A HUSKY MIX PLAY STYLE IS CONFUSED WITH DOMINANCE I always have a “moment” when I read dominance in a client’s behavior history form. Then we have a discussion about why "dominance" isn't what most people think it is. There is a real construct of dominance in behavior - but it is solely about gaining access to a mutually-desired resource. That's it. My client used this term with her dog Ashley, a 4.5-year-old spayed female Husky mix. In addition to “dominant behaviors with other dogs” Ashley was described as being nervous of human strangers and nervous of bangs/loud noises. So we had the dominance discussion. I like to be seated to greet my clients and their dogs. A high percentage of my canine clients have stress/anxiety and/or aggression behaviors, and this helps the dogs be much more comfortable with my presence. (My staff go out and greet them in the parking lot and give them instructions for coming in.) Asley and her human, Karen, entered the training center, came over to where I was seated, and Karen sat down at the other end of the six-foot table. I invited her to take off Ashley’s leash (which I normally do unless I see very unsafe body language from the dog). Ashley came over to me and I ignored her – again, my normal practice unless I see very affiliative body language. As I explained to Karen, many people don’t realize that when a dog comes up to you, they may be investigating you, not inviting interaction. I completely ignore my canine client investigators until they let me know with soft body language that they have decided I’m okay. Even then I proceed slowly, with brief eye contact, and an occasional comment to the dog. Then it’s usually the dog who makes contact first and I will scratch under the chin. And yes, treats happen, eventually. Once we are on “speaking” terms, if I need to get up for some reason I will often ask the client to re-leash their dog – depending on how comfortable the dog is with me. Ashley warmed up to me quite quickly, sniffing out my treat pocket and resting her head on my leg, and I was able to move around during the session without any issues. I don’t use treats at first because often, if you lure a dog to you with treats you are, in effect, coercing him past his comfort zone because he really wants the treats. Then when the treats are gone, he goes, “OMIGosh I am way too close to this scary person!” and a bite happens. It is not a good idea to ask scary strangers to feed treats to your fearful dog. Karen was already aware of this, as well as the importance of not letting strangers come up to try to pet Ashley. Karen was mostly worried about Ashley’s play behavior with other dogs. She had been taking her to the dog park (we agreed to stop this) and had observed Ashley doing what she called “bullying” other dogs there. “She enjoys charging and deflecting at the last second or pouncing with her open mouth over the back of the other dog’s neck.” She said this had also happened at other private home and neutral locations, and (surprise!) many dogs no longer wanted to interact with Ashley. She was especially concerned because she has several friends with small dogs that she wanted Ashley to be able to play with. One couple had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and when they visited Ashley kept pouncing on the little dog. She had also done this with other small dogs. Not good! Even if she’s not being aggressive, the mere size difference can cause injury to the smaller dog, and her high arousal play style can result in the smaller dog being defensively aggressive, which is also not likely to end well. Play Styles I explained to Karen that this was about differing playstyles and size incompatibilities, not about dominance. Different dogs have different playstyles, and while some dogs (a minority, I believe) are able to adapt well to a variety of styles, most dogs prefer playing with dogs who like to play the way they do. Ideally, you want to find canine playmates for your dog who appreciate and reciprocate your dog’s play. If you know your dog’s preferred play style, you can narrow his playmate pool to potentially suitable dogs without attempting risky introductions. Here are common canine play styles: •        Cheerleaders: These dogs like to play on the fringes around other dogs who are actively engaged with each other (see Body Slammers, Chasers and Wrestlers). They are often from the herding group (Collies, Shepherds, etc.) and are usually quite vocal, often engaging in non-stop barking. Cheerleading is related to behaviors that have been enhanced for herding – herding dogs tend to be “control freaks.” They may also nip at heels, and at the assertive “fun-police” end of