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  • Parkview K9 | North East Dog Training
  • At Parkview K9, we offer truly bespoke training which is specific to you, your dog, and your circumstances. We’re here to prove that any each and every dog can be motivated and trained, to become the very best they can be.

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    WHY DOES MY DOG GUARD THEIR TOYS AND FOOD? If you WHY DOES MY DOG GUARD THEIR TOYS AND FOOD?

If you’ve found yourself in a situation where your dog has begun to growl when you approach them around treats, food, bones, toys, the sofa, another dog or even another person - This post will go into what you can and should do to help.

The behaviour we’re describing is categorised as resource guarding or possessive aggression. Resource guarding is typically defined as a display of negative behaviour to discourage the taking, or use of, an object or valued resource.

Resources that can be guarded will vary from dog to dog, the most common ones are typically food, toys and bones - in our experience, but this can also extend to random pieces of rubbish, another dog, a particular person in the household, the space under the dining table, water bowls, a raised area like the sofa and many other obscure things.

In truth we don’t know exactly what the cause of resource guarding is, although like most things there will inevitably be a genetic and an environmental component to the behaviour. Some dogs are simply born with a higher level of possession, commonly seen in your herding breeds, but also very common in Spaniels and now Cockapoo’s. The other component will be environmental experiences and adaptation, either from the size of the litter and accessibility to feed, early experiences interacting with objects in the litter up to being 8-weeks-old, handling from the newly appointed owners of the pup, or most likely a combination of all of the above.

What you should do about the problem will entirely depend on the level of resource guarding that you’re experiencing. If you aren’t confident in handling and have already been bitten we’d advise contacting and working with any trainer who’s experienced in training with resource guarders. Without the correct handling and expertise you should simply avoid putting yourself in a position where you may find yourself in conflict with your own dog.

If the level of behaviour isn’t very severe there’s a few small things you can do that may make a large improvement such as hand feeding meals, removing objects that end up being guarded and teaching a reliable a ‘out’ and ‘come’ command.
    DO YOU KNOW WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR DOG? The foundati DO YOU KNOW WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR DOG?

The foundation of good dog training is positive reinforcement. We provide a reward to the dog after we mark the behaviour we liked, in order to increase the likelihood that they’ll do it again. Once they’re offering the behaviour consistently, we phase the reward out.

Different types of rewards have their uses, and it really entirely depends on what the perceived value of a reward is to begin with. Some dogs love food, some dogs love toys, some dogs love affection, some dogs love to destroy things, some dogs love all of the above, while other dogs appear to love not much at all.

It’s important that you identify and use what your dog loves the most and use it for your training. The more incentive you provide your dog with, the more successful and reliable their training will become.

You wouldn’t go to work for free, or to end up with less than you need to survive, so why would you expect your dog to perform tricks or make real behavioural changes for peanuts?

Panzer is highly food motivated and she’ll do anything for her regular food. This means I don’t use chicken/hotdogs/cheese as a ‘high value reward’ for training. On the other hand, her ball/tug drive started off very low and it has taken months of training to build it to a stage where I can just now use a toy as a motivator for training. She had an affinity for slippers so I began using that and gradually transitioned it towards different types of tugs and balls.

Saying your dog isn’t motivated by anything (unless they’re senior or have health issues) so you can’t train them is a cop-out. If your dog doesn’t appear to be motivated by anything, this is typically because they have access to so much already and you’ve removed any incentive to want to work or learn.

Find what motivates your dog. Make what motivates them even more valuable by only using it for training. Let them earn what they want by working for it and then really reward their effort by letting them have it.
    STOP WALKING YOUR DOGS ON THE PAVEMENT IN THIS HEA STOP WALKING YOUR DOGS ON THE PAVEMENT IN THIS HEAT

Going to keep this one really short and sweet because it honestly isn’t rocket science and we don’t feel it necessary to deep dive into it, when the majority of people aren’t so naive as to do this.

If you need to dress as minimally as possible because it’s so hot outside, please understand how hot that is going to feel for most dogs who’re essentially wearing winter coats. Heat stroke is very real and it will kill.

Stop walking your dogs for boring, senseless walls on pavements to wherever YOU want to go. If feel you must walk them (you really don’t) try and make the walks early morning and late evening, and walk in shaded areas that’re near water.

Heat stroke is a serious killer of dogs and not to be taken lightly, so please don’t put your dogs lives at risk because you want to stroll to your friends house for chin-wag, while poor ‘Buddy’ stands next to you cooking on the pavement.
    ARE ALL DESTRUCTIVE DOGS BORED DOGS? Most dog own ARE ALL DESTRUCTIVE DOGS BORED DOGS?

