Helping you find harmony with your best four-legged friend
Maria G. Huntoon Canine Consulting Services
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  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Contact
    • New Client Questionnaire
    • Dog Selection Consult Questionnaire
  • Testimonials
  • Training Library
  • Lady'sBestFriendBlog
  • Supply Shop
  • Essential Oils
    • RELAX Essential Oil - Dropper
    • RELAX Essential Oil - Rollerball
    • CONVICTION Essential Oil - Dropper
  • The Sheba Chronicles
A blog for all things dog-related: training, behavior, fun new doggie items, veterinary information and, of course, ways to enhance your relationship with your best four-legged friend!

Lady's Best Friend

The "Inconveniences" of Training Your Dog

9/23/2016

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​I once had a woman at an event tell me that her dog was a disaster but that training him was such an “inconvenience.”  She had a family to care for, two young kids, and no time to invest in training her dog.  I understand that life can be busy, especially with young kids and a job, but I had to wonder… is this “inconvenience” worth resulting in a dog who can’t control himself around the kids, is destroying items in your home repeatedly, and that you can’t take out of the house?  To me that doesn’t sound like a family dog; it sounds more like a family having a dog because they like the appeal of having a dog around but don’t really understand what is involved in making the dog a part of their family.
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What? Baffling!
Is this like saying that you won’t provide your child with schooling because it’s an “inconvenience” to pick her up from the bus stop, help her with homework, or eventually pay for college?  I look at the two examples as one in the same.  While a dog is not a child, it is still a member of the family and has certain needs that must be met in order to make that dog a positive and harmonious member of your household.  Having a dog does come with certain responsibilities, and it’s important to remember this when you consider adding a new pup or even an older dog into your household.
We live in an instant gratification, “I want it now” society where we are stretched so thin that we don’t want to have to be patient or wait for anything – whether it’s in line at the grocery store or between episodes of our favorite TV show (so we just binge-watch the whole season on Hulu).  Our lives are influenced by what’s the most convenient and we want an “easy fix” for everything, which is why we eat so much fast or frozen food, buy into “quick fix” diet fads and exercise machines, and use ATM’s instead of going into a bank to withdraw money.
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From Tiffy to “Stiffy” - Dealing With Arthritis in Our Canine Friends

9/11/2016

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The aches, the pains, the stiffness and lack of mobility – some of us know the plight of arthritis all too well.  Many people think arthritis is something that doesn’t occur until one gets older, but there are many times when arthritis rears its ugly head earlier on in life, either as a result of long-term stresses on a joint, a prior injury, or genetically poor joint structure.  Just as arthritis is common in humans, many of our canine friends also suffer from arthritis at some point in their lives.
Since arthritis is a medical issue, it’s always important to consult your veterinarian for a specific treatment plan, since each dog is an individual and may require different types of care.  I consulted my friend, Dr. Alisha Selzner of Companion Pet Hospital in Fishkill, to enlighten us… “As dogs age, they can develop degenerative joint disease or arthritis just like humans.  Arthritis can be a significant cause of chronic pain due to the inflammation arthritis elicits in and around joints.  Over time, arthritis can negatively impact a dog’s quality of life.  Dogs with arthritis tend to slow down, they can have difficulty rising, they can start limping, have trouble navigating stairs, and may refuse to exercise.”
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Dog Training: Two Schools of Thought

9/3/2016

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Yesterday morning I worked with a new client who contacted me for help with her year-old German shepherd.  She was broken-hearted about previous training methods she had been taught from her last dog trainer - methods that involved exerting dominance over her dog by yelling, smacking him in the head, and using harsh leash corrections (that lifted her dog off the ground by the collar and resulted in her dog yelping in pain) to get him to work with her.  “You have to do that with a shepherd,” she has had friends tell her.  She reached out to me as a last hope.  She certainly didn’t want to give up on her dog, yet the methods she had been advised to use were increasing her dog’s anxiety level as well as the stress levels of everyone in her household.  There had become too much yelling, too much physical manipulation, and nobody was happy about this tension.  There has to be another way, she pleaded.
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During our first session together, this client was delighted to learn that yes, there is a better way – and it doesn’t involve intimidating her dog into submission or any kind of hitting or pain at all.  We discussed what was leading into her dog’s anxiety, how to teach him to cope with that, and how to use her own energy, body language, and clear direction to set him up for success.  We demonstrated exhibiting leadership based on respect, since dogs are living, emotional beings with feelings and deserve as much respect as any of us wish to have from others.  After less than 12 hours, my new client contacted me, thrilled, to share that she was already seeing positive results and a change in her dog’s behavior!
Sadly, I hear of this situation all too often.  We are still surrounded by television shows, books, information from Google searches, and local dog trainers who still practice the traditional-style training methods that were created long before scientific research had delved into the psychology of how dogs learn and how they process information and emotion.  Even though these traditional-style, dominance-based, punitive training methods are outdated and have been disproven, trainers who practice these methods are still out there practicing because they’re too proud to accept that there is a better way.  A way that will instill confidence, security, and a positive relationship with our dogs rather than one that instills fear, pain and tension in the relationship. 
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Let’s take a look at the differences between these two methods:

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    Maria Huntoon, CBCC-KA
    ​Certified Canine Behavior Consultant
    ​Maria G. Huntoon Canine Consulting Services

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Helping You Find Harmony With Your Best Four-Legged Friend!


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