Dixie cups

1. You can mash the banana in the peel if it’s ripe, it will explode out of the skin, scoop it into a bowl and mash until creamy.  Add the other items and blend until very creamy, no chunks. 
2. Spoon into cups, set on baking sheet and freeze.  Takes 5 to 7 hours to freeze completely. Once frozen, remove and put in large bag.

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to take a day in which you were unencumbered by work, chores, and other responsibilities, you may recognize that food crosses your mind pretty often.  Imagine how that little four-legged food processor must feel day in and day out.  Not only is mealtime important for him both physically and mentally, it’s a daily event you can put to good use. 

Let’s start with the physical aspect: feeding your pup an appropriate diet in the right amount can maximize his good health.   There are many, many books available on proper diets for your dog.  A quick check of Dogwise.com resulted in 47 matches, Amazon.com showed 334 results.  The Whole Dog Journal has been a respected source of information regarding dog foods for many years.  I recommend readers review the information at www.dogaware.com and www.dogfoodadvisor.com to educate themselves regarding nutrition and their dogs.

A side note: I am continually amazed at the number of people who swear a dog will beg at the table if he is fed “people food.”  Please, your dog will beg at the table if you feed him at the table, otherwise, he has no clue about the difference between foods made for people vs. food made for dogs. Healthy people food can be excellent for your pup and a source of high value treats for training.

How much you feed your dog is as important as what you feed him.  A new organization, The Association for Pet Obsesity Prevention (http://www.petobesityprevention.com/), has begun a campaign to work with veterinarians and other pet professionals to bring awareness of the pet obesity epidemic now occurring.   Some of their startling statistics include “53% of adult dogs classified as overweight or obese”; “55% of adult cats classified as overweight or obese “; “Only 8% of dog owners and 9% of cat owners classified their pet as obese in the online study. That’s less than half the actual figures determined by survey veterinarians.”     Some of the health risks they link to obesity in pets include arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and decreased life expectancy. 

Not only is mealtime an important time to address your pet’s physical needs, but his mental needs, too.  Breakfast and dinner provide excellent opportunities to work on those behaviors you’ve been training.  Ask the dog to sit and stay before placing the food bowl on the ground.  If Fido starts to get up before the bowl reaches the floor, simply raise it back up and wait for him to sit again.  Please do not repeat the cue as dogs need to respond on the first cue.  Saying “sit” repeatedly will teach the dog that the first cue means nothing.  Just have patience while your dog figures out what you are asking of him.  You can also ask for other behaviors – down, spin or twist, shake, speak – whatever it is you are trying to train the dog to do.  The meal is the reinforcement.

Remember that daily routine I mentioned in the beginning?  Well, it’s pretty boring.  Dogs are intelligent creatures who love to use their brains.  Mealtime provides some great opportunities to let your dog think while enjoying the food.  Start simply – scatter the food on the floor, the porch, or the yard and let your dog scavenge for it.  He will have to engage his brain, his nose, and his body to find his meal.

Stuffed frozen Kongs are another way to provide a meal and mental stimulation simultaneously.  Simply use a marshmallow to plug the small hole at one end, stuff the Kong with either canned food or kibble mixed with water or broth, cover the large hole with peanut butter or cream cheese, and place it in the freezer.  When mealtime arrives, hand your dog the frozen Kong and watch him dig in!

Try dividing Fido’s kibble into the individual cups of a muffin tin, then cover each hole or every other hole with a tennis ball.  Watch Fido have fun figuring out how to get his meal!  There are also food toys on the market such as the Kong Wobbler, the Buster Cube, and the Green Feeder Dog Food Foraging Toy.

Don’t forget that bonding with your dog is the most important aspect of living with him. Far too often hands are associated with collar grabs or punishment of some type.   An occasional handfed meal allows Fido to recognize that your hands as good things.  Far better your dog think that hands reaching for him mean something wonderful is about to happen!

Bone Appetit!