the cheerleader behavior continuum, will actually try to break up the fun. If they do this with dogs who take offense, there is potential for dogfights. Playmates for cheerleaders need to be tolerant of these dogs’ sometimes irritating efforts to control play activities. •        Body Slammers: These are the demolition derby dogs of the canine playground. Labs and Boxers are prominent in this group, although there are plenty of others for whom “play” means “run full speed into other dogs and see if you can knock them off their feet.” This can also include mouthing behavior. Body Slammers play best with other Body Slammers, but can also be compatible with some Wrestlers and Chasers. They don’t generally do well with Cheerleaders and Soft Touches. There is risk of minor to major bodily damage when big dogs run into each other at full speed. Think “T-bone” collision. A lot of the breeds who fall into the Body Slammer category seem to suffer from a higher-than-average incidence of ruptured ACLs. Hmmmmmmmmm. •        Wrestlers: Wrestlers are into full, prolonged body contact. These dogs are most likely to take turns being on top, and also tend to engage in rousing games of chew-face. This is a comparatively low-risk play-style, as long as both dogs are happy wrestlers. If one dog insists on pinning another who isn’t comfortable there, however, it can turn ugly. Watch your wrestlers to be sure both are having a good time, and be prepared to intervene if you see emotions rising. A time-out followed by a Consent Test is a good strategy if arousal levels are getting high – it gives both participants time to chill out and brings arousal levels back down, and you can see if they voluntarily choose to re-engage. •        Chasers: These dogs just love to run. It’s great fun to watch dogs play “catch me if you can.” Some show a strong preference for the specific role of chaser or chasee, others are happily willing to take turns. A variation of Chase is Keep Away, where the chasee grabs a toy and invites the other dog to chase after her and try to get the toy. Keep Away often morphs into a mutually enjoyable game of tug. •        Tuggers: Just like it sounds, these are dogs who love to play tug, and are happy to do it with a canine playmate. Dog-tug is a fine game – just watch for resource guarding that can turn tug into war. •        Soft Touches: Some dogs are very tentative about play. These may be dogs who were not well socialized and aren’t yet sure how to interact confidently with other dogs, they may be dogs who have been injured or are arthritic and it hurts them to play hard, or they may just be dogs who don’t like to roughhouse. Soft Touches should definitely play with other soft touches – they’re likely to find any other kind of play too mentally traumatic or physically painful. •        Self-Play: It always makes me chuckle to watch a dog engaged in self-play. This is the dog who tosses a toy in the air for herself, catches it, and tosses it again. My Corgi, Lucy, would carry a ball to the top of the stairs and push it off so she could run down and catch it, carry it upstairs and do it again. My wonderful Terrier mix, Josie, when she was alive, could entertain herself by rolling onto her back with a chew-toy in her mouth, lifting the toy by grasping it with both front paws, hold it in the air and study it for a while, lower it back to her mouth and chew some more, then lift it and study it again, all while staying on her back. Like children, there’s a certain joy in having a dog who can keep herself entertained! So – Ashley was definitely in the Body Slammer category. Cody Comes to Visit We had arranged for Karen’s friends with the Cavalier to come to the session, and about an hour in, they arrived. We had the dogs on opposite sides of an exercise pen barrier so I could observe body language. Ashley was definitely excited about Cody’s arrival, but her body language was all “happy excitement” – I did not see any aggression. She stayed at the barrier, gazing eagerly at Cody. Cody, on the other hand, moved away from the barrier and showed no interest in interacting with Ashley. After fifteen minutes of observing the dogs, I proposed attaching leashes (for management) and putting both dogs on the same side of the barrier. Both families agreed, and so we did. Ashley definitely wanted to play. Cody clearly did not. After a few minutes of Ashley bugging Cody, the little dog gave a clear “back off!” snap. I was happy to see that Ashley respected that communication – for a moment – but then tried to reengage. The Plan We then separated the dogs and had them lie on blankets about 6 feet apart. I was very pleased to see that Ashley was able to settle and relax on her rug. This gave us our plan for going forward: 1.     