No Such Thing as a Bad Dog , livre ebook

Troubador Publishing Ltd - Fenella Nicholas

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100 pages

English

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Everyone thinks they have the perfect dog. But in Fenella Nicholas's experience, there is always one little thing that the owner isn't happy about. It may be that the dog barks incessantly at strangers, lunges at the hoover, chases its own shadow, eats poo, attacks small fluffy dogs or pulls dreadfully on the lead. Whatever the problem, you can be sure that it was unwittingly created by the handler. Fenella, a qualified dog behaviourist, explains how the problem was created, how to fix it and how to maintain the results. She offers guidance from the outset on buying a new puppy, and explains why rules and boundaries are so important from the get-go. A dog reared on affection alone, without exercise or discipline, is a disaster waiting to happen.Fenella trained using the methodology of Cesar Millan. The emphasis is on training the owner, not the dog. By coming at every problem from the dog's point of view, and tapping into their psychology, she demonstrates how to turn a dog around. She leaves the owner with the knowledge and tools to continue the dog's rehabilitation on a daily basis. Each problem is assigned its own chapter, and is backed up by a real life case session. The book leaves you with tips on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle for you and your dog. This is a book not just for the owners of problematic hounds, but for all dog owners. Don't wait for things to go wrong. If you follow a few simple guidelines, you'll never have to hire a behaviourist.

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	28 mai 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781803139715
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Copyright © 2022 Fenella Nicholas

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Matador
Unit E2 Airfield Business Park,
Harrison Road, Market Harborough,
Leicestershire. LE16 7UL
Tel: 0116 2792299
Email: books@troubador.co.uk
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
Twitter: @matadorbooks

ISBN 978 1803139 715

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

For Ben, Mia and Lucas: masters of living life
to the full and taking each day as it comes.
Reminding me daily how to be more dog.

Contents
Introduction

PART ONE
How to Stop Things Going Wrong in the First Place

Chapter 1
Choosing the Right Dog
Chapter 2
Boundaries
Chapter 3
Rules
Chapter 4
Training
Chapter 5
Introductions

PART TWO
Common Problems and How to Fix Them

Chapter 6
Jumping Up
Chapter 7
Lead Pulling and Door Barging
Chapter 8
Recall
Chapter 9
Prey Drive and Chasing
Chapter 10
Obsessions
Chapter 11
Separation Anxiety
Chapter 12
Destructiveness
Chapter 13
Fear
Chapter 14
Aggression
Chapter 15
Resource Guarding
Chapter 16
Copraphagia (poo eating)
Chapter 17
Inappropriate Toileting
Chapter 18
Excessive Barking
Chapter 19
Quirky Behaviour

PART THREE
Keeping on the Right Path

Chapter 20
To Neuter or Not to Neuter
Chapter 21
Diet
Chapter 22
Mental Stimulation
Chapter 23
The Walk
Chapter 24
Impulse Control
Chapter 25
Communication

Afterword

Introduction
All dogs are born perfect. Left to follow their natural instincts in the wild, they live in harmony with each other and their surroundings. It is only since dogs’ domestication that problems have arisen. Dogs in the wild have no problems. No quirky behaviours or obsessions, no chewing up the den or endless barking. At worst, there may be a tussle over food, but as soon as the pack leader steps in, the problem is resolved. Even street dogs are happy, left to their own devices. The intervention of humans has created a myriad of problems. By taking dogs into our homes, we are asking them to behave unnaturally – to be left on their own without their pack, to be handed food on a plate without having to work for it, to have no job or purpose, to receive only affection without discipline. Essentially, they are adaptable creatures, in the hands of a knowledgeable owner, but too often a lack of leadership and understanding is where things start to go awry.

I am contacted when things have gone wrong. I specialise in behaviour modification and training. You could call me a dog whisperer, a behaviourist, a canine psychologist, but I am really just an unglamorous creator of normal. I am passionate about dog welfare and helping owners get the best out of their canine friends. I would find it near impossible to function without a dog in my life. The rewards of a loving bond are immeasurable, and I hope to be able to create the same joy for as many dog owners out there as possible. But it’s not always easy. Don’t assume that the second you bring your new dog home you have your fairly-tale life laid out before you. Often it’s exactly the opposite. Panic at the enormity of the responsibility you have taken on, guilt for having to leave your dog to conduct your own life, fear of what might happen to the dog if you can’t fulfil its needs. This is all normal, and means that you CARE. You are willing to do something differently for the good of your dog, and I commend that. Reading this book is the first step to your road to recovery.
I trained under the umbrella of Cesar Millan, the renowned ‘Dog Whisperer’ in the United States, whose ethos is to connect with a dog by being more doglike ourselves; to speak their language, rather than expecting them to speak ours.
I’m uncomfortable with book titles such as ‘From Puppy to Perfect’, which suggests it is only our involvement which makes dogs perfect. In my job, alas, it’s more of ‘From Perfect to Pitiful’. It is precisely our involvement which turns faultless young dogs into complications. They become fearful dogs, destructive dogs, bored dogs, possessive dogs, hyperactive dogs, dominant dogs; but never bad dogs. We can’t call them bad dogs when they are merely acting the way we have shaped them, intentionally or not.
When things go wrong, it can mean a multitude of things: the dog is too aggressive, too shy, too noisy, too anxious, too rumbunctious. Strangely, I have never been called up and had an owner moan about their dog… “Alfie is a total nightmare! I struggle to walk him, I have no control of him and I don’t feel I have any bond with him. You are my last resort before I give him away.” Instead, I’m pleased to say, all owners seem besotted with their hounds. Most conversations begin, “Alfie is so sweet. He’s such a loving dog, and really wants to please. He’s perfect in every way. Except there’s just this one thing…” As I unravel the story, it often becomes apparent that there is considerably more than one thing which is a problem. Or quite often that one small thing can be quite a significant thing, such as growling at the toddler in the house. Alarm bells. A serious issue which must be nipped in the bud immediately. A growl can lead to a bite if unheeded or unchecked. No matter what the issue is, so far, I have never been told afterwards that my journey was fruitless. I’m happy to say there is always some improvement after my visit. And contrary to popular belief, no dog is too old to change, and no problem is too ingrained to improve upon.
No dog is badly behaved on purpose. Dogs live in the moment, not fretting about the future, or worrying about the past. They do not rationalise. They don’t soil the house in protest of you being absent, and they don’t go out looking for a target to attack. All their actions are responses to how they feel at any one given moment. This is why I have to come at a problem from the dog’s perspective. If your dog knows what the rules are and breaks those rules, there will no doubt be a very good reason for it. For example, a client of mine has a Labrador who is not allowed on his mistress’s bed. For years he has honoured this rule until one day he kept trying to not just get on the bed, but in the bed. She would scold him and shoo him away. It was only recently that she discovered, on a visit to the vet for some vomiting, that he had Addison’s disease. One of the symptoms is very cold feet. Poor thing was simply trying to warm himself up under the duvet, to combat the cold, and keep his health intact. So, you see he is in fact a clever dog, not a bad dog.
There is a reason why dogs do every problematic thing they do, and you can bet we are behind all of them. They may attack an oncoming dog, if you have tensed the lead, signalling you are unsure; they may chew up their bed because they are bored and you haven’t taken them out or interacted with them enough; they may eat poo because you are feeding them a poor diet, or because they always get your attention when they do; they may obsess over inanimate objects because they have no outlet for their energy. It may be unwanted behaviour, but it’s not intentionally bad behaviour. If anything, it’s ‘bad owner’, not ‘bad dog’.
I don’t mean to alienate you, kind reader – just the fact that you are r