Tips for making big transitions easier

We recently moved to a new home. We did this while our dogs and cats were boarded to make the moving process smoother for everyone. They were boarded for 2 weeks, which was a really long time but Sadie and Jojen are happy there as they have boarded there on numerous occasions and the staff love them. I was worried more about the cats but it turns out they did really well and the cat staff had glowing reports on their behavior.

I knew once the animals came home we would still have all our belongings in storage and the new house would be in a state of renovation for some time. So as we packed the new house I made a list of things to keep out to have available in the new house.

1) Medical records for the boarding kennel
2) Harnesses/leashes/poop bags
3) dog & cat beds/crates and crate pads
4) food dishes/food
5) medications
6) fans for keeping the new house cool until the AC's show up

I also made a couple trips to the store for extra supplies to make things easier.

1) Gates for doorways
2) Filled hollow bones for crate time while workers are here
3) Rescue Remedy/ calming collar for the cat
4) treats
5) extra litter boxes

When I brought them home I let the dogs explore the front and backyard on leash before entering the house, that way they could mark their yard and NOT the new house! The cats were brought in and our more nervous cat Sherman was brought into a room that could be closed off so her could relax a little before exploring the rest of the house. Cosmo hung out downstairs with the dogs and I. I put the gates up and let them explore the downstairs only at first. Later I let them go upstairs supervised so they didn't get into something they shouldn't (or pee on a carpet!) I took them for a short walk around 9:30 so there would be less traffic and less people. Jojen was confused as to why he was on leash for so long since he was able to walk off leash with me in our previous neighborhood, that is not an option here. I had originally thought I'd just let Sadie and Jo sleep with me but I soon realized that the activity outside the front windows was a bit more than Sadie could take so I set up her crate and she happily went in and laid down. The next night I set up Jo's crate too, and I was able to get a better night sleep! It is still a process but I am pleasantly surprised at the lack of major reaction Sadie is having to all the outside noise. I am making sure to praise and reward her when an especially loud vehicle goes by or the fire station horn goes off, and she has no reaction. Creating as much of a routine as possible is important to helping them relax, so I am making their walks happen at a certain time and feeding them in one spot at a regular time too. I have added Rescue Remedy to everyone's water and the cats get it in their food too.

When dealing with any kind of transition with your pets, it is imperative to be patient and compassionate. They can't understand why these new changes have happened so they need you to guide them through as gently and kindly as possible. If you find you need more help doing so, seek the help of a certified trainer to help you all get through the new changes.

Putting the cart before the horse in dog training

   Humans are such verbal creatures; we talk and talk and babble and babble, even to our dogs!  I absolutely advocate lots of talking to your dog in the form of loving praise and adoration, what I try to remind people to avoid is barking commands at your dog or puppy, that they haven't been taught yet.

     Repeating your brand new puppy's name at him in no specific manner does not teach him his name means anything, unless his name is repeatedly paired with something good. Yelling sit, Sit, SIT at your dog when you haven't actually TAUGHT him what the word sit means, is just going to frustrate you AND your puppy!

   If you want to teach your puppy to not jump on you, just yelling "off" at him or pushing him down over and over does not teach him what "Off" means and furthermore it does nothing to teach your puppy what you would prefer he do instead! That is often where people get lost. They get so focused on the unwanted behavior and the cycle of punishment, they don't stop to think what they actually WANT their puppy to do! Instead of arbitrarily saying "off" over and over, zip your lips and reward/focus on the behavior you do want, like all four feet on the ground!

    If you want your puppy to drop something in his mouth, yelling "DROP IT" over and over before he has been taught what that means is just wasting your time and making your puppy more and more unsure of you when he has something in his mouth. This is where puppy proofing comes in play, if your floor has lots of inappropriate things available and you follow your puppy around yelling "drop it" or "leave it" wherever he goes, you will find he develops a habit of either resource guarding or grabbing things and playing keep away, neither of which are easily fixed! Teach your dog what "drop it" and "leave it" actually mean (they are very different!) through training that is fun, clear, consistent, and rewarding.

   By all means talk to your puppy or dog, just don't expect them to perform for cues that you haven't actually taught them! Set you and your puppy up for success!

Your Dogs' Reinforcement Account

      As a positive reinforcement trainer that uses food in training, I often have people ask me "when can I stop giving him treats?" My answer is "never...and why would you want to?" Now, to clarify that a bit further, what I am really saying is, reinforcing behavior you like from your dog, should never stop. I really like my job but if I stopped being paid for it I would probably stop doing it on a regular basis, unless I really wanted to. See how that can translate to your dog?

      In my classes and private lessons I teach people to train their dogs using the biggest motivator around; food. I also teach them that there are other types of reinforcers that can replace food for every day behaviors, ie: sit doesn't always have to mean a cookie, sit can mean the Frisbee gets thrown or he gets lots of lavish attention. But those reinforcers are usually used as back ups to the tried and true food reward when new behaviors are being taught. For a dog, food talks!

      I like to talk about making deposits into my dogs' reinforcement account. What that means is I pay him heavily and on a consistent basis for behaviors I expect him to perform, such as coming when called. If I pay him every single time for coming when called, with food, attention or play, the one time I REALLY need that behavior to occur and I don't have any major reinforcer with me, I won't have damaged the behavior. Think of it as a checking account, if you are constantly in the black then you feel pretty secure knowing you have the ability to make a withdrawal when an emergency hits, without decimating the account altogether. Conversely, if you are constantly making more withdrawals than deposits, pretty soon the account will run dry and stop working for you! Your dog will work the same way, if a behavior stops working for him ie: being reinforced, it will die off or become very unreliable and for a behavior like coming when called, that can be extremely dangerous.

