Guy Fawkes night is fast approaching... Is your dog ready?That times of year many of us dread is fast approaching. Firework season. It's not just the 5th of Nov, but often days and even weeks before and after that has our dog stressed out. In Advance 1. Speak to a vet If your dog struggles with fireworks, now is the time to speak to your vet and get prepared. If your dog shows severe anxiety then I highly recommend speaking to your vet about the variety of medication that is available. Sileo is a make of sedative medication designed to help with fear of fireworks. Have a work with your vet as soon as you can to see what they can offer. Pain/discomfort can also really heighten your dog's sensitivity to sounds. Even if you don't think your dog is ready for long term pain treatment it can be really helpful to discuss whether this would be helpful to your dog around about bonfire night. 2. Start a desensitisation plan While it's usually impossible to create a training plan to fully desensitise a dog to fireworks, because the explosive nature of fireworks is impossible to replicate. There is still lots of a trainer can do, to help your dog learn to build up neutral or even positive responses to loud noise. This can add a layer of confidence that can make a difference to your dog on fireworks night. One the night 1. Create a Safe Haven Provide you dog with a secure and comforting space. Choose a quiet room in your home and set it up with their favorite blanket, toys, and perhaps an item of your clothing (your scent can be reassuring). Close the curtains or blinds to minimise the visual impact of fireworks, and play some calming music,white noise or taiko drumming to muffle the loud bangs. Many dogs will chose to hide in places, like the shower or unusual spots. This is thought to be because the explosions cause the air to become positively charge, like during thunderstorms and being near copper pipes is calming. 2. Keep Your Dog Indoors It's so easy for even the most robust dog, to get a fright from a particularly loud firework. Lots of dogs run off in terror around fireworks night. Take no risk 3. Tire your dog out To make sleep more easy for your dog, try and get them out for a good walk during daylight. Some extra training, brain games or scentwork can also help them start the night in a nicely tired state. 4. Distraction Techniques Engage your dog with their favorite toys or treats to divert their attention from the fireworks. Chewing on a treat-filled toy or playing interactive games can be excellent ways to keep them occupied and alleviate anxiety. Snuffle mats, lick bowls, kongs, dried skins. Stock up. 5. Calming Products Some dogs benefit from support from some of the calming products on the market. Thunder shirts, calmex, zylkein, etc. However, this aren't magic and for many dogs, your money would be better spent else where 6. Stay Calm and Reassuring Dogs are sensitive to your emotions, so it's crucial to remain calm and composed during fireworks. It's absolutely ok to offer your dog reassurance and cuddles if that is what they need. However the most important thing is to model calm disinterest in the fireworks. You're dog will be looking for your opinion on the matter, so be calm, be jolly, be their safe person. New Puppies If your dog is going to be experiencing fireworks for the first time, there is lots you can do to help create a positive association. Model a calm response to the fireworks. Provide your puppy with lots of fun activities. Don't lets children's excitement overwhelm your puppy. Avoid your puppy getting a big fright.
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What does the term "cue" mean? Cues. Have you heard dog trainers using the term "cue"? Simply put a cue is the information we give our dogs that tells them which behaviour to do in order to achieve a favourable outcome, or reward. In traditional training the term "command" is used in place of cue.
While we are almost always aiming to have our dogs understand verbal cues such as "sit", "down", "stay", or a hand signal, our dogs actually pick up on so much more information than that. In fact, our dogs often don't pick up on the words we are saying at all. So often our dogs look at our body language, direction, and movement to give them cues and information too. The context and environment in which we give our cue is really important too. If I were to stand with Bertie in front of a hurdle and then point at the hurdle and say "over", Bertie has learned to run towards the hurdle and jump over it in order to get a treat or his toy. If however, the hurdle wasn't there, and I pointed in a direction and said "over" he's not going to understand what I want him to do. The hurdle is vital for him to understand my cue "over" means run and jump. That might sound like a silly example, but the same happens when we teach our dogs basic things like sit or lie down. We diligently train with treats in our hand in the living room until we are sure our dogs know that the word sit, means they should sit. We then head outside and say "sit" and are surprised when our dogs look blankly back at us and don't sit! However, in the same way the hurdle is essential to Bertie understanding my verbal cue "over" means he should jump, if we only train in one location and always do the same things, such as put treats in our hands, those become part of the cue. The word sit comes to mean "sit in the living room when the human has food in their hand". If there is no living room and you have no food in your hand, your verbal cue is completely meaningless to your dog and makes as little sense as me pointing into thin air and telling Bertie "over". So how can you teach your dog to understand your verbal cues in lots of different places. Well first of all you need to decide which parts of the context and your behaviour you wish to be the constant cue for your dog and which parts you want to become irrelevant. For example, I taught Bertie to sit in puppy class, while I was wearing a treat bag. I only want my verbal cue "sit" and my hand signal to be the relevant cue. This means I taught him sit in lots of different locations. I taught him it with my treat bag on and my bag off. I taught