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Post by bm1234 on Sept 19, 2014 11:59:00 GMT
Hello! Just wanted to introduce myself. I am a dog behaviourist and dog trainer with a popular and very busy practice in Norwich, Norfolk, called Mischievous Mutts. I have a background in rescue and am very passionate about training and rehabilitation of rescue dogs. I am an advocate of positive training methods based on sound scientific research, and I lecture for the University of East Anglia in Companion Animal Behaviour, Training and Welfare. If you have any questions about dog psychology or behaviour please ask!
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Post by zahada on Sept 19, 2014 12:27:00 GMT
Hi. It will be nice to have our own dog psychologist. Hope you'll be able to cope with the volume of our problems.
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Post by cazypops on Sept 19, 2014 16:31:46 GMT
Welcome to the forum bm1234 it's alway great to have an animal professional on board.
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Post by orpheous87 on Sept 19, 2014 18:46:30 GMT
Welcome to the forum bm1234! Hope you enjoy it here
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Post by tonib on Sept 19, 2014 21:45:12 GMT
Welcome to the forum bm1234 hope you enjoy it here.
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 20, 2014 21:15:16 GMT
Welcome to the forum
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Post by lotsofcats on Sept 20, 2014 21:20:06 GMT
Welcome to the forum - shall I start with my problem dog? Kobi is afraid of most dogs (he's been attacked several times) and whenever we meet another dog on his walks he always barks continuously at them and struggles on his lead - it is very embarrassing.
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Post by scallywag on Sept 22, 2014 6:46:53 GMT
Can I also ask... Beau has just had an operation, is having to be lifted up / down off the couch and confined down stairs. Since the op he creates Mary hell, example this morning , just now, other half has come to kiss me good bye, I am still in bed and Beau has joined me, he knows the signs when OH is leaving for work. Immediately Beau starts growling and creating ( he has his buster collar on ) sounds really vicious. He does the same when I lift him onto the couch once OH is sitting down, and again when I lift him off. Last night mum got out her chair to go home and he did it again yet she never went near him, the more he is spoken to the louder he gets. I tell everyone to ignore it and not speak to him. Is this possessiveness starting up, or could he be apprehensive about everything, sounds scary when he does this bm1234Sorry forgot to say welcome to the forum,
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Post by smilesbetter on Sept 22, 2014 15:51:18 GMT
Welcome to the forum - shall I start with my problem dog? Kobi is afraid of most dogs (he's been attacked several times) and whenever we meet another dog on his walks he always barks continuously at them and struggles on his lead - it is very embarrassing. Well I know it's not me you're asking haha, but here's what I did with Sasha &Amy sisters old GSD Darcy (you need to borrow another dog or preferably multiple other dogs for this): A) with Darcy I basically tied him to a tree in the local park and got other people to walk past in the distance with their dogs. Every time the other dog was within view, I'd start playing with him, giving him treats and praising him. He got really good really quick and so we kept getting the other dogs to come a bit nearer and eventually he just ignored other dogs when we were on walks and gave all his attention to me, waiting for his reward as we walked calmly past other dogs. B) for Sasha she had a much worse problem than Darcy, from having been attacked and from apparently never meeting other dogs as she grew up (not sure she had even had litter mates tbh). She was completely petrified of other dogs and would get super loud and aggressive when she saw them, and none of the local training classes or behaviourists would help so for years it was an un solved problem. Anyway last fine I was over with Rosa I fed Sasha in the living room where she had full view of Rosa who was eating in the garden. At first we had Sasha as far away as possible and wearing a harness so that mum could keep her GELD back while I gently massaged her and hand fed her (at first she couldn't take her eyes off Rosa and wouldn't stop barking, whining and growling, so she'd only eat if I basically rubbed the meat on her mouth haha). After a couple days she was eating happily out her bowl, albeit looking up frequently to watch Rosa while she chewed the food haha, so we moved her forward a bit. Immediately her hackles were up and she was growling again, but with some hand feeding and praise she began to eat out her bowl. Each day then we moved her a tiny bit forward (two meals a day) until she was happily eating out her bowl without hackles up or growling on the other side of the window from Rosa. In fact, we were able to slightly open the door so they could smell each other as they ate with no problems. We then started letting Sasha off the lead with the doors closed again, and playing with her in the living room with Rosa was eating a bone in the garden. At first Sasha would quickly get aggressive when she got excited (apparently she may have the doggy type of ADHD haha, ah well), but after a week or so she was able to happily play and ignore a Rosa. Unfortunately then I came back to Germany, but I think when I'm next back it will be easy to work further on this training till at least the two dogs can go on walks together. Actually the main achievement from this training was that my mum realised how much her reactions to other dogs affects Sasha and you may find this too, as you won't mean it but probably become a bit tense when you see another dog, expecting a problem and dreading embarrassment, and this has a huge effect on how dogs then react to situations.
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Post by zahada on Sept 23, 2014 21:17:16 GMT
Well done smilesbetter.
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Post by lizzybizzy on Oct 9, 2014 10:36:56 GMT
Hey there, new to the site - look forward to meeting you all!! :-)
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Post by tonib on Oct 9, 2014 14:35:31 GMT
Welcome to the forum lizzybizzy, hope you enjoy it here. If you need any help don't hestitate to ask, we were all new once.
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Post by bm1234 on Oct 10, 2014 22:27:46 GMT
Hello! Sorry for my complete lack of replies! I do not have email alerts set up yet and so missed all the questions that had been asked....oops! Will try and get back to you all on Monday of next week as need my sleep...am teaching puppy classes at 1030am tomorrow morning!
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Post by tonib on Oct 11, 2014 0:26:57 GMT
bm1234, if you need any help getting your settings right just post & someone will try to assist
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