Stop with the leash pops!

Why are they used; 

To stop your dog pulling on the lead. popping a leash is intended as a way to deliver an attention-getting correction and instantly change your dog’s behaviour.
 
I've been seeing this technique used while driving around in varying contexts. Some while waiting to cross a road while getting the dog to sit (I am not a fan of this, there is no need. How will the dog feel when its older and sitting is uncomfortable? Sitting makes dogs feel vulnerable, is it a helpful position to put your dog in?).

  I see some when walking along a road.. a pop whenever the dog walks to far ahead, always inconsistent on the owners part, sometimes the dog is just in front sometimes its a head in front, others a whole body length. Inconsistencies in training is why training doesn't work as well. 

On my news feed, adds of trainers pop up, and the worst thing of all is how trainers recommend using leash pops with dog reactivity! That's extremely worrying that now days with all this science backed knowledge its used in that context. 
I truly feel sorry for humans who are looking for advice on line, its a mine field. I think my best advice for that is trust your gut. Does it feel right? Is it something you feel comfortable doing? And look at the dogs that its being used on, mute the video and just watch them. 
What ever i train its always influenced on how the dog is feeling doing it, i change techniques alot to suit. The dog needs to feel comfortable. 
Im guessing its trainers like Ceaser Milan who made these things popular. Although trainers have used aversive techniques long before him. 

FROM A TRAINER WHO USES THEM;
 
"Pops: A "pop" is a short burst of leash pressure. The amount of pressure is adjustable but it must be fast, a micro second. Pops are one of the hardest leash skills to learn but are beneficial when you need a quick communication that the dog doesn't have time to resist. For example: When teaching a dog to stop pulling on the leash, if you use restraints or pulls, most dogs will pull against it. With a pop there is no time for resistance because the pop comes and goes in a flash". 
Some trainers recommend conditioning it, so pairing it with a reward. Pain-reward, pain-reward.. thats positive punishment right there for you. 
Getting the dog used to the pressure of the pop so they'll fight it less as time goes on... but will they??! Nooope!
 
Sooooooo....
 
Why does it work. 

Well, it doesn't, i should rephrase that why does it APPEAR to work, ah easier question to answer. 
Its a sharp pull upwards, its designed to be so quick that a dog can't use resistance against it, so it appears that the dog snaps out of his freeze pose or out of his pulling stance and flips back to you asap.
 
What does it actually do? 


It causes the dog to offer an avoidance behaviour, the dog wants to avoid the discomfort and in alot of cases pain. 
It can even create a sense of learned helplessness because it takes away the dogs options of natural movement, natural dog behaviour. 
You know what else it can do??? Dogs learn via association, yep, its that word again, I use it alot. So whats the dog associating with that sharp uncomfortable action.. what ever the dog was looking at!! Now if that technique is used to correct a dog whos leaning towards another dog or human you've paired it with an uncomfortable feeling or pain you've just paired the two together and creating a world of hurt!!
They think it'll stop the dog looking at another because it will learn it needs to avoid the pain. Well it won't last. A reactive dogs reaction comes from their amygdala, that happens so quickly and its driven by chemicals that are reacting to what they see. Probably with a long learnt history attached too. A leash pop won't win over that each time, the contexts will be varied each time. 
The dog has been placed in a difficult situation, their main goal is to survive, the trigger is viewed as a threat to that need and yet a leash pop is an injury they want to avoid too! Always think dog. 
Lead training , management techniques and countercondition will. We give the dog another option, we give them help to manage with what they are struggling with. We build confidence and resilience and we build extremely good communication skills doing so. Way better then you can ever hope for by doing a leash pop. The neck is made up on many small parts, the thyroid gland can easily be damaged by a small jerk of the lead. IT can cause laryngeal paralysis. The neck and cervical spine are one of the most important energy channels in the body, damage to the vagus nerve which controls internal organs. One leash pop can cause huge lifelong damage.
 
Yes lead training is such a hard thing to teach, because it takes time and mainly because you want to just go for a walk. 
But when you're dog doesn't know how to walk nicely on a lead you can't "just go for a walk" it causes frustration on both parts 
I suggest to my clients to use a long line and a harness for walks, and lead training sessions on a collar and lead. Use key words or phrases to associate the difference, lead time is my preferred cue, heel when they need to be next to your side. 
Training sessions only need to be 5 minutes at a time as often as possible, as time goes on your sessions will increase in duration.
 