him it when I had treats in my pocket and when treats were in a bowl on the table. I taught it with me facing him, and with me facing away. Sometimes I sat down, sometimes I stood up. He learned with me wearing different clothes and with my hair in different styles. The only constant was my word "sit" or my hand signal. This way Bertie learned to discriminate which information was relevant to him doing the sitting behaviour to earn the reward. We call this generalising. Bertie generalised his sitting behaviour to lots of different environments and contexts. The verbal cue and hand signal stayed constant. Sometimes I want the context or environment to be part of the cue. As an example, if I am out on a walk with my dogs and I stand still I want my dogs to notice and then come towards me. This is part of their recall cue. The environment is out doors, the context is my dog is off lead and me standing still is the body language cue for my dogs to run towards me for a reward. However, if I am standing still in the kitchen (cooking dinner perhaps), I don't want my dogs to come running to me, in fact it would be super inconvenient. I have taught my dog that only in certain environments will it be favourable to them to come running to me. This means, running to me in the park equals treats, running up to me when I am standing still to cook equals zilch rewards! When we think of the whole context and environment as being a relevant cue to the dog, we call this the antecedent. Have a think about what else might be relevant to your dog when you give them a verbal cue. Is your dog always responding to what you say, or is their other things within the environment, context or your body language that signals to your dog which behaviour they should perform to get a favourable outcome. How to Stop Your Dog BarkingEffective Training Solutions for Barking Dogs
Are your barking dogs driving you nuts? Is your dog barking at your neighbours? Does every sound set your dog off?
Barking dogs are a nuisance. They are stressful to live with and a dog that barks at everything that passes your house doesn't make you popular with the neighbours. Is your Dog Barking at everything that passes by
After moving house my dogs, Bertie and Velma, found the view from the window and new neighbours and their barky dogs all a bit much. All my previous training went out the window. The first couple of days in our new house were a bit noisy. Not what you want when you are trying to make a good impression with the new neighbours.
Here's how we quickly went from Barking Hell to a Harmonious House. Here's my Top Tips to stop your dog barking... Fast!
1. Set your dog up for success.
If your dog spends half the day looking out the window and kicking off every time a person passes, find ways to prevent your dog doing this. "Oh but my dog LOVES looking out the window" is something I hear all the time. If your dog is getting a big kick of adrenaline every time someone passes, they are not doing it for love of watching nature. They are feeling compelled to look in case they miss out on something happening that they feel they need to have some control over. Your dogs mental and physical health will thank you for removing that stress from their life. If your dog is barking at the window or barking at birds and squirrels you can;
2. Use background noise to mask trigger noises
3. Don’t shout at your dog
Instead gently encourage your dog away from the place they are barking, and redirect them to an activity you would like them to do. When we shout when our dogs are barking, they either perceive us as joining in, or we just add more stress to an already stressful situation. In the same vein, tools like anti bark collars or ultrasonic barking collars are inhumane. They give an unpleasant vibration, shock or squirt of citronella when your dog makes a noise. However they can go off at other noises and can leave your dog feeling stressed. They also rarely work reliably. Muzzles that stop barking also stop your dog panting which is the only way your dog can cool down. There is a real risk of causing your dog to over heat with a muzzle that prevent barking.
4. Keep your dog busy.
Chilled out, had enough exercises, feeling good dog don't spend a lot of time barking Adolescent, impossible to tire out dogs do. Bored dogs. Dogs who are feeling stressed. Stress can come about easily. For my dogs moving house was stressful. The day after fireworks. Changes to my work routine. Visitors to your home. Learn about what your dog copes well with and what they don't. Sniffing, licking and chewing are natural ways that dogs can de-stress. Ways to keep your dog busy;
5. Change how your dog responds to sounds/triggers.
Some of our dogs will bark because they feel alarmed and some will bark because they feel fear or anxiety... Other (my dog Velma is definitely in this category) love barking and appear to get a great sense of satisfaction out of it. However, regardless, we can change how they respond to triggers and ultimately, how they feel about them too. The complexities of an effective counter conditioning programme (fancy name for changing how your dog responds to a trigger) for every individual dog are impossible to convey in a blog. When crafting one for my clients I need lots of information and need to observe the dogs reactions. However there is a quick and simple tick you can use. If your dog is barking at the doorbell, throw your dog a handful of small treats onto their bed or into a room for them to search and sniff for, as soon you hear the door bell. This will start habituating your dog to go to that place when they head the doorbell. If your dog is barking in the garden, scatter small treats for them to search for. You can even do this before your let your dog outside, so the nice scent of treats is already there. If your dog barks at visitors in your home and can't calm down within a minute (a little barking is normal), then take your dog out of the room and let them settle in another room. Another option is to give your dog an activity to do (chew, kong, snuffle mat). This allows your dog the option to use natural canine calming activities to help them settle. How do I teach My dog a quiet command?