       So the goal in training your dog should not be to stop reinforcing the behaviors we like; it should be to get to the point where the frequency and type of reinforcers can change to better suit everyday life. If you want consistent, long term success in the behaviors you teach your dog they need to be well reinforced on a consistent basis, even into adulthood. Remember, any behavior that is reinforced will be repeated. Figure out what behavior you want your dog to repeat on a regular basis and reinforce it!!

Respect or Fear: Which works best for long term success?

   What makes a good leader, teacher, parent, spouse, employer, president? Does instilling fear make them capable of leading and teaching people effectively; or does respect get more, well, respect?

   In Dog training this question is bandied about on a regular basis. "Dogs need a 'Pack Leader', they need to know who is boss.' I agree, to an extent, although I don't use those terms simply because they leave a bad taste in my mouth and have different meanings to different people. But take the word 'Leader' out of that context and it is a very innocuous, sometimes even highly regarded word.

   Let's look at it first in our human relationships. Remember back to your high school or college days. Were your favorite teachers the ones that made learning a chore, boring, monotonous and sometimes even punishment based, drudgery? Did those teachers garner your respect by making you fear punishment for talking or misspelling a word? Did you want to work harder for those teachers or just do the bare minimum so you were not punished or humiliated? Did you respect them? By respect I mean not only acting respectful by not talking back or speaking out of turn but did you feel they were someone you could look up to, someone to be revered?

    Perhaps you were in the military where respect and loyalty are paramount to your survival. Did you develop true, meaningful respect for the leaders that were relentlessly abusive to you or the people you served with? How much loyalty would that type of person garner? How hard would you push yourself for the type of person that never made you feel that they had your back or were supporting your growth and learning?

   What about friendships? What kind of friend is someone that is unpredictable in their behavior, abusive in their language and makes you feel worried every time you are with them? How close would you let them get to you, how hard would you work at that relationship?

  Employers that undermine your work or threaten you with long hours, pay cuts or disciplinary action to serve their own purposes, how hard would you work for someone like that? Sure you may work long hours to try to remove the threat of job loss, but will you be happy doing it? Will you enjoy going to work every day or will you be fantasizing about tropical beaches and perhaps the prospect of your employer getting fired!

    Now put these scenarios into play in your relationship with your dog. Knowing that dogs have a limited ability to understand our language, lack of reasoning capabilities and cognitive abilities equivalent to a 3 or 4 year old child, would it be effective to train your dog using fear as a motivator? Fear is indeed a motivator, we wear seat belts for fear of injuries in an accident, we wear helmets, bullet proof vests, ear plugs, etc. for any number of activities that carry the fear of pain or injury. These things keep us safe, but they don't teach us HOW to be safe. Driving instructors teach us how to drive safely, gun safety courses teach us how to handle weapons; it's the teachers that are important.

   For long term effectiveness and success with your dog (and human relationships!), be a leader that makes learning a game, gives respect to your dog, understands how they communicate and leaves fear in the dark. Teach using love, kindness, compassion, clear rules and support and you will have a dog that WANTS to work for you, that finds you the most amazing thing in his life and sees the world in a much better, less scary way.

Be that kind of leader, those are the best!

Training Sadie...Finally!

I recently attended a seminar that was very enlightening. I learned many things; as well as questioned things I thought I already knew. One of the enlightening moments was the insistence of the speaker to engage with your dog, especially in dog sports, but also just in general. I do this with Jojen and it is delightful! So much so that I fantasize about being able to quit my job and just take classes and play in trials for the rest of his life.

Then there is Sadie. I know I am not helping her reach her potential, I know she could do so much more, she's so smart. The caveat is she is not as much fun to work with! Why is this? Because she is a challenging dog. She's reactive, whiny and so incredibly distractible she barely notices my presence when we are out and about. With Jojen and even Beanie, I was the center of attention during training, they were easy.

But as I listened to the speaker at that seminar I began to see that her challenges are what I need and how amazing would it be to have the same bond and connection with her as I do with my boys. She's a natural athlete, really smart and very funny. She deserved my attention too! So I signed us up for a class and with all good intentions went to our first one. It was a disaster! Half way through she stopped looking at me and did her best to pretend I was not there. She was trying her hardest to deflect my frustration and very clearly wanted to work with the instructor instead. I could see happening to she and I exactly what I see happening to my students when they come to class with a challenging dog. Their dog looks for any port in the storm; anyone with clear expectations and signals; anyone that does not want to throttle them at that moment! It broke my heart and I contemplated giving up (as I am sure many of my students do). The one advantage I have over my students is I knew what I was doing wrong, I knew my dog was responding to me and I knew how to change it. So I gave us a few days to cool off, asked nothing from her and instead just showered her with affection.

I had to re-establish her trust in me, that is the cornerstone of any working team; trust. With a dog like Sadie, her soft, slightly anxious nature, she needs to have someone she can trust. I needed to step up and be that person. I am not perfect, I have a short fuse most days and I get frustrated far too easily, however as I've gotten older I've accepted the challenge of laughing in the face of those imperfections and proving myself wrong. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail miserably, but at almost 40 my competitive streak has hit it's stride and I want to beat my own personal best in most everything! So I made a list of goals for Sadie and I to reach, they are not all lofty but they are no less challenging for us and I set about working on them with joy and lowered expectations, I set her up for success!

