Behind the Behavior

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

I adopted two adult, male Aussies named Conner and Flynn from Australian Shepherd Rescue so now I’m a volunteer. A little over a week ago, I got a call from Seattle Animal Care and Control notifying me that a purebred, female Australian Shepherd puppy had been surrendered. Once the puppy’s hold period was up, I went off to evaluate her and bring her into Aussie Rescue.

I’d love to know the back story on this girl since she’s perfect, never been mistreated that I can see, and perfectly healthy (including negative fecal float). She’s up to date on shots and has a microchip. I’ve named her Maebh (pronounced may + v). This name is from an old Irish name Madb, “the cause of great joy” or “she who intoxicates.” I know she’ll probably end up with a name like Oreo, but I thought I should give her a predictive name… it’s a shot. (more…)

Greta Kaplan, CPDT, CDBC

I teach puppy classes.  It’s a weird category, and people have different expectations from a class called “puppy class” or “puppy kindergarten.”  If you take my flyball class, you expect to be taught how to do flyball and help teach your dog to do flyball.  If you take a class in competition obedience, you know you’ll be learning, among other things, how to teach your dog to heel, front, finish, sit, stand, down and stay.  What is puppy class for?  Doesn’t your puppy already know how to be a puppy?

Yes – in fact, for many, that’s the problem!  They want help in teaching their puppy to be clean in the house, not bite them with that mouthful of needles, and not play tug with their pants leg.  Also, it would be nice if the pupper didn’t scream when put in his crate.  But at the same time, puppy owners’ last class was often a more traditional obedience class, and perhaps without thinking about it, they expect to do some sits, downs, stays, and heeling. (more…)

Carly Loyer Davis, BA, CPDT

In Part Two of this blog, I talked about some obvious health risks imposed by the proposed City of Seattle breed-specific legislation.  I do, however, see some portions of the law that impress me at first glance.

Under Seattle’s version of BSL, owners must complete a dog training or owner instruction course “that impresses upon owners of fighting breed dogs their responsibilities to properly socialize, supervise, and care for their dog, and which teaches them practical knowledge and tools to help their dog be a good canine citizen.” This is fantastic, and I wish that it were required of all dog owners, not just the ones whose dogs may have an element of a “fighting breed” in the mix. As any behaviorist or dog trainer worth their salt will tell you, and as our consultants at Companion Animal Solutions often explain when working with aggressive dogs, socialization can make a huge difference in the life of a dog.  Severe lack of socialization can produce a dog who appears to have been physically abused. Dogs that don’t learn to handle and enjoy a variety of environments, people, dogs and experiences when they are young will not know how to react to those situations later in life, which can result in dangerous fear aggression. My only beef with this portion of the law is that, while it does say that the Director will “vet and pre-approve” the programs that fulfill this requirement, it does not specifically state the training techniques that will be used in these programs. (more…)

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

I recently went online at Twitter. I know, I know, I’m not much for “social networking” sites, but I like Twitter. I’m finding it to be more business and technology related than Facebook. I’m able to get small, smart chunks of information without all the distracting “features” of other social networking sites. I’ve been posting links to articles and information about dog training and animal behavior. We’ll have a live feed from Twitter on our blog soon, but in the meantime, if you’d like to see the animal behavior and dog training information I’ve been posting, you can follow me (or my Tweets if you will) at: http://twitter.com/chibbard.

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

Seattle Woman Magazine featured me and one of my clients for an article in their February issue titled Pet Positive: Gentler Methods of Dog Training Come to Seattle. The magazine did a very nice job of comparing and contrasting  traditional (coercion based) methods of dog training with the positive reinforcement based methods of dog training used by all of us here at Companion Animal Solutions.

Tara Hayes, the freelance writer spent half a day with me. She rode along on one of my initial consultations and then interviewed me for a couple of hours. We’re thrilled that a magazine of this caliber is so interested in promoting scientific, positive reinforcement based methods of dog training.

