NEW CLIENT

SESSION SUMMARY

General Structure

Every dog enters every relationship expecting it to be unequal. They expect someone in the leadership role and someone in the follower role. To them, the leader doesn’t have any negative connotation. Leadership to our dogs means taking on the responsibility of making decisions and keeping everyone safe. To our dogs (and to humans!), the leadership role means more work and more stress. You aren’t taking anything away from your dog (except stress!) by filling this role for them. Everything in nature is earned. If we haven’t earned the leadership role from their perspective, we can’t expect them to follow us if they aren’t sure we’ll be a good leader. If our dog isn’t clear on who’s in what role, we need to increase structure to offer clarity on who’s in charge of what in the relationship.

We call this phase “Becoming Believable.” If your dog is used to making the majority of decisions on their own without checking in with you on a day to day basis, it’s going to be very difficult for them to believe you when you try to make decisions for them during moments of increased excitement or stress. If we want our dogs to believe us when we give direction to them when they’re having a “big feeling,” we need to make sure we commonly give direction when nothing is going on at all as well. 

Here are some examples of rules and boundaries that are helpful for providing clarity on who’s in what position in the relationship. The more you provide, the more clarity your dog has. We suggest writing out the new rules and boundaries so everyone who lives in the house is on the same page. We highly recommend committing to the new rules and boundaries you choose for at least 90 days. We know the first few weeks can be hard but consistency is key.

Following leadership is natural and instinctual for our dogs. Having someone to follow means our dogs get to just relax and feel safe knowing that we'll make all the decisions for them.

  • When revamping a relationship, we suggest not allowing your dog on furniture or to sleep in bed with you. Because most dogs choose to jump on and off the furniture many times a day, we count those as decisions they’re making about some major resources. After all, the couch is almost never just “the couch” to our dogs. Jumping on the couch allows your dog access to not only your space but your attention, your affection, and being on the same elevated level as you, your family, and your guests. In the animal world, elevation is status. When we sleep in bed with our dogs and allow them to share our space each night, we may be thinking that we’re simply communicating that we want to cuddle with them. However, in their world, the leader sleeps away from the rest of the pack in order to provide protection and direction. What we may think of as miniscule, actually means a great deal to our dogs.

    Don’t freak out! We aren’t anti-furniture for our dogs. We aren’t even against dogs sleeping in bed with us. But we are “anti-privilege without compliance” and we are against choosing to offer confusion sprinkled with cuddles over clarity and a feeling of safety. In order to allow our dogs on furniture, we want to make sure we’ve clarified our relationship with them. If you can check off all of the boxes on our “Furniture Checklist” in our Session Summary Handouts located at the bottom of the page, you’re good to go! However, if you notice your dog’s behavior backsliding, you can always take furniture privileges away again to provide additional clarity. Here’s a few of items found on the list:

    • Must be at least a year old

      • Dogs actually don't hit social maturity until they're 2 years old, so even a year old is pushing it!

    • Must have lived in our home for at least a year

      • Even if we’ve provided structure from the very beginning, if we’ve only owned our dog for less than a year, that’s not quite enough time for them to fully believe they can rely on us as their guide when things get stressful for them.

    • Must come every time I call them, the first time I call them

      • Recall is a relationship based command! If your dog doesn’t come back when you call them, that’s a good sign the relationship isn’t where we want it to be quite yet. After all, if someone you trusted and respected called your name…you’d answer, right?

  • Create psychological boundaries around certain areas like the kitchen, bedrooms, or even different levels of your home. Even if there’s no specific reason to keep them out of certain areas, it’s still a good idea to practice this so you can exercise creating boundaries. Some common areas people usually make “no dog zones” are the kitchen, the bedroom, children’s room, baby’s nursery, and the office. These boundaries are especially important because they’re psychological boundaries. Baby gates and closed doors are helpful when you can’t enforce the boundary. But as often as possible, it’s good to practice teaching your dog to not enter a certain area simply because you asked them to, not because they physically can’t enter.

