Blog Posts

PATIENCE AND CHOICE

12/6/2018

I would have to say that much of my success in dog training and behavior rehabilitation has much to do with patience and taking the time to let a dog make a choice. If their desire to do/not do something comes from within, and not through external luring and prompting, they are more likely to repeat/not repeat that behavior in the future.

Even if one used luring for the sit or the down, eventually, after many repetitions, the dog knows what the cue, command or signal is. Now, if the dog doesn’t respond to the cue, instead of repeating the command over and over again at an ever escalating volume (while confusing the dog), one can simply reduce the dog’s choices and have some patience. Put the dog on a short leash, say “sit” and wait. Not much else the dog can do….eventually he’ll sit. Yay! Reward! Stay simple. Stay consistent.

Here’s what it looked like with Scout, a six month old Labrador who gets distracted by people and dogs, and ends up pulling on her leash and ignoring her owner.

First, we doubled the length of the leash to give Scout more room to get great reinforcement (I’ll get back to this in a minute). We started with recalls from the distance of five feet, ten feet, then 15 feet (the length of her leash). She received several pieces of food and praise from her owner each time that she was called. Then I presented myself and my puppy about 40 feet from Scout and her owner. Scout strained for several minutes at the end of her leash and her owner PATIENTLY waited for Scout to turn her head. When Scout made the CHOICE to turn her head back at her owner, she was called and given praise and several pieces of food in a row. I knew it would be more challenging once my puppy and I moved closer so added another layer of reinforcement for Scout. Here’s where that long line came into play. In addition to the food and praise, I had the owner call Scout AND run backwards. Running full speed at her owner would be far more fun than being stuck on a short six foot leash and simply turning around for a few bites of food. Her owner could now use food, praise, and fun physical activity as a giant ball of fun to gain Scout’s focus on her instead of me and my puppy. Note: we could have used a tug toy too, but didn’t have one at this session.

From this point forward, the owner never called Scout again. She just waited for her to turn her head and to look back at her. This took longer for Scout as my puppy and I moved closer - she really wanted to greet us. Her owner’s PATIENCE was really tested during this step. Scout began to learn that her CHOICES were limited: straining at the end of her leash with me and my puppy out of her reach, or gallop back to her owner for praise and food. Eventually she caught on.

When it came time for our puppies to go nose-to-nose, I would let them mingle for a moment then call my pup out of Scout’s leash range. Then her owner would PATIENTLY wait for Scout to look at her and she would repeat the run backwards - praise - food sequence.

After 30 minutes, I was petting, feeding, and letting my puppy play with Scout. When we would step out of her leash range Scout would, without hesitation, immediately run back to her owner. After 10 more minutes, we introduced the recall command while my puppy and I were in Scout's leash range. She was quick to respond because she had been heavily reinforced previously for making the CHOICE to run to her owner. If, at any point, she didn’t respond to her owner, I would take my puppy out of leash range and limit Scout’s choices.

Having PATIENCE and giving your dog (limited) CHOICES is a simple formula. Try it!

Puppies: Scout and Hammer brought to you by QuailRunLabs.com

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Punishment problems

10/10/2018

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While stopping to chat with a friend on my my dog walk, my puppy picked up a plastic bag of poop that I had set down. Thinking she was helping both me and him out, my friend started firmly calling out "no" while rushing after him. It scared him a bit and my friend was a bit alarmed when I quickly stepped in and told her to stop. I explained that if my puppy is ever going to pick something up in his mouth I don't want him to avoid me because I am saying no and chasing him. That instead of grabbing it from him I would offer him something else to put in his mouth (food, toy). That if I don't want my puppy to pick something up in the first place I will be paying attention (definitely what I was NOT doing in this situation) and will call him to me before he picks up the item. There ya go, no need for punishment and its potential side effects.

I have seen the fall out of punishment in many dogs that I have worked with (including my own!). People describe these dogs as thieves or sneaky and claim the dog is "blowing them off." Their dogs have learned to avoid punishment or avoid having something taken away from them. Punishment has the risk of breaking down respect, instilling fear, and reducing happiness between you and your dog.

Here is what Jean Donaldson has to say about it in her book, Culture Clash (Berkeley: James & Kenneth, 2005).

"If you administer punishment correctly, the punishment may buy you a temporary suppression of the behavior. Remember, you have not killed it but merely brought about an emotional state which is incompatible with the behavior you want to get rid of (the animal is too upset by the punishment to do it for the time being). He is also, incidentally, too upset to do much of anything right after a punishment. Punishment is like a carpet bombing. The behavior you wanted to target gets hit but so does a huge portion of the dog's whole repertoire. Dogs who are punished a lot behave a lot less in general. What's particularly scary is that this is what a lot of dog owners actually want. They want a general toning down of the dog. It is a sad comment on human-dog relations when we claim to love dogs and then attempt to behaviorally lobotomize them with thousands of leash jerks in the name of "obedience." The bland, behavior-less animal many people bond to so strongly can scarcely be called a dog. It is the ghost of what once might have been a dog."

In this modern day of dog training, the whole process has become far more kind, respectful, and enjoyable.

Hugs,

Janine

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11 Reasons to start a training program with your dog

4/18/2018

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1. Obtain control of your dog by gaining trust and increasing focus.

