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Protecting our dogs from storm phobia (and bad Photoshop)

Storm Watch & Storm Success, Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Storm Watch

It’s been a very stormy year across the country, and in the Midwest in particular. Since I have three dogs with three variants of sound/storm phobia or sensitivity, my former love and thrill for dramatic weather has degraded to a dejected, “Oh, more storms?!”

But storm fear or sound phobia doesn’t have to be the end of the world for your pets or the end of sanity for you. There are many options now to help fearful or sensitive dogs (and cats!), and no reason to tolerate unnecessary suffering in animals or humans. In the next few posts, I will share what is working well for us and for others, and you can be the hero in your own household!

Angry Birds and Addicted Gamers

I was crumpling old newspaper into the fireplace when a familiar graphic caught my eye. I glanced down and noticed the phrase, “the appeal… it doesn’t punish.”

I immediately pulled the page out of the fire and blew it out. What can I say? I’m a behavior junkie.

The article (I will provide a link, rather than the charred fragment) was a Wall Street Journal piece about the incredibly popular mobile game Angry Birds.

My Husband’s a Keeper

Early this morning I saw Laurie’s fuzzy Valentine post about her husband and their dogs. It immediately made me want to write one of my own, but I was traveling by car all day and didn’t get a chance until late tonight.

OK Go & Animal Choreography

I’d been gone for a solid week, talking training in two states and running 16+ hour days. This afternoon I walked in from the airport, hadn’t even gotten my shoes off yet, and my phone chimed. “Have you been flooded with the new OK Go video yet?” asked a friend.

Silly Pet Tricks 102

I brought home a hula hoop a couple of weeks ago. Valenzia was a little shy of it; she didn’t seem to like the shoop-shoop sound the sand made, nor the fact that it swung around in a wide arc that barred her from Mommy (me). I didn’t want my dog to be uncomfortable with the hoop, and one of the best ways I’ve found to counter-condition a “scary” object is to turn it into a training target.

I’ve posted before about using shaping games and silly tricks to foster creativity or take the edge off a wired dog’s energy. Since I was doing a few minutes of shaping anyway, I figured I could use our short training session for the next video installment. So, here it is!

Killing Creativity, in Dogs & Trainers

I happened across this video a couple of months ago and bookmarked it. I enjoyed it at the time, but even as I was watching, I was thinking of clicker training.

I really like shaping, and I love the results I get with a dog who has learned to offer and vary behavior. I hear frequently from clients or trainer friends who don’t enjoy shaping or don’t get satisfactory results, and while it’s true that not every dog adores it, I think that most of the time their failure to love it isn’t that they have the wrong dog — it’s that they, or their dogs, are diligently following this checklist.

Do You Have a Double Standard?

Where do we draw the line between acceptable variance and dangerous disobedience? Where do we draw the line between an annoyance and real trouble?

Have You Seen My Blog?

This is a Laev-specific blog, for the most part; I occasionally post other topics here but I try to limit such. I have a newish blog at http://blog.caninesinaction.com where we publish general training tips, soapboxes,…

Laev Throws Me a Bone

I was sorely tempted to skip Schutzhund practice tonight, after my last post, but I went. And it was a good thing I did. (Long post, so here’s the summary — 300 Peck rocks, Laev…

Preparing Your Dog for Veterinary Visits

I learned a few days ago that Spica, my lovable-but-not-too-bright younger Doberman, has damaged her ACL. This isn’t really a surprise; Spica is a career runner who chases squirrels up and down the fenceline and spins in circles barking at them for about six hours each day, so her legs are under constant strain. In addition to the dog’s confinement and treatment (and her owner’s possible loss of sanity, living with a dog who isn’t allowed to run for six weeks!), this injury means that we’re likely to be seeing more of our veterinarian than usual.