It's a popular myth that teaching your dog a command (or cue) is helpful when they are barking. If you don't give your dog something else to do when the barking tigger is present, your dog will likely go quiet on your command, eat the treat and go right bark to barking.
My dog Bertie can bark on cue and then go quiet on cue. I taught him it for a dog sport. It's useless when he's alarmed by my new neighbour's dog is barking. Instead of telling him quiet, I just call his name and throw him a handful of treats to search for. Now he's sniffing he's not listening to the dog next door barking. Does your dog bark during the night?
If your dog frequently barks during the night and struggles to settle there are a few things to consider.
but... My dog is barking right now, how do I make them stop
Throw them some treats on the ground to sniff and search for. Hand them a chew. Distract them with something they love.
"Won't that teach them to bark for treats?" If you are following all my other advice and you are setting your dog up for success. If you are providing your dog with other treats, chews and food scatters at times they are not barking, then no, it's unlikely your dog will bark at triggers for treats. However, you will help your dog feel better about triggers. You will get out of the cycle of shouting at your barking dog. Your dog will want to respond to you and recall away from the trigger. Finally, your dog will have a natural canine way of de-escalating from all that stress, frustration or excitement. For more help visit my dog training page Why it's not wise to only prevent your dog from doing naughty or unwanted behaviours...“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.”
This quote by author, Erkhart Tolle, has been on my mind a lot over the past couple of months and then today I listened to a podcast with animal trainer, Kath Sdao and she mentioned it too... So I decided to write this blog on my thoughts of how Erkhart's quote has so much relevance in dog training. I'm sure the quote has it's roots in Buddhist teachings and for me it leads me to think about times when I have had to accept that some things are the way they are in my life and instead of spending lots of energy trying to change them, and in doing so making it a bigger issue, I have accepted them and focused my energy on what I can change. It also makes me think of times when I've had a strong difference of opinion with someone and I have argued my point, without not considered how the other person developed their opinion. Instead of changing that person's mind, all my argument does is cause the other person to argue strongly back and more than likely strength their own opinion... We see this sort of argument happened all the time on social media! So bringing it back to dog behaviour... In many of the behaviour cases I see, the dog will have a strong need, usually a need that is totally natural to dogs. At the time the dog's carer contacts me, the dog is meeting that need by engaging in a behaviour the carer finds undesirable. These needs might include...
However, problems occur when dogs have not been taught how, or are not given opportunities to meet these needs. In our modern lifestyle it's often difficult to give our dogs the exercise and mental stimulation they need to feel satisfied. Many people juggle full time jobs and busy lives with dog ownership, meaning other tasks may take priority over entertaining the dog. Many people live in flats or busy urban streets, with lots of different noises happening 24 hours a day, don't have a garden and only have access to busy parks. All these things compromise some dogs abilities to have their needs met. Problem behaviours dogs exhibit when their needs are not met...
What you resist, persists. So often when people have one of these behaviour problems their sole focus is on preventing or stopping the problem behaviour. Even some dogs trainers will heavily focus their training on finding ways of preventing the dog from performing the problem behaviour. This in it's self is not wrong, however if we only prevent a problem behaviour without considering what need the dog is meeting, or trying to meet, then we will either make the problem worse, or will cause the dog to find another way to meet that need. Angus is a 3 year old border terrier who barks at unknown dogs, sometimes this will escalate to lunging on his lead towards dogs. When off lead Angus will not do these behaviours however, if other dogs approach him he will often get into a fight with them. Since Angus hit adolescence, other male dogs have often approached him, when he is on or off lead, with the intention of attacking Angus. Angus' carer is very focused on making sure Angus does not bark or lunge. They have used treats in order to distract Angus when he barks and to reward Angus when he is quiet. They have taught him to walk past dogs when he is on lead without barking or lunging. They have followed advice from online positive reinforcement training groups to get Angus to this point. When I observed this behaviour, Angus is indeed quite and not lunging, however he is tense and his movements stilted and stiff. He does not look like a dog enjoying his walk. However, Angus is still likely to bark when his carers do not have food. They are not able to let him relax and sniff because if they do and an unknown dog approaches he is likely to want to fight them. Angus frequently over reacts in any interacts with unknown dogs. While what Angus' carers have done is not incorrect, they have failed to realise that Angus' need to feel safe is not being met. Angus' training has taken place in a local park where dogs are frequently approaching him and altercations happen at least weekly. Angus is always on high alert and he was never going to get better without us helping him feel safe. Our training plan for Angus focused on understanding he didn't