Pawsitive Pet Care - News, articles and cooperation

Pawsitive Pet Care was founded June 18, 2010.  We have been providing professional pet care services including  dog walking and pet sitting in Winnipeg and Headingley for more than ten years.  

We are very proud and excited to celebrate our tenth year providing premium pet care services in Cartier and Winnipeg Manitoba.  

A huge thank you to all of the amazing staff and clients who have helped us become who we are today!

Click to read more about our history in our blog post. 

As an evidence-based professional, Jillian attends continuing education conferences, workshops, seminars, completes online courses, and continuously studies animal learning & behaviour. Jillian became certified as a Fear-Free Professional in November 2016 and then received her Fear-Free Animal Trainer's Certification in December 2018.

We are proud and excited to share that Jillian has received certification from the Council of Professional Dog Trainers after passing an exam (with a 94.4% grade) assessing her knowledge on animal learning theory, husbandry, health, ethology, training equipment, and instructing skills. This also includes adherence to a code of ethics and to the humane hierarchy for animal training. Please visit http://www.CCPDT.org for more information.

In November 2012, Jillian was proud to announce the two-legged addition of Braden Connor, her son. In May 2013 we were proud to announce the addition of Cheryl J., a full-time dog walker, to our team. In Fall 2013, Jillian will be returning to work and Pawsitive Pooch will be expanding even further. We have also added River Heights to our service area. So many wonderful changes! Stay tuned for more :)

Sharing our most popular Blog Post:  Boredom Busters for Pets, originally posted October 21, 2015

Update in the Time of Covid-19 
(April 2020 Update)
 

If you find yourself ordering online more often, you may also find your recycling bins overflowing with cardboard boxes and other packaging.  These cardboard boxes can be re-purposed for cheap and easy enrichment games for your pets!  Just hide toys, treats, and food inside and let them tear them apart.  It may be a bit messy, but better the cardboard box than your favourite pair of shoes! 

Boredom Busters for Pets
Originally posted October 21, 2015

With winter coming up you may find it harder to get your pooch out for a walk, especially if you work long hours and it's cold and dark when you get home.  If you haven't already, you may want to consider hiring a dog walker... :)

But for those evenings when your pet is bored and getting into trouble (chewing inappropriate items, barking, meowing, or whining out of boredom, or displaying attention-seeking or boredom-related behaviours) here are some things to keep him busy and having fun (fun that's not at your expense!).  
 

Stuffed Kongs

One of the simplest ways to keep your pet busy is to fill a Kong or other hollow, fillable toy with kibble, treats, or canned wet food and give it to your pet to chew on and play with.  To make them last longer keep a couple prepared in the freezer ready to go whenever you need them.  They're so great for busting boredom, we have an entire blog post dedicated to Kongs!

They come in a variety of sizes, for cats and small dogs, as well as "regular" and "Xtreme" for bigger chewers.
 

Interactive Toys

Similar to the Kong toy, there are a large variety of interactive toys available online or in retail pet stores.  Kong wobblers, food puzzles, or buster cube to name a few - Anything you can hide treats or food in that will allow your pet to have fun, use his brain, and get a reward for keeping busy with something productive rather than getting himself into trouble.  

You can even use an egg carton or muffin pan, hide treats under a dozen balls, and let your pet nose around until he has found all the goodies.  
 

Toys

Of course, our dogs are very social creatures and love interacting with us.  Spending time playing ball, tug-o-war, or any game our dog loves to play is a great way for us to have fun, get a little exercise, and bond with our pets. 

For strong chewers, very durable toys can provide an outlet for that need to chew without sacrificing your favourite pair of shoes.

Cats love chasing things that move: cat charmers, catnip toys, small balls with bells inside, etc.   Some cats love cuddles and pets while others prefer their scratching post or a nice window perch so they can watch the world go by, know your pet's preferences and bond with them with activities you both enjoy.

The ASPCA has a great article on free and extremely low-cost cat enrichment ideas: https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/saving-lives-behavior-enrichment/5-free-or-darn-close-feline-enrichment-ideas and the Best Friends Animal Society has a wonderful article on Feline Enrichment: https://bestfriends.org/resources/cat-enrichment
 

"Clicking" for Calm
 

Yes, you can teach your pet the skill of relaxing!  Teach your pet a “bed” or “settle” cue and reinforce your pet for resting quietly on a bed.  You can capture this behaviour by catching your pet being calm.  Lay on the couch reading a book or magazine, wait until your pet gets bored and lays down nearby, then quietly walk by and drop a treat between his paws without saying anything. 

Your pet will learn that getting into trouble or incessantly demanding you play with him are not the ways to earn your attention or get a reward, but settling quietly and being patient are how he earns the things he wants.  Better yet, wait until your dog lays down quietly, then calmly attach his leash and take him for a walk, or bust out your pet's favourite toy.  That’s the ultimate reward for calm.  
 

Positive Training 

Training is not just for behaviour issues!  Positive training is another great way to exercise your pet’s body and brain, to have fun, and to bond while working and playing together.  Check out Karen Pryor’s website for different clicker games you can play with your pet that encourage him to use his creativity and have fun, for example, “101 Things to do with a Box”.  And yes, cats can benefit from training too!

You can also try out fun dog sports such as agility, rally, skijoring or kick-sledding, disc dogs, fly ball, and so many more.  Hire a certified professional trainer to work with or simply take a positive reinforcement style training class that focuses on fun and relationship building. 

When I returned to training after having my baby I wrote a blog post about the experience.  Training really does give you a better appreciation for your dog's abilities, and even a short training session can be great exercise for your dog's body and brain.   

