Would your dog behave better if there was less STUFF?
A lot of dogs behave better when they have STUFF taken away. It sounds silly when you put it this way, but sometimes the hardcore, science-heavy behavior lingo makes me feel nerdy.
The Facts: Removing sensory stimuli can create better behavior in dogs. In training a desensitized version of a situation is a critical step in conditioning and/or reconditioning perceptions and responses. Exposing a dog to gradual increments of the full picture allows the trainer to counter-condition the stimulus and change behavior.
The Question: How do you make certain stimuli (situations, pictures, events) less of what they are? Distance is a wonderful variable to manipulate, as it is movement and duration of exposure. These are the typical categories that are manipulated to create tolerable situations for the dog being trained.
The Complications: Some experiences and some individuals just can't cope with "stuff" no matter how far away it is or how slowly it moves. In fact whole new problems can be created for dogs who behave badly when things are far away or move oddly (too slow, too fast, to wobbly) etc..
The Solution: For these dogs, a hood placed over the head is often remarkably helpful. I liken the use of a Calming Cap on dogs to blinders on horses. It doesn't entirely blind the animal, but it takes some of the overwhelming stimulous out of the picture.
Personal Testimony & Practical Uses: I have used these caps on dogs who ride badly in cars. Not dogs who get sick, or are fearful of car rides, but dogs that just can't seem to hold it together during the ride. Border Collies, Kelpies and other herding dogs are at the top of the list for this.
I also have used it for dogs who have never been on leash before, or were severely under-socialized and seem utterly overwhelmed when trying to soak in everything on walks. Dogs really do use their nose like we use our eyes, so even with reduced eye-sight, they are getting tons of information about where they are and what is going on around them.
Final Thought... It does look a little funny. I recommend decorating the fabric :)
A well adjusted puppy is enthusiastic about playing.
They are young, rambunctious and sometimes over-eager to engage other dogs in play. While it is not wrong to ask another dog to play, trouble can arise when they don't notice that the other dog is not interested in playing.
Young, playful pups are often too young to have learned how to read the intention-signals of other dogs, they sometimes get corrected.
Corrections from an older dog can be a learning experience, but owners need to protect their pups from getting harsh corrections. To minimize the risk to your pup make sure that they have LOTS and lots of playtime with puppies their own age.
Puppy classes are a great place to have your pup play with other puppies.
A good puppy class will be filled with ONLY other puppies of a similar age. Puppy play-time will cushion your pup's bank of experiences. Puppy-to-puppy play will likely be appropriate and fun and pad your pup from associating play with bad things (older, un-playful dogs). Lots of puppy-play will help your puppy associate an eventual correction with their actions or the other dog's body language.
When playing with older dogs, a correction is likely.
The older dog should have EXCELLENT play-skills and give LOTS of warnings to the puppy. When the older dog has finally had it and corrects the pup it should be a fast and timely correction. The puppy will likely yelp and it will be over. The older dog should not pin the puppy or keep fighting. There should be NO harm and the pup should shake it off quickly and be back to his/her bouncy self.
A PUPPIES ERROR IN JUDGEMENT
Meet the dogs...
The FOCUSED, OLDER DOG is played by K-9 ANGUS, FEMA Certified Search & Rescue Dog, CA Task Force 3
see videos of Angus @ work -CLICK HERE
The PLAYFUL & OVERENTHUSIASTIC PUPPY is played by JUPITER, 4 month old, male beagle
Opening Act: A polite invitation to play.
Act -II: Stop ignoring me. Don't you want to play?
Act -III: You can't resist me; I'm right here!
Act -IV: Knock it off pup!
Act V: Pleeeese, play with me.
Final Act: Too-bad, puppy; I warned you.
Second Show: Hey, who are you?
Unless you plan on competing with your dog in obedience training, you do NOT need a formal HEEL.
HEEL -A position in obedience training where the dog holds his/her position at the left leg on the handler with the dogs nose roughly at the same plane as the handlers outside pant seam. This position is maintained by the dog regardless of if or how the handler moves (forward, backward, turning, stopping).
I am amazed by the number of clients who seem to feel that they MUST forcefully hold their dog on a tight, short leash while walking. This is NOT needed.
If fact, it tends to cause problems for the handler and the dog. A tight leash can actually cause a dog to behave aggressively.
It is always better to walk a dog on a loose leash. Training the dog to keep the leash loose is the first and most important step towards enjoying a walk with your dog.