Karen would seek out appropriate canine playmates for Ashley who appreciated her rough play style so we could meet her canine social needs. We would help Karen with this endeavor. 2.     Walk Away – at least 3 times per week, practice “Walk Away” (Ashley did beautifully with this when we practiced in our session) so Karen would have a way to move Ashley away when she was getting too aroused about other dogs. 3.     Practice the UPenn Relaxation Protocol at least 3 times per week to enhance Ashley’s “Calm on the Blanket” behavior 4.     Sessions with small-dog friends at least once a week – practice having Ashley calm and controlled as we did in the session, including parallel walking. 5.     Do Nose Games at least 3 times a week, as fun enrichment time for Ashley. I did let Karen know that it is highly unlikely that Ashley will ever be able to have small dogs as playpals, but that it is a realistic goal for her to be able to self-regulate and be calm in the presence of her friends’ small dogs, eventually even off leash. This Week at Peaceable Paws It has been an interesting week here at Peaceable Paws. The weather has seesawed back-and-forth between 70’s and 20’s – the birds are nesting (including the sparrows that come back every year to nest in our stove's air vent), and some of the spring flowers are trying to convince us that the warmer weather is here to stay. FLOWERS BIRDS A couple of years ago I discovered the Merlin app for my phone. It does sound ID as well as photo ID – you just point it at the singing bird, push the button and it tells you what bird it is. I love it! Thanks to Merlin I found out a while ago that the crows we have here are Fish Crows (had never heard of them). And just last week I discovered that what I thought all these years were Downy Woodpeckers are actually Hairy Woodpeckers – who know? (Another one I had never heard of!) I now know that Carolina Wrens are everywhere around here, thanks to Merlin identifying their song. We have Red Tail Hawks, Red-Shouldered Hawks (those I ID'd without Merlin's help) and one of my favorites - Pileated Woodpeckers! (Also ID'd without Merlin). I do have a very birdy dog trainer friend who tells me that Merlin is not 100% accurate, but so far it hasn't steered me wrong! Check it out!!! FIRE IN THE WOODS!!!!! My husband Paul is a Fire Police volunteer, which means he responds to fires, wrecks and other emergencies to do traffic control for the fire and police departments. So – imagine my surprise when one of our boarders came in the driveway last week and said, “There’s a huge fire in the neighbor’s woods behind your outdoor arena!” Sure enough, the neighbor was burning a wood pile from trees he’d been cutting down and piling up for the last couple of weeks – the pile was about 20 feet high and 40 feet long… We already weren’t happy with all the loud machines (he was also bulldozing the ground) and now this! You’d think he might have had the courtesy to let us know he was going to burn… We called our local volunteer fire company (we’re members) and they came out and said it was a controlled burn, they had people there watching it, and it was okay. An hour after we called it in the county declared a burn ban for dry conditions. Great. So it smoldered for a couple of days and all seemed well – until Sunday, when two of our dog training students came in for class and said it was flaming again. Sure enough, the wind had come up and the fire had re-ignited. This time the brush truck came in and the Deputy Fire Chief said, “Wait. This isn’t even the burn pile the guy showed us the other day when we were here – that was just two small piles behind his house. He never told us about this one!” 20250316_152922.mp4 The re-ignited fire wasn’t threatening anything at the moment, but the firemen thanked us for calling – if it had gotten out of control and set the woods on fire, it would have been nasty! So they put it out with water and rakes and said they would be billing the neighbor’s insurance company for the cost. Good! Never a dull moment!!! But for now, all is back to peaceable at Peaceable Paws and Pastures. Hope you are enjoying the beginning of Spring as much as we are!!! Warm Woofs, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com ; info@peaceablepaws.com ; 301-582-9420

