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Apr 21 2010

Managing Unwanted Behavior

Dog chewing on a slipper If you had a friend who was trying to give up chocolate, would you invite them into your house and then eat their favorite chocolate in front of them? If you had a friend who was in the throes of nicotine withdrawal, would you smoke in front of them? For most of us the answers to these questions would be no. Yet we seem to ignore this courtesy when it comes to our dogs and in the process forget about one of the most useful tools in preventing unwanted behaviors— simple management.

Dogs do what works for them. If chewing helps to relieve boredom, stress, teething pain, or simply the need to chew, they are going to grab whatever is available and palatable to them and chew on it. It makes no difference to them if it’s a $1000 pair of Manolo Blahniks (yes I watched Sex in the City) or a ratty, smelly, hole ridden pair of house slippers that a wife has been trying to get her husband to throw out for years.

Teaching our dogs the rules of acceptable behavior is not something that is accomplished in one or two sessions. It takes good instruction, patience, persistence, repetition, and consistency to help establish new behavior. There is one more thing that needs to be in place throughout the teaching of a new, acceptable behavior— management of opportunities to practice the old unwanted behavior.

For our purposes here, management simply means that the dog is not given any opportunity to practice the old unwanted behavior unless you are specifically ready & able to intervene and re-direct the dog towards the appropriate behavior. To some this may seem overly simplistic but it is not an easy thing to practice sometimes. Kicking off your shoes after a hard day’s work is a physical and mental reward for us and it’s something that’s done without our notice; that is until five minutes later when we’ve come back from changing out of our work clothes to find Fido happily relieving his over excitement from your arrival by going to town on those discarded shoes.

One point I would like to make here is that Fido is not to blame in this example. There is no intent behind his actions other than to got some relief or find an outlet for his energy; he simply hasn’t practiced the new behavior enough for it to replace the older hard wired one. Dogs are not devious; they are not willfully misbehaving or being spiteful regardless of how much their actions remind us of ourselves.

Remember that when we are trying to change a dog’s default behavior, any chance the dog gets to practice the old hard wired behavior without being redirected to the new acceptable behavior prolongs the time it takes to establish the behavior you want. The best way to set yourself and your dog up for faster success when learning a new behavior is to make sure the dog can’t practice the old behavior unsupervised.

Cheers,

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, Tosha, Elbee

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3 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 3:38 PM - Categories: Behavior | Bringing a New Dog Home | Training

Apr 8 2010

Getting Into The Training Zone

What is the zone?

To a batter in baseball, sometimes the ball seems as large as a basketball— to a Mason laying stone, every stone he reaches for is the right one— and to a trainer working with an animal, sometimes it feels like you both speak the same language. Although originally a sports term, "being in the zone" is something that I think we have all experienced at one time or another. It is that place where everything seems to come effortlessly; a place where time is slowed, our thinking is crystal, and our actions are second nature.

The psychology of getting into the zone is a multimillion (if not billion) dollar industry and it reaches across all areas of endeavor. Sports psychologists are paid millions of dollars every year to help athletes attain this Zen like state. A quick search of "how do I get into the zone" on Google yields 317,000,000 hits for books, articles, websites, psychologists, videos, and other resources about the subject. I definitely think it is a worthwhile subject of study for us as trainers, and I'd like to share some practical things that we can do as dog trainers to help us attain this state more often.

Have a plan for the unplanned.

The best trainers know that although we often have plan for "formal" training sessions, having a plan for our impromptu sessions is also key. In reality a training "event" can last only a few seconds, knowing exactly what you are going to do when your dog jumps on you, prevents reaction on your part. Instead you will start to notice the subtle cues that precede your dog jumping up and will be able to act as if you knew it was coming (because you did).

Avoid being hyper focused on the dog.

I know this sounds like a contradiction but hear me out. Sometimes we get so locked into the dog, analyzing their body language and actions, that we forget that they are reacting to us. Be aware of your own body language and movement— remember that even the slightest change in our body posture or gestures can be a huge difference to an animal that discerns tiny movements for a living.

Hand in hand with being aware of our body language is being aware of our emotional state. While I don't agree with Cesar Milan that dogs sense energy vibrations; I do believe that they can see tension in our bodies and that they can smell changes in our body odor given off by the chemicals produced by emotions. We all feel tense, angry, and frustrated at times and avoiding training during those times will lead to more times in the zone.

