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How to evaluate behavior on dogs

In our industry, it seems like dog injuries are a given. If you have a business that involves off-leash play, injuries are going to happen regularly, right? 

Wrong! 

It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, it shouldn’t be this way! 

It is possible to have playgroups where the dogs are easy to manage and injuries are a rare occurrence. 

So what’s the secret?, one aspect is a formal dog evaluation process that includes a review of the dog’s social history. 

Of course, it’s not always possible to assess a dog thoroughly in a short session or even one day. But when you combine evaluations, behavior history, and a keen observation by knowledgeable staff, you can significantly improve safety and reduce stress for both humans and canines. 

This innovative traffic management system helps you objectively score dogs based on their body language and rank them from green (happy and loose) to red (danger imminent). 

This is a simple chart that makes understanding canine body language easy! When you start out, don’t get too caught up naming each behavior…just try to classify it as red, yellow, green. 

But we’ve taken the traffic management signal one step forward by creating an evaluation process that allows you to score the dogs and ensure you have the safely mix of dogs in your playgroups. By keeping a ratio of 80% “green” dogs and 20% “yellow,” you can ensure a wonderful, safe environment for social dogs to interact with each other. 

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