Happy Thanksgiving, Paw-Friends!

My dogs love sweet potatoes and I roast them for myself all the time, sharing a few bites with them before I add the oil and spices for roasting.  Lucky for them, I always buy extra potatoes so I can make them one of their favorite, low calorie dog treats.  These treats are easy to make, though they do take time in your oven, so make them in advance of the holidays, and store in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to three weeks. That way, you'll have a nutritious treat to give your dogs all through the holiday season.  And the best part?  These are Ozzie, Henley and Westley approved!

Sweet Potato Bites

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Wash two medium or one large sweet potato

Use a sharp knife or a mandoline slicer to slice your potatoes into 1/4 inch thick, round slices

Arrange on the baking sheets so the slices don't touch

Bake 2.5 to 3 hours, flipping the slices halfway through

Slices should appear dried out with crispy edges and chewy centers,

 so adjust your bake time accordingly

Allow to cool completely before storing

I hope your dogs enjoy these as much as mine do and they are a much safer option for treating your dogs than many of the other offerings at your holiday table.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Learning to Entertain Themselves

When my daughter was born years ago, one piece of advice I received time and again from veteran parents was this: Don't spend all of your time entertaining your kids; they need to be able to keep themselves occupied without constant parental engagement. My daughter didn't always make it easy to keep her occupied on her own, but I persevered and then did the same thing with my son. Interestingly enough, that same advice really should be given to every prospective dog owner when they acquire their first dog. While it became a huge problem following COVID lock-down when everyone was no longer stuck inside for days and weeks on end, the problem of over-indulgent dog owners, unwilling or unable to get their dogs to entertain themselves, has persisted. Right now, I average three calls a week from dog owners who are at their wit's end with puppies or dogs who simply cannot entertain themselves.  So, what's going on here?

When you bring home a puppy, you need to get them onto a schedule as quickly as you can. That schedule should include non-negotiable naps, in a crate, in a room, away from you. Not only does this encourage quality naps, it also teaches your puppy that it's okay to be away from you.  Puppies who take naps alone learn to soothe themselves and also entertain themselves if they wake up before you are there to let them out. If, instead, you let your puppy nap wherever they happen to be, or in a pen in the room where you are, you are not teaching them to be independent; on the contrary, you are teaching them to be wholly dependent on you for even the most basic thing, falling asleep!

Beyond nap time, puppies should spend alone time in an exercise pen or playpen with toys, puzzles, and activities to keep them occupied and mentally stimulated. You should not have to train, play, or entertain your puppy constantly while they are awake. Again, they need to understand that having 100% of their humans' attention isn't a sustainable option.  If your puppy fusses in the pen, ignoring those toys and puzzles, move away and out of sight and see if they'll occupy themselves then.  Many of them do once they realize the humans aren't going to scoop them up immediately.  If your pup continues to fuss in the pen or escalates to barking, pawing at the pen, or trying to climb out, scoop them up, take them outside to toilet and sniff, and then bring them right back to the pen. That way, they learn that fussing doesn't get them anything more than a bathroom break. Schedule one-on-one play time, training time, and leash walks the same way you plan those naps. In between times, your puppies should be entertaining themselves.

For adolescent and adult dogs who don't require enforced naps and playpens, you will still want to encourage and reward them for occupying themselves.  Use bones, stuffed Kong toys, lick mats, puzzles, etc. daily to keep them entertained.  If they start whining for your attention, shoving on you with their nose or jumping into your lap uninvited, slough them off and ignore them for a minute.  Follow that up by redirecting to the activity you gave them to do.  You decide when the walks, play time, and adventures happen, not your dog.  If you allow your dog to dictate how you spend your day, you will quickly discover that you have no time for yourself and are literally spending your whole day entertaining your canine companion.