Jan Casey, MS, DipCBST – Companion Animal Sciences Institute
Senior Behavior Consultant – Courteous Canine, Inc/The DogSmith of Tampa
Pet Professional Guild Charter Member
Association of Animal Behavior Professionals
Canine Good Citizen Evaluator
www.courteouscanine.com
 

Otto Fad on The Power of Positive Reinforcement

Sunday June 9th, 2013 1pm to 5pm $60

Using Positive Reinforcement to Train Elephants: Operant and Respondent Strategies

Otto Fad is the Manager of Elephants at Busch Gardens Tampa’s Pachyderm Palace. He is known worldwide for his evangelical advocacy for positive reinforcement training for all animals but especially elephants. Elephants at Busch Gardens are trained with an open economy, meaning they have food available at all times, and still choose to engage with their trainers, and frequently initiate interactions with them.  Trained behaviors range from unrestrained complex veterinary procedures to playful activities developed only to build strong relationships and to have fun together.

Otto will be presenting on:

• Use of open economies – Elephants choose to work with trainers they have access to food at all times
• Operant strategies to allow medical procedures
• Respondent Strategies to shift emotional states
• And more!
• Presentation followed by question and answer.

Otto Fad is Elephant Manager at Busch Gardens Tampa, where he helped develop a progressive new program in 2004, distinguished by its focus on positive reinforcement, its unparalleled success in conditioning voluntary husbandry behaviors, and its extraordinary team of creative, positive, and passionate trainers. Previously, Otto was a Senior Trainer at SeaWorld. In his career, he has endeavored to raise the professionalism and pride of those around him, to increase research output, and to build ties with institutions of higher learning. He has written on subjects including anthropomorphism, assisted reproduction, behavioral enrichment, natural history, husbandry training, safety, and staff development.

Location Courteous Canine, Inc. DogSmith of Tampa, 3414 Melissa Country Way, Lutz, FL 33559

Please make checks payable for $60 to: Courteous Canine, Inc. and mail to addy above. No dogs will be attending as this is presentation only seminar. Continuing Education Units available for PPG, IAABC and APDT. For more info contact Info@CourteousCanine.com or call 813 949 1465

• Background Check
  Courteous Canine, Inc. DogSmith of Tampa checks the records of each pet sitter making sure that people sent to a client’s home are free of criminal records. Be sure that the pet sitter you are using has been checked for criminal records in all states and counties they have resided.
•  Pet Safety
  Not only is it important to hire a sitter that is obsessively careful with your pet it is important to check references that the pet sitter has not lost a pet while servicing a client and that the sitter is pet first aid trained. When evaluating pet first aid training make sure that the training was done by a certified veterinary technician or by a veterinarian. Be sure that you and the sitter have paper work in place that clearly spells out which vet to go to in an emergency.
•  Backup Sitters
  Make sure to hire a sitter who has at least two alternative sitters available at all times in case the original sitter has an emergency. By having three backups in place your pet is guaranteed to get their visit. If a sitter works alone getting a back up can be difficult or even impossible.
•  Multiple Visits
  If your dog requires multiple visits per day hiring a company that only has one person on staff can be problematic. The pet sitter may be tempted to skip a visit or may logistically be unable to provide all the visits your dog needs. Courteous Canine, Inc. DogSmith of Tampa offers multiple sitters all working with pet first aid certifications and background checks.
•  Sitter Great, Trainer Better
  Ask the sitter you are interviewing if they are a certified dog trainer, this means that your sitter is educated in training, will be able to alert you to training issues and proactively prevent problems. Also our trainers are trained identify signs of stress in your dog which is critically important to providing ideal pet sitting services.
•  Being hired by a client for Pet sitting is an honor and a great trust, it is one that we value and we commit to providing the best services for our clients in the Tampa Bay area. Happy pet sitting to all!

and Health Mutt Present

A fun day of Dock Jumping, Agility and Free Dog Training Advice

Agility Run Thrus Nested courses Standard and Jumpers (Novice and Excellent) $5 per run $20 unlimited runs

Dock Jumping $5 per five jumps or $20 for unlimited jumps (five jump cycles)

Free dog training and behavior question booth.

Come join the fun May 5th 11 am to 3 pm

ALL PROCEEDS TO GO TO SEMINOLE HEIGHTS DOG PARK!

