Gaining Focus: Building Attention with a Reactive Dog

Despite the many things that may be going on inside your dog’s mind, we can get their focus back on us.

One of the greatest challenges you will have with any dog, but especially if you are living with a fearful and/or reactive dog, will be gaining their focus back to you. The outdoor world is a distracting environment for all dogs, let alone our modern urban environment! There are people, other dogs, wildlife, vehicles, bicycles, loud noises and so much more. We must also consider that a lot of...

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Calming Signals: What they are and why they are important

Guinniss demonstrates a paw lift and a lip lick in response to Domi drinking from his water dish.

Turid Rugaas, a dog trainer from Norway spent years observing wolves, wild dogs and domestic canines to better understand how they communicate. She came up with the term calming signals when observing canine body language and determined they are a means of communication used by dogs to calm themselves, each other and even humans, other animals or inanimate objects.

Many behaviour problems develo...

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5 Tips on How to Settle a Rambunctious Puppy

Imagine while you were a newborn just settling into this world at home. You’re under your mother’s care and surrounded by your siblings.

Suddenly, your utopic environment is turned upside down as you’re plucked away from familiarity and placed with total strangers. Confused and disoriented, you’d probably act out being a complete nuisance to the people around you.

Your rowdiness can only be justified in your mind because this is the most vulnerable position you’ve ever been in since you’ve b

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Stress in Dogs: What it looks like and how it affects them

 

You can tell by the way this dog’s weight and ears are back, its tail is tucked and there is tension that it is under stress.

Stress is the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response. Dogs who are experiencing complex behaviour concerns such as fear, reactivity or anxiety are dogs that tend to be in a high state of stress and arousal. A stressful emotional response will inhibit clear thinking and activate the dog’s emergency response sy...

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