TEACHING LOOSE-LEASH WALKING -kindergarden level
1. Choose a collar or harness that does not pull on a dog's neck or back.
Most flat-collars are good for keeping tags on your dog, but they are not good for walking dogs on leash.
Pinch and Prong-collars are designed to hurt the dog for making mistakes (pulling), but hurting the dog can have serious side-effects such as increased aggression. There are many reasons that these collars should never be used, but the best reason is that you can accomplish the same goal faster and more effectively without them.
Back-clipping harnesses are a great way to reduce pressure on a dogs neck and throat, but they help a dog pull and are useless for teaching a dog to walk nicely on leash.
****There are two great options for helping your dog walk nicely (no pulling on leash). Front-clipping harnesses are becoming very popular and dogs tend to adjust to them quickly. These are fantastic walking harnesses and they do not hurt the dog. Another option is to use a head-collar.
For more on these devices, CLICK HERE.
2. Set time aside for training.
Hold your dog's leash in your right hand. If your dog is on your left this will mean that the leash crosses in front of your body -this is OK.
Hold some tasty treats in your left hand near your dogs nose.
Keep your dog interested in the treats, but do not let your dog eat them.
If your dog jumps for the treats or tries to nibble your hand. Pull your hand away and put it behind your back.
If your dog has all 4 paws on the ground and is walking nicely next to you, PRAISE your dog THEN give them one of the treats from your hand.
Is leash aggression the owners fault?
When dogs fight with other dogs on leash is the owners lack of confidence the problem?
Hardly! Owners can and should NOT be blamed for being nervous when handling their leash-reactive dogs.
It goes without saying that if you have seen your dog bark, lunge, or snap at another dog when on leash that you will anticipate more bad behavior. The anticipated unpleasantness makes most people nervous.
Still, my clients are often astonished that the dogs behave better when I am handling the leash.
When I am called to consult with a client whose dog routinely behaves badly on leash towards other dogs, a common question is: Have they (the owners) been transmitting their fears down the leash to their dogs? From this my clients often surmise that it must be my calm, confident demeanor that gives me the edge when handling feisty dogs. I would argue otherwise for several reasons.
Reason #1 When meeting new clients and handling a new dog for the first time I am absolutely NOT CALM.
I am always nervous when meeting new clients and handling new dogs. I might hide my fears and doubts well from my clients, but I am sure that if you were to put me to the test you would find that my heart rate is elevated, my mouth is dry and I my hands are sweaty.
Reason #2 It is more scientific to rule out other, simpler explanations first.
The answer to how well a dog can detect and to what degree they react to fear has not been sufficiently studied. however, the mechanism responsible for self-preservation called Fight or Flight is very well understood and is the key to helping many of my clients navigate on-leash encounters between their dogs and other dogs.
Reason #3 I have a very good success rate with teaching my clients new skills that improve the situation despite their nervousness at trying something new and their fears that they won't do well and/or that their dog is beyond help.
Imagine if you were taking tennis lessons and your instructor simply coached you by saying, "You need to swing with more power and accuracy." While this may be true, it won't help you KNOW HOW TO DO THESE THINGS!
A good instructor/coach/teacher is always able to break things down into specific tasks that a student can practice in order to obtain better results in overall performance. Telling someone that they are doing poorly or that they need to be, or do things better is NOT an educational technique.
My personal results with the aforementioned bad-coaching technique was a frustration-induced, "more powerful" but drastically, LESS accurate swing.
So what is the CONNECTION between the LEASH & AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR?
All animals have an innate protective response. When you are afraid (really, really afraid) your The is commonly referred to as the Fight or Flight Response.
Reactions include:
FREEZE -victims that we would describe as shocked, stunned, catatonic (this may precede other actions).
FLIGHT -a way of creating distance between you and a real or perceived threat.
FIGHT -another way of creating distance (turn the tables and get the scary thing to back off or run away).
The trick is to KEEP THE LEASH REALLY LOOSE & to KEEP MOVING FORWARD at a quickened pace so that your dog does not feel stuck or trapped. This is hard to do when you own body is anticipating a bad encounter, so my clients with badly behaved dogs all tend to slow down and hold their dogs back. This is a recipe for disaster. The slow pace and tension causes the dog to lunge forward aggressively.
Keeping the leash loose is easier said then done when there is a history of things going badly, so here are some hints. Carry your dogs favorite toy or better yet, walk your dog when she is hungry and hold some cheese or some yummy meat in front of her nose as you pass by dogs. Using your best goofy voice and moving quickly helps too. Also, be sure not to punish or correct (jerk the leash) your dog for relapses.
Remember you can't punish away fear!
