GM News - August 2020

Dear Gentle Modern Friends,
Here is your August edition of GMSDT News.
We are here to help - remotely. GMSDT Melbourne has suspended all in-person programs as a result of Melbourne Metro's move to Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions. Zoom-based consultations and lessons are available with Amanda. Phone and email support is also available.

We hope you are all well. Stay Safe. Missing you already :-)
Amanda, Rodna, David & Ruth

We featured the canine nose in the last edition of GM-News. Let's go further on this topic . . .
Dogs can smell changes in human body chemistry, meaning they can identify many illnesses. A German research team recently proved that trained sniffer dogs can identify people infected with COVID-19.
Dogs can also interpret your mood, not only from your body language. Human emotions are manifest in our secretion of pheromones able to be detected by the vomeronasal organ, located in the bottom of a dog's nasal passage. Check out Jane Mundy's article in Modern Dog Magazine for many amazing examples of the power of a dog's nose.

Adolescence - Not Just for Humans

Many of you have adolescent dogs - a stage of development that poses similar challenges to that posed by human teenagers. As a general rule of thumb: early adolescence - roughly six to twelve months, late adolescence/early maturity – roughly 12 months plus, full maturity – three years plus. Barbara Hodel has written How to Love and Survive your Teenage Dog, a book soon to be released, and she is presenting a Webinar on the topic of Canine Adolescence Monday, August 17, 2020 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. No time for a webinar? Checkout Barbara's article in Australian Dog Lover, 'How to help your teenage dog and save your sanity!'
As dog trainers we can certainly support Barbara's position that " teenage dogs have a hard time making good decisions, exhibiting self-control, remembering their training". Consistency and perseverance are crucial. (Luckily along with any challenges there will also be lots of fun :-)

Top Tip - Choice

Allowing and encouraging a dog's ability to make choices within their daily lives is currently a powerful movement within the world of dog training. We've known for a long time that the ability to make choices enhances people's wellbeing. It's now clear that the ability to exercise choice benefits our dogs too.
We recommend you consider ways you might allow your dog to choose:

Which human to engage with, how and for how long
Which way to go on a walk
What things to sniff at and for how long
When to go outside (a dog-door is great for enabling choice)
What toy to play with

To go further and teach your dog how to communicate choice, check out these resources:
How to Teach a ‘You Choose’ Cue, Pat Miller, Whole Dog Journal
Chirag Patel's Bucket Game is a good example of enabling choice in your dog, particularly as it relates to husbandry activities: see Intro to the Bucket Game and Teaching the Bucket Game

DIY Toy Last edition included a review of Brain Teasers for Dogs by Christina Sondermann (English language edition, 2018, Quiller). I had a go at a variation of the Spin the Bottle game with plastic mugs, cardboard box, a length of old curtain rod that was in the garage, and rubber bands. Treats were placed in the bottom of the mugs; half of the mugs facing away to increase the challenge. Easy to put together with items lying around the house and provided entertainment for Tiger.

Check out the video of this brain teaser and a bonus one in action on our YouTube Channel.

Review Us?
If you feel it's warranted and you're comfortable writing a sentence or two in the form of a testimonial (please email it to Amanda) for use on our website, or reviewing us on Facebook or Google Business, we would be very grateful.

GMSDT Melbourne has suspended all in-person programs as a result of Melbourne Metro's move to Stage 4 COVID-19 restrictions. Zoom-based consultations and lessons are available with Amanda. Call 0418 371 060, Email amanda@jenkins.net