phobia has been raging for one year five months.

Thunder Phobia
The fear of thunder that descends the dog into terror that looks like this:Ears pinned back, whale eyes, tense mouth, pacing, climbing on furniture and humans, yawning, drooling, violent trembling, peeing and pooping.

Solutions we have tried

We’ve tried some products that are said could help with Donna’s thunder phobia – the Thundershirt, DAP collar and crate training.

I’ve just gotten a copy of the CD Through A Dog’s Ear and waiting for an opportunity to see how that works.

//Edit: Here’s the review of the CD and accompanying book.

The thing working best for us appeared to be counter-conditioning with food so I concentrated on that, using the Thundershirt, her Collar and Crate-training as additional aids.

Thundershirt, collar, lead

Counter-conditioning with food

So what happened was, everytime it rained and thundered, I would put a little dish of food in her crate hoping that would create positive associations to the thunder. She was very comfortable with her crate but only when it wasn’t raining. So for her to be willing to go into the crate to take the food was a good step in getting her to be even more comfortable with the crate. But once she took the food, she came out of it immediately.

Counter conditioning
To “condition” means to teach, and to “counter” means to change. So counterconditioning just means to re-teach the pet to have a pleasant feeling and reaction toward something that he once feared or disliked. We do this by associating the feared thing with something good so that it predicts good things for the animal. As soon as the dog or cat sees the thing, we give him a delicious treat to create a pleasant emotional reaction. Over many repetitions, the animal learns that whenever that thing appears, good things happen! Eventually, the process produces a neutral or positive emotional reaction to the sight of the previously feared or disliked person, animal, event, place or object. – ASPCA

So it became a long, tedious process of scooping out the food, putting it into the crate, taking the dish out again when she’s done and doing that over and over again as long as the thunderstorm lasted. And that could be the whole afternoon or the whole night. So you can see how it would take a toil on the human

The only reason why I persisted was because I could really see a difference. She started anticipating this routine when it rained. And she would bounce to her crate in excitement. Sure she noted the thunder with a frown even while she was lapping at her food, but at least she was no longer trembling violently or drooling or pacing around… for the earlier parts of the storm. She was lying on the floor in the front the kitchen watching me scoop out the food before running to the crate.

waiting outside while I am busy with her food in the kitchen Donna with her ThunderShirt which helps to lessen her pacing agitatedly about the flat when it rains.

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Read: How to introduce the Thundershirt or any shirt to a dog
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The downside to counter conditioning with food was that eventually she would reach the point of diminishing returns and I had to scoop larger portions to get her interest. And finally that would stop working as well. And if it were still thundering then the thunder phobia would make itself evident.

The good news – the more sessions we went through, the more I could lengthen the intervals between each treat, which means she could progressively stay calmer for a longer time. And at one point, she was calm by herself with low rumbles of thunder from the distance without my intervention.

That is, until we hit the dry season. Good news for me because it meant I could take a break and sleep well and be more productive in the daytime. But that also meant that whatever progress we made backslide-ed when the rainy season came again. Boo.

Finding a safe place to hide from the thunderstorm helps the dog to calm

For the longest time, we have limited her area of activity to the living room and hoped that with all the actions we have taken, she will slowly find it comfortable in her crate in the living room even with the storm.

It just wasn’t happening.

And when something isn’t working, it would be stupidity to continue so I thought I’ll change the venue and let her be in the study with me when it storms.

I did the same thing that I did in the living room. Treated her every time it thunderstorms. It took a bit of work at the beginning but comparatively quicker. Perhaps the work in the previous season helped get us into the mode of think about food and not about the storm so Donna was maintaining calm a lot easier.

Thunder phobic dog is unhappy but no longer panicking, even without thundershirt.
She doesn’t look it but this is better than if she were pacing around, drooling and freaking out in general. You can see she is unhappy still. Her jaws are tensed and clamped shut, her ears are pinned back and her brows are sort of frowning. But she is at least no longer panicky, even without thundershirt.

