Little Changes, Big Rewards

A lot of people I know talk themselves out of changing their routines or behavior, thinking erroneously that it takes big changes and big commitments to achieve noteworthy results.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  Little steps, made in the right direction, add up to big changes in the long run.  So, even if you know you can't run for even five minutes without passing out, for example, that's okay.  Just walk, every single day, picking up the pace as you become more limber.  One day, start to jog a bit, and then slow it back down to a walk.  Over time, you'll find yourself jogging more than walking, and that's terrific!  At that point you might be ready to try a slow run, or not.  Even jogging and walking is better than never starting that new exercise plan at all.  Small steps, big payoffs.  The same is true when it comes to our dogs.  We don't have to do it all, nor do we need to do it all at once.  Small changes will make a world of difference to your dog.  Here are some examples:

Stop feeding them in a bowl.  Now, I realize that it takes more time, and more pre-planning, and some additional cleanup as well, to feed your dog from something besides a traditional dog bowl.  Feeding them in other ways, whether that's in a feeder ball, snuffle mat, bob-a-lot toy, box, or just kibble scattered in your backyard, serves as mental stimulation.  Wild canids don't eat in bowls; they forage and hunt for their meals.  Feeding dogs in more creative ways is good for their brains and their bodies as it slows down their consumption process, leading to more efficient digestion of nutrients.  Even if you just feed one of their meals outside of a bowl everyday, every other day, or even just once a week if that's all you have time for, your dog will reap the benefits.

Let them sniff on their walks.  I know it's frustratingly slow to walk a dog, letting them sniff as much as they want, but it's important to try to let them sniff for at least a portion of every walk.  Start small.  Maybe let them sniff for the first five minutes, and then walk faster, encouraging them to trot along rather than stop and sniff constantly.  Build from there, allowing them to sniff for five minutes, trot for five minutes, and then sniff again for five minutes.  Try to make your goal be that half their walk was sniffing and the other half devoted to some exercise and fresh air.  And if you have the time to let them wander, please do it.  Put them on a long line and let them sniff and wander around to their heart's content.  Enjoy watching them!  And then, put them back on that shorter, walking leash, and get them some physical exercise too.

Rotate their toys.  While toy rotation is critical for puppies, it's still important for adult dogs too.  Toy rotation stimulates their brain to solve problems; it changes up their chewing options; and it allows them to blow of steam in different ways.  Toy rotation can be as simple as dumping the toys out of their box or basket once a week and changing which toys are on the top.  Or, maybe move the toy bin to a closet and every time you pass that closet, put a toy away and grab something different for them in exchange.  I have one client with a lot of toys (and she jokes, a lot of spare time on her hands!) who sorts the toys by style, sometimes giving he dog just rolling/round/ball type toys one day, and then only stuffed toys the next.  I appreciate her enthusiasm for toy rotation ingenuity, but I did encourage her to make sure her dog always had a readily available chewing option, regardless of how she'd sorted the day's toys.  Dogs need chewing options every single day.

Change up the treats.  You should always have treats in your pocket, or at least readily available, to reinforce your dogs for a job well-done.  While varying their daily diet isn't highly recommended as it can lead to digestive upset, varying their treats is a different story.  Even for dogs with food allergies, varying their treats is valuable for stimulating interest and enthusiasm with tasks, you just need to (obviously) avoid treats that contain those ingredients they aren't allowed to have.  Henley is allergic to so many things, including anything with chicken, turkey, or duck in it. Consequently, I choose treats for him that are 100%  rabbit or any kind of fish.  I don't give him the same rabbit treats or fish treats though every time; sometimes he gets salmon, sometimes it's salmon skin.  He may get cod or cod skin, or even pollock or smelt.  Just varying the kind of fish treat he receives, gets him excited!  This means that even for a dog with a limited ingredient diet, I can still provide some variety.  And for those of you with dogs who can eat anything, why are you always buying the same treats?  Change it up!

