tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37425758662650311672024-02-18T21:52:59.289-08:00Blogs With BitePosts about dogs and humans -
told with Bite and Unmuzzled
silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-12696596450972696822014-10-16T09:34:00.000-07:002014-10-16T09:34:04.054-07:00Beyond Sit: Useful Cues and Verbal Control<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A harmonious relationship relies on each party both comprehending
the other, and being able to relay information in a way that is comprehendible
by the other. We must speak the same language. We all know that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humans and
dogs inherently don’t speak the same language. There is no natural common
ground communication, which means we have to build it. We must become
bilingual. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our dogs are already somewhat better at that than we are. Although they only
speak doggish, they are interested in us and understand our body signals, and they
are capable to learn the meaning of words we speak. In contrast, dogs’
communication signals, other than a few overt ones, are a mystery to most
people. Which means we have to make a conscious effort to learn to read dog - but we shouldn’t speak it, because it is a half-ass attempt at best. We really are lousy
in getting it right. Instead, we ought to teach our dogs to understand the
language native to our species, and I prefer verbal signaling to non-verbal
cues. Why? Aside from the fact that my body awareness is less than stellar,
which means I can be much more precise with words, hand and body signals only
work if the dog is looking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unless there is a physiological reason, all dogs can learn
the meaning of words, but not all have equal aptitude. The more visually
inclined, like our not so new anymore Border collie Bowie, are innately more
aware of movements and learn to distinguish body signals more easily. From the
very start, Bowie closely watched me to make sense of his world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, with a little intentional
effort - putting a precise word right in front of a distinct hand-signal with
the goal to ditch the latter at one point - he has now a nice repertoire of cues
under verbal control. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Wait</i> = don’t move <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Come, lie down, sit, kitty, deer, squirrel, ball, disc, stick,
car</i> – although the verbal cue to get in the car may be the sound of the doors unlocking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie has name recognition and <i>Bowie</i> is a no-fail
attention getter, but he also still responds to his previous name, <i>Billie</i>.
Bowie’s ear tips often cutely bob when he walks, and his nickname is
Billiebobedybobbobbowie, and his head pops around the moment he hears <i>Billie</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Easy</i> = slow your movement while you approach something, but
that cue is actually changing right now into <i>Walk Up</i>, and we’re almost there<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Keep Going</i> = keep on moving forward <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Get It</i> = release cue to go after something that moves<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Leave It</i> = shift your focus and walk away<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Head Off</i> = avert your head/quit staring at something/someone<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Over</i> = move to the side<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Cross</i> = the road in a straight line<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Move</i> = over on the couch/bed or out of the way<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Back Up</i> = create distance to me – not the same as <i>Beep-Beep</i> back up that happens in a straight line back. With <i>Back Up</i>,
Bowie turns around to walk away, then halts, and focuses on me again<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>With Me</i> = walk right beside me holding eye contact<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Drop It</i> = drop what's in your mouth in front of me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Give</i> = release into my hand<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Go Pee</i> = self-explanatory, ditto <i>Stop Licking Your Butt</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Yes</i> = reward marker. Interestingly, <i>Good Boy</i>, which and
unlike <i>Yes</i> is not always followed with tangible reward, only elicits a happy
tail wag when Bowie is watching me, which indicates that he relies on my happy
facial expressions to feel happy too vs. <i>Yes</i> where the anticipation of the
reward makes him happy. My observational input to Dr. Patricia McConnell recent
<a href="http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/click-and-always-treat-or-not" target="_blank">article</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Hey-hey</i> = interrupter. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All of the above do not rely on a hand or body signal any
longer. I am sure of it because often when I am using any of these, Bowie is
looking elsewhere, sometimes has his back turned to me. That is not to say that
I am not giving non-verbal cues, just that he is not seeing them and hence
responds to the spoken word. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not talking with your body is more difficult than you may
think. Inadvertently, you might be giving facial, body and hand messages you
are unaware of until you pay conscious attention to it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some cues, because of
the context in which we use them, will always have a non-verbal component.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Drop It</i> and <i>Give</i> are under verbal control, and for a while I
believed that <i>Hand</i> = bringing his disc to my hand instead of dropping it in
front of me, also was, but of course I am reaching my hand out to receive it. Likewise
with <i>Gentle</i>, Bowie’s soft mouth reminder, and <i>Touch</i> – the hand target game. Is
it the word or hand that prompts him to respond? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Stay</i> = you’re not coming with us and have to stay in the house/car,
and <i>Let's</i> <i>Go </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> = you are coming and we are going to move in the same direction
together, also automatically involve my body.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our new cue <i>Do It</i>, based on Claudia Fugazza’s work on <a href="http://doyoubelieveindog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/do-as-i-do-copy-cat-social-imitation-in.html#.VD58v95ChhA" target="_blank">social learning</a>, is under verbal cue, but prior to it Bowie is watching my body demonstrate
something. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And then we have a few that are in various stages of being
under sole verbal cue: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Front</i> = sit in front of me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Around</i> = get into heel position from an in front of me sit,
and <i>Spin</i> = turn around your own body<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Stand</i> = self-explanatory<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Platz</i> = sit on the mat/towel <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Rechts</i> and <i>Links</i> (right and left directional cues) still
require my pointing or leaning in the corresponding direction, but <i>Rechts</i> is a
lot better than <i>Links</i>, and we’ve had a few times when I could direct Bowie with
a verbal <i>Rechts</i> to take a certain path on an off leash hike. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Pass Auf</i>, which I use to remind Bowie to watch what I
demonstrate, is mostly under verbal cue but, like <i>Rechts</i>, not always. Same with
<i>Clean Up</i> = gather up your toys and put them in your basket. With the ones we’re
almost there, I wait for a few seconds after the word to see if he comes up
with the correct behavior, and only help if I need to. Sometimes repeating the
verbal cue works as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>All Done</i>, Bowie’s information that no more reinforcements,
including attention and interaction, are coming from me for the time being,
needs the hand signal, and its related cue <i>In Five</i>, also does.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Momma, Daddy, Will</i> all need pointing, and so does <i>Jump</i> =
over something and <i>Up</i> = onto something. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jotting down all the things Bowie knows made me realize
how much he’s learned in the last 7 months. To boot, to the best of my
knowledge the language he heard prior to coming to Nova Scotia was French, not
English. I know, I am bragging, but I don’t mean to. Honestly! When I set out
to write this post I actually wanted to share something I read about before and
now noticed with Bowie, but as the fingers hit the keyboard the post took a
life of its own. Perhaps because lately I’ve been brooding off and on if I
deserve a Border collie, or if I am wasting talent since I am not into dog
sports, tricks and traditional obedience, and my search for a place nearer to
us for more herding lessons or Rally O’ classes has been futile.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, what I originally wanted to share was that with
Bowie the sound of a word seems to matter. For example, when I taught the
behavior wait, I tested <i>Stop, Halt, Stay</i> and <i>Wait</i>. <i>Wait</i> got me an ear twitch
right away, with the other three there was no response, so we used <i>Wait</i> even
though Will’s cue for the same behavior is <i>Stay</i>. In that fashion, I fooled
around with a few words for every behavior, hence the apparent erratic mix of
English and German words that isn’t erratic at all, but consistently planned. I
feel though that we didn’t get all of it right, indicated by the fact that some
behaviors still rely on non-verbal help even though we rehearsed them just like
the others. I’m not loosing sleep over it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is the take-away message? Don’t worry if your dog learns
some things better than others. We are all individuals. But don’t give up
either. It is important, for day-to-day life, that you establish common ground
communication that allows you to give your dog information when he needs it.
If you’re stuck, maybe it’s the word itself that is the hurdle. You don’t have
to use the words commonly used, or the ones your trainer tells you to. Play
around with other ones. Have fun. Watch your dog to find out which one he has
an ear for, and then use that, and be careful not to botch it, turning it into
a poisoned cue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-86005934628441251402014-09-10T12:31:00.002-07:002014-09-10T12:31:35.209-07:00The Honeymoon Is Over<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In relation to dogs, the honeymoon period is the behavior
the dog exhibits in the first few weeks in a new home. The common notion is, as
the word honeymoon implies, that behavior is better during that time than after
the pooch has completely settled in. That, indeed, can be the case, and there are a
number of explanations why. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A cautious dog, thrust in a new situation, may appear calm and well behaved, but in reality just doesn't want to draw attention to himself. With time and the new becoming familiar, confidence to act increases, and behaviors previously hidden pop up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes behavior changes because the social dynamics in the new home doesn't work for the dog. He might be u</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">nder- or overstimulated, or there could be an incompatible other dog,
or inconsistent handling, pressure and expectations that are too high. All of it can lead to unwanted expressions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, not everyone in rescue is knowledgeable or kind. Some
apply prong or shock collar punishments to quash any action
they don't want to see. The problem with that is that the unwanted
expressions disappear, but the dog’s emotional response that prompted the expressions does not. In other words, the subdued dog presents nice enough, and might lay low for a couple
of weeks in the new home, but unless his people are equal effective
punishers, they resurface, typically taking the owners by surprise. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By nature cautious and sensitive dogs tend to lay low until they have more information. Bolder ones are just as unsure when forced to live in a new social setting, but it can play out differently: They can be more aroused and act out, or overreact. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With them, behavior
can actually be better after the honeymoon period. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve had Bowie, a 3-year-old Border collie, for about 6
months now. From the start, he wasn’t tentative or passive, but vigorous,
and purposeful, and unafraid to act. He was also, right from
the start and still is, polite with people and very eager to please. The
perfect combination: Bowie was about as move-in-ready as a dog could possibly
be. But that doesn’t mean that there weren’t behaviors I wanted modified. And they have. Such, I am glad our honeymoon is over. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of our must-have requirements was that he’d like our old dog Will, and in the beginning that wasn’t so clear. Will was
fond of him right away, but he perceived her more as a resource competitor than
companion. He tried to block her from getting close to me or on the bed, tried
to stare her away from her food bowl, even nose punched her when she came to
have her walking harness put on. Yet, Will was not deterred from doing what she wanted to do and did not avoid him, and that’s why we decided to adopt Bowie anyway and work with it. How,
I explained <a href="http://silvia4dogs.blogspot.ca/2014/04/adding-second-dog-first-few-weeks.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, Will and Bowie are nicely bonded. I feel that she still
likes him more than the other way around, but who could blame him: He is a
handsome Quebecois and ten years younger. It doesn’t matter, though. Will’s supported merely
by Bowie’s presence, and even though I think he could do fine without her,
there is relaxed acceptance and space politeness, no more resource
possessiveness and even the odd sweet gesture. Will doesn’t insist on too many
things, but when she does, for example who gets first access to the water bowl
after the walk, he defers. Each time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other than one child who tied his shoes waiting for the school bus, Bowie ignored other people from the beginning, but dogs were more of a concern for him. He was great on the off-leash trails, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but growled when he spotted one,
hackles up, in every other context. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The growling was under his breath, barely audible, but I
heard it, and felt the vibration through the leash.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Time alone, and mindful of Bowie’s comfort level exposure to
dogs and humans, was enough to change that. As he became more experienced with
us and secure in his new environment, anxiety dropped and confidence rose, and
now he is indifferent to people no matter what age and what activity they are
engaged in. All but street musicians I should say. They still scare him, but he
doesn’t growl. He passes as fast he can in a wide arc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, Bowie ignores most dogs as he does humans, surprisingly even my
friend’s dog who visited and barked at him. When
one is in close proximity, he greets appropriately whether on or off the leash, however, if
one rudely infracts his space he is quick to assert himself, measured and clear, not aggressive. But most dogs don't. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our herding instructor pointed out that Bowie is powerful and self-assured, a dog who is able to control subtly from a distance and doesn’t need to push his weight around to make a point. And doesn’t with
dogs, typically, anymore.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie’s initial insecurity was also the
reason why he didn’t budge one night when he flopped himself on my legs. We
don’t mind our dogs on the bed, but I am protective of my sleep and Bowie horizontally on me was rather uncomfortable. He wasn’t aggressive at all when I tried to reposition
him, just total dead weight. Now, I can whisper <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">move </i>and he does. Proof that his reluctance wasn’t dominance, but a
neediness to be as close as possible, and an insecurity where I might,
physically, move him to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the first couple of weeks, Bowie counter-surfed, a couple
of times successfully scoring food. Hungry dogs will look for food where they
know they have a chance to find it, where it smells like food, where they know
it is prepared. That has completely stopped after a few interrupting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hey-hey</i>s combined with not leaving food
on the counter, but providing surplus away from it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie’s strong interest in squirrels, wildlife in general, has
diminished quite a bit, and I believe that is because we work with the disc and
his ball each day, and not just once, which means I revised my original plan to
have ball/disc free days to prevent compulsion. Dr. Karen Overall's criteria for a canine obsessive-compulsive disorder diagnosis includes that the dog can’t be called away
from the behavior, and Bowie can. He also doesn’t pester me all day even though
a ball is part of the toy box, and he enjoys other activities as well. But
disc is definitely what floats his boat the most, and by providing it as a
structured outlet I meet his needs more than wildlife does. Plus it allows me
to built in obedience, which satisfies his mental needs as well, and leaves him
content and tired after about 15 minutes work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a result of us spending a lot of quality time together
outdoors, he stays much closer now when off the leash, generally, but even when
he explores he always knows where I am. He doesn’t need to be right by my side,
looking into my eyes, to pay attention and defer to my requests. For the
most part, the come command has become redundant: I move, and Bowie coordinates
his movements to mine, including when he is ahead and out of sight. I absolutely
love that in a dog, had it with Davie and have it with Will, and it is nothing
I particularly trained for. It just happens as the relationship strengthens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It took about 4 months before we felt that the bond was
deepening and Bowie fully trusting us. Before, whenever there was a sudden sound
outside, whether loud or grumbling, he would retreat to the office or hide
under a piece of furniture. We’d follow and sit with him for a bit,
reassuringly, but then leave, and eventually he’d join us again. He never barked,
whined or destroyed anything, just hid and shut down. It was the middle of July
when we had another thunderstorm and Bowie, for the first time, stayed on the bed
snuggled against Mike. He was still scared but was seeking safety with us, not
away from us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie has learned to trust us, and goes with us everywhere
confidently. He is still deferent and biddable, and very polite with his
humans. He is keen to learn and picks up new things so fast that it amazes me
each time. His command vocabulary is extensive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The one thing that is still a
work in progress is loose leash walking. The catch is that I don’t want to put
too much pressure on walking properly on a leash cause if I’m a nag at the loop
end, guess who won’t want to be with me whenever the leash is involved. Not my
goal. I don’t want the leash to be perceived as punishment - it may not be
entirely unavoidable cause a young Border collie is of course not meant to go
on a leisurely stroll with a 55 year-old. But we are getting there, mainly with
me providing resource access when he walks as a teammate: Picking berries,
allowing him to sniff where he likes, getting to our favorite woodlot or field where
we play ball, and recently the herding lessons when only walking with me
allowed him to control the sheep, and where I assisted him on the leash through
sheep that plastered themselves against the fence, threatening. I think I
impressed him with that, cause after the workshop his leash manners are a whole
lot better.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the last 6 months, Bowie turned from a really cool dog
to one who’s just about perfect, but there are two behaviors that were
actually better in the first few weeks. And that’s the thing: Dogs aren’t
machines. Their behavior is in flux, and it is often the case that most improve while a few less desired ones pop up as the new dog’s sense of
belonging develops. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie, and I actually see that frequently in rescue dogs, isn’t as friendly and inviting to visitors as he originally was. Has he
become territorial? No, that’s not it. Rather, on home turf there is now an established experience of Mike and me and Will and no one else. When a person or dog suddenly appears, the huge detail change sparks his attention and arouses him, resulting in charged barks. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once the new is known, with Bowie that happens within seconds, he invites the guest to a
game of fetch: “Now that you’re here you might as well make yourself useful.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other issue is that with increased attachment and
fun associated with trips, he’s a bit unhappier being left in the car than he
was in the beginning. But with the arrival of fall temperatures and more
opportunities to practice staying with Will in the vehicle, I am sure we’ll solve
that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What’s the take-away message here?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you first meet a dog, you get is an idea what he is all
about. Chances are that, after you’ve lived together for a few months, most
behaviors will be similar to what you first saw, but there likely will be new
and different ones as well. A lot of what happens next depends on you. People
have influence over their dog’s conduct. You better, otherwise you potentially
run into problems. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What’s utmost on your new dog’s mind is: Where do I sleep?
When and where do I eat? How do I fit in? And you must create a safe and
structured basic routine for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Teach your dog commands that establish common ground
communication, but don’t rush things. Your new dog does not have to meet every
neighbor, go to the off leash park, or even attend an obedience class, within
the first week. Take time to observe your dog. What are his preferences and
worries? Likes and dislikes? I wish that new dog parents would understand that
getting to know the whole dog, building the relationship, is more important
than instant perfect behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I get it. I really do. I, too, was über-excited about having a new dog and couldn’t wait to discover how he'd handle adults, kids, dogs,
cats, dog sports, off leash parks, trails, the training facility, sheep,
traveling with us… I also wanted to show him off. I was impatient, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">but weather and time –
it seems there’s never the right time for a new dog but sometimes the dog is so
right that it doesn’t matter – prevented me from doing all of these things at
once or in quick succession. I was forced to build the relationship slowly and
steadily. Exactly my mantra for others, no matter how old the dog is or where from.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLiwNrxIgGp0O6k1bf0PtRC0VMS4x1PzbHN5G5IytjCmwL_3eIOqFj3OckjxHgtaKDsWElgCZ8cdmPcpEPTHbLOndP69TtSvU-6y_lo_KXBx3C_r4UJi6PosTUjC2dxkB5_BtBLEnylHa/s1600/Bowie.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLLiwNrxIgGp0O6k1bf0PtRC0VMS4x1PzbHN5G5IytjCmwL_3eIOqFj3OckjxHgtaKDsWElgCZ8cdmPcpEPTHbLOndP69TtSvU-6y_lo_KXBx3C_r4UJi6PosTUjC2dxkB5_BtBLEnylHa/s1600/Bowie.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It takes time for a dog to trust and feel safe, and until
then he can overreact to things. Don’t turn purple when that happens. The first
time I gave Bowie a high-value bone he blocked it with his body when I walked
past him. Nothing major, but he didn’t trust me. I began tossing a treat and
walking away – treat and retreat – and after a few times the problem was
solved: He trusted me in that context. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Until a bond is formed, the dog is reluctant to take cues
from his people. Don’t pressure him, and don’t use force to suppress every
little thing you don’t like. That’s not conducive to the relationship, and does
not reduce insecurities your dog may have that causes him to overreact. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t punish when he makes a mistake. He is learning, like
you would in an environment you know nothing about. Help him out, gently guide
him, and patiently teach him better ways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-14603646374271799982014-08-01T09:55:00.001-07:002014-08-01T09:55:35.839-07:00Sheep Herding Reflections<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any dog can enjoy, and be good at, a variety of things, and
every dog has the potential to be a wonderful companion, but truth is that a
pooch with a pedigree, selectively bred for specific characteristics, can have strong drives that require an outlet, and I strongly believe that it is the person's duty to provide it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie doesn’t have a pedigree, but we’re pretty sure that he
is a Border collie. He looks like one, behaves like one, and his previous owner
said that he is one. True to what I preach, since March, when we got Bowie, I couldn’t wait
to get him evaluated on sheep. It finally happened last Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I only attended a herding event once before with our Australian
shepherd Davie, and that was almost a decade ago, but it gave me an idea how
things would likely unfold. I presumed that herding instructors, like everyone else, put their own spin on things, and I know that
herding is not willy-nilly chasing sheep but very controlled work, but I still anticipated that the emphasis would be on the dog’s keenness more than his obedience, since it was
an instinct test, not a herding clinic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I expected that the dog would in a
confined area with a few sheep, on the long line just in case, encouraged a bit
if need be, but by and large not interfered with unless the welfare of the
sheep was in jeopardy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was not quite what happened. The sheep, confined space
and long line did, but our instructor put much more weight on the relationship
between the dog and handler, and the control the handler had over the dog, than
I thought. Luckily, we were prepared. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right from the start I
realized that being outside with the disc is Bowie's highlight of the day. In other
words, he is highly motivated to access it, and has such focus that he seems
unaware of anything else around him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Initially I was playing with the idea to aim for competition, but who was I kidding: Whether it is humans
or dogs, on an individual and collective level I couldn’t care less who is
fasted, can throw farthest, or scores highest. I respect people whose goal that
is, but I’m just not into that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, I am into a dog who takes his cues from me, and I
thought I could, perhaps, use Bowie’s drive to teach behaviors that are
valuable in day-to-day life: principally impulse control when aroused and around
moving things, and staying receptive to my cues when his visual attention is elsewhere,
and on something he wants to get to. I don’t expect a dog to always watch me.