Never would I imagine the difference being in the study could make. The key difference that really showed that location made a huge impact in her behaviour was that once upon a time, she was happy to see her collar and lead when it stormed and now, she looks worried when she sees it!

She would go to the study by herself and look out again to see if you are going in there with her. I can only conclude that previously the collar and lead made her happier because she thought it meant we would go out and escape from the experience of the storm from inside the flat.

But now she has somehow got the connection that the storm was even scarier outside so she doesn’t want to leave the flat. She has started to anticipate the rain two hours in advance and paces about. Even when it hasn’t started raining yet and I thought to take her out for a short walk before it rains, she got worried and was reluctant to come and get her collar put on.

The living room with its floor-to-ceiling glass balcony doors does little to muffle the buffeting wind, thunder and the lightning flashes. So I have to smack myself in the head because it made so much sense now. That once she familiarises herself with the small study she would be more comfortable in it. She feels safer in it.

The study has become her Thunder Shelter.

From her height, it’s almost den-like. All she sees are cupboard doors, books on shelves and some junk we pile on the floor. No windows. Having the door opened makes her nervous when the thunder is particularly bad and she would pace to the door to peer outside. Closing the door helps her calm down even more.

Cheese on nose takes mind off thunder

laughing cow cheese

I didn’t like the smell of canned food in the study, so I switched the treat to slivers of cheese that I cut from a cube and deliver on a finger tip. She liked the cheese. But bringing your arm up and down to feed her little bits of cheese the whole afternoon is again tedious.

I remembered the Peanut Butter series of photographs that I saw on Instagram. Basically these are photographs taken of dogs trying to lick peanut butter off the top of their noses. I smeared the cheese on her nose.

Best thing I’ve ever done.

She didn’t like having cheese smeared on her nose, but it definitely took her mind off the thunder as she focused on trying to lick the cheese off her nose. She took quite a bit of time to clean her nose completely before I need to deliver her next treat to her mouth to make her happier. :P So no, she doesn’t get irritated by cheese on the nose all the time.

The dog decided that it was more efficient to scrape the cheese off with her paw and then lick the cheese off her paw.
She decided that it was more efficient to scrape the cheese off with her paw and then lick the cheese off her paw.

Nowadays, if it’s low rumbling from a distance she can stay on the floor or her bed under the table in the study without pacing or treats as long as there is a human with her. OK, I lie, it is still up and down when it comes to her and her moods so cheese treats are a necessity still.

And definitely when it thunders badly, cheese treats MUST be delivered in more amounts in order to distract her before she goes over threshold. (No wonder she’s gaining weight) Needless to say, we are spending more time in the study with the rainy days we are seeing this couple of weeks.

Still a long journey ahead

However, all bets are off if she is home alone when it starts to storm. The other day I ran home in the rain to find her on the dining room chair panicky and slobbering away. Saliver was all over the room. She jumped off when I entered and the lightweight chair slid away from her. It is dangerous for her to prance around like that especially in a fright. She was a mess.

Getting her to not react to thunderstorms when home alone without humans is a longer journey. But at least Donna has found a shelter in the storm to hide in relative peace but only when the humans are home.

I think the rain has stopped!
Goes out and looks left, right... and returns back into the room.
Goes out, licks butt, looks left, right… and returns back into the room.
safer to stay in the study

Ian Dunbar – Dog-friendly training

By weliveinaflat

On May 17, 2014

In Training

That’s an interesting title of Dunbar’s Ted video because it means that there is training that is not friendly to dogs.

Some cases of Cesar Millan’s approach to dogs can certainly be seen as not dog-friendly. But take a look at Google Search Trends and we find that Cesar Milan’s popularity is such that he has such an overwhelming mass of people searching for him it’s mind boggling. I’ve watched Cesar Milan on TV many times because TV is just so accessible a medium.

But when it comes to training Donna, I’ve gotten more effectiveness using positive training. So I think Ian Dunbar deserves some airtime on my humble blog. Some would even say Dunbar deserves a lot of airtime everywhere.

Dr. Patricia McConnell, author of “For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in Your Best Friend” and the animal behaviorist on Animal Planet’s “Petline,” goes as far as to say that Millan has put dog training back 20 years. “Dunbar is a world authority,” she says, “and he should be the one with the celebrity.” – SFGate

Unfortunately for Dunbar (not that he cares since he wouldn’t know I exist!), Kikopup has more influence on me since she has more specific positive dog training videos that are easily accessible on Youtube. (What can I say? I’m part of that demographic that surfs mindlessly and learn better visually and by doing it.) So I can understand why Dunbar isn’t the one with the celebrity. :P

But I just happened to see Dunbar’s Ted video and it summarises so succinctly the points about why a dog behaves the way it does and how that should inform our approach to training our dogs. The ideas certainly helped me make sense of Donna’s behaviour early on. So I thought it’s a good thing to share.

So let’s put a face and voice to Ian Dunbar on this blog because until today, I’ve never actually seen a single one of his videos despite being heavily influenced by his and others’ ideas of dog behaviour and positive training. OMG!

Who’s Ian Dunbar?

(Vet, behaviourist and dog trainer – Dunbar) didn’t know it at the time, but Dunbar introduced a concept so revolutionary he’s credited with launching what is now commonly regarded as the modern era in dog training: Train puppies before six months of age–off leash (the way they live at home)–and use rewards rather than punishment to teach proper behavior.

Today, the notion that very young puppies can not only be trained, socialized, and handled, but that doing so actually prevents most problem behaviors from developing, is a founding truth of modern dog training. – dogtime

Here’s a humorous Ted talk from him.

Force-free training can be so easily integrated into your lifestyle. Give the dog treats or other rewards when the dog is doing behaviours you like and she will be encouraged to behave in ways which you have rewarded her for.

It gets harder to distract her from existing behaviours you don’t want to encourage. For example, how do I positively influence her to stop peeing on the kitchen floor during thunderstorms when she is already frightened out of her mind to even remember training?

That’s when it just seemed easier to vent frustrations by scolding her or telling her “no” or some other action that will deter her because it makes her uncertain, anxious or fearful and hopefully not dare to do it next time. But of course she does, because she was frightened out of her mind by the storm already. And then because she did on the kitchen floor, she becomes twice as horrified because she knows she’s not supposed to do that.

Honestly, I haven’t found the answer for that kitchen conundrum yet so what I can’t positively train, I manage. Put a baby gate at the kitchen entrance. Kitchen peeing stopped.

But that’s sort of where the fun lies in as well. It’s like a puzzle you work at, have to think about to discover what sort of rewards work for your dog and what doesn’t. What makes him learn faster and what slows down the learning.

Of course some things take time, we’re been working on her thunder phobia for a year and a half and it is still work in progress. Other things take a shorter time, like learning to shake paws or high-five or to follow my hand or weave through my legs.

But mostly, I just prefer this self-image of me as a dog human who doesn’t need to scold or use aversive actions on my dog. It makes me happy when Donna looks relaxed or happy rather than uncertain, nervous or fearful because she has done something wrong. She already spends too much of her time in fear from the frequent thunderstorms we experience.

Now, go see this smartest 10-week-old puppy perform amazing dog tricks trained using positive training! I’m sorry Donna knows peanuts compared to him : ( :P

References

– The effect of training method on stress levels in dogs
– The dog trainers’ trainer

Dogs on Things in Pet Photography

By weliveinaflat

On May 15, 2014

In Behaviour, Photography

Maddie the Coonhound introduced me to the concept of dogs on things… and not just normal things like the couch or your bed. Maddie has been on some strange objects and made many beautiful pictures – like this, this and this.

But because I have a rather anxious dog at times, my first thought looking at Maddie’s pictures was – was she ever scared to be in this position with a camera aiming at her? Or this position, or this.

