Train N Treat: Dog Stress Alert #2: Yawn

In our dog-friendly training secrets for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo recommends that we pay lots of attention to understanding if a dog is stressed. There's 'good' and 'bad' stress. 'Good' stress prompts a dog to continue learning, 'bad' stress causes a dog to shut down. Just because a dog is still and seems obedient, it doesn't mean that it's comfortable. So read the signs carefully.

Dog Stress Signal Alert #2

An important part of being a good dog owner is being able to read how our dog is responding to us or to being in a certain situation. That means that we need to be able to identify our dog’s stress signals – they tell us if our dog is still enjoying itself, it’s merely tolerating what’s happening, or it has had enough.

We love to hug our dogs, but do they really enjoy being hugged? Often they don’t, at least not right from the start. With positive, rewards-based, force-free training methods, we can gradually help our canine buddies be more comfortable about being hugged. In this photo, the dog is displaying at least 2 stress signals – its head is turned away, and it’s stress yawning. Again, the dog is just tolerating being hugged – it’s not enjoying itself at this moment.

Photo from Dreamstime

When your dog starts displaying stress signals, do something to improve the situation, or end the interaction and get your dog out of the situation.  If you’re not sure of what to do, please consult a qualified trainer or behaviourist to help you and your dog.

Train N Treat: Dog Stress Alert #1: Head Turn

In our new series of dog-friendly training secrets for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo recommends that we pay lots of attention to understanding if a dog is stressed. There's 'good' and 'bad' stress. 'Good' stress prompts a dog to continue learning, 'bad' stress causes a dog to shut down. Just because a dog is still and seems obedient, it doesn't mean that it's comfortable. So read the signs carefully.

Dog Stress Alert #1: Head Turn

An important part of being a good dog owner is being able to read how our dog is responding to us or to being in a certain situation. That means that we need to be able to identify our dog’s stress signals – they tell us if our dog is still enjoying itself, it’s merely tolerating what’s happening, or it has had enough.

In this photo, the girl appears to be gently restraining the dog. But the dog has turned its head away and its body language suggests that it’s trying to move away from the girl. The dog is merely tolerating being held – turning its head away is a stress signal, which has been ignored.

Photo from Dreamstime

When your dog starts displaying stress signals, do something to improve the situation, or end the interaction and get your dog out of the situation.  If you’re not sure of what to do, please consult a qualified trainer or behaviourist to help you and your dog.

Train N Treat: Doggy Life Skill #7 - The Sociable, Confident Dog

Today, in our dog-friendly training tip for enlightened dog lovers - Chief Cheery Officer (CCO) Kiyo shows how learning an appropriate set of life and social skills means he can go almost everywhere!

A sociable and confident dog doesn't have to greet every person or dog that it meets, but it must be able to walk away when it needs to, and that ability to do so goes beyond being obedient. It has to do with its internal state of calmness, painstakingly cultivated by teaching your dog skills to cope with different situations.

Kiyo, CCO (Chief Cheery Officer) of cheerfuldogs.com shows some of the essential life and social skills that make up a good canine citizen - it's all about teamwork and relationship building between you and your dog.

From: Nee Kang (2013). "Survival Among Humans. A How To Guide To A Sociable Dog". In Apple iBookstore (select countries, e.g. USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland).