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it's so fascinating to see people so consistently react to Sarah's thoughts about off leash time in nature being a need for dogs. Because they always always hear "all dogs should be off-leash more" and that's... never what she is saying.

And yet! Dozens if not hundreds of people throughout various dog communities are constantly furious at her bringing it up at all. They're always like, "WELL WHAT ABOUT *THIS* CASE THOUGH???" and she is always (very graciously imo) like "yes, if my client had those problems, I would help them workshop ways to compensate for not being able to meet that need. It's still a need though."

Dogs universally have certain welfare needs. So do people! A lot of our welfare needs are the same, even, which she talks about frequently. The fact that our society does not present us with many accessible ways to meet those needs does not mean the needs don't exist.

I'm functionally bedbound most days and leave the house like twice a month. This has been hard for me, largely because spending time in nature is ALSO a human need! I am not currently able to meet that need, which is one of my many current welfare issues. Being aware of the presence of unmet needs helps you understand the animal in question and its behavior, and allows you to narrow in on activities that might at least partially do the job, even if you don't currently have access to the Gold Standard NeedMeeter 900.

#dog t #and they've been mad FOR YEARS #I've seen ppl try to get her kicked out of dog FB groups about this even #spreading really weird malicious rumors. and it's like. well what if you spent that energy playing w ur dog.

I get a lot of asks about training advice and I'm always like "well I am not a professional in any capacity" and also I forget every book I have ever read etc the moment someone asks me, but I remembered at random today that my very talented friend has written a really amazing training book that I think would be especially good for the people who tend to ask me this, bc Bridger has ADHD (LIKE DO MANY OF US) and is therefore really good at breaking things down into digestible chunks! this is one of the things I find most challenging about training so I think this is an extra valuable thing to have in a book.

It's mostly training basics for people who are beginners, but in a way where you can use the info the build a LOT of skills once you grasp the basics, and I really vibe with Bridger's ethics around training as well.

it's called Level Up Your Dog Training by Natalie Bridger Watson and I'm going to provide a couple different links where you can get it.

Amazon link:

Level Up Your Dog Training: How to Teach Your Dog Anything (Some Assembly Required) (Positive Reinforcement Primers) - Kindle edition by Wat

Support a small business link:

The best selection of dog training books, dog nutrition books, and dog competition books anywhere!

(Bridger adds: "Also for accessibility, there is a large print paperback edition (Amazon only) and a digitally-narrated audiobook (Google Play only, trying to get it available more places). Am aware of the ethical implications of AI narration and would like to replace this with a human-narrated version when I can, but that costs $1,000-$2,000+ to hire out, so the not-ideal compromise is digitally-narrated for accessibility in the short term with plans to do better when I can.")

Anyway this is a really great book and not recommended as often as it should be bc it's just not one of the standard go-to books (yet!!!) so I thought I would plug it and in doing so answer all the training rec asks I get all the time and am so bad at answering 🤣

#dog t #PLS FEEL FREE TO REBLOG ITS A RLY GOOD BOOK.#other online training content i like include smart bitch dog training #superpup academy #ummm #cogdog ofc but a lot of that goes over my head bc im not a sports guy lol.

I don't even remember what specific breed community I was being snarky about 1 year ago here, but this really speaks to me nevertheless

#dog t

YALL MY MOM AND I SORTED AND ORGANIZED THE DOG CORNER(TM) TODAY AND IT LOOKS SO GOOD AND EVERYTHING IS SO EASY TO FIND...

#dog t #im so happy.

all 3 dogs went vet today. glad this only happens once a year lmfao. everyone behaved as they usually do/as I expected, which is to say

1. Blue was so so good and sweet and I just love seeing how she turns off being an LGD when she leaves the property like she just knows when we set foot somewhere public that things aren't her business and that people and dogs are not threats because her goats are not there. She's always like, kinda stressed (as you can see in the video) but doing her best and always greets all the techs with happy waggy body language and is cooperative with handling. Honestly she's got such a smashing temperament an I got real emotional today about how much I love her. She's gained some weight which is good bc she was a lioioittle underweight last time and now her body condition looks real good.