That is unrealistic. My dogs are allowed to discover the environment they live
in, but I want them to stay mentally connected to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In lieu of sheep, I used the disc to teach Bowie: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wait</i> till I release you to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get it</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">easy</i> walk up and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wait</i>,
left and right, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">back up</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">drop</i> at my feet, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">give </i>into my hand.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYUJMNOxO-0LVG_BQ7SKTbPTpkJR_3Lw8Rr2kmONU_WEZcqaF4800cqA8jwDRs_cOH__87Ngki2iFsmd-9AwTdQZ3zEyJfmnYqi3mZrbzBRFJe1l_kWrYHqM6iTiMxLwUCfPC1zCN5wCi/s1600/photo-40.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYUJMNOxO-0LVG_BQ7SKTbPTpkJR_3Lw8Rr2kmONU_WEZcqaF4800cqA8jwDRs_cOH__87Ngki2iFsmd-9AwTdQZ3zEyJfmnYqi3mZrbzBRFJe1l_kWrYHqM6iTiMxLwUCfPC1zCN5wCi/s1600/photo-40.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Naturally, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get it</i>
is Bowie’s primary reward, but I feel that what we do that leads up to it
has reinforcement value as well. I feel the brain workout is necessary for his
wellbeing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though we have 2-3 sessions almost every day, about 10
minutes each time, and have also begun to take the show to various other places
than our yard, I had no idea if what is well rehearsed with the disc would
actually work with the sheep. But it did. Mostly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Each dog had two turns. When we entered the pen the first
time, Bowie noticed the three sheep, but then directed his interest to their
deposits, which I interpreted as displacement. Not unease, but being
uncertain what to make of the situation, unclear what he was supposed to do,
buying time until he had more information – a cue he understood. I thought
displacement rather than an urge to consume the poop because Bowie had had
ample opportunity to munch prior to us entering the pen, and he showed no
desire, didn’t even sniff it. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyway, after I told him to leave it he refocused on the
sheep, and because he listened nicely to me, we got the go ahead and he was allowed to chase
them bit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One sheep in the first, and another in the second group, was
nervous of Bowie without him doing a whole lot, and I found that interesting
because I occasionally observe the same with some dogs who, presented with
Bowie’s presence, evade or become defensively standoffish. Plus, our Will was
never as relaxed around stranger dogs since she was a year old, before our Newf
Baywolf died, and she is almost 13 now. So there is something about him, not
plain to humans, that less self-assured animals pick up - which tells you that if
you want to know what’s going on with your dog don’t only watch your dog, but
also the behavior of the animals in his close proximity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were a couple of hours between round one and two, and Bowie was under pressure. He wanted to get back in pen,
barked a few times in frustration – </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie rarely barks and if only to announce someone at
the door or briefly with excitement when Mike or I return home - settled when
prompted, but kept his eyes on the sheep the whole time, ignoring the commotion
around him absolutely. To reduce the pressure, we removed him from the
situation and took a couple of walks on the property.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before we entered the pen again, the instructor told me to
be definitive with my dog, and I appreciated the reminder. I am all for a dog understanding that when it matters there isn’t a choice. My definitive
does not mean: “Do as told or it’ll hurt”, or “No choice and I don't care if you're scared” but: “You must do this to get that”, and I was determined to
convey that to Bowie very clearly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This time, Bowie knew what we were doing and there was no
hesitation or displacement behavior. He wanted the sheep a lot more,
and I was more definitive, and I think in combination it created more pressure.
A couple of times we pushed the boundary, Bowie signaling it with a shake-off after
the difficult moment had passed. Like barking, I rarely see Bowie shake off
other than when his coat is waterlogged. But there were no signs of real
distress – no avoidance, no trying to get away from me or out of the pen, and
we continued for about 6 minutes with a repetitive walking up, waiting, releasing
and calling him off again. At the very end, the instructor asked me to be with
the sheep and leave Bowie in position, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wait</i>,
about 6 feet away, and after that we got a “that’ll do” and were done. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7-QqXx3_w6wTiYnv0k2B-XpTimZqJHM3iG0ggyrXrVWMOFNGIb7iEmGPaCiqD_MIprH6wyDqEoOvWe9t834pfkzsKIa6YAptrSGyYc16eLYQ-I3nAS8oPKkBY9UfFhcp7M0Q1yCbKZ_p/s1600/photo-40+copy+7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7-QqXx3_w6wTiYnv0k2B-XpTimZqJHM3iG0ggyrXrVWMOFNGIb7iEmGPaCiqD_MIprH6wyDqEoOvWe9t834pfkzsKIa6YAptrSGyYc16eLYQ-I3nAS8oPKkBY9UfFhcp7M0Q1yCbKZ_p/s1600/photo-40+copy+7.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That last moment was
the only part I disagreed with. It was difficult for Bowie to stay while I was
with the sheep, but he did, and there was no reinforcement as consequence. Instead
of being allowed on the sheep, we walked away and out of the pen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following day I had indication that there might have been, indeed, too much pressure, or rather not enough reinforcement in relation to the
pressure: Bowie was less willing to wait when we worked with the disc. He still
obeyed, but I sensed that the cooperative closeness, the teamwork was missing.
That’s not what I want. I don’t want obedience at the cost of the relationship.
I want my dog to want to work with me, and to regain his trust I really lowered
my criteria that day, asked him to wait less often and only very briefly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By day two things were back to normal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What’s next? Bowie and I are headed for PEI later this month
to take lessons with Lorna McMaster, author of “Dancing with Sheepdogs”. I am
pumped, and quite possibly as motivated as Bowie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-65023286356411524612014-07-03T09:32:00.001-07:002014-07-03T10:00:50.671-07:00Dogs 'N' Cats and Dogs 'N' Dogs<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Contrary to popular belief, dogs can be cool with cats and even
form strong friendships with them, but not all dogs do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whether a dog is prosocial or not depends on if and how he experienced cats during the early developmental stages, but genes also play a role. Our Will, probably exposed to cats where
she was born and for sure in her last foster home, is good with them, but also
with animals she likely did not encounter. Our Newfy Baywolf was much the same,
but in contrast, Aussie Davie would kill any small, non-dog animal without
hesitation had she had the opportunity, which, except once, she didn’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With us, it doesn’t matter whether a dog is good with cats
or not. We never owned one and aren’t planning on it, not because we dislike
cats, but because we like dogs more. Many people, though, are equally fond of
cats and dogs and share their home with both species, and then it matters a
whole lot that the canine matches pawsitively with everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When a shelter or rescue organization takes a dog into their
care, there often is no, or unreliable, information available what he is like
with cats. It is a no-brainer that if additional facts aren’t collected,
adopting him to a family that has cats is rolling the dice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, sometimes there is information that suggests that
the dog is good with cats, and that is how he is presented to potential adopters, and then, in the new home, he isn’t. What gives? Were the rescuers
deceptive? I don’t think so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More likely, perhaps the shelter or foster parents observed
the dog only in few circumstances, in which he was good, and they concluded
that he is good period. That seems reasonable, but is not necessarily correct
because context counts. In a relationship, it is always an input/output dance of
sender(s) and receiver that determine behavior, and a cat who is especially
skittish, bossy, or animated can provoke a different reaction than one who is
savvy and chilled out. Along that line, in order to get an accurate evaluation,
a dog must experience a cat in motion. Seeing one held in a person’s arm or in
a crate isn’t good enough. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dog should also be a bit bored when tested. Why? Because
if he lives, let’s say, in a home where there are other dogs to play and romp
with, the cat is a more or less irrelevant sideshow. Minus these dogs in a new
home, she arouses interest and becomes the target. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A dog can perceive a cat as a resource competitor and act
adversely only around a possession that might not have been available at the
shelter, and hence, aggression wasn’t observed there. Keep in mind that people
can be a very important resource once a dog is bonded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A dog in a shelter or foster home can be anxious because he
was suddenly thrust into this new environment, and that can play out as
over-reacting to something, or not at all - treading very cautiously. It is
called honeymoon period, and I’ll talk about it some more in my next post. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or the dog might have been harshly punished for aggressive
displays, and in the new home, with the effective punisher and the threat of
pain gone, how he really feels about cats is expressed again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If inadvertent mistakes were made and the new dog doesn’t
get along with the resident feline, can that be fixed? It depends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Resource guarding, in most cases, can be solved when
approached correctly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If the dog is just a little uneasy because he is generally
worried about new things, or cats, or that particular cat, there is a good chance that the relationship can work once she has
become familiar and is perceived as a safe, even positive, appearance. In that
case, all it takes is patience, and training helps, and of course until that
happens careful management to avoid that the cat is within teeth range is crucial. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When a dog is bored and tagged the cat as “it”, peaceful
cohabitation is possible if he can fairly easily be motivated into doing something else, like playing with a toy or emptying a filled Kong. In time, the cat
could become the cue for that alternate activity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If the dog is difficult to re-motivate and not interested in
anything but the cat whenever he spots it, she is at risk. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It could be that the dog is genetically prone to, and serious </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">about, controlling space and movement of other
animals, that he has a strong prey drive, or is truly hostile toward
cats. With Davie, we had a triple whammy: she was innately bossy, had a
heightened sensitivity to things in motion and the impulse to chase, but with cats
there was an additional component not present with other animals: A learned and
experienced at one point, I am sure, aspect that made her downright vicious toward
that species. Just to be clear, lack of obedience wasn’t the issue here. Davie
had a near perfect recall, and knew “leave”, including with cats, but for a
lifetime needed that precise instruction, and even though I got body
compliance, her mind was still fixated on the cat she saw and she was keen to get to it,
and that was impossible to change. In addition, she stayed pumped for quite
some time after it was out of her view. Prolonged recovery is another
sign that the problem is a major one.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are people who claim that you can shock even the worst
dog into liking cats, or at least not killing them, but I wouldn’t bet my hypothetical
kitty’s life on what happens when I have my back turned or the battery is
empty. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The most humane solution for such a dog is a cat-free home.
And even with the less severe cases, whether to pursue behavior modification
depends if the people can manage well in the interim, but also if the cat’s quality
of life can be maintained. Some cats become very stressed when they’re targeted
by the new dog, and begin to refuse to join their humans socially, stop playing,
even urinate and defecate in inappropriate places. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Testing dogs well with cats can be a difficult task because a
cat, or safe evaluation area, isn’t always available. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Testing dogs how they respond to dogs is much easier, and
yet, I see the same problems, more often than you might think. A dog is said
to be good with dogs, and then isn’t in the new home. Methinks the reasons are
the same: resources, dynamics, suppressed expressions, and the inaccurate assumption that because he plays nicely with familiar dogs when off the leash, that he is equally affable with unfamiliar dogs on an on-leash walk. He might, or he might not be. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had a few clients where there was a huge discrepancy between what they were told, and what the dog was like once adopted. Characterized as so amazing at the shelter that he was
utilized as a balancing playmate or test dog to evaluate others, in the new home he showed such severe <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">behaviors that his owners were unable to walk him. I am
wondering about the popular practice to team up an even-tempered pooch with aggressive or rowdy ones. I am questioning if it is ethical. It appears that there is potential for fallout - a real risk that the good dog becomes anxious and defensive, and sometimes the damage caused is long-term.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lay people take for fact what they are told. Good with cats
and dogs is exactly what they <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">expect,
and when that is not the case they are shocked, and sometimes feel cheated even
though the rescue didn’t cheat, just didn’t know. Which means that a dog either
needs to be observed in a variety of situations, including when he has a valuable resource, or the shelter/rescue has to state that the dog is good in the
contexts they evaluated, but may or may not be in situations that would be part of his life in the new home. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-18934902591074978072014-06-05T07:27:00.000-07:002014-06-05T07:27:11.617-07:00How I Botched The Recall<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And along the way almost blew my new dog’s natural
inclination to be near me when off the leash. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you've been reading my recent posts and/or are a
Facebook buddy, you know by now that we recently adopted a Border collie
from a local rescue. He is three and awesome and his name is Bowie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you know me a little better, you know that I am a huge off
leash aficionado. Obviously, safety and respect for others come first, but aside
from that I prefer to walk my dogs nearly nekkit – they are wearing their
collars and tags - on trails, beaches, even in our neighborhood. Two
prerequisites are owner attention and a reliable recall, and when we got Bowie,
he had both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie is naturally attentive, biddable, motivated to play
and be with us, and he is brilliant: learns in a flash. Solidifying the come
command, I thought, would be a walk in the park: He runs, I call and reinforce
with what floats his boat when he returns to me. Repeat often and in different
environments. Done. In theory, that works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In real life, I failed to consider three Border collie traits:
The drive to run (far) out, a heightened sensitivity to motion combined with a
spark impulse reaction, and very acute hearing, and this is what happened: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Immediately after we adopted Bowie we realized that he loves
to chase things - a ball, disc or stick, me, Mike, but also wildlife and particularly
squirrels, and there is no shortage of these where we live. I am sure he hears them
from deep in the woods, alerts, but still prefers a toy, and I made sure
that I always had a ball with me on our regular hikes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie would run out, then stop, turn and reorient to us. The
distance he was away, maybe 100 feet but I am not good at guessing distances,
is usually too far for my liking, but my nature is to accommodate nature when I can, and hence I allowed him to do it, especially since he seemed so attentive
to us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whenever Bowie reconnected, and sometimes when he was still
running, I recalled him, which he heeded every time, which I reinforced by
throwing his ball, then a few more times, but after that I told him <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all-done</i> and tucked it away out of
concern that he’d turn into a compulsively pestering-us-to-play-nonstop-on-a-hike
canine. That approach was successful with Aussie Davie: After the cue that
ended the interaction she stayed close and sniffed, or played with a dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Bowie, it didn’t pan out as planned, which proves again
that following a template doesn’t always work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It didn’t work, because Bowie quickly connected the dots
that running out far got </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">him access to the ball. Then I made the mistake of putting
it away too soon and not replacing it with another job, which means he
was bored. In addition to that, he increasingly became more confident with the
area and knew where he was, and we were - Davie, in comparison, was directionally challenged
like her momma, which made her feel a lot more dependent when outside.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a result, within a couple of weeks Bowie ran out… of
sight. Likely a squirrel’s chitter lured him, and because he was already a good
distance away it trumped our presence. He didn’t come when I called him, but was gone
for a couple of minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Houston, we’ve had a problem. I wasn’t so much worried about
him getting lost, but running into wildlife that doesn’t appreciate being
chased and could spray or quill him. Naturally, I also don’t want him to scare
or hurt animals – you’re talking to someone who provides spiders a warm place
to stay during the winter. Mostly though, I did not want to set the stage for a
relationship where my dog finds an activity that excludes me more attractive
and reinforcing than being with me, but that was exactly the path we were headed.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had two options to solve the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The obvious one was to keep Bowie on the leash, but that would
be a slippery slope with a busy and not bred to walk nicely on a six-foot Border
collie. I feared that if I forced it, especially at the dawn of our
relationship, me, and the leash, would be perceived as a drag, and being away
from me would become even more the better deal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second option was to give Bowie the ball more often and
for longer: Team building. I was sure that if I’d throw it non-stop, he’d ignore wildlife, but that would bring back the compulsive concern I had. Plus, I also desire to engage Will, or let my own
thoughts trail, or chat with Mike or a friend. How could I tie this all together? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is how: I bought an erratic-bouncy soft rubber ball,
which I let fly in the beginning of the walk right after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">free dog</i> verbal release, and with Bowie no farther than about 20 feet away. After a few times, I exchanged it for
his Kong tennis ball that squeaks and he could keep as long as he wanted, but I
pretty much ignored, with the idea that he’d more or less self-entertain -
bouncing it around and creating his own squeaks that would override the
squirrels’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So far, so good. Since implementation, Bowie runs far out
when he has possession of the tennis ball, turns, lies, drops it in front
him, waits till we catch up, picks it up again and runs, but not away. Periodically, he returns and tosses the ball in my direction, and I give it a little attention,
tell him to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get it</i>, and sometimes I
throw that one too - random high reinforcement to keep him trying and as a side
effect close by and attentive. But the real quality focused interaction happens
with the rubber ball, incorporated intermittently throughout the walk but only
as a result of Bowie being about 20 feet away, coming when called, or
ignoring a squirrel or bunny and reorienting to me instead. There
are also brief periods when Bowie doesn’t have either ball, which I aim
to prolong gradually. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since the weather has become nicer, we had a few beach
outings and noticed that Bowie's behavior is the same with a stick. I typically advice
against throwing a stick because I met too many dogs who forever bang it against people’s legs soliciting play, but with Bowie it works: He finds one
right after being released off his leash, runs far out, turns and waits for us
to catch up, we tell him to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get it</i>,
he picks it up with gusto and runs, then waits… as if this were his job
description. We throw the stick periodically in the water for him to fetch, which he
loves, but he doesn’t bother us with it otherwise with it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IZdbideCgHPtwFbaMgznjAITVLzm1a8fFxvQbz733EaBLW7A6Oi573MLV3zGRCiltMliAgCvuvKqF6yiWSKB4On0XgqNaj73rVjVIMvHzQ0JyMniyj3cjd75Xqc6AjUXnh-714MdQi6x/s1600/photo-33.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IZdbideCgHPtwFbaMgznjAITVLzm1a8fFxvQbz733EaBLW7A6Oi573MLV3zGRCiltMliAgCvuvKqF6yiWSKB4On0XgqNaj73rVjVIMvHzQ0JyMniyj3cjd75Xqc6AjUXnh-714MdQi6x/s1600/photo-33.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it is time to go home, do I leash Bowie always at the
same spot to condition that he habitually halts on his own to be leashed, or do
I vary the routine so that he doesn’t anticipate that the fun is about to end and avoids
me when we get close to that spot? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Will, the former worked the charms, but
she is a “stuck in a routine” kinda personality anyway and feels safest when
things happen in a rut - I was feeding her nature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie listens well and I doubt he’d defy me. Nevertheless,
I opted for keeping him guessing what sort of surprise I may have up my sleeve
when he comes on recall: Sometimes the bouncy rubber ball, sometimes treat
tossing, sometimes a stick thrown in the ocean or a lake, sometimes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">free dog </i>and we continue the hike, and
sometimes the leash comes on, but even then, for now, I try to create some fun
on the leash. Realistically Bowie, as a Border collie, will likely always
prefer being off to on, but I will do my best that he at least does not
perceive it as so punitive that he doesn’t want to come when called, and not
wanting to be near me when we’re outdoors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-28063510615544766782014-05-06T06:27:00.001-07:002014-05-06T06:27:32.680-07:00Terminology Matters! Or Does It?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question: Was there a grammar squad before Facebook?
