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- 177 - He Has One Problem
Owners frequently call us to say: “My dog is amazing, but he has one problem!” That problem might be something comparatively small, or it might be something bigger. It’s always bizarre to hear someone say “My dog’s perfect except for the fact that he attacks other dogs.”
Wed, 05 Jul 2017 - 176 - Take A Rest: Understanding Recovery Time
Let’s dig deep into this. A dog’s nervous system controls its ability to process stress. Fear, anxiety, and aggression all come from a place of stress. Your dog’s nervous system dictates how well he or she will press that stress. A strong nervous system can handle a lot of stress, while a weak one can only handle stress for a shorter period of time.
Tue, 04 Jul 2017 - 175 - Fun In The Sun: How To Take Your Dog Off Leash
Summer is on its way, and that means that everyone is going to be at the park with their dog. We’re going to be camping, hiking, and fishing . It’s fun to take our dogs along too! Many people want to take their dogs on these adventures off-leash, and unfortunately most of these people shouldn’t. Have you ever been out in public and had a dog run right up to you? Usually the owner is calling out “Don’t worry, he’s friendly!” That doesn't matter. What if I were terrified of dogs or allergic to them? What if my dog wasn’t friendly?
Mon, 03 Jul 2017 - 174 - How Should I Interact With Service Dogs?
The message I want to convey boils down to this: leave dogs alone when you’re in public! When you see a dog, especially a service dog, just leave it alone. I know that’s tough for a lot of people. I probably don’t understand this urge to interact with dogs, because I’m surrounded by dozens of them every day and usually fulfill my “dog quota” with no problem. But there is nothing more frustrating to a service dog’s trainer or handler than to be out in public teaching the dog and be constantly interrupted by folks who just want to chat.
Fri, 30 Jun 2017 - 173 - No Practice Required: How To House Train Your Puppy
Someone called into our Salt Lake City training center to ask me to come to their home and house train their dog. As I explained that we only train at the center, I realized that going to the house wouldn't even be necessary. In fact, I’ve house trained hundreds of dogs without ever once seeing the houses they lived in.
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 - 172 - In Your Face: How To Approach A Dog
I have plenty of clients with dogs that are big and cute. Some of these dogs also, unfortunately, have aggression issues. Frequently the owner will be walking their dog on the street and have to deal with a difficult situation: a neighbor sees the dog, lights up with a smile, and runs across the road to get in the dog’s face and say hello.
Wed, 28 Jun 2017 - 171 - Spring Cleaning: Structuring Motion and Silence
Right now, it’s starting to feel a little bit like spring in Utah. It seemed like winter lasted forever! We had two inches of snow down here in the valley last week, and there’s still snow on the mountains. Utah Sometimes it feels like winter ends in May and spring only lasts a month until we’re into summer.
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 - 170 - Take Off Your Pants: How To Use Repetition in Dog Training
In this post, I want to ask you to do something. You don’t need to do it right now, especially if you're at school or in your office or at another public place. (In fact, if that’s the case, please save this task for later!) The next time you're getting dressed, put your pants on the other way: if you're used to putting in your left leg first, then try to put in your right leg and then your left.
Mon, 26 Jun 2017 - 169 - Dog Obedience Myths: Selective Listening
This post might be out to burst your bubble, because in it I want to talk about selective hearing. Here’s why what I’m about to say might disappoint you: dogs don't have selective hearing in quite the way you think they do. Selective hearing is what most people blame when they say things like: “Sometimes I call my dog and he looks around and thinks about it, but decides not to come” or “I tell my dog to sit, but he’s pretty selective about whether he obeys.”
Fri, 23 Jun 2017 - 168 - Singin’ In The Rain: How To Keep Training Fresh
I love summer. I love not worrying about wearing shoes. I love leaving the house in shorts and no jacket without worrying about getting cold. I hate the rain and the snow and anything falling out of the sky. (Why do I live in Utah, you’re probably asking!) So the rain we’ve been getting recently has really dragged on me, but there is a bit of a silver lining.
Thu, 22 Jun 2017 - 167 - Survival of the Fittest: Weakness and Leadership
In today’s post, I want to address the topic of weakness. Now, we like to believe that we’ve evolved to a level where we don't pick on the weak, at least as adults. As an adult, I know that . As a kid, I definitely picked on those who were weaker at times and got picked on for being weaker at others. But as we mature, we like to think that we’re beyond that. Hopefully we are!