feel safe around unknown dogs and it was impossible to keep him safe in local parks. We started working with him in places he only met dogs on lead. This way we could ensure his safety. During this time we taught Angus ways of using his body language to avoid conflict with other dogs and Angus was able to learn from other dogs how they did this. We also taught Angus how to tell his carer's he wasn't feeling safe and they learned how to get him out of those situations. Only once these things were in place could we start on a programme where we taught Angus how to behave around unknown dogs. Seeing Angus go from a tense, up tight dog, to a loose, wiggly one who actually invited some dogs to play had us all reaching for a tissue. My own dog Velma, developed a very strong interest in chasing deer scent when she was about 9 months old. She was very focused on this and on one horrifying occasion she ran off and disappeared for over 15 minutes. This was a problem for me. I couldn't keep her safe if she was going to go out of sight. However, it was clear that following scent was very important to Velma. Part of her training plan included finding safe ways we could go looking for scent together. Some of this was done by me teaching her how to search for items I had hidden and other times it included walks with her on a long line in areas where I knew there was likely to be deer scent. By making sure Velma's need for following scent was met, I slowly was able to teach her how to come back when I called, even around the distraction of deer scent. Meeting her needs through training, also meant Velma has gradually become less motivated to follow scents when they take her out of sight from me. Had I not recognised Velma's needs and found ways to meet them, then I am sure Velma's recall would have been almost impossible to train. Whatever you fight, you strengthen. To add to this we can also inadvertently teach our dogs to become really skilled at the problem behaviour by incrementally increasing how difficult it is for the dog to meet their need. When I am actually training my dog to do a new behaviour, this is the strategy I actually use... It's called shaping and is a very effective way of training our dog to do complex behaviours.... However it also works both ways. One of the dogs I worked with is a 1 year old labradoodle, Max. His carer's contacted me because he was chewing furniture and anything else he could find. By the time they got in touch with me, he was able to escape his play pen, move a clothes horse and open the door handle into a bedroom. He would then spend any unsupervised time chewing on the legs of the bed, ripping pillows and chewing hairbrushes, make up, etc. Max didn't learn to do these things in one go. First of all his carers just tried keeping him in the hall, but he learned to open the bedroom door, then they bought him a play pen but he learned to climb it. They then tried covering the top of his pen, but he chewed through the cover. Then they tried putting a clothes horse by the bedroom door but by now he could chew through the cover, climb out of the pen and open the door. Dismantling and moving the clothes horse was no problem. Even when they changed the door handle to a round one, the dog would persistently chew and paw until the door handle turned. Max's carers were right to try and prevent him getting access to the things they did not want him to chew, but what they had not understood was that as a young dog, with a developing jaw and low tolerance to boredom, he needed lots of different materials to chew on and mental stimulation to keep him busy. The main bulk of our training plan focused on finding way for Max to meet his needs. He was given lots of different things to chew every day, increasing how many ways Max's was given mental stimulation each day, improving the way he was exercised and his carers found ways of not leaving him at home alone for quite so long. Max is just one example, but this happens so often, where in an attempt to prevent a problem behaviour, the carer actually teaches their dog how to be more skilful and persistent. Can you think how only ignoring your dog's need for social interaction, without making sure their needs are fully met in other ways, might cause the problem to escalate? So if your dog develops a problem behaviour, then finding ways to change your environment to prevent your dog doing those behaviours is very important, however top priority must be given to understand what is the function of your dog's problematic behaviour. What need are they trying to meet? To resolve the problem it is then vital that you find a way that meets your dogs need in a way that is acceptable to both of you. Don't forget, “Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists.” Jill O'Sullivan APDT ISCP Dip CB Certified DogTrainer and Behaviour Consultant Have you ever received a message from your boss that goes something like this? "Once you've finished your lunch please come to my office". You could be about to get a promotion or maybe even a pay rise but I bet you aren't filled with joy, excitedly awaiting 2pm so you can skip down to his office. No, I bet instead you are filled with dread. You are thinking about that time he called you to his office and told you off for being late or that time he pointed out an error in your work. I bet you don't enjoy your lunch and when 2pm comes you drag your feet down to the office, mouth dry, palms sweaty. Maybe you'll even pretend you haven't read the email and then once he's gone home for the day you'll try and find out some clues from colleagues as to what he wants. Perhaps you'll feel so worried you go off sick. When we teach our dogs to come back when called, we very much risk making our recall cue (the word we use to call our dogs back) the equivalent of your boss' email. If, when our dogs don't come back as we expect we either use a mild correction like raising our voices, shouting at them, grabbing them by the collar, putting their lead, ignoring them (social exclusion), or even just withholding the treat, then it's very likely our dogs are going to start getting that feeling of dread when they hear us call them. This is a very common phenomenon with our pet dogs. Our dog runs off and annoys someone else in the park or they go chasing deer. We call and call but by the time they come back we are annoyed or embarrassed and let our dogs know it... and do you know what, it can only take one instance of the dog feeling like they have been punished for our recall cue to become poisoned. How many times would your bosses email have to lead to a favourable outcome to undo the bad of that one uncomfortable meeting? 