But see here, I am judging or at least questioning from the perspective of my own dog. And I really shouldn’t do that. I know absolutely nothing about her real life outside of pictures and some write ups online. Maddie appears to be very popular, having been on TV and also published a photo book. So if Maddie was truly unhappy, perhaps somebody would have pointed it out. Like in the case of Grumpy Cat over here.

The thing is when something cute goes viral, it is human to try to mimic. Here’s Niner on things. And Norm Pug, sometimes on things. :P

Donna, as you know, has been on things as part of our urban parkour activities during walks. I try to get Donna to hop on the things herself and she is generally ok with jumping on things she perceives to be stable.

But new things can sometimes appear to threaten her mortality to her. Like these stack of canned food that was recently delivered to our flat. She was not entirely relaxed because this is something new to her, but not overly terrified either. She was of course treated for standing and staying there.

black and white mobile app sketch of a dog on cans

But pretty soon she grows less happy or comfortable with the whole situation. You can see the signs. The head looking away, the little frown of her eye brows and the tail has shifted inward a little.

black and white mobile app sketch of a dog on cans

So it’s time to let her off before she starts feeling even more negative. Happiness restores when she is allowed off the stack.

black and white mobile app sketch of a dog on cans

Knowing what signs to look out for makes me look at dog photographs differently nowadays. A photo that may have looked cute before would not now if I thought the dog was displaying signs of trying to cope with stress in the picture – licking, yawning, pinned ears, tucked tail, etc.

I have to say, it is easy to miss the signs when you’re looking through a tiny view finder. It is only when one looks back on the photos, magnified, and really have the time to peruse them do I find the finer details that indicate some level of stress or not.

So many pet owners are sharing their pet pictures on Instagram and Facebook nowadays. It makes sense for us to know what to look out for when taking photos of our own dogs. And at the same, know that we do not know the context the dog was in when looking at pictures of other people’s dogs online. A dog could be licking out of stress or he could be licking off peanut butter from his nose!

So relax, go forth and enjoy more photos of happy, well-loved dogs. :)

References
– Perching pooch Maddie shows off skills on Today’s set
– Meet Maggie the acrobatic dog who launched a dream
– This wild idea
– Maddie on Things
–

Cesar Millan in Singapore

By weliveinaflat

On May 10, 2014

In Training

Cesar Millan was in Singapore recently for a live show on May 2nd.

It’s always interesting how offline events can cause a spike in Internet searches. You can see the sudden spike in “Cesar Millan” searches on Google in Singapore in the graph below. Quite the all time high for the selection of dog training keyword terms I’m comparing his name to. He probably just created a new ceiling for himself :P

Interestingly enough, if you look at the generic dog training-related terms by themselves, they seem pretty stable trending downwards over time. Not really a good sign, but the bright spark here is the emergence of searches for dog trainers around 2013. While the level of searches is comparatively low, it still at least signals a segment of the population actively seeking trainers to get their dogs trained. And hopefully that helps the less-dogs-abandoned statistic.

At the same time, I’m wondering if the popularity of Cesar Millan and his Dog Whisperer show had any strong influence on persuading people that they have a need for dog trainers. I suppose it could be a confluence of factors including greater awareness of dog training as a profession and perhaps more dog trainers in the market.

Of course, any discussion regarding Cesar Millan can go one of two ways. Cesar Millan does have a huge fan base of advocates. Detractors say he is the poster boy for dominance-based training for dogs, which has the potential to lead to dogs that become anxious or low in self-confidence. (Note: Cesar Millan shows usually do come with a disclaimer to consult with a qualified dog trainer.) But let’s come away from that discussion and look at what the overmind of people searching on Google is saying.

Referencing the chart below, we can observe less interest in generic “dog training” content coinciding with increasing interest in “Cesar Millan” internationally. It looks to be levelling more by 2012-2014. So “Cesar Millan” is not exactly the equivalent of generic dog training when we make a superficial comparison of the two terms, but he has certainly done quite well marking out a dominant spot for himself in the territory of dog training and management searches.