I have 4 goals right now (I'm sure as we progress there will be more or they will change):

#1 Sit straight: She is the floppiest dog I have EVER met. She can not sit straight and flops into a down after only a second or two. It can be VERY frustrating! However our wonderful teacher made some suggestions on helping her with this, so we have a plan!

#2 Loose Leash Walking and eye contact: This is really as simple as her acknowledging my presence on leash. I practically cease to exist once the leash is on and we head into town. Admittedly she has improved but it's been glacial so I would like to get more consistent eye contact from her when on leash (as well as not pulling, but really the eye contact is more important to me!)

#3 Polite Greetings: Yes, this is not as important to me as the other two. She is a very "enthusiastic" greeter and it is mortifying as a trainer to have a dog that throws herself at people in sheer adoration, but recently I had the ability to see her through someone else's eyes who was truly captivated by her sweet, overly friendly nature and who reminded me that there are far worse things your dog could be than overly friendly! So, yes, we will work on it but I won't squelch her enthusiasm for making new friends!

#4 (long term) Enter her in a Rally trial by Dec. 2015: Trying to achieve this goal may bring to light other goals and milestones we need to reach and that is exactly what I want and look forward to. I am excited by the prospect of feeling we are ready to enter a trial setting and have a reasonable chance of finishing a course! So even in my lofty goal I am humble, if we can just finish a course I will consider it a rousing success!

I am happy to say our "training" sessions during the week went well and our second class was light years better than our first; even though she ran the opposite direction on recall so she could visit with a person and shove her nose in their treat bag; even though she balked at trying to sit straight while against a wall. The difference was me. I never once got frustrated and if I felt it coming on, I got out her rope tug toy and played with her instead of continuing to ask for something from her. The effect was magic! Her attention on me was fantastic, her whining was almost non-existent and she only jumped on the instructor a couple times! All wonderful successes! Plus at the end I was able to start using one of her favorite positions as a rewardable behavior, we've begun working on "bow" and she is a natural! It was a fun class for both of us! I can't wait to go back next week and I think she'll be happy to as well!

Are you having fun?

There is no question, training your dog is serious business. Having a dog that is comfortable with body handling, has some self control and can return to you when you call are some very important behaviors to master. However, getting those serious behaviors can still be fun! It all depends on how you view training and working with your dog! If you find it monotonous or something you HAVE to do, you will find it to be drudgery work. If you look at it as an opportunity to bond with your dog and marvel at his intelligence and stretch your own mental capabilities, you will enjoy the process so much more.

In my experience it is impossible to smile a true smile (not a smirk or a forced smile) and feel unhappy or angry. So when I train with my dogs I think about how much I love them, how much they make me laugh and I smile. Doing so also gives me more patience than I normally have which only enhances the training session.

You can be happy and silly and still teach the very serious business of recall, in fact it is of the utmost importance that you are happy and silly during this important process. Showing your dog that it is great fun to come to you only serves to increase and strengthen the behavior. I encourage all my students to harness their inner silly child and show their dog they are the most fun thing around! Of course, there are those scary times when you call your dog to you out of panic and it sounds anything but fun, but if you've worked enough with your dog and the experience has always been positive, the outcome is much more likely to be positive. Besides once your dog gets to you, your relief and happiness can come out and your dog gets a bonus of happiness at the end, despite the initial recall being a little panicked.

So smile when you train, use a nice sweet voice (even men can speak sweetly), and think of how much you love your dog while you are working and you will both find the training session to be enjoyable. Remember though, if you've had a bad day, are frustrated or upset for any reason, don't train! Instead, sit on the couch with a good book and cuddle with your dog, they will work their magic and make you feel so much better!

Driveway training...

I have talked about this before but I think it bears repeating...frequently! The best way to train your dog is through the natural course of the day. Use the every day activities you do with your dog to work in a little training. I'll give you an example; I have a driveway that is about 150ft. long. This morning I needed to go out to put some letters in the mailbox that is at the end of the driveway, so I called to Jojen and we headed down the driveway. Now, I could have just let him wander around sniffing and playing in the snow but I decided to use the time to my advantage (it's difficult training one dog in the house with 2 others clamoring for your attention). I realized I had no treats with me so I used his desire to go explore as his reward for working on heeling with me. I made sure I gave him constant verbal praise as he walked close by my leg looking up at me and then I would release him with an "Ok, go play" and he would romp around and then come back on his own and we'd begin again. We did this on the way up the driveway and then again on the way down. I could have done a few more passes but I decided to end on a good note and after some pretty stellar heeling we celebrated by playing a game of chase mommy! He was thrilled and all of this took maybe 10 minutes and it was all while doing something I needed to do anyway! So maybe you don't have such a long driveway, it doesn't matter! You can make a few passes or just work a little at a time. You can use a hallway in your home or even just walk the perimeter of a room!

The training possibilities are endless too, it doesn't have to be just working on heeling or leash walking. You can practice recalls, automatic sits when you stop walking, "watch me", leave it, stays, touch, Rally obedience moves, freestyle routines, tricks, etc. You can even use this time to work with your dog if they have any fear or reactivity issues. Building their confidence in small blocks of time is optimal as they don't become overwhelmed and neither of you get frustrated.

