Contrary to popular belief, dogs would prefer not to eat straight out of the bowl, but rather, if given the choice, opt to work for their food. Although it seems counter intuitive, animals enjoy and are instinctually built to search for their meals.

The science behind this phenomenon is called contra freeloading and it has been demonstrated that when offered a choice between food provided or food that requires effort, the animal prefers the food that requires effort.

When animals must seek out, search for, or work for their food it helps them to interact with and find out more information about their environment.

Furthermore, making meal times into a game and thus providing mental stimulation has great benefits for our dogs. Giving pups a job to do, engaging their minds, allowing them to use their behavior on the environment are all key factors towards decreasing boredom, creating a “thinking” dog, and helping your furry friend to be more independent and confident!

Bowls are a wasted opportunity for your dog. Instead of giving your canine their next meal in a dish or a bowl, try using a Kong (http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/2006/02/dog_recipes_for_kong_chew_toys.php), or a Tricky Treat Ball, or a Waggle!

In addition to commercial dog puzzles, there are many DIY toys that you can create. Dogs, love to hunt, search, and use their keen sense of smell. As such, toss some of their kibble into an empty paper towel roll, squish the ends closed, pop into a box with some crunched up newspaper, and let the “treasure hunt” begin!

Another idea is to use an old plastic bottle and put the kibble inside. Leave the cap on or off. Make some additional holes in the sides for an easier version at the start, and let your dog figure out how to move and toss it around to get his food to come out!

By providing behavioral enrichment for your pet dog (or other animal!) you will reduce problem behaviors and increase learning and retention capacity. A win/win situation for all!

*With all food puzzles, animals should be supervised during use. Particular care should be taken with home-made puzzles.

Do you sometimes feel like your dog is ignoring you or misbehaving on purpose?

Often folks may ask the question, “I wouldn’t let my child get away with that behavior, so why would I let my dog?”

The answer lies in the fact that we are not being permissive by ignoring behavior that we don’t like, but rather we are choosing to communicate and educate.

Addressing unwanted behavior with punishment, either physical or even verbal, actually serves to reinforce that behavior by paying attention to it; even with a stern “no.” Verbal corrections or exclamations are, by definition, punishment as they intend to decrease or stop behavior.

Instead, what we want to do is to ignore the behavior that we don’t like, while teaching an alternative or incompatible behavior that we can reinforce.

People say, “But don’t we need to tell the dog when we are displeased?” The issue here is communication. Shouting, “no” etc. when a dog does something that we don’t like is confusing to the animal. From the animal’s perspective it learns that sometimes the human acts unpredictably and violently or angrily.

If our timing is poor, they may also associate the punishment with something else unrelated going on in the environment. For example, if a cat happens to be passing by in the distance at the exact second that we are shouting at the dog for jumping up behavior, the dog may associate the cat (not the jumping) with the behavior that has caused the human’s erratic or scary (in the dog’s eyes) response. This then can turn into more aggressive behavior towards cats.

It is true that punishment can work. If the timing is impeccable and delivered at the appropriate intensity the behavior may decrease or stop. However, there are several risks.

Again, first our timing may be off. This is frequently the case for folks who have not studied the science of behavior (unless they happen to get lucky). In this case we actually “punish” the wrong behavior.

Two, as stated above, we may cause other dangerous side effects including aggression, or fear (of the “unpredictable” human) or escape/avoidance (because they are wary around us as we-from the animal’s point of view-are random with our violent outbursts) or apathy, which is when we break the animal down into submission and they are hesitant to do anything at all lest they (again in their eyes) be unduly chastised.

According to behaviorist Ian Dunbar, if in fact we have perfect timing, great understanding of canine body language and learning theory then we do not need to use punishment.

More effective behavioral change comes by ignoring what we don’t like, training and educating behaviors that we do want to see, and reinforcing the behaviors that we like!

Do you have a deaf dog? Do you know someone with a deaf dog? Have you ever considered adopting a deaf dog?

This book uses modern, science based positive reinforcement training and information and will help to set people and deaf dogs up to succeed!

In the book you will learn about:

• getting ready to bring your deaf dog home
• information about causes of deafness
• how to train your deaf dog
• myths about deaf dogs
• and a “frequently asked questions” section

The book is a perfect gift to give to a friend with a deaf dog, for your own family with a deaf pup, if you are considering adopting a deaf dog, and/or if you are a trainer or veterinarian who may need a to suggest a deaf dog resource to a client.