Sarah Dixon, CDBC

The concept of mat work or place training is nothing new in dog training. However, it remains one of my favorite behaviors to teach because it is very useful for pet owners and extremely versatile in behavior modification work.

This involves teaching a dog to go to a specific item or place and target it with their body. I prefer to work up to a default down; I often begin with a sit and build from there. My preference is to use a flat dog mat or towel, as these are easy to move around the home, transport to different locations, and easy for the dog to get their body onto.

I prefer to teach this behavior through shaping, as doing so eliminates any unnecessary prompts from the onset of training. Shaping this behavior is relatively easy for even a novice handler to accomplish, with skilled coaching. If needed I will sometimes jumpstart the process and have my client take over, but they can do most of the work on their own if they know what to watch for. At first we want the dog to just inspect the mat, then walk on to it, and then sit and later lie down. Often I work on shaping progressively more relaxed body language as well.

By shaping a dog to go to a mat and relax, we can often quickly begin to reduce general anxiety or over-arousal issues. The dog may learn how to self-regulate their behavior through this exercise. The mat can also become a safe place for dogs that lack confidence. These benefits are in addition to the fact that it can simply be useful in many facets of behavior modification to train a dog to go to a specific spot on cue…..(read full article)

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Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences.

In this column, we highlight some useful behaviors to teach clients to facilitate cooperative care, and share stories of how animals can be transformed by a more mindful, intentional approach to working with them through medical procedures.

This article features instructions on how to teach a chin rest with distractions and duration, training a senior cat to accept regular blood draws, and a story of how consistent and respectful training really mattered for a pony with sarcoids……Full Article

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Danger at the Door

City life is not easy for all dogs. For the outgoing canine “extrovert” it’s a walk in the park — new friends and adventures around every corner. For the more reserved or fearful dogs, however, it can be a nightmare.

One of the unique challenges for dogs in urban environments is apartment living. Even for a confident dog, tight spaces such as elevators and hallways can be tricky. For a dog that is nervous of people or other animals these confined spaces can mean running a gauntlet multiple times a day. Avoidance isn’t an option in most situations in the city.

One of the most common issues I see as a behavior consultant in Manhattan is dogs that have issue with strangers entering the home. Interestingly, I seldom worked with this behavior problem when I lived in a rural area. There, dogs were expected to bark at strangers, and it seemed that they were more accepting of newcomers to their homes, possibly due to space not being so constrained and not being constantly bombarded by terrifying delivery men at the door. Most of us city-dwellers do not have yards — or even an extra bedroom (studio apartments, anyone?) — to stash our dogs in if needed to avoid a potentially hairy encounte,. Having a fearful or aggressive dog in an apartment building simply amplifies these concerns.

My goals with stranger danger dogs in apartments are to make the dog as calm and comfortable as possible, and for the owner to have a system to safely have guests over and (if appropriate) to introduce the dog to new people. Some dogs, depending on temperament, can be safe and friendly with new people on the first meeting with proper introductions. Some dogs need to be introduced methodically and over several meetings, and some should not be expected to interact with guests — only to build relationships with people who will be a regular part of their life. This can involve various options for environmental management, including crates, baby gates, tether stations, and sometimes muzzles.

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What is Cooperative Care?

Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences.

Cooperative care is quite common in zoos, where large or potentially dangerous animals cannot otherwise be safely handled without physical or chemical restraint. For example, hippos can be taught to hold their mouths open for dental treatments, lions can be taught to offer their tails for a blood draw, and gorillas can be taught to sit still for cardiac ultrasounds.

One of the most important aspects of teaching cooperative care is that the animal is allowed to “say no.” They can indicate using a non-aggressive, safe behavior that they want the procedure to stop. Teaching a duration target behavior is a vital foundation in cooperative care – not only does it help to keep the animal still, but we teach the animal through the process that if at any time they break the target position (lift their head, etc.), then the handling procedure will stop.

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These insecure dogs often get labelled as dominant and well-meaning owners are told to alpha roll or pin their dog, which only makes them lose trust in their person even more.

Forget everything you’ve ever heard about dominance – it’s probably false. Your dog is likely needing to feel safe or too excited – or a mix of both.