Probably, but it seems that social media increasingly brings forth a cerebral upper
crust who diligently corrects others' grammar and spelling
mistakes. Not just that, they are also quick to point out a single word one “doesn’t
use anymore”, or that is downright "the wrong term”. Snap! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the dog world, we have a load of loaded words that, if
used, could lead to the message being dismissed and professional competence
questioned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dominance</i> might
easily be the most contested one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alpha folks and the general public use it a lot, and the
positive reinforcement crowd almost never does, with some denying that such a
thing even exists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s see: Dominance according to Webster dictionary is to
bring under one’s control by force of arms; to look down on; to serve as a
leader of, and Encarta defines it as: to have control, power or authority over
someone; to be the most important aspect; to have prevailing influence. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seems like it exists alright, but there are several
interpretations. In our relationship with dogs, some trainers choose the “absolute
authority” and “physical force” one, mine is to have prevailing influence and I also aim to be the most important aspect in my dogs’ life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thankfully, that is not very difficult to achieve because </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">between people and dogs the dominant party is determined by
species. We have front limb dexterity unmatched. Caring people make decisions the
dog might make himself, but it is ultimately always the human who decides: When and
what the dog is fed, if, when and where he’s walked, where he sleeps, if he
gets a cookie or a shock, if he is allowed in the home or chained outside,
dumped somewhere or surrendered. How much more naturally dominant do you want
to be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Between dogs, I believe dominance exists too. In a multi-dog
household, or in a fairly stable dog park or daycare group, dominance can be
context specific and dynamic, but also static: Sometimes it is very clear which
dog sets the rules, and sometimes that is for life, unless a new, more dominant
dog arrives on the scene. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our Aussie Davie was the queen at age 16 weeks and that never
changed, even when she was 12 years old and ridden with cancer. She had
status dominance, because she had undisputed priority access to space and
resources all dogs, including fosters and houseguests, accepted, and she rarely
as much as growled. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dominance has nothing to do with constant physical power
plays; it is not aggression. Despite popular belief, who the dominant dog is
becomes clear not because she pushes her weight around, but because the others
defer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does it even matter what dogs decide amongst themselves if it is the human who, by nature, is in charge? It doesn’t - unless one
brings a dog in the mix who does not defer. That could lead to ongoing confrontation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Related to dominance is <i>pack</i>. One synonym for pack is group,
and whether free roaming dogs form hierarchical packs is irrelevant. We don’t
have to go there because an owned dog is forced to live in a group made up of
humans, and dogs, and sometimes other animals. No choice for the dog but to be
part of a fixed social unit that is hierarchical, with the human at the helm
cause he has the opposable thumbs and bank account. We already discussed that. Frankly,
I prefer the term group or family, but don’t dismiss or label someone just
because they say <i>pack</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Label</i> is a no-no word. These days, we mustn’t describe a dog
as reactive or aggressive because once the label is attached there is the risk that we fixate only on that
instead of the whole dog. Fair enough. Sadly that is often what happens: The owners' awareness is with the problem behavior, and they are blind to all the good ones that made them fall in love with their dog. Some blame or punish,
and that damages the dog and relationship even more. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is the thing, though, a dog who consistently overreacts will get a description of some
sort. Plus, we also label the dog who behaves in ways we want:
sweet, loving, gentle, playful, driven. Labelling is normal for humans. It is difficult to avoid it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Owner</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> is loaded too, but the fact is that dogs are at our
mercy, and are sold like other wares with little protection from the law. Until
that changes, owner makes sense. Mike and I are indeed our dogs’ owners, but
also their guardians cause we provide and protect them, and their parents cause
we raise and teach them as we did our young child. Like with the word pack, I
prefer guardian or parent, but don’t judge someone who refers to him or herself as an owner.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Command</i> is outdated. Can’t say it any longer. It’s cue
now. Or signal. But mostly cue. I agree that command has a harsh connotation:
“Do as you’re told, or else”, and cue is kinder, a prompt inducing an action
instead of ordering it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am still okay with command cause frankly, there are some things
that are not negotiable, actions my dog must do because it keeps him and society
safe. We trained such command/action combinations as pressure free as possible,
and rehearsed it well, but then I insist on it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have a generally cooperative and supportive
relationship; when the dog’s needs are consistently met; when he feels safe all
the time, insisting won’t off-rail your relationship. Training with pain does. Deliberately inflicting pain on someone derails any relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Force free trainers renounce above forbidden words to distinguish themselves from the archaic Dog Whisperer types, but the thing is that that’s the terminology many laypeople are using. Owners equate dominance with aggression and are afraid of it, feel compelled to be a good pack leader and extinguish alpha ambitions in the dog when they see the first signs, or rather what they erroneously take for signs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a thought: Instead of denouncing words the general public is familiar with – and my hunch is that that won’t change anytime soon regardless how much we frown upon it, why don’t we utilize them as a springboard to educate, to explain what they mean, and what it isn’t.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I get why dominance, pack, even command and owner might be contentious,
but am bamboozled that <i>expert</i> irks some people. Can someone enlighten me why
one wouldn’t trust someone who claims expertise? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My first thought was that perhaps I don’t get it cause
English isn’t my native tongue? But then I looked the word up and synonyms does
not include: "Has to have formal accredited education" or "Snooty charlatan who thinks
there’s nothing left to learn in the field they are operating in" but: specialist,
skillful, practiced, proficient, professional, knowledgeable – what I thought expert
meant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One is an expert if s/he knows or can do something better
than most, and that can be anything from launching a rocket to making haggis. Experts
are often that because they are passionate about what they do, and with that
comes an innate interest to learn more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I admit I have my own word peeves. We all see the world
through our own filter after all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hate the word <i>hater</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>– these days a fashionable general description for anyone who disagrees
with one’s opinion, but often used by punitive trainers when they run out of
rational arguments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My other one is girl when used for an adult female person. Lighthearted “girls and boys” references are totally cool with me, but
not the: “men in the boardroom” and “girls in the office” type ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I get it when people bristle, but also think that
positive reinforcement might be an easier sell with the masses if the experts,
specialists, pros, could stop to dissect every sentence to point out an incorrect term - or a grammar or spelling mistake. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If we want to change how the general public treats and
trains dogs we need to reach them, and one way of reaching them is to speak a
language that makes sense to them. Common ground terms can open the door to
communication. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-10723651417095178442014-04-16T10:52:00.001-07:002014-04-16T11:56:19.584-07:00Adding A Second Dog: The First Few Weeks <div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everything begins with thought, energy, intention that, when
strong enough, seeks manifestation. Everything begins with that, and that is
all what is left in the end. That is my personal believe regarding all aspects
of existence, in physical life and afterwards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So when adding a second dog began to dance around in my mind,
again and again, I knew it was just a matter of time before the right one was
going to appear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The right dog, I was sure of and Mike felt equally strong
about, would come in the form of a female blue merle Australian shepherd puppy,
bred locally by our friends Lisa and Stephen, who are one of the most
conscientious breeders and nicest people I know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The pup hasn’t happened yet. <br />
This dude has! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6tv9TXxe-_gpiweEC4xaaxRviHl8YMhXmxmqW1Xbbx0KcZV1k8b7P7PkBPxFwrS7UbSCBtMsc_HNWmcxfe3EeogSt-XsfwWTROlwCj2iDMyFr0Hv9Lb7zmz79PDBbG2qqpmccAkHSu_Bm/s1600/Bowie+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6tv9TXxe-_gpiweEC4xaaxRviHl8YMhXmxmqW1Xbbx0KcZV1k8b7P7PkBPxFwrS7UbSCBtMsc_HNWmcxfe3EeogSt-XsfwWTROlwCj2iDMyFr0Hv9Lb7zmz79PDBbG2qqpmccAkHSu_Bm/s1600/Bowie+2.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Connection: Bowie, at the time called Billy, instantly caught
my eye at the Halifax Dog Expo in February. If you compare his markings with our beloved Aussie Davie’s </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWXH0WxfrH0TFhhvMsW5kdRaFOITAVHOZkjlOEJRpXA0Pjx3jAQ9ZCv_4AqbfJUohL20XMqa2bX8Y-wXoxtQqPXus8XvDOHYxi11cdI0-08bNHvxvUZM0rlL8XblE8lJOi_O_HxIDlA2R/s1600/Davie+best+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheWXH0WxfrH0TFhhvMsW5kdRaFOITAVHOZkjlOEJRpXA0Pjx3jAQ9ZCv_4AqbfJUohL20XMqa2bX8Y-wXoxtQqPXus8XvDOHYxi11cdI0-08bNHvxvUZM0rlL8XblE8lJOi_O_HxIDlA2R/s1600/Davie+best+5.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">who died three years
ago and we’re still missing like crazy, you’ll understand why. On a side note, I
always thought that Davie was a funky blue merle, but thanks to Bowie I learned
that that particular coat color is its own: Tri-color Merle or Seal Merle –
which one, looking at the dog, I haven’t figured out yet. Perhaps someone can
enlighten me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Rescue: Bowie is a three-year-old male Border collie
from Quebec who, due to personal circumstances, needed a new hook to hang his
leash. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hometostaydogrescue" target="_blank">Home to Stay Dog Rescue</a>, who had a table at the Expo, helped him with that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie's</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> appearance drew me in, his personality I got a feeling for
watching him and chatting with Monique and Jim, his foster folks, was icing on
the looks-cake, and I couldn’t get him out of my mind for the rest of the day,
and filled out an application the next one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Requirements adopters have to meet vary from rescue to
rescue. With some, an unfenced yard, resident dogs unvaccinated or intact, even
young children, lead to an automatic refusal. We do have the fenced yard, but
don’t follow the traditional vaccination regime, and although Will is spayed,
my opinion about blanket neutering also differs from the North-American norm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Home to Stay asked about the yard but made it clear that it
was not mandatory, didn’t mention neutering or vaccinations but wanted
references, one from a veterinarian, a home check, and a bunch of general information
how we’d plan to care for the dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I trust neither rescue nor breeder who doesn’t poke a bit
into the life of someone who wants one of their dogs, so we didn’t mind answering
the questions they had. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were accepted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our Requirements: I love working with dogs and their humans.
Seriously, humans too. Not always, but mostly my clients are caring,
intelligent and open-minded people, albeit sometimes following bad advice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I feel that I have the best job and truly enjoy every dog,
regardless of breed and behavioral issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, when it comes to living with one for a decade or
longer, I am much more selective. I know what I want, what I am willing to work
with, and what would be too taxing on us, particularly on 12-year-old Will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One deal breaker is destructive separation anxiety in the
house or car. We love to travel with dogs and often, weather permitting,
combine walks in parks and beaches with shopping or a restaurant outing. And
although our dogs are rarely left alone, someone being home all of the time is
impossible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other deal breaker is if the dog’s behavior compromises Will’s
welfare, which for the remainder of her earthly life is our priority. And Will
is choosy. She enjoys a dog’s companionship, but becomes distressed when one is
generally hyper or anxious, boisterous, pushy or klutzy, or relentlessly wants
to play. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie, according to what his foster parents observed, seemed
like he could be a match. We arranged for a home visit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Intro: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A guest-dog is nothing new for Will: At one time we
fostered, social events in our home often include dogs, and last year we cared for
our friends’ Aussie and Border collie, respectively, when they were on
vacation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will’s typical behavior when a dog enters is to briefly block
the entrance combined with a: “My home my rules” snarl. After that she accepts
most, including around resources. Bowie she let in right away. No blocking, no
snarl, no tension and no signal that would indicate distress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Monique and Jim left Bowie with us for a couple of hours,
and he curiously checked our place out, periodically looking at us for clues
what this was all about - offered eye contact is what I want in a dog. He was neither
pushy nor fearful, not overly interested in Will but motivated to join in little
training games. When we settled on the couch, he settled beside us. But he was also ecstatic when his humans returned, and for that reason we didn’t want to
keep him for a trial that day, to be left behind again. We planned to meet the
following Saturday for a walk, and then would take Bowie home with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Going for a walk is my preferred way to introduce dogs, and the
best case scenario is if they are aware of each other but largely ignore the
other, casually moving in the same direction doing their own thing, perhaps
getting a quick sniff in and then carrying on, with no or little cuing from
people – self-directed behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although it was Bowie and Will’s second meeting, that’s
exactly what happened. Walking together was a no-big-deal event, but we were
still surprised that Will let him in the car so easily, and that they relaxingly
shared the back seat on the one-hour drive home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Trial Period: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will’s default way to deal with life’s troubles is to completely withdraw, pitiful, and with dogs that trouble her that typically presents
itself after about two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hence, we asked if we could have a prolonged
trial period during which we would also leave the dogs alone in the house and
car, uncrated. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our request was generously granted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know that this is not
standard rescue and SPCA protocol, but I am wondering if, within reason, it
should be. Naturally, the dog’s wellbeing is paramount and I am not suggesting
to bounce a dog around from family to family until one eventually decides to
adopt, but asking someone to commit to an adult dog without having the chance
to get to know him a bit better in their own setting can be
difficult, especially when there are other animals or young children to
consider. Behaviors are a combination of nature, nurture and environment, and
behaviors that aren’t obvious in a shelter or even a home-style foster place
can surface in a new milieu with its individual dynamics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The staying alone tests went without a hitch, but Bowie remained
somewhat aloof around Will, even pushing into her space, once
nose-punching when she came close to have her harness put on for a walk. He
consistently marked on top of her every pee, rushed her at the door, and tried
to block her when she wanted on the bed for morning cuddles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite that, within a week we were certain that we wanted
to go ahead with the adoption. Partly, because we didn’t observe anything that
indicated a bite risk, partly, because Bowie was very responsive and easily
redirected, but mainly, because his actions did not at all bother Will. Yes, it hadn’t
been the typical two-week time frame yet, but her whole demeanor was different
than with the other dogs before: She continued to solicit play and physical contact with Bowie, pushed
back instead of retreating into her bubble, followed through with what she had
intended to do – once peeing on his head when he pushed in while she marked with a raised leg, and generally seemed more alive and
engaged. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was confident that with special efforts Will would
continue to feel good about Bowie, and that Bowie could learn to perceive Will as a friend instead of a competitor. I made sure that her appearance announced affection, attention,
fun games and treats for him and vice versa, and although Bowie will eventually
also get a fancy 6+foot leather leash like Will has, for now he’s staying on
the somewhat shorter one because that brings the dogs nicely parallel to each
other on prolonged pleasurable walks: A forced team-building activity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It works. Bowie still ignores Will’s play invitations, but
he is much more space polite, shares the bed and waits for his turn without getting stressed and butting in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What We Love Most About Bowie: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That bonded with all of us. He greets Mike and me with the
same exuberance when we return home, solicits affection, loves to snuggle up. He
wants to be with us, and always checks in when off the leash. He is easy to
handle, including brushing and nail clipping, and is completely safe, including
around resources. Resource defending behavior wouldn’t be an unsolvable
problem, but I admit that I do love a dog who trusts me around his loot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Will still enjoys Bowie, and seems to feel supported by his
presence. She is altogether more relaxed, even at the veterinarian – gee, I
hadn’t realized how much she wanted a canine companion. Bowie is also meshing
with Will. Both dogs have begun to look for each other when off the leash,
synchronize and share sniff and pee spots, and twice, when Will was charged by
a neighbor’s dog, Bowie nuzzled her afterwards. It's subtle but it's sweet. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We love Bowie’s level of obedience. Someone must have
trained him, because his response to come, stay, wait, sit, down, and distance
down is consistent, instant and accurate, including around distractions and
when he is aroused. Nevertheless, I don’t take any of it for granted at this
point and continue to rehearse and reward.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We like that Bowie likes people. So far, he’s been friendly with every person who visited us, yep, even the mailman. People outside he typically ignores, but when invited is authentically friendly, not looking for treats but social attention. So far he also encountered children on bicycles, bouncing a basketball and running past him, joggers, a couple of cats, and horses and riders. He is aware, looks and processes for a moment, and then carries on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie has an automatic on and off switch. He plugs in the
moment we give him the impression that we’re ready for action, and whenever we
are not he settles without needing an additional cue: Me working on the
computer, us watching TV or eating dinner, is enough for him to recline. He
also nicely self-regulates regarding toys. Like every dog in our home he has access to a toy basket stocked with a rope, things to chew, some soft
flying objects, and a squeaky Guz ball. We love when a dog is enthusiastic
about toys, and Bowie surely is, and initially we thought the ball might have to be a
limited resource so that the squeaking noise wouldn't drive us nuts, but no: he is
excited when we play, but settles with an “all-done” command, which he learned
in a flash. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He also learned: Leave, give (hand), drop-it (ground), over (step
to the side), cross (the road), touch (hand), target (object), get-it (toy), keep-going
(move forward), and is beginning to learn to put the toy back in the basket when
we’re done playing, and to place his butt on a mat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie is brilliant. He catches on so quickly what we want.
Do it once, and he’s got it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are there challenges? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not so far, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any in the
future. Humans have the silly expectation that a dog’s behavior, for a
lifetime, is unchanging. Sure, there is a core personality, and to
establish solid habits and behaviors should be every owner's goal, but dogs are alive and sentient beings,
not machines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bowie is a Border collie, and there are things I particularly will keep an
eye on, like loving something vs. being obsessed with it – the line can be fine.
Bowie’s preferred activities all involve chasing after something: Ball, disc
and squirrels, but he is not constantly pestering to play or standing at the
door asking to be let out. He can be called back or stopped from a chase, and I
can get him interested in another activity. Plus, after a session, he is content.
In contrast, an obsession doesn’t leave a dog satisfied, but frenzied. Still, I
will continue to vary his activities and introduce new stuff, so that we'll have a
repertoire of things we like to do together, inside the house and outdoors.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The brilliance we love about Bowie can backfire. Brilliant
dogs connect the dots quickly, then expect what should happen next, and
anticipatory arouse with the first cue, or become frustrated and antsy when
there is a delay. Sure enough, after about a week Mike’s customary arrival from
work sometime between 4.15-4.30 caused Bowie to pace between door and window starting
at about 3.45. One reason for that was the predictability that Mike would play
with him right away. So we mixed up routine and consequence, and although
Bowie still periodically looks out the window in the afternoon, he is much more relaxed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I haven’t noticed a fixation toward light flickers, or
noise anxiety, but Bowie is motion and sound sensitive, normal for his breed,
and wants to act on impulse. However, he is easily interrupted, in fact, already
begins to self-regulate because I reinforced when he didn’t follow through, but
I need to stay aware. For instance, he didn’t try to chase cars until a few
days ago, when the roads were wet and the sound amplified.
The dogs were on the leash, and Bowie again easily interrupted when he lunged at the passing car, and reinforced
generously when he shifted his focus. Since then cars haven't fazed him, until this morning when a slow-moving van left its driveway. We’ll
continue to work on that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As much as I love Bowie’s obedience, I don’t like that he
sometimes lays his ears back, tongue flicks and averts his head, seemingly
afraid, and that he, at times, is also apprehensive when I try to teach him something new. With
any dog, our aim is to accumulate a relationship bank account that is in the
black, like Susan Friedman says and <a href="http://www.behaviorworks.org/files/articles/Back%20in%20the%20Black%20BT.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> is her must-read article, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and thus Bowie gets food, attention and affection with no strings
attached, we play a lot, I provide information when he is nervous, and there is
no training pressure. I am sure that as he experiences that life is predictably good and safe, and that it’s okay to make a
mistake, he’ll become more confident.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs have a different meaning for Bowie than humans. He is not as chilled, but arouses, not with barking sounds, but when he smells or sees one. He pulls to get to where they've been to sniff and mark, and in the
first couple of weeks either exaggeratedly avoided or charged up to a dog we encountered on the walk. On home ground, he nose-punched our neighbor's boisterous but
sweet wheaten terrier when I greeted her, and he was tense and growly with my
friend’s two Border collies. I am not in a knot when a dog refuses to share a
resource because it is normal, not bad, behavior - when was the last time you
welcomed a person you didn’t invite - but we worked on it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We haven’t had a canine guest since, but on walks Bowie has begun
to look at me when he sees a dog and then follows my cues, mostly leave and keep-going.
