Tag: dogs

“Vet Finds Narcotics in Puppy’s System”

Written by Nanette Lai on September 4, 2024. Posted in Featured.

I’m reading the Toronto Star article about the incident in the subtitle. The writer quotes a Toronto Humane Society team member about this. “Train your dog to drop items on command.”

I disagree with that suggestion because prevention can be much simpler to train: teach your dog to ignore items on the ground without a cue.

Many dog trainers instruct owners to teach their dogs to “leave it” which is a cue. Any cue tells your dog to do something. Which means your dog is already doing something else. Often, something you don’t want your dog doing.

Have you ever told your dog to sit after your dog jumps up on someone?

Do you see the problem? Think about how you taught the sit using positive reinforcement. Chances are you used a food treat held above your dog’s nose to get the sit. Then you gave your dog the treat.

After the word was added during the education, your dog understood what would get him a treat: you say sit, she plants her butt on the ground and the treat follows.

All cues reinforce the behavior happening immediately beforehand.

Reinforced behaviors repeat (BF Skinner)

Telling your dog to “leave it” reinforces your dog ignoring you to investigate an area for something to sniff and consume. Throughout your dog’s life, you have to be actively be involved in everything your dog does. That is stressful.

I was just consulting with a couple about reinforcement going wrong. The couple thought about this and realized whenever the dog investigates the backyard and picks up acorns in her mouth, the owners ask the dog to “drop it.” The dog complies every time, releasing the acorn and gets a treat for doing exactly that.

In my mind, I could visualize the clients doing this when they recognized what was going on.

(Editors note: As we head into peak mushroom season, think of how dangerous it can be for a dog to investigate and pick up a bad mushroom. You’ll want to encourage the dog to seek you for reassurance before anything!)

I’m glad I had a chance to detail the reinforcement process for them.

Thanks for reading!

How MS Helps Me Prevent Burnt Paws

Written by Nanette Lai on August 7, 2024. Posted in Featured.

Being diagnosed with a chronic disease with no cure can be depressing. However, I am an opportunist.

My opportunistic nature means I will grasp any advantage my condition confers. These advantages may not influence my health outcomes permanently, but they are something to write about and grow my insights to promote the health of many species. I often use these to create short video content on social media to promote animal or human health.

One advantage I have recognized is the temporary symptoms that I might get when I am outdoors walking my dogs during warm weather. Before I leave, I always check the weather app on my cell phone. The data I collect are air temperature and humidity because those impact how well I function (or not).

I have learned the narrow temperature range where I do not experience any distress from MS. Ideally, I prefer being outdoors when the air temperature is 14C/57.2 F.

Coincidentally, this overlaps with veterinary recommendations about safe temperatures for dogs.

Air temperature impacts the surfaces that dogs’ paws touch. There are many social media posts talking about air temperatures and corresponding temperatures on asphalt or concrete. Those are common surfaces that dog paws come into contact with during walks.

Asphalt and concrete can get incredibly hot despite comfortable air temperatures for both humans and dogs. The heat on those materials rise to the point where paw pads get burnt. If you have ever seen any photos about burnt paws online, those are true burns.

Which hurt and require extensive treatment.

Because I am incredibly heat-sensitive, even a slight rise of 1 degree in air temperature means I start experiencing symptoms. These symptoms are temporary and go away when I get myself out of the heat. When I start feeling dizzy or my coordination becomes more compromised than usual, that tells me the air temperature has gone up from when we left the house.

My automatic response is to tell my dog to go onto the grass. This is so that I can place the back of my hand onto a concrete or asphalt surface in the immediate vicinity. The back of my hand remains on those materials for 5 to 7 seconds as a test.

I then take a sip of water and begin trekking back home, because my heat sensitivity has begun telling me the air temperature is rising. Since I always walk my dogs in the morning, I know the day will continue getting warmer. While we are safe then, I am familiar enough with my condition to recognize that remaining outdoors would mean expecting an increasing decline in my cognition.

To the point where I wouldn’t be able to look out for the dogs.

Being heat-sensitive isn’t great, but I can act as a thermometer to take action immediately. That means I still have some cognitive function able to make decisions before I get into trouble or before my dogs do. This condition can be annoying, but I have learned to make it work.

Thanks for reading!

Where Your Little Dog Should Be When An Unleashed Dog Runs Up To You During A Walk

Written by Nanette Lai on July 4, 2024. Posted in Featured.

