Where's Your Sit?

I chose a long time ago to stop teaching in indoor settings (for puppy and pet obedience classes). Teaching outdoors in the community is hard but the benefit is HUGE. When we teach our dogs how to focus and listen in situations that mimic real life then your trainer is preparing you on how to handle things that will actually happen to your dog.

These situations include: dogs who sniff the ground non-stop as soon as you hit a nice, grassy field, dogs who become stressed or reactive when an off leash dog runs up to them, dogs who are over excited when they see other dogs running or playing, dogs who get excited when people especially families pass them by, dogs who want to chase joggers, cars, rabbits, etc. These are things that are likely to happen every time you take your dog for a walk.

So while in a training centre I can teach you how to get your dog to do basic obedience, I cannot teach you how to handle different situations. So my classes are held outdoors, in a new environment with new challenges every week. I will be there to help you in real time as these situations occur. The other benefit is you get to learn new places to train and how to incorporate training into your walks and adventures with your dog.

Training outside can be harder. You’re competing with more distractions. But you and your dog are learning how to navigate the world and achieve your goal of having a pet that you can take on adventures with you because they have the real world skills on how to behave in these situations.

The majority of the clients I see, want to have a well behaved pet dog that they can take anywhere. They’re sometimes surprised when I encourage them to explore the world of dog sports as a means to achieve their goal.

Dog sports aren’t all about competing and winning ribbons with your dog. In fact if you’re getting the best of it you’ll find you have built a stronger relationship with your dog, you get out and expand your social circle with fun dog loving people and most importantly you’re more likely to achieve your goal of having a well behaved pet dog that you can take most places!

So let’s break down how it all works…

Relationship Building

When you choose to train in a dog sport (any dog sport) you are making a commitment to learning something right along with your dog. If you train in your chosen sport in a positive and fun filled way then your relationship with your dog will greatly be enhanced.

This builds up focus on you around distractions and a sense of trust. It is crucial is keep training fun! Remember that’s why we have our dogs in the first place.

Enrichment

If you’ve chosen a dog sport that your dog loves then it can provide amazing benefits for your dog. For example, I regularly see clients with their dogs in my tracking classes where the dog gets to use their most powerful sense – smell! – along with their brain. In tracking, the handler has to learn to trust their dog and we see confidence increase in the dog.

Practice of Crucial Obedience Skills

No matter what sport we choose there’s an opportunity for our dogs to learn skills that help them behave in different situations. Almost all the sports I’ve participated in have helped my dogs learn to focus on me, work around distractions, wait their turn, travel well and more! The best part is the sports are often super fun and it doesn’t feel arduous or dull to practice.

Socialization (the best kind) for both Dogs and Humans

When you participate in many dog sports your dog gets the opportunity to learn to behave around other dogs but not necessarily engage with them. This is a great skill for pet dogs to learn because it makes them easier to bring new places. They learn that other dogs are great but their role is to focus on you.

An added bonus is that you can often meet wonderful human friends too. I know when I moved cities this was the perfect way for me to make friends in my area who share similar values to me.

So if you choose to participate in dog sports you’ll gain some wonderful experiences and relationship building. If you stumped on what sport would be best try thinking of things from your dog’s perspective first – what do they like to do? And then also consider your time commitment. Some sports require practice several times per week, others can be once in awhile. I even play some sports where I can practice only once per month and be successful. So take in account what you can commit to and enjoy as well. Dog sports can also vary in how they are offered – group classes, private lessons or even online.

Introducing cats to a dog centric home isn’t easy and well to be honest always possible. If your dog has a really high prey drive (or even a moderate prey drive) you should probably just pass on having them together. It could be dangerous for both animals.

However if you have dogs with reasonable low prey drive and a health dose of obedience around new animals than adding cats is quite possible and can be rewarding for everyone!

I’ve decided to include some tips on introduction and keeping the peace so other families can benefit from living with cats and dogs together and turning that age old phrase “fighting like cats and dogs” on it’s head.

Important Step #1

The most important thing is finding a cat that will have a high chance of success with a dog. Some cats are so terrified of dogs that they will suffer from poor quality of life if forced to live with them. It’s important to choose a cat or kitten that has some exposure in a positive way to dogs.

I opted to adopt two kittens who had been exposed to a number of large dogs since birth in their foster home. This ensured that the kittens wouldn’t be afraid of my dogs and would set both types of animals up for success when integrating. And as a bonus we were excited to offer two kittens in a rescue situation a good home for life. It’s a win win. I would also have considered an adult cat who had been exposed to dogs as well we just happen to have a friend who is a fellow dog trainer who raised this litter so the timing worked out.