POOR PUPPY - HOW TO HELP YOUR CRYING PUPPY; WHY YOU ***DON’T*** WANT TO WAIT IT OUT! I had a recent client who, among other things, was asking me how to deal with her puppy’s nighttime crying. I was glad she asked. Gone are the days when standard advice was to ignore a crying puppy. “Ignore him,” we said, “until he stops crying. If you go to him while he’s crying, you’ll reinforce him and teach him to cry more.” That’s horrid advice and I regret that ages ago I was guilty of saying it to clients. Now that competent, educated dog training and behavior professionals have a much better understanding of the science of behavior and learning, we won’t tell you to ignore your pup’s cries. You must take action when your pup is in distress. That’s what his cries are – he’s communicating to you that he’s distressed – sometimes very distressed. (Note: This does not apply to “demand barking” – that requires a very different response. While some puppies manage to survive having their cries ignored and grow into normal, healthy adult dogs, others suffer with stress-related behavioral issues for the rest of their lives, including separation related behaviors, due at least in part to not having their needs met when they were so desperate for help. So what should you do when your puppy cries? He’s crying for help. Help him. A New World When a puppy arrives at his new home, his world has turned upside down. His mother and siblings are gone. The familiar sights, sounds and smells of his birth home are gone – replaced with an alien environment. Even if he came from a responsible breeder who helped prepare him for this life change (sadly, a relatively small percentage of possible puppy sources) the stress of rehoming may still trigger distress behaviors. It’s critically important to take things slowly. Your pup may have never been alone before, ever. Being left alone now could be horribly traumatic, especially if you ignore his pleas for help. Your best approach is prevention. Assume your pup has never been crated or left alone, and plan on staying near him at first. Even if he has been previously crate-trained, the stress of relocating to your home can contribute to panic attacks. What To Do Whether you are faced with a newly-arrived puppy or one who’s been in your home for a while, here’s what you need to do: 1.         Determine why he is crying. What’s stressing him? After identifying his stressor(s), figure out how to make them go away. (Go to: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/training/stressed-out/) 2.         Anticipate when he’s likely to stress-cry and pre-empt the crying by engaging him in some other activity, food toy, or providing company. 3.         Keep him near you and gradually acclimate him to being alone. Isolation is a huge stressor for a puppy! 4.         Spend time acclimating him to his crate by playing crate games, preferably starting with his first day home (but it’s never too late). 5.         If he is stressed by crating, use an exercise pen alternative (a collapsible wire pen) for confinement. 6.         If you cannot determine his stressors and alleviate his crying, engage the services of a qualified professional force-free behavior consultant to help you, sooner, not later. First Night A pup’s first night home can be make-or-break time. (Also true for your newly-adopted adult dog!) If he adapted well to his crate during your first-day crate games, you can probably crate him in your room for the night. Do not, under any circumstances, crate him away in a room all by himself. You have to hear him when he cries to go to the bathroom or if he's telling you he’s alone and distressed. Get up and take him out if you think he needs to go. Crating him in your room saves him from feeling abandoned. If he’s stressed about the crate, use an exercise pen that you can set next to your bed with your arm draped over the edge if necessary, to assure him he’s not alone. (I’m speaking from the voice of experience here – I had to do this with our Pomeranian, Sunny, when we adopted him at the age of 11 months. For several weeks. And then gradually withdrew my arm and eventually, when he was ready, crated him at night.) Give him a good bout of puppy playtime before bed, a last bathroom trip and time to settle before the two of you retire for the night. Have his crate or pen where he can see you. A microwave-heated towel can provide comfort for him. He may fuss for a moment or two. As long as it doesn’t escalate and he settles quickly, you can ignore brief fussing. If it persists or starts increase to distress crying, intervene. Hang your hand in front of his crate or into his pen so he has company. Over time (days, weeks) you should gradually be able to remove your hand without causing distress. The same philosophy holds true for other times, long after your first night is behind you – in fact, for the rest of his life. A distressed, crying dog needs to be helped, not ignored. Figure out why he’s upset and determine what you