You truly do not need to do "leash pops" its damaging to your relationship and damaging to them physically and emotionally.
 
4 week lead training course available so you an avoid using Leash

What’s in a smell?

The canine nasal airway. (a) Three-dimensional model of the left canine nasal airway, reconstructed from high-resolution MRI scans. (b) The olfactory recess is located in the rear of the nasal cavity and contains scroll-like ethmoturbinates, which are lined with olfactory epithelium. The olfactory (yellowish-brown) and respiratory (pink) regions shown here correspond to the approximate locations of sensory (olfactory) and non-sensory (squamous, transitional and respiratory) epithelium, respectively (Craven et al. 2007).

I open the door to let Aubrey out before bed, she stands there in the doorway body still, lifts her head up slightly her ears drop back her eyes seem to narrow as if in concentration and her little nose is twitching in every direction, I can hear her sniffs, lots of them like chugging train. 

I sit beside her wondering what it is she can smell, I take one big sniff in, yet cannot work out what is I am smelling, maybe a fresh scent of the night air, maybe if I close my eyes it will help. One more big sniff in, this time with my eyes closed, I seem to feel instead of noticing any smell, I feel the cold inside my nostrils. A few more deep sniffs in and breaths out I am actually feeling quite relaxed, I feel my shoulders drop. Glancing down to look at Aubrey I notice she is already gone; I hear her in the field running after scent trails with the occasional loud half sneeze after taking into many scent molecules and wanting to clear them out, I am guessing from all those tunnels a mouse has made in the grass. 

All I can see is lights from the far away towns, all I can hear is Aubrey running and the cars in the distance on the dual carriageway and all I can smell is now my own hand moisturizer after warming my nose back up!

To think what Aubrey can smell, see, and hear really is mind blowing.

Standing in the doorway she must have seen pictures in the dark, a trail of a fox scent over to the right, A pheasant late to bed visualized by scent alone. The neighbours dogs who went out earlier and every spot that they toileted in and the direction they went in, as scent does mark time the last paw print leaving more odors than the ones in front. I wonder if it was as clear as looking at a picture. 

My sister owns a Beagle who has over 300 million receptor sites compared to our mere 6 million!! I do feel sorry for him at times as there must be limited time to rest when faced with an overwhelming selection of smells to digest. Going into a kitchen must be like food heaven or hell as he is not allowed to eat what he can smell, just his bland kibble! You can see the appeal to counter surfing for dogs when they know what's up there. If you own a hound you may notices they sneeze more than other breeds to clear the remaining scent molecules out. Donnie has a little sneezing session quite regularly. 

Us humans become used to a smell, we say we become nose blind to it, like me to the inside of my truck! It smells normal to me but every person who sits it in comments straight away about its awful smell (very rude to suggest my dogs and I smell). But dogs do not get nose blind, a scent is always noticeable. They have a part of their nose called a vomeronasal nasal organ which helps. It is a small bone where the sensory cells sits in small chambers, you have seen a male dog obsessed with a spot we all know has a female calling card on it, the male could not push his nose any further into it. It is like he is glued to the spot! While the chemical information he is sniffing up goes straight up to the vomeronasal area, these chemicals are pheromones, they will prompt specific reactions in that males by changing his hormonal levels. Hence why it is ever so tricky getting them to leave it and concentrate after!! And when they do they chatter they teeth together which I wonder is the equivalent to a flehmen response (the lip curl that you'd see in bulls).

We also have this organ. But not as good of course. Thankfully! Its a good job we evolved with a little more decorum. Although is a study somewhere suggesting we can small other peoples pheromones, but ill leave that can of worms for now. 

Urine marking is a form of communication, higher the better, get all those pheromones noticed. The sniffer/reader will read sexual readiness and social confidence of the post leaver. It’s not about territorial marking anymore as our dogs aren’t wild... or wolves!!!! It’s all information, how often a dog is there what is his recent activities and even conquests. I’ve entire males who will go back to wee again higher on the same spot and then scrap the floor as much as he can just to establish that he is here more often and ready for action more than the last post marker was! They scratch the floor because they have glands on the paw pads so double whammy of leaving scents. It is always a visual marker of their power and size. 

Random interesting fact: Using antibiotics changes a dog’s body odor temporary. Though I would share that, would be interesting to see if your dog was approached differently by a dog it sees regularly. 

I think the nose should have a more prestigious title; we cannot compare it to our own. Maybe we should name it the scent vessel? 