Never stop training your dog.  It doesn't have to be weekly classes and regular trips to specialized training facilities.  Just work with your dog every day for a few minutes.  Those minutes don't even have to be consecutive!  It could be one minute in the morning, two minutes before a walk, and then a couple of minutes at bedtime.  Start with just five minutes a day and see how that looks for your dog.  If you're both having fun, increase your training time, but I wouldn't push past about 10-15 minutes.  Shorter, more frequent training sessions are more valuable than those longer ones.  And for puppies, keep it to five minutes or shorter, multiple times a day.  You can work on behaviors your dog knows already, and then segue into learning new behaviors or tricks.  This is where the internet can be your friend!  Watch some of those fun dog videos, showing tricks and behaviors that any dog can do (honest!) with a bit of training.  Break down those videos into smaller pieces and teach your dog to do them.  Even if they don't end up doing it as well as the dog in the video, they still had a good time learning.  Besides, do you want to know how long it took to teach that dog in the video? A lot longer than that finished reel you watched for sure!  And that video? It was edited too.  Your dog is learning and doing it in real time!

So, what's the take home message?  Just making small changes can have big, positive consequences for you and for your canine companions. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"--Lao Tzu

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

Zelly with her chewing option du jour: An antler from Woof!

Am I Really Being Selfish?

That was the question posed to me by a woman at a recent, private book signing event.  First off, a big thank you to all of you who attended that event!  I can't believe folks are still reading my memoir, wanting to meet me, and get their copies signed.  Makes me giddy every time I think about it.  Anyway, I always do questions and answers during these events and most people come with great behavior questions or anecdotes to share about their pets.  This woman, however, hesitated to even raise her hand and ask her question.  She told me after the event that it was okay to share her story as she intended to send it to her family as proof that she had sought advice. So, here goes!

This woman has not had a dog in almost 20 years.  She had dogs before she got married, but her husband was allergic to dogs (or so he said), so they didn't have any dogs while they were raising their two kids. She's recently divorced and her kids are off at college, so she was feeling like this would be a great time to get a dog for herself.  She said she was looking for "the unconditional love and companionship that only a dog can provide."  When she told her family about her plan to get a dog, they told her she was being selfish to even consider it!  They said she would be limiting herself and her ability to travel, visit her kids at school, or attend family events and social occasions. I'm pretty sure you all already know what I told her, and any of you with dogs in your life are probably bristling at those comments from her family.

I told her that making the decision to open her home and heart to a dog was a noble one.  Dogs absolutely provide love and companionship to their caretakers. They keep us to a schedule, make sure we get our step count in every day, and remind us to stop and smell the flowers.  And the trees. And the bushes.  And where that other dog peed.  They keep us company while we read, watch TV, or prepare meals.  If allowed, they will share our couch and our bed.  They love to learn new things and be challenged appropriately.  That means that a well-trained dog can go most places their owner goes, as long as that place allows dogs.  Meaning, well-trained dogs can vacation with you, visit college towns, and stay in hotels, Airbnb's, and your friends' homes.  To tell this woman that she was selfish couldn't have been further from the truth. She had, in fact, been agonizing over this decision for months.  Her family relies on her to step up and take care of aging family members, and be available at a moment's notice, something she may be less able to do if she can't, in fact, bring her dog with her.  But here's the thing:  Should she really be the only person in her extended family taking care of these responsibilities?  Shouldn't she be allowed to find some joy for herself? I don't see that as selfish (or foolish) at all. She deserves happiness too and if a dog helps her feel fulfilled and happy, they let's find her a canine companion!

We talked for quite a bit after the event was over.  She said she felt very supported by the group at the event as a whole.  There were some pretty vocal supporters there and they make me smile even now just thinking about them.  They basically told her that her family would learn to embrace her as a dog lover again, or they'd need to find someone else to do all those extra tasks for themselves!  Dog lovers really are there for one another and I think this woman made some new friends as well.

