Pawsitive = Fear Free, Force Free

Why we do not use aversives in the delivery of any of our services.  

Originally published October 24 / 2017.

First and foremost, we want to build a rapport and a positive relationship with your pet.  

No bad first impressions, please!  If your pet's first experience with us were to be one of discomfort (say, a jerk on the leash or the pop of a choke collar), then they will likely associate us with that negative experience.  We want your pet eagerly awaiting our arrival for whatever service we may be providing.  We want them to look forward to seeing us, just as we look forward to seeing them.

Secondly, we can deal with unwanted behaviours in a kinder, gentler way.

I promise.  We're not just bleeding hearts, there is decades of research to support an evidence-based and rewards-based approach to modifying behaviour.

Although some behaviours can be frustrating and hard to live with, and punishment may be a tempting way to quickly suppress the behaviour...  doing so is like playing a game of whack-a-mole.  If you don't deal with the underlying factors contributing to the behaviour, it will just pop up somewhere else and repeatedly punishing behaviours can lead to a fearful or shut-down dog.

September 2018 Adendenum:

An experience we had during our summer holidays reminded me of this blog post, and I wanted to add a personal anecdote that reinforces everything I wrote above. 

This summer while on vacation as a family, we stayed at a hotel-style suite on a lake.  A quirk about this place was that all of their smoke alarms were inter-connected and also highly sensitive, so that if one room set off their alarm, every room’s alarm would go off.  

One morning our son was about to go brush his teeth and the alarm went off just as he entered the bathroom.  This scared him, of course, and he came running out.  We comforted him and assured him that everything was fine, it was just the alarm had been set off by someone making their breakfast in another unit.  We checked around and everything was fine. 

Our son was afraid to re-enter the bathroom despite the fact that the alarm had nothing to do with brushing his teeth.   Because the two events had occurred at the same time, his brain made a connection between the two, and caused his “warning system” to activate when he headed towards the bathroom again.  

With loving support and reassurance from his parents, our son was able to overcome this anxiety and continue with his routine, but the next time he needed to go into that same washroom he hesitated.  After a few times he was able to understand that the timing was coincidental, but it took many more times to undo the fear than it did to create it.

This is yet another example of why aversive conditioning is dangerous and can very easily have unintended side-effects, and why we will never, ever use shock collars, choke chains, or other painful or scary stimuli when working with animals (or humans, for that matter!).  A mistake in timing while administering punishment can lead to long-term problems, and why take that risk when evidence-based training has long since demonstrated that there is a more humane (and more fun!) way.  

Additional Readings: 

Aileen Anderson wrote a great blog post about the fallout of aversives which can be found at https://eileenanddogs.com/fallout-aversives-punishment-negative-reinforcement/

If you are struggling with your dog's behaviour, please view our blog post on finding a compassionate, qualified trainer at http://pawsitivepooch.blogspot.ca/2016/04/finding-trainer.html 

If you would like suggestions for alternative methods or tools, please feel free to ask us, we are here to help!

Learn more about us via our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/PawsPetMB

Visit our website at www.PawsitiveCare.ca

Jillian has been studying animal behaviour since 2009.  She is a certified professional dog trainer, a certified fear-free animal trainer, and a member of the pet professional guild.  To learn more about Jillian's qualifications and experience, please visit PawsitiveCare.ca/about-the-owner

 

To read more about the risks of aversives, Eileen Anderson also has a blog post summarizing her research and writings on shock collars available at https://eileenanddogs.com/shock-collar-info/ 

Hallowe'en with Pets

Tips for keeping your pets safe and reducing their stress at Hallowe’en. 

Have you ever come home wearing a new hat or sunglasses and had your dog react strangely to you until he realized who you were?  Dogs are very sensitive and perceptive to changes in their environment and, just like humans, dogs react to changes in different ways.  Some easy-going dogs might actually enjoy hallowe’en and the excitement of people coming and going, but please know that they are in the very small minority.

Many dogs will be quite afraid of the costumes and will be quite riled up by repeated knocks at the door or the ringing of the doorbell.  If your dog is in that majority, or if you're at all unsure, I recommend setting up a quiet room for him where he can relax. 

Here is the plan we follow:

• During the day when it’s still light outside, we take the dogs for a nice long walk.  We enjoy the Fall colours and allow the dogs to sniff and explore, to get as much exercise and enrichment as possible before dusk.

• We delay the dogs’ dinners until the Trick-or-Treaters start to come out and then we provide our dogs their dinners in stuffed Kongs.  For more about stuffing Kongs please visit our Thunder Phobia blog post and for other ideas for keeping your dog(s) entertained, please visit our Boredom Busters blog post. 
  

• Our dogs are kennel trained, so they go into their kennels (as far as possible from the front door) once the costumed children start arriving.  If your dog is not content in a kennel you can use an X-Pen or a quiet room with the door closed.  We put on some calming music or talk radio to help drown out the sounds.

• One of us is on “door duty”.  We keep the front door within our view, so we can see the kids coming before they ring the doorbell, and show up with their candy before they’ve had a chance to knock.

If you have kids who will be dressing up, or if you like to dress up yourself, I highly recommend allowing your dog to get used to the costumes well in advance.  Put on different pieces of the costume (start with the bottom and work your way up so your dog can still see it’s you) and give your dog treats or play with him for a little while, then take it off again.  Later add another piece of the costume and do the same, and so on, until your dog has seen you in the full costume.  If you’re wearing a mask or something that covers your face let your dog watch you put it on so he sees the change in front of him, then give him his very favourite treat then remove the mask quickly.

For cats, consider a safe room as well.  If you are opening your door repeatedly it is possible your cat could sneak out, then get spooked with all the costumes, and it could be difficult to get her back home.  This could be very traumatic for your kitty and for your family!

Hallowe’en only comes once a year, so if you don’t need your pets to get used to the costumes, the bright lights, the sounds, the scary music, the kids screaming, and so on, consider giving them a safe space and letting him skip this strange human custom altogether.

For more tips and information on Halloween with pets, please visit Family Paws’ blog post on the topic at https://www.familypaws.com/halloween-and-hounds/

Happy Hallowe’en!

 To learn more about us, please visit us on Facebook at Facebook.com/PawsPetMB

 and visit our website at www.PawsitiveCare.ca