need to do to alleviate his stress. Intervene when he’s distressed. He’s crying for help. Help him. CAT BEHAVIOR MYSTERY First let me say that I am a very strong advocate for keeping cats indoors. Twenty years working at the Marin Humane society in Novato, California, convinced me that outdoor cats tend to have short lives and all too often meet up with unhappy endings. That said, we live on a farm, and feral cats randomly choose to move into our lower hay barn. In fact, about ten years ago, when my husband left his position as Executive Director of the local humane society, his replacement (trying to play the unfortunate “no-kill” game), was instructing shelter staff to dump feral cats around the county. When several ended up on our farm, all at the same time, we suspected it was part of this very misguided effort. As much as I believe in indoor cats, most of the time trying to bring truly feral cats indoors is a disaster, We already had one barn cat – a beautiful dilute calico, Dorothy. She was not feral but moved in from the neighbor’s house and adapted life in the upper horse barn life very well. In fact, as the exception that proves the rule, she lived to the ripe old age of 16, and happily greeted many of our academy students and canine visitors as well as our horse boarders. So – we trapped and sterilized the feral newcomers, and since we already had Dorothy we named them Munchkin, Scarecrow, Flying Monkey, Auntie Em, Kansas and Wizard. Since they were very feral, there was no point in trying to bring them indoors - they would have been miserable. We set them up in our lower hay barn. (Auntie Em, a lovely tuxedo girl turned out to not be feral, didn't adapt well to living in our house with our menagerie, and went to live with my niece in Indiana). As outdoor cats do, they gradually passed on – and we don’t know why or how, although Munchkin may have been bitten by a copperhead snake, judging by the symptoms he displayed before vanishing. Generally they just disappear. In time, Flying Monkey (a small black shorthair), who had been wildest of the bunch, was the only one left, and I started a concerted effort to socialize him using Kellie Snider’s CAT procedure (Constructional Aggression Treatment). The effort was eventually successful. He is now eleven (!!!), and for the last three years I have been able to pet him, pick him up and even vaccinate him! No one else can get near him, but I can. A new feral feline friend, Xander, moved into the lower barn a couple of years ago, and through the same process I am now able to pet him, pick him up and vaccinate him too. Xander has become a very regular presence – he is there almost every day and often prefers to come to me to be petted rather than rushing over to eat the food I put out for him. But… Around the middle of January, something happened. I don’t know what. Monkey came for morning feeding time, limping, with a wound on the inside of his left hind leg. It wasn’t awful – just looked like a scrape. He came close enough that I could touch it and look at it but was definitely wary of me. After that, although his leg healed quickly, he became more and more wary – staying at the back of the barn instead of coming up to greet me. And my little black Monkey who was usually there faithfully every single morning for breakfast began missing meals. I started keeping track, and as long as he showed up every two to three days, I wasn’t too concerned. Then he missed nine days in a row and I thought we’d lost him. But one day I saw him duck into the barn when I went down for something in the middle of the day. Yay – he was still here! Two days later he was there for breakfast, came up and greeted me like old times. YAY – he’s back!! Fingers crossed, I expected to see his friendly self every day after that. Now after seven days again with no Monkey, this morning I saw him dart under the tractor shed next to the barn when I went down to feed. But no old-time happy greeting. I would love to know what’s going on with him. Why was he spooked, then friendly, then vanished again? My husband thinks someone else somewhere did something bad to him. If there are any cat people out there – I would love to hear your theories!! KELPIE PLAYTIME We got our first Australian Kelpie some four decades ago. Keli was my Canine Field Agent at the Humane Society - he was trained to herd, rode with me in the truck, helped round up loose livestock and catch stray dogs, and did school Humane Education Programs with me. We are now on our third (Kai) and fourth (KC) Kelpies - first time we have ever had two at once. KC stands for Kelpie Chaos...<G>. She's the liver-and-tan - and we adopted her from a hoarder case, so she came with a lot of behavior challenges. Yes, she is on Reconcile - doggy Prozac. It is great fun to watch the two of them play together. I'm still trying to get good video, but here are some still shots: And Two weeks in a row now I’ve gone for trail rides on Levi – working on fulfilling one of my New Year Goals… More of my cases next time – promise! Warm Woofs, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com ; info@peaceablepaws.com ; 301-582-9420