What happens inside the nose is extremely complicated but here is the simpler Sarah version for you; Muscles in the nostrils draw airflow inside, present air travels deeper inside to get processed or gets pushed out the slits on the side of the nose, this action means airflow and scents gets carried in and get pushed out. The wind generated by the exhale creates a current which helps draw the present odor further in. So, the sniff actually needs a sniff out too, which if you look at your dog’s nose you may notice a little puff of air out. They are continually smelling so no scent goes unnoticed.

Different odorants can be sniffed up each nostril at a time they are then transported and greeted by a vast number of nasal tissues covered in hair to grab and hold each molecule so the receptor sites located in the Cilia of the olfactory epithelium which are all ready to distinguish what  information the molecules and chemical have the receptors connect directly to nerves in the olfactory bulbs in the brain so information is learned in an instance. 

Of course, we are different species, we never had to rely on our senses to the extent of a dog, we even have far less genes dedicated to the cause, A long long long time ago when dogs evolved from their far-removed ancestors and humans began domesticating them, we shaped the dog to suit our needs. The first need was to hunt, to hunt they needed a strong nose of a hound to track, keen eyes and speed of a sighthound, and hearing to keep guard of livestock and people safe. Not only did we change the appearance of dogs we changed the shape of their brains! I think that is incredible; a hound has a larger olfactory bulb made up about an 8th in it mass which is proportionally bigger than our own. Then the sighthound who has a larger visual lobe at the back of the brain. 

I say this a lot but if we do not see our dogs as dogs with their magnificent capabilities which are ever present how can we fulfil their needs. A dog needs to smell that lamppost/noticeboard and read its messages, why stop its biological desires, in doing so it does not harm us. It does not need to heel walk everywhere. It does need to have a run and find and follow scent trails, to fetch and carry suitable items in its mouth. And this is where training comes in and why it is so important. To allow freedom we need to know we can keep them safe and that they will listen and recall at any sign of dangers. See training is not about being the “Alpha” which is a crazy outdated and unscientific notion! It’s about working together, learning and understanding each other to get the best out of our relationships.  

Am I in a mood? Or being emotional?

Who am I to even attempt at putting a theory of emotion together, there are many! All I know is, if the great minds of our past and present can not align their concepts then all I can give is my subjective opinion.

We need a world with emotions, emotions help us deal with the world, imagine what a strange place it would be without them. But what a lot of us don’t think about is how do emotions work? Where do they come from and how do we even explain them?

None of us experience emotions the same way, its an assessment of the moment, everything that we have experienced throughout our lives lead up to how we now see that moment. Our social interactions, so the bond between dog and human for example. All of this effects what we become emotional about and how we respond and this is exactly the same for dogs and humans.

All emotions serve a purpose. We have emotional responses for our own individual reasons.

Unlike moods emotions are temporarily , they can be positive or negative in valence, the intensity of them can vary greatly, they are also involuntary and rapidly fast, they can happen without conscious awareness and in terms of survival this is vital.

Positive experiences increase activity in our left hemisphere of our brain while negative emotions show more activity in the right. Each hemisphere is in charge of the opposite side of the body, so for example your right brain controls your left hand. In terms of dog a tail wagging to the right is coming from the left hemisphere.

What moods do is prime our dogs for certain emotions. So if your dog is frustrated and something bad happens your dog may end up having a really strong negative emotion. If your dog is happy and something bad happens they may react less strongly. Moods create bias and can decrease flexibility. Looking at body language can help you learn what mood your dog is in, it gives you the ability to help improve your dogs overall mood.

What are emotions?

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What are emotions? 〰️

Emotions are made up of series of subjective, physiological, behavioural responses to a stimulus.

• Physiological response is when the heart beats faster, respiratory rate is increased or decreased, pupils dilate or constrict, tension in the muscle groups. Every emotion produces different physiological responses in the body which involve changes of brain activation, neurotransmitter production and autonomic nervous system activity.

• Behavioural response means vocalisation, body language, facial expressions.

• Subjective experience means happiness, anger, sadness, fear, a negative or positive valance occurs here and influences these emotions. This part carries the valence of positive or negative. Now there is scientific distinction between the word feelings and emotions, feelings refer to subjective experience and this one aspect alone.

• Cognitive appraisal from a experience could be a another component, this is where we have a conversation in our mind about what’s happening which is another thing to impact our emotional response. We know humans do this but we do not know if animals do.