  • Remember, your space is one of the most valuable and easily accessible resources to your dog. Teaching your dog to be invited into your space instead of invading your space can be an invaluable skill for so may different reasons. Practically, if we own more than one dog or live in a home with other people who also like to share our space, this skill teaches our dogs that they aren’t allowed to claim us and push others out of the way when they’re trying to spend time with us. Teaching your dog to be invited into your space prevents issues like claiming and resource guarding the humans in the house. When it comes to multi-dog households, practice calling in one dog at a time and teaching the other one to move away or give space until called. Then switch!

    Remember, when we allow them to have it whenever they want, they own it. If we give affection simply because our dog demands it, they’re the ones making the decisions and they’ll remember that the next time you try to provide direction. It’s all about practicing making decisions for them! Practice holding off on affection if they're being pushy about it and giving it to them only when they're calm and ideally…when they’re invited!

  • Teaching impulse control and a calm mindset before going in or out of any doors isn’t just to create a balanced dog…it’s to keep our dogs safe. Open doors do not mean go! If someone accidentally leaves the front door open, we don’t want our dogs assuming they can just bolt out. Behaviorally, this is a great way to build relevancy with your dog. It’s something quick and easy you can build into your every day routine. Asking your dog to have some impulse control around the crate door, the door to the backyard, the car door, the front door before walks or when you invite over guests, the gate in the backyard and every other threshold you encounter together puts you in a position of information center and helps slow your dog’s mind down before potentially exciting situations. Remember to wait for eye contact and to keep your release command as calm as possible.

  • If your dog is jumping all over you and over excited whenever anybody walks in the door, remember to not reinforce that excitement by petting them or talking to them. Sometimes, if we aren’t careful, we can be the ones that create the excitement that the dog feeds off of and gets redirected into jumping or barking. If your dog is fearful or anxious, make sure you aren’t reinforcing that state of mind through affection. Although we may be intending to comfort, in moments of fear or anxiety our dogs need leadership and instruction more than affection.

    Set the tone for the energy you want your dog to be. For dogs that are overexcited when guests come over or family members come home, we suggest making it a habit to ignore the dogs for at least 10 to 15 minutes after walking in the door. When you do interact with them, keep the interactions calm! For dogs that struggle with anxiety and fear, we suggest behaving as if there’s nothing to be afraid of whatsoever. If we want our dogs to look to us to see how they should perceive the situation, we want them to see us in a calm and confident mindset so they can mirror it! Influence the energy in the room instead of matching it. Be the thermostat, not the thermometer!

  • If there was one piece of advice we could give any dog owner looking to better their relationship with their dog…it would be this! Regardless of what boundaries you choose, always enforce the direction you give your dog. If you can’t enforce what you’re asking then don’t ask it! The best way to teach your dog that they can blow you off is by consistently asking for things you aren’t able to actually enforce.

    How do we enforce it? The leash! We suggest all dogs that are currently in training drag a leash around the house so you can guide them and enforce direction that either they don’t quite understand yet or aren’t used to having to actually follow through with. When it comes to asking your dog to go to place, make sure the leash is in your hand or you’re at least able to pick it up before you ask it! When you want your dog to come back inside but you aren’t sure if they’ll listen when you call them, don’t call them! Walk outside, get to a distance that you’re confident they’ll listen to you at, and then call them. The best way to make sure that our words hold value to our dogs is by ensuring that every word we say to them has meaning! Don’t repeat commands. Talk less, enforce more.

  • Moving away from free feeding and adding in more structure to meal time is beneficial for a number of reasons. Behaviorally, we want to make sure there aren’t a lot of resources our dog can have whenever they want them if we’re trying to teach them to look to us to make decisions for them. Medically, we want to teach our dog to eat when food is down so we’re able to tell when they aren’t feeling good. Appetite is a huge indicator of health. If our dog goes from eating every time food is down to not turning their nose up at their dinner, we can bet that something is wrong and get them to the vet sooner rather than later. To go from free feeding to structured feeding, limit the amount of time that food is down and feed the same exact amount each meal time regardless of how much was eaten the meal before. We normally suggest 10-15 minutes for each meal. Don’t supplement with treats or human food in between meals or there won’t be any motivation to eat the next meal. We also encourage feeding in the crate to eventually create a positive association with the crate and limit the amount of distractions during meal time.