What are some ways dogs will ‘ask nicely’ for space or show that they are nervous? Some of the most common ones you will see and can start to watch for in your own dogs are:

Lip Licking

Lip licking can be a sign of stress.

Head Turn

Your dog turning it’s head away from a person or dog is a signal that they are non-threatening and may be uncomfortable with the interaction.

Pinning Ears

Your dog’s ears being pinned flat back can be a good sign that they are nor comfortable. Not that the dog here is also licking it’s lips.

Yawning

Your dog yawning when they are not tired may be a sign that they are feeling stressed or in conflict.

Tucking Tail

A dog tucking their tail under their body is a sign that they are fearful or not confident.

Paw Lift

A dog lifting a paw can be a sign that they are uncomfortable in a social interaction.

Does this dog look comfortable?

Whale Eye

Eyes can tell you a lot about a dog’s emotional state, if you know what you are looking for. Whale is refers to the dog looking sideways so you can often see the white of their eye. It is a sign of discomfort, stress, and can often be a pre-bite warning.

These are just some of the many body language signals your dog will use to communicate stress, conflict, and discomfort. Remember all behaviour is fluid and must be taken in context – emotional states cannot be judged by a still photo. However, this will give you a good idea of what to start looking for in your dog’s body language.

Here are some videos that are a great starting point for reading dog body language signals. You can find a lot more great resources on YouTube as well:

Last weekend (just over one month since that conversation), I graduated Fred and his mom from their private lessons. I always send out a survey to get feedback from my clients’ regarding their experience of training with me. She wrote a whole bunch of stuff about how much more fun it is to go for a walk with Fred now that he is calmer but here’s the part that made me proud and made me laugh: “Jennifer is spot on with her training. We questioned one or two things along the way thinking that they would not help or work. We followed her instructions to a “T” though, and were proved wrong every time. She knew what she was talking about, and if her instructions are followed exactly, the results are there. It was amazing!”

Now, here’s my confession: I was faking it.

I took Sarah’s seminar last March and started trying the “clicker thing” with a couple of clients as soon as I got home. I’ve been training dogs professionally for about 6 years and have done marker training before but I had never used a clicker to deal with reactivity. I gave this client a clicker and bait bag and told her that we were going to try out this new stuff I had learned. She knew I was experimenting with her and her dog and she was willing to give it a shot. There was no question in my mind that click-for-looking/click-for-looking-away works. I was just crossing my fingers that I could get it to work for Fred and his mom. I’ve been struggling for a long time with how to help clients with reactive dogs. Way too long. This is not the first reactive dog that I’ve graduated since taking Sarah’s seminar but the feedback on this one is immensely satisfying. Thank you Sarah!

– Jennifer Frese – Wenatchee, WA

I recently began working with a very lovely little dog named Lily, a female mixed breed dog who weighs about 25 lbs. She is very affectionate, intelligent and cute, however, she had a very rough start in life. Before she came to her new owners she spent most of her crucial developmental periods in isolation. She received little to no socialization and was kept inside a room in a house with another dog who repeatedly aggressed towards her.

Surprisingly, Lily is a very friendly and trusting dog towards humans. She is mostly a pleasant dog to live with. However, I was called in to assist with Lily’s intense reactivity. She is not aggressive towards dogs or people, but she was extremely reactive on lead at the sight or sound of another dog. In fact, just walking out the front door was enough to send her into a barking frenzy, and she was constantly hyper vigilant and explosive while outdoors. Inside, she could be fairly calm but would erupt into seemingly randomly triggered spouts of intense barking and was difficult to redirect or settle.

After doing two sessions with Lily and her owner I recommended that they speak to the veterinarian about behavioural medications for Lily. This is something that I am extremely infrequent to recommend, simply because I think most dogs with behaviour problems do not need it, and most behaviour problems can be tackled through behaviour modification and training. However, there are several reasons why I thought this would be a good choice for Lily:

1. Her reaction was extremely intense, difficult to interrupt, and she had a very poor recovery from stress.
2. Her threshold was extremely high, simply being outside was incredibly stressful for her and sent her over the top into over stimulation and frenzy.
3. Her triggers were multiple and often it was impossible to determine exactly what it was that was setting her off.
4. The behaviour was severely impacting Lily’s quality of life as well as her owner’s.