So fix the fear, and the barking and lunging will disappear.
This is an email question from a DogTime Blog reader. It is about a Labrador named Lucy who suddenly became aggressive to her owner during training classes.
The owner stated that Lucy does well with heel, sit & down stay, leave-it unless there is a distraction such as a ball. "Lucy... ignores the other toy distractions and only fixates on the balls. Naturally, she struggles with maintaining her focus on me and my commands during this exercise, but we do have moments of success. She will leave it, but still maintains a fixated focus and trembles with excitement."
But Trouble is brewing...
In the email Lucy's owner reported: "This week in training Lucy was so agitated during this exercise that she snapped at me 3 times when I corrected her and snapped at other dogs in class. It is like the training, though having some positive affect, is actually bringing out the worse in my dog."
Lucy's owner is alarmed because, "In her two years, Lucy has never, ever snapped at anyone or any other dog during play or on walks. I have expressed this concern with the trainer, and her feeling is that this behavior was just in there waiting to come out. I am just not sure about that explanation and thought I would share my story with someone else."
I asked Marianne to share more with me about how she is teaching Lucy to LEAVE-IT.
Marianne reported: "We are using a standard slip chain choke collar. I snap and release the collar to correct. On the snap, I say "uh uh" (hard to spell that!), then give the command. For example, to have her ignore a ball or toy, I tell her to "leave it. If she goes for it, I snap and release the collar, say "uh, uh" and repeat "leave it".
"When she reacts correctly, I give verbal praise in a softer, higher tone of voice, such as "good leave it" or "good heel". Frequently, during our training, I stroke her and give her positive verbal feedback...no treats until the end of class."
There are several problems with the way that Marianne is being instructed to teach her dog. I will summarize my concerns and the errors in the training below.
However, I want to be VERY CLEAR about TWO THINGS.
1. Marianne did nothing wrong. She enrolled her dog training class with someone whom she was told was an expert. Dog training is still an unregulated field. Many of us, myself included are looking forward to the day when all trainers will need to be certified and/or licensed. As it is now, anyone can call themselves a trainer. There are a few Certifications Programs in the U.S.
2. The following is NOT MY OPINION. Training is a SCIENCE. This means that there are rules. While I have my own personal standards for "humane training" I am not at this moment referring to HOW you get the job done. I am instead referring to HOW ANIMALS LEARN. A good trainer should have a solid basis in understanding Operant & Classical Conditioning regardless of whether they give out cookies, collar corrections, or both. Without these fundamentals skills they are not prepared to train a dog. Would you go to a doctor that you overheard saying: "Veins, Arteries, whatever; they both do blood stuff!" I didn't think so.
So What Is Going On With Lucy? Is she turning aggressive?
For starters, Lucy's aggression was a trained response. It was unintentional, but it was taught. Specifically Lucy was taught to HATE seeing Tennis balls in class. Lucy was being asked to perform a task that she could not do, and because she was not given any guidance on the correct response (look away from the ball) her training looked like this.
Tennis Balls Appear In Class -------> Lucy is subjected to a barrage of jerks, snaps and chokes.
Punishment is a crude tool and has the potential for causing aggression. In this case, Lucy began to associate the tennis ball distraction with pain. All animals like to avoid pain and at some point will either choose to fight back or flee. As Lucy was on-leash fleeing was not an option.
An even more astonishing is that Lucy was never shown WHAT TO DO. When I want a dog to perform a Leave-it, I like to focus on what that looks like when the dogs gets it right (look away, sit, look at handler). There are countless ways to get something wrong, and generally only a few correct responses. Focussing on the correct response is not just nicer for the dog, but gives faster and eliminates the side-effects (ruined relationship, fearful dog, aggression) of aversive punishments.
What I would have done to train Lucy.
Bounce a Distraction-ball until Lucy notices the ball.
Have Lucy's owner give the Command (say, "Leave-it") the moment Lucy notices the distraction-ball.
Stop bouncing the Distraction-ball (kindergarten level) & Give Lucy a moment to respond on her own, by looking away.
Help Lucy get it right a few times (look away from the ball) by having the handler produce a Hint (squeaky tennis ball).
Praise Lucy at the exact moment that she looks away from the original distraction-ball (even if she is just listening to the hint).
Reward Lucy with something she really, really wanted A BALL!
Repeat this until Lucy looks away from the original Distraction-ball on her own BEFORE the Hint & reward Lucy with both balls and end the lesson. Review later and continue to raise the expectations until the hint is no longer needed and the reward is expected to be random.