Three Safe Spaces

There are three spaces we want our dogs to know they can go to in order to clock out, turn their brain off, or opt out of a situation. The three places we want to ensure that our dogs feel safe are in the crate, in place, and by our side. We highly recommend each dog have all three of these spaces available to them in their day to day lives.

The crate is the most foundational and easiest way to teach our dogs how to access a neutral mindset. Place work is a great way to teach our dogs how to stay calm, respect a boundary, and how to turn their brains off while still being in the same room as distractions, excitement, and triggers. Lastly, and the most difficult one, teaching our dogs that when they’re by our side they can rely on us to support them through whatever comes our way allows us to be anywhere in the world with our dog and still provide them with a feeling of safety and the ability to “opt out.” Although each of these spaces are different, the one thing they all have in common is nothing happens to your dog in these spaces. They are each their own “no confrontation zone.”

  • The crate should be a safe place for our dogs. We don’t use it as punishment or simply when we need to prevent unwanted behaviors. The crate is your dog’s bedroom. You wouldn’t invite anyone to live with you without offering them a bedroom or a space that is just theirs to get away, right? The same standard should be upheld for your dog. There is no substitution for the crate. There is no “growing out” of the crate. The crate is a space we offer to our dogs as their own for the entirety of their lives. We want the crate to be a space where they can turn their brain off and not worry about anything. Eventually, it will become a healthy coping mechanism for when they’re feeling overwhelmed. When they’re in the crate, we don’t talk to them or excite them in any way. We also don’t want to give big corrections. If one vocal correction doesn’t work to calm them down, just let them cry it out. Try not to let your dog out of the crate when they’re whining or barking.

    We suggest utilizing the crate during these times every day:

    Overnight To Sleep
    They deserve to clock out overnight!

    Meal Times
    They deserve to not have to look over their shoulder wondering who’s going to take their food! We also highly recommend letting larger breed dogs rest in their crate after eating so they can fully digest in order to prevent “bloat.”

    “Nap Time”
    Crating our dogs during the day for a few hours, regardless of if we’re home or not, helps ensure our dogs don’t think of the crate as something that only happens when you aren’t home or when you’re asleep! This allows us to create a well rounded idea of the crate being a place to “clock out” regardless of what’s going on around them.

    After Training
    Crating our dogs after any training session you do with them or any big event creates an opportunity for latent learning. When dogs learn something new, it’s so important to give them time to process and let what they just learned sink in. Remember to keep your training sessions short!

    When We Can’t Be Intentional
    If we find ourselves in a situation our dog is likely to have a big feeling over or our dog is likely to behave in a way we don’t like, it’s important that we ask ourselves…”Do I have the bandwidth to help support my dog through this?” If you aren’t available to teach them what you want from them in the situation, it’s better if they’re in the crate until you can show them how you want them to behave.

    If you need additional help or want more information on crate training, we recommend checking out our training guide. Mirror Image K9’s Crate Training Guide has everything you need to know and step by step instructions on how to go about teaching your dog that the crate is a safe space! Additionally, we recommend you give the Think Like a Dog Podcast Episode: Crate Training a listen. It is dedicated to help explain the crate and tips for training.

    If you do not have a crate, you can find a few different types on Amazon. Some dogs prefer the wire crates and others prefer the more closed in airline carrier type crates. You can find both options that we recommend on our Amazon Storefront under “Crates, Place Cots, & Dog Beds.” If your dog has a history of breaking out of the crate or hurting themselves in it, we highly recommend investing in an Impact Crate. Use the Promo Code “OZZIE” for 15% off your purchase. For dogs that struggle with destroying blankets and beds in the crate, we highly recommend using Primo Pads, a comfortable and durable vinyl pad that’s easy to clean and difficult to destroy!

