FernDog Podcast: Dog Training & Behavior Tips and Advice

It’s time to go over how you should feed your dog. Many people like to leave the food down all day long and let the dog eat whenever he wants to throughout the day, but is that really the best thing to do?

I’ll go into why you might want to switch your dog to a regular feeding schedule and just how it can impact your dog’s behavior.

In this episode

 2:15  Treating dogs like dogs

3:13  How fast should a dog eat

4:00  Feeding as a leadership exercise

6:10  How to transition

 7:42  Using meals to treat behavior issues

9:02  Should you vary what’s in each meal

Ask three different people if you should use a crate and you’ll get three different answers. It seems that everyone has an opinion on it however very few know the facts of what a crate really is to your dog and why it might be a good idea to use it.

In this podcast we’ll discuss the pros and cons of using a crate so you can decide what’s right for you.

In this episode

0:57  Intro to the short show

2:10  The crate debate

3:20  Doing crates the right way

5:04  When you should not use a crate

5:30  Crates and puppies

7:34  How long to use the crate

9:30  Putting it all together

There are an endless amount of high energy dogs that are quickly labeled as trouble makers and unruly because of their energy and lack of manners. These are not bad dogs, just super high energy pooches that just never learned any manners.

In this edition of the podcast I talk with Roo Yori about his super high energy pit bull Wallace, who started off a crazy shelter dog but with some hard work and training became a disc dog champion and all around great dog at home. Wallace’s story was made famous due to Jim Gorant’s book appropriately titled, Wallace.

In this episode

2:34  Welcome Roo 

 3:28  What’s Walace like

4:44  Wallace’s illness

6:51  What Wallace was like in the shelter

12:45  The challenges of shelter life for Wallace

15:18  Finding outlets for Wallace’s energy

24:03  Bad behavior in a home too

25:37  The creation of the spring pole

35:17  A frisbee dog is born

41:38  The reaction to a Pit Bull as a frisbee dog

44:42  Being proactive to get results

Links

Your Dog’s Bucket List – my blog post

Wallace on Facebook

Wallace the book on Amazon

WOD for Dogs on Facebook

Wallace on Youtube

My favorite thing to work on is helping dogs with anxiety and fear. I like it because I feel that every day a dog goes through life in an anxious state of mind his quality of life is decreasing, and that makes me sad. Once you help the dog gain confidence his world will open up to new experiences and become tremendously more enjoyable.

The problem is that addressing fear and anxiety is a slow process that can be frustrating at times because it can be hard to see the little baby steps being made. If the issues are left unaddressed the dog never gets better, only worse over time.

In this episode I’ll tell you exactly how you can work with your shy or fearful dog to get them moving in the right direction and becoming more comfortable with anything that makes them uneasy.

In this episode

0:55  Celebrating 50,000 downloads

2:21  Lister question about reactivity when in the car

4:57  Reading body language to see your dog is uncomfortable

6:09  Identify the triggers

6:75  Finding the “sweet spot”

8:57  Deciding what to work on first

11:23  Figuring out if the fear is workable

13:07  Treatment for a fear of people

18:55  Treatment for a dog uncomfortable with other dogs

22:15  Working with environmental fears

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What breed of dog do you have? Have you considered what behavior traits come with that breed and how your dog’s breed can affect how you train them?

Most people don’t put that much thought into it and then are shocked when their dog act in certain ways, not realizing that the behaviors are genetically coded into their DNA. Breeding characteristics can be pretty strong in some dogs and should be expected in most cases. It’s very important that you understand the genetic traits of your dog so that you know what to expect and then can work with him in a way the supports his breed tendencies instead of fighting them.

In this episode we’ll go over some common breeds, their typical behavior traits and how you can work with them in such a way that you fulfill their genetic needs and are able to train them successfully.

In this episode

2:02  Where dogs come from

4:20  Why we have problems due to breed

5:26  Working dogs

8:41  Climate concerns

10:16  Hunting dogs

12:12  Scent hounds

16:13  Breeds that should never be off leash

17:30 Terriers

21:03  Guarding breeds

23:37  Herding dogs

28:12  Considerations before you get a specific breed

Links

The Dog Bible

Dogs are constantly telling everyone around them how they feel and what their intentions are. They live in family groups and really want a life without conflict. To accomplish this they have a large number of signals that they display to communicate that everything is friendly and cool.

It’s important for you to recognizing these calming signals so that you can understand what’s going on when dogs get together and what they are telling y0u. Many people necessarily are concerned over situations that seem negative, when in reality all the dogs involved are actually working it out just fine.

In this episode I’ll teach you what to look out for and how to recognize the various calming signals so that you have a much better idea of what your dog is feeling and communicating.