Wed, 21 Jun 2017 - 166 - How To Walk And Heel Responsibly
When I was sixteen years old, I got my driver’s license. Like plenty of other sixteen-year-olds, that meant that I started ditching school and doing other stuff. I was determined to find fun stuff to do. On one of these days, I ditched school with a friend to check out the military surplus store, one of those places where you can buy tents and fishing supplies and other military supplies. We didn’t have one of them in our town, but the next town over—Livermore—did.
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 - 165 - Hedging Your Bets: Dog Training As Insurance
In this post, I want to talk about insurance. The other day, I started to think about investing in dog training kind of reminds me of the way that people . When I say “investing,” I am talking partially about money, but I’m also talking about effort and time and engagement—everything that goes into the process of training a dog.
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 - 164 - Off the Hook: How To Train With E-Collars
In this post, I want to address some of the challenges of the electric training collar. Those of you who know a little about my company know that we use these collars with most of our clients. We do this because, done correctly, the collar allows us to get to an advanced level of off-leash obedience quickly, while being very humane and easy on both the dog and the owner.
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 - 163 - What’s The Deal With Dog Training?
In this post, I want to address what dog training really is. I have a very linear mindset, and I’m always trying to fit things into a logical, “A-to-B” framework. When I do reduce dog training to its core, I come up with one concept: controlling outcomes. If you can manage that for a long enough time, then you’ve trained your dog.
Tue, 20 Jun 2017 - 162 - Dog Chewing and the Collateral Effect
I went over to the house and put together a big list of what I wanted them to do regularly. I wanted them to sneak up on him and correct him with the e-collar anytime they saw him chewing, to make sure he had plenty of toys to chew on, to create something called a surrogate (which I’ll address in another post.) The last thing I told them to do was take him on focused walks. They were already walking him every day for 30—40 minutes, but he pulled. We taught him how to walk properly in that session, and I made sure they understood to walk him in a focused manner—right next to their side—from that point on.
Mon, 22 May 2017 - 161 - Good Dog: How To Set Specific Expectations
In today’s post, I’d like to talk about our expectations for our dogs. We train a lot of service dogs, but this advice applies to any dog. Many people say that they want their dog to watch over them or their kids. When I ask them what this specifically means, they say that they want their dog to “keep them safe.” What does that mean? “Just make sure that we don’t get hurt.”
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 - 160 - Not Your Baby: How To Think About Dog Aggression
In this short post, I’d like to talk specifically to people who treat their dogs as if they’re kids. Now, I love both my dogs and my kids. Sometimes even I feel that I love my dogs as much as my kids. But even if you do, there has to be a distinction drawn between them. The reason? Knives.
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 - 159 - Barber Shop Blues: How To Understand Dog Communication
Right now I’m in Savannah, Georgia for my bother’s wedding. I never bring a razor with me when I travel, so I really needed to shave and my hair was getting long. Now, I’ve been shaving my head by myself for about twenty years. I’m a pretty utilitarian guy. I wear Carhartt shirts every day and try to keep everything simple without fuss or maintenance, so I hadn’t been in a barber’s chair in twenty years.
Wed, 19 Apr 2017 - 158 - Lead On: How To Understand Dominance
In this post, I’d like to share a few of my thoughts about dominance. There is a preconception out there among dog trainers that dominance doesn’t exist, founded on the idea that dogs aren’t actually pack animals (which may or may not be true). This idea has gained a lot of traction during the last few years.
Tue, 18 Apr 2017 - 157 - That’s The Way It Is: Why Not To Compare Dogs
It’s gorgeous here in Utah—75 degrees, clear sky, no wind—and easily the nicest day we’ve had all year. Up in the Northeast, though, they have a huge storm coming in. Some places are getting upwards of three feet of snow.
Mon, 17 Apr 2017 - 156 - Get A Job: Training Your Dog For Work
It’s Saturday evening. I’m dirty, sore, tired—and fulfilled! That’s unusual. If you know me at all, you know that I despise manual labor. I always joke that I’m the hardest working lazy man you’ll ever meet. I don’t mind getting a leash in my hand and working with dogs, but other manual tasks like mowing the lawn and fixing stuff around the house just aren’t my cup of tea. But that’s what I’ve been doing all day.
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 - 155 - He Won’t Grow Out Of It: How To Deal With An Aggressive Dog
I opened up my email today and saw a question from a person looking for advice. “My dog is six months old and he’s starting to get aggressive. Do you think he’ll grow out of it?” My very frank response was “No, he’ll probably grow into it.” My experience suggests that he’ll start to do it more frequently.
