Pooches Paws and More

Another week of soggy shorts and tshirt because it’s too hot for a coat ft our favourite school holiday assistant🐾

Suns out, tongues out 🌞 (except Willow cos she’s just too cool to pant) 🐾

Happy Friday 🤎

Summer walks hit different 🐾 (and reduces washing by 90%😂)

We love that Cheify is back 🫶🏽🐾 also, how is it possible that he got even bigger?!😍

Starting off the week with what may be a little controversial. But your dog does not benefit from large playgroups of 20, 30, 40, 50+ dogs. And in most cases they're harmful. Now, I am a fan of small group social play in dogs for dogs who like dog-dog play. Well paired playmates can be great, it can give your dog a social outlet if they enjoy dog- dog play. But once we get in to extra large play groups of dogs the risk of injury, overwhelm, chronic stress, and behaviour fall out becomes great. (behavioural fall out like reactivity, decreased frustration tolerance, increased fear response, rapid escalation in aggressive responses) Nothing about large play groups are natural or beneficial to our pet dogs. They are popular amongst many day care providers simply because they are profitable. Charging $30-40 per dog per day requires several dogs to cover the expenses of running a day care operation.(it's expensive y'all!) Your dog should not be forced in to small quarters, and transport situations with dozens of dogs, they should always have space to opt out of social interactions, and play mates should be with dogs your dog enjoys spending time with. Not ones merely tolerated. If you need day care be sure to vet your provider, ask about group size, space to play, rest opportunities as well as dog to handler ratios

Stan’s fresh trim appreciation post 😍

It’s Asha’s 1st birthday today 1️⃣🥳 (according to her passport) and what better day to come on here and say… Asha has a forever home!!!
Yes, you guessed it… she’s staying with us 🩷

Definitions, knowledge and why they are important.

All behaviour follows certain laws. Most reputable dog trainers study these laws and understand how they work. We understand the how and why of behaviour increasing and decreasing; the more knowledge we have, and the better our ethics, the more we can help dogs without hurting them.

There are four basic ways behaviour is increased (remember in the most basic terms).

These can act at the same time and it’s important that we have a deep and thorough knowledge of them. An example, if I move into a cool room out of the sun, I am both escaping the heat (negative reinforcement, removal of high temperature) and gaining access to coolness (positive reinforcement, addition of the coolness). Often, but not always, some of these contingencies go together.

Positive reinforcement (R+) - the addition of something after a behaviour which strengthens said behaviour e.g. give the dog a food reward after coming back when called. If this increases the likelihood of the recall, we have positively reinforced the recall behaviours. These are generally something the dog wants to gain, and they generally don’t want to gain something unpleasant.

Negative reinforcement (R-) – the removal of something after a behaviour occurs which strengthens the behaviour. For example, we shock a dog on a shock collar and remove the shock when they dog recalls. The recall behaviour has been negatively reinforced. The dog is behaving in order to have the pain/discomfort removed.

Positive punishment (P+) – the addition of something (generally unpleasant) to reduce the behaviour. Example – a dog pulls on the lead; we add a sharp correction on a metal training collar. The pulling reduces as the dog behaves in order to avoid the painful correction being applied. We can say that pulling behaviours have been positively punished.

Negative punishment (P-) – the removal of something to reduce behaviour. An example of this would be a dog jumps up to sn**ch a treat out of our hand as we go to deliver it. We pull the treat away. If the jumping occurs less in the future, we can say that jumping has been negatively punished.

The positive and negative terminology has nothing to do with whether things are good or bad for the dog or us. They simply mean addition or subtraction of something contingent on that behaviour.

The fifth way is the non-contingency – extinction. Extinction is where a dog receives no feedback, nothing added or subtracted from the environment contingent on that behaviour. As example of this would be a barking dog being ignored, completely. The dog will eventually learn that barking does not work and they will stop (I am NOT recommending this is an ethical solution). Extinction is where nothing happens.
Various timing and schedules of reinforcement/punishment then determine how effective they are and how long the effects last.

Remember when I said the greater the depth of our understanding of these things, the more effective our training would be?

If behaviour increases, it has been previously reinforced. If it decreases, it has been punished or put on extinction (see the above terms).

Take No Reward Markers (NRMs). NRMs are used (not by me) to indicated that a behaviour will receive no reward, as opposed to a verbal marker/clicker which tells the dog that reinforcement is coming. If (and only if) the behaviour decreases, which is the reason some use them, then we are using no regards markers as positive punishment. If they have no effect on behaviour, they are useless, so please stop using them.

Remember at school, getting ticks (check marks) against correct answers and red Xs against wrong answers? The Xs are unnecessary to tell us we didn’t get it right, the lack of the check mark/tick is all which is necessary.