So what happened to “positive training”? If you take away Cesar Millan, this is the view we get:

“Clicker training” not as popular as before while “Positive Reinforcement” and Operant Conditioning gain volume over time. That said, throw Cesar Millan in the mix and he shoots everyone clear out of the water.

“Cesar Millan” searches are strong internationally, with Mexico, Canada and parts of Europe being strongholds where it comes to search volumes. The lower level of “Victoria Stillwell” and “Karen Pryor” searches appear to be localised. Stillwell in the US and UK; Pryor in Canada and US.

I would hazard to say that “Cesar Millan” is a household name for people with dogs in Singapore. Heck, even my friend without a dog knows Cesar Millan. I’m not so sure if Karen Pryor and Victoria Stillwell will ring a bell with most people here.

And yet when I last checked, Google search results returned 9 million results for “cesar millan”, 12 million results for “dog whisperer”. These numbers pale when you compare to 39 million results for “positive dog training”. It’s mind boggling the amount of content we churn out for positive dog training when the term itself doesn’t even produce a bump in the search charts generated. Not in Singapore, not worldwide.

*Note: The above are superficial observations I made based on a few lines on the charts and a few select keywords. It was just something fun to do and you are free to derive your own opinions on the matter ;)

**Note 2: More about the people mentioned…

Cesar Millan is a self-taught dog trainer and TV personality widely known for his Dog Whisperer TV series on National Geographic.

The (Dog Whisperer) program demonstrates Cesar Millan’s application of his philosophy that healthy, balanced dogs require strong ‘pack leadership’ from their owners, specifically in the form of exercise, discipline and affection (in that order), with Millan demonstrating how owners can achieve and maintain a leadership role with their dogs. The program highlights Millan at work rehabilitating dogs, and is not intended as a dog training guide. Each episode contains repeated warnings that viewers should not try some of the behavior modification techniques at home…

According to an article in Current Science, professional dog trainers find Millan’s methods “unscientific and inhumane.” Millan’s detractors say that what Millan calls “calm submission” is actually a state of helplessness that is the result of aversive dog-training techniques. A study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science said Millan has been influential in popularizing punitive techniques, but that bad behavior from dogs was caused by fear and anxiety, not a lack of the owner’s alpha status. A journalist from The New Yorker said that critics were responding to a “highly edited” version of his approach on television, which exaggerates the frequency and intensity that he disciplines the dogs. – wikipedia

Karen Pryor is popularly known for her work associated with clicker training. Clicker training is a method of training using a clicking device to mark when the dog exhibits a desired behaviour together with positive reinforcement by rewarding the dog for performing that behaviour.

In her 1984 book – Don’t Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training – Pryor explained why punishment often fails to get people to change. She described specific positive methods for changing the behaviour of husbands, children and pets. Pryor and Gary Wilkes introduced clicker training to dog trainers with a series of seminars in 1992 and 1993. The partnership ended due to philosophical differences. Wilkes used aversives as well as rewards, but Pryor’s focus was on force-free training. Pryor’s dog training materials and seminars showed how Skinner’s operant principles can be used to provide training based on positive reinforcement of good behavior. – wikipedia

Victoria Stillwell – dog trainer, author and television presenter – is an advocate of science-based dog training. Her approach is rooted in positive reinforcement techniques, rejecting traditional, dominance-based ones. She is the star of Animal Planet’s TV series – It’s me or the dog.

Stilwell is a passionate advocate for positive reinforcement training methods that enhance a dog’s ability to learn while increasing confidence, resulting in a healthy, well-adjusted pet. She is a vocal opponent of punitive, dominance-based training techniques which often result in ‘quick fixes’ but ultimately cause more long-term harm than good while damaging the owner-dog relationship. – positively.com

More readings

– The dog training methods which leave your pet stressed
– A quick summary of the various dog training methods through time