You’re taking your puppy or small dog on a leashed walk when a loose dog runs up to both of you. The loose dog’s owner is nowhere to be seen.

The loose dog is circling or lunging at your little dog.

In a panic, you pick up your little dog.

Picking up your little dog is motion. That motion triggers the loose dog to jump up and attack you or your little pooch.

Immediate tips (in the moment):

Guide your pup behind you with the leash

This makes you a wall protecting your little dog.

At the same time, firmly say words to the loose dog like “go home” or “sit.” Something the. loose dog might know.
You can also try shouting “is this your dog?” at anyone nearby.

Ideally, you would be standing with your legs apart and guiding your pup into the space between.

Since most of the advice online only seems to tell you what not to do, I wrote this to tell you what TO do.

Training Game At Home

Teach your little dog or puppy to drop into a down-stay between your legs on cue.

The cue can be whatever you want. For my dog the cue is “DERP.” Not an acronym.

Being in a down position makes your little dog far less interesting to the loose one.

Your legs present a barrier to the other dog, a safe fortress for your little one to remain in.

How To Play This Game

Start playing at home, in a familiar room where your puppy feels confident in.

What you’ll need:

a hungry dog
1 to 3 minutes to play. You can play once a day, or multiple times throughout a day.
cut up many small, soft treats of different values for your pup

Low value treats are those that your pup will eat at home if there’s nothing else like kibble.

High value treats would be ones that your puppy loves and will take any time, anywhere. These are treats you bring to vet visits.

Steps Of Game

Stand with your legs comfortably apart in a doorway inside your home.

When your curious puppy approaches you:

Say “search” and count 1–2 in your mind
Gently throw a low-value treat behind you, through your legs. This should be an underhand throw.

Throwing the treat gets your puppy chasing the food item and gives your puppy the choice to return.

When your puppy returns another round, give your puppy a high-value treat in position between your legs.

Your puppy can be in a sit or a down. As I mentioned, the down position will be the safest for your dog.

If your puppy doesn’t know the down cue, that’s easily remedied.

After you’ve rewarded your puppy for lying down between your legs, say “search” and throw another low-value treat behind you.

To build your puppy holding the down position, give multiple high-value treats (3 to 5) for doing that behavior.

Release your puppy from the down position with “search.”

Thanks for reading!

My Understanding of What A Dog Experiences Locked Inside A Hot Car

Written by Nanette Lai on June 5, 2024. Posted in Blog.

In my profile, I mention I have multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is an incurable disease causing inflammation in my brain and spine.

Part of the MS package comes heat intolerance.

Temperatures that you feel comfortable in — let’s say room temperature (20C/68 F). That temperature or higher is hell for me.

At those temperatures indoors or outdoors, I start getting confused and disoriented. I might lose my balance.

Last November, I found out exactly how heat intolerant I was while riding in my friend’s rental car.

Toronto, CANADA – November 20, 2018: Landscape view of the city of Toronto with legendary CN Tower

November in Toronto rests between the fall/winter seasons. As you might expect, outdoor temperatures are low during that time. At the end of the month, we might experience the first snowfall. With the low temperatures, I usually put on a light winter jacket or layer my clothing.

In late November 2023, a friend returned from Florida to attend her family member’s celebration of life. “Celebration of life” is an updated term to describe a funeral.

After the event, my friend and her family invited me to a casual social gathering. We went to Starbucks.

That trip went well; I got my seasonal latte and consumed that.

Since we all had time, we decided to meet some other people who lived West of the city

During that car trip, I started feeling unwell — I had my winter jacket on, which I started to remove because the car’s heat made me uncomfortable. Taking off my winter jacket brought me some relief, but I still had a warm vest on and began unzipping the vest.

My friend’s partner was driving, and he kindly started opening the window beside me in the back passenger seat.

I appreciated the gesture, but at that point opening the window didn’t do much.

I vomited, at least 3 times. Part of the vomitus was the Starbucks latte.

At the time, I felt so disoriented that I would not have been able to write this.

Reflecting on that event gave me clarity about what dogs experience when they are left in cars during the summer.

The inside of a car heats up rapidly when the sun’s rays hit the car — I’m sure you’ve experienced the irritation of hot leather seats.

My choice of winter wardrobe, having MS, and riding inside a heated car were analogous to having a furred body and physiology that can’t get rid of excess heat well.

Considering my increasing discomfort as a human being in that moving vehicle, I can only imagine the distress a dog experiences locked inside a parked car during warm weather.