  • The most important part of “place” is that your dog associates it with a calm mindset. The first and most important rule of place is that nothing happens to your dog on place, good or bad. We don’t pet our dogs on place, we don’t feed them or give treats on place, we don’t do muzzle training or nail trims on place…nothing! We want them to be able to go there when they’re stressed and BANK on the fact that nothing has ever happened to them there. By practicing place as a “no confrontation zone” we create the expectation from our dog that nothing is going to happen to them there. And when they can expect nothing, it’s a lot easier for them to settle down and access that neutral and calm state of mind.

    There’s really two ways that we suggest practicing place work. The first is teaching it as a boundary and focusing on “proofing” it. The second is teaching it as their default resting space and utilizing tether training if needed to help enforce a bigger boundary for longer periods of time.

    When it comes to proofing place, we’re going to focus on distance, duration, and distraction. We suggest keeping these sessions short. A few five to ten minute sessions every day for the first few weeks will help build up their understanding of place as a boundary. Over time, you can build up the amount of time you spend on a training session but at first, keep it short and sweet. Start with low level distractions like sitting down and standing up and work toward more difficult things like picking up their favorite toy and putting it down or opening and closing the front door. Start with short distances like just a few feet away and then build up to leaving the room and coming back in. We never expect a dog to hold place when we’ve left the room for an extended period of time but quick trips to the kitchen or bathroom are totally do-able! When you get a good foundation of place inside, start practicing it outside around different distractions. Practice place in the backyard, the driveway as kids are getting off the school bus, the park around new people and dogs, and as many other environments as possible. Start small, but don’t stop challenging them and creating more information around what place means!

    When it comes to teaching your dog that “place” is their default resting space, we focus more on the duration but less on the boundary. If we only ask our dog to go to place during those five to ten minute sessions, they aren’t getting a lot of time understanding it as somewhere they can go and nothing happens to them. For this, we highly suggest tethering your dog near place while in the same room with you. This way, you don’t have to give the command for place and follow through with putting them back every time they leave. Even if your dog stands next to place for a while, eventually they’ll lay down on place because it’s their most comfortable option. Tethering them next to place is more about practicing a calm mindset on place more than impulse control. We highly recommend this method for dogs who tend to get off place after less than a minute or puppies who tend to have super short attention spans!

    We recommend checking out our Place Work Training Guide and the Think Like a Dog Podcast Episode: All About Place for more information and guidance on place work!

    We suggest a raised place bed to help clarify the boundary. Our recommendation for place boards are the 4Legs4Pets cots. We sell these at the center as well for a good bit cheaper than you can get anywhere online but we don't offer shipping services for these. If you'd like to place a customized order for a certain color/size, we can order it for you and have it shipped to us for you to come by and pick up at the center.

    If you’d like to buy a different type of Place Cot on Amazon or would like one that is foldable and portable you can find our recommendations for other types of Place Cots on our Amazon Storefront under “Crates, Place Cots, & Dog Beds.”

  • The walk is one of the most important rituals you do with your dog. When you’re walking with them, you’re simulating migration. The way you walk with your dog represents your relationship. We want it to look like two best friends walking together, not one crazy friend dragging the other friend around because they forgot they were on a walk with them. The biggest thing we look for when it comes to the leash walk is: connection. We want our dogs to connect to us and in order to achieve that, we need to be willing to connect back.

    When it comes to the walk, we're going to focus on quality over quantity. We suggest taking short walks with a high level of connection between you and your dog and a ton of communication through the slip lead rather than a long walk where there’s lots of reactivity or excitement to different things. You’re both still learning the rules of the leash walk and learning how to communicate using pressure and release so it's important that we take our time to make sure we aren't mis-communicating anything.

    Remember, with pressure/release, pressure ON when we’re giving direction or disagreeing with something and pressure OFF when we like what’s happening. If you’re conditioning your dog to the loop, take it slow! If they throw a few temper tantrums make sure you aren’t reinforcing that behavior and taking the loop directly off after a big temper tantrum. Even if your walk is only 10-15 minutes up and down the driveway or even inside your home working through the power loop, you’re still working toward a goal and practicing a pattern you want to repeat. In the Session Summary Handouts below you’ll see a step by step guide on the correct way to hold the leash and how to apply the power loop!