So I'll say it again (and probably again some other time), make training part of your everyday life and it won't seem so daunting a task!

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...

 I have had quite a few private lesson clients lately that are dealing with Separation Anxiety in one form or another. Separation Anxiety, SA, is a blanket term used to describe behaviors exhibited by a dog stemming from varying degrees of anxiety. Dogs can suffer from milder forms such as Isolation Distress (anxious when alone) all the way up to clinical SA where a dog can cause great destruction to the home and/or to themselves. Rather than go into the intensive protocol used to rehabilitate dogs suffering from SA (perhaps in a future post), I would like to address those with dogs that DON'T have SA and talk about prevention.

 One of the biggest mistakes (done with good intentions of course) many people make when adopting a new dog or bringing home a new puppy, is to spend every waking minute with the new dog (and sometimes the non awake hours too!). While it is very convenient to bring a dog or puppy home during vacation time, it can create problems that may not have been there previously. I am not saying never to bring a new dog home on vacation, but do so with the understanding that it's OK to let your dog spend some time apart from you, in fact it's recommended!

 Teaching your new dog or puppy right from the beginning that being separated from you isn't horrible, and in fact it can be awesome, will go a long way to building their self confidence as well as allow you to take a bathroom break without a four legged supervisor!

 New dogs coming into an adoptive home need an adjustment period. Some need longer than others but at the very least the first two weeks are the settling in period. Any training done at this time needs to be positive and taken at a snails' pace, with very low expectations, to allow your dog some success without becoming confused and frustrated.

Here are some quick and easy ideas to help you show your dog separation isn't the end of the world:

• Reward your dog or puppy for calm behavior when physically separated from you. Is he sleeping in a bed across the room from you? Toss him a treat for that! Does he go explore something away from you? Toss him a treat for that! Take this gradually to more difficult steps by adding a gate in between you both, remove yourself from sight (for a second), close a door between you two. Reward all calm behavior as you progress and if your dog gets stressed at any time, decrease the difficulty a little.
• Make all departures and returns calm and boring. You can absolutely say hi to your dog when you come home or goodbye when you leave but don't break out your Academy Award performance for them, it can increase stress in your dog.
• Teach your dog to be ambivalent about you putting on your shoes or picking up your keys or any of the other things you do as you prepare to leave the house. You do this by randomly, throughout the day, picking up your keys and then putting them down, putting on your shoes, walking around and then taking them off again, open the door and then close it again, etc. Done over the course of time your dog will find these departure cues unimportant, thereby taking away the power they can have to induce anxiety in your dog.

 Just practicing a couple preventative measures can go a long way to making your dog or puppy comfortable being on their own when necessary and will make your life so much easier!

Real Life Rewards

  Last night in my Level 1 class there were some great questions on how to progress training and transition from relying on food. I've touched on the latter part in this post but what we discussed last night were Life Rewards.

  The initial example was working on loose leash walking. The owner was happy with her dogs' progress, she was getting about 10 or so steps of polite walking before the dog would nudge her for a treat. My response was "Great, but don't let her tell you when it's time for a treat! Require her to take a few more steps after the nudge and then reward her polite behavior". Also we discussed mixing up the rewards with other reinforcers. Her dog loves to tug so I suggested alternating between a food reward and a 5 second game of tug for polite leash manners. We also discussed the use of off leash freedom, intense sniffing expeditions, greeting people/other dogs, getting to a place they are really excited to be; those are all Life Rewards. How your dog earns them is up to you.

  My dog Sadie gets so very excited when I bring her to daycare, so much so that she is barking and whining and carrying on as well as pulling on leash. However, I refuse to allow her the reward of going in and playing with friends when she acts this way. I simply stand firm and don't advance toward the gate when she is carrying on. If she gets worse we walk away, when she settles we take a few steps forward. As long as she remains calm and isn't pulling we continue forward, if at any time (even right at the gate) she gets over excited I back her up and we start again. It can be a lengthy process, but eventually your dog will understand that calm behavior is the best way to get what he wants! It took Sadie about 5 minutes of back and forth for her to get to the gate and through it with calm behavior! Consistency is key, you can't make them do it one day and then let them pull you the next, doing that would actually strengthen the inappropriate behavior!

  It happens a lot in classes too, dogs are excited to see each other and so they pull their owners over to see their friend in class...guess what your dog just learned? Yep, pulling is the best way to get what I want! So last night we talked about the importance of not letting our dogs drag us to see people or other dogs, not only is it teaching your dog bad manners it can also be very dangerous both for you and your dog. Not every person or dog wants to have their space invaded by an over exuberant dog, be considerate of everyone's space and require your dog do the same.

  When utilizing a Life Reward there is often no need for food as a reward, just getting what they want is the reward, so use it to your advantage!

Those scary men...

I have had quite a few clients lately tell me their dogs love everyone...except men. Reactions to men can run the gamut to tail tucking and hiding behind the owner to growling and biting. Whatever the reaction the dog makes, you must know it all comes from a base of fear. There are many reasons dogs can be fearful of men. They could have a genetic history that predisposes them to fearful behavior, possibly their early socialization was void of a wide variety of men, during a critical socialization period they had a scary encounter with a man (this does not necessarily mean they were hit by a man, it could simply be a man using a deep, bellowing voice or moving in a certain way). It could be a combination of any of it. In general men are taller, gruffer, have deeper voices and more commanding presences than females. A man can be the sweetest, gentlest, teddy bear of a guy but to a dog that is fearful of men he is a big, loud, scary creature.

