3. I will not punish my dog for behaviors that stem from fear.

I will not punish my dog for barking IF/WHEN my dog is barking because of he/she is afraid or frustrated.  I may have to do some investigating to determine if my dog is afraid or barking to demand something.

I will try and remember that aggression stems from fear.  This means that when my dog is behaving aggressively (barking, growling, lunging) the cause was something that upset/scared my dog.

I will NOT make my dog's fear worse by punishing behaviors that my dog is not in control of (flight/flight is a reflex).

I will consider that my dog is frustrated, upset or fearful and needs Classical Conditioning.

I will give my dog only one definition per word.  I will consider that my dog might not be stubborn or stupid, but that she might NOT KNOW what I want.

I will take the time to deliberately teach my dog a new word when the situation calls for it.   I will also help my dog with hand-signals if needed.  I will be patient with my dogs, because while they are good at listening, dogs are limited in their language abilities.  

I will accept that my dog may know the word "DOWN" as a position (one that calls for the legs and belly/side to make contact with the floor).  I will try not to get mad at my dog for not really understanding all of the meanings this word.  If my dog is lying on the couch and I yell at her to "GET DOWN" I will understand that she might just lay there and wag thinking the whole time: "I AM, NOW WHERE IS MY REWARD."

I will remember that my dog is "LISTENING" to both my body language and my words -most dogs are better at reading body language that we realize.  I will try to remember, when my dog fails to respond, or responds incorrectly to my commands that she may have been missing a piece of the puzzle, or that I may have failed to see that she never really knew the word at all, but was "cheating" by reading my body language all along.

Take Home Message:  If your dog isn't doing what you want, maybe they really don't understand your words!  Consider that your dog may be guessing what you want an awful lot of the time, and that your dog might be a very, very good mind reader.  So good that they have you fooled into thinking they understand everything... except when they are being bad.  For more on fool-proof commanding read this.

This question came as a comment from the following post.

DECEMBER 27, 2008, 8:57 AM

My rescue dog is a large German Shepherd surrendered to a shelter by her owner in California. She is a good dog and smart but has never been trained. She had a computer name only so does not know her new name. I want her to come when I call her. She has never had treats. She takes them then drops them. I take her and my other rescue dog on walks on a leash but can not trust either to come back if they were loose. Any ideas. Thanks.

For your rescue GS I would recommend the following:

Dogs don't have an agenda.  There is no such thing as a "bad dog."  

There are dogs who bite, but it's not their fault that they have big teeth and jaws.  Nor is it their fault that we like that about them and decided to let them live intimately with us.  Furthermore, all dogs can and will eventually bite if hurt badly enough, scared badly enough, or threatened.  

Generally when people say they have a "bad dog," what they mean to say is that they have an untrained dog.  Just keep in mind that untrained, under-motivated, or under-exercised does not mean BAD!

Often when I meet clients and their dogs for the first time I am more concerned with putting everyone at ease.  And sometimes when I'm out and about I avoid telling people I am a trainer.  Such a stigma comes with my profession...people immediately get weird with their dogs, get embarrassed by them being dogs, or worse, start "showing off" how strict they can be.  I loathe strict when its obvious the dog has NO CLUE what the person wants.  

I happen to love a clever, rascally dog.  There is nothing as cute to me a dog being naughty.  

This doesn't mean I approve of dogs who bite, or bark, or steal toys, etc. But you have to admit, I'd be a really poor trainer if naughty behavior made me lose my mind instead of bringing a smile to my face.  

If you can't appreciate it, you won't want to look at it.  If you can't look at it, in detail, you won't ever know it well enough to change it.

Love your DOG!

Honor their doginess.

Appreciate them for what they are.

Happy Holidays!

THEY LOVE OTHERS DOGS...  Why do they show it like this?

* What makes a dog behave badly on-leash?

* Is your dog trying to embarrass you?

* Is there anything you can do to change your dog's behavior?

Leash Reactivity is a common problem for dog owners/guardians.  True leash reactivity is defined by aggressive looking displays that are only seen when a dog's mobility is restricted by a leash.  

A similar problem called Barrier Frustration occurs whenever a dog is repeatedly allowed to see or hear something that it is never allowed to interact with.  This consistent exposure and repeated frustration eventually causes aggression.  In mild cases the aggression ceases if the barrier is removed.  In sever cases the aggression becomes so entrenched that even when the barrier is removed the animal will remain aggressive.  Most cases of barrier frustration involve aggressive displays towards people or dogs seen through fences or windows.

The last and final cause is a Classically Conditioned Response.  In other words the dog is taught to be aggressive.  I'm not suggesting this is done intentionally, but rather the opposite.  Classical Conditioning is a type of learning.  When an animal is Conditioned Classically (also called Pavlovian Conditioning) the animal is taught a relationship between two things, places, or events.  The relationship is INDEPENDENT OF THE ANIMALS BEHAVIOR, THOUGHTS, or ACTIONS.  

A typical case-evaluation for Classically Conditioned Leash Aggression looks like this.

1. The puppy is separated from its litter-mates and brought into its new home.

2. The puppy is unnecessarily kept away from all other dogs and puppies until all puppy shots have been given.  Incidentally most puppy shots are not complete until the pups are about 3-4 months of age.  By this age the pup is already through all of its Socialization Period and too old to acclimate to new people, places, and experiences quickly and easily.

3. The puppy is then allowed to interact with other dogs for the first time in about 2-months.  At the same time many puppies are unfortunately introduced to their first training collar.  In an ideal world an anti-pull harness would be worn and used by the puppy form the moment it first enters its new home.  Sadly many people are still using choke and pinch collars on young pups.

4. The puppy (on-leash) encounters its first dog.  In excitement the puppy pulls forward and the collar tightens.  The puppy pulls forward again and barks.  The handler, not knowing better and wishing to teach their dog good manners, jerks the leash back and "corrects" the puppy for the inappropriate barking.  At this moment the puppy DOES NOT LEARN:  barking is bad.  Neither does the puppy learn that barking is wrong.  Instead what the puppy learns is that everything is fine, UNTIL THERE APPEARS A DOG and then bad things happen.

**Imagine that you were in a dark parking garage and someone came up behind you and grabbed you.  You scream and so they stab you.  Would your first response be, "Oh, I probably would have been OK if I didn't scream."  No you would scream because it is your natural, human response to fear.  Barking is a dog's natural response to frustration or fear.  It makes no more sense to your dog that the leash correction is barking than it would make to you that screaming when grabbed from behind is the cause of imminent pain.

To further cement this relationship of events (Dogs + Leash = Yucky) the dog then gets to play off-leash with puppies in class or at the park or daycare.  When NOT ON A LEASH the puppy pulls towards a new dog and is immediately given access to the dog.  No pain, no choking, no problems.  The dog draws the obvious conclusion (Dogs + NO LEASH = Everything is Fine!)