I'm looking forward to working with her and her new dog once she decides whether to get a puppy, or look for a young adult dog, or even a sweet senior to segue back into the world of dog ownership.  Her kids sound pretty supportive which I think will help a lot.  And honestly, who can't help but fall in love with the dog who helped someone step back into their life?  Dogs are a priceless gift we give ourselves and they ask for very little in return.  Maybe that is selfish, but I don't think our dogs would have it any other way.

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

Get you a dog that looks at you the way Zelly looks at my daughter!

Near Or Far, Wherever You Are!

I started working with a new client who lives in Illinois.  She found me through one of my blog posts on Instagram and started following me as she was getting ready to bring home her first dog, one she had engaged with many times as a work friend had fostered him for a rescue group in their area.  She wanted to do "everything right" for this new dog, so she scheduled a video appointment with me to go over what she needed to do to get him off to a great start.  When we finished the appointment she said, "Gosh, I wish you were here in Chicago!  There are so many dog owners at my office who could use your help!"  That's when I told her that there was an easy way for us all to still work together, even though I'm in California.  

During the pandemic, I began using Zoom fairly regularly. I'd initially resisted video platforms as I wasn't sure my methodology would convert well over video and because I talk so fast, I was worried it would make it even harder for pet owners to understand what they needed to do if I wasn't standing right in front of them. I couldn't have been more wrong.  Being forced to think outside of the box, slow down my talking speed, and find ways to demonstrate techniques using a video platform, allowed me to reach every new client I worked with during the COVID-19 shutdown, keeping my business afloat.  One pandemic client worked for Google and asked if it would be possible to work with a group of his colleagues who were all bringing their dogs to work with them before the pandemic, and were having trouble working from home with those same dogs. From that request was born an idea: A way to use a video platform to offer virtual classes and seminars to groups of pet owners.

Since that first group appointment with the Google folks, I've taught many a virtual class and seminar. Here's how it works:  One person organizes the group for the class or seminar, gathering people with similar questions/problems. It might be a "Puppy 101" seminar for new puppy owners, or it could be a discussion on how to treat separation anxiety.  I've done single topic seminars, question and answer sessions with breed clubs and veterinary offices, and even an online puppy class!  That one really stretched my abilities, I have to say.  I'd always taught puppy classes in person, emphasizing puppy socialization, and building camaraderie among the participants so they'd support each other.  With the virtual puppy class, the participants already knew one another from an in-person puppy socialization group and were looking to work on skills they could do outside that classroom setting.  They actually gathered at the organizer's house, using her yard for the virtual class.  We had such a blast!  Henley was a puppy then and he participated too, acting as a "demo dog" for many of the exercises.  To this day, he still tries to insert himself in my video appointments; I think he's hoping that he'll be involved again too.

So, back to my client in Chicago.  She's currently organizing a group of her colleagues for an evening presentation on dog body language and communication.  She's asking the rescue group where many of them got their dogs, to host the event.  I'm excited already and planning out some fun activities to do during the meeting to help everyone gain a better understanding of how to apply what they'll learn to what they actually observe when they are with their dogs, out on walks, and at the dog park. It's going to be so much fun!

If any of you are interested in setting up a group appointment or seminar on a topic in animal behavior, just let me know, and I'll send you details.  In the meantime, please continue to send your questions and pet observations my way.  Maybe you'll see your topic turn up on the blog too.

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

We did "class pictures" at the end of that virtual puppy class. Here was Henley's photo!

Dogs As Individuals

We all do it at one time or another. We compare our kids, our spouses, and yes, even our pets.  Sometimes, we're just doing it in good fun, but many times we do it out of frustration.  We might wonder why one of our kids does so well in school while another is more sports-minded.  If we keep this question to ourselves, that's one thing; but if we air it out loud, we run the risk of hurting our relationship with our kids, pigeon-holing them into one lane (scholastic) or the other (sports).  The same is true when we compare our pets.  Whether we are comparing the dog we have now to one we had before, or we are comparing the breed of dog we have now with a previous member of that same breed, we are doing those dogs a disservice by not allowing them to simply be who they are, individuals with their own brains, genetics, and environmental influences.  Just because I've had collies for over 20 years doesn't mean that I expect the ones I have now to be anything like that first collie I owned. Or like Lassie, for that matter.  So, why is that even important?