Lack of early stimulation can effect brain development, which in turn can influence behaviour.

Sometimes, when dogs do not get enough stimulation in the early parts of their life and through critical development periods they can have problems tolerating stressors as well as a normally functioning dog. This can also occur if the mother is sick or stressed while the puppies are in utero. I thought that the complete isolation Lily lived the beginning of her life in could definitely have caused abnormal brain development, and she simply maybe was having a physiologically different response to stress. This type of thing is out of the realm of a behaviour consultant, so I suggested that Lily’s owners consult with the veterinarian and also told them about the option of doing a phone consult with a Veterinary Behaviourist via their vet since we do not have that specialist option locally. One of the prices we pay to live in the gorgeous mountains.

The last time I saw Lily was just over 7 weeks ago and her owners took her to the vet very shortly after our last appointment. Provided with the behaviour history as well as my assessment and notes, the vet and Lily’s owner decided to try putting Lily on Prozac. We wanted to wait in between sessions to give the medication some time to take effect in Lily’s system, but her owners continued to work on some of the foundation skills we had started on such as go to mat and conditioning her to a head collar.

I just saw Lily today and I was blown away by the positive difference in her. The previous times I would arrive at the home, Lily would erupt into constant, high volume barking. She was difficult for the owners to redirect and gain control of her. She would rush down the stairs, barking the entire time and run up to me barking. She would not settle until I got up the stairs. This session, I knocked on the door and heard her bark lightly 4 times, and then the owner sent her to her mat, came down and answered the door and Lily remained calm. Once released off her mat, Lily barked lightly two more times on her way over to me where she greeted me happily and politely. She settled immediately and enjoyed some affection with me once we were upstairs.

The previous times I visited Lily, multiple times per session she would also begin barking for no apparent reason (there was no visual or auditory stimuli we could detect) and took a while to settle. This session, there was not so much as a peep out of her. She was notably more relaxed and calm, but did not at all seemed sedated and was her normal lovely self.

Not Lily, but similarly cute.

Taking Lily outdoors was where I noticed and extreme difference. Previously Lily would explode the moment we crossed the threshold, even when she had been calm second before. She was barking almost constantly, hyper vigilant, couldn’t focus, and pulled constantly at the leash. She would suddenly begin to bark and violently lunge if she so much as heard a dog, and sometimes when we could not hear anything at all.

At this latest session, she walked outside happy, confidently and calmly. She didn’t bark once! Last time we tired to work her outdoors, we barely made it a quarter of the way down their driveway. Today she cheerfully trotted down the entire driveway without a hitch. When I brought my dog out there was an outburst at the initial site of him, but Lily was very quick to redirect and settled shortly. With a bit of work we were then able to walk her calmly up to my dog within a few moments, and she promptly greeted him very politely and appropriately. When I brought out my second dog she was very interested, but did not bark at all. She was able to nicely walk right past him, and then was able to meet him and even tried to play. With my third dog she again did not bark at all, and while interested, was able to ignore her easily.

I was incredibly pleased with the difference in Lily with the addition of behavioural medication to her treatment plan. To be honest the results were better than I could have imagined! Lily is able to be outside without being stressed constantly and is able to go on walks with her owner on a regular basis without it being an unpleasant experience for both of them. I’m happy to say Lily will be joining us in our outdoor group classes next week.

While I do feel that behavioural medications may sometimes not be the best choice, and are certainly not a replacement for training, this was a case where the dog really needed it and this decision will improve the quality of life for Lily and her human family. Sometimes we are dealing with dogs whose poor start in life has actually led them to have abnormal brain development, and in these cases it might be time to consider some extra help beyond behaviour modification and training.

Our outdoor group class which Lily will no be able to join.

Some signs that it might be appropriate to consider medication as part of a treatment plan can be: when the behaviour is is provoked by routine occurrences or the triggers are multiple and difficult to predict; if the dogs reaction to provoking stimuli is very intense and disproportionate; if the dog’s recovery to stress is poor meaning that their reaction may last a while or they take a long time to return to baseline.