We had a few appropriate greetings with neighborhood dogs, and he was perfect when
we met a friend and her Portuguese water dog Sophie for a long walk in an off-leash multiuse trail park, which is, by the way, quite possibly
my favorite activity. Surprisingly, he showed no possessive
behaviors when I treated and paid attention to Sophie, and although
he didn’t play with her or any of the dogs we met, all his social interactions
were normal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Oh yes, I almost forgot: Bowie pulls on the leash. That’s
okay, though. I never had great leash manners with any of our dogs, and yes, I know
how to teach it, but frankly prefer to spend time doing stuff more important
to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pawsitively Matched<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We’ve had Bowie for a little more than a month and we're still discovering each other, but can’t
imagine life without him. Not an Aussie, but nearly perfect and perfect for
us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a bonus, he is a rescue. Personally, I believe that getting
a dog from a caring breeder is as conscientious as supporting rescue, and adopting
Bowie doesn’t rule out any future sassy female Aussie pup, but I must admit providing
a home to an adult dog that needed one feels good. Then again, that is not
quite true because he already had a wonderful place with his foster parents,
who were about to become foster failures. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am glad they didn’t. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-3498112447361578662014-03-04T13:40:00.002-08:002014-03-05T07:33:05.929-08:00Teaching a Dog to Give on Cue<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We recognize that animals have the right to defend themselves and their possessions. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No one watching a nature show on TV, or wildlife in their own back
yard, would think it unreasonable or abnormal when an animal chases
another away from its food source. No one would label that animal bad, aggressive, dominant or unpredictably
dangerous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We consider a person who acts in self-defense to be within
his right, and our law, in theory anyway, protects us from thieves. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it comes to dogs, though, our perception changes. We expect from
our canine companion that he relinquishes any
possession to any human without objection. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> just because we expect and wish it, doesn’t mean it
works that way. It doesn't because it is against nature. Dogs, like every other species, will protest if someone they
understand as an opponent attempts to take something that is important to them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People, including the owner, become opponents when they
forcefully wrangle a possession out of a dog’s mouth. The dog experiences loss
at the literal hand of the person, and if he is confident enough will become guarded and offensive the next time the hand reaches for his mouth. Normally, a dog would give a warning first, but if that is futile, may bite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The problem is that with our owned dogs, realistically in a lifetime, there
will be situations where we must take something away - something that
could harm him or a valued possession of ours he's snatched. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The solution: To convince the pooch that giving is better than keeping. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chirag Patel is a trainer and behavior expert from the UK, and very generous in sharing his wisdoms. I love his "drop-it" clip: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndTiVOCNY4M" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndTiVOCNY4M</a><br />
Y<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ou can find out more about Chirag, including more video clips, at </span><a href="http://www.domesticatedmanners.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">www.domesticatedmanners.com</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another option is to play the trade up game.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First, identify 10 things - 10 is a good number but not edged in stone - your dog is interested in. It should include different foods, toys and chewy/bone type items. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Establish a hierarchy, staggered from lowest to highest
value as perceived by your dog and keep in mind that that could vary, and then
orchestrate training sessions with all items handy and under your control.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Begin by offering a lower valued toy. A toy is best because
you want your dog to hold on to it for a few moments, so food won’t work and a
bone or chewy is typically higher up the value hierarchy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let your dog enjoy it for about 15-20 seconds, and then wave
something in front of him he cares a little more about. That part is crucial. Your dog must want what you have more than what he has. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kibble in exchange for a bone is not going to cut it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is
a segment in Dr. Patricia McConnell’s DVD “Reading Between the Lines” of an
adolescent retriever whose owner, following the advice of her previous trainer,
insisted he give up a toy. She threw some kibble to persuade him, which he ignored cause he wanted to keep the toy, and he gave his human plenty of warning signals that he did, which the person ignored. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aggression increasingly escalated, and if I remember correctly, the dog was eventually euthanized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So remember to trade up. If you get it right, your dog will
open his mouth to grab the better thing you offer, and in the process drop what he already has, and that’s when you attach the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">give</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
command. Repeat,
and end with giving your dog something of high value he can keep. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A variation is to have an identical toy stored away you’d
retrieve and play with when your dog has his. Talk to it, toss it in the air,
be animated, pretend you are having great fun while not paying any attention to
your dog and his toy. Chances are that he will want in on your game, and drop
his toy in order to play with yours. When he does, attach your cue, and
play with him for a few moments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your dog likes toys, but is also super motivated by food,
play chase’n’grab. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Securely attach a toy to an about 6 feet long rope, then
drag it behind you. Almost every dog’s interest is instantly keened when
something is in motion, and he’ll try to catch it. When he is about to grab it,
say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">get</i>, stop moving, and toss a high valued treat. A flying treat is likely to get your dog's attention and he'll pounce after it, releasing the toy. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Again, say </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">give</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> when he does it, let him have the food
treat, and repeat, repeat, repeat...</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fast repetitive motion sequences are a lot of fun for a dog,
and releasing the toy becomes doubly rewarding: he gets a piece of delectable
food and the game goes on. The dog experiences that releasing
something prey-like has a pay off, and he also practices to release when in a somewhat
aroused state.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once giving on command is a habit, you don’t need the treats
any longer. Continuation of the game is the sole reinforcement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">End the game with untying the toy and handing it over, or giving him another.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you identify your dog’s hierarchy of motivators
correctly, and if you practice often and with a variety of items, and if you manage dog
and environment accordingly to prevent that he gets hold of something inappropriate until you established a solid </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">give</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">,
you should never be in a position of confrontation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you made a mistake and your dog filched something, don’t
force it away and risk a bite. Try to find something better to trade up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Think twice before you chase your dog. Running away with a
possession can be a strong play chase invitation, and if you race after your
dog you reinforce him for running away with something that belongs to you, and he’ll
be on the lookout for the next thing to pilfer if he wants to play chase. So,
even if it’s your new Italian leather pump he’s got, keep cool: Get his
attention with a high-pitched excited voice and snappy body movements, and when
you have it coax him to come to you, trade for one of his toy, and then play
with him. Your dog will learn to initiate play with his toy. Nothing wrong with playing chase, but only with established rules: Your toys only and you need to come when called.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your pup has something he could keep, sometimes give the
original item back after you traded and played a bit. A dog who experiences that
bringing you stuff doesn’t always mean that he loses it, and gets something
rewarding on top, will bring you anything, including something dead he nosed
out on a hike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Releasing something that is already in da gob is a tough
thing for dogs to do. And for people too, by the way. It is called loss aversion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Giving something important to a human on request is a trust,
not a dominance issue. With a puppy, we can build that trust right from the
start. With an older dog who experienced loss at the hands of humans in his
past, it can take some time, but with patience and practice, and above ideas, every
dog can learn to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">give </i>on cue. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-37865582050928878432014-02-21T07:06:00.001-08:002014-02-21T09:58:55.955-08:00The Crate Debate<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nothing like a good discussion on social media, eh? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seriously, I like a good debate, whether online or in
person. I like the mental fitness, it makes me think, drives me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is no shortage of topics that evoke strong, opposite polar opinions in
the dog world. That is probably true for any other world, but the dog crowd is
the one I am traveling in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Neutering, diet, snoot-loop harnesses, rescue, breeders,
training methods, are all contentious issues. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Add crating to that list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crates are widely promoted in North America, but not so much
in some other countries, and banned at least in one: Sweden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does it surprise you that something that is such an accepted
norm here is not popular, even illegal, elsewhere? Perhaps not so surprising if
one sees the ugly side of a tool that makes it easy for people to neglect their
dog’s needs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A Border collie was euthanized when he was 10 months old
because he was insane<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- compulsively had
chewed half his tail off. He belonged to a busy family and was kept in his
crate for most of the day and all night.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two littermate Australian shepherds, acquired by a trainer
when they were 8 weeks old for the sole purpose of competing in dog sports,
were kept in separate crates unless they trained. At age 18 months both were
surrendered to the humane society. Stated reason: Performed below expectation.
The male became my client, nice dog, but socially inept. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two adult dogs, very bonded who enjoyed each other’s
company, played and snuggled, had free run of the house when their people were
at work all day. Problems arose when they, to deal with barking at passersby,
were suddenly placed in separate crates during the day, and as part of a
Nothing in Life is Free protocol, also whenever the owners weren’t actively interacting
with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Granted, above examples may be isolated cases, but others
aren’t. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs who, in an attempt to get out, bend wires and injure
their gums, teeth, or paws. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs that are so distressed that they vocalize unceasingly, soil
their crate, drool excessively, or can’t be left with any comfort – a blanket,
bed, or mat, because they destroy it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite the ugly side, I want to state unequivocally that I
do not want to see crates banned here, because I believe that when used
caringly they can benefit both people and dogs. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example raising a puppy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No doubt, house training is difficult when the pup’s space
is not restricted. Of course it doesn’t have to be a crate. An ex-pen or a
certain room can do, and with my puppies I also used the leash quite a bit –
umbilical corded the pup to me, or attached her to a long line looped around a
piece of furniture when I had to make a quick trip to another room. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Obviously, the crate or any other space restricting measure only works if the pup is given ample opportunities to pee and poop outside,
otherwise she learns to eliminate in her sleeping and living space. The general
rule of thumb is age in months plus/minus an hour, but in reality young puppies
typically have to go more often during waking hours, some every half hour or
so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A more valid reason for using a crate with a pup is for
safekeeping, to prevent that she gets into something that could harm her when
she can’t be closely supervised – in the house and in the car. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A pup safely in the crate buys new owners time to do
people-only things. I recently had a client where this worked wonderfully:
There were critical times during the day when they were busy, and because their
excellent breeder had linked the crate with naps early on, it was a cue for the
pup to settle. Not only did it function during the critical times, but also
when the pup was too wound up and couldn’t settle anywhere else, and in
addition she was quiet riding in the car, even on longer trips. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To me, napping and resting is the primary purpose of a crate
- stimulation and enrichment happens outside of it. When the crate is that
familiar and felt as safe retreat, it can be that for a lifetime, and that is
very handy in circumstances when the dog needs a getaway place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though our own puppies were only crated during the
night, with the crates stationed in our bedroom, I am pro crate when it comes
to pups. It is almost a must to keep the pup safe and owner sane. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A good breeder introduces the crate in a way that it doesn’t
produce fear and anxiety. With luck, by the time the pup enters her new home she
goes in willingly. Nevertheless, the owner should continue to combine crate
time with good things. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With an adult dog, I feel differently. Going in the crate should be choice, optional, with the door open or
removed, or it becomes a bad thing - a trap. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At what age does the change happen? Obviously, when the pup
is reliably housetrained and trustworthy not to get into trouble or get hurt. Unfortunately,
there is no general guideline when that is, it depends on the dog. During the
day, three of ours were around 5 months old when they signaled that they had to
go out, and fairly consistently searched the toy box for entertainment, leaving
our stuff alone, but with some dogs, often retrievers, giant breeds and bullies,
that can take a lot longer, up to a year, even 18 months. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At night, the crate door was closed until our pups were about
a year old. When we left it open, Will continued to go in well into adulthood,
but Davie was happy to kiss the crate good-bye for good. Despite our attempts to
make it a positive experience, she never liked it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Davie’s strong dislike being crated is not uncommon, and I
want lay owners to understand that: Their dog rejecting and resisting the crate
is neither abnormal, nor did they fail. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are dogs who, regardless how many training games you
play, continue to perceive a crate as aversive. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite popular belief, dogs are not den animals, but whether
they are or not is actually irrelevant because it is all about choice. One of
the Five Freedoms that define acceptable animal welfare is Freedom to Express
Normal Behaviors, and it is not normal for any animal to be caged for most of their
life, and whenever they are not operant or their actions otherwise controlled. To
express normal behavior is to have some autonomy over one’s movements, to find
stimulation and enrichment, and choose where to hang out and relax. If that’s
the crate, wonderful, but if the dog is forced in, it causes distress and
creates anxiety, and Freedom from Fear and Distress is another criteria for
animal welfare that is then not met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anxiety doesn’t magically dissipate when the crate door
opens. Initial pressure release is played out in exuberant, out-of-control
jumping, mouthing and general rowdiness, but biochemically stress lingers and,
if the dog is presented with her stressor regularly, accumulates.
Biochemically, stress can become chronic, and cause a host of other
issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Karen L. Overall, in “The Manual of Clinical Behavioral
Medicine” writes: “Dogs that do not go willingly into their crate and are happy
to be in there should not be contained in crates”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note that you don’t always get the strong, obvious signals:
The destruction, self-mutilation, unceasing howling, or soiling. Tension, being
clamped up, scratching the door, appeasement signals, whining, bucking, not
coming when called and moving away, are subtler ones that tell you that your
dog doesn’t want to be in there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am well aware that that can put people who have dogs with
behavioral problems in a bind. A crate is often suggested to deal with separation
anxiety and dog-dog aggression, but in both cases rarely provide a solution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A dog who has separation anxiety often soils the house,
chews door and window frames, or eats through drywall, and naturally a crate prevents
that. But the anxiety is still there, and that is when you get the gum lesions,
broken teeth, bent wires and injured paws – and vocalizing that can get you
evicted in a rental even if the dog is not destroying the apartment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of our foster dogs had severe separation anxiety. We are
not talking about leaving the house, but leaving the room briefly. We typically
tagged him along, but it was not always possible because at the time we also
ran a business out of our home. Whenever we were out of his field of view, he
screamed in panic and exploded in body fluids, and the only benefit the crate offered
was that only the area around it had to be cleaned and not the whole room. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With two other fosters who had mild anxiety crating made it
worse: Left in it, they howled and soiled, when left outside there were minor
scratch marks at the door and some whining that quickly passed, but no other destruction,
no soiling, no prolonged vocalization. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Resource guarding is another problem why people might use a
crate, but that is also only managed, not solved. Granted, sometimes managing
makes the most sense. In a multi-dog household, feeding each dog in her crate is
easiest and can instill resource security for all. However, when there is
serious animosity between dogs, food is typically not the only thing that
triggers aggression. Anything can be contested: A toy, a stick or garbage
outside, food accidentally dropped, space, and people and their attention, and what do
you do then? What do you do when the dogs are outside their crates and the
root of the problem has never been addressed? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition, the crate only prevents injuries, but the intimidation
and fear continues through the crates, and causes distress in all dogs
involved. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Getting the dog used to being crated to simplify air travel
or a stay at the veterinarian is another point people bring up, but the problem
is that if you pop an anxious of the crate dog in daily you are not desensitizing
but flooding, with the result that she becomes more sensitized rather than
getting used to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, what is the take-away message? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That a statement that says that crating is cruel and abusive
is just as precarious as the blanket belief that it is good for all dogs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Crating or not depends on the individual. Not the individual
person, but the dog. Owners could, and with a pup should, aim for their dog to
feel good in a crate, but there is no guaranty that the adult will like it, and
in that case how the dog feels needs to trump. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In real life, for the short term crating might be unavoidable,
but the frequency and duration should be as minimal as
possible, and for the long term, an alternate solution ought to be explored.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-65894306619219379252014-02-11T06:18:00.000-08:002014-02-11T06:18:03.263-08:00Halt, Beep-Beep and Other Useful Commands<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Below are a few commands you might not learn in your basic obedience class, but I find very useful in everyday life with my dogs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Halt</i> means: Don’t
continue to move in the direction you are going, but stand still and stay there
till I get to you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>H</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">alt </i>is different from, and in addition to, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stay</i>: It always comes from motion, whereas <i>stay</i> is to maintain a certain position. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The purpose? For some dogs shifting their
attention completely away from a stimulus, and walking away to return to
the owner, is difficult.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, in an ideal world you would have a 100% recall before letting the pooch off the leash, but realistically 100% anything in life is rare. L</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">et's not forget that we intentionally bred and breed dogs that require that they, although still mentally connected to the handler, hold steady and keep their eyes on the job. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And we have fearful dogs who, like us, won't want to turn their back on what is worrisome. Humans are compelled to maintain visual control over what makes them
queasy - unless they trust the person they are with absolutely.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Halt</i> allows your dog to keep looking, but it freezes him in
place until you can regain physical control. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is how you'd train it:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During a leash walk, and as usual begin where
there are no distractions, periodically stop and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halt</i> your dog. Reinforce when he stands still, and continue the walk with a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">let’s
go</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once your dog has linked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">halt</i>
with stop moving, say it when he is a little ahead of you, and reinforce generously
when you catch up. Gradually, practice in more distracting areas, and also
increase the distance your dog is in front. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Halt</i> becomes solid if it precedes any kind of fun, including long leash or off leash freedom. Please note that your dog doesn't have to sit or make eye contact, because we use the command
exactly when he is too focused on something in the environment to be able to
shift his focus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t forget to rehearse at the dog park, sometimes releasing
back into play, sometimes clipping the leash on and inviting your dog to play
with you, sometimes bringing food out and sometimes throwing a ball. Make the
consequence of halting and waiting till you get there always rewarding, and it will become a cue that reliably stops your dog in his tracks whenever you need him
to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beep-Beep - </i>like a truck - means:
Back up <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How to train it: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Gently and playfully - you want to be loose and casual not challenging and
forceful - walk into your dog’s space. If he trusts you and feels safe, he’ll
likely back up slightly. Name that behavior and reinforce it. You’ll be surprised how
quickly your dog catches on, and then, with a continued <i>beep-beep-beep</i>…
incrementally back him up farther and farther: across the room, the training
hall, a field. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That works for most dogs, but if yours doesn’t give you an
inch, or becomes scared and evades dispiritedly, only approach to the point
where he's still relaxed, toss a treat straight behind him, and add the
cue as he moves to get it. Let him experience first that the verbal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beep-beep</i> is fun, and then you’ll be able
to get closer and closer, and he’ll eventually back up as you walk in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another hurdle, fairly common these days, might be that your
dog sits as a default when you walk toward him, and firmly holds it. You might have to
undo that first and reinforce standing for a bit before you can teach backing
up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Purposes: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To direct your dog away when you enter with your hands full
of groceries or the baby in your arms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For children to cue the dog away from their body.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An alternate behavior to jumping – the attention seeking dog
gets interaction, but it is structured and cued by you, and he gets to move, which
makes <i>beep-beep</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> intrinsically rewarding.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can jog a dog’s memory when an adult/child/crawling
toddler encroaches in his space and he is mentally stuck what to do, or when the
fearful dog is too close to a person, loses courage and tenses up. Ensure that
your dog always has room to back away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently had a case in which one of three dogs in the home
perceived the other two as resource competitors and defended whatever he deemed
important at the moment. For safety reasons, whenever the treats came out all
dogs were leash managed, except when I taught <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beep-beep. </i>The leashes could come off because the dogs were
rewarded for increasing distance to each other, and learned that backing away
was more fun than butting in, which relaxed the resource insecure dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beep-Beep</i> is yet
another cue I can use to help my dog when she’s in conflict, and one to direct
her into an appropriate action without increasing arousal or anxiety. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can even engage in a back and forth <i>beep-beep</i> dance
where you'd back up your dog, and then you back up and he follows you. It can help
you teach leash manners because most
dogs follow closer when their human walks backward. Whenever your dog enthusiastically follows and is mentally connected, do a 180 and likely he'll walk right beside you for a few steps, then switch and walk backward again to maintain his attention, gradually
increasing the steps you walk normally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plus, a well-rehearsed <i>beep-beep</i> dance can function as an emergency turn and walk away from a trigger your dog might overreact
to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a couple more commands we use in day-to-day life I want to share with you: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward, Over</i>
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Behind Me</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward</i> means: Put
your pretend blinders on and keep going straight ahead. I use it on trails, when
Will is off the leash and when she encounters a situation she doesn’t quite
know what to do with. I am not talking about fear or tension, but more like a
“now what?” situation. For Will, that could be a crowd of dogs, or several people
off their bicycles chatting. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forward</i>
tells her: Ignore and move on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also use <i>forward </i>as a directional to help our dogs locate a toy when we play
hide and seek games, and to get them moving when they stop on a narrow path, or tell them to go ahead of us on stairs. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We taught the cue by capturing the behavior on walks, tossing a treat to get them to move straight ahead,
and also by softly bumping into their back end on narrow trails to move them
along – and reinforcing it when they did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Over </i>means: step
to the side to let other trail users pass. I taught it by naming the behavior
when guiding the dogs over on the leash, or whenever they naturally curved out to avoid something they weren't so sure about. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Behind </i>means: get
right behind me and follow. Like forward, well rehearsed it can help you move your dog through
crowds when he's a little uneasy, but we mostly use it to get ours past
mud puddles. I train it with a treat behind my back and an animated duck-style
