Tails About Town

11/30/2024

Understanding the ethology of dogs offers a glimpse into the world through their eyes. Knowing this, there is no need or place for aversive tools such as prong collars, choke chains or shock collars.

Science has proven over and over again there is no need for these obsolete tools that are designed to cause pain. If it wasn’t painful, it wouldn’t work, period.

Not only is it immoral to hurt your dog while training, it’s extremely unethical and dangerous to your relationship.

Think deeply before you decide to go the route of using aversive tools and techniques to train your dog.

We have come a long way from using shock treatment in humans and dogs. Shock therapy was used for hyper children 50 years ago. Today, a hyper child is labeled with ADHD. Imagine all these children being treated with shock today. It would never happen. However, shocking dogs is still being used in dog training, despite all the science debunking it.

When we know better we can do better.

This page is about positive reinforcement and there is no debate on the use of shock collars so refrain from debating it.

06/15/2024

Happy 3rd birthday 🥳 Maisy Mae!! You bring us lots of laughs, joy & love 💕 Thanks for being our “little red dog”. We love 💗 you so much 😘

01/16/2024

Cold Weather Guidance for Your Dog:

11/22/2023

As we get into the holiday season, let's remember that consent is a huge issue for dogs. For example, while you may know and trust your human framily and want to be close to them, your dog's boundaries may be different and they need your help. Your dog may need space and time to get acquainted or may not want to be there at all.

Dogs and people can learn to navigate consent in both directions:

- Entering a dog’s space bubble (including touch, sound, with body or devices.)

- Dog entering someone else’s space bubble (including touch, sound, etc.)

Dogs often enjoy touch and invite us to enter their space bubble for play or affection. Different dogs have a different bubble, ranging from -1 meter (“I want to crawl inside your belly and be your baby”) to hundreds of meters away (“All humans terrify me, please go away!”). The size of the space bubble is contextual, meaning that it changes based on the situation.

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You can learn more about consent in my webinar, "Don't Just Grab the Pussycat" - school.grishastewart.com/courses/consent

As always, this webinar is included with a Diamond membership.

For Accessibility:

Image: cat rubbing top of head into the face of a Golden Retriever, who is lying down.

Text: "Consent is not a one-and-done. It’s an active flow of permission back and forth." - Grisha Stewart

11/11/2023

Thank you to all - human and animals for your efforts and lives. On this Remembrance Day and always we owe you our freedoms.

11/02/2023

So this means that the dominance theory has no place in dog training. Dogs are NOT trying to dominate us and we don’t need to dominate them. Clink the link to read David Mech’s explanation of how it came to be and why he debunked it.

https://davemech.org/wolf-news-and-information/

If you haven’t seen Dr. Sofia Yins video on dominance, it’s time you see it. “Tough Love: A Meditation on Dominance and Dogs. Google it!

10/19/2023

10/18/2023

Walks are for dogs not us. I get that when we walk our dogs we get exercised as well but that’s not the point. The point is to allow dogs the freedom to be a dog and do what dogs do and that is sniff their world. Depriving them of this basic instinct is robbing them from a very important and necessary primal instinct.

07/29/2023

If your dog is off their lead, they shouldn't go near on-lead dogs unsupervised.

It's important to always give them the space they need 💚

06/08/2023

Love ❤️ this!! We need to work on changing our language when we talk about dog training!

04/26/2023

Its ok to say NO..... In fact I encourage it. (One year since last posted).

If someone wants to pat your dog but you are unsure...and more importantly your dog is unsure...., be your dogs advocate and just say "No sorry".

Too many people think they have the right to pat every dog they see, especially little dogs. This can cause dog guardians/owners/parents to feel feel pressure to allow patting.
This can also put enormous pressure on dogs to comply when they feel deeply uncomfortable.

Your dog needs to trust that you will make good decisions with ALL interactions they have with others, and if there is a negative experience... it can affect your dog for a long time.

If your dog is just learning socialisation skills or is in training, its ok to say no to anyone wanting to pat your dog. In fact at any time, you can just say "No sorry" you don't have to explain further.

Dogs are not on this world to comply with another's desire to touch them.....and I know smaller dogs and puppies are unequally represented in these requests.

Dogs need repeated positive interactions to build up their confidence and learn how to interact appropriately and they mostly learn this from you.

Control the interactions your dog has with others while its learning. Set your dog up for success by controlling situations they have with others.

This photo shows an extremely uncomfortable dog.... and forcing dogs into uncomfortable situations while socialising can have the exact opposite effect to what you want to achieve.

Advocate.
Say no.... and your dog will learn to trust your decisions more and more.