2. Ella is motivated by Greed and No Thank You but this does make her easy at the vet bc she will ignore literally anything you want her to ignore for a single kibble. Avarice. Gluttony. She needs a broken tooth out and I was worried she might have a UTI but she doesn't, just a little inflammation so she's getting rimadyl for the next week or so to see if that makes her symptoms better. The vet said he was very impressed with her overall condition given her age!!

3. Glimmer was like "WOW TEN NEW FRIENDS oh no my new friends are trying to do veterinary things to my body oh gosh oh no I think there has been some mistake, you are not supposed to do veterinary things to princesses :((((((( I FORGIVE YOU THOUGH HI WE ARE BEST FRIENDS FOR SURE BUT ALSO CAN I LEAVE NOW" lol. She had antibodies for lyme and anaplasmosis which isn't super surprising considering she is from MA/CT and spent a lot of time in the woods and we are doing the course of treatment even tho she isn't showing symptoms just in case. Otherwise she is in great shape.

I love our vet they're always so nice. But also goddamn I am happy to not do this again for another ~365 days lol

#dog t #bloobear #glimmer glamor #smalldog #I AM SO TUCKERED. WOWEE

Cleaned and conditioned all my leather dog collars and leashes and also my leather boots and also ALSO my leather notebook covers 💪 I am the fucking strong

#some of these leashes have needed cleaned for soooo long #next i just gotta polish the brass tomorrow. maybe later tonight idk we'll see how i feel lol #dog t #only stuff i didnt do is the leather sd harnesses i have bc theyre big and also i aint gonna have another large dog for them #for... a while

How can you tell the difference between love ears and stress ears?

it's a combo of context and just learning to read the specific dog, I think

so like... I know love ears 100% when it's my dog, close to 100% if it's a friend's dog who I spend a lot of time with, close to 100% if it's from a breed/lines that I'm familiar with etc... in person is easier to read than videos which are easier to read than still photos. I'll use Glimmer as an example: love ears for her are accompanied by her happy body language (some of which which can look nervous/submissive/appeasement-y in other dogs) like making her body very low, lowering her head, being VERY WIGGLY, tail wags, cheezing/sighthound grin/excited lip licks. Lambchop had slightly different love ears body language in that she didn't do the sighthounds appeasement stuff but her love ears were always accompanied by extremely rapid tail wagging on top of her body where her curly little tail would flutter like a butterfly lol. and then if you look at the face (HARD WITH GLIMMER BC SHES SO WIGGLY) love ears are almost always accompanied by very loose facial muscles/sometimes squinty happy eyes.

In my experience Stress Ears usually go with very TIGHT/TENSE facial muscles, & lack of wiggliness/more stiffness of posture. Love ears also often = dog trying to move closer whereas stress ears = dog trying to move away.

and then what I mean by context is like, if I see Glimmer slam her love ears down in public I almost always know if I look around there will be, like, someone with kids nearby -- she loves kids. Whereas her stress ears might come out if we are out at Lowe's and go past a big weird machine making loud noises! so part of it is knowing what the dog reacts to and being aware of those things in your environment at any given time. I hope this helps !

#dog t #glimmer glamor #lambchop the dog #idk how to describe but love ears = almost always has smiling eyes in my experience #but i dont know how to explain what i mean by smiling eyrs lol?#ime dogs smile is very similar ways to people its just you have to train yourself to look at their facial muscles #bc its more subtle #but like my dogs absolutely smile with their mouths and eyes and i dont mean that in a #dog mouth open = SMILING! way #i mean you can see the facial muscles pulling in certain ways!

I think it was you who recommended the dog training book I got but it like truly changed my relationship with my dog. His behavior has only changed a bit so far but his emotional well being has skyrocketed. This book!