So what do you do with a dog that's fearful of men?

Keep the leash tight when a man approaches?
Avoid any and all contact with men?
Yell at your dog for being ridiculous?
None of the above.

The first thing you must do is realize, to your dog, the fear is real. No matter how ridiculous or unwarranted you may think it is, to your dog, it's real and that is all that matters. You can't reason with a dog, you can't discipline fear out of him; you need to respect his feelings and help him through it and support him in overcoming the fear. We can accomplish this through a very managed plan of action that involves counter conditioning (changing the emotional response to the man) and desensitization (this allows your dog to begin feeling comfortable in the proximity of a man). We start slow and with known men that your dog is hopefully comfortable with or at least a man that takes direction well! If you rush this process you only worsen the fear and if you force your dog to "deal with it" it could come back to bite you...or someone else!

Respect your dog and support him, that is what true love and companionship are about! Find a positive reinforcement trainer that can help you through the process and be committed to the plan of action.

For those men out there that are slighted by some dogs they meet, my advice to you is don't take it personally! If you are faced with a dog that is afraid of men, the best thing you can do is give that dog space, no direct eye contact, sideways body posture and if you happen to have anything yummy in your hand slowly and gently toss it to the dog (as long as the owner says it's ok) otherwise completely ignore the dog and don't make any sudden movements. You will go a long way in helping that dog succeed in overcoming his fears and his owner will be so grateful as well!

Confessions of a Dog Trainer

So, I often hear "It's nice to know trainers have to deal with the same issues we do" and I often also hear "of course your dog can do it, you're a trainer"

Well let me fill you in on a secret: many trainers have very naughty, misbehaving, issue ridden dogs! The reason for this isn't that we are "bad" trainers (although that could be the case in a few scenarios), it's often that as trainers we take on the "challenging" dogs or we have so many dogs and only so little time. In short...we are just like the average pet owner. We struggle with time management, setting priorities and goals and being guilty of lazy pet parenting!

So in the interest of full disclosure I have three dogs with many issues; some serious, some not so serious. Here they are in all their glory!

Sadie: Barking/jumping in excitement
           Difficult to settle down in social settings/over arousal
           Mild resource guarding with other dogs and occasionally people
           Needs further work on basic obedience manners

Jojen: Terrible jumper for attention
          overly motivated by food (difficult to use food to train with as he gets too wound up)
          Goes from 0-60 with not much in between (he has no real calm setting!)

Beanie: Reactive on leash walks
             Barks at EVERY SINGLE THING (real or imagined)

There are of course other little things they do that are naughty or undesirable, but these behaviors are the ones that I will work on, most everything else can be handled through management (closing bedroom doors to ward off puppy chewers, keep counters clean of food, etc.)

So the next time you look at your dog and think you are the only one with a crazy, misbehaving dog, just remember, your trainer probably does too and because of that is in a great position to empathize and help you through it!

Does your dog know "sit"?

In my classes I teach students to make sure their dogs can get into any position (sit,down,stand) from any position; in other words their dog will do a down from a stand, a sit from a down, a stand from a sit, etc. The idea is to keep their dog from developing a pattern of sit, down, stand; which can lead to lack of stimulus control.

Stimulus control is defined as your dogs ability to sit (or whatever cue you give) when you ask, not to sit when you don't ask, not to sit when you ask for something different and not to give you a different response when asked to sit. Confusing? Basically it means if you ask your dog to "sit" he won't lie down and if you ask your dog to "down" he won't sit.

If your dog has been taught to sit before a down, If you ask for a down, it's highly likely he will sit first rather than get into a down immediately. What this means is he hasn't actually learned what "down" means, he's learned the pattern and that's not the same thing. You want your dog to know each individual cue and be able to perform it regardless of what cue came first.

Try this experiment: with your dog in front of you and BEFORE he has the chance to sit, ask him for a down, using whatever verbal or hand signal you use for that command. What does he do? If he sits then you can be pretty sure he's learned the pattern and not the actual behavior. If he just stares at you...you both need more training! =)

If your dog just stares at you, you want to look at the cue itself. Is it clear and concise? Do you execute it the same every time? Does your dog sit on the third cue? If your verbal or hand signal is not clear to your dog, he's basically left guessing as to what you want him to do.

With regards to verbal signals, impatience is our biggest culprit. We say the cue "sit, Sit, SIT" before our dog has had a chance to process and think! So what happens is the cue actually becomes the word "sit" said three times in successive volume! Go back to asking for the sit once and then zip your lips and let him think. Reward him when he responds and then repeat. The more you do this, the faster his response will become until you have a dog that sits the FIRST time you ask not the third!

With hand signals, if you have loose, flowing or variable hand movements when you ask for sit (or any behavior), your dog can get very confused and both of you will get frustrated with each other! Your hand signal should be clear, precise and consistent every time. Figure out what feels more natural to you, or better yet, see which one your dog actually responds to, and use that!

Make sure to pair the verbal signal with the hand signal so your dog understands they mean the same thing. That way, either command can be used separately when necessary. An example might be, you come home with groceries in both hands and you don't want your dog jumping all over you, if your dog understands the verbal signal you can cue him to sit verbally and he will comply, leaving you able to walk in and put the groceries down unencumbered. Or imagine you had Laryngitis or oral surgery and couldn't speak. If your dog understands hand signals you can still get compliance from him even though your voice is out of commission.