Thu, 13 Apr 2017 - 154 - At Ease: How To Calm Your Dog
One thing I’m fond of telling people is that calmness is a skill set. A big pet peeve of mine is when people say: “Oh, just wait until the dog gets older. He’ll calm down.” What they’re saying is that calmness is a product of age, and that a dog just needs to get older to naturally calm down. There are two problems with this logic, the first being that it’s just wrong. Plenty of ten-year-old dogs are still very hyper.However, even if this logic is correct, it means that you have to wait years to really enjoy your dog. That’s why I try to help people understand that calmness is a skill, and that it can be learned and taught.
Wed, 12 Apr 2017 - 153 - Sit, Platz: Language and Commands
A few years ago I had a client with a Doberman. We were talking about training and commands, and I gave it a “sit” command in English. They said, “Oh no, we’re going to train the dog in German.” I’ve trained hundreds of dogs in German over the years, so I had no problem with that. But when I asked them why they wanted to train in German, they just said “Well, she’s a Doberman.” By their tone of voice I could tell that they were surprised I was even asking. “She’s from Germany originally,” they told me, “which means she’ll understand German commands better naturally.”
Tue, 11 Apr 2017 - 152 - Left or Right? How To Teach Your Dog To Heel
I’ve been teaching dogs to heel on the left for twenty years, and if a dog is trained on the right I get awkward. I always joke that you get used to putting your pants on with the same leg first every single day. Try doing it the other way tomorrow! It feels weird. For me, that’s the same feeling I get when a dog heels to the right side.
Mon, 10 Apr 2017 - 151 - Episode #151: Exercise This: How To Stop An Aggressive or Destructive Dog
In this post, I’d like to talk about the role that exercise plays in making sure your dog is well-trained. This stems from a question that I’ve received a lot over the years, thanks to a certain dog trainer named Cesar Milan.
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 - 150 - Episode #150: Bullied: What To Do If Your Dog Takes Advantage Of You
Today I want to talk about dogs that take advantage of their owners. This has been on my mind because I’m working with an owner who has cancer and is physically weakened as a result. In a possible correlation, he’s seen behavior problems and boundary-pushing popping up in his dog.
Fri, 17 Mar 2017 - 149 - Episode #149: How To Control Dog Barking And Growling
Today, I spent some time in my backyard with my dog Chocolate Chip and a Belgian Malamute who’s staying at my house to be trained as a personal protection dog. Needless to say, there was a lot of growling involved. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to talk about growling and what it means.
Thu, 16 Mar 2017 - 148 - Episode #148: Understanding the “Sandbox”
I’ve found that among dog trainers, as in any skill-based profession, there are a lot of disagreements. This arguments tend to revolve around methodology and identification of problems. Some trainers are adamant that one training method is the best, while others will swear that another is ideal. I’ve realized in the past few years that if a dog trainer is trying to achieve a certain goal with a dog, then the training program that they put together toward that goal is probably the correct one.
Wed, 15 Mar 2017 - 147 - Episode #147: Sit, Stay: How To Teach Your Dog To Sit
Lately I’ve been working a lot with Sword, a protection dog in training. Protection dogs are a big investment, usually around $20,000 to $50,000. Today we were working on Sword’s sit command. He often understands this command to mean sitting at someone’s side, but right now I want to train him to sit in front of me. Right now he gets confused and tries to sit at my side, so I’m teaching him to sit where I ask him to sit.
Tue, 14 Mar 2017 - 146 - Shepherds and Terriers: How To Train Your Breed
I want to talk to for a minute your about how your dog’s breed learns. Very frequently, dog owners will ask me, “Have you ever dealt with this breed before?” Sometimes I chuckle when it’s a very common breed. You’d be surprised at how many people have asked me if I’ve ever trained a German Shepherd, for instance. My response? “Well, not since twenty minutes ago!”
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 - 145 - A New Perspective On Dog Aggression Training
I flew back to Georgia last Thursday to buy some service and protection dogs for my clients. The trip was planned with very short notice. Now, I’m a planner who likes to plan things with as much notice as is possible, partially because I’m a big guy who likes to sit in an aisle or window seat. What I never, ever want is the middle seat.