gait, both tempting my dogs to file up right behind me. Periodically, I release
the treat, and gradually navigate around more, and different, obstacles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-77970365782072895852014-02-03T06:21:00.001-08:002014-02-03T06:21:35.657-08:00All-Done and Later: The Dog's Off Switch and Not Now Signals<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Imagine someone you like, a friend or your partner, invites you to do something together. While you are at it, suddenly and without a word, s/he disengages and walks away. Would you be: Confused? Frustrated? Conflicted? Worried? Follow to draw out why s/he has left? What will happen next? Maybe coax him or her to continue with the pleasurable interaction you enjoyed moments ago?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That scenario is exactly what many dogs are confronted with. The human invites the dog, by calling her name or any other understood start-up signal, to a mutual activity. Unless it involves force and pain, the dog is likely excited about spending quality time with her person, and then, at one point and without announcement, the human decides to end it: He stops throwing the ball, withdraws attention and eye contact, disconnects mentally and perhaps walks away, leaving the dog clueless what will happen next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like it would with you, that generates frustration and confusion, and like you, the dog wants to continue what felt good, and might paw her person, nose jab or mouth, whine or bark, or brashly shove herself in between if her person is attending to another dog, or child, or hugging his partner. Any of these behaviors typically prompts a reaction, and in that context any kind of attention is reinforcing, and that means that the dog will paw, bark, mouth… again to get attention and re-ignite an interaction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs who act like that often get the dominant label, but wrongly so; Demanding attention, even rudely, has nothing to do with dominance, but everything with what the dog has learned works to get attention.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ignoring the dog is an option and often the advice trainers give, but in reality many owners find it difficult, if not impossible, to ignore a persistent dog's inappropriate attention getting behaviors and expressions of increasing frustration that result when the attention isn't manifesting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An important piece of information, a specific cue that announces that you are about to disengage and that no more reinforcements are going to be coming from you until further notice, can help. I use a verbal <i>all-done</i>, followed with a hand signal, and I completely ignore my dog thereafter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's the hitch</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">: A cue is only useful when it's known, and until then the dog will likely display the above-mentioned undesired behaviors because she is still frustrated and confused, and still wants to continue the activity. If she is determined enough, most owners will still respond, so we’re back at square one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To prevent that, I initially sandwich one thing in between telling my dog that I am about to end the interaction and ignoring her: I direct her to the toy box I spiked with treats, or a filled Kong, or something else yummy or novel, prior. My goal is to make self-entertainment attractive after the <i>all-done</i>, the signal that provides clarity that I am going to do human only stuff for some time. If successful, chances are that looking for stimulation in the toy box eventually becomes a self-directed behavior. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once your dog knows <i>all-done</i> and moseys on instead of pestering you, use it in various contexts. Naturally, she might not always choose the toy box, but sometimes just hang out nearby, or when you end an interaction outside, sniff or play with a stick, and that’s okay too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The off switch cue is the opposite to name attention, the dog’s on switch. Binary information makes the world comprehensible for your dog, and thus lowers frustration and arousal and its undesired expressions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are not disconnecting without an explanation, leaving a social companion in a mental vacuum and confused about you, but rather you are giving your dog the same courtesy you’d give a human partner. Thus, teaching <i>all-done</i> is important for your relationship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it comes handy in a training class between exercises: With your dog in signaled disengagement, you can pay attention to the instructor. Of course you could also command a mat stay, but I like to allow my dog to do as she pleases within the 6-foot leash range. With <i>all-done</i> she can stand, move a bit, or sniff - just not bug me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A related informational cue I use daily is <i>later</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like to be the one who ends an interaction, but my dogs can surely solicit for one. When bored, or when they think it’s time for us to play or go for a walk, they saunter in, or make eye contact, wag their tail and maybe bow or stretch. Looking for attention from a group member is normal social behavior, not dominance, and I don’t want to ignore it because that too triggers frustration and messes with the relationship I want with my dog. Especially soft and polite behaviors I want to reinforce, but I also respond to a bark or whine cause a dog snubbed when she needs something will in all likelihood turn the volume up till she is heard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, realistically I don’t always have time to jump into action right away: I might be expecting a phone call, or am in a train of thought, or answering an email, or trapped in a book’s chapter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Later</i>, followed with a non-verbal “in five” hand signal – you know, the spread five fingers and palm out one – communicates that “I am unavailable at the moment, but feel free to check back in a little while”. With <i>later</i> I acknowledge my dog and connect while buying time for me. By giving clear information I, again, avoid that my dog becomes frustrated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the beginning, <i>later</i> might only give you a couple of seconds before your dog checks back, and you might have to, much like the beginning stages of <i>all-done,</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> guide her into an alternate action to help her understand, but with practice, and unless something is urgent, eventually <i>later</i> can mean you get to do your own thing for another ½ hour or so.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the dog solicits again, you can give another <i>later</i> or oblige, which is what I usually do cause seriously, if I don’t have a few minutes to spend with my dog, and especially after she’s been so patient, why have a dog in the first place.</span><br />
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<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-46544022037919055422014-01-27T12:08:00.002-08:002014-01-27T12:36:52.788-08:00Why Chilling On The Mat Is Better Than Just Chilling<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unless you’re craving 24/7 action, which isn’t healthy for a dog and probably also not for you, life with a canine who settles at times is a lot more pleasurable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are two options:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Either you acquire a hardwired couch potato, and good luck with that because even if you expect a certain breed to be low-key, not every individual is and especially not when young, or you could teach a settle on the mat which works with every dog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">True, settling doesn’t necessitate a mat. Most dogs are very capable of finding a cozy spot when they feel like chilling out, but incorporating a mat has a whole bunch of advantages:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It becomes a visual and tactile cue for your dog to settle, and once it is you can transport it to different rooms in your home and indicate where you’d like her to slouch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It helps when company comes. We all know what usually happens when the bell rings or there is a knock on the door: If the dog loves people, she gets excited, and if she doesn’t, she gets anxious. Either way, she barks, charges the door, and jumps because she is aroused, and because she doesn’t know what else to do. The mat could become the targeted spot you direct her to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can take the mat with you when you’re away from home. Many dogs are nervous in a new environment because they don’t know how their world works there, and the mat can anchor the pooch, like a security blanket.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That includes the training facility, where the mat can be your dog’s safe retreat, a spot you send her to when you are not actively working. Or it could make a specific starting point clearer for a dog, help her to learn the place from where the next activity begins. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can put a mat on the couch or bed to induce your dog to stay on her end, which means your guests clothes won’t be covered with hair, and you might have a more restful sleep.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A cautionary word: What you are aiming for is that the mat becomes an important “my space” association, but with that the dog might also defend it against others. I am okay with that. My dogs are allowed to give “buzz off” signals that are appropriate – a growl for example. It is a different story when a dog overreacts and attacks a retreating dog, or lacks inhibition and there is a risk of a bite. In that case, there is a bigger issue at paw, and I advice you consult with an experienced and force free behavior specialist.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With most dogs, though, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is how you can convince your dog that settling on the mat is a wonderful thing. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you like shaping, present your dog with a new and comfy mat, and mark and reward when she shows interest in it. Once she deliberately targets the mat to score a treat, stop reinforcing that and wait until she finds a new mat behavior, for example puts a paw on it. When she does that deliberately, stop reinforcing until two paws are on it – four – she sits – she lies. Keep the loot coming as long as she is on the mat, and stop when she leaves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you’re like me and shaping is not entirely your thing, place a mat beside you when you read, work on the computer, or watch TV. Don’t prompt, but whenever she settles on it, drop treats – fairly frequently in the beginning, or provide a yummy filled Kong, or a chewy/bone. Food is better than a toy because you want your dog to settle, not move around, but a toy to rip up can also work, just not one she rolls around and then chases.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll let you in how cooking dinner and mealtimes play out in our house: I invite the dogs to join us with the come command if they’re in another room (which rarely happens), or with let’s go if they are near me (this is where you typically find my dogs). </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs are very keen on human food, which means I get 100% compliance, so why would I want to miss such a great opportunity to practice recall or having my dog walk with me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The mat is placed approximately 6 feet from where we are, and if I have a rookie learner I’ll tether her to a piece of furniture or the bannister to set her up for success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whenever the dog reclines on the mat, I toss a piece of exactly what almost every dog wants: human food. With the rookie, tidbits land fairly frequently on the mat, but in time I can prepare a whole meal or finish dinner before I share some of my food.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A more alpha-oriented trainer might warn you that a dog who is keen on your food is status seeking, and when you give it you'd elevate her status, but that’s just crap talk. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is the giver who controls the resources and hence has the power, not the recipient.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What really happens is that your dog is motivated by something you control, mentally connects with you, is calmly attentive, practices self-restraint because she waits on the mat, or completely relaxes around the distraction of food. All behaviors you want in other aspects of your life together. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Plus, including your dog into your social life strengthens your relationship. Food sharing is bonding, and you reinforce the mat settle effectively, which strengthens </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">that behavior, which means your dog will offer it more reliably, relaxingly, repeatedly, and at one point you won't have to tether her any longer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is another benefit: Whenever you let a dog observe people doing stuff, in our house we call it supervising, you provide satisfying and tiring mental stimulation; enrichment without having to invest extra time – nowadays often in short supply.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">settling on the mat around food sets the stage for the dog to learn to also settle when there are other distractions, for example when someone is at your door or entering your home. In that case, provide prolonged entertainment – the Kong, or chewy, or bone, and temporarily return to the tether.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Initially, when you begin mat training, make it a limited resource, which means remove it when the session is over. That way you raise motivation, and your dog will be über-happy whenever you bring it out again and ready to work with you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In that sense, release your dog, with a specific verbal cue like <i>all-done</i> or <i>finished</i> when she still wants to be on the mat.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Later on, you can leave it out, because your goal is that it becomes both a spot your dog chooses to go to when she wants to chill, and a place you can purposely direct her to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With the former, your dog is allowed to self-release, but whenever you send her to the mat, you are also the one who releases her, either with your general cue, or a specific one when you want her to do a certain action next.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What position should the dog be in? To me, and most owners, it doesn’t really matter if the dog sits, lies or stands on the mat. She can choose whatever is comfortable, and I name the behavior, the being on the mat, <i>settle</i>. Naturally, with dogs authentic relaxation means they’re stretched out, so that is the position she’ll likely be in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, if you also use the mat as a momentary target point, a certain position is likely important and then do use your precise corresponding command for sit, down or stand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like with all training, the rules of adding duration, distance and distractions, one at a time and gradually raising the bar, apply here too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Especially getting a solid mat stay in connection with the entrance door and people’s comings and goings can be a bit more complex than providing a mat and a filled Kong: You have to find the right motivator, very incrementally increase distractions, even build up to a frozen Kong to prevent that the dog becomes discouraged because getting the loot out is too difficult.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will talk about all that in future posts, but your friendly behavior consultant can also help you with your and your dog’s individual abilities and challenges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-13649893598469927552014-01-17T07:38:00.001-08:002014-01-17T07:38:32.204-08:00From Sit/Down to Emergency Position Stay<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a2uNa6BFR6MBY7-36m1odogYWqv-lXEAKynz62BDXY1aLfDDGFVenMJ8hldj_LV1zpa8jK-NGSIQ7lKPlFYsn0J7dPvfrNofanjRGGNc0y3fkTHoi1vcTIqnUEoaCUMysxV0tXlaZZDg/s1600/Davie:Will+best.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4a2uNa6BFR6MBY7-36m1odogYWqv-lXEAKynz62BDXY1aLfDDGFVenMJ8hldj_LV1zpa8jK-NGSIQ7lKPlFYsn0J7dPvfrNofanjRGGNc0y3fkTHoi1vcTIqnUEoaCUMysxV0tXlaZZDg/s1600/Davie:Will+best.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I won’t elaborate much how to teach a sit and down, because
most of my readers know how to,
but very briefly: I lure the sit with a treat in front of the dog’s nose moved
over and behind his head. As he follows the treat, the head goes up and the butt
down, and the moment he sits I name and reward the behavior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You could also lure the down from a sit by moving the treat
straight down and then out. Most dogs will follow the treat and lower their
body into a lie position. Frankly though, I prefer to capture that behavior. There
is no such thing as a dog never lying down, but many owners ignore it when it
occurs at home, and then try to teach it 2 hours later in the training
facility. Start at home, name and reward when your dog naturally lies, and you
create a link between the action and the word, and then you can prompt the
action with saying the word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your dog knows what a command means when heeds your request
immediately 9 out of 10 times, but chances are he’ll only perform in the
context he has learned the cue/behavior combination. With sit and down, that is
typically the person facing the dog. So the next thing you want to do is teach
your dog that the cue still means the same when the context changes, e.g.
the dog sitting at each side and behind you, or you standing, walking, sitting or
lying on the couch. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once your dog is not ambiguous what the command means, build
in duration. Duration comes next because if your dog can’t hold a position if
you are right there, he won’t be able to do it when you are a distance away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we call a dog into action, a higher-pitched,
sound-repetitive voice and snappy movements work best. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When we ask a dog to remain at one spot for a bit, it helps
to use a non-regimental slooow-looow-staaay tone and congruent, slightly forward
leaning with the open palm of your hand toward the dog, body language. No finger
pointing. That is rude. <br />
Most dogs will hold the position at least for a couple of seconds; tell him he
is a genius and release a treat but not the dog. Neither the verbal praise nor
the cookie should become an automatic signal for your dog that he now can get
up and do what he wants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remind your dog to staaay, and repeat, and so on,
incrementally increasing the time before you praise and reward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be exuberant, let your dog know how happy you are that he’s
got it right and plays by your rules. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Always go to him and reward when he is still in the position
you asked. Don’t call him to you and reward, because then you are doing a great
job reinforcing the recall, but a lousy job toward mastering the position stay.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Troubleshooting: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some dogs can’t hold a sit or down even briefly. In that
case you are allowed, in the beginning, to hold a treat in front of his nose to
help him understand and get a few moments in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can repeat your command, and more than
once if you have to. Lorna McMasters in “Dancing with Sheepdogs” says that it verbally
encourages the dog to keep doing what he is doing with a known word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When he is about to break, interrupt him, for example with an
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ah</i>, remind him to stay, and
generously reward him when he does, then release. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you missed the moment and your dog self-releases, put him
calmly back in position. Act normal, breathe, and try again. It’s about trying
again and learning, not correcting. If you aim for cooperation, you always want
to be appealing rather than repelling. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If it happens often, you are making the mistake of pushing
too hard. Adjust the conditions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When your dog holds a stay for a minute or so without needing a
reminder or reward, incorporate distance and walk away, initially facing the
dog and only one step, or just leaning back if your pooch is a little scared and particularly person-dependent. Gradually increase the distance one step at a time; always
working at your dog’s feel-good level, and in the beginning shortening the duration
before you reward’n’remind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a something you can put in your back pocket
regardless what it is you are training: Making one component easier when a new one
is added to the exercise prevents that the dog becomes anxious and checks out –
physically, mentally or emotionally, because learning with you is too
difficult. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember different contexts? Before you lengthen the
duration again, get your dog, gradually, used to seeing you walk
away with your back turned. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Working in the environment is the last part, because obeying
around distractions is typically the most difficult part, so you want to make
sure the exercise feels familiar and good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you take the show on the road, continue to proceed as
slowly as you need to set your dog up for success. That includes not coercing a
dog into a down, not even with a cookie, in the obedience class if he is too
nervous to be in that position in that environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taking your time in the front saves you time in the end
because you don’t have to backtrack – Paraphrasing Steve White. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Begin with one step outside your door, then practice in the
front yard, the sidewalk, the street corner, parking lots, near a playground or
school zone – all the way to, eventually, the dog park. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your dog can only manage a sit 30 feet away from another
dog or person, reinforce that. Tomorrow it will be 25, then 20, until he sits
relaxingly while you chat with a neighbor next to you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be aware that when animation increases, the degree of distraction
does accordingly, so increase the distance with your dog, and stay closer to him
for support. Once the animated stimulus is familiar and feels safe, you can
decrease the distance to it, increase the duration – the period of time you
hang around, and finally the distance between you and your dog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A sit, down or stand stay is precision work and the dog
should remain in the one you asked. However, you must be fair and accommodate
your dog’s physical and emotional needs at the moment, and cue the one you
believe he will be most comfortable doing - generally, or in that given
situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With a position stay your dog practices self-control, and he
will tire out because waiting and observing while you hide a toy, throw the
ball, or handle another dog, is work and focused effort. That kind of mental
work blended into physical exercise can prevent that your dog becomes too
pumped and frenzied. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly, if a dog trusts
the exercise to the point where he will hold a position even when something
makes him uneasy, you can place and leave your dog anywhere, anytime. That’s
the emergency position stay and the benefit is clear: When a loose dog or child,
for example, aims toward you, you can deal with the situation before your dog
does. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It saved our Aussie twice in a lifetime from biting a child.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-45005021654661515362014-01-13T13:41:00.002-08:002014-01-13T13:41:20.616-08:00Touch: The Many Purpose Hand Target Game<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What it is: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dog is briefly touching the palm of your hand with a closed mouth. It is not a punch or prolonged push, it is not licking, and it is not going after food in the hand. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How to teach it: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Teaching touch is über-easy. Start by holding the palm of your hand in front of the dog’s nose, and it won’t hurt if it smells like cheese or chicken. Almost every dog will be drawn to the hand and automatically touch it. The moment he does, mark with a verbal yes or a clicker-click, and give a treat from the other hand. Always treat from the hand that is not the target hand, because you want your dog to learn that it is not about food in a hand. In addition, feeding from the other hand moves the dog’s nose away from the target hand immediately, and we’ll get the brief soft touch we are after. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once your dog deliberately targets the hand to score a treat, switch hands. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Only mark and reward when you get a nose touch. You don’t want a lick. However, if you have an avid licker, initially do reward so you don’t discourage your dog, but once he understands the command, reward only when he licks a little less, and then a little less, and so on until you have the closed-mouth touch. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When your dog solidly targets both hands on cue, move the target-hand farther away, higher up, or lower. In other words, play with it and have fun. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What it is good for: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The interaction can become a reward in its own right, which means you can use it instead of food to reinforce another behavior. When you teach loose leash walking, for example, you become a moving target and your hand, not a treat in your hand, is both lure and reward. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it is familiar and fun, it can re-center a dog who feels uneasy in a new environment. Anything familiar can lower anxiety, but with touch you have the added benefit that it engages the dog, and he gets to move, and that can also relieve stress. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is one of the best ways to redirect a dog from an unwanted activity, specifically jumping. Once your dog follows your hand on cue, you can bring four paws to the floor, or structure jumping if you own a spring-loaded dog with a strong intrinsic drive to bounce up - boxers and some terriers come to mind. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch is an excellent way for children to interact with a dog, and to move the dog away from their body and face. The dog learns appropriate and rewarding ways to engage with kids. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch closes the dog’s mouth and can help with puppy nipping. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It can help with aroused herding dog nipping. Play catch-me-if-you-can, and when the dog is getting close to your legs, stop and direct him with an outstretched hand away from you. With quickly aroused dogs you may have to start with only a few, slow steps, but building on that you should increasingly be able to run faster and become more animated. It teaches the dog space balance, and a routinely closed-mouth while aroused during chase comes handy when the dog plays with other dogs. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch opens up a different way to communicate. Often dogs that grab or mouth do so to get a human’s attention. That kind of mouthing is often labeled as biting, but typically happens either because the dog has never learned a proper way to communicate, or because the dog is highly aroused and hasn’t been taught acceptable outlets. Touch will help with both. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once the dog follows the hand as a pointer, teaching tricks, for example to ring a bell, is easy. Put your hand behind the bell and each time your dog touches the hand, the bell rings. Reward, and incrementally move the hand away. You can also lure your dog without food to: twist around his body, move around yours, weave through your legs, in a certain position, or on an object. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Place a postage stamp on your hand and teach your dog to touch that. Once he targets the stamp, you can place it anywhere and teach him to touch different body parts, and objects. It can help with dogs that are fearful of, for example, a broom or the nail clipper. The idea is that the scary thing becomes part of a familiar game, and the dog, at one point, will seek it rather than shy away. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch does not solve aggression issues, but the familiar and feel-good cue can shift a dog’s mind when he too close to a person and suddenly becomes tense. It can serve as an emergency signal that closes the dog’s mouth, and hence can prevent a bite. And if you reward your dog generously when he returns to you, you train a touch/walk away combination and have a built-in copout, a habitual behavior how to return to safety, and that can also lower stress.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch works with dogs that are defensive of their space. Inviting the dog to follow the hand gets him to move, but in a non-confrontational way. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To reiterate, you still must address the underlying reasons why the dog is aggressive, but for the moment you defused a potentially dangerous situation, and touch is in fact part of my space guarding behavior modification protocol, because when a person is playful, the dog perceives him as less threatening, which can lower the need to be defensive. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I mentioned that touch can become a reward in its own right, and with many dogs that is indeed the case. They seek the interaction and no treats are needed to reinforce touch once it is learned, plus it can take the place of treats in other contexts. However, if you have a highly food motivated dog, don’t skip treats. Touch, like other life rewards, shouldn't be seen as instead of, but in addition to, and one more way of having structured fun with your dog. </span>silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-16500288825697843712014-01-03T06:44:00.001-08:002014-01-03T06:44:41.820-08:00Mastering the Walk Without Whispering<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pulling on the leash is a behavior many dog owners complain about, naturally, because it makes a walk unpleasant at best, and unsafe at worst when the animal at the loop end of the leash is pulled off her feet. It’s a problem, and a common one at that. Why? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For starters, and despite what you hear on TV, moving right next to or behind someone for the duration of a walk is not natural to dogs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you watched dogs that travel together, off the leash and not lorded over by a human, you don’t see them march constantly in a linear configuration. Rather, you could observe a variety of arrangements: moving parallel, widening and shortening distances, one lagging behind and then catching up, one running ahead and then waiting, all the while staying mentally connected to the others - and all regardless of age, gender or status. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, status. Dominance, again contrary to popular belief, is not the reason why your dog wants to be ahead of you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our house, bossy Aussie Davie was clearly the dog that controlled the others’ space, and yet she didn’t give a rat’s tail where they, including a foster puppy, positioned themselves in relation to her on a walk. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In “Evolution of Working Dogs”, Raymond Coppinger and Richard Schneider write that in a sled team the lead dogs are not chosen for strength, but because they are willing to take directions from the driver; they are the literal leaders of the pack not because they dominate all others, but because they are most responsive. I referenced that with an acquaintance who is a knowledgeable and conscientious Siberian husky breeder, and she said that with double leaders one knows the commands, while the other has the drive to keep the team going. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tracking dogs are also typically in front, and are also mentally connected to the handler. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I get the same from my dogs. I am rarely physically in the lead, but I am metaphorically. I signal which direction we’ll take – a signal my dogs are checking for whenever we come to crossroads. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To sum the: the-dominant-one-is-the-one-walking-in-front fairytale up, here is a quote by one of history’s unarguably greatest leaders: “A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are directed from behind.” Nelson Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, what’s the point? Dogs may not be dominant when they pull ahead, but they still pull, and that’s still a problem. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, if we could convince the public that pulling has more to do with lack of cooperation than lack of submission, then perhaps the everyday owner would feel less challenged and more inclined to handle the issue without the use of pain. That alone might contribute to better leash manners: Believe it or not, a dog who experiences discomfort near you wants to be away from you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But even a dog who likes her human might pull, because, as said, the natural traveling range relative to each other is greater than 4-6 feet, which means that whenever we clip a leash on a dog we automatically set her up to fail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I bet you see the dilemma. Of course, dogs must be leash managed, at least at times. So what can we do? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We could stop reinforcing it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every step a dog makes on a taut leash teaches her that pulling works, and which way you walk doesn’t matter. Unless a dog has a specific destination, neither changing directions nor backtracking helps, because moving is reinforcing in its own right. You add what you believe are penalty yards, but your dog gets to move even more and maybe circle around you – what a pleasing consequence for pulling, especially for the herding dog. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reality is that as long as your dog succeeds with pulling, she’ll continue to pull undeterred by your frustrated badgering and ineffective tugging. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is another thought coming from the classical conditioning front: Does a tight leash become an associated cue for pulling? I am not so sure. My dogs walk off the leash, on a tight leash, and a loose one, exactly because moving is an intrinsic drive and self-reinforcing. However, maybe the opposite has weight: If moving only happens if there is a slack in the leash, the loose feel links with moving and the dog might halt when the leash gets tight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In any case, the answer is to stop walking the moment there is leash tension, wait until your dog reorients to you and creates a loose leash again, and then you move and only as long as there’s a slack in the leash. When you are about to make your first step together, add your walking cue. Mine is <i>let’s go</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Easy as pie and it works - other than that it puts most everyday dog owners in a jam: People want to cover ground because they think they must in order to meet their dog’s exercise needs. Thus, they continue the pulling relationship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I suggest treating the leash walk as any other training exercise: Short sessions and incrementally incorporating distractions, even if you only get to the end of the driveway, while providing physical outlets separately on a long line or off the leash. You might be surprised how much the mental training tires your dog out, and with practice, you will get increasingly less pulling and can walk with the leash loose for increasingly longer periods. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dominance isn’t the issue; being attached to a slow-moving biped is. Being outside is exciting for your dog: seductive smells and sounds, and memory of past fun in certain places, compel her to get there speedily. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The way to counter that, and hence decrease pulling, is for you to become more desirable. Don’t walk faster if your dog is bored unless you always want to walk fast, but make yourself more attractive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Play catch-me-if-you-can: in a securely fenced-in space off the leash, otherwise on a long line. As usual, begin where there are no or few distant distractions, and expand from there outward. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Whenever you are snappy and animated, your dog pays attention and becomes curious about you, and that’s when you cajole her to catch up. When she is within a 3-4 feet range, give her your full attention, abruptly change directions, speed up, or toss a food treat. That will make the environment less appealing and you more, and she’ll begin to want to be within the 3-4 feet range because she experiences that life is great there. Then, when you clip a 6-foot leash on, you have loose leash walking.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being near you becomes a habit, and once it is you don’t have to be that overtly high-spirited anymore, but being attentive never stops. Reinforce attention when your dog gives it, and attract attention when she doesn’t. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can bring your dog closer than 3-4 feet, and built heel work into every walk. Instead of tossing the treat out, drop it when she is right next to you, or let her nibble on a closed fist that contains a treat to slow her down, periodically releasing it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.canineassistants.org/" target="_blank">Jennifer Arnold</a>, you might have seen the PBS documentary "Through A Dog’s Eyes", doesn’t punish when a future assistants dog leaves a person’s side, but allows her to lick a wooden spoon dipped in peanut butter when she doesn’t. Is it real choice or coercion with a cookie? Jennifer Arnold: “Choice is allowing the dog to find out what feels good”, and she also says that all obedience comes easier with dogs who learn from the start that being by a person is a happy spot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The spoon only serves as a tool. The dog, in addition, also receives a lot of attention. The spoon eventually disappears, the attention never does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You want to be the cake and icing for your dog, but that doesn’t mean that you can or should forget the environment completely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A quality walk is much more than moving: It is being in the environment together, and that includes being sensitive to the fact that some things you might not appreciate are important to your dog and vital for her wellbeing. Exploring with the nose is such a thing, and although I don’t propose letting your dog pull you, she must have autonomy where she wants to sniff. The dog is the one who knows what’s sniff-worthy – you have no clue. The moment she is done with social media and ready to move with you again is another good time for your verbal walking cue. It’ll become a feel-good signal, my goal with every command, and then you can use it to prompt your dog without triggering anxiety or resistance, which is the case when what you say is a warning and threat. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you facilitate access to what is important to your dog even if you don’t comprehend it, like a parent does who drives her kid to football practice even though she dislikes the sport, the bond between you and your dog deepens more, and she wants to be with you more, and you get more attention, and so on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being attentive to one another is walking with a friend. The goal is not the person walking the dog, or the dog walking the human, but walking together – coordinated cooperation you can’t force with putting a rope or choke collar high around a dog’s neck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is the ideal I am aiming for, and in my experience it is achievable with perseverance. However, there can be hurdles:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your dog has a long history of reinforced pulling, progress can take time. Every person, at some point, experienced how hard it is to get rid of a habit, and it is not any different with a dog. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Change is also more difficult with dogs that are outside a lot unsupervised, or let loose at the dog park as their primary form of activity. They are used to stimulation away from you and will not suddenly pay attention to you just because you put a leash on them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A pup corrected for following, common in the name of popular but misapplied boundary training, becomes uncertain about following. While working with a client at a local dog park, we met a 4-month-old Border collie puppy, the owner boasting how perfect her pup was - except that she won't come when called. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She also explained that she, on day one, enticed the pup to follow, and then corrected her when she did. The owner referred to recall troubles, but my hunch is that pulling might also be an issue. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For some people the loose leash protocol is impractical. Maybe you walk the kids to school each day, or maybe you love long walks, and it makes no sense leaving the dog at home. Perhaps there isn’t enough time in your day for both training and exercising, and maybe you don’t mind a tight leash all that much, because then you can see what your dog is up to, and you don’t drip over it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth is that people live in the real world, not a theoretical concept however effective it may be. So, if managing works best for you, that’s okay. A front clip body harness gives you decent physical control and, unlike aversive gear, makes the walk pleasurable for your dog as well. Remember, you can force your dog next to you with certain tools, but you can’t force how she feels about you. My favorite is the <a href="http://www.wiggleswagswhiskers.com/" target="_blank">Freedom Harness</a>, and there are suppliers in many cities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still, don’t skip training altogether. It is good mental stimulation, you are working on the connection you ultimately want, and in time leash manners will improve. Using distinct walking gear: The harness for “free-dog” walks when you’d put up with some pulling, and a flat collar for “training” walks when you strictly enforce the loose leash, can expedite progress. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is one more reason why a dog pulls: Anxiety. Merely being outside can feel scary for some dogs even without the fear triggers present. The dog is aroused and tries to flee before something really bad happens. She pulls regardless which direction you are going, and often harder toward the car or home, the familiar refuge she wants to get back to. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other signs that your dog might be agoraphobic are frantic sniffing and/or excessive marking and/or over-reaction, barking and lunging, when a specific stimulus is in the vicinity – a stimulus seemingly benign to you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If this reads like the reason your dog pulls, I recommend you consult with an experienced, force free behavior specialist. There is a solution for that too, but it can be complex and multi-faceted, and addressing it the wrong way can make matters worse. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-10794725482560758892013-12-19T06:58:00.000-08:002013-12-19T06:58:26.087-08:00Leave-it: What It Means And Troubleshooting<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my last <a href="http://silvia4dogs.blogspot.ca/2013/12/thank-you-for-teaching-him-cahcah.html" target="_blank">post</a> I discussed how to teach a dog to leave and walk away from something that he wanted to pursue. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The natural question is if <i>leave</i>, categorically, means he never gets access, or if means: Leave till further notice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Opinions are split, as usual, but here is how I apply the command:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is a real risk that a dog will harm a person or animal, then leave has to mean access denied. Period. With absolute certainty, and you better be a darn good manager so that your dog, indeed, doesn’t get what he wants during the training phase. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For all others, though, such finality limits the command’s use. Sometimes, something or someone can become available after a leave cue, after I had a closer look, and I want the flexibility to change my mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For example, there could be dog in the distance I don’t recognize at first and want my dog to leave, but as he comes closer I see that it’s one she played with before. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or there could be a stranger my dog wants to greet, but I need to ensure first that the person is okay with that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Squirrels are initial leave-its, but when I see that it is safe for squirrel and dog, I allow mine to chase. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, having a reliable leave with the liberty to change my mind is the best of both worlds: It allows my dogs to have fun and socialize – something I take great joy in, but it is on my terms, not theirs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It keeps them out of trouble, they practice self-control, and it strengthens our bond because they understand that access to things they want happen through me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your goal is the same, then, during the training phase, periodically let your dog have what he originally wanted and you initially told him to leave, but make sure that he waits for a release cue. I use <i>get</i>, my universal signal for: access granted. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And don’t let the dog get the original item every time, or he’ll expect that and becomes frustrated if, one time, he can’t have it. Realistically, a dog can’t always get what he wants. No matter how friendly yours is, not every person likes dogs – I know, hard to believe but true – and not every dog wants yours in his space. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, don’t be so predictable: Sometimes, you offer something else, sometimes he gets that plus what he originally wanted, and sometimes he only gets what he originally wanted. Not only do you train against frustration, but you also raise your dog’s attention to you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leave works! It is, in my opinion, one of the fundamental commands and I teach it to almost every dog I meet. It is generally easy to teach, but periodically I encounter a dog where it’s less straightforward. Here are a few common hurdles and how to solve them:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dog is not interested in what you toss! Up the ante and use a higher valued treat, and/or play games with the food first. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The opposite: The dog is so hyper-motivated by what you tossed that he cannot shift his focus. Lower the value. And feed your dog. Heck, if an animal has to jump through hoops for every piece of food, food becomes a really big deal and all he can think about. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your dog still can’t do it, you can name-prompt to give him a clue what you are after. I’d rather wait a dog out and let him find the behavior, but some dogs really do need the initial extra help. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dog is too scared to go for the tossed treat. That is typical fallout from punitive training methods. Because he experienced in the past that acting spontaneously it could hurt, he becomes too inhibited to offer behaviors, is stressed by the treat on the ground, and shuts down. In that case, you need to build the dog’s confidence first: Play, reinforce offered behaviors, and of course don’t use anything aversive. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You are raising criteria too fast. Which means you take it to the next level before you mastered the present one. Don’t go from kibble to a hambone, or your dog might offer you a quick glimpse as a trick, but won’t be committed to leave the thing for good and walk away from it. Remember, it is commitment you want, so raise the bar gradually - and when you ask your dog to leave something he really wants, the reward has got to be similar to what he wanted to do away from you. If it was to chase a squirrel, don’t shove a cookie in his mouth, but play chase. If he wanted to play with a dog, then play with a toy or run with your dog. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The goal is that your dog will want to hear you say the cue. Then, don’t be surprised if he puts his own spin on it and uses it to solicit for rewards and interaction. Not kidding, whenever Davie and Will thought I was especially boring on a walk, they would hang the schnoz into something, typically scat or deer poop, and look at me a split second later, waiting for the leave command they enthusiastically and instantly heeded when it came. There is no other explanation. They weren’t collecting intelligence, they wanted some fun with me, and prompted it by trying to get me to say leave. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your dog does that, it’s okay. He is not dominantly controlling you, he is thinking – and leaving whatever it is he shouldn’t have. Exactly what you want. Be proud and play along. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-13721860993944094862013-12-18T06:57:00.000-08:002013-12-18T06:57:15.719-08:00Thank You For Teaching Him CahCah<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few months ago we were dogsitting my friend’s then 6 months old Border collie for a couple of weeks. Our Will is 12, so having a pup in the house was fun. Especially a collie. My affinity for herding dogs is old news. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course our life was a tad jumbled - there is a striking difference between a juvenile, and a seasoned, wise dog, but everything went without a hitch, mainly because my friend had already taught her lad a bunch of things, including <i>cahcah</i>, her cue for leave it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Born and raised in Germany, I was amused by her word choice: Kacke, stemming from the Latin cacare, is coarse German for feces and other repugnant things and situations, and kinda fits the purpose as a leave-it command, doesn’t it? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Leave</i>, or <i>cahcah</i> if you like the word, stands for: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is not available to you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Forget it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not happening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shift your focus and, the way I teach it, walk away from it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The purpose is clear: A generalized command that stops a dog from pursuing something that caught his eye, ear or nose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Step One happens where you should teach every new behavior: In the home, the place of least distractions, with the dog on the 6-foot leash, and ideally on a body harness because there is likely going to be some lunging or pulling. Depending on the dog, a flat collar could also work, but we don’t want to use a choke or prong collar, or Gentle Leader type snoot-loop, where the dog only behaves to relieve discomfort and pain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have a handful of kibble handy, and some yummy treats. If you have good footing and control, step on the leash; otherwise hold it in your hands. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Toss a kibble out of reach, and when your dog focuses on it say your leave-cue in a lower, but not intimidating, tone. You don’t want to inhibit your dog’s motivation to learn and be with you, but don’t plead either. Tell. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brace yourself. Depending on your dog’s degree of gusto, he might pull or lunge strongly toward the treat. Your job is to do nothing other than preventing him, via the leash, from accessing it. Don’t say a word and don’t tug on the leash, because we want our dog to self-learn that fixation, straining, barking and whining will NOT get him what he wants. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After about 20-30 seconds most dogs realize that and change their behavior, which is: Shifting their attention away from the treat. Catch that moment, and indicate with your higher-toned, upbeat voice, that he is on the right trail. It is not that important at this stage that your dog looks at you, only that he doesn’t look at the loot. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What is important, though, is that you don't mark and reward, because there is a second part to leave-it: The dog must walk away. Yes, I lump the two actions. I want looking away and walking away to be a habitual sequence, and every dog I have worked with gets it – albeit rarely straightaway. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What typically happens after I open my mouth with: “You got it, what a smart pooch…” is that he promptly zones in again on what’s on the ground - as if my voice alone is the release command. You simply repeat the lower-toned leave cue, and wait until he shifts his focus again. Most dogs are quicker this time, more ready to reorient to you, and to hold that attention for a moment. That connection is what you’re after. Now keep your dog engaged with you, then lean or take a step backward to check if he is willing to walk with you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want to stress that there must be a slack in the leash – that is why you need a 6-foot one, because we need walking away from something that caught his interest to be the dog’s choice. We want him to own that behavior, so that we will have it when he is off the leash. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As soon as your dog walks with you, a party begins: Be animated, playful, toss a few of the yummy treats as you continue to create distance to the one on the ground. If you can convince your dog that making that choice is more rewarding than the other thing, you’ll set the stage for voluntary compliance in the future regardless what it is you ask him to leave. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Practiced a lot, at one point your dog will skip the “looking at the loot” part, brilliantly thinking he can take a shortcut to the rewards you have. That is when you meanly throw him a curveball by incorporating a novel item, for example a toy, then a different food item, then another toy, and so on. Practice in various areas outside, and step by incremental step generalize the cue, so that it will be a universal one that prompts your dog to leave a cat, person, poop, squirrel, or another dog – even a sound he is hearing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Shifting the focus and walking away from a stimulus on cue could be as automatic as you putting your foot on the brake when something darts in front of your car.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Question! Does <i>cahcah</i> mean you can’t have it until further notice, or you can’t - ever -have it? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll answer that in the next post, plus share a few troubleshooting tips. </span><br />
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-67407243430574595792013-12-16T06:33:00.001-08:002013-12-16T06:33:53.080-08:00Separation Anxiety<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Separation anxiety is not a dog being bored and unruly or destructive because of it, but one who panics when left alone. Symptoms can include jumping, clawing or mouthing when the person is about to leave and when she re-enters, but commonly the expressions are more severe: considerable damage to doors, window frames or walls, urination and defecation in the house, ongoing loud vocalization. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Understandably, that is difficult to live with, and finding a solution a pressing issue. Unfortunately, there is no magic quick fix that makes a dog who feels unsafe, suddenly feel safe and relaxed when separated from her humans. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Popping the dog in the crate is not a viable answer. Rather than it being a refuge, the dog feels even more trapped and in an attempt to get out, could injure herself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, there are number of things that, in time, indeed enable a dog to deal with being left alone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the best ways to make an animal feel safe is to reassure her that care is available when she needs it. With many micro exists and enters the dog experiences exactly that. If you return before she becomes unnerved, latest with the first whimper, she will increasingly feel more secure in her environment and ability to communicate, and then can be left for increasingly longer periods of time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't leave your dog guessing, but provide information if she is coming or not. A precise word and gesture that tells her what is happening next makes events more predictable, and that can decrease anxiety. When my Will questioningly looks at me when I get ready to leave, I either grab her harness – the informational cue that we are taking her, or say <i>seeya - </i>our departure cue followed by the commonly used good-bye gesture. With the former, she excitedly moves to the door; with the latter she settles on her mat, discontent perhaps, but not distressed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you return, acknowledge your dog right away. Yes, I know that is against popular advice, but when you reunite, your dog is really happy to have you back, and that often starts when she hears the car, footsteps, or keys in the door. If you ignore her greeting, you raise frustration, and underlying tension builds. Obviously, when we are dealing with a dog who is already anxious, adding to it is counterproductive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Acknowledging should be low-key. Ask your dog to perform a couple of tricks, or engage her in a hand-target game. That is structured interaction without overstimulation, she gets to do something with you and think, and because she learns that she gets a piece of you as soon as you walk in the door, she is less stressed and settles more quickly. After the initial hello, go about your business and direct your dog to a self-entertaining activity, and once everyone's settled, invite her for a longer walk or playtime. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What you do when you are home is as important as your exit and re-enter behaviors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Never deprive your dog of attention, but you also want to create opportunities for her to have fun without you. If you constantly stroke and entertain your dog, you make yourself indispensable and will be sorely missed when you are gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our home, we are very affectionate and interactive with the dogs, but there are times each day when I do human-only stuff, with the pooches allowed to hang around, but otherwise ignored. An always-accessible, well-stocked toy box is essential for a dog to learn to self-entertain, and also should be the go-to place to self-sooth. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overly pampering a dog can create separation anxiety, but being inconsistent, overbearing, erratic or angry, in other words putting pressure on the dog, also does. Suzanne Clothier, author of “Bones Would Rain from the Sky”, said at one of her seminars that how dogs respond to dogs and people depends on how they know them. I’d like to add places to that. Places by extension. If the group the dog lives with feels safe, the place by association also does, and vice versa. So, make your home a refuge for your dog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is more you can do:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Return home at different times. Dogs develop an internal clock with a daily routine, and if you always come back at the same time, your dog will expect that and stress when you’re happen to be late.