Human emotions are easily recognisable, Paul Ekmon has found there are 6 universal emotions, these are emotions that are recognised world wide, no matter what culture.

Happiness

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Fear

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Anger

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Sadness

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Surprise

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Disgust

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Happiness 〰️ Fear 〰️ Anger 〰️ Sadness 〰️ Surprise 〰️ Disgust 〰️

As most of you know I love a little neuroscience.

I feel its important to give you an overview of The limbic system as this area of the brain has a set of structures that deal with emotions and memory.

It regulates autonomic or endocrine function in response to emotional stimuli and also is involved in reinforcing behavior

The Autonomic Nervous System lives inside the Hypothalamus and is divided into two, the Sympathetic division which keeps your body prepared for behaviour and the Parasympathetic division which helps your body rest and digest. The endocrine hormones help control mood such as adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) , growth and development, the way our organs work, metabolism , and reproduction.

The limbic system is composed of four main parts

The roles of these four main parts defined by Physiopedia are:

The amygdala is involved in evaluating the emotional valence of situations (e.g., happy, sad, scary). It helps the brain recognize potential threats and helps prepare the body for fight-or-flight reactions by increasing heart and breathing rate. The amygdala is also responsible for learning on the basis of reward or punishment.

The Hippocampus Found deep in the temporal lobe, and is shaped like a seahorse. It consists of two horns curving back from the amygdala. Psychologists and neuroscientists dispute the precise role of the hippocampus, but generally agree that it plays an essential role in the formation of new memories about past experiences.

The Thalamus and Hypothalamus Both associated with changes in emotional reactivity. The thalamus (sensory “way-station” for the rest of the brain) is primarily important due to its connections with other limbic-system structures. The hypothalamus is a small part of the brain located just below the thalamus on both sides of the third ventricle. Lesions of the hypothalamus interfere with several unconscious functions (such as respiration and metabolism) and some so-called motivated behaviors like sexuality, combativeness, and hunger. The lateral parts of the hypothalamus seem to be involved with pleasure and rage, while the medial part is linked to aversion, displeasure, and a tendency for uncontrollable and loud laughter.

https://www.physio-pedia.com/Limbic_System#:~:text=There%20are%20several%20important%20structures,%2C%20amphibians%2C%20reptiles%20and%20mammals.

Naturalist Charles Darwin proposed that emotions evolved because they were adaptive and allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce.

According to the evolutionary theory of emotion, (and I love this) our emotions exist because they serve an adaptive role. Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment. so, they can assess it and respond in a way which helps improve the chances of success and survival.

There was a model developed by Davidson in 1998 called The Three Rs of Emotional Responding this is important to understand how individual animals respond emotionally to unidentified stimulus. I feel this is important for us to know.

Reactivity = peak response

Regulation - Time to reach peak response

Recovery - Time to recover from stimuli

Dogs that are more emotionally reactive can be receiving input with more intensity then others depending on learnt history, environment and even genetics. This will impact individual behaviour. they can become more tuned into threatening stimuli which can continue throughout their lifetime. Donaldson suggests there is a emotional timeline in responding that’s very individual. Each dog will vary in how long it takes them to reach peak response in arousal how high the response will be and how long it will take a dog to recover. All of these factors will impact the dogs behaviour.

When we are in a negative state, so having a bad day we may experience an event more negativity this is an automatic response and vice versa. We can also seek regulation in a controlled way to , approaching stimuli or turning away from it. Or dogs who seek to regulate their emotions when in an environment they are unsure of may jump on their human to get that pressure and contact to help them regulate themselves.

There is also a set of cognitive processes referred to Executive function these involves in planning, focus, impulse control that individuals can have different skill levels.

If your dog is Stressed or maybe lives in a stressful environment or the relationship between dog and owner has broken down or the dog has suffered trauma this will make it a lot more challenging for dogs to regulate their emotions.

Recovery means how long it takes our animals to retune to baseline. When your dog is being exposed to a negative stimulus, the amygdala is being activated, the longer its activated for the higher the anxiety levels and the longer the animal takes to return to baseline.

Why do you as a owner even need to be aware of your dogs emotions? Because you need to know how dogs perceive their environment so we can understand hows these negative moments are influencing our dogs behaviour, why is our dog affected by a certain stimuli and what we can do to help our dog through it.

"We do not seek to challenge why we are feeling a particular way; instead we seek to confirm it." (Ekmon)

"We do not seek to challenge why we are feeling a particular way; instead we seek to confirm it." (Ekmon)

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.