I highly recommend Seattle Woman magazine. All of their content is high quality and reflects the unique character of the people and businesses here in Seattle.

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

I’ve been surprised by how often I’ve heard dog owners say with relief in their voices, “my dog passed the temperament test and has been accepted into doggy daycare”, but when I ask the owner questions about the daycare, I discover that the owners did very little investigation. As with any facility or service, it’s important to be an informed consumer. At Companion Animal Solutions, we know what we consider to be important factors in how a daycare facility is run, but I also wanted to get feedback from top end doggy daycare providers to learn more about their industry. Based on our knowledge of canine behavior and feedback from daycare owners with whom I corresponded, I put together a list of questions you can use to evaluate whether a particular doggy daycare is right for you. Since we specialize in behavior at Companion Animal Solutions, I’ve focused on the issues we feel are most important for the behavioral health of your dog, but I also included some questions about general safety at the end of this article. (more…)

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

One of the most common calls we get from prospective clients starts with something like, “My dog is aggressive with other dogs, can it be fixed?” I’ve learned over the years that dog/dog aggression is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. The situation is further complicated because there are different types of dog/dog aggression.

Normal Dog Play
Sometimes, what an owner describes as dog/dog aggression is actually normal dog play. The way dogs play can seem scary to some human beings. These owners are overly conscientious about their dog’s behavior and his/her interaction with other dogs. While being conscientious about your dog’s behavior is a very good thing, like any good trait, it can be taken to an extreme. I sometimes wish I could wave a magic target stick that would make some overly conscientious owners worry less by transferring some of their worry and concern to owners who do not have enough of it. There’s a hilarious blog called Three Woofs and a Woo published by a photographer. She has wonderful shots of dogs playing.

Playground Bully
Some dogs never learned the manners of polite dog play society. They are like some people, just kind of clueless about how their behavior affects others. Jean Donaldson calls these dogs “Tarzans”. The most (more…)

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

I went to a place called Fido’s Farm with my Aussie named Conner: http://fidosfarm.com. We went for an “instinct test”. I had no idea what to expect since I know absolutely nothing about herding.

The instructor did a wonderful job of explaining what she was going to do with Conner and what to expect. She introduced the “flag” to him and explained to me how its used. Her timing was impeccable. She showed him the flag and when he did his typical Conner “yeah, so?”, she jiggled it. He took a step back and she took the flag away with a “gooood dog”. Lovely!

We went into the round pen and she had me hold Conner on leash. She walked over to the sheep and had the sheep follow her. I’ve never seen Conner so over the top for something (he’s a laid back guy). Then she told me to drop his leash. I was expecting him to crash into the sheep, send them flying, and (more…)

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

I just finished a book written by one our native Seattle daughters, Cristine Dahl, titled “Good Dog 101”. I should disclose at the beginning of this review that Cristine was my original mentor in dog training and canine behavior. OK, now you know that I’m a biased reviewer, and an unashamed one at that, but I genuinely feel my bias does not lessen the usefulness of this book for average dog and puppy owners.

“Good Dog 101: Easy Lessons to Train Your Dog the Happy, Healthy Way” was recently released by Sasquatch Books, a regional book publisher. Since I orginally posted this entry, this book has received 5 stars by reviewers on Amazon.com.

This easy to read and enjoyable paperback book is a comprehensive volume that combines step by step instructions for training obedience behaviors with easy to follow instructions for solving common behavior (more…)

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT

Behind the Behavior: Information on ethology, animal behavior, and learning theory

Companion Animal Solutions is dedicated to helping owners experience the enjoyment they envisioned when they first adopted their best friend, be it dog, cat, or bird. We help owners modify their pet’s behavior using ethology, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning. In today’s “whispering” world, its more critical than ever that scientists, behaviorists, veterinarians, and trainers bring sound, humane science to animal behavior modification. We hope this forum will support our ongoing mission of providing veterinarians, owners, and trainers with information and resources to engage in “Positive Behavior Modification for Family Pets”.