Of course, there’s always one person who reminds me of the old East TN saying “He was weaned on a sour pickle.” They can’t imagine controlling their dogs without the use of pain. Their anger explodes toward the dogs and the people who run the event. “His barking is awful, I need his bark (shock) collar. He jumps better with shock. Special Operations Forces train all of their dogs using shock. It’s ridiculous I can’t use it here.” Very sad. Most dogs at the event were excited and their owners had anticipated their enthusiastic responses, training in advance for just such situations, using force free methods.

With so many positive options available now, I have trouble understanding why a few folks still seek control via pain rather than fun. Leslie McDevitt’s book, Control Unleashed, was written specifically for dogs who can’t focus in high stress environments. Her DVD, Pattern Games, provides even more exercises to help owners help their dogs learn to remain calm and in control regardless of the excitement. Just as a good parent does not wait until the family reaches the theme park to teach her child proper manners in public, good dog owners should work to teach their dogs calming skills before a trial. Positive options can include settling on a mat, playing tug or catch the bumper, focus work, or tricks.

As for whether or not Special Operations Forces use shock collars to train their dogs, I searched for information to confirm or deny this. What I found was the fact that Special Operations Dog Training methodology is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the military. The chance of anyone in the public knowing exactly what they do is very slim. Most of the information available leads me to believe the use of shock in training Special Ops dogs, if it does exist, is certainly not used for purposes such as fun performance and everyday behaviors we in the civilian world require.

From the website http://vetsadoptpets.org/somefacts.html: “A dog does not understand the difference between right and wrong according to human standards. Desired response is communicated to the dog through reward. When the dog responds correctly, it is rewarded with verbal praise, physical petting or, with food or play articles. If a wrong response is made, the reward is withheld or, in very rare instances, correction is applied. For most dogs, a firm “no” and a jerk on the leash are sufficient corrections. Repeated jerks on the collar are seldom needed. This is the only form of correction generally applied to military working dogs. Inflicting pain on a dog is detrimental to training and not allowed.” My note: jerks on the collar are painful – that’s why they work. They can also cause serious medical problems, so we do not recommend anyone use this technique.

From a firm who trains military working dogs (http://www.napwda.com/the-dod-military-working-dog-program): “The Puppy Trainers spend 40 hours per week on drive building, grip development, and environmental and social stability. Most important is ball or play drive. As most of the trainers who are familiar with drive development are aware, aggressive object possessiveness is not helpful, it must be play.” My note: play and shock are incompatible.

From CBQK-9, trainers of counter-terrorist/combat assault dogs, (http://www.cqbk9.com/personalprotectiondogs/counter-terrorist-protection/): “Owner, Alex is trained in the secret methods from trainers of former Soviet Bloc satellite countries. Utilizing only praise and correction and positive reinforcement with our dogs. We NEVER hit our dogs or use shock collars in our training.” My note: that pretty much says it all.

I think these three examples give us a glimpse into training for dogs who are required to be highly reliable, stable, and offer topnotch performance. Why anyone would want to use pain at an event which is meant to be fun is beyond me. Why anyone would want to use pain at all leads me to question the thought processes of the owners, not the behavior of the dogs.

As a client said to me yesterday, “Misty gets so excited when she knows she is coming here. She starts barking a mile away.” This has always been my experience with dogs who are approaching a place they know they will be rewarded and empowered. Thankfully, a large number of us are not so hardened that we object when our dogs express their joy and that number continues to grow. I suggest an alternative: teach your dogs the appropriate ways to handle their excitement through force free methods. Meanwhile, take pleasure in your dog’s expression of excitement. His or her joy of life might just rub off on you.

Jan Casey, MS, DipCBST – Companion Animal Sciences Institute
Senior Behavior Consultant – Courteous Canine, Inc/The DogSmith of Tampa
Pet Professional Guild Charter Member
Association of Animal Behavior Professionals
Canine Good Citizen Evaluator

More pictures here:
http://Alyssaalexanderphotography.zenfolio.com/p941535032
password is splash2013