Visualize your weak points as well as your good.

Many people think that visualizing anything negative is counter-productive but I strongly disagree. I have always been a person that is quick to anger. It is something that I work on constantly as I try and develop new habits to replace my old ones, but it is not something I will accomplish overnight. I have found that by visualizing unwanted responses as well as wanted responses, I am better able to deal with them; and by having more positive outcomes with these frustrating situations, both dog and trainer become reinforced and begin to trust in each other as partners.

Above all, realize that the zone is not reached by chance.

Being in the zone is not something that happens by accident, it is the result of being prepared both physically and mentally for the challenges you face when training. Through thoughtful and deliberate preparation on our part, the training zone will be reached more and more often and both we and our dogs will be the better for it.

We would love to hear your stories of training success. Tell us how you prepare to get into the training zone.

Cheers

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, Tosha, Elbee

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5 comments - Posted by Kevin Myers at 12:52 PM - Categories: Behavior | Dog Training Tips | Dogs | Training

Apr 4 2010

Training Tips: Why Won't My Dog Come When Called?

This past week I read an excellent article on Karen Pryor's web site, http://www.clickertraining.com. The article was written by Rebecca Lynch and was entitled Poisoned Cues: The Case of the Stubborn Dog. It reminds us to first look at factors other than a dog being stubborn, when a behavior breaks down. With Spring in the air and warmer weather upon us, we will need to use the cue/command perhaps most often poisoned by us as owners— getting our dogs to come when called.

What's in it for me?
Dogs are always looking at things from the perspective of "what's in it for me?", and for many dogs the answer to that question is "nothing good" when it comes to responding to recall. Sure they get called (mostly at the same times everyday) for good things like food, walks, or perhaps a game of ball. But for many dogs, responding to recalls are more likely to make good things end instead of happen. If you were to keep a list of pro's and con's (from your dog's point of view) for responding to "Lassie come", chances are your list would look something like this:

Pros:

Got food (but many times this has the additional cues of time and words like dinner or food or eat)
Went for a walk (again cues of time and words like walk and presence of leash or walking shoes)
Got a treat (again many times your voice has changed in pitch and has become a predictor of a treat coming)

Cons:

Got my nails trimmed
Got a bath
Got patted on the head (yes some dogs put up with this but many do not like it)
Got toweled off
Went to the vets
Had to stop chasing
Had to stop smelling
Had to stop playing
Had to come inside
Had to get up from comfortable spot
Got scolded
Had to stop sniffing other dogs butt
Had to stop eating grass

It doesn't take an advanced degree in mathematics to get the point , coming when called has simply come to mean an end to fun and interesting activity— and the dog gets nothing good in return.

What needs to change?
To get our recall back we simply need to change our dogs perception of what is likely to happen when they do respond to recall. By combining treats with real life rewards we can set up a win/win situation for both us and our dogs and strengthen the recall response.

What are some ways I can build a good recall in my dog?
For instance setup a doggie play date with a friend in a controlled area. Let your dog know that you have treats (high value ones to start) and go out for the play date. When your chances for success are high (before your dog becomes too distracted, or after he is no longer so distracted) call you dog to come. If your dog comes treat them with the high value treat and your best good dog voice; and then let the dog go right back to playing (the real life reward). Do this several times over the first session, each time make sure that your dog is not so into his play session that he has no chance of responding when you call. End the session on a cheerful note when the dogs are played out and reward the same for coming to you when you end the session as the first time he responded to your call. In addition any time your dog takes a break in the play session and comes over to check in on their own, a reward is called for. Over time, as the recall becomes stronger, you can fade the food rewards but you want to make sure that you always keep the real life rewards so that the dog feels at least that they have a chance of a good outcome when they come when called.

There are dozens of everyday situations that can be setup to take advantage of training like I just described. By planning training situations like this and stacking the odds in our (and the dog's) favor, we build up the recall with each success. By changing the ratio of good things vs. bad things in favor of the good, your dog will start to become more responsive to recall and thus better your chances of getting a recall when the safety of your dog and others depend on it.

Cheers

Kevin, Jackie, Gavin, Annie, Tosha, Elbee

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