For the Love of the Dog...
I had the privilege of hearing Patricia McConnell, Author of The Other End of the Leash, For the Love of the Dog and many dog owner self help pieces at a seminar September 9, 2007. The topic was "For the Love of a Dog-The Biology of Emotions in People and Dogs".

There is much controversy related to the question, do dogs have emotions? In her presentation Patricia began with the explanation of human physiology and the basics of primitive emotion. She spoke of neuro-chemical responses to emotion, the endocrine system, the hippocampus and amygdala as the fear and anger center of the brain. Now that may not be very exciting to some-but it really fired up the Nurse and the biologist in me.

I did have some great take aways to share with you all though:

1.

Biologist's agree that mammals, as a species, have the same basic primitive emotions- disgust, fear, anger and happiness. There are 3 questionable emotions that include jealousy, sympathy and appeasement.

2.

Facial muscles are linked to emotional responses-this is true in "reading" human faces as well as "reading" dog. Your trainers are very good at reading your dogs. We must add to our programs at The Train Station more detail for you as owners on reading these canine facial expressions. Your dogs are communicating to you throughout your training process-we see it-we must teach you to see it more clearly.

3.

We do very well at The Train Station with the use of Classical Counter Conditioning to treat problem behaviors. Determining behavioral "triggers" in the dogs and gradually increasing the dog's ability or threshold of tolerance to those triggers. I was very proud of that.

4.

I had confirmed for me again that teaching dog's patience exercises like "Wait", "Back" and "Hold" are key learnings for developing sound, impulse controlled dogs. These behaviors decrease a dog's propensity for frustration and keep them mindful of your role as their leadership.

5.

I learned that there are some additional things we can do to help the multiple dog household client to enhance their group relationships-(I started doing some things in my own home last night…) It is really fun to see my own dogs "thinking" when I add something new. They are always the guinea pigs for your learning.

6.

I was reminded of the human responsibility to provide your dog with a sense of security, of the need for a dog to have variety as well as predictability, to acknowledge each animal for their own unique personality (Sam hates Agility, Uno hates Obedience), that we need to be sensitive to how we touch and stroke a dog-some of the touch we like they actually dislike and that we must provide them both physical and most importantly mental exercise.

We will be making some changes to our puppy classes in the near future based on my new learning. It is always my goal to share with you current information and training principles to enhance your home, your relationship with your dog and your lives with your "forever pets".

Thank you for continuing to choose The Train Station for your dog training needs. We really try to be the "destination for your dog training needs."

Cathy Pera, Owner and Trainer at The Train Station