Most dog owners have probably experienced this scenario, or at least a diluted form of it: You walk through the front door, your dog is looking guilty as sin, and as you make your way through the house you begin to uncover the bin bag torn to bits across the kitchen floor, the skirting boards have been gnawed, cables chewed through, or the carpet/lino ripped up.

Destructive behaviour in dogs can manifest itself in variety of forms (typically chewing, barking, biting, digging and scratching) and is generally more prominant in younger dogs while they’re teething and beginning to explore and investigate the different types of items in their environment.

The typical focus and advise for dogs exhibiting destructive behaviour is that they’re lacking mental stimulation and to provide them with things to occupy them like stuffed kongs, chew toys, brain games and scentwork. 
Another cause of destructive behaviour that’s often overlooked is stress caused by separation anxiety. The owner leaves the house, the dog freaks out, paces from window to window, barking and then essentially redirecting their anxiety into a self-soothing behaviour in the form of biting and scratching. Think of it like somebody biting their fingernails when they’re feeling stressed.

If this sounds familiar to you, the best piece of advice we can possibly give you is to crate train your dog. It’s both a safer alternative to prevent them from unintentionally harming themselves, and it’ll save your relationship from being damaged by preventing feelings of resentment every time you come home and find more of your house has been destroyed. We’re all human after all.

Just remember, crate training is not the same as putting your dog in a crate and leaving them. They MUST be trained to associate it positively over a period of time, otherwise it isn’t crate training, it’s more like imprisoning. There’s a video on how to introduce the crate on our page, and if you’re unsure about the process there are many videos online, and any reputable dog trainer can teach you.
    WHAT DO DOGS AND UROLOGISTS HAVE IN COMMON? If yo WHAT DO DOGS AND UROLOGISTS HAVE IN COMMON?

If you’re yet to have the displeasure of participating in a ‘local dog group’ on Facebook, congratulations and don’t turn back now. 
These groups are inadvertently the epicentre for some of the worst advice you will find anywhere on the internet. They’re the group equivalent of finding yourself watching ‘spot popping’ videos on YouTube.

Groups themselves are a wonderful idea, and a select few of them are great. The issue really lies in the large groups that have tens of thousands of members because it becomes impossible for the administrators to moderate the level of idiocy any more.

Having a dog, or having had a dog in the past, is now enough to advise others on dog training or behaviour. With 90% of it being absolute nonsense.

From the best harnesses to ‘stop pulling’, to dogs needing to know you’re the boss, or photos of the backyard breeders latest litters that’re ‘not for sale (message us)’. The problem with dog ownership is that some people think having a dog and having a platform to share their opinion on makes their opinion factual. Hundreds of thousands of people believe the earth is flat, but does that mean they’re right because others happen to believe it too? Even though billions of people disagree.

Be smart about where you get your information from and trust the people who actually work in the industry it relates to. The people who dedicate every day of their entire lives to learning all they can about it. Not just ‘Shirley’ the highly opinionated noise-bag on Facebook.

So, what do dogs have in common with urologists? Just like some people think they’re qualified to teach others about dogs because they’ve got one; I’ve had bollocks all my life, but you don’t see me going around pretending to be a urologist!
    99% OF DOGS SHOULDN’T BE OFF LEASH We’ve deli 99% OF DOGS SHOULDN’T BE OFF LEASH

We’ve deliberately avoided creating this post (until now) because we honestly believe that the overwhelmingly vast majority of people have enough consideration to know and understand this already, but following some chatter in one of the local dog groups we believe it’s time to outline our stance on whether dogs in public spaces should be allowed off leash.

If your dog isn’t mature, well mannered, and obedient, they aren’t ready to be given the freedom of off-leash walks in public spaces yet. This privilege should be earned and relies entirely on the amount of training you dedicate time to. We raise our children and provide them with the tools they need to safely navigate the world around them, why is it less dangerous to allow our dogs (who are animals remember) to potentially get harmed, or cause harm, by encouraging them to navigate the world without the tools they need to be safe?

The most common objection to the off-leash dog problem is ‘My dog is friendly, it’s not my fault other dogs might not be.’ And I can see why people think this. The issue here though is that once you’re able to fully understand the perspective of other people in our society, you can understand why it’s not about whether your dog is friendly or not, but it’s more about conscientiousness, manners and respect.

The answer is simple and will give you the best of both worlds. Train your dog to have a good recall so if they’re off leash and you see another dog, call them back to you and keep them under control until you pass the other dog. Buy a book, use YouTube, or book a training session (with any trainer) and learn how to train it so you can be both conscientious and free.
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