So test your dog and yourself and see if your dog really does know "sit" and if not, help him learn! =)

How often do you train your dog?

This is not a judgmental question, believe me. I have always been the type of training student that worked really hard in class but rarely found time outside of class to work with my dog. Now that I have three dogs, two young children and teaching obligations, time is even more scarce!

I finally started taking my own advice and now I train my dogs all day long! I know that sounds crazy but really it works; here's how:

Waking up: They must be calm in their crate before I open the door to let them out.

Leaving the bedroom to go downstairs: They must back up from the door and let me get it open before heading through it

Going out into the yard: Again, back up from the door and go out calmly

Coming inside from the yard: They need to stand or sit calmly, after letting me know they need to come back inside (usually with a paw scratch or little bark)

Breakfast: They need to wait calmly, not jump on me or the cabinets (Jojen is working on this) while I mix up their breakfast THEN they need to sit and wait until I release them to eat (the time varies every meal and sometimes there is no wait at all)

Throughout the day: 

            1)If I am in the kitchen making lunch, they need to wait outside the kitchen calmly and not be underfoot. 

            2)Randomly throughout the day I call them to me and reward them with whatever food I may have available or some good old fashioned lovin'. 

            3)When they bark at something outside, we work on quiet.

            4)When the girls come home from school, and when my husband comes home from work, we work on calm greetings (really hard for Sadie!)

            5)When we sit down to eat dinner they need to be calm/quiet on the other side of the gate or lie calmly on their bed in the living area NO BEGGING! =)

            6)The door behavior is repeated throughout the day and into the night up until their last outing for the night.

Bedtime: They get in their crates calmly and quietly and go to sleep!

If we manage to eek out some extra time for walks, other outings or formal training session then that's great, but to me, working on their behaviors in the home is most important as that is where we spend most of our time and I want it to be enjoyable for all involved!

So if you feel like you just don't have the time to train your dog, think again, every interaction you have with your dog is a potential learning opportunity!

To bribe or not to bribe...AKA "my dog only listens when I have a treat"

    One of the greatest complaints most people have with training with food, or rewards of any kind, is that their dog will only perform when they have said treat or reward. It's a legitimate complaint because most people (and this would be the fault of their trainer) never learn how to fade the treat properly.

    When we first are teaching a dog a new behavior or trick the fastest way to achieve proficiency and solid learning is with a continuous rate of reinforcement, they get a cookie every single time they respond correctly. So when we first teach our dogs to sit, every time they sit they get reinforcement, usually with food, as it's the quickest way to create a good association between the cue and the response.

     However we then need to start requiring a little more from the dog. Perhaps we ask them to sit but only reward after a few seconds, which will help with stability in the position and not create a dog that pops his butt up immediately after sitting, this is called a Duration Schedule of reinforcement. Then when we have taught our dogs to have some duration in the position, perhaps we only reward the really fast responses, this is called Differential Reinforcement of Excellent behavior. Another way we could fade the treat is to require a certain number of behaviors to be performed before the reward is given, that is a Random Ratio or Variable Ratio.

     Another way to fade the treat is to start substituting the food reward with some other reward such as petting, a game of fetch, tug or freedom off leash. I would venture to say off leash time is just as reinforcing, if not more for some dogs, as food is. Off leash time is a very powerful reinforcer. A classic example of this is sitting at the door to go for a walk; in the beginning we ask for a sit at the door, give a food reward and then walk out the door. But as your dog progresses you can start to expect more. Ask for the sit BEFORE you even leash him, this requires him to practice his sit duration while you attach the leash, then you can ask him to wait as you open the door and when he is successful the reward is going out for a nice walk or to play fetch in the yard.

     What I see a lot of in class is this:
Owner: "Fluffy Sit"
Fluffy doesn't sit just stares blankly at owner (even though she has been thoroughly taught what sit is)
Owner "FLUFFY, SIT" (a little more loudly)
Fluffy continues to stand and stare
Owner reaches into their treat bag, pulls out a treat and says "SIT" and...Fluffy sits!!

A few things could be happening here;
1)The owner could have inadvertently taught fluffy that the cue for sit is actually reaching into her treat bag
2)The owner hasn't worked on proofing the behavior without treats yet, fading the treat
3)The dog is just being the opportunistic/intelligent creature it is and they have figured out that not responding brings out the treat! In essence Fluffy has trained her owner!

So the next time you ask your dog to sit and they refuse...walk away! See what happens then; if they follow you, ask them to sit again. If they respond give them verbal praise and petting or play a game of tug. Continuing to require "more" from your dog and refusing to resort to bribes, for behaviors you know they have been taught, will go a long way in getting better response to your cues.

The Bark is MUCH worse than the bite!

  So our little foster dog Sadie has this super fun (insert sarcasm here) bark that she gets carried away with when she is excited or alerting to some sound (or if Beanie has alerted to a sound she has to join in). It's the kind of bark that goes up your spine and if left to continue on it's incessant path has the potential to make your ears bleed!

  I have begun working on her with this using a combination of body blocking and rewarding quiet behavior. I have had the most success so far in keeping her quiet when she is on the other side of the gate from us while we are eating. At dinner time I take a tupperware dish with kibble or broken pieces of biscuit and every few seconds, if she's been quiet, i'll toss her a piece. I have been able to progress with this pretty quickly to every few minutes tossing her a piece of food and dinner time is blissfully quiet again!

