Guess What Time It Is?

PCS Time! What does PCS mean? Well, let me share with you. Its a time of major transition and this time it means moving to a new country. As many readers of my blog know, my husband is active duty military and his job requires frequent moves like every 2-3 year moves. This frequent transition is hard not only on Eddie and I, but also on our Bears, Jack and Bernie. I think Jack is more used to it than Bernie. Whenever I take stuff off the walls or pull out boxes, Bernie goes back to his old ways and hides under the bed. He’s sensitive and his change in behavior makes me pause and recognize it’s a challenging time. I love my family and I strive in finding ways I can make the move a bit easier.

Fortunately for us humans, we are moving to Germany. Eddie I were there almost 10 years ago and are excited about doing all the traveling we weren’t able to accomplish together the first time. We’re ready for Germany 2.0. Unfortunately, the Bears aren’t aware of the major change they will go through too. Jack and Bernie aren’t consoled or reassured with words of compassion and strength. They are reassured by us through sticking to our routine of daily walks and enrichment activities (practicing obedience cues and play time). Jack became more settled as we remained consistent with our training and setting up situations our home where his separation anxiety doesn’t get triggered and he’s actually overcome with time. Bernie was insecure and timid, but as established ourselves as a family unit, Bernie became more confident with adapting to changes which occurred for short periods of time like my hours at work went over my usual time, we stayed out late with some friends or didn’t get a chance for our walkies because of the weather being terrible for several days in a row. Now, like when we moved from El Paso, TX to Lawton, OK, Bernie senses major change is coming and he’s hiding under the bed like he did when we first adopted him. He’s also whining when we come home from being gone for any length of time. We are once again finding our selves ignoring Bernie for longer periods of time when we arrive and leaving more things for them to do when we leave. I took advantage of all the progress we made by thinking and assuming they “got this”. Bernie makes me pause and realize he’s having a hard time and its our job in helping him feel comfortable again.

All I know and I’m proud of is not considering anything else than taking Jack and Bernie with us to Germany. The military and military families do get a bad wrap because they are notorious for high turnover of their pets because of a move or deployment. I get it. Its overwhelming for families to also think about and plan for their pets too. It takes time, brain power and extra money in moving your pets, especially overseas moves. I’m here to tell you, it can be done with some planning, saving and research. Our personal experience, Eddie and I’ve moved 3 times with our pets. We’ve moved back to the states from Germany with Jack Bear and moved to Oklahoma with both Bears and now to do the same with our move to Germany. Now, things are a bit different. I have to fly separately because of zero pet space on his flight and wait to get picked up in Frankfurt. I’m totally comfortable with me, Jack and Bernie traveling without Eddie. I know we’ll get this done. I did my research and found flying United will be the most comfortable and affordable way for us to move. My advice, is ask questions and call or email companies about what they can offer. Save money during your time at the next duty station and even consider setting up a pet savings account for their move. All of these things will make you, your dog’s family ready for the next transition.

Now, I just want to be there. Germany or Bust 2017!!

Uncovering Your Dog’s Emotions

Do you know what your dog is communicating at a given time? Do you know how he may be feeling when a stranger approaches? Do you know when your dog wants attention or wants to be alone? 

There are so many subtle ways our dogs show us emotions and ones that are easy to spot like joy, with the tongue out and soft eyes (where the eyes appear smaller and can also look like they are closing) Anger is seen on the dog with his nose puckered, lips drawn back to see the canines and whale eye (where the eyes are wide and you can see the whites of the eyes). Dogs aren’t limited to only those emotions. Like people, dogs have the ability in showing us a wide ranging set of emotions all with their facial expressions, body language and tail wags. Yes, that’s right, not all tail wags are happy wags! Dogs can show other emotions like disgust and surprise as illustrated below. 