CLIENT #1 – REMY, A NON-DOG-SOCIAL LABRADOR RETRIEVER It’s not very often that you come across a Labrador Retriever who doesn’t like to play with other dogs, but Remy is one of those rare exceptions. She and her human came to see me this week. Remy, now 4 years old, a spayed female, grew up with a couple of Lab friends that she got along with quite well and one that she still plays with regularly. One moved away but came back to visit recently, and shortly after they were reintroduced, Remy launched into a scuffle with Susie and they had to be separated. Not too long after that, Helen, Remy’s human, had to go out of town and when her pet sitter came over to stay at the house she brought her blind senior Pomeranian with her. Remy definitely wanted to do the little dog harm. Helen told me that Remy had been “fine” with other dogs up until now – she takes her to the dog park and Remy happily chases her toys. But (and here’s the big clue) she doesn’t ever play with the other dogs. She generally avoids them. As my Academy students will tell you, I always put “Fine” in finger quotes. To me – when a dog is truly “fine” they are calm, relaxed and happy. But most of the time when a dog’s person says the dog is “fine” what they mean is that the dog isn’t over threshold (acting out) – but in reality much of the time the dog is quite far from “fine.” In fact, much of the time the dog is still tense, stressed and worried – perhaps even shut down, but is nowhere near calm, relaxed and happy. Avoidance isn’t “fine” either. Avoidance is sending a very clear message that the dog is not comfortable with whatever stimulus she is avoiding, and if that stimulus (dog or whatever) gets too close or tries to be too social, our avoidant dog is likely to become aggressive to try to get them to back off. I believe this is what happened with Remy. And since she has now found a successful strategy for making those dogs go away, she’s likely to resort to it more often. So – kudos to Helen for seeking help before Remy has a long history of practicing successful “go away” behavior. STUFFED DOGS I don’t often used stuffed dogs – I think most dogs are savvy enough to realize pretty quickly that they aren’t real, and if anything their artificial stiffness can make dogs even more uncomfortable. But I tried it with Remy – I wanted to watch her body language when she first saw the other dogs, and to see what she did when released (which I wasn't about to do with a live dog!). I just happened to have a life-sized/lifelike stuffed Labrador and a life-sized lifelike stuffed Pom. Remy was barky with both stuffed dogs from a distance of 70 feet (one at a time). When we released her leash to see what she would do she ran up to the Lab, sniffed his posterior, sniffed around a little more and then, realizing it wasn’t real, moved off to greet a nearby person. 20250221_143559.mov 20250221_144000.mov When we let her approach the Pom she was much more suspicious – didn’t come up and sniff, but eventually realized it was stuffed and started playing with it like a stuffed toy. So then we did some counterconditioning/desensitization (CC&D) with my Kelpie, Kai. As expected, she barked at him at first at 70 feet, but was easily kept below threshold as Helen let Remy look at Kai and then immediately fed her chicken. Remy quickly started offering CERs (conditioned emotional response looks) – glancing at Kai and then looking back at Helen for chicken – and Remy clearly began to relax. We gradually decreased distance and all went well until we were about 15 feet apart. Although Remy had seemed to be tolerating the decreasing distance well, she suddenly tensed, gave several aggressive barks and lunged toward Kai. We calmly increased distance, Helen continued with the CC&D, and Remy quickly settled back down. PROGNOSIS Most dogs, even those who aren’t overly social, can cultivate a small circle of intimate friends – and that is what we hope for Remy. I am also optimistic that with enough CC&D work she can be socially appropriate in the presence of other dogs, as long as we don’t expect her to interact with them. Our own Scottish Terrier, Dubhy (who is no longer with us) was initially quite dog reactive/aggressive, and over time we successfully and peacefully added several new canine members to our family. (And yes, he really did play the piano...