What NRMs are absolutely not are extinction markers or conditioned extinction markers. Extinction is where nothing happens, NRMs are the addition of something (no matter how lightly we say it, our tone of voice or the happy expression we have when we use them). Now if you want to use them, fine, if you think you need to use them, I suggest reading more about them. But please, please at least acknowledge what they are and not pretend they are something else.

As positive trainers we want to think we are being as positive as we can possibly be at all times. The thing is, we are human with learning histories. We all have these relics in our behaviour of punitive learning, and they creep into our lives with our dogs. In the grander scheme of things, they might seem minor but the escalate (more on this to come).

Our ethics are important, they inform us of how much or how little pain, annoyance, discomfort, frustration, confusing we are willing to inflict on our dogs in the name of training.

Until next time…
Happy training.

Happy Wednesday 🫶🏽

🐾 Do you recognise this handsome boy? 🐾

🍀 He was found by a member of the public late last night on the Tarka Trail between Woolacombe and Ilfracombe.

😞 Unfortunately, he was not wearing a collar and tag, and he has no microchip.

🐾 If you have any information about him, or can help to find his owner, please call the team on 01271 388870.

💚 He is safe with us now. The Dog Warden Team 🐾

10 photos is neverrrr eeenoughh (sing it like The Greatest Showman)

Boban THE BOY 😍 is currently in a lovely foster home in Cornwall, with 2 dogs and 2 cats. He is a sociable chap who enjoys his group walks with his dog walker and running on the beach with his pals. If you can give Bo a home, you won’t regret it 🫶🏽🐾

🐾

Preach it sister 🩷

Happy 2nd Birthday to everyone’s favourite Taylor Swift loving, howling to go faster, big stick obsessed, Oat cake 🫶🏽

All the green, green and more green makes me happy🌿🌳🌷
swipe for snoozey Freds…

Benj & Milo have 3 new girlfriends 🫶🏽
We took our time before throwing the boys in with the gals but my goodness did it go down well! Thank you again to for your perfect new meeting and socialising spot 🖤

I’ve not been very good at posting recently (possibly due to the chaos of a foster puppy and looking after everyone else’s puppies too) so please enjoy a few snaps from my camera roll from the last few days 🫶🏽
🐾Also, a big slobbery welcome to Mila and Cali 🐾

Half term is over, no more trusted assistant who collects ours lost balls, and everyone will be back from their holidays!
Thank you again to everyone for their love, excitement and patience while little Asha settled in and made some new pals over the last 3 weeks! See everyone next week for more mud and rain (and sunshine🤞🏽) 🐾🐾🐾

‼️‼️FOSTER PLEA‼️‼️
Looking for an emergency foster home for a deaf dog, who has had a horrific time with his adopter. He’s a 7month old retriever mix from Macedonia and is currently being offered up on a rehoming sight, going against the rescues contract!!
If anyone can help, please message me! 🤞🏽🙏🏽

Wins of the week:
1• Benji and Milo made a new bestie in Bea 🥳🫶🏽
2• Asha met auntie and Arlo 🤍
3• I got a cute photo of Max 🫶🏽

Thank you to everyone who has been so flexible and supportive of me having some quieter days for Asha to settle in! We can’t wait for her to be pack-ready and meet everyone 🩷

🐾 Walk Slot Alert! 🐾

Asha had a poorly tummy for the last few days, but today she had some life in her for a field play, some car training and meeting of next door hoomans! Check our story for the full pupdates on our little gem 🫶🏽 (she’s now snoring again from all the eggcitment😂). Happy Easter! 🩷

To everyone so invested in Asha’s story… the rescue is always running low on food!!! For just £10 you can send them a 10kg bag of food directly through the link below. Shipping details in the post below too! 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽

Every bite makes a big difference in their lives. 🙏😔

Here are some links to specific products on the online shop:

DogDog Vitale Energy 10 kg: https://petshopking.com.mk/produkt/dogdog-vitale-energy-10-kg/
Proper Lupoid Type 1 18kg: https://petshopking.com.mk/produkt/proper-lupoid-type-1-18kg/
DogDog Expert Energy 20kg: https://petshopking.com.mk/produkt/dogdog-expert-energy-20kg/

Your kindness means the world to us and to the animals...we have many babys at the moment as well and we barely make ends meet 😔
Just imagine the wagging tails and happy purrs!

When you order through these links, the food will come straight to us at:

Street: Zhdanec
Post code: 1000
City: Skopje
Recipient: Angelina Veljanovska
Contact number: +38978417636 🐾

Thank you for being amazing! Your support brings joy and full bellies to our furry family.❗❗❗
You already know us and know what food donation means 🐕🙏

With love and gratitude,
Wagging Tails Family 🙏

Dog&Dog Expert – Energy 20kg Новата продавница на вашиот миленик.

Believe it or not, these photos are all from today. One day of weather in Devon 😂