Dog Trainers Alliance of Southern California - DTASC

08/27/2023

I hate that I really want to fix the "either" into the grammatically proper "neither," but hey - I don't believe in correcting dogs. ;¬)

11/10/2022

"A new study suggests that the face of an owner can provide positive social reinforcement for dogs."

Link to full study: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(21)00731-8

Dogs gain positive reinforcement from their owner's face • Earth.com

06/22/2022

Training a Dog to Enjoy Petting or Handling

"Petting is not essential to life with a dog. But a certain amount of handling is necessary for the health of the dog. A dog can learn to enjoy both handling and petting through the use of classical conditioning. A dog taught to accept handling will be much less stressed at vet visits, for example. That’s a topic for another day; I just wanted to mention that dogs’ preferences (just like humans’) are not set in stone."

Educating the Public

"I wish some more folks would publish some videos about petting dogs. I know that in the grand scheme of things there are many worse things that happen to dogs in the world than forced attention. But this is a microcosm of many of the bigger problems. Think how many dogs could have happier lives if their people didn’t misunderstand their reactions. It’s such a simple thing."

Read on...

Newsflash. Not all dogs want to be petted. But you wouldn’t know it from watching videos on YouTube. What you can learn on YouTube is that there are lots of dogs whose owners _think_ they are enjoying petting. But they aren’t. This is another one of those disconnects between dog and people lang...

04/29/2022

The actual Darwin's Ark study referred to in the prior post.

Pairing owner surveys and genetics for pet dogs challenges behavioral breed stereotypes.

04/29/2022

"In a new study, Morrill and her colleagues show that almost none of the behaviors we associate with dog breeds—from lovable Labradors to pugnacious pit bulls—are hard-wired. Aside from a few ancient traits, environment seems to play a much larger role than pedigree.

“It’s a major advance in how we think about dog behavior,” says Elaine Ostrander, an expert in canine genetics at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute who was not involved with the work. “No breed owns any particular trait.”

"Morrill wanted to better understand whether behavioral issues such as aggression and obsessive compulsive disorder in dogs are genetic or environmental. “If they are more prominent in particular breeds,” she says, “that hints they may be genetic.”

"Previous work had found some genetic relationships between breed and behavior, but it looked at averages across breeds rather than comparing individual dogs. So Morrill and her colleagues harnessed her lab’s own database, Darwin’s Ark, which has collected survey and genetic data on thousands of dogs across the United States since 2015. Owners answer more than 100 questions—ranging from how friendly their pups are with strangers to whether they like to chase squirrels—and then send in a cheek swab for DNA sequencing.

"In the largest study of its kind, the team compared the genetic and survey data of nearly 2000 dogs—most of which had their entire genomes sequenced—and survey results from an additional 16,000 pooches. The pups included mixes and purebreds, with 128 breeds represented."

Did any of you participate in the Darwin's Ark study? A lot of you out there did! 16,000 dogs in this study - the largest of its kind.

What's your favorite breed or mixed breed(s)? Share in the comments!

Read on...

Work challenges popular idea that breeds have specific, reliable behaviors

04/27/2022

"Self-reported data were collected from owners of 963 aggressive dogs. A majority of owners (81%) who sought help from a board-certified behaviorist found the advice helpful for treating their dog’s aggression. Training equipment (eg, antibark collars, muzzles) decreased the probability for successful aggression treatment. Behavior modification training techniques (eg, response blocking) decreased the probability for improvement in fear aggression toward other dogs and predatory aggression. The most consistently beneficial behavior modification techniques included improved dog–owner communication, habituation, relaxation protocols, and short, frequent training sessions. Traditionally prescribed medications (eg, fluoxetine, trazodone) were not helpful, but this may be because owners were not referred early enough to a specialist.

"Dogs with fear and anxiety comorbidities were more difficult to treat. In addition, changes in management negatively impacted aggression between familiar dogs, possibly because management changes typically consisted of using time-out, which delays establishment of a stable hierarchy among canine housemates. In contrast, management changes to treat predatory aggression (ie, preventing access to animals that are likely to trigger chasing) are particularly important."

Read on... if you cannot access the article, please feel free to sign up for The Clinician's Brief. It's free, and they have articles on the latest studies for all things veterinary and behavior-related. www.cliniciansbrief.com

Aggression is a common problem in dogs, and there are numerous potential modes of management. Are some techniques more effective than others?