If you think a dog you are working with (or your personal dog) may benefit from medication, it may be time to consider speaking with your vet or a veterinary behaviourist. Veterinary behaviourists are not geographically available to all of us, but some of them, like (Animal Behavior Clinic in Portland) can offer phone consultants to your client’s veterinarian.

Veterinary behaviourists may also have some insight into important medical tests to run before placing a dog on medication, as they did with our corgi Kalani. It was recommended we test for proper liver functioning in her due to her symptoms and it turned out she has some form of liver disease like a shunt. Lani has been placed on a prescription diet and her behaviour problems are improving. My general vet is not a specialist in the health links to behaviour problems and didn’t pick up the behavioural symptoms of liver disease.

Behavioural medications should not be viewed as a quick fix – they are best used in conjunction with a training and behaviour modification program with a qualified professional. Sometimes it may be necessary for the dog to remain on them their entire life, but other times it can be a short term solution to help behaviour training take hold. I look forward to working more with Lily and her family, and am excited for what the future holds for them. I am thrilled that the medication has already helped Lily as much as it has, and I see a bright prognosis for her with her owners being dedicated to continuing training with her.

Tips and Trick for Nippy Pups

By Sarah Fulcher

You’ve just brought home your new furry bundle of joy. Everything is going swell for the first week – you’re impressed at how sweet and calm your puppy is. Then, out of nowhere you have a shark on your hands! Where has my sweet, quiet pooch gone? Or perhaps you had a mouthy pup straight from the get go. Either way it’s important to understand that puppy nipping is totally normal. Even if your new addition started out sweet and quiet they grow up and get more energy and things can change!

NIPPING IS NORMAL

Puppies explore the world with their mouths so it is natural for them to put their teeth on their surroundings – including you! Dogs also play by mouthing and biting and while it’s totally normal and natural, humans are much more sensitive than dogs, and puppies need to learn that biting and nipping the two-legged family members is off limits.

A nipping problem can start before you even bring your puppy home. A proper upbringing by the breeder or puppy raiser can make a huge difference in how well your puppy deals with stress and gets a jump start on bite inhibition. I recommend puppies stay with their litter until at least 7-8 weeks as they learn some critical things from mom and litter mates up to that age. Puppies that leave the litter before 7 weeks of age seem to pretty consistently have impulse control, mouthing, and handling issues. The younger the puppy is when it leaves the litter the more pronounced these problems can be.

REST IS ESSENTIAL

One critical piece of misinformation that often gets overlooked and is often essential in reducing mouthiness is making sure your puppy gets enough rest. Just like young children, some puppies get wound up when they are tired and become excessively nippy when in this state. Young puppies should rest every few hours for about a half an hour. Crate training can be very helpful in promoting these rest periods, or you can also set up a puppy pen area for your pooch’s downtime. They may not sleep right away so you can put them away in the crate or pen with something healthy to chew on like a bully stick, stuffed Kong or a safe toy.

Many people also notice that their puppy goes crazy and is excessively mouthy at a certain time in the evening – this can also be chalked up to being over tired. If you can predict the general time your puppy will have their ‘mad moment’ be proactive and put them into their place if possible for some quiet time before they fly off the handle. Otherwise if you miss the opportunity to catch them before they go nuts it’s fine to take that as a sign that puppy needs a break and put them away for some quiet time.

SOFT MOUTH TRAINING

A young puppy may respond to a “YIPE” interruption, but older or more determined puppies may need a different tactic.

If you have a young puppy, for example, under 12 weeks old, it is a good plan to begin soft mouth training. However if your puppy came to you with some more intense mouthing for whatever reason feel free to skip this step if you don’t feel you can comfortably accomplish it. With soft mouth training you want to allow the puppy to put his mouth on you, but provide feedback when he bites hard enough to hurt. This is very similar to how they learn how hard to bite other dogs. With a young pup, you can usually do a loud, high pitched “YIPE” and stop playing for a few seconds. It’s a good plan to then redirect your puppy to a toy or something safe to bite.