    We highly recommend checking out our Leash Walking Training Guide as well as listening to the Think Like a Dog Podcast Episode: The Benefits Of A Structured Walk. The training guide goes over everything you need to know about teaching a structured leash walk. There are step by step guides on how to teach pressure and release, why we use the slip lead, how to do leash drills, and what we want our end result of our walk to look like! If you haven’t already purchase a slip lead from us, you can order one online on our website or pick one up from us at the center.

Puppies

All of the sections above still apply for our pups! Even though we might need to take baby steps with place work and teach the leash walk in smaller bits, the structure we offer our adult dogs in order to help remedy behavioral issues we still need to offer to our puppies in order to prevent behavioral issues.

However, there are some issues specific to puppies that we felt needed to be included! If you feel like your puppy could benefit from more practice in a more distracting environment, check out our puppy classes! We keep class sizes small so we can provide individual attention to each puppy attending. Even if you’ve already done individual sessions, puppy classes are a great way to put everything you’re working on to the test and practice providing direction with distractions present!

    1. Puppies have short attention spans. Pushing a puppy to learn while they are already exhausted will only result in an extremely frustrated puppy. Try working on skills with your puppy in short increments such as 5-10 mins at a time a few times a day rather than 30 mins only one time a day. Your puppy will soak in more information if they practice things more frequently rather than spending long amounts of time on one thing.

    2. Don't forget to utilize your crate. Puppies need around 18-20 hours of sleep per day. On top of overnight and while home alone, your puppy should be taking scheduled naps in the crate. These naps should be spent in the crate with the door closed

    3. Your puppy is learning something about you and their environment every moment whether you’re teaching or not! If you’re not able to be intentional with your puppy, it’s best to let them rest in their crate or on place.

    4. Boundaries are just as important for puppies as they are for toddlers! All the boundaries you’ll find above under “general structure” should be offered to your puppy. Here’s a great blog post on how important it is to give boundaries to your puppy in order to prevent behavioral problems growing up. “A Friendly Puppy Became An Aggressive Dog”

    5. The most important thing you can teach your puppy is how to do nothing at all! The best way to do that is through place work. If your puppy is struggling with settling on place and you find yourself putting them back every second, try tethering them! Make sure they are always within eyesight while doing this to avoid any injury to the puppy. You can tie the leash to a heavy piece of furniture or close the leash in a door. If the puppy ends up laying on the floor instead of the place board during this time don’t worry. Tethering is more about teaching your puppy to settle on their own rather than the precision of being on the bed. That part comes when they’re a bit older!

  • Socialization is something we suggest starting right away. Socialization does not mean having your dog be okay playing with every new person and dog they meet. Healthy socialization means being calm and respectful around new dogs and people. The best way to start socializing your dog is bringing them out into public in a controlled way and asking them to just observe. It’s important to make sure you’re listening to them when they become overstimulated and ideally try to prevent this by keeping training sessions short and gradually increasing distraction level. Start in places where there are minimal factors that are out of your control, such as on a leash at a quiet park, or over to a friend's house.

    It is important here to advocate for the space and time your dog needs. Advocating for our dogs often requires us to communicate to people that your dog is in training and cannot interact with them right now. It’s also extremely important to not allow other dogs to greet your puppy while on a leash during your socialization training! You want your puppy to understand that not everything exists for them. If your puppy is constantly being touched and talked to by every new person they meet, this can create the expectation that every human will put pressure on them which can later create issues such as reactivity, anxiety, fear, or inappropriate levels of excitement around new people. The first step is ALWAYS teaching our puppies how NOT to interact before we teach them how to interact respectfully!

  • The best way to go about potty training your puppy is by practicing prevention tactics. To prevent your puppy from practicing going potty inside, stay intentional with what they are doing during the day. We want to focus less on teaching our puppy how to let us know when they have to go to the bathroom and more on teaching them how to hold it for longer periods of time!