Is Crate Training Not Working For Your Dog Or Puppy?

Written by Nanette Lai on March 1, 2024. Posted in Blog.

At some point in any dog’s life, being crated or kennelled will need to happen.

Your dog needs to be hospitalized or transported.

Perhaps “Fluffy” needs to be confined because renovations are going on in your home.

Or you have visitors who are scared of dogs.

In any case, crating Fluffy simply makes sense.

*I am not interested in debating the perceived morality of crating. If you don’t want to crate your dog, or if that’s illegal in your country, feel free to skip this story.*

I’m writing for people who want to crate-train their dogs.

As I was saying to Bin Jiang, I am averse to reading blocks of text.

And I love reading. But I will not read blocks of text.

Such as those in pamphlets from veterinary clinics.

Which team members disseminate to clients on dog behaviour, such as crate training.

As a professional pet dog trainer and veterinary professional, I foresaw challenges with those pamphlets.

If I didn’t want to read those pamphlets, how could we expect veterinary clients to?

Other problems I saw: some pamphlets suggested to owners about luring a dog or puppy into a crate with highly appealing food.

Which might work, or not.

Worse yet, waiting for a puppy or dog to go in on their own — could take a very long time.

Or simply forcing the puppy or dog into the crate and locking the door shut, waiting for the pooch to cry it out.

Which is inhumane.

Instead, I am going to present something a little different.

Teach a dog to LOVE going into a crate.

So much so, that dog is so joyful and runs into the crate.

Prerequisites:

A wire or plastic crate

Before you begin:

Dismantle the crate into constituent parts to help your dog’s success.

A wire crate will have a plastic bottom – pull that out.

The next photo is the bottom part from a plastic crate.

Onward to the first game!

The Paw Target Game

Place a large blanket placed on the ground.

Given a large enough blanket, a dog may step on the blanket seemingly by accident.

When your dog steps on the blanket with just 1 paw, mark the behaviour with whatever sound or word you use such as a click or “yes.”

Reinforce the behaviour by giving a bite-sized treat.
Pause 1 to 2 seconds, say “search” and throw a treat or toy in a direction away from the blanket.

This increases the value your dog has for the blanket.

By allowing your dog the choice of returning to the blanket.

3) Upon your dog’s return, wait for a different behaviour than before.

Such as 2 or more paws on the blanket.

Or a position such as a sit or down.

Mark and reinforce for 2 or more paws.

Pause 1 to 2 seconds. Then say “search” and throw a treat for your dog to chase off the blanket.

Growing the Paw Target Game

Continue this game after your dog continues stepping onto the paw target intentionally after each “search.”

This time, while your dog is off the blanket, quickly reduce the size of the blanket

Fold the paw target in half.

2. Wait to see what your dog does with this half-blanket.

If you have established the value of what that blanket means to your dog, you should see this or similar behaviours.

3. Grow the paw target game some more by throwing a treat in a direction away from the blanket.

This time, while your dog is chasing the treat quickly reduce the size of the blanket by folding it into quarters.

At This Point Of The Paw Target Game:

Evaluate.

How is your dog doing with the quarter blanket?

Is your dog offering behaviours on this little bit of blanket?

If so, progress to the next phase.

If not, expand the blanket to the previous size (half or full) and grow your dog’s confidence at this power level.

Is this quarter blanket small enough to fit into a crate part?

Getting The Paw Target Into The Crate

Remember I asked you to dismantle your dog’s crate?

This is when those parts should be brought in.

Your dog may be very interested and start offering behaviours.

Ifthat is the case, keep playing the same game – throw a treat to get your dog moving off the blanket and crate part.

Because your dog is ready for you to put the crate back together.

Reassembling Pieces Of The Crate

You’ll notice the door isn’t back on this plastic crate yet.

You want to make sure your dog remains confident about going on the blanket while the lid is on.

If you have a wire crate, how comfortable is your dog about going into the crate with the paw blanket on the plastic bottom?

Putting The Crate Together

Plastic Crate

Adding the door.

You’ll notice the blanket is still part of the crate at this point — we want to build on your dog’s confidence.

Move at your dog’s pace.

Wire Crate

Put more of the plastic tray back into the crate.

As you see, with a more confident dog, you can place more of the blanket onto the plastic tray.

Again, move at your dog’s pace.

If all has gone well, your puppy or dog should be happily running into the crate.