A brief look into causes of leash aggression

by k9perceptionblog

We get a lot of dogs for leash aggression. In this brief article I would like to take you through some potential causes and ways to prevent the development of this aggression. 

1. Lack of social skills
2. No leash obedience
3. Excess energy
4. No impulse control

So number one is what I believe everyone jumps to as a conclusion. Yes it is one of the reasons your dog may be developing some issues on the leash but keep in mind the leash can obstruct what would be normal socialization and cause frustration and aggression to develop. This doesn’t mean I’m recommending taking the leash off and hoping for the best when your dog meets some one. I am recommending you looking limit interaction with other dogs until you do have leash control. Many times the bad behavior will snowball progressively getting worse and worse.

This brings me to my next point. Obedience is so important to your dog’s life and their ability to go and do with you. With leash obedience two things you should practice is teaching the dog not to pull and to sit when you stop. Once you have this control you can then walk up to people and other dogs with much more confidence and calm control.

So the third and probably the biggest reason dogs develop leash aggression is excessive energy. The poor behavior on leash really puts owners in a pickle when trying to exercise them though since they struggle to walk they get less exercise. Again this reiterates how important control and obedience is. Sometimes a fast run or bike ride is great to keep your dog moving forward and wearing them out but I get it we’re all not athletes and sometimes just prefer to go on a relaxing walk. In that case your dog still needs to let out some energy so parks may be an option but then we come back to the circle of poor social skills and manners at the park. High impact play such as fetch, tug-a-war (in control play), frisbee, hid-n-seek, etc. can all be ways of taking a little edge off your dog before training or a walk.

The final reason for leash aggression I want to touch briefly on is impulse control. Impulse control or the lack of it is the root issue with most dog behavior problems we see and we see a lot of behavior issues throughout the course of a year. Impulse control is a combination of things that causes the dog to be hyper reactive and not focus. It’s not necessarily their fault either. They have no reason to not want to pay attention of go to what ever is competing most for their attention. This is something that must be taught. You teach impulse control by taking the dog through obedience and stay training then slowly introducing a repeatable distraction in a very controlled in environment. Repeat this over and over with ever increasing distractions until your dog stays focused on you the entire session.
Please feel free to reach out to me directly at caleb@k9perceptions.com for more dog training advice or call us at 904-237-2044 and our account manager can assist you in setting up a free initial consult with one of our trainers. 

 

Why did my dog destroy that?

by k9perceptionblog

We get a lot of calls about destructive dogs so I decided to write briefly on the subject to let people know why a dog may destroy something.

There are a few different reasons why a dog may become destructive.
1) your dog is bored
2) your puppy is teething
3) it’s a natural drive
4) anxiety

Lets look as the most common reason for your dog to become destructive, boredom. You may be great at taking your dog for their daily walk, playing fetch, and giving them love and affection but if they are destroying things around the house chances are they are bored, physically and/or mentally. Depending on your dog’s breed and individual needs they may require more strenuous activity. Bike rides can be great options. Sometimes even taking your dog on a different path during your daily walk giving them new smells, more excitement, and hopefully more mental stimulation. There are infinite solutions to this issue.

There is some good news and bad news with the second reason for destructive behaviors. The good news is a puppy will typically grow out of the chewing stages derived from teething but the bad news this may take up to 10 months. Having a plethora of chew toys is important to get through this time. Try not to fall for just cutesy toys but toys that appease your dog’s need. Different textured toys are important. Textures from rubber, rope, plush, squeaker, and the list goes on will give your puppy options for what feels best to their teeth and gums.

The third reason for destructive behavior goes a long with reason number two. Dogs will be dogs and part of being a dog is chewing things. They get a sense of their surroundings impart by taste as well. At times dogs will taste something that seems like a good thing to chew on. Using taste diversions will help as long as they are used prior to the dog developing a habit. We see the corner of baseboards and coffee tables really fall victim to this. Certain breeds chew more than others and certain individuals within a breed will chew more than others. The trick here is directing them on the proper items to chew and making the improper items unpleasant or unattainable to chew.

The fourth reason for destructive behavior is related to the number one reason of destructive behavior. Anxiety can develop for many reasons. To be honest the reason your dog developed anxiety is not as important once they are diagnosed. Anxiety can date back to the time while your dog was in their mother womb and the stress and nutrition the mother experienced and can be due to a recent traumatic event. Traumatic being relative to the dog’s own life experiences. Too many people focus on why. It’s irrelevant at this point you must move forward. It can be very complex to correct but two things that will certainly help is exercise and teaching impulse control. This will release extra pent up energy while teaching your dog self control.