And last but not least... 
 

Walks!

The best way to get your dog exercise is to get outside and walk or run.  Allow your dog to sniff and explore his environment.  Using his eyes and especially his nose to investigate and learn about the world around him is the best enrichment your dog could have.  If your walks are no fun because of behavioural issues with your dog (for example reactivity or pulling on leash), join a class that specifically covers these topics or engage the help of a certified professional dog trainer.  

You can try to find an enclosed space (such as outdoor rinks during the spring and summer when there is no ice in them) where you can toss a ball or just let your dog run out some of his excess energy. 

If you find your work days or too long or your schedule is too busy, consider hiring a professional dog walker, a pet sitter, or a trusted friend to help you out, you'd be amazed at what a change regular exercise can have on your dog's behaviour.  For help in getting the most from a dog-walking service, take a look at this blog post.  

When your pooch is climbing the walls or getting into trouble, remember chewing, digging, barking, whining, howling, running, jumping, etc, etc. are all very normal dog behaviours.  They're not doing it to drive you crazy, they're doing it for fun or as a way to release pent-up energy.  Give them an appropriate outlet for these necessary behaviours and you'll both be happier for it :)

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Please visit our blog at http://pawsitivepooch.blogspot.ca/ for more great articles! 

3 Myths About Reactive Dogs

What is a Reactive Dog?

Reactive dogs are often the ones you see pulling to the end of their leash, lunging and barking towards another dog or some other “trigger” (such as a strange person or object on the street).   Many classify these dogs as aggressive, and yes, their behaviour is an aggressive display.  However, many of these dogs are sweet as can be when they’re in their comfort zones away from those triggers. 

There are a few harmful myths about these dogs and their owners, so I want to address three of them here. 

Myth #1 -  Owners with reactive dogs are the cause of their dog’s behaviour

Many of the owners with whom I have worked adopted these “problem” dogs when no one else would.  Many of them put in a great deal of time, effort, and money into helping their dogs overcome their fears.  They have worked with private trainers, attended classes, and some walk their dogs late at night or very early in the morning in order to avoid the triggering situations. 

Sometimes the triggers are well-meaning people who allow their dogs to greet these reactive dogs without first asking permission.  Owners of reactive dogs are often embarrassed by their dog’s behaviour, feel helpless when their dog is acting this way, and are trying their best.  You can help by removing the trigger (i.e. if your dog is the trigger, move away and out of their sight if possible) and always ask permission before allowing your dog to greet another. 

Myth #2 - Reactive dogs are “dominant” or inherently mean

Nope.  The primary and most common contributor to reactive behaviour is fear.  Lunging, growling, and barking are distance-increasing behaviours, meaning it’s the way the dog says “please leave me alone, you are scaring me!”  They are trying to make themselves look and sound scary in order to make whatever they perceive as threatening go away.  These dogs are usually more insecure, anxious, or fearful and these traits have nothing at all to do with dominance. 

Myth #3 -  Rewarding Fear Increases that Fear

You cannot operantly condition fear.  This means if you comfort your dog when he is afraid, you are not rewarding the fear and you are not making it worse, you are helping him feel better and helping him make a positive association with the scary object. 

On the same note, you can absolutely not punish fear out of the dog.  Putting a shock collar or prong collar on your dog and causing him pain whenever he is reacting will either suppress the behaviour, making him a greater bite risk because he no longer gives warning signs, or it will make his aggressive display much worse.  If a dog is afraid of other dogs and receives a poke or shock whenever he sees another dog, he will associate pain with other dogs and his fear will increase.  This is classical conditioning, a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together. 

Fear is classically conditioned and not operantly conditioned, meaning fear is conditioned when two stimuli (i.e. treats and nail clippers) happen in close proximity, allowing the dog to make a connection between the two.  If we pair a scary object with something good (i.e. a yummy Kong whenever there is a thunderstorm), it helps decrease the fear. 

Come to think of it, a lot of really skilled and knowledgeable trainers I know have reactive dogs.  This is usually because no one else had the skill or ability to work with these dogs, so they are adopted by experts.  However, it takes a great deal of hard work, commitment, and management to help a dog overcome his fears.  Each time we unexpectedly encounter an off-leash dog where he’s not supposed to be, or have someone allow their dog to approach ours when we are asking them not to, it sets our progress back and is very stressful for the dog.  And no matter how skilled we are or how hard we work, we cannot change a dog’s DNA.

To my friends, colleagues, and clients who have reactive or fearful dogs: thank you for having the patience and kindness to help these dogs whose lives can be very stressful.  It may add stress to your life, but when we see progress and know we are making their lives a little better, it makes all the hard work so worth it. 

Please visit us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PawsPooch

About the writer:

Jillian Enright moved from Toronto in 2007 and spent her first four years studying Psychology with an emphasis on Animal Learning & Behaviour at the University of Winnipeg. 

She has a strong academic background in training in addition to practical experience, including running her own highly successful Dog Walking & Sitting business called Sturgeon Park Dog Care: www.PawsitivePooch.ca.

Jillian also works as a Behaviour Counsellor for the Winnipeg Humane Society doing behavioural assessments, behaviour modification, and clicker training. 

Jillian trains using an evidence-based approach including classical & operant conditioning and positive reinforcement.  "Pawsitive" means training is done without the use of any force, intimidation, or punishment.  No shock collars, choke chains, or prong collars are needed to implement a successful training program. 

Training should be both successful and FUN - for both owner and dog!