Tag Archives: puppy

03/11/12

Puppyhood: The time to rescue shelter dogs

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See index.

Welcome to the first post in my Ian Dunbar seminar series. This, as well as many other posts, will be updated as I make more posts. So let’s start!

Ian Dunbar very seriously believes that puppyhood is one of the most vital periods of a puppy’s life. He believes that appropriate training and socialisation will mean that common behaviour problems can be prevented and, ultimately, the dog will not end up in a shelter facility. (In the handout, he called common and precitable behaviour problems “the #1 terminal illness for adolescent/adult dogs.”)

Labrador puppy

Photo © Ruthless Photos

With puppies, training should focus on:
• Stopping behaviour problems from occurring,
• Teaching bite inhibition,
• Socialising puppies to people and therefore reducing the likelihood of bites (from fear or aggression).

In terms of behaviour problems that should be prevented in puppyhood, this includes:
• House soiling,
• Inappropriate chewing,
• Biting,
• Barking,
• “Temperament problems”
These behaviours are easily predictable, and easily preventable during puppyhood.

Dunbar made some pretty firm statements. He says that puppies with insufficient socialisation suffer “massive permanent damage”. He thinks that puppies are pretty much ‘made’ by 3 months of age, though socialisation does continue. It is only at 2-3 years that you can finished your puppy a finished product – you can relax and enjoy your dog and not worry about further socialisation.

Making the most of puppyhood is a dual effort between breeders and puppy buyers. Breeders have duties, as do puppy buyers. One of puppy buyers duties is puppy classes, and we’ll look at puppy classes in our next post.

02/14/12

Tips for Contacting a Dog Breeder

Puppy buying is a bit of an art. As a breeder, and being in breeder-communities, I know that breeders can experience a lot of frustration with enquiries.  Puppy buyers, I’m sure, also get frustrated, and perhaps don’t know that they are going about puppy buying in the ‘wrong way’.

I’ve compiled a list of tips for contacting a dog breeder.  These are broad and general, but hopefully will help anyone who is searching for a puppy.

Border Collie Puppy - Guide to approaching dog breeders Continue reading →

02/9/12

Guess Who’s Going to See Ian Dunbar!

Well, if it’s not obvious, I am going to see Ian Dunbar in Melbourne (Australia) this weekend.

This is a three day seminar called “Science Based Dog Training with Feeling”. I believe this may be a very similar seminar series as Crystal at Reactive Champion visited and blogged about in November 2010.

Friday is based on preventing behaviour problems.  It seems, from my pre-seminar PDFs, that this will mostly focus on socialisation (not a surprise for those who know Ian Dunbar).  I am excited to hear what I should be doing, as a breeder, to prevent behaviour problems, from a socialisation perspective.  (I am also interested in asking him where I’m going to find 100 people before 8 weeks. My puppies probably interact with about 20 people before 8 weeks, and see about 50 people before 8 weeks. And I feel exhausted getting that many people through my house and in the streets!) I already think I’m doing a pretty good job, but there’s always room to learn more.

Saturday is titled “Learning Theory Redux”.  While I’m interested to see the Dunbar perspective, I am concerned that I am just going to hear learning theory again. I am sure I’ll get something out of it, don’t get me wrong, but I am already fairly savvy and learning theory, and I expect the rest of the audience will be too.

Sunday is about luring.  I know Ian Dunbar is big into luring, and I can’t say that I’ve ever attended a seminar from a luring advocate – so at the very least, this would be fun!

 

I am concerned that Ian Dunbar may not truly consider the genetic basis of behaviour… There are a few snippets in the PDFs I’ve received, saying things like “At eight weeks of age, regardless of breed or breeding, the puppy’s behavior and temperament depend almost entirely on how the breeder has raised the pup.”  I very much disagree with that.  Genetics, in my mind, plays a huge role in dog behaviour.  Why was it in my litter of 3 pups in 2010 did they all have very different behaviours and temperaments at 8 weeks? It certainly isn’t because I treated them differently – it’s because they’re different dogs, with different personalities, and different genes driving their behaviours. Does Dunbar really believe that a whippet is different to a boxer at 8 weeks purely because of socialisation from the breeder?  Anyway, I spoke more about the overemphasis on socialisation previously.

 

I’m very much looking forward to these seminars, but it means you won’t be getting any posts for about a week. I’m sure you’ll survive without me!

Edited to provide a link to our ‘Dunbar Index‘, which summarises our learning from the lecture series.

02/6/12

Environmental Enrichment and Stress

Just read an absolutely fascinating study called “Enriched environment experience overcomes learning deficits and depressive-like behaviour induced by juvenile stress“, that Dr Sophia Yin made reference to recently on Facebook. It’s an absolutely fascinating read, especially after writing about the over-emphasis of socialisation just days ago. I almost have to eat my words… Almost…

Rat Yawning - Do rats yawn in stress like dogs?

Dogs yawn when they’re stressed – I don’t know if rats do, too, but this study used biochemistry to measure rat-stress.

 

Basics of the Study

This study used rats to investigate the role of stress on adult behaviour (particularly surrounding anxiety and depression).  Two groups of rats were stress during their juvenile period (27-29 days) through ‘forced swimming’, elevation, and restraint. (A third group of rats was used as a control.)  One group of the ‘stressed’ rats was given environmental enrichment, by enhancing their cage environments with toys, shapes, colours, and allowing them activities outside of their cage.  The other groups did not receive environmental enrichment.

The Findings

In short: Environmental enrichment seemed to ‘neutralise’ the anxiety experienced by the stressed rats, and sometimes reduced their anxiety further than rats with no stressful incidents and no environmental enrichment.

In long: Continue reading →