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs connect the dots, and dogs with separation anxiety are hyper-aware of dots/cues that precede their person’s departure, and charge up long before the door closes behind them. Changing the routine can decrease that anticipatory agitation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leaving the radio or TV on during your absence can be a safety cue. Safety cues are anything that trigger a feel-good emotion, and can also include a filled Kong or safe chew toy. In addition, background sound tunes out outside noises, and your dog won’t wind up with every sound she hears, thinking it is you. Introduce the safety cue when you are home, then when you are in another room, then when you exit the front door but re-enter right away, then gradually increase the time you are gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The D.A.P. collar or diffuser releases appeasing pheromones and is marketed as easing dogs’ anxieties. Good pet stores and veterinary clinics carry them, and also other natural products such as Biocalm. They don’t replace behavior modification, but can take the edge off and accelerate success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What about another dog for companionship? Although I have had clients where this worked, it can also backfire: There is a real risk that anxiety spills over to the initially problem free dog. As well, some dogs are only interested in their human and won’t accept a canine replacement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All of the outlined steps should happen simultaneously, not consecutively. The good news is that with patience, most dogs will improve. However, sometimes the temporary use of psychopharmacological drugs is necessary. Your friendly holistic veterinarian or veterinary behaviorist can help you with that.</span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-21462121481302126752013-12-13T12:19:00.000-08:002013-12-13T12:19:12.817-08:00Do That Action - Words Every Dog Should Know<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you know me personally, read my book, or follow my blog posts, you might have a faint idea that I am not a doggie micromanager and abhor obedience for obedience sake. That doesn’t take away from the fact that people, including me, who are in charge of a dog’s welfare and liable for her conduct, must be able to influence or induce her actions when necessary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is what commands are for, and which ones you teach is ultimately up to you. Safety first, but aside from that you really do not have to pay attention to what other people believe how a dog should behave. Every dog/human relationship is unique, and if it works for you, it works. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For instance, I don’t care if there is a little tension on the leash because then I don’t trip over it, but because I love to live life off the leash, and want to offer that to my dog, reliable <i>halt</i>, <i>come</i> and <i>leave</i> are paramount, and I put a lot of effort into mastering these skills. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before someone gets the wrong idea, we do observe leash laws – mostly, and I am not suggesting for a minute to forgo any kind of leash work, just that my time with my dogs is better spent than practicing heel to obedience-rink-style perfection. But if that turns your and your dog’s crank, than do that. Trained without pressures, any activity can be quality time and satisfying mental stimulation for your dog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, do what matters to you, and have the confidence to stand behind it. That said, there are several commands, when solid, that just about ensure that life with the pooch is pleasurable. Proactively taught, they keep the dog out of trouble, and are also the principle ones I use when dealing with behavioral issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Name Attention: When Will hears her name, she connects with me and arrives on the scene because she knows that what I do next involves her somehow. That’s what the name is for, and it could be the dog’s recall command at the same time. Some use the name in that sense, but I like a separate come cue cause it is not always necessary for Will to come all the way back, only to pay attention what I cue next.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Come: Self-explanatory. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Give: Means open your mouth and drop whatever is in it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, give is different than leave – the latter is to stop a dog from accessing something, the former to release something after the fact. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Halt: Means don’t continue to move in the direction you are moving and wait till I catch up, but you don’t have to look at me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Touch: Is targeting the hand and very briefly touching it with the nose. It has several real life applications, but one is to bring four paws on the floor when your excited dog jumps on you – or to channel jumping in case you own a young boxer. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Settle: Means park yourself somewhere, ideally on a specific mat, and hang out. You may choose the position and change it, just don’t move. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In day-to-day life, whether a dog sits or lies is irrelevant, but I still teach a down and sit separately. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beep-Beep: The dog backs up – like a truck. Children love to train that, and it is fun for the dog as well. The practical use is… Well, have you ever entered your home with your hands full of groceries? But it can also jog your dog’s memory what she could do if an out-of-control toddler makes her uneasy, or to prompt her away if she infringes someone’s space. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leave: Means shift your focus away from whatever caught your interest and walk away from it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are thinking with me, you may have noticed that <i>leave</i> isn’t actually a Do That Action command, but a Do Not Do That Action one. Technically, if you have a variety of really reliable Do That Action cues, you wouldn’t need <i>leave</i>, would you? You’d just prompt the dog in the behavior she should be doing instead of targeting that cat or sniffing the pile of poop. But in real life, a solid leave is handy, and I like it and teach it – in a way that my dog feels good when she hears it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So here they are, the words I think every dog should know. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Certainly, if you’re ambitious you can teach a lot more than that. Our Will also understands: <i>Over, This Way, Forward, Behind, Follow, Find, Get, Take</i> - and the last three are distinct behaviors, <i>Cross</i> (the road), and a cue that conveys that I’m beyond happy cause she nailed it: <i>Yay</i> as in “you’re so awesome – I love you”. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aussie Davie knew a bunch of Rally O’ positions in addition to that, and both dogs learned to comprehend a few cues not meant to bring forth a specific action, but to provide information about the present situation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Later</i> means not right now but feel free to check back in a moment, and <i>All-Done</i> means no interactions with me for a while. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All-done is binary information, the off-switch, and opposite to name attention, which is the dog’s on-switch. I’ll mention binary information again when I chat about the word No. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>It’s Just</i> is a relaxing cue that stands for: Don’t worry about it, it is not going to harm you, and if you use it you’ll better make sure that whatever your dog is concerned about indeed doesn’t come closer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Brilliant</i>, sweetly spoken, tells my dog that she’s on the right track and meant to encourage her to keep doing what she’s doing. The same word enveloped in a number of other soppy ones maintains my dog’s attention. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lastly, <i>quick</i> spoken staccato-like in a higher pitched voice eggs my dog on to move faster. I use it when we cross the road and she lags, or when she’s on her way back to me when called. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many words, eh? I know, but I haven’t met a dog yet who doesn’t have the potential to learn them, if you teach them. I admit, depending on you and your dog, it may take some time, but trust me: It is worth the effort. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-77352342591911271762013-12-13T06:22:00.000-08:002013-12-13T06:22:06.078-08:00I Cue With Words<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Do dogs understand words? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It seems so. We all know dogs that make the connection between word that is always used in the same context, and a certain event, subject or object that is relevant to them: Walk, leash, car, cookie, kitty, park…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, up until recently the scientific sticking point was if dogs actually comprehend the word, or pick up non-verbal cues at the same time and respond to that. Professional opinions are still split, but we’re getting increasingly more evidence that, indeed, dogs are capable of understanding our human verbal cues. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You might have heard of Chaser, the Border collie who knows 1022 words, independently confirmed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alexandra Horowitz, in “Inside of a Dog”, says that the sound we make carries meaning for our dog; that dogs have the cognitive ability to understand words they learned as important information for them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And <a href="http://www.apprendimentosociale.it/en/claudia-fugazza/">Claudia Fugazza</a>, an Italian scientist and trainer who does groundbreaking, and fascinating, work with dogs’ social learning abilities, states that a cue given verbally has mental representation for the dog. She says that almost every dog she worked with was able to learn to distinguish between words, but also says that the verbal aptitude depends on the dog’s experience with words. Sadly, many dogs have little experience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A chief peeve I have with the famous TV pack leader is that he doesn’t verbally communicate with the dogs he interacts with – although that isn’t quite true cause he does use the “tsst” sound as a threat. Famous means that many dog owners follow his guff and dismiss a whole segment of information transfer, and as a result there is a gap, or abyss, or complete breakdown, in communication between dog and person, which adversely affects the relationship and the dog’s welfare, and ultimately behavior. You can bet on that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But it’s not only the Whisperer who doesn’t speak to dogs. Disappointingly, some positive reinforcement trainers’ goal also is a dog who is watchful and attuned to his human’s non-verbal gestures and movements, aligning his actions accordingly. Even though it is more pleasant for the dogs because they’re not shocked and collar corrected, they are still missing out on an important part of communication. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Teaching cues in words is not just a theoretical concept. It has real life practical advantages: You are heard, you lower stress, and your dog stays attentive and learns better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Newsflash! Words also work when your dog is NOT watching you. Dogs can split attention and still know you exist even if they don’t look at you. Yes, of course we want the pooch to offer eye contact a whole lot, but to expect that he completely blocks out every stimulus that is part of the world he lives in, and only fixates on the handler, is unrealistic, and a bit narcissistic. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And whenever he doesn’t look at you, you’re out of luck with your non-verbal signals. They are not received. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Words are information, and information lowers stress. Christina Maslach, researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, found that one of the strongest predictors for job related stress and burnout is a vacuum of information from the top down. In the human/dog relationship, you’re the top, so give helpful cues when the dog needs them. You could argue that information transfer can be non-verbal, and you’d be correct, but the thing is that we humans are a wordly species, and often more precise when we speak instructions.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you use your voice in a supportive way, it becomes an emotional feel-good trigger and then, regardless what it is you say, it puts your dog at ease when he is nervous. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods in “Genius of Dogs” state that several studies showed that talking while demonstrating a solution to a problem helps dogs pay attention and learn better. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So babble away to keep your dog engaged and relaxed, but when you give a direct instruction, one word precision is best, spoken once, then giving the dog a chance to respond, but helping him if he doesn’t understand. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Helping sometimes means adjusting the situation, but often repeating the word works. Repeating is okay, but verbal diarrhea isn’t. The difference is that with the former you give the dog a chance to think and act, and the latter is an irritating staccato-like: down-down-down-down…” or whatever it is you’re teaching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can also help with a gestural hint, so don’t shelve non-verbal communication altogether. Use your words, and your body, and your eyes to communicate. All is valuable social information for your dog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You build cue/action awareness every time you connect a word and non-verbal signal with the specific action. If you want your dog to respond to both, Claudia Fugazza advices that the time between word and gesture should not be more than ½ second, but should not overlap. Whether you use the word or gesture first depends: When you teach a new behavior with luring, the gesture naturally comes before the word; when you follow Fugazza’s “Do As I Do” social learning protocol, it’s first the verbal cue, then the gesture. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The take-away message is that it is foolish to deny a species that has receptive human language skills the opportunity to learn words. Talk with your dog. It’s what many people already do anyway. That is how we are programmed. Now we have scientific evidence that it’s a good thing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The more you talk with purpose, the more sensitive your dog will be to your voice. He really is bilingual, and will get better the more you do it. He’ll soon listen for words he’s learned and are relevant to his life, and respond to them – and to you. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-65208433161462733722013-12-12T12:55:00.000-08:002013-12-12T12:55:01.706-08:00Cues and Commands<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The term cue has replaced command with a certain group of trainers. Commonly understood, a command is an order, backed with the threat of an unpleasant consequence for disobedience, and hence out of vogue with the force free crowd. They want to distance themselves from the trainers who still – blech – use compulsion to get a dog to do their bidding, and disapprove not just of <i>command</i>, but several other words that were and are used regularly, and I’ll elaborate on sometime in the future. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Without compromise, I am force free. Choke and prong collars are archaic, and shock collars outright inhumane; were they not, they wouldn’t be banned in several countries and people wouldn’t go to prison for using them on a child. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nevertheless, I use both cue and command, because a cue is much more than a direct instruction we give our dog, but also that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Animals, including dogs, act based on information they receive from the environment and information retrieved from the brain. A cue connects a situation with the corresponding memory - it is a stimulus that reminds, prompts the animal into a certain action. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anything can be a cue a dog will respond to: The fleeing rabbit, a piece of garbage on the road, a barking dog, the mailman approaching. In fact, environmental cues can be very potent action triggers, and we need to understand that, at that moment, the dog has no choice but to act. He isn’t behaving badly to piss you off, but because he can’t help it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fortunately we humans are a brainy species. We are able to teach our dogs our own cues, you could call commands, and why we should is obvious: Dogs who live in a human social setting have a better quality of life when they follow human social rules.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Successfully done, my dog will discriminate between cues, and defer to the one I give. In other words, my cue overrides whatever out there catches her attention and interest. That’s what we call obedience, and I want it. Every dog owner does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs are not egalitarian. Absolutely, we have a moral, unfortunately in our lands rarely a legal, obligation to meet their needs, but someone has to call the shots, and with dogs that live with us, it’s us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are in control of what our dog wants, we have the vision for the future, we set the course for the relationship, and we need to explain to the dog how his, sometimes complex and changing, world functions and what role he has in ours. Cues do exactly that. They are our communication line to our dog, and regardless if you say cue or command, it should never feel bad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alexandra Horowitz, in her book “Inside Of A Dog”, talks about a study that found that when owners used commands during a play activity, the dogs had a higher cortisol level after the session compared to dogs who got to play freely without any demands put on them. I don’t want that. I don’t want that my cues raise my dog’s stress, and yet when I give a command, I expect my dog to heed it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can we marry the two? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By rights, it shouldn’t be difficult. Dogs, unlike wolves, are genetically programmed to look to humans for information. Dogs have an evolutionary history with humans that wolves don’t have, and puppies, even when they have closer contact with littermates than people, offer eye contact and follow human gesturing from a very young age on. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brian Hare and Vanessa Wood, in “Genius of Dogs”, write: “Dogs dependence on our social information makes them more like infants than wolves.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The problem is that instead of taking advantage of, and building on, dogs’ proclivity to take their cues from humans, many treat a dog in a way that turns our presence, words and gestures into a stress triggers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humans can royally mess things up, and as a result we have variations how inclined the individual dog is to seek his human’s cues. Breed can play a role, but also life experiences: Left on their own a lot, dogs understand that stimuli and useful information comes from the environment and that’s where their attention will go, and dogs punished and deliberately presented with stressors, including when micromanaged and never permitted to live out their intrinsic drives, learn to resist and avoid us, and then we have to artificially bribe or demand the attention that should come so naturally. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How do we do things better, so that indeed our cues will override environmental ones, and the dog will listen to us without feeling stressed? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ll chat about it in various future posts, but there are three critical aspects: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don't intimidate, threaten and hurt when you teach a dog what your cues mean. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The clearer a signal is for the dog, the less he will gamble when he has the choice between several options. One cue for one behavior, and make sure your dog knows it and hears you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And we have to give the cue proactively. Duh! I score little leadership points each time I provide a concrete roadmap that helps my dog solve life’s natural pressures, and the more she trusts, the more she’ll look for cues when in doubt, including when she walks ahead of me off the leash and references back which direction to take at crossing paths. She could just follow the scent cue that’s most enticing, but she doesn’t.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People fail in all areas, but often aren't even aware of the importance to be proactive. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They wait until the dog makes a choice and then react, and punish if they don't like the choice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The information our dogs seek and we provide must come via gestures and words, not the collar or leash. A prong collar is not a steering tool, my voice and body are. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To prevent that cues are relayed through the leash, some trainers recommend hands-free ones, which is great other than running the risk to lose footing when a powerful and not yet well enough trained dog bolts. I acquired a nice scar exactly like that. So, I prefer leash in hand, but teach my clients not to use it to communicate. Chances are that during a dog’s lifetime the owner will be holding a leash in their hand, so they better learn what it is, and isn’t, for. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, the leash in itself many dogs respond to because it is a cue that something is about to happen. Commands are what we deliberately teach, but cues are also something the dog picks up and connects in our day-to-day routines. We are often unaware until we notice a pattern – the dog responding in a certain, habitual way triggered by us doing something customarily. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sometimes it takes awhile, like Will who halts at always the same spot in our neighborhood to have her leash clipped back on, and sometimes a dog connects the dots very quickly, like our Aussie boarder who settled at my feet each morning when I opened my laptop. I didn’t cue in any other way, and also did not reinforce it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The above-mentioned behaviors, of course, are great, but dogs also make connections that backfire. One experience, if it impacts the dog badly enough, can trigger a strong aversion response when the cue presents itself again. Although the aversion is typically expressed in behaviors we don't want, a dog can also perform flawlessly if that is the only way he can avoid or stop the bad thing. That is why shock collars work - with some, but that has nothing to do with dogs' natural predisposition to seek help and information from humans. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only way to foster that is to be </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">mindful of the cues we expose our dogs to: The commands we teach and how we use them, and the cues that are part of their environment. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-54946535901227371472013-12-11T07:41:00.000-08:002013-12-12T12:55:34.327-08:00What Is So Special About A Sit Anyway?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humans find it tremendously important that a dog sits. There is a shock collar franchise named Sit Means Sit, and one of my friends, a committed positive reinforcement only clicker trainer, co-founded a training facility named Sit Happens. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A dog that sits is serious stuff and everyone, other than some show breeders, trains it – and trust me: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Everyone” in dog circles doesn’t happen a whole lot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One does not need to ponder long why that fixation. A dog that sits can’t jump, lunge or otherwise get himself into trouble at the same time. The other attraction is that it is easy to teach. Every trainer, layperson or shelter volunteer can do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An incompatible behavior to the ones we loathe, and easily trained? There couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with that? Right? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wrong! Well, somewhat wrong. I argue that sit is not only irrationally overrated, but can backfire. Let me explain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve been professionally involved with dogs for almost two decades, and increasingly see more and more dogs who mechanically sit when I enter the home, but latest after they sniffed that I am treat-equipped. That’d be okay if it were a loose-bodied, settled sit. But mostly it is not. Mostly it is a stiff like a statue sit, the dog boring a hole in my head, tensely demanding the treat he excepts should follow the action of putting his butt on the ground. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I don’t respond right away, the behavior changes quickly: The dog shifts around, whines or barks in frustration: “I am sitting. Hand it over!” and if still nothing happens he typically self-releases, and often jumps or is otherwise pushy, in frustration. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With some dogs, you could insert a chosen foul word between “it” and “over”. I am not kidding. I met a few where frustration escalated to anger and aggression, with one dog biting me, drawing blood. Thankfully it was a Pomeranian and the damage to my hand not as bad as it could have been with a larger dog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How did a good behavior go south? Here is my theory: We get what we train for. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sit before the door opens, sit to get your collar on, sit before the leash comes off, sit to get in the car, sit for the toy, sit for a bone and chewy, sit before you cross the road, sit before the walk begins, sit for affection, sit to greet, sit before you can play. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sit for your food in the bowl, or worse, sit for every kibble that’s hand fed: Sitclickkibble-sitclickkibble-sitclickkibblesitclick… Sit! Sit! Sit! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The human obsession with sit becomes the dog’s; he offers it constantly for everything he wants, and because most people fail to put the behavior under stimulus control, he gets reinforced instantly and learns to expect it, and becomes confused and frustrated when what he expects doesn’t manifest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are other drawbacks. In my work, there are a number of behaviors I know will help my clients, and many require the dog to start from a standing position, for example beep-beep = back up. When I want to teach it, what I commonly get is the dog firmly planting himself when I gently move into his space, and I have to teach stand before I can proceed to what I am after. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not that big of a deal but still annoying is when the long leash entangles between the dog’s legs and I tell him to halt to untangle it, and he sits on it, and I end up luring or lifting him. Ditto when he has a twig or a poop leftover stuck to butt hair, and I also don’t want an automatic sit in a puddle or slush. With a Newf-size and longhaired dog, that is a real mess. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More of a concern is if sitting is uncomfortable or painful because of age or arthritis. Yet, the dog still sits, because he knows that nothing good happens unless he does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was a time when I, too, thought that a dog addicted to a specific behavior because I externally reinforced it was a goal worth aiming for, because, by extension, she would also be addicted to me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not anymore. I changed my mind because, as any person troubled with an addiction will tell you, it is not a healthy way to live or have a relationship; it is emotionally arousing and draining. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I also changed my mind because a mechanical automatic sit, although sometimes hailed as such, is not a foolproof way to solve problematic behaviors, because often the underlying reason(s) isn’t explored and addressed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An anxious or excited dog who sits because he learned that nothing else produces what he wants, or because then the shock doesn’t happen, might display that level of impulse control but won’t feel any differently about the stimulus that prompted the jumping, barking, lunging, nipping, growling, or whatever. A sitting dog can still be intensely internally stressed and aroused, and the unwanted expressions quelled with pressure often resurface with a different handler, or in a different home, or shortly after the pooch is back at home if he was, sadly, sent to a board-and-train facility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And even when jumping is attention seeking, teaching a dog to sit instead also doesn’t always work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently had a client whose dog used to be an excessive attention-getting jumper, and at 100+ pounds, she got it. A dog that size is rarely ignored when she bounces against you. The previous trainer taught down as the incompatible behavior – wisely understanding that a lie down is often the more comfortable position for a giant breed dog – which she nicely offered me several times throughout our session, albeit with same “gimme” look I talked about earlier. However, the core issue, her rescue dog insecurity and increased need for reassurance was not dealt with, and she began to spin and lick herself, which she also got attention for because it is hard to ignore, and it has become compulsive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lesson here is that outcomes in real life aren’t as predictable than what is determined in a lab, and the behavior you teach and reinforce might not always be the one the dog chooses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not suggesting, not at all, that a dog shouldn’t be taught to sit and lie on cue. Sitting is good, just not a mechanical automatic sit not under stimulus control. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, understand that attention, connection, manners and impulse control are not position specific. A dog can have impulse control while standing and moving. In fact, many behaviors I want involve motion: Back away, come, left, right, follow, move ahead or over, walk with me, search for something, even leave-it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, go ahead and teach your dog to sit, and acknowledge when he offers it. Have fun playing sit games. But don’t create a dog who expects that each time he sits what he wants will manifest. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t make everything the dog needs contingent on a sit. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And don’t forget to teach polite manners in any position, and every activity. Once a dog has them, in day-to-day life, it doesn’t matter if he sits, lies, stands or moves. I let mine choose.</span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-37571422016463849892013-12-06T11:44:00.000-08:002013-12-06T11:44:28.613-08:00Communication in Pictures: Shy<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Occasion!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">PBS Nature documentary shoot about a Border collie named DriftWood who is missing his back paws and has prosthesis. You can find out more about DriftWood <a href="http://www.driftwoodthedog.wordpress.com/">here</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Story!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A number of trainers were asked to participate with their dogs in a mock puppy class to show how DriftWood manages life without back paws and how he relates to dogs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was one of the invited trainers and, in lieu of my own pup, handled my clients' brand new duck tolling retriever, 9-week-old Cookie. At the time she was on the leash for about 4 days, and for the first time since she left the breeder in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people and dogs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also invited was a good friend who came with her 6 months old Border collie Lauchie, who was, at the time, a bit cautious around some other dogs. Because of his own lack of bravery, methinks, he tried to befriend the youngest and least “intimidating” pup: Cookie. The fact that I was a familiar person might have contributed to that. The toller, however, was not at all sure that making friends with the collie was a great idea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Notice the collie’s lowered body, appropriate sniffing, not at all being pushy, at one point lying down and rolling on his back, goofily enticing her to play. He tried his best to be sweet and solicitous. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Look at the toller’s clamped mouth, her slight curved body away from him, her sitting on purpose to prevent him from sniffing her butt. By the way, that can be an indication of confidence that might surface when she is a bit older. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is worth to mention that I initially had Cookie in my arms, and would have picked her up again had she indicated that she wanted off the ground. There is nothing wrong with providing your pup or small dog with a safe place when she is nervous. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The End!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After awhile, Cookie became quite inquisitive, and confidently checked out the training facility and equipment, sniffed some of the other dogs briefly, and then happy-tailed continued to interact with me and her owners. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Had she been really fearful instead of being shy and needing some time to acclimate, we would have called the session off or increased the distance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All the pups in class sniffed the other dogs briefly, but then explored and worked on things with their humans. That’s how my friend Aimee, who was the instructor, runs her classes, and I like it. Nothing against play, that is important for puppies too, but more than ongoing free-for-all out-of-control roughhousing, they need to learn that exploring with their owners, and staying focused and re-orienting to them, all in the proximity of other dogs, is rewarding. That’s what dogs need to do in real life. </span><br />
