Dogs that suffer from separation distress, also known as separation anxiety (SA), are coping the best they can. In their view, being left alone is a very scary proposition. One that makes them panic before the event (here is the anxiety piece) and during the event. It is difficult to know why dogs experience anxiety…
This post is the second installment on the work I have been doing with Katie. Katie is an under-socialized and very fearful Chihuahua. She especially fears meeting people at her home. As I mentioned on the previous post, the ultimate goal is for Katie to be so comfortable with my presence first, followed by being…
Katie was adopted as a puppy by one of my clients. When I met her, she was already a fearful dog. She did not like to be held by anyone other than her “mom” and struggled to be in attendance in one of my small classes. Fast forward to today, even though she has accepted…
I am having a phone conversation and this is the question that is being posed to me. Well, I said: “I am bias to rescuing dogs versus getting a dog from a breeder.” In my mind, the only exception to my bias is when for whatever reason a person is really keen on a particular…
We are at the vet’s office having Rio’s bandage changed when an acquaintance walks through the doors with her dog. Her dog appears somewhat shaken-up and has a bloody injury close to his eye. “What happened?” I inquired. They tell me that this is the fifth time their dog has been attacked by their other…
As I have previously written, we are smack in the middle of Rio’s recovery. She needs to wear a cast for 4 for more weeks. She cannot lick, or worse, chew on it at all. The recommendations are for her to wear a really cumbersome Elizabethan collar all the time to prevent her from doing the…
My dogs are inside their crates working a juicy bone as they always do when I have a client at my place. I finish up and I come to let them out. After leashing Rio up, we go outside. The dogs love going outside to find out who was here and whether they left any…
It is unfortunately that the idea that we can reinforce fear in our pets is still so prevalent. Frankly, nothing can be further from the truth. Think about this: Fear is an emotion, involuntary for the subject feeling it, so how then can we make a dent on it by consoling our pet? This is…
It is the rainy season here in New Mexico (yes, we do get rain in the high desert) and with rain often comes thunder. Deuce has always been afraid of noises such as thunder, gun shots, fireworks and the like. This is actually very typical especially for working breeds. The reason is frankly not really…
A dog barking is one of the most (normal) dog behaviors for most people. Part of it is because of how stressful noise is in general and in part frankly because we fail to understand what barking is all about. Barking is not simply just noise coming from our dogs or embedded with one significance….