If you find that your puppy is biting hard most of the time or isn’t responding to the yipe it may be time to switch tactics. With some puppies (or once they are a little older) the yipe will only amp them up. You may need to switch tactics and use a loud “OUCH” as if you’ve been punched in the arm for any tooth contact to skin. Then pause interactions for several seconds and then redirect to a toy. If your puppy is biting hard or not responding to a yipe, they are probably beyond the stage for soft mouth training. If your puppy doesn’t respond to the ‘ouch’ by backing off or comes right back for more and won’t redirect to a toy it might be time for a brief, non-emotional time out.

TIME-OUTS

The time out can be done in the crate if your puppy as a strong positive association with the crate. You should not be doing too many of these in any given day and should notice an improvement in the biting within a few days so it should not be enough to make the crate a negative place. If your puppy doesn’t have a positive association with their crate and you’re concerned about using it for a time out zone I suggest setting up a tether station away from the main areas of household activities and using that as a time out area.

The time out can be done in the crate, an x-pen, or on a tether station.

The purpose of the time out is to remove all attention for the nipping behaviour which is an extremely powerful and meaningful social consequence for dogs. Many puppies do learn that biting gets them attention (remember, any attention is good attention!) or that biting makes things they don’t want to happen stop, and a time out can be a very effective consequence in these instances especially. The time out does not need to be long – I typically suggest 30 seconds or until the pup stops protesting.

It’s important to pick a “time out cue” that you will give to the dog before you move to put them in the time out. This should be something used only in this instance that the entire family uses consistently. It helps the puppy to connect the undesirable behaviour with the consequence and also gives the puppy a chance to avoid the consequence entirely should they stop in response to hearing the time out cue.

TEACHING IMPULSE CONTROL

Use your puppies meals as an opportunity to train desired behaviours.

I also recommend a few exercises to help puppies learn not to nip humans. One of my favourites is feeding the puppy’s meals by hand and allowing the puppy to learn that they must not nip or mug our hands to earn the food. Simple put a handful of kibble in your hand and place it in front of your puppy. Allow them to lick, nibble, or paw at your hand. If they bite hard enough to hurt yell “ouch” and remove the hand for 3-5 seconds. If at any time the puppy ignores your hand for a second or two say “yes” and allow them to eat the handful of kibble. Repeat until their meal is finished.

Another exercise I like to use for mouthy pups I call “Earth to Dog”- it helps with nipping, proofing sitting, and jumping up! To start, lure or cue the puppy to sit. Then take a treat or kibble in your hand and hold it high above the puppy’s head. Slowly lower the treat straight down towards puppy’s head. If puppy jumps out of the sit quickly pull the treat back up high out of reach! The goal is that they hold the sit and don’t snap at your hand long enough for you to almost get the treat to touch their nose – then you release them to have the treat. This helps to teach impulse control around food, not nipping at hands, and to take treats nicely.

YOU’VE GOT THIS!

Although it may seem like one of nature’s unnecessarily cruel jokes, there is a reason that puppies come equipped with those incredibly sharp teeth – so that they can learn how to gently use their mouths. However, they can really hurt! Having a mouthy puppy gets pretty frustrating in a short amount of time and nipping is one of the most common complaints I receive from puppy owners. But remember, puppy nipping and mouthiness is a totally normal behaviour. 

Add these exercises into your training toolkit and if you are consistent you should achieve some relief from those tiny shark teeth. Some puppy biting can be a really serious problem, so don’t hesitate to contact an experienced dog trainer in your area should you need extra help. Consider enrolling your new addition into a Puppy Kindergarten class as well – the continued interactions with other dogs will help to teach some bite control, especially if your puppy left the litter too young. Most of the time nipping is just totally normal behaviour so don’t panic and enjoy your new family member! Thankfully it’s generally pretty easy to teach a pup to have a soft mouth, with the right tools and consistency.

By Sarah Fulcher, CDBC

There are three ways I will commonly use to teach dogs to drop items. I don’t often use a clicker because my hands are full but will usually use a verbal “yes” marker at least. You can use a clicker or a verbal, I will just say refer to mark/marker/marking in this article and that means either one.

