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Kira the Dog Whisperer featured on television

Kira the Dog Whisperer featured on television

by | Jan 10, 2017 | Uncategorized

Want to be a fly on the wall and watch a canine behaviour session? Here’s a chance to get a peek of a dog whisperer in action. Denmark’s national TV station aired a program featuring Kira as a Danish dog whisperer living downunder. Popular Comedian, Jan Gintberg, tagged along with Kira as they visited Murphy, a Wheaten Terrier that really doesn’t like visitors coming into the house. By design, dogs instinctively do not let strangers enter their den. Just like Murphy, their natural reaction is to bark and try to intimidate the intruder to go away. If you want your dog to greet visitors politely, then you will need to show your dog that you are in charge of deciding who’s welcomed into the house. Hence your dog’s participation is never necessary. Click on the image below to see how things went when Jan and Kira visited Murphy.
Dogs & Children Do’s & Don’ts

Dogs & Children Do’s & Don’ts

by | May 30, 2016 | Uncategorized

Did you ever have an image in your mind of sitting relaxed in your family home and enjoying watching your children play with the family dog? I bet it didn’t include sharp puppy teeth, petrified little girls and bloody scratches, did it? Well now that it’s all happening, let’s get started on some damage control…

Firstly,
DON’T think that your children are going to rank higher than your dog in the pack’s pecking order. Your dog knows the age of your children and the level of their maturity. They will never be above the dog in the hierarchy, in the dog’s eyes. There’s nothing to fear and nothing wrong with that. Your dog is going to be mature enough at a very early age (8-16 months depending) to deal responsibly with your children and to follow your guidelines about interacting with them.

DO act like the ‘policeman’ who makes sure that every member of your pack follows your instructions on how to treat the other pack members. Do intervene and stop the dog from bullying your child (or vice versa!). If you do not intervene, you will appear as a weak pack leader –or simply not as a leader.

DON’T let the children consider the dog as a toy who has no right to say no.
DO provide a space where your puppy can rest and be left alone. Typically if the dog is in it’s bed, or hiding under the coffee table, you would instruct your children not to touch it.. In my experience, children develop a much healthier and more respectful attitude to the dog if they take part in the practical care taking. Poop scooping, brushing and feeding – it all counts.

DON’T let young children pick up the dog in their arms or carry it around all the time. It’s exhausting for the dog and it will soon become tired and grumpy. It will be likely then to start growling or snapping at your children.
DO instruct small children that they can only pick up the dog in their arms if they are sitting flat on the ground. This position tends to calm the child and help it focus on holding the dog properly. It’s also a lot less scary and stressful for the dog if it feels confident enough to wiggle out of the grip and safely jump to the ground.

DON’T up your energy in order to calm your dog. If you are playing together and you yell out ‘No!’, try to push away the dog with your arms, tap the dog over the nose, or try to run away, you will most likely excite your dog further. Its play will only intensify. The same will happen with your children, but possibly even more dramatically, because your dog thinks of them as equals and playmates.

DO teach your children to stand up straight, put their hands on their shoulders and turn away from the dog. Your dog may make a small attempt to continue playing, but your childrens’ body language clearly says no. Becoming bored, your dog will soon look elsewhere for fun. You can use the same technique yourself so that your dog learns to read the message even faster.

DON’T let your dog and your children play together without having put some guidelines in place first. Especially if this involves toys. It can get out of control very quickly.
DO teach your children to always hold dog toys below their waist. If they hold them up at head height, they will soon have dog teeth and dog claws flying around their face.

DON’T let the living room become a race track.
DO insist that all boisterous play must happen outside in the garden. Then make yourself a cup of tea and sit back to enjoy the quiet, while it lasts.

In Most Cases, Dog Aggression is Quick to Solve

In Most Cases, Dog Aggression is Quick to Solve

by | Apr 30, 2016 | Uncategorized

Have you ever considered that it’s not natural for dogs to socialize with strangers? Dogs are territorial animals and by nature attack or chase strangers away. Therefore, aggression doesn’t always stem from past bad experiences or personality traits. In fact, it mostly stems from lack of interacting with a stranger dog. Socialization with other dogs is something that we train against their instinct. Therefore it must be maintained.

Once two aggressive dogs meet and slowly get to know each other, they will be ready to interact and become friends. A familiar dog is a completely different concept to them than a stranger dog!

I work a lot with dog-to-dog aggression and no doubt, these are the most common scenarios:

The dog never socialized and never learnt that meeting stranger dogs can be fun. In fact the situation is overwhelming to them and they freak out in an aggressive fear reaction. This is typical for rescue dogs that have lived isolated in a back yard or on a rural property.

The dog has socialized, but it plays rough so the owners do not let it in the dog park. The dog is still young and the aggression is coming from a place of over-excitement rather than fear or anger. The dog’s adrenalin gets so high, that no other behaviour but barking and lunging is expressive enough! Once that initial excitement wears off, the dog’s desire to play shines through.

The dog goes to the dog park regularly, but it has become ball obssessed. While playing ball, it stopped interacting with other dogs. It is now aggressively protective of its ball. The aggressive attitude has developed into a generally hostile attitude towards other dogs.

The dog regularly goes to the dog park and happily plays with other dogs when off leash. However ON leash, it becomes aggressive and barks and lunges even at the sight of other dogs. This behaviour is very common for dogs that are protective of their owner, their home/ front garden or their own personal space. Being protective is natural to many breeds. It can also relate to the type of owner, the owner’s circumstances (pregnancies for example) and the dog’s own circumstances. The reaction is often connected to the dog thinking itself as being in charge of the walk.

It usually takes me anything from just a 1 hour private session to 3-4 days of aggression rehab camp to resolve any of the aggression issues above. The amount of time needed depends on the dog’s age, if it has been desexed, how long the issue has been going on for, and for how long the dog has been kept away from other dogs. If you have dog-to-dog aggression issues with your dog, please call us for a free and no obligation estimate on what it would take to resolve it for your dog .

It is such a joy for me to see dogs frolic around in the dog park, playing with other dogs for the first time after recovering from their aggressive phase. If you would like to see an example of my work with aggressive dogs, please check out the story about Abby the Boxer unfolding in several posts starting from the 11th of February 2016 on my Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Canine-Code-242826639078102/