    • Create a good crating schedule. If your puppy does not go to the bathroom outside when you know they need to go, put them in their crate for 15 minutes and then try again! Repeat this process until they do what they need to do outside. This is a great way to prevent accidents while also providing clarity of where they should go to the bathroom. As puppies grow older they will be able to gain better bladder control. A good rule of thumb when deciding how many hours a puppy can hold their bladder is by taking their age in months adding one. For example a three month old puppy should be able to hold it for around four hours. It’s okay if you aren’t there yet. Start at an interval you feel like you’ll be successful at and then slowly build up from there!

    • Monitor food and water access. If your puppy is eating in the crate and then going straight outside after having a bit of time to digest their food, this leaves very little time for a number two accidents to happen. Typically puppies need between 5 - 30 minutes to digest. They should stay pretty consistent with timing. Allow your puppy to drink when needed but make note of how much they are drinking and how long they may need before having to go outside. Keep in mind that exercise will require the puppy to drink more and digest food quicker and may throw off your schedule a bit. You can take up your puppy’s water at a certain time each night to have more success with them holding it over night.

    • Make sure the crate is not the issue. Dogs naturally do not want to go to the bathroom where they sleep. If you have the appropriate crate size, there should not be room for the puppy to potty in one corner and sleep in the other. Remember, the crate is their bedroom…not their bedroom with a private bathroom attached! The crate should be just big enough for them to fully sit and stand without their head touching the top and completely turn around without discomfort. While potty training it is helpful to avoid any blankets/absorbent material in the crate.

    • Talk to your vet. If your puppy seems painful while urinating or has frequent unexplainable accidents in the house, reach out to your vet to clear any medical issues such as incontinence or urinary tract infections. These are MUCH more common in female puppies than male puppies but it’s always important to get a clean bill of health when we run into potty training issues!

Miscellaneous

  • It’s very important that the muzzle becomes a completely neutral tool. If we only use it right before a stressful event is going to happen, the muzzle itself will start to represent stress. I suggest putting the muzzle on once a day and doing different exercises. You can go for a walk, do place work, or even just let them wear it around the house. Check out our Muzzle Training Guide for a step by step guide on how to get your dog comfortable in their muzzle! The training guide also includes information on proper fitting, different muzzle types, and a variety of different methods to work toward a muzzle trained pup! Additionally, the Think Like a Dog Podcast Episode: Training Tools is an entire episode that dives further into the benefits of muzzle training and how to muzzle train.

    One of the muzzles we recommend are Baskerville Muzzles. You can find Baskerville Muzzles on our Amazon Storefront under “Training.” They’re great for dogs that need a muzzle sooner than later and don’t have any special sizing needs.

    Another great option for muzzles that you can add a little more color to and has a few more options for sizing are the Muzzle Movement muzzles. The only problem with these muzzles is the company is based in the UK so they take a few weeks for shipping! We do carry a few options in house so if you’re local to us, feel free to stop by and see what colors and sizes we have in stock!

    If you know you're going to be using a muzzle long term or for longer periods of time, Trust Your Dog Muzzles can create a custom muzzle for your dog that tends to be more comfortable for them. There is sizing and measuring involved in the ordering process for custom fit muzzles so if you can't safely measure your dog, the Baskerville and Muzzle Movement muzzles have more general sizes and will work until you can get your dog comfortable with handling. However, we HIGHLY recommend going with a custom fit muzzle for optimal comfort for your dog! Use promo code: MIK910 when ordering to receive 10% off all Trust Your Dog products.

  • Littermate syndrome is one of the toughest behavioral problems to work through. It’s important to remember that littermate syndrome does not just happen with biological littermates. If you have two dogs under a year old, it is VITAL that you start building separate relationships and working to prevent littermate syndrome now. Here is a video on littermate syndrome that explains what it is, why it happens, and how to prevent it or work through it. You can also check out Think Like a Dog Podcast Episode: Bringing Home a New Dog Part One where we touch on the topic of littermate syndrome. For more information, here's a couple great articles on littermate syndrome as well: Adopting Littermates.

  • We haven’t ever come across a behavioral problem that the Jentle Method can’t help with. Practicing the Jentle Method can help you with building connection, pressure and release, leash walking, reactivity, overexcitement and SO MUCH MORE. We highly encourage you to check out Oregon Tails Online Membership Page and learn their Jentle Method. The method isn’t your typical loose leash walk. It focuses heavily on teaching pressure and release and building a strong connection between human and dog and how to reach a neutral mindset in any environment. There’s no dog that wouldn’t benefit from adding in the Jentle Method to their list of exercises.