I wish all of our dogs could be joyful every minute of every day, but that’s not reality. Dogs also like people can have bad days and be irritable and grouchy. Its our responsibility in understanding what our dogs are expressing, and obliging them if they aren’t their best. We must find out what is causing the less than stellar feelings and figure out how to improve their emotional response. Remember, dogs don’t bite out of the blue. They are communicating all the time and when and if they do bite, his people haven’t taken the necessary steps in figuring out what’s going on. 

Use your critical eye and uncover your pet’s emotions. You can do this by writing down what you observe and when you observe it. You can watch countless videos by Sophia Yin, Victoria Stilwell or other positive reinforcement trainers on YouTube and educate yourself on canine body language. You can also solicit the guidance from a positive reinforcement dog trainer or behaviorist in order to coach you on what to look for and how to understand the expressions within context of what’s happening. For instance, a dog who yawns at the sight of an unfamiliar dog is not expressing the feeling of tiredness, they may be frustrated because he can’t go up to greet as my frustrated greeter, Jack Bear does while another dog passes us on the street. Or in the case of of Bernie, he gives a hard stare when I’m taking a picture of him and a full mouth tongue lick, he’s definitely not hungry! He’s not into selfies 🙂

One last bit of info, dog’s don’t feel guilt. Just like how we see their expressions and understand what they are feeling, dogs read our emotions and respond with their own. Take a look at this article which discusses the studies behind dogs and that guilty looking face. In the following article Not Guilty But Scared, the canine experts interpret emotions, but within the context of what is happening. Unlike humans, dogs don’t live in the past. Maybe this is something some of us humans can also learn from our companion animals!

1. Joy

http://thehappypuppysite.com/which-breed-of-puppy-looking-at-the-west-highland-white-terrier/

2. Anger

https://www.reddit.com/r/rarepuppers/comments/5alxt7/anger_doggo_doing_a_hecking_scare_at_derp_pupper/

3. Disgust

https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/2ihzjv/psbattle_dog_looks_disgusted_with_a_flower/

3. Surprise

http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/blog/expressions-of-surprise-dog-owner-taken-by-surprise

Puppies, puppies, puppies!! :)

Well, its been awhile since I posted. I’ve been busy rounding out the end of my year and I’ve been busy with some new clients and some returning ones. I’m so grateful to have clients who truly appreciated and adopted the Four Paws training modalities, but also valued it so much so they came back! This is a click and treat for me 🙂

Lately, I’ve been working some clients who adopted puppies. Puppies are squishy faced, tiny paws, attention seeking piranhas. They have all the trappings of the Jaws in the making with their puppy shark teeth and nails which can drive you crazy with their razor sharpness. Most often than not, their adorableness gets trumped by their destructive, and once cute jumping on you to greet you behavior to becoming annoying and impossible for correction. Their cuteness is short lived and they often become nuisances and seen as “dumb”.

Why? Many people think dogs will just learn or grow out of inappropriate chewing, incessant barking and nipping and soiling the house all on their own. This mindset not only sets the puppy up for failure, but it also sets up the owner. I’m not sure why we as humans seem to seek out the negative and address only that, but we do and we have a challenging time in holding ourselves back from yelling no at a misbehaving dog than we do in praising all the good stuff they do. We forget to say ‘good’ when they sit and wait for our attention, we forget to give them some love when the look at you for the next direction or the most important, we ignore them when they are laying quietly by our feet or in their bed or in their crate. This is where our attention should be paid. As puppy owners its desireable for not only our puppies, but us when we take the time early on in getting them out in public, participating in puppy classes or just spending time massaging them, holding their paws and touching their years, so when they see the vet, its not the first time this happens. We will be rewarded when our puppies are 2 years old and they are the picture of great behavior because time was taken early, right from the time they came into the home in getting them used to a leash and setting the expectations of good greeting behaviors. 

Teach your puppy to sit for doorways, food, affection and play time. Once they know how to get the good stuff, they will sit for everything. This not only teaches a basic obedience cues, but will increase their impulse control and will strengthen the bond between you and them. Keep the rules consistent and set the expectations early and it will last a lifetime for you and your furry piranha. 

Happy Training 🙂