In this episode

1:55  What understanding calming signals will do for you

 3:10  The dog pack dynamic

5:05  What happens in a wild wolf pack

6:30  Why dog’s use calming signals

9:00  What dog’s do when they are ready to fight

11:30  What are the most common calming signals

17:20  Common puppy calming signal

20:46  What calming signals mean

24:01  What to do when your dog gives you a calming signal

26:22  A great book on dog calming signals

Links

Canine Body Language by Brenda Aloff

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After working with rescues for a number of years I’ve realized that although people who are involved in dog rescue are very dedicated they can sometimes lack some of the information to really maximize what they do. The problem is that we’re all so busy just doing the day to day stuff to keep the rescue engine running that it’s hard to take the time to assess what we’re doing and learn new ways to do things.

The reason we’re involved in rescue is that we love dogs with all our hearts. The problem is that we sometimes let our emotions dictate our decisions instead of balancing that with what our brains are telling us. Also we get accustomed to doing things as we always have and unless we prioritize learning some new skills it can get continually pushed back.

To help give you some information and sone incite on how you might be able to super charge your rescue efforts I’ve asked the heart and soul of The FernDog Rescue Foundation, Donna Buccellato, to join me to go over what’s really working for us.

In this episode

2:23  My online Dog Rescue 4 Week Course

6:50  Welcome Donna Buccellato to the show!

8:38  Why following your heart can get you into trouble

10:40  How to take care of your fosters

13:08  Danger of taking dogs you can’t handle

14:22  Have an exit strategy

17:38  The most important word you need to learn to say

21:49  How to create a team

28:13  Finding the right people

33:22  Dangers of growing your organization too quickly

37:50  The one metric you should be focusing on in rescue

38:20  Key questions to ask potential adopters

41:44  Be like Dr. House

44:50  Importance of learning about the dog

49:30 What you need to do after you adopt the dog out

52:16  How you can follow up

By far the most common thing people hire me for is dogs that are reactive to other dog while on leash. To us it seems strange that our lovable dog would act so grumpy toward another pooch, but it’s actually quite common. When we put restraints (leash) on our dogs we change natural behavior and introduce tension into our dogs. And tension is never a good thing.

Leash reactivity is caused by a variety of factors and understanding both the cause and the ideal treatment plan is the best way to help it improve. In this episode we’ll discuss what’s going on with leash reactive dogs and go over how you can work with them to change their behavior pattern.

In this episode

 1:20  5 causes of leash reactivity

2:30  What to do if your dog has a bad experience with another dog

4:15  Genetic factors

4:46  How fenced in yards can increase reactivity

7:19  Balancing treatment and management

10:12  Changing your dog’s state of mind

12:09  How repetitions leads to bad habits

14:00  Finding your dogs threshold of tolerance

18:54  The power of a pack walk

22:47  Working in the environment

25:32  Experiment with some training leashes/collars

30:34  How our energy can affect our dog’s

Links

 Blog post: Take That Mailman

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Everyone knows about the age old rivalry between cats and dogs and we are usually not surprised when dogs want to chase cats and other small furry animals. Some dogs, however, can live very happily with cats and other little critters without an issue.

So why are some dog’s cool with other animals while others revel in the hunt? Well, it all comes down to prey drive – some dogs have it and some dogs don’t.

In this episode we’ll talk about prey drive so that you can understand when you can work to lesson it and when instinct is just too strong and management is your only option.

In this episode

 1:30  Happy Birthday Hayley!

2:40  How Hayley shaped my life

5:18  What breeds typically have the highest prey drive

7:00  Nature vs. nurture

7:24  How to tell if your dog has a high prey drive

8:00  Testing a dog with cats

10:00  Helping your dog get along with your cat

11:47  Claws help

12:42  Setting the stage for dogs and cats to get along

14:12  How to help your dog not to fixate

15:04  Making other stuff more interesting

16:16  Let the cat initiate interaction

17:46  Safety first

18:38  Socializing the dog and cat together early

19:21  Understanding when it’s not going to work

20:31  Dogs and squirrels

21:24  How to work with dogs and squirrels

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In this episode we’re going to talk about all those dogs who get a little grumpy about being touched. Whether it’s their ears, back feet, tail or being picked up, for whatever reason they just don’t like it and can get a bit nasty about it.

The key is to change the dog’s perception of the event to make them tolerate (and sometimes even like) the handling. You need to do this in just the right way or you risk making the problem worse. I’ll go over exactly how you can work with your dog so that you can happily handle him without worrying about getting some teeth marks on your hands.

In this episode

1:18  My first online class was a success!

2:57  Why your dog doesn’t like being touched

5:20  The Plan

7:16  Dog’s that don’t like their collar grabbed

8:15  Hand shy dogs

12:20  Dogs that don’t like being brushed

15:22  How to work with dogs that don’t like be disturbed

17:50  Dogs that don’t like being picked up

Links

My online Basic Obedience and Manners Class

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