Dead Toy
The first is to try is the dead toy method. Play with the dog for a little bit and then when you want to initiate teaching the drop/out, just hold the toy firmly and into your body and stop tugging with the dog. This makes the game BORING. You can say “Drop” or “Out” or whatever you want your word to be here once but then just wait for the dog to let go – do not repeat the word as the dog is just making the association and we don’t want to accidentally teach them their cue is “drop drop drop drop”. Once the dog gets bored of trying to tug with no one playing the game with them, after a few seconds they will let go and you can mark and re-initiate play with the dog as the “treat” – no food needed here. If the dog doesn’t stop tugging on the toy after a few seconds, calmly reach down and gently grab their collar and hold on to them. This will prevent them from tugging, you can say “drop” again and then mark and and play again when they let go.

Dead toy drop it is not a good method to use with a dog you want to build drive in – for that I would recommend the two toy method to keep enthusiasm up.

In this session with puppy Brew, I am using a dead toy out.

Treat on the Nose
The second way I frequently teach drop is to use food. For this I usually will not use kibble but rather something with a stronger odour. When they dog has the toy well gripped, say “Drop” (or whatever) and put the stinky food directly on the dog’s nose. Usually they will let go of the toy at the scent of the treat. Mark, feed the treat, and re-initiate play. It’s important to say Drop BEFORE you move to put the treat to the dog’s nose, as we want the dog to anticipate the food when it hears Drop and let go of the toy. This should start to happen pretty quickly, at that point you can mark the drop, feed a treat, and start playing again for a few reps, but fairly quickly you should be able to ask the dog to Drop, and then reward the drop with playing with the toy again eliminating the treat.

Two Toy
The third option is to use two toys. It’s very similar to the treat method. When the dog has one toy, say “drop” and pull the other toy out from behind your back so the dog can see it. Usually they get excited for the new toy, drop the original one, and you can mark the drop and play with the new toy with them as a reward. With this one you can go back and forth. After a bit the dog should anticipate the new toy coming out and start dropping the toy on hearing the word Drop, and then you can also get rid of the second toy.

Chirag Patel’s Drop
I’ve also used Chirag Patel’s method in the past and found that it works very well.
]]> http://odysseyanimalbehavior.com/training-drop-it/feed/ 0 http://odysseyanimalbehavior.com/the-enlightened-dog-trainer/ http://odysseyanimalbehavior.com/the-enlightened-dog-trainer/#comments Mon, 18 Jan 2016 19:30:45 +0000 http://sarahfulcher.com/?p=306 The Enlightened Dog Trainer

By Sarah Fulcher, CDBC

The enlightened dog trainer makes training fun. Instead of drudgery it becomes a game. They are connected, in tune, and invested in their canine partner. They are engaging, dynamic, using praise, movement, play, and other rewards to build desired behaviours. They know when to stop, leaving the animal wanting more instead of checking out.

The enlightened dog trainer is in control of their own emotions. They know when to walk away, when to just not attempt a session, and when to quit while they’re ahead. They never blame the dog for failures, knowing it’s the trainer’s responsibility to break things down in a way the dog can understand and to communicate clearly to them. They know that animals can have off days too, and that a dog has a right to say “no”, for perhaps they are sore, ill, or frightened.

The enlightened dog trainer treats their students with kindness and patience. They have a great deal of empathy for their student whether human, canine, or other animal. They understand that learning new skills is challenging and takes time, good teaching, support, clarity, lots of reinforcement, and the occasional gentle steering back on track when things have gone a bit off the intended path.

The enlightened dog trainer treats their peers with respect. They understand that while everyone may not make the same choices, that the vast majority who work with dogs do so because they love them. Instead of dividing, they seek to find common ground. They understand there is something to learn from everyone.

The enlightened dog trainer trains without ego. They are creative and think outside the box. They read the dog in front of them, and adjust the training program to meet the individual’s needs. They do not limit themselves based on politics or ideology, or define themselves by what they will not do. Rather, they think critically and listen to what the dog says they need. They are forever a student, striving to gain more knowledge and become better at their craft. They know that training is an art and a science.

The enlightened dog trainer will always do what is best for the dog.