  To help her regain composure when she sees something out the window, I use body blocks to remover her from the window and when she is quiet I reward her. I also give her something else to concentrate on like a rope toy or simply a handful of food tossed on the floor! Whatever keeps her quiet and occupied! This is proving a little more difficult as visual stimulus is more difficult for her and Beanie can be an instigator!

  Today when I had Little Bear's mom come pick him up I took a baggie of dog kibble out with me and while I was talking to her I would toss a small handful of kibble up onto the deck where Sadie was watching us from, as long as she was quiet. She did really well and settled down wonderfully. She's a smart little girl and will be quick to learn. She may always alarm bark but my goal is to make her easy to shut off with a simple "quiet" or "enough" command. After all It's nice to have dogs that let you know something or someone is outside!

“Good” mourning

Isn’t that title an oxymoron, also possibly offensive? Yes, I suppose it could be perceived this way but I truly believe good can come form mourning.

In recent months, myself and some close to me, have had many reasons to mourn. I have mourned for my friends and their struggles and they have mourned for me and mine as well. There are lots of things one can mourn for, the passing of youth (you bet I’m mourning that), the growing up of our children, the loss of blissful ignorance (I am dealing with this as well in my eating habits!) and the loss of someone close to us.

Currently, I am mourning the loss of a beautiful dream I have had, since bringing Jojen home, of competing in all manner of dog sports with him. There were no limits in my imagination to all we could do together. Then…puppy strangles, then…a broken wrist, then…abdominal surgery, then…constant lameness on his previously broken leg, then…a grade three luxating patella; the last two of which will require surgery. He is 11 months old and already has a good amount of arthritis in the elbow of his previously broken leg. He is scheduled to have his knee surgically repaired next week. The elbow will be next, once the coffers have been replenished. I have sadly, but with a twinge of optimism, resigned myself to the fact that agility competition is probably out of our future. I love it and he loves it but the amount of pain it could cause him is not worth it to me. There are other sports that require less physicality but still require precision training and fun and I will try to focus on those. Rally Obedience is one as is the new sport of Rally FrEe. I still plan on getting his trick dog titles and perhaps even being able to do some freestyle routines and drill team routines.

My lesson in all this rests in his little red body that harbors no resentment, no sadness and no blame. He loves life still, even limping on two legs, he takes it all in and never lets it get him down. That is where my “good” mourning comes from.

We Don’t Always Have To Like Everyone

Sometimes in life there are people that just get under your skin, push your buttons and plain old make you mad. We try our best to avoid these people, and when we can’t we try really hard to keep our cool and diffuse any tension, we avert eye contact, try to ignore their goading and bite our tongue (really hard sometimes) but often it just becomes too much and you want to yell “SHUT UP”. Well, canines are no different. They have personalities that run the gamut from goofy to serious to crabby to shy and everything in between, so suffice it to say there are dogs that know how to push other dogs buttons!

So what do you do when you have a friend that has a dog that just pushes your dog over the edge? I have two clients in just such a situation. When I observe these two puppies (that came from the same breeder, different litters, at the same time) I can see such vast differences in their personality that I am 99% sure most of it is their nature. That is not to say that positive and consistent dog training can’t make them tolerate and even learn better communication, in fact I believe it can, that is where the nurture comes in. I do think however that their interactions will likely always need to be monitored and supervised to avoid the squabbles they seem to regularly and easily get into. One is the antagonizer and the other is the reactor, however once it escalates neither one wants to be the one to back down.

So what kind of dog training would be beneficial for these pups? In my opinion the first thing they need is a great amount of self-control. They need to learn to relax and have more relaxed interactions. I have been instructing both owners to work on calming sits; basically mandatory relaxation and body handling. It helps settle and ground the puppy when they just lose their marbles. The next will be rewarding

self-interruption behaviors as well as calm interaction behaviors. The owners will also have to increase mental and physical stimulation as well! These are high energy dogs with quick triggers, this process will be slow and on-going but they are both super smart and pick things up easily, they’ll get it.

So just remember your wicked good dog doesn’t always have to like every dog and you should be understanding and willing to give him the tools he needs to deal with those pesky antagonizers, as well as help him make a clean get away when it’s needed!

It’s puppy season…Do you have what it takes??

In my years of training dogs and working in animal shelters I have heard countless (and I seriously mean countless) times the excuse of “we just don’t have the time he needs…”. It is a sad fact of life that people go about bringing a puppy into their family in a completely backwards fashion. It is usually all based on looks, bravado, fluffiness or a false sense of their own life reality. I have seen it time and time again, someone gets a high energy puppy with the thought “Oh THIS will make me get in shape” or “I want to do agility with him” (when they’ve never even stepped into a training class) Or they get a guardian breed dog and never socialize him and wonder why he growls and tries to bite strangers. Now, that is not to say that these scenarios can’t work and create some fantastic relationships and impart much wisdom and humility on people, unfortunately though that is the exception and not the rule.