I could dive much deeper into this topic but this is the just of the common calls we see with destructive behaviors.

If you have more questions reach out to us. We’re here to help.

Quick tips for socialization

by k9perceptionblog

If your dog is maybe a little anxious/aggressive when meeting new dogs here’s a couple quick tips.

1) Don’t make a big deal over the introduction. Many times when people introduce dogs it’s walking head to head to another dog. This is confrontational and should be avoided if your dog is uncomfortable. Try walking up along side of another dog not directly towards them.

2) Don’t allow your dog to pull you over to meet another dog. It’s a good idea to teach dogs to sit when meeting. Once they are calm release them from the sit position so they can make formal introductions.

3) If you have access to doggy daycare use them. Doggy daycare when properly monitored are great for dogs to build social skills.

Dog events

by k9perceptionblog

The season is here in west palm beach. The weather will be cooling off and the outdoor events will begin. What better way than to start of with the downtown West Palm Beach Pup crawl. Being able to take your dog to fun outdoor events is just one of many benefits you gain from training.

Dog training center in west palm beach

by k9perceptionblog

Our West Palm Beach location is up and running. Here we are able to offer our same great services as our training center in Jacksonville. We can handle anything from potty training, destructive behaviors, anxiety, and aggression issues. Our approach is centered around building communication with your dog. To do this we teach strong obedience commands that transition to practical scenarios. We look forward to setting up your free consult and discussing training options with you. Please feel free to give us a call and ask any questions you may have.

Opening Day in West Palm

by k9perceptionblog

Our opening day in West Palm Beach is Coming Soon. 8/4 We would like you to join us in our celebration by coming in for a free dog training evaluation and tour of our Facility. Just like our other location we have an on site veterinarian. We offer a very unique experience for our customers and their four legged friends. We are very dedicated to giving you the best service possible. Our facility has a full staff and is 10,000 square feet. Call today to find out why we should be you fist choice in dog training.

One stop shop for everything dog

by k9perceptionblog

We are very excited to be up and going in our Jacksonville fl location. With our recent partnership we offer every amenity you could imagine for your pup while still offering our expert dog training services. You can come visit us for a training session, reward your pup by giving them a play session in the pet park, give them a spa treatment after, and take some treats to pamper them at home with. Should your pet ever get sick or need medical attention we have an onsite veterinarian. We also offer boarding, training camp, daycare, group training classes, and private lessons. Come visit us today!

Free training consult in Oct

by k9perceptionblog

To celebrate our new location we are offering a free training consult for clients at our Jacksonville Fl location throughout the month of October. Come in tour our facility, create a training plan, and see why we should be your first choice in dog training needs.

New location opening

by k9perceptionblog

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our second location in South Jacksonville. We have pride ourselves in providing exceptional dog training results to our clients. With the opening of our new headquarters in Jacksonville fl we will be able to offer our dog training services to even more people. Our new facility will give your dog the amenities of a resort with ponds and parks to play in, the care of an insure veterinarian, and the high standard in dog training and behavior consults we’ve always had. We would love for you to come tour our facility or sign up for a dog training consult to see what type of potential we could bring out in your pup.

Training dogs to deal with stress!

by k9perceptionblog

This is a brief look at behavior modification dealing with stress, fear, and anxiety. One of the best ways in which you can help a scared dog experiencing anxiety is a basic obedience program focusing on impulse control and predictability. A huge misconception with dogs is if they are scared or timid they must have been beat or abused in their past. Though this may be true in some cases in many others its simply due to the dog not developing appropriate stress coping skills and lacking confidence. Dogs can develop these issues because of overbearing parents, lack of socialization, sudden change to a normally very structured routine, even a traumatically stressful event during the mothers gestation period, and many other reasons. Try not to weigh yourself down with why because you can help your pup without knowing that answer. The training protocol you should implement should be slow, predictable, and have a high success rate. If you can incorporate play into training it would be ideal. You’re looking for anything that excites a tail wag here. Treats are good but tend not to help with lowering the dogs emotional stress level thus not being super effective during this type of training. As you progress through the training build the dogs confidence by showing him/her how their obedience can control stimuli. Continue through stay training to help encourage impulse control which teaches relaxation. I know this is missing a lot of details but I tried to give you the just of it. There’s a lot to behavior modification please feel free to contact us with any questions.