By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
People often ask me why their dogs bark. I get this question so often; I decided to write about it. Barking is what I call a side effect behaviour. Side-effect behaviours occur when dogs exhibit exaggerated…
Read moreJun 9 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
People often ask me why their dogs bark. I get this question so often; I decided to write about it. Barking is what I call a side effect behaviour. Side-effect behaviours occur when dogs exhibit exaggerated…
Read moreJun 1 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
A few weeks ago, we talked about breeding dogs for fashion, not function. The taboo topic is a very sensitive one because it reflects our direct impact on a species we created to serve our specific…
Read moreMay 18 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
When I was a kid, we had Great Danes. These majestic creatures were big, bold, and never shied away from all our childish shenanigans. We started with one, then we had puppies, so we ended up…
Read moreMay 11 2015
May 6 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
When I was in yoga school and attending university, teachers had a saying Observe the Observer. A simple statement which requires years of practice just to understand it's significance. Fortunately for us, dogs live their…
Apr 28 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
Working with animals is extremely rewarding, but it also yields a dirty secret, people in our line of work burn out. We change bad behaviour into good behaviour, we improve the human-animal bond, we teach, we…
Apr 22 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
A while back I wrote a piece called Emotional Projection. The scientifically oriented article focused on possible sources of projection. Unfortunately, the somewhat long description didn't discuss how to actually use projection to change emotions…
Read moreApr 14 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
The hardest part of owning a pet is when we realise our animals don't live forever. We live in such close proximity to our companions that pain felt by their loss is not only profound and…
Mar 31 2015
Mar 24 2015
Mar 17 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
Ever have one of those days when you feel, for no particular reason, like nothing is going right? You drop everything, the milk went bad, the cat pooped in the tub AGAIN, the dog had a…
Feb 23 2015
Feb 4 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
Every spring, I see a reoccurring phenomenon. I've termed this event Winter Puppy Syndrome*. The cyclical event occurs every spring and affects the behaviour of thousands of dogs. Winter Puppy Syndrome is an insidious phenomenon…
Jan 27 2015
Jan 20 2015
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
While we certainly don't encourage people to buy puppies for Christmas, tis the season for thou new bundle of joy to enrol in puppy class. Puppy socialisation classes aim to teach puppies how to communicate as…
Nov 12 2014
Nov 5 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
The catchphrase think outside the box means thinking in new ways to release one's creative potential. In the dog training world, thinking outside the box means stopping training with traditional punishment-based methods and letting new positive…
Read moreOct 29 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
What is communication?
Dictionaries state:
1. The ability to communicate and establish a relationship with others brings me to the word communicate.
2. To give knowledge and share it with someone.
3. To be in a…
Oct 23 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
In the last Blog, I tried to persuade readers to engage in a healthy discussion about being a dog professional. Today, we will take a look at learning and resilience. Note: to keep this article short…
Read moreSep 23 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
There is a lot of information on the web about dog behaviour, some more accurate than others. My objective with this article is not to write a long essay on the significance of dog behaviour and…
Read moreSep 4 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
Many years of observation led me to believe that sociability is genetic; that is to say, we are born sociable or not. Instinctively the majority of people believe this statement without having scientific proof to back…
Aug 21 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
A behaviour problem is the physical expression of a negative mental state. Behaviour problems impair normal function, i.e. the dog cannot eat because it spends its time chasing imaginary flies. What has caused the original dysfunction…
Read moreJul 18 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT-FLE
Pet owners often say My dog knows when I feel good or bad. This statement remained unverified by the scientific community, till now. In a recent report published in the scientific journal New Scientist (Guo, 2008)…
Jun 6 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
Most dog owners know about the physical language of dogs; a raised tail and ears mean dominance, while a lowered tail and ears mean submission. However, few know about the emotional language dogs exhibit. Physical language…
Read moreMay 7 2014
By Gaby Dufresne-Cyr, CBT
In light of the Sochi dog cull and the media attention it has received, I urge people to inquire and research the stray dog topic in order to look at these events with an educated mind…