  • If you’re introducing a new human pack member to your pack soon, we’re so glad you started training now! We believe that the only thing that should be different for the dog when the baby comes home is the actual baby! To us, that means that all the rules and boundaries that are necessary to enforce when bringing a newborn into the house should already be familiar and in your daily routine well before the baby comes home. We highly recommend following @dogmeets_baby on Instagram for tips on all things kids and dogs. But here are a few tips we feel like are the most important!

    • They're your kids, not your dogs! Especially when bringing home a new baby, we want to control access to the baby. By freely inviting our dogs to enter our newborn or toddler’s space whenever they want, we’re setting ourselves up to not have much say over what they do in that space. Teach them how to be invited into their space and always ask them to leave if they weren’t invited first.

    • Supervision is required at all times! We never suggest leaving your young child alone with your dog regardless of how much you trust your dog. We don’t ever want to put your dog in a position that they believe the only way to advocate for themselves is to bite. Your job is to teach your children how to respectfully interact with your dog while teaching your dog healthy ways to opt out of interactions they don’t want to be involved in.

    • Crate and Place are Do Not Disturb Zones! This allows your dog healthy ways of getting out of situations they find stressful. Teach your children that when the dog is in the crate or on place, they aren’t to be messed with. For some kids, it’s helpful to put bright colored tape on the floor a few feet outside of place and crate so the kids know not to enter those zones.

    • Set the example. If we want to make sure our kids don’t rough house with the dog or aren’t all over them hugging and kissing them because we aren’t sure if our dog will like that or not…we have to make sure we aren’t doing those things in front of the kids either!

    • The nursery and kids rooms should be a no dog zone! Especially for dogs that tend to chew things up, the nursery and children’s rooms tend to be filled with items that are BEGGING for our dogs to chew on them. Lots of little socks and toys that look like dog toys and a dog that doesn’t understand boundaries quite yet makes for a very dangerous and very expensive situation.

Vet Visit Support

If you’ve completed a “Veterinary Visit Support” Session or are interested in having us help your dog through their exam, here’s some information on the ways you can make a stressful time a little less stressful for your dog. For more information on our Veterinary Visit Support Service, click here.

We recommend that you listen to the episode of Think Like a Dog Podcast: Veterinary Visits and Grooming.

  • To better understand how your dog is feeling and how to help in different situations, it is important to be able to read their body language. Remember to look at these body language signs as different puzzle pieces that when put together, make up a whole picture. If we only look at one part of the equation, such as a wagging tail, we may miss other important cues such as growling or a raised paw and mistakenly believe that because you noticed the wagging tail, the dog must be happy.

    Understanding these signs will help you be able to predict unwanted behaviors and act appropriately to prevent them from escalating. Click here for an article describing different types of body language that are commonly misread.

  • There are many things we can do to help our dogs feel more comfortable before we even walk into the vet clinic. If we only try to address our dog's stress when it has already become too intense, we may not be able to communicate with them as clearly or easily as we would if we had provided support sooner.

    Desensitization: A lot of the procedures and tools used at the vet are completely unnatural and foreign to your dog. Whether it’s new noises, new sensations, or new ways of holding their body still, your dog has no context for why it’s happening or if it’s safe to allow it to happen. It is our job to correctly practice exposing our dog to these things beforehand to insure they are familiar with and understand how to respond to them.Some tools that may be useful to aid in the desensitization process are nail clippers, nail dremel, brushes, muzzles, gloves, and syringes without a needle tip. Another helpful tip is to watch or ask your vet what types of tools or restraint they may use, so you can replicate this at home while there are no other stressors present.

