RSPCA Concern As A New Drug Is Launched For ‘Pill-Popping’ Pets. Society alerts pet owners that animals suffer and die in drug testing. The RSPCA is sounding the alarm as yet another drug – an antidepressant – is made available to our increasingly ‘pill-popping’ pets by pharmaceutical companies. The Society fears the pill could merely disguise behavioural problems rather than treat the cause. It’s also vital that pet owners realise that laboratory animals –
Prevent Bad Dog Behaviour by Ross McCarthy
The prevention of dog behaviour problems Behaviour problems in dog are incredibly common, due to the fact that most dog behaviour that we deem as a ‘problem’ are normal canine behaviour in an abnormal (for the dog) human world. The problems vary in seriousness, but they almost always affect the bond between dog and owner over a period of time. Problems with training and behaviour can cause a good deal of stress to dog owners
Dog’s that steal or scavenge food by Colin Tennant
This year during my visits to private clients in London I have been receiving many complaints from dog owners who are fed up with their dogs’ disgusting habits of pilfering from kitchen bins. Their words not mine. There is one lady with a Westie that snaps up any thing it finds rotting in the midday sun in Hyde Park. She is at her wit’s end as to how to prevent her dog from happily licking
Dog Training Classes by Ross McCarthy
Dog training classes – we only want you if your dog is trained! My first memories of dog training classes were about seventeen years ago. “Yank and spank”, as the terminology goes now, but even then, most places were the same. The results achieved by people with their dogs were less that good, all I observed were bored dogs, conditioned to behave in a certain environment and then drag their owners to the car after
Dog Breeding For Temperament by Colin Tennant
Recently I had a telephone call from a distressed client whose 155 lb Newfoundland had so distressed her, through its bad behaviour, that she was in semi trauma. This case in itself, is not an unusual one at the Canine & Pet Behaviour Centre. Many people call each week to describe a difficult or dangerous dog which is upsetting family life. The culprit of most people’s dilemma is a mixture of misinformation, inexperience, ignorance
Kind and Gentle But Often Ineffective by Ross McCarthy
If, like me you do lots of reading with regard to dog training, you will no doubt be aware that food rewards, harnesses, head-collars, gentle voices and an overdose of love and affection is what is required for dog training combined of course with the patience of a saint and you must of course dedicate your entire life to dog training. The whole of society has been making a bizarre move forward under the apparent
LANTRA – Government Standards for Dog Trainers
For many years it has been a major concern of dog trainers that general animal behaviourists have considered themselves experts in all matters concerning animals of all species. This is of course impossible due to the enormity of variations within the specific genre of mammals, let alone reptiles and avian, for example. Since 2008 the Government, under the auspices of LANTRA sought to introduce National Occupational Standards for dog behaviourists and trainers. Several leading authorities