<G>) Helen committed to at least 3 CC&D sessions with Remy per week, and after spending some time with her I’m pretty sure she’s the kind of person who will absolutely fulfill her commitment and then some. She did agree, for safety reasons, to stop taking Remy to the dog park, other than perhaps to hang out outside the park for CC&D opportunities, and I provided her with an article on doing careful introductions to create that small circle of intimate friends: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/care/proper-dog-to-dog-introductions-in-the-home/   I do think this one will go well! CLIENT #2 – SPARKY, THE REACTIVE AIR BNB PIT/STAFF Sparky, a 1.5-year-old spayed female Pit/Staffie mix, is about as cute, friendly and social with humans as they come (those ears!!!). That is, when she’s not at home in her house, which is the location of her humans’ Airbnb business. Sparky pretty much loses it whenever a car comes in the driveway, and if guests (some with dogs, some without) are walking the grounds around the house. Once she is introduced to the humans she is quite friendly with them, but her response to the initial arrival (delivery people too) is quite alarming. She did have one very significant incident when Dylan had her outside, off-leash, unaware that a guest was walking with their dog. Sparky went after the guest’s small dog, and the guest was bitten several times while protecting his dog from Sparky. Fortunately, the guest was very understanding and forgiving, especially after Dylan and Sharon comped their 3-day stay and offered them another free 3-day stay if they should want to come back for another visit. We took advantage of Sparky’s reactive barking to sounds in the adjoining office to practice some CC&D. Sparky responded and settled with lightning speed – which gives us cause for optimism, although I did tell her humans that it might not work quite as quickly in her own home environment where she has a history of reacting. Also in the plus column – other than her over-the-top-reaction times, she is actually a very calm, laid back girl most of the time – so not a candidate for long-term anti-anxiety medication, although I did suggest to Sharon and Dylan that they ask their vet about short-acting meds that they could give when they know they have guests arriving. OUR PLAN Here are Sparky’s commitments: Behavior Modification Protocols/Minimum Commitments (more is fine/better): 1.         CC&D – At least 3 times per week, 15-20 minutes or more per session (when possible with friend-set-up) and be prepared for/take advantage of anticipated guest arrivals. 2.         Find It/Search – At least 5 times per week, 5 minutes or more per session – (easy one; more is fine)!! 3.         Scatter Meal – Once per day (evening meal, weather permitting) – the more widely scattered the better! 4.         Nose Games – At least 3 times per week, 5-10 minutes or more – and more is fine – I suspect you will all love this one… ENRICHMENT! 5.         Walk Away – At least 3 times per week, 5 minutes or more per session – to be able to move her away from arousal-causing stimuli - remember that in order for this to work you need to make it a FUN PARTY!!! My prognosis for Sparky was still positive, but a little more guarded. It can be significantly more challenging to modify behavior when the dog’s exposure to stress-causing stimuli in the environment is harder to manage. Sharon and Dylan will need to commit to serious management as well as the modification protocols if they want to help Sparky learn to be calm about guests on the property. WORKSHOPS In case you needed more motivation – here is a list of our upcoming workshops: Cooperative Care with Lucy McKnight: April 5-6 The Shape of Things to Come with Pat Miller: May 24-25 Equine Clicker Training with Sam Steckel: May 31-June 1 Brain Candy/Cognition with Pat Miller: August 23-24 Rowdy to Refined/Impulse Control with Lucy McKnight: September 20-21 You can sign up here: https://peaceablepaws.com/workshops/ or contact us for more information. Don’t wait too long, everything is starting soon!!! SUNNY HELPS WITH PIG CPR No, Freddie didn’t really need CPR. Freddie, like many pigs, will flop down and lie on his side when you scratch his tummy – so I invited Sunny to step up on his pig brother. And Freddie's enjoying it. (Kai declined the invitation...) Cute, eh? Supposed to be 60 degrees Wednesday – I think maybe I’ll ride a horse!!! Warm Woofs, Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA www.peaceablepaws.com ; info@peaceablepaws.com ; 301-582-9420