    Leash: Having the correct knowledge and understanding of the leash will be extremely important in communicating with your dog throughout the visit. If you and your dog do not understand basic pressure and release, walking into the vet could be chaotic and involve lots of pulling and frustration. The way you enter the office is the way your appointment will start. It sets the tone for how the visit is going to go. A calm mindset is our goal from the moment you leave your house to the end of the visit. If you are struggling with which type of leash to choose and how to use it , try looking into our Leash Walking Guide. Depending on which vet you use, they typically have slip leads readily available to use during the visit. If your dog is not wearing one already, there is a chance a technician may feel they need to use one to assist them in the handling process. It helps if they already have an understanding of how it works!

    Exercise: If your dog struggles with the vet, it’s best to get a later appointment and try to avoid the vet being the first thing your dog does that day. Make time to physically and mentally fulfill your dog's needs in the time before you leave the house or leave a little early to take a walk outside of the vet. Although a tired dog may seem like a more behaved dog, we do not want to OVER work the dog. This could lead to frustration from overstimulation or avoidance of addressing underlying behavior issues you may typically see while the dog is not overly exhausted. A structured leash walk, the Jentle Method, and/or some place work in a new environment are some good ideas of where to start. Try making each activity you do start and end with a calm mindset. You can find more information on leash walking, the Jentle Method, and place work in the sections above!

  • When we see our dogs distressed and uncomfortable, it is our natural instinct to want to help them feel better by reaching down and petting them. Though affection may feel nice to a child who is scared, this can actually make our dogs feel even more confused. Affection to our dog is something that they deem as a reward whether it be petting, baby talk, letting them sit on our laps and come into our space, or even just excessive eye contact. If we reward our dogs in times where they are not on their best behavior, this will teach them that that behavior is something that you want more of. On the other hand, sometimes that affection can add pressure onto a dog who is already extremely over-stimulated. Our space, body, leash, and eye contact all count as forms of pressure and will only amplify how our dogs are feeling when too much of it is added. At the end of the day, when our dogs are stressed and anxious, the only thing that will make them feel better is information. When all we offer our dogs is a little pat on the back or baby talking and forget to provide expectations on what they’re supposed to do in the environment, we’re actually not offering the help and support we think we are!

  • Where we ask our dogs to be while waiting in the exam room communicates so much to them. If our dogs are out in front of us, sitting on our laps or our feet, or in between us and the door we know the vet tech will walk through, they can get the idea that we want them to be in charge of the situation. Being in front of us also gives us very little control physically. It will be harder to use our leash without accidentally triggering a reaction by pulling backwards on the leash kicking in our dogs “oppositional reflex.”

    If our dogs are tucked underneath us or curled up in our lap it could be just as detrimental. This will give our dogs the signal that they should be fearful and need to hide from the situation. The vet is not a real threat to our dog therefore they should not need to hide or be hidden. In reality, they’re as safe as they can be! You never want a staff member to have to grab the dog from your lap, from behind, or from underneath you. Depending on your relationship with your dog, they may feel like they have a right to show ownership over you and if a staff member tries to get close to you, this could be a perfect storm for a bite to happen.

    The ideal spot for the dog to be is right by our side. This gives us full control allowing us to keep a short leash and add pressure upwards to keep the dog in place if needed. You can also use your body easily to turn into them head on and move them back if they are attempting to move in towards the staff member. The safety of both your dog and the veterinary staff is of utmost importance. Please ensure you are HOLDING your dog’s leash when the staff enters the room and paying attention to where they’re positioned!

  • Before we can ask anything of our dogs, we have to make sure that we are cool, calm, and collected. If we are panicking, it would be unfair to ask any different of our dogs. A common stressor for dog owners is seeing their dog go through something they don't like. We wish that we could just prevent this thing from ever happening and feel terrible we can't. Instead of staying in that mindset, let's look at how we can help them feel better and take as much stress off of them as possible so they can progress and we can teach them better coping mechanisms for future visits. In moments like these, it’s important to stay in reality. Ask yourself, “Is the vet actually harming my dog?” “Is what I’m asking of them painful or unnecessary?” “Is this situation actually totally and completely safe for them?”

    Our dogs help us become better people because they force us to be leaders to them in times of need. Dogs can quickly pick up on the energy we are putting off so it is best to try to avoid communicating with them in any way except our leash and calm body language.

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