Your relationship with your dog is a relatively short one, unfortunately.  They just don't live as long as we do.  It's really their only shortcoming, but all the more reason to enjoy the individual animal in front of you for who they are, not who they should have been/could have been/might have been.  If you treat your dog as a unique individual, you'll find yourself asking better questions:  What do they need to be happy?  What can I do to keep their brain active?  How much exercise works best for them?  What is their favorite treat?  Do they even like the beach, or are they just going because I enjoy it?  Answering those questions honestly will not only help you be a better pet parent, they'll help you better understand your dog.

Understanding your dog as an individual means being a better observer in order to answer those questions effectively.  Watch their behavior; learn to read their body language; wait for those cues to come from your dog instead of filling in the blanks yourself.  For example:  Instead of just handing your dog the treat you think they'll like, have one in each hand.  Ask them to sit and then let them sniff each hand closed around the treat.  Let them choose the one they want.  Trust me, you'll know when they paw or nudge the hand with the treat they've chosen.  Sure, they might like both treats, but that's not the question we asked!  We asked which one, between these two choices, is your favorite today?  Notice I said today.  You could do the same exercise tomorrow, with those same two treats, and they might pick something different and that's the whole point.  Most of us do the same thing!  We might like tortilla chips with our sandwich one day, but prefer Cheetos the next.  

Many of you that follow me on Facebook, know about my dog buddy, Loki.  We spend many a Saturday morning together, exploring, climbing, sniffing, and wandering.  I always let him choose.  When I get him out of the car, I'll ask him where he wants to go. If he doesn't immediately head in one direction, I'll start heading one way myself, and he'll often put on the brakes, and change our course.  He had a destination in mind, it just took him a minute to decide.  I can then tell by the direction he's chosen, what activity he's in the mood for.  And yes, we do this every Saturday that we are together.  It's why, I believe, he enjoys spending time with me.  I treat him as an individual who can make choices about what he does, and doesn't, want to do with our mornings together.

If you've ever been unsure as to whether your dog enjoys trips to the beach, or a particular hiking route, take a moment and recall what their body language and behavior was like the last time you were there together.  Did they get antsy in the car, realizing where they were going?  Did they eagerly hop out of the car, ready to get started?  Did they seem to never want the day to end?  If the answers are no, then that outing isn't a favorite for them, even if it's a favorite for you. Maybe the car ride is too long and they get a bit nauseous.  Or maybe, the last time they were there with you they were too warm, or there were other dogs there that made them anxious.  Whatever the case may be, you've noted their preferences.  Once again, just because your previous dog loved the beach, doesn't mean your current one necessarily does and that's okay.  They are different individuals.  You can still go to the beach, obviously, but maybe you don't take them with you every time, or you find a way to make it more fun for them. If they are social, maybe meeting a friend and their dog at the beach is a better idea.  If they just aren't a fan of the water or sand, stay up on the bluff.  If they tire easily, bring a picnic blanket or beach towel big enough to share and a few snacks to make the stops more enjoyable.  It's called compromise and it's what makes any relationship successful, even the one you have with your dog.

Henley and I ran together early this morning before it got too warm outside.  We don't run fast, and we mix in some spots to walk, and for him to sniff, and relieve himself.  We do this a couple times a week because it's an activity we both enjoy.  He's the second dog I've had who enjoyed running with me; Ozzie loved it too, but is now too old and frail for the activity, so we do other stuff together.  Desi?  Desi hated to run; he didn't even like a brisk walk.  He always preferred a slow amble, and never very far.  Trips to the beach with Desi always meant a lot of breaks to bird watch, and that was fine by me.  The beach can be enjoyed by runners and amblers alike.

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

One of my favorite photos of Ozzie and Desi on a beach day.  Yes, it was really windy and yes, they actually thought that it was perfect collie weather!