2. Prevent injuries to your body from dog getting underfoot, jumping up, and sudden lunging movements on or off leash.

3. Decrease chances that your dog will engage in a fight with another dog.

4. Decrease dog’s fearfulness, aggression, and possibilities of a bite.

5. Decrease separation stress.

6. Decrease stress during veterinary and grooming procedures, minimizing the need for restraint, muzzling, and sedation.

7. Decrease your dog’s desire to roam from the house, yard or you.

8. Freedom to take your dog with you to public places.

9. Increase chances of re-homing your dog to a great family should you no longer be able to care for him for any reason.

10. Less destruction in your home and yard.

11. And....MY FAVORITE.....discovering how smart your dog is and how smart you are!

Hugs to you and your dogs.
Janine

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Six Steps to a Reliable Recall

3/22/2018

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I find that many people try to ask too much of a dog when training a recall. Here are some steps to break it down and make things easier for you and your dog. As I always say, "If my dog has messed up it is because I have messed up."

NEVER punish your dog for coming to you
If you are angry about your dog chasing a cat/bird/dog/person and call him to you and punish him, he will remember that coming to you means unpleasant things will happen. ALWAYS reward your dog for coming to you, ALWAYS. If you aren’t prepared to reward your dog then do not call him to you.

Don't call your dog unless you're 99% sure he will respond
Set him up to succeed every time. Start with short distances and minimal distractions and gradually work up from there. Use a long line if necessary. A good way to poison your recall cue is to call and then have your dog not respond. This teaches a dog that he can choose to ignore you.

Start small
A truly reliable recall is built on tiny baby steps. This means ALWAYS setting up the dog to succeed and creating a rock solid foundation where your recall word creates an instant association in your dog's head with FUN! Again, short distance and minimal distractions and gradually work up from there.

Add Distance
Once you've created a positive association and the dog is enthusiastically returning for a reward, you can start adding either distance or distraction but NOT at the same time. Start with your dog five feet away and build up from there. Repeat this 10 or more times before increasing the distance to say, 10 feet or so. Repeat 10 or more times before increasing the distance.

Add Distraction
If distractions are present you must shorten the distance between you and your dog before calling him. If another dog is near or there is an attractive toy close by, then stand closer to your dog before calling him. If possible, after the dog has come to you, reward him then RELEASE the dog to go and explore the distraction. You will be showing him that a recall does not mean "the fun stops now."

Don’t overuse the recall
Don’t use the recall command as your “go to” word to get control of your dog. Instead of calling your dog to you to leave the dog park or his favorite playmate, go up to him and hand him a treat while you put the leash on him. Then release him to play again for a few minutes. Do this a few times before taking him away from the park or his playmate. If he is going to jump up on a person ask him to sit and give him a reward instead of using the recall yet again. If he darts out the front door, don't rely on constantly recalling him to get him back in. Instead, teach him that staying inside the door is a rewarding and fun experience.

GUIDE TO A RELIABLE RECALL:
Getting your dog to come to you EVERY time you call him.

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Five Steps to Reduce Barking

2/23/2018

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I am writing this blog for Nancy and her dog Carrie. Maybe someone who reads this has a similar situation and may find this information helpful.

Carrie likes to bark at things and Nancy would like to get that under control. Here are five steps I am recommending for reduced barking.

Step One - Identify what causes Carrie to bark. We have found it to be the television, noises she hears, things she sees when she is on a walk.

Step Two - Identify what you can do to manage the situation. "Managing" is all about controlling the environment so the dog is not exposed to those things that make her bark. Turn the television off. Divert away from triggers while on a walk. Have guests text when they arrive instead of ring the doorbell. Close the curtains or use a barricade to give the dog more distance from the windows. Managing the situation is critical when you are not with the dog. If Carrie is barking at things while Nancy is not home, she continues to practice the barking. And, as we all know, practice makes perfect!

Step Three - Change Carrie's reactive response to a different response at an emotional level. We have determined that Carrie really likes chicken. Every time Carrie sees a dog on television or hears the doorbell, drop her a piece of chicken. Repeat, repeat, repeat until Carrie begins to expect the piece of chicken. Yes, she will still bark, but when she turns to you for chicken afterward is the sign that we are ready to move onto Step Four.

Step Four - When Carrie barks, wait for her to look at you before dropping her the piece of chicken. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Step Five - Add in a hand touch before giving the chicken. When Carrie barks, wait for her to look at you, offer your flat hand and wait for her to touch your hand (taught separately before introducing it during barking sessions). Then give her the chicken. You can gradually add more into this sequence such as a hand touch, then a sit, then toss a squeak toy or give a piece of chicken. Switch it up. Make it fun and unpredictable.

Yah, there are a lot of variables that can happen each time Carrie barks. But this is a start and it is rather difficult to cover every possible scenario in a blog post. :)

Cheers!

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Should I let my dog on the bed or furniture?

1/24/2018

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Hilarious Lab pile photo courtesy Cindy Freeman

During the "dominant dog" craze, spurred by television programming, some people got the idea that their dogs were frequently challenging the pecking order. They obeyed the advice of being the dominant leader by eating before the dog does, walking through the doorway before the dog, and never letting the dog get up on anything higher than them.

While people are starting to realize that a relationship with a dog is about being a respectful leader, consistency, communication, and teaching a dog what TO DO instead of what NOT TO DO (and no longer focusing on the dominance myth), I still have clients who sheepishly ask if their dog should be sleeping with them on the bed. My reply? Of course, as long as it is safe for you and safe for the dog.

Dogs who urinate in the bed, or keep their owners awake with snoring, shifting, or self-grooming should probably sleep elsewhere. Dogs who may hurt themselves jumping up and off of the bed should probably sleep elsewhere or have the appropriate stairs. I once traveled with a snuggly Dachshund who burrowed under the covers but would growl at me when I repositioned myself during the night. He ended up sleeping elsewhere.

If you are sharing a bed or couch, and your dog tends to be pushy in nature, I would definitely recommend training him to wait for permission to get on the furniture.