10? 50? 100? Maybe never? Once you have poisoned your dog's recall cue, it's likely you will only be able to repair the problem by retraining your dog's recall from scratch with a new cue. If you then muck up that new recall cue then you are in big trouble. Now your dog might just associate being in the park, with you calling out any word at all, with the possibility of a telling off, so maybe they are even slower to come back when you call or even avoid you all together once you un-clip the lead. So, don't risk making your dog think of your recall cue like your boss' email instead make your recall cue like a ice cream van jingle. Hearing that jingle and running to the van provides positive reinforcement 100% of time. Rather than a churning stomach and sweaty palms I get really good feelings when I hear that jingle, I might even stop watching my favourite TV show to go and get an ice cream. When I shout "Velma come" and she runs to me, I am going to provide her with some form of positive reinforcement 100% of the time. If she's taken a big detour to chase deer on her way back to me, then I will just have to think of how I will prevent it happening next time but that's my problem to solve and not Velma's. I want Velma to hear me call her and respond as if it's the ice cream jingle. With enough practice and now with a big enough history positive reinforcement, and no history at all of punishment, Velma will even interrupt her favourite pastime (chasing deer) to come back to me to find out what good thing is in store for her. So, if you want a dog that comes back instantly when you call, every time, you need to always reward them for coming back.... ALWAYS. No matter how "naughty" you think they have been while they were away. Avoid at all costs letting your dog know you are annoyed. If you know you have sometimes let your dog know you were annoyed once he came back to you, you now need to retrain your dog's recall. You want your new recall word to make your dog think of ice-cream and not telling offs! Join the mailing list here for tips on how to recall train your dog. Whether it's your own dog or whether you are a professional dog walker, remember your recall cue is a precious thing and fragile thing. Treat it carefully. Jill O'Sullivan APDT INTODogs CDT Drop That Label...A while ago, I was in the company of several dog trainers. The conversation came round to discussing the sort of cases we were all working on. One trainer mentioned that all he seemed to work with is reactive and aggressive dogs. The other trainers all nodded and agreed that they were seeing an increase in reactive and aggressive dogs.
I kept quiet and thought how lucky I was because I couldn't remember the last dog, or any dog, that I worked with that was aggressive. However later, when I mulled the conversation over I realised quite a few of the dogs, I was working with at the time, could be labelled as aggressive or reactive. I had just never considered labelling them in that way. When I work with a dog, I see them as a whole. The good bits, the loving bits, and the bits that cause their owner challenges. Therefore, it has just never occurred to me to label a dog, who barks for no more than a few minutes per day, as aggressive or reactive. After all, the dog is so much more than that. It is so damaging to our perception of dogs to give them a label that relates to only a small percentage of their behaviour. Even when we just label the actual behaviour as aggressive or reactive, it doesn't describe what the actual behaviour is, under what conditions it occurs and what the function of the behaviour is. Labels stick and once you've started calling your dog reactive or aggressive you will see that as part of who they are rather than looking at it as a behaviour they use is some situations. When we think of it in terms of behaviour, and we know behaviour can be changed, we can then look at how we can help our dogs use different behaviour. My other issue with labelling a dog is that it moves us away from thinking about how a dog is feeling when he performs that behaviour. A dog who is barking and lunging on his lead may get the label as reactive but it doesn't help anyone understand if he is scared, frustrated or over excited? If a client tells me their dog is aggressive, my first questions are always;
Understanding those things always gives a very different picture of a dog, than one who has been labelled as aggressive or even behaving aggressively. The answers allow us to think of how we can help that dog feel and behave differently. So often I hear of people who's confidence in their ability as dog owners or their trust in their dog has been shattered because someone else has called their dog aggressive. Usually this happens after the other person has witnessed the dog barking and pulling on their lead. So next time we see our own dog, or someone else's dog, behave in a way we think isn't cool, stop before you slap that damaging label on the dog. Are you using treats to train your dogs and they are just not working?
Why do dog trainers use food to change a dogs behaviour?
