CEU Event: Winter Couch Potato / Stuffed Toys Require Supervision

When: Ongoing
Where: Online

CEUs

*CPDT-KA: 0.5 *CBCC-KA: 0
CPDT-KSA Knowledge: 0.50
CPDT-KSA Skills: 0.00

* Courses approved for CBCC-KA CEUs may be applied to a CPDT-KA or CPDT-KSA recertification. Courses approved for CPDT-KA or CPDT-KSA may not be applied to a CBCC-KA recertification.

PLEASE NOTE: CPDT-KA can earn a MAXIMUM of 12 CPDT-KSA Skills CEUS within their 3 year certification period.

Description

This is a magazine article by Steve Brooks, CPDT/KA Fido Friendly Magazine Summer 2015 Page 60, He yaps / She yaps Winter Couch Potato / Stuffed Toys Require Supervision, by Steve Brooks, CPDT/KA http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?issue=416350511&o=ext Stuffed Toys Require Supervision By Steve Brooks, CPDT/KA Why does my dog take great delight in attacking soft plush toys and taking out the stuffing? Why is he doing this and are there any safety concerns? My beloved, exuberant pit bull, Legali, loved to greet visitors by jumping up, sloppy kisses and whining. I resolved this problem by having a stuffed toy ready whenever the doorbell rang—stick the toy in Legali’s mouth, problem solved! She’d still wiggle with exuberance, but—favorite toy to chew, left guests alone. Just before she went to destroy the toy, I replaced it with a safer one. Dogs love to attack soft plush toys and take the stuffing out for many reasons. Some dogs are not mentally or physically stimulated, become stressed, anxious or bored and try to destroy a toy when given the opportunity; others do it because it’s fun! Puppies may be teething. This can also be an exploratory or natural predatory “hunting” instinct. There’s nothing I enjoy more than watching my toy poodle-mix Uni, play. As I tease him with a stuffed toy, I toss it and watch him stalk, pounce, attack, then throw it in the air, shake, and try to kill it—clearly having fun. However, I have trained him to bring the toy back and drop it in my hands at the drop of a hat. Stuffing is not something you want your dog to ingest. As a former Veterinary technician, I’ve seen dogs at the hospital with trouble passing a stool, no appetite, or vomiting and abdominal pain. I’ve assisted on exploratory surgeries (you can’t always determine the obstruction object with x-ray or ultrasound) where we’ve removed pieces of Kong toys dried out in the sun, nails, corn cobs, socks, squeakers, toy stuffing, etc.… In some cases, we’ve had to remove parts of the dog’s intestines. This is why curtailing behavior before it becomes a problem with management is what I advise.   I always consider a stuffed toy my toy to play with my dog; not my dog’s toy to destroy. It’s usually not advisable to leave a stuffed toy out when your dog is unsupervised. Dogs left unsupervised should only be given safe toys: something they cannot shred, rip, tear, ingest or choke on. Most of the time, when I’ve witnessed dogs destroying stuffed toys, they don’t actually eat the stuffing, but sometimes they do, so supervision is essential for your dog’s safety. Steve Brooks, CPDT/KA is a world-renowned dog trainer, Canine Behavioral Expert, Family Paws Parent Education Licensed Presenter, and author of DOG BITES with STEVE BROOKS, (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, SteveBrooksK9U.com). The book shares training techniques with positive, science-based reward methods and shows you how to safely share "bites" of food with your dog as rewards for good behavior.

Sponsor:Steve Brooks K9U
Speaker(s):Steve Broos, CPDT/KA

Contact: Steve Brooks
 Email: steve@stevebrooksk9u.com
 Phone: 323-422-8711
 Web: http://www.stevebrooksk9u.com/