I've had a lot of folks try to do what I've outlined above and then come back frustrated saying, "He's just so high energy!  He needs me to throw the ball constantly or he'll be tearing up my house!" Now, this is a separate, but related, issue.  Dogs need an appropriate balance of physical and mental exercise.  Those dogs who are bouncing off of the walls are often the ones not getting enough of either.  Train yourself to walk your dog twice a day for at least 45 minutes each walk, focusing on letting them sniff and explore.  If they like to play fetch, that's fine, schedule a session of fetch, but not at the expense of a walk.  Then, change up the way you feed your dog, opting out of bowl feeding and choosing instead to feed your dog using puzzles or games that make them think before they eat.  Dogs are foragers by nature; feeding them in bowls, even slow feeder bowls, isn't much of a challenge.  Throwing a cup of kibble out on the grass for them to forage and find their meal? Now, that's a challenge! Don't have a lawn? Fine, just bury the food in a sturdy snuffle mat or snuffle ball to encourage independent foraging. 

Finally, it's also often the case that these dogs who can't entertain themselves are also dogs with rather poor manners.  This means that your training sessions should focus on more than just sits and downs, but with an eye toward more important life skills like go to your bed/mat; stay; off; and go play, which is basically just a directional command to go entertain themselves.  If your dog is having trouble or you are finding it hard to motivate to teach them these manners, sign up for a class!  There are some great basic manners and holiday manners classes out there at your disposal.  Classes are great for accountability for you AND for your dog.

As I am writing this, Ozzie is sound asleep on the bed in the corner of my office, while Henley is in the window seat, chewing on a bone he found, on his own, at the bottom of his toy basket.  He is very good at entertaining himself and you know what? I take full credit for that!  I learned what to do (and what not to do!) 25 years ago when my daughter was born!

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me. 

Henley dropped the bone off the bench where he'd been chewing on it, followed by a dramatic yawn meant to get my attention. You already know I did not pick up that bone and hand it to him!  He can do that all on his own. Which he promptly did after posing for this picture.

It's a Matter of Timing

Everything is a matter of timing, right?  Researching a new canine or feline family member, locating them, getting on waiting lists, etc., it's all about timing.  Everyone wants to get it "just right," which I understand, I really do.  And while I do think it's important not to rush to get a new pet as often that means settling for one you might not ordinarily choose, and I also think getting pets during the holidays is a terrible idea, beyond that, I don't really think timing is as big of an issue when it comes to acquiring a new pet.  You want to know where I do think timing is a big issue?  When offering reinforcement to your pets, whether that reinforcement is positive, negative, or just plain inadvertent, I think timing is everything.  Here's why.

We are all products of reinforcement.  We're told we'll get a pay bump if we finish a project, add an account, or work more overtime.  That pay bump is reinforcement and even though it may not be immediate, we do what it takes to reach that goal. I believe that while humans can perform reasonably well with delayed reinforcement, we, too, prefer quicker payoffs.  For our pets, quicker payoffs is always their goal.  To tell a dog, "Hey, if you keep performing well in this six week class, I'll take you to the store and let you pick a toy on the last day!" isn't going to guarantee that they do that.  In fact, if you don't offer intermittent rewards along the way, in each of those classes, you are likely to lose their attention, and the trust of your canine companion.  Timing is everything in this case.  Whether you are training a new behavior, perfecting a known behavior, or extinguishing a behavior you don't like, you need to offer your reinforcement, whatever that may be, within seconds of your pet doing the behavior. If you have to go to the kitchen, cut up some cheese, and come back to reward your dog, the moment is lost and you'll likely just be rewarding them for following you to the kitchen!  This is why I truly believe and encourage everyone I know, dog and cat owners alike, to keep treats in their pocket at all times.  This means tangible reinforcement can be offered at any time, allowing you to capture and mark behaviors "in real time" versus just during training exercises.  Yes, it's true, you could simply tell your pet that they did a great job, or give them a pat on the head or booty scratch, we know for a fact that pets prefer edible rewards to just verbal or physical rewards.  We also know, for a fact, that they learn faster and retain more when there are food rewards.  But, again, timing is everything.