When we are changing a dog's behaviour we are governed by a set of behavioural rules that exist in nature. We know that all behaviour is driven by the consequences that happen after it and this means in order to train our dogs to do a behaviour, we must create a consequence that causes then to want to do the behaviour more. We call it positive reinforcement when the dog gains something after a behaviour that causes them to do that behaviour again. Dog trainers use lots of different things to positively reinforce dogs behaviour, such as play, toys, opportunity to go on walks, sniffing, etc. However since dog's need to eat, and generally love at least some foods, we use part of the dog's daily calories to reinforce behaviours we like. Food is convenient because we can carry it easily, we can do lots of repetitions while our dogs are learning something new, we can use lots of variety and generally our dogs love working with us when they get lots of the things they love. So why do treats not always work? Not all rewards are actually reinforcing Blue was a cocker spaniel that liked to run great distances on walks. Sometimes he would come back when his human called, but mainly he didn't. The times he did come back his human gave him a gravy bone which he ate with enthusiasm. However, he still ignored him most of the times. When I suggested that he gave him 3 gravy bones instead of just one, Blue started coming back almost every time his human called and then when we swapped to 3 small pieces of chicken, Blue not only came back more quickly, but didn't run as far away in the first place. When I am using food to reinforce a dog's behaviour I always consider did the behaviour I want happen more often or with more enthusiasm the next time I ask for it. If the answer is no, then the piece of food I gave was just a reward and not reinforcement. I then have to think about using different food or bigger pieces. I know some dogs who will literally jump through hoops for a small piece of raw carrot and others who need steak to keep them motivated . So remember what reinforces one dog's behaviour might not work with another. It's also worth remembering that what motivates your dog can change depending on the environment and distractions around. A piece of kibble might reinforce your dog's sit in the kitchen but nothing less than steak will work in a busy park. Are you reinforcing the behaviour you mean to? When I observe people who are struggling with their dog's behaviour, one of things I frequently observe is that the owner only get's food out once the dog begins doing the unwanted behaviour. As soon as your dog is aware you have food or about to get food, you may reinforce the behaviour they are doing at that exact moment. Ideally we want to reinforce behaviours we like rather than wait until the dog is doing something we don't like and then getting food out in an attempt to bribe the dog into behaving how we'd like. Missy is a dog who liked to jump up on people visiting the house, she is a big dog and it was hard to push her down. Every time people visited Missy jumped up on them and sometimes would push them over or hurt them. When I entered Missy's house, she immediately jumped up on my and I nearly fell against the door, her embarrassed human rushed to get a treat and held it to Missy's nose. As soon as she smelled the treat she got down and her owner told her she was a good girl and gave her the treat. Missy's human thought she was rewarding Missy for getting down, but in fact what she was doing was reinforcing Missy's jumping up by showing her the treat while she was doing the unwanted behaviour. Have you created a chain of behaviours? Sometimes what people inadvertently do is wait until a problem behaviour is finished and then reward their dog with a treat but the dog then learns in order to get the treat they should do the problem behaviour then stop and do something else. Jacob is a dog who came on group walks with me. As he got a bit older he slowed down and I didn't need to recall him as often. Accidentally this probably meant he got less treats. I began to notice that Jacob started sitting down and waiting while me and the other dogs walked on. After a few moments I would notice and call Jacob to me. He'd then get his reward. After a while I began to realise Jacob was doing this more and more often. He'd learnt that in order to get me to recall him, and then receive his recall treat, he should stop and wait until I noticed he wasn't with the group! Even us dog trainers make errors from time to time! I resolved this by making sure I noticed when Jacob was keeping up with the group and reinforcing this behaviour, rather than letting him fall behind. Is your dog not feeling in the mood for treats? Sometimes people tell me their dog just won't eat treats, even tasty ones like steak or liver, in certain environments and this is almost always a sign that the dog is feeling some sort of big emotion. If you think of the last time you went for a job interview, or perhaps the dentist, and just couldn't face your breakfast before you go. Our dogs can feel like this too. This can really become a problem when our dogs feel big emotions about every day events, like going for a walk or walking past other dogs. Sometimes it's not anxiety that affects our dog's appetite but excitement instead and while it's good that are dog's feel excited about life, we need them to be able to also be focused so we can keep them and other dogs and people safe. With dogs who's behaviour is effected by big emotions it's necessary to understand what is causing the dog to feel the way they do and then help them develop skills that improve their ability to cope in the environment. There is no single answer but instead lots of ways we can train our dogs how to have better self control when they are excited and confidence when they are feeling worried. Ben was a cockapoo who pulled on the lead. His owner tried giving him treats when he wasn't pulling and sometimes Ben ate them and sometimes he ignored them. Regardless of whether he ate them or not, Ben would relentlessly pull forward. Nothing appeared to change his behaviour. When I assessed Ben's behaviour it became clear that he found being outside a little bit overwhelming. There were so many smells, sights and sounds and Ben struggled to cope with them all, especially when restricted by a lead. Once we implemented a training plan that taught Ben how to slow down and process all the different things he came across outside, he began to be able to eat and enjoy his