Growly Dog Club

Welfare based dog training and behavior blog. Humane treatment for humans and dogs.

[growlydogclub]

“ Chewing a Busy Bone” a photo series

[growlydogclub]

Choosing Equipment for Loose Leash Walking

My general rule: Choose equipment that is most comfortable for your dog WHILE keeping you, your dog, and the community safe.

Factors I consider

1. Avoid tools that will cause physical injury to this particular dog.

2. Pick a tool that will not cause psychological harm to this particular dog.

3. Will this tool give you enough leverage to keep you safe on walks, your dog safe from escape and lunging at people or dogs, keep your dog safe from not being able to breathe on leash, and keep others safe.

4. Do you have the resources to use this tool safely and properly?

[poppy-the-puppy]

Day 101. Morning naps.

[wyrddogs]

It fucken wimdy.

[growlydogclub]

My Dogs

Introducing….

Ginger

My beloved gremlin

Alea

Street dog turned couch and cheese enthusiast

Sesame

Just a baby, comes home in a couple weeks!

[growlydogclub]

Most important for treating dog reactivity ( in my opinion)

1. An understanding of thresholds- both as a concept and what your individual dog’s thresholds are. Knowing when to step back, when to push forward, and when you are in the right spot.

2. An understanding of what functional reinforcement your dog is getting from the reactive behavior. Does it make scary people go away? Does it get them closer to the thing they want to see? Etc

3. Knowing what reinforcers you can use to reward behavior you’d like to see instead, while making your dog feel like they have some control over their outcome, and empowered to make appropriate choices. It could be high value food, walking away from the trigger, the trigger walking away, etc.

4. Having management in place to reduce rehearsal of reactive behaviors. It could be putting window clings up to block out views of people walking down the street, or avoiding busy times of day for walks, or using equipment that keeps the dog and others safe, or having a management system of behaviors like Dr Amy Cook’s management skills.

[morggo]

Greyhound and Peonies

Pen and ink on Arches paper

3 in x 5 in

[kangals]

that’s a nice piece of pie crust you have there…. would you consider…. perhaps…. to share with WeeWa?

[slimereveler]

world's smallest chihuahua found alive and well resting in a warm corn tortilla

[b00bologist-deactivated20260104]

[groenendaze]

happy halloween month

[katlathecorgi]

Its officially bathing season! 🐬

[dandylittleman]

he’s recently discovered his passion for lying down in various bodies of water

[despazito]

✨🌼 behind the shawarma place🌼✨

[lemonwhorror]

Btw it's ok to rehome a pet. You are not a bad person for no longer being able to care for the animal or just not wanting the responsibility of the animal. It's better to give it to someone who is able and willing to care for the pet. Forcing yourself to care for a living being out of guilt is not beneficial to either of you.

[itsbansheebitch]

(Approx.) 4th Century BCE Good Boys

[thehappyvet]

My friends are having babies.

And putting their babies very close to their dogs. Too close.

Their babies are being babies - screaming at things, grabbing, touching anything near them.

Including the dog.

And then they are putting photos and videos of these interactions on social media and getting hundreds of likes because of how cute it is.

It's not cute. It's dangerous.

Young children to a certain age don't understand boundaries or body language in people, let alone dogs.

Dog attacks in young children continue to occur because these kinds of interactions are promoted as cute and "clickbait".

If you have a kid and young children, educate yourself on signs of stress in dogs. Constantly supervise children. Don't let small children interact too closely with dogs. Educate children on respectful ways to interact with dogs.

Don't feed this massive pile of misinformation that's currently trending on social media.

[great-and-small]

I can’t stop getting emotional about how tenderly a shepherd caresses his dog’s face on this marble sarcophagus from the third century

The dog’s face is just so lovingly crafted and it’s much more finely detailed than some of the other animals in the piece. The expression is pure contentment and devotion. This scene is a tiny portion of a huge elaborate sculpture but I really feel like the artist was trying to capture a specific emotion with these two. The way that you feel when you look at your dog is thousands of years old.