Echuca Animal Rescue Service

12/02/2025

ARE YOU WORTH COMING BACK TO?

I’m often horrified when I watch people trying to get their dogs to come back to them when they call.

They call and call and get increasingly angry and frustrated as their dog keeps ignoring them.

When their dog eventually comes back, or has been chased and "captured” by the now really angry person, they get screamed at, yanked about, or punished in some way for taking so long and not listening.

Why on earth would a dog want to return to someone who does this to them!

The most common reason dogs don’t come back when we call is because it’s not a positive experience.

A new environment is generally far more rewarding, stimulating and exciting than coming back to us.
An exciting scent or seeing something to chase can all override a response to recall.

Make coming back to you well worth it by always making it a rewarding experience and keep practicing this throughout a dog’s life.

Have a little patience if it takes longer than you would like, let your dog finish what they’re doing before calling them, practice in different locations and environments and never reprimand or punish them for coming back.

There is never a guarantee of a perfect recall each and every time, but making it a rewarding experience will greatly improve the rate of success.

23/01/2025

WHOSE WALK IS IT ANYWAY?

Imagine going on a long-anticipated walk, through new scenery and exciting smells after being cooped up in the same place all day, but you have been fitted with a blind fold and are being dragged or yanked along at a fast pace.

I imagine that this is how dogs feel when we don’t allow them time to stop, sniff and explore the environment.

Dogs largely perceive their world through scent and it’s how they collect and process information to help the world make sense.

Taking away an opportunity for sniffing on a walk really isn’t being fair.. As much as physical exercise is important, the mental stimulation that sniffing provides is equally, if not more important.

Allowing dogs to choose when to stop and sniff provides so many benefits – increases self-confidence, promotes calmness, lowers stress and anxiety levels, lowers pulse rates, reduces cognitive decline in older dogs and provides important mental and environmental enrichment.

Make time for a slow sniffing walk when you can, where your dog is allowed to choose which direction to go and allowed time to just investigate, interpret, process the environment and follow wherever their nose leads them.

It may take far more time and patience as we wait for them to finish smelling that particular blade of grass, but the benefits are well worth it – after all, whose walk is it anyway?

06/01/2025

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Changing a rescued dogs name can be a good thing.

If a dog has come from an unpleasant or abusive background, or even an unknown background, they may associate their name with negative experiences.

A previous owner may have shouted their name when doing something unpleasant to them.

Changing a dog’s name can be a fresh, new beginning and can provide an opportunity to rebuild broken trust and build new bonds.

There may be concern that changing a dog’s name will confuse them or may cause some form of emotional distress, but dogs really don’t see their names in the same way that we do.

Dogs really don’t care what we call them, as long as that name is associated with positive experiences it will be a good name.

A dog’s name is more important to us than it is to a dog. A name is really just a cue to get your dog’s attention so they respond.

The way a new name is introduced and taught is important. Care should be taken not to attach any negative associations with the new name.

The new name should always be paired with something positive whenever your dog hears the sound.
Call the new name and every time your dog reacts, responds or looks at you, reward this with a treat, lots of praise, a game or a toy.

Keep repeating this and dogs will quickly begin to associate their new name with something good about to happen and will start responding to the new sound in a positive way.

“It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.” - W.C. Fields. This quote sums up the importance of pairing a name with something positive so that it will always be what a dog wants to answer to.

A previous name may always be linked to a traumatic past, but a new name can be the beginning of a happy ever after and forever home.

31/12/2024

FEROCIOUS FIREWORKS
I’ll be spending New Years Eve at home, in my pajamas, cuddled up with my dogs, as I always do.

Fireworks are something I dislike intensely. They are not only terrifying for so many different animals but are also dreaded by caring people, who have to watch, often helplessly as their dog suffers through the deafening bangs.

Shelters become overrun with lost dogs, dogs are knocked over by cars or go missing in their attempt to escape, they jump through glass windows, over high walls, have heart attacks, seizures or worse.

As there’s very little we can do to prevent other people from doing what they do, the best solution is to do all we can to minimize the impact this has on our dogs.

All dogs are different and there’s never a guarantee that these methods will work. Some dogs are just the way they are because of genetics, their experiences, learning history, health conditions, age etc.

Here are some helpful links if you’d like more information on some ideas that may help –

1. Counterconditioning / desensitization
https://illis.se/en/cc/

2. Noise of fireworks for desensitization training –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FANXaanG4

3. Thunder phobia and sound sensitivities - Patricia McConnell
https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/dogs-and-fireworks/

4. Dogs and fireworks (30+ proven techniques to eliminate noise phobia) – Karolina Westlund, PHD
https://illis.se/en/eliminating-firework-and-thunder-phobia-in-dogs/

5. Calming dog music – Pet Calming Maestro, Lisa Spector (Lisa’s music helps me relax and fall asleep quicker too!) https://lisaspector.com/dog-gone-calm/

6. Thundershirt / anxiety wraps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmwgw2actJg

Wishing you and your dogs a calm, peaceful, uneventful beginning to 2024

23/12/2024

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS ….

Not just for Christmas, but every day of a dog’s life – these are some of the things I believe dogs would want -

Gifts of love, kindness, compassion, understanding and knowledge.

Gifts of helping them feel safe, secure and protected in their environment

Gifts of unconditional love, second chances and a forever home

Gifts of allowing appropriate choices

Gifts of mental and physical stimulation.

Gifts of proper nutrition and health care.

Gifts of never using punishment, force, fear, intimidation or tools that cause pain.

Gifts of acceptance for the dog that they are.

Wishing you and dog’s everywhere a very Happy Christmas filled with the gifts that really matter!

19/11/2024

Tips on how to manage your dog 😘

ARE YOU MANAGING?
Are you managing your dog’s environment to prevent or improve unwanted behaviour?

As people, we tend to prefer and look for the more complicated solutions to problems. This tendency is termed “complexity bias” - the tendency to prefer complicated explanations and solutions instead of looking for the simpler ones.

Surely a complicated, time consuming, detailed solution has to be more effective, superior, impressive, or correct?

Complexity bias is so relevant when it comes to changing a dog’s unwanted behaviour. We often get so stuck on trying to modify behaviour through counter conditioning, desensitization or detailed training plans when sometimes the simplest solution to the problem lies in simply managing the environment.

Dogs will do what dogs do – when an opportunity arises to help themselves to food left on a table, to bark at the gate at anyone passing by, to have a drink from that big water bowl at the perfect height, that we call a toilet, to running off with irresistibly smelly dirty underwear, to rummaging through bins in search of anything that may or may not be edible, to running out an opened door in search of adventure - the list is long - dogs will be dogs.

Parents of little children use management all the time without giving it much thought. Baby locks on cupboards, covers on electrical sockets, valuable or dangerous items put far out of reach, fences and locks around pools, etc.

We wouldn’t just train a toddler not to stick their fingers in an electrical socket, not to open cupboards, not to touch a hot plate – it’s far safer, simpler and logical to first manage the environment, to prevent potential incidents.

The same principle should apply to managing a dog’s environment to prevent unwanted behaviour.

The more a behaviour is practiced the more difficult it is to prevent. The more a behaviour is rehearsed the better dogs become at it.

Preventing the behaviour from happening in the first place by using management is the logical, simple and effective way to address it.

Be a good manager – it’s far less stressful, for both us and our dogs.