The first thing (and I mean even before you start looking at dogs) you should do is write down your families schedule for one week, including impromptu visits from friends, trips to the store, library, school functions, etc. and then sit down at the end of the week and take a look at it. Is there time for a puppy in there? If someone is not home most of the day, (an 8-12 week old puppy shouldn’t be only for more than 3-4 hours max.), do you have the means to hire someone to come and exercise and let your puppy out to potty? Asking friends is great but someone you pay is often more reliable. Is your home easily set up to be puppy proofed? Gated off rooms, no small toys lying around, shoes and laundry off the floor, trash inaccessible, etc. A puppy needs plentiful and positive socialization and play time; do you have time to take your puppy in the car multiple times a day and expose him to lots of people and places and take him for walks in new neighborhoods? Are you able to supervise your puppy 100% of the time, especially during the potty training phase? Puppies need to potty at least every hour and almost immediately after they wake from a nap, play or eat/drink. Are you prepared to take your pup to proper training every week at least through his first two years of life? Yes, that’s right AT LEAST two years! One puppy class isn’t going to cut it. By the time the pup is between 6-9 months they hit adolescence and all training goes out the window, you wonder what alien has taken over your previously sweet and well behaved puppy! It happens again around 18months!

Am I making it sound like having a puppy is hard? You bet your life it is! It is constant work and supervision and mistakes and being on the ball! You have taken responsibility for another living being and that should never be taken lightly. Having a puppy in the home is like having an infant...do you have time for that? If you can answer all of my questions in the affirmative and you have done your research and talked with your family and figured out schedules and training classes and puppy proofed your home than I encourage you to go find the puppy of your dreams. Having a dog in your family is a great joy, just remember it is also a big responsibility and not something easily taken back once taken on.

One Word Wednesday…Training

Jojen is a whiz kid at this training thing! Very trusting and quick to catch on…so much fun!

First I lure him down the wall….

no lure necessary on the way back! (wondering why I'm having him walk on the wall?? Practice for the cat walk in agility, plus more socialization for walking on odd surfaces!)

Practicing our sit/look behavior…

Getting him into position using a lure to get a sit in heel position…

Look at me…

All of this training was done in a park downtown with cars driving by, kids playing in the park and his big brother looking on…very distracting! 

I think we make a good team!

(please excuse the blurriness of the photos my 6 year old took them!)

So much to do, so little time

I can't believe summer is nearly over and the kids go back to school soon! It has been quite the summer with a new puppy in the house, not to mention construction going on and teaching classes! The biggest thing to make this summer a bit more stressful rather than relaxing was the medical state of Jojen! poor baby has had a rough go of it this summer. Within the first week or two of getting him home he came down with "puppy strangles" or Juvenile Cellulitis, luckily he had a very mild case. However the treatment of prednisone and antibiotics left the task of potty training a disaster! I was on constant potty watch and still missed it many, many times! I will say to Jo's credit, not once has he pooped in the house! (Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself). It was exhausting; for both of us. The meds made him a bit edgier, bloated and left him peeing like a dripping faucet…constantly! We managed to make it through and he healed very well. He remained a happy, sweet puppy throughout and his socialization continued albeit a bit stunted due to his lowered immune system. He wasn't able to attend many of his puppy classes, which I was very sad about. About 4-5 days after finishing his meds and getting back to his old self, he got stepped on by Beanie and the result was a fractured wrist extremely close to the growth plate! So infuriating and terrifying! He had a very large and cumbersome cast on, that of course couldn't get wet or dirty…no easy task! We made it two weeks with cleverly constructed ziplock bags to take him out for potting (which thankfully became more regular off the prednisone) then he got a fancy cover for his cast and we worried about it no longer! He was impossible to keep calm! Once he mastered moving around with the cast on, it was like it wasn't even there! His spirit is 10 times the size of his body and he was just happy with life in general! He healed quickly, was in the cast for 4 weeks (all of july) and has been cast free for about a week and a half. His limp has lessened significantly and his muscles are strengthening. He's back to bounding up and down the stairs to go out to potty, chasing the cats (although he never really stopped doing that), bouncing up and down to lick beanie's jowls (all was forgiven!) and run little puppy track races around the backyard! He is joy personified in a little red body! The next hurdle he may face is surgery to correct the result of the fracture being so close to the growth plate. It is causing his foot to turn out as the Ulna grows. I am dreading that whole process!

I am happy to report however, that save for playing with a myriad of other puppies or dogs, his socialization has been right on track! He's definitely seen countless vets, and even when he was in pain he had nothing but tail wags and puppy kisses for them, lots of kids and grown ups, ridden in shopping carts and a stroller, heard crazy construction noises both at home and during his many trips to Home Depot. He's sat in his crate in a field while I taught classes, he's peed on bark mulch, grass, dirt and rocks, he has met big and little dogs and even been to the beach (although he was still casted and didn't get to play in the sand). As far as his training he is so fun and super quick! He has great leash manners, can sit at heel position or front, lie down, spin in both directions, pretty good with leave it, waits until released for food bowl, has excellent attention and the cutest recall ever!! I am excited that now he is through all his trials he and I can attend an actual class! We will start our AKC Puppy S.T.A.R class on the 21st, he will be able to earn his certificate and little medal! Beanie earned his and I so wanted to get one for Jojen too!

Because I have hopes of doing dog sports with Jo, I've been a little overwhelmed on what to teach him that will give us a leg up. I have determined that heeling is the most universal and important behavior as well as being able to calmly sit in a crate amid great distractions. The rest will come with time and careful, fun introductions!

I'll try to keep our progress updated, but life moves pretty fast with Jo and I just have to hang on and enjoy!

"whoa, you're big!"

At the Emergency vet

No more cast! Hanging at the pool while his girls swim!