Animal Behavior Conference

Dogs Will Be Dogs: What Is The Dog Telling You?
Understanding dogs’ social behavior is a crucial part of handling dogs. Labeling a dog “submissive,” “fearful” or “aggressive” is not accurate. Traits and behaviors are different. Knowing some behavioral categories when evaluating dogs will be helpful to the future relationship you have with not only the dog but its owners as well.

Helping the Shy Dog
Living with a fearful, shy, terrified puppy or dog can be a daily sorrow. Attempts have been made to socialize him and when someone attempts to pet or handle him he pulls away, panicking that someone will touch him. When on lead, he may feel trapped and exhibit threatening behaviors, or, even worse, urinate, defecate or bite. Can you turn this terrified pooch into a terrific pet, or is this just who he is? When do you push forward and when do you step back in order to help build his confidence? Videos will be shown of puppies and adults as well as ideas to "build an attitude!"

Dealing with Aggression
Aggression is one of the most serious problems to deal with. Causes can vary. Aggression is a ‘normal’ canine behavior, but one that we should not be forced to deal with. If owners take a pro-active approach, many dogs can learn to control their emotions.
We will take a look at a few common situations which cause dogs to exhibit aggression. Pia will give live demonstrations on how to deal with these situations to avoid a bite!

Frightened Fidos
How do dogs feel fear and can they "get over it?" We’ll never really know HOW they "feel" it, but fear-related problems can often be treated with great success. However, if the triggers are not identified and you attempt the "oh, get over it treatment plan" the problem can be exacerbated.

Dealing with fearful dogs can be complex especially when a dog is exhibiting phobic behaviors. Sometimes the fears may involve physiological causes or are so extreme that they may require the use of medication. This lecture will cover the possible causes of fear and how to deal with a fearful dog. Videos and case histories will be discussed.

Learning Theory 101 -
Getting the Behavior You Want!
Operant conditioning involves the dog learning that his behavior has certain consequences, good, bad, pleasant and unpleasant. Dogs tend to repeat behaviors when they are reinforced and inhibit behaviors when the consequence is unpleasant. Understanding the basic principles of how dogs learn is critical if you are going to attempt to teach a new behavior or discourage an unwanted one. There are many ways to get a dog to do what you want. We’ll cover different concepts to help you achieve success!

This add-on program is included in the Do-It-All package and can be purchased separately. See registration form and schedule.