Sometimes it just isn't feasible to reinforce within seconds of a behavior, so do you just throw up your hands and say, "Oh, well?"  No, of course not. Instead, layer your reinforcement.  Tell your pet "Yes!" to mark the behavior as something you liked or "No!" for something you didn't.  Then, move toward them and either get them to repeat the behavior OR redirect them to the appropriate behavior, and hopefully by this point you are able to dig a treat out of your pocket and apply that important reinforcer, the tangible one that they will actually remember.

For those of you with anxious pets, offering food rewards is often harder than it is for your friends with their non-anxious companions.  Anxiety creates a situation inside of us and our pets where eating isn't priority, survival is.  You will need to get a handle on your pet's anxiety first, that way they can relax and focus on what you are teaching them, and be able to take those treats that are going to reinforce those new, less anxiety-provoking behaviors.  Once again, timing is key.  If your pet is anxious and you are trying to bribe or distract them with food, this isn't going to work, and in fact, it's going to slow everything down and make you seem less trustworthy.  If instead you work through that anxious moment, trying redirection, moving away, or simply just being supportive until the moment passes, and then ask for a simple behavior that allows your pet to focus and reset, followed by offering a treat, you are on the right track, and your timing was perfect.

I was working with a client yesterday who was amazed by my ability to get her dog focused and redirected out in public when normally he is so distracted, pulling on the leash, darting around, and snuffling everything on the ground.  It wasn't magic, folks. I simply had treats ready in my pocket, and two at the ready between my own front teeth, so that when I got her dog redirected and focused on me rather than the ground, other dogs, etc., I had the reward out of my mouth and into that dog's mouth within a couple of seconds. Timing is everything. And not being grossed out by having dog treats in your own mouth!

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Henley is a ready pupil, eyes on me, focused and ready to work.  He makes training easy because he's not anxious and almost always ridiculously joyful. That doesn't mean I don't still need to be good about my timing of reinforcement for him, it just means I have a bit more wiggle room.

The Benefits of Pet Ownership Revisited

There have been quite a few scientific studies of late looking at the health benefits (or lack thereof) to pet ownership and humans interacting with animals in general. For years, I've been referencing research done in the 80's that demonstrated that petting and interacting with animals lowered heart rates and respiratory rates, helped build confidence in young readers, and led to feelings of belonging and acceptance.  Now, however, new studies are coming out, and being replicated, which show with statistical significance that there are no marked benefits to pet ownership or interacting with animals. This blows my mind every single time I read one of these studies. How can that even be possible?!

You guys know me. I'm a scientist at heart.  I trust well thought out and executed studies with large sample sizes and replicable results.  But this current vein of research is really leaving me adrift. I keep returning to a 2022 survey done by HABRI, the Human Animal Relations Research Institute in Washington D.C. that found that 74% of pet owners said owning a pet improved their mental health. In fact, 67% said their pets make them feel happy; 51% said their pets comfort them when they feel sad; 48% said their pets make them feel less lonely; 43% said their pets gave them a sense of purpose; 36% said their pets kept them more active; and 17% said their pets helped them make community connections. This was a global study reaching statistical significance due to the large sample size.  But this new research seems to be pointing out that while people may feel or believe pets benefit them in this way, there is no proof in terms of health markers for any of these HABRI study results.

So, why am I telling you this?  Well, I've come to a new conclusion, at least for myself. I don't really care what the new research shows! I firmly believe that having pets and interacting with animals improves the lives of humans. I've seen it with my own two eyes and experienced it myself.  I don't need to have it proven in a study or in a controlled laboratory setting. I just know it in my heart.  And, more importantly, I hope you know it too.  Our pets are making a difference in our lives and the lives of others in our communities every single day.  Whether those differences are quantifiable isn't really important.  What's important is that we believe it. I will continue to do pet therapy visits and promote pet assisted therapy work with the assumption that interacting with animals on those visits improves the quality of life and health and well-being of the folks we serve in our communities. And, I will continue to have pets in my home as I find their presence comforting and supportive.  I'm still a believer.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's my sweet Desi, the consummate pet therapy dog, working his magic on a young girl, and on me, simultaneously. He was just that good.