Important Step #2

Anything to do with cats needs to happen SLOWLY. And I mean really really SLOWLY. People rush change with themselves, dogs and other pets but with cats it can extremely damaging. I set up a cat only space in our home. It included two litter boxes (1 per kitten), a cat tree with 3 sleeping spots and 2 scratch areas at different heights, a raised feeding and water station, a variety of toys, a hiding cube and an interactive feeding toy.

The kittens had their first few days in their own space and no meetings with dogs only scent exchanges (we brought in items that smelled like dogs to the kittens and vice versa). Once we decided to do dog introductions we started out with our dog that was extremely calm and relaxed around cats. We brought him to a separate room that the kittens had been playing in and they were introduced. The kittens were interested in him right away so that introduction was easy.

After that we went one dog at a time as the other 3 dogs were nervous and fearful (this presented in barking, running away and an abundance of calming signals from the dogs). The kittens were comfortable with all the dogs even with the barking.

We continued short one on one meet and greets for several days. After a week we started supervised time where the kittens explored a new room in the house with the dogs present. We rewarded the dogs for calm behaviour and kept these training sessions short.

After a few weeks these sessions could be longer and longer until we could just have everyone all together all the time (word of caution we still kennel the dogs when we are not around to supervise and will continue to do this for years if not indefinitely).

Important Step #3

The cat only space that they started out in is still a cat only space in our home. We’ve left a baby gate up so the cats can and go but they have a nice quiet space to use their bathrooms and enjoy their meals without dogs. It’s important for cats to have an area where they can relax – especially since I have 2 young dogs who have a lot of energy.

Remember every dog and cat is different and you have concerns about safety (chasing, prey drive, biting, etc) it’s really important to contact a trainer.

We recently adopted Remo, an 11 year old Chihuahua from BC Chihuahua Rescue. This adoption has been nothing but joy for your family – the way you envision it going when you add a new dog into your life. Unfortunately, for many of my clients they do not have a great rescue experience. I wanted to share how to have a great rescue experience so clients can end up with the dog of their dreams and not an absolute heart breaking experience.

Not all rescues are good. This is really, really important to know. Anyone can start up a rescue and claim that they are saving dogs from x, y, z situation. A good rescue will do the following:

• Provide ongoing health care for the dog including an initial examination by a veterinarian, medications for any conditions, vaccinations, therapy for any injuries including soft tissue, surgery for any health conditions that require it (including a dental if needed). The person who determines what is needed should be the Veterinarian. If the dog is coming from a foreign country they should also go through a quarantine period and be screened for illnesses that are specific to the region they have come from which can be challenging for our local Veterinarians.
• Provide a behaviour assessment that ascertains whether a dog is suitable to live with teenagers, children, other pets, etc. This behaviour assessment should also determine if the dog has concerns with resource guarding, handling/touch, grooming, leash walking, play, etc. Both foster families and adopters should be given a very realistic picture of what the dog is like and these assessments should be done over a period of time (weeks if not months if the dog has fear issues). Behaviour assessments should be conducted by a Certified Professional Trainer who is experienced in conducting them.
• Provide a comfortable foster home or kennel environment where the dog can decompress and become stress free enough to exhibit their true behaviour.
• Screen adopters carefully including home checks whenever possible. This is the sign of a rescue who truly cares about finding the right fit for their dogs.
• Conduct at a meet and greet with all family members and other dogs in the home. It’s truly important that the dog you are adding to your home has a good relationship with the humans and the other pets. If you have red flags at this stage then this isn’t the right situation for you or the rescue dog.

If you are working with a good rescue they should also provide follow up support and be willing to take a dog back if the situation isn’t ideal. Your responsibility as an adopter is to set your new dog up for success by doing the following:

• Taking your new dog to your Veterinarian for an examination
• Signing your new dog up for training (either group class or private lessons). This can be helpful for not only training your dog to act the way you would like but also extremely important for bonding.
• Set up your home to be a safe space and be ready to work slowly on things such as crate training, house training, etc.
• Understand that your dog has gone through a lot of changes and is under stress even if it’s not visible to you. Be patient and kind. Don’t overwhelm a new rescue with visitors.
• Choose a time of year to adopt when you have time to dedicate to helping your new dog acclimatize to your home. (Avoid busy holidays or times when you’re going to be travelling).
• Do your research and choose the kind of dog that truly suits your lifestyle (activity level, purpose of dog’s genetic background, behaviour assessment results)