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 - 144 - Big Picture: Elements of Dog Behavior
training is just one component of your dog’s overall behavior. It might be the most important component at some times, but it isn’t always. I’ve never made an exhaustive list of every component that I can think of, but you need to consider things like nutrition, exercise, relationship with the owner, supervision, and the amount of affection the dog is getting. Some of these things are directly related to training quite a bit; the better a dog walks on a leash, for example, the easier it is to exercise them.
Mon, 27 Feb 2017 - 143 - Cuteness Overload: How To Deal With Manipulation
Today I’m going to talk about your dog playing you for a fool. It happens all the time, and there are a lot of dogs that are smart enough for it. Experts say that 90% of communication is nonverbal, and I totally believe that to be true. I think we as people learn nonverbal cues from others, and we don’t often recognize it. That’s still a big part of how we communicate. Dogs are the same: most of their communication, and most of their understanding of our communication, is nonverbal. They see patterns within our movements and words and interpret them. That allows us to train them, but it’s also what allows them to play us for fools sometimes.
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 - 142 - Smart Exposure: How To Help Dogs With Anxiety
I was truly fascinated by that. I know not everyone comes from a dog family—in fact, I didn’t come from a dog family—and that not everyone wants to be around dogs. But to meet someone who hadn’t touched a dog in so many years seemed strange and unique to me. Because this client was so allergic and hadn’t been able to be around dogs, she had developed a fear of them. She was from an area that is very dog-friendly, so there were always dogs everywhere. That was scary for her. So she overcome this fear with her dog had been tough. Her puppy was sweet, but very nippy. That just fed her fear even more.
Wed, 15 Feb 2017 - 141 - Exception To The Rule: How To Train A Stubborn Dog
In today’s post, I want to talk about something difficult: your stubborn dog! I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot because Facebook was kind enough to show me a memory of a quote that I shared three or four years ago: “In order for a dog to be considered stubborn, he must first know what the rule is and then actively choose to disobey it. There are very few stubborn dogs in this world, but there are a lot of untrained dogs.”
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 - 140 - Just A Habit: Real Obedience Training For Dogs
The other day I heard some barking in my backyard. I live in a very unique neighborhood. In the small block that I live on, there are about fifteen houses. Out of all those houses, my family is the only one that owns dogs. Nowhere else in America will you see fifteen houses in a row, only one of which has a dog! It’s crazy.
Fri, 10 Feb 2017 - 139 - Big and Strong: Leadership In Dog Training
I want to talk about leadership. This is one of those concepts that a lot of people realize they need to do better, particularly in relation to their dogs. Unfortunately, some of these people end up practicing that only looks like leadership. Some of them just try to look tougher, some say things in a deeper voice, and some attempt to appear meaner or “more alpha.” These terms that come to mind when people think about leadership.
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 - 138 - Point and Shoot: Laser Pointers
Today, I’d like to talk about a slightly unusual topic: laser pointers. Around the beginning of my business, I got a call from an owner who had three Boston terriers. They were one of the first clients that I had while working on my own. On the phone, they told me that their dogs chased lights, shadows, and other moving light disturbances. If cars driving down the road cast a shadow, for instance, the dogs would chase after it barking maniacally. When someone opened a door, the dogs would see the reflection on the wall and freak out.
Wed, 08 Feb 2017 - 137 - Show and Tell: Puppy Obedience Training
which complaint do I hear the most? “My dog only listens when she wants to.” Oftentimes, people think of this as an issue with their dog. They think it means their dog is stubborn, unmotivated, stupid, or even too smart. But in reality, almost everyone teaches their dog to only be obedient when they feel like it. It usually starts from day one, whether they’ve bought a puppy or adopted an older dog. Let’s say, as an example, that you’ve just brought home your new puppy. You tell him: “Come here, puppy!” Being a curious puppy, he hears someone talking and immediately comes over. Tomorrow, you say the same thing twelve times. The puppy keeps listening, because frankly they’ll come to anything! You could say “zucchini” or “radish” and a puppy would respond to it. But the puppy isn’t really learning anything, other than that it’s a good thing to come when called. You’re just making a noise, and he’s responding to it. What tends to happen is an expansion. Now you say “sit,” “down,” and “stay,” but dogs don’t learn well through being told. They learn through being shown.
Tue, 07 Feb 2017 - 136 - Lessons From Nursery Rhymes: How To Solve Dog Training Problems
In today’s post, I want to talk about a nursery rhyme. An old lady who swallowed a fly, and then a spider to swallow the fly, and then a lizard to swallow the spider, and a bird to swallow