favourite treats. However, because Ben had learned how to cope better with his lead and being outside he no longer felt the need to rush and he just naturally started to walk by his owners side! Have you practised the behaviour enough? When we teach our dogs we often think they understand the words we say, but dog's don't think the way we do and when we are training them they take in the whole picture rather than pick out specifics like the word we say. So if you teach your puppy to sit, while you are in the living room and your puppy is facing you, but then tell your puppy to sit when you are outside and you are both facing in the same direction, it's not that your puppy is disobeying you it's that she does not understand you because the context is completely different and the word sit is completely meaningless to her. In order to know that my puppy understands that when she hears the word sit, she should plonk her bottom on the floor, in any environment. I must train it as a new behaviour in as many places as possible. My training plan might look like this; Teach puppy to sit on my left side, right side and in front of me. Locations - Livingroom, garden, hall, driveway, outside supermarket, park Variations - When I'm standing, sitting down, sitting on floor, looking away from puppy Distractions - music on, people walking passed, toy in my hand, dogs near by, etc As you can see the list of variations is endless. While sit is a relatively easy behaviour behaviours like recall need broken down too. My dog Velma finds life very exciting. She loves squirrels, new smells, other people, rubbish, deer scent, new places, etc, etc. When I was teaching her to come when called, I needed to break down all these different distractions and train her recall as a completely new behaviour over and over until she was able to respond around lots of different distractions. So if you find that treats just aren't working to change your dog's behaviour it's probably not treats that are the problem but the way they are being used. Are there situations where you think you have reinforced the wrong behaviour or where your dog is feeling too big emotions? Go over to my facebook post and share your story. Are you guilty of taking things out of your dog's mouth?If I was only allowed to give one piece of advice to new dog and puppy owner's it would be that they shouldn't force their puppy's mouth open and remove objects. So often I am called in to help once a dog is either acting aggressively when they have stolen items or when the dog has started to swallow inedible items. In lots of these cases this stems from when the dog was a puppy and would pick up and investigate objects and the owner would worry and then open the puppy's mouth and remove the object. Sometimes this takes quite a struggle and I have even heard of it taking more than one person to hold the puppy while another forces the puppy's mouth open. There are other, better ways to deal with puppies picking up things they shouldn't. Why do our dog's pick up things they shouldn't?
When your dog picks up an object more often than not, they are just investigating it. Sometimes they are working out if it is edible or not and when they discover it's not they will likely put it down. Obviously sometimes they might take that investigation further and give it a chew. Why is it such an issue to take things from my dog's mouth? If your dog is investigating, maybe even chewing, an object and you try and take it away, you immediately teach your dog that humans will ignore normal, polite doggy rules. In the dog world, possession is ten 10th of the law! For some dogs this will have little or no impact, however for some they will see this intrusion as unacceptable and next time you go to take something they might give you a hard stare and freeze. If you again ignore this doggy body language that says go away, your dog might feel he has no option but to escalate his behaviour to maybe a growl or snap and if they doesn't work maybe even a bite. Other dogs might start to think that if they have something that you are so desperate to take, you'll go against everything they understand about possessions, then that thing must be very valuable indeed. In their desperation to keep the item they might swallow it whole as soon as they see you coming. This can lead to lots of inedible things become really quite edible! Other dogs might learn that it's safer to hide when they find something they would like to investigate and chew and you'll only find the evidence later. Finally some dogs might let you open their mouth and remove the item and there will be no obvious harm. However, those dogs might learn that people are not that trustworthy and this may effect how they interact with you over all or perhaps they will lack confidence in investigating and trying new things. So what should you do instead? Please note if your dog already has a problem with swallowing inedible objects or is showing signs of growling or aggression, seek the help of a reward based trainer or behaviourist and do not try and tackle this problem alone. 1. Teach your dog to swap. Practise this with a toy at first. Give your dog the toy then ask him to swap it for a tasty treat (or multiple tasty treats) then immediately give him the toy back. 2. Try not to panic. Puppies often just want to investigate an object and will often spit it out again. So if she picks up a pebble try and wait until she spit it out, then just move your puppy away from it. Do your best not to draw attention to the pebble and potentially add value to it. If you are out on a walk and your puppy seems to be picking up every single thing they encounter, consider whether they are maybe finding the environment a bit too stimulating and may need a rest, calm down or be taken to a place where they can watch the world go by. 3. If your dog or puppy won't swap the item in their mouth for a treat, try throwing several treats on the floor. As your dog picks up the individual treats, put your foot over the dropped item. If you are at home most dogs can't resist a handful of breakfast cereal dropped on the floor. If your dog prefers toys to food, then pick up a toy and make it seems like the most exciting toy in the world. Eventually your dog will want to play with you rather than the object in their mouth. 