<br />silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-50542234406628527432013-12-06T10:30:00.001-08:002013-12-06T10:30:27.169-08:00The Dilemma With Rescues and No-Kill<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why Do I Meet So Many Dogs With Issues?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The obvious answer is because working privately with dogs who have behavioral issues is, almost exclusively, what I do. Periodically someone hires me for basic training, or to help them pick a perfect canine match, but most people do because their dog acts in ways that makes life with him unpleasant, and sometimes dangerous. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, based on my personal experiences, but also what I read and hear from peers across the continent, I feel that increasingly more dogs display increasingly more severe problematic behaviors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So why? Before I give you my take, I’m gonna let you in on a secret: The original title for this post was “No-Kill is a Pipe Dream”, based on this <a href="http://www.canine-behavior-associates.com/2013/06/20/animal-welfare-dilemma-tricia-breen/">article</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To be clear, I still agree with it, but decided that instead of repeating it more or less in my own words, I want to address the topic in its complexity, as much as it can be done in 2000-some words. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On a side note, I initially published this post on my website, announced it on Facebook, and definitely ruffled some feathers. Some comments were heated, many others supportive, and since I also had a few in-person conversations with friends in rescue who admitted that, although they’d preferred not being presented with below statements, I am right on the mark. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am grateful to everyone who had my back, publicly or privately, but also appreciated critical comments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People who always agree with you don’t make you think, do they, and when someone disagrees respectfully and rationally, I ponder on it. Hence, this post is the original one, but has additional thoughts or clarifications in brackets. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, once again, why are there so many problematic dogs in North America? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let’s start with the source: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Breeders, and by that I mean every person whose dog spermed or whelped a litter, cause every dog, including every troubled one, was once born to someone who either made a deliberate choice to produce him, or failed to prevent it. So in the context of this post I am not going to differentiate between an accidental litter, back yard breeder, and one registered with a kennel club. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I am anti-rescue, I am even more anti-bad-breeder, and they can be found everywhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They include people too dense to comprehend that a dog in heat can get pregnant, and large kennel breeders who produce ongoing litters because puppies pay the bills. Both are the originators of overpopulation, and creators of problems, because whoever relies on dogs to survive financially breeds, rears and places pups heedlessly. Breeder mistakes become owner troubles, and when problems exceed skill and abilities, the poor pooch along with the issues is surrendered, cause returning him is not an option, cause rotten breeders don’t have a contract. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In contrast, a conscientious breeder, who absolutely deserves to make a profit but in reality often doesn’t, pays attention to health and temperament, starts the pups on the right paw, chooses homes carefully, and stands behind every puppy they produce for life by stipulating that the dog must be returned to them if the owner is unable to give care any longer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Naturally, if everyone would acquire a pup from a good breeder, we’d have a ton fewer problems and no pure bred dogs in rescue. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But many people don’t, thanks to pet stores and online sites like Kijiji, who are the bad breeders’ enablers and the place where gullible idiots and stingy misers (not every dog advertised online is cheap, but many are) shop for someone who affects their life for a decade or longer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know, I know, sometimes a good breeder advertises there as well, and yes, everyone knows someone who got an awesome dog online, but by and large it is the preferred platform where unscrupulous breeders and overwhelmed owners make a buck or pass their dog problems on to the next guy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next we have contributors, and there is a group of people you might not think of as contributors: Trainers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many owners are dog-laypeople, and seek and rely on professional advice, but most aren’t aware that there are no industry standards. That means that it’s pretty much the luck of the draw if the information one receives prevents and improves behavioral problems, or if an owner ends up with a trainer who was current 30 years ago, or one who knows how to watch TV and hold a leash but not much else about dogs and behavior. The outcomes of the latter I see frequently, just a couple of weeks ago with a client whose 11-week-old pup bites hard and deliberately. She targets specifically hands and arms, and guess what, her folks followed the popular pack leader advice and forced her on her back, held her muzzle closed, and pressed a finger on the roof of her mouth to deal with normal puppy mouthing. I don’t blame them, they just followed “expert” advice, but now the pup bites – to defend herself. Yes, it is unusual behavior for a pup that age, but in my world I see a lot of defensive aggression directed against owners, or displaced towards others, and sometimes in very young dogs.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By the way, finding a good trainer on Kijiji and such is analogous to finding a good breeder there: There are some, but many aren’t. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now let’s take a closer look at rescues, and I include SPCAs and humane societies as well – any organization that takes dogs in nobody else wants at the moment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rescues are the receivers. Sometimes caring owners’ circumstances change that forces them to give up their pet, but more often rescue receives dogs someone messed up along the line. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like good breeders and trainers, there are fabulous rescues, with people in charge who have a keen interest in dogs and behavior. They research, ask, learn and then educate, and expect the same standard from their staff and foster homes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But there are others, operated by people who either have “broken wing” syndrome or self-esteem issues, and rescue because dogs fix them more than they fix the dogs (Did I ever step on toes with that sentence. To be clear: I am neither without compassion nor do I think that people with emotional or mental issues shouldn’t own or help dogs – as long as the dog’s welfare comes first, and that includes service dogs, for that matter. Dogs can heal and assist, and with the right dog it can be satisfying and purposeful. But one who needs healing, who doesn’t trust, feels unsafe, and needs guidance and support, will continue to suffer in the hands of someone who put’s their own problems first. And that is not okay). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bad rescues aren’t interested in staying current, don’t know what dogs communicate or worse don’t care, and take advice from too many trainers or no one. A recent <a href="http://dogmatraining.com/blog/?p=298">post</a> by one of Calgary’s top training facilities illustrates what I am talking about. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In essence, good rescues might make a mistake - we all do - but generally make things better for dogs and society; bad ones might make things better for the odd dog, but perpetuate suffering for many others. They amass dogs from everywhere and pass them along without evaluation to unsuspected, kind folk. They follow training methods that make dogs feel less save in their “care” than where they lived before; methods that either fuel or mask problems, which then surface sometime after the dog’s been adopted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good rescues evaluate, and reveal honestly if there are red flags. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bad ones lack the experience to assess properly, or don’t take the time, or understate their observations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once, I heard a local rescuer I very much respect explain to the potential new owner that the dog bites under certain circumstances and has drawn blood. That is real speak the public comprehends and has a right to know before they adopt. It is necessary to phrase it that way because most people don’t know that “doesn’t want to share his toys” or “not good with cats/dogs/men/children” could mean that he might injure someone badly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wish laypeople would dig deeper, but they don’t. People perceive rescue as authorities regarding dogs, like they trust their veterinarian’s advice on training and nutrition even though many aren’t experts in either, and like they won’t question someone who calls himself a trainer even if what he does goes against their grain. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rescues have to be frank so that the new owner doesn’t underestimate the dog, like the person who let his rescue dog off the leash, who promptly attacked a 12-week-old pup and, despite her rolling on her back, bit through the abdominal muscle wall. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or another client who had lost her 14-year-old canine companion, approached rescue for another, and ended up with a dog who inflicted multiple, severe injuries to another dog two months after adoption. That dog also periodically watched me tensely, with a hard-eyed fixation, plus he was nervous of people, including children, we saw on the walk, is destructive when left alone and stiffened, in the beginning, when his collar was put on. The owner contemplates euthanasia, and in that case would do what rescue should have done. By adopting him out instead, not only will the dog lose his life after all, but they are responsible for three additional victims: his new person who had bonded with him is devastated, and the attacked dog and his owner traumatized. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I argue that good rescues humanely euthanize, and yet I am hard-pressed to blame them if they don’t. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is a real risk that an organization that is honest about the number of dogs they euthanize loses support and donations. People dislike dead dogs. They don’t want any dog to be put down, they just don’t want to own certain ones, or be their neighbor. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Groups that kill are badmouthed on social media, at times by other rescues. It’s like a fundraising battle who deserves more money cause they move more dogs than the others. But who checks how many dogs still lead a quality life, let’s say, two years later? That would be a truer measure of No-Kill than intake and outgoing numbers, would it not? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But no one measures that, like no one measures how many dogs are killed indirectly when: </span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new owner euthanizes because they are scared of the dog’s actions</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dog harms or kills another dog. If he is of a breed that already has a bad reputation, and yes, the two cases I just mentioned were Amstaffs, the owners of the victims might push for a legislated breed ban, and we all know that that means many more dead dogs including ones that never aggressed </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People who are upset won’t look to rescue for their next dog, not to that one and perhaps not any one, and talk about their experiences with their social circle who might do the same. The result is that more dogs will sit in shelters for longer, which means that others are turned away because there is no space – and might be dumped or shot behind the shed. The same can happen when rescues import large quantities of dogs from high-kill areas, and have no room for local ones in need of refuge. Personal experience </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rescues accept only dogs that have a high chance to being adopted </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rescues take litters bad breeders aren’t able to sell. Unless they also remove the breeding stock, they, too, are their enablers and prolong suffering for the dogs they didn’t take </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is what I mean when I say No Kill is a pipe dream. In reality, it only means: “Not killed directly by us”. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don’t lack compassion – another thing I was recently accused of in addition to being anti-rescue. Compassion for dogs is the driving force for everything I do since almost 20 years. But I am realistic, and I am anti-adopting-out-a-dog-whose-neighbor-I-wouldn’t-want-to-be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know it’s tough. I was a volunteer for two humane societies for several years, a foster home, and have been professionally involved with dogs long enough to understand the emotional and ideological aspects: </span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Killing seems wrong, especially killing someone for actions that are not his fault and not under his control, which is the case with every dog. No dog is bad on purpose </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Killing also seems wrong, and unfair, when a dog is really nice other than in the specific circumstance when he is not </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And killing seems wrong when the dog is so small that he can’t do much damage, but trust me, I have met toy dogs who caused tremendous heartache to their owners because of aggression </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dogs, born predisposed to be companions for humans and at least not mutilate their own kind, shouldn’t die, but the way things are now in our society, I believe there is no alternative because we have dogs where the risk that they do harm is high. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How can things change? Here are some ideas: </span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Legislation who can breed and sell dogs to address the root of the problem</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">National standards who can train dogs and give behavioral advice, so that buddy who has a dog isn’t allowed to make money with his little bit of knowing not much. Not kidding - A while back I found an ad online where a fellow admitted he wasn’t a trainer, but thought he had certain skills and offered his help for 25 bucks an hour</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyone involved in rescue should be required to possess a set amount of hands-on experience and behavioral knowledge, so that they don’t make matters worse </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An informed public. I know, now I am dreaming, but really, wake up people. Please. If you’re too cheap to support a responsible breeder, you either don’t deserve a dog, or can’t afford one. If you are impatient and can’t wait until a proper breeder has a litter, be aware that the readily available pup can come with issues that’ll require a lot of patience to deal with later. If you feel sorry for the pup you see online, also feel sorry its mother who continues to suffer and pop out more litters. If you buy a mass-produced pup out of pity, you’re not rescuing anything, you are enabling. Every dollar an irresponsible breeder receives confirms that he can make money with irresponsibly breeding dogs</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the end it comes down to the consumer. An uneducated public is the enabler of scum breeders, archaic and incompetent trainers, and rescues that release unsafe dogs into the communities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you want to give an unwanted dog a second chance, inquire about the dog’s health and behavior. Getting a dog un-assessed is like choosing a life-mate from a mail order catalogue. Hiring a professional to have a sober expert look is money well spent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don’t buck if the rescue insists on a filled-out questionnaire, references and a home inspection. These are good signs. That means they care. A good breeder does that as well, and every second hand pooch is as deserving of the best possible home as the carefully bred pureblooded pup. </span></div>
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silvia4dogshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06754651331524490306noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3742575866265031167.post-61534980164050629862013-12-06T07:21:00.000-08:002013-12-06T07:21:39.898-08:00How To Choose A Trainer<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Group classes are popular, but you don’t have to join a class to have a well-mannered dog. In fact, there are dogs that are not good candidates for a group setting because they are too anxious or too excitable to learn in the proximity of other dogs and/or people, or have a bad association to a training type facility. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can train your dog yourself if you know how, and yes, that includes socializing. Socializing simply is exposure to stimuli that are, or possibly will be, part of the dog’s world, and exposure means it happens at the dog’s comfort level and without pressure. That is critical, and many mistakes are made in the name of socializing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, if you own a pup, or dog who is suited for group classes, it is more cost effective than private lessons, and can be a lot of fun. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Private or group, sessions are in reality skill-building lessons for owners. Dog trainers train the people, not the dogs. Now I sound like Cesar Millan, but it’s true. Think about it: even if a trainer sees a dog an hour a week for 24 weeks, 3 consecutive 8-week courses, and that is pushing it because much of the general public quits before, that are still only 24 hours. Meanwhile, the dog is with her people for about 370 waking hours – more or less depending on how much one sleeps. Take away an 8-hour workday, it still leaves more than 200 hours cause there are weekends too, right? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, it’s got to be training the people how to train their pooch, and here is the crucial part: How that is done can determine, or strongly influence, whether a dog turns out great or has, sometimes lifelong, issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In essence, there are two types of trainers: The ones who do things to dogs, and the ones who do things for dogs. You want the one who does things for dogs. Why? Because studies suggest that cognition and emotion can’t be separated, and that toxic stress in the classroom impedes learning. For the longest time our school system buoyed the mantra: “Turn your brain on and leave emotions outside the classroom door”. Not any longer. Things are a changin’, and it is not any different with our dogs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dog-centric handling benefits people too by extension, because a dog not under pressure, and not threatened with pain, has fewer behavioral issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now that we have determined that not all trainers are alike, the big question is how to find a good one. What are the criteria to look for? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Certification can be one, but unfortunately the dog industry, other than veterinarians, is unregulated in North America. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We don’t have national standards, and anybody can open a school of some sort and certify whoever dishes out several thousand dollars for a 6-week course in dog training. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Experience is great, but on its own not enough. Without ongoing professional development, being in the business for 20 years can mean doing the same thing for 20 years and being very proficient in that, like correcting a dog like it was taught 60 years ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even academic credentials alone don’t necessarily equal competence, if they come without hands-on experience. Dogs in human midst aren’t lab rats. Behavioral laws established in the lab have applications in real life for sure, but there is more to it, and some things are better learned by doing, instead of reading, or at least in addition to reading. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I, after almost 20 years being involved with dogs, still meet the occassional one who makes my brain hurt and I need to think outside the (Skinner) box. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best dog pros understand the science behind behavior, have experience with a variety of dogs, and most importantly a genuine interest to continue to learn and grow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Doing things for dogs and understanding the science automatically rules out tools designed to inflict pain: The choke, prong and shock collar. Walk away from a trainer who uses them. Also walk away when:</span><br />
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trainer forewarns you of his methods</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trainer sees the need to explains herself to a child </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trainer states that it doesn’t really hurt </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trainer justifies inflicting pain with it being unavoidable because the dog is dominant, willful, or intentionally disobedient</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not a fan of trainers who stipulate certain gear, and I’m referring to the snoot-loop Gentle Leader type nose harness. Many dogs find it highly aversive, even more so than a prong collar, and still some facilities make its use mandatory, including for puppies. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even the clicker, undoubtedly a positive tool, should be optional. Lay people can find it awkward, and spend more time focusing on the clicker and their own body awareness than the dog. They miss things, and become frustrated. I had private clients who ditched positive reinforcement training altogether, and I had to convince that they can be train humanely and effectively without that tool. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I get it, group classes, by virtue of dealing with a number of different people and dogs, can’t provide the individual attention owners get who opt for private sessions, but there should be some flexibility. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Good trainers reveal openly and honestly how they work with dogs. All dogs, regardless of their actions. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It should be stated on their website, they should answer your email when you ask, and allow you to watch a class in progress. They explain their method with precise words and not euphemisms that disguise what they really do. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A good trainer understands, and points out, when a dog needs distance or a break, and encourages and facilitates that. That means that the owners will learn to understand basic body language, critical for the relationship.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Relationship and mechanical training are intertwined; with commands you explain to your dog how your life together works, and they can offer support and guidance when he is uneasy and conflicted, but the relationship has priority: When it functions, training is quicker, easier and being together mutually rewarding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is the trainer and facility’s responsibility to create a climate conducive to learning, and that means also being nice to all humans. Inter-personal skills are as important as relating well with dogs. No one should openly call you down, or the breed of dog you own. Of course we all have our preferences, but if your trainer doesn’t like seniors or children, teenagers, men or women, shepherds, Labradors, or toy dogs, she needs to keep that to herself. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A trainer should not make fun of you, or use your dog’s challenges as a center stage bad example, like some teachers did in the good old days when I went to school, ordering the dumbest kid to the front of the class to solve a math problem or read out loud. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve seen it all. It is called bullying. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And a trainer who treats you and yours kindly, but yells at her staff, also fouls the atmosphere, and that too affects your dog. Studies with rats showed that one stopped pushing the lever to obtain food if another was shocked. Of course, being sensitive of others’ stress signals means to be perceptive of potential danger, and evolutionary speaking that is necessary for survival. Because of domestication, I believe that dogs are not just susceptible to other dogs’ distress, but also ours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Personally, I don’t particularly like large groups, with many dog/person teams coached by several trainers and assistants. It can get cramped, and the continuity that owners need could get lost. I’ve attended classes with my foster pup where the advice changed within 10 minutes from one assistant to another, and had I not known myself what to do, I would have been utterly confused - and indeed other participants were.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But if the area is large enough to spread out, and if the head trainer makes sure that each instructor relays the same message, it can work fine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lastly, I love course setups where a dog won’t advance to the next level until skills are solid – however long it takes. Taking it slow at the foundation level expedites success in the end, and good trainers know that. However, sticking to it is not always easy: The people pay and have certain expectations, so the trainer adjusts and pushes the dog through, instead of explaining, without making the owner feel stupid and frustrated, that not every dog learns the same things at the same rate. So, the onus here is more on the owner than trainer to be patient. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humans make choices for their dogs. They have the power. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humans that are informed make better choices, and if there are many informed humans, trainers are forced to change or go under.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I want to empower you to ask questions, and have the backbone to walk out of a class and away from a trainer when something doesn’t feel right. If you feel uncomfortable, imagine how it feels for your dog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you choose right, your dog will trust you, the leash, the facility and possibly other new places because he has experienced that being with you on unfamiliar ground is still safe. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once a dog has the confidence that new is safe, details can change and he will still be able to relax and perform. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our Aussie Davie trusted us without reserve, and had a very positive association to the training facility, and it showed when we went to their Halloween party, and everyone was dressed up and the place decorated. It was dark, and there were spooky sounds, and she still behaved wonderfully, and we all had a great time. </span><br />
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