4. Teach your dog a reliable and solid leave it. If you don't know how, book a 121 lesson and I can teach you. 5. Ensure your dogs has lots of opportunities to investigate and try new and appropriate things. Let your dog try different foods, give them new and interesting toys, try different chews, kongs and food puzzles. If your dog loves tearing paper then save up cardboard boxes and scatter treats inside and let they rip the box apart. Play with your dog frequently. Take them new and interesting places. Allow them to sniff as much as they need to. 6. Interact with your dog with toys and build lots of value into your dog playing with they things you would like them too. 7. Learn to be tidier or keep your puppy in an area of the house you can keep dog-proofed. 8. Grit your teeth and don't show your dog or puppy you are annoyed. As frustrating as it is to have another sock ruined, tell your puppy you are pleased they brought you your sock and excitedly run to the fridge for a treat to swap it for. Believe me, it is so much cheaper to buy new socks than it is to pay a vet to do risky surgery to remove them from your dog's stomach. If these things don't work for you, then get help. It's much easier to prevent this turning into a problem than it is to modify your dog's behaviour once they are showing behavioural issues. Have you ever had a stranger comment on your dog's behaviour and then offer you advice?We've all been there... We're in the park and our dog does something we would rather they didn't. Whether it's barking, not coming back, rolling in poo, you can bet someone else will notice and then offer you advice. The advice usually goes along the line of "my dog did that and I just did X once and he never did it again" or "my Uncle Sam's dog used to do that and he just did Y to her and it stopped it straight away". While the person offering advice is usually doing so from a place of kindness and a desire to help, often you will be left feeling further embarrassed by your dog's behaviour. If you have no other strategy you may feel compelled to follow that advice. You many even feel peer pressure to carry out an action on your dog you are not entirely comfortable with. Some of us even seek this sort of advice from other's when we feel stuck and don't know what to do, and then we feel like it's our fault when it doesn't work out like expected. So many of my clients come to me, feeling like failures because lots of people have given them advice, often conflicting, and none of it has worked. I feel so much sympathy for them because this sort of advice nearly ruined my relationship with my dog, Bertie. When Bertie was a puppy I had an embarrassing problem with him. Whenever we were outside he would bark, non stop. It could start at any point on a walk and it didn't matter where we were, how long we'd been outside or who else was about. Once Bertie started barking he often wouldn't stop until we were home. It felt like my worst nightmare, as I hate people looking at me and now not only did I have a cute puppy but I had a very noisy one. It was obvious that Bertie was feeling anxious and finding things difficult but since this could happen anywhere, at any time normal puppy socialisation and just general life became very challenging. The advice that was given to me by passers by, another trainer, a vet, a cockapoo facebook group, people I know and commercial dog walkers nearly ruined my relationship with Bertie and destroyed what little confidence he had. The advice included,
Apart from hitting him with a garden cane (!!!) most of the advice is the normal sort of advice the general public and uneducated dog professionals will give when a person has a problem with their dog excessively barking. The problem with this advice, and all advice of this kind, is that people giving it were either not qualified to or had not had a chance to observe Bertie before, during or after his barking episodes. They were not present to witness how Bertie reacted to any actions I took to modify his behaviour and crucially they did not understand why Bertie was actually barking. Sometimes people gave advice based on the emotion (often irritation) they felt when in the presence of a barking Bertie and unintentionally most of their advice was about stopping the annoyance of being in the presence of a barking puppy rather than considering why Bertie was behaving that way. I only followed one piece of advice given to me and that was to ignore Bertie when he was barking and then give him attention when he stopped. Fortunately for Bertie I had already learned a lot about dog training and knew I should monitor how effective this was in changing his behaviour. It quickly became clear that this was making Bertie much worse.
Luckily for Bertie and I, we had a good friend who walked with us frequently and although she didn't have any advice to give on Bertie's actual barking, she listened to me and encouraged me to follow my heart and be as kind as possible. Once I was able to understand Bertie's barking behaviour better and implement my own training plan I started to see improvements in Bertie's confidence and his barking began to disappear. My training plan didn't include any of the suggestions made by others. Puppy Bertie taught me several crucial lessons that I carry with me as a dog trainer now.
I was lucky that Bertie came into my life when he did. The lessons he taught me have directed my path of learning and shaped me into the trainer and I am now. When working with any dog, I always seek to understand why a dog is behaving the way they do first, before I create solutions or offer advice. When a person gives you advice that is based on "it worked with my dog" remember that is the story of one. It may work for that one dog but it doesn't mean it will work for other dogs. When I, or other ethical dog trainers, give you advice, it is based on our skills of observation, understanding of dog behaviour, learning theory, behaviour analysis and we create a training plan specifically for your dog, your lifestyle and your environment. We then teach you the skills to train your dog and adjust the training plan as necessary. If you feel bombarded by advice, just remember you can listen to it, but you don't have to act on it. If you want to receive more Busy Bee Glasgow Training tips, blogs and keep up to date with our events, sign up to our mailing list here |
Jill O'SullivanI am a qualified dog trainer, based in Glasgow Scotland, with a passion for teaching people how to use positive reinforcement effectively. I love demystifying some of the popular myths on social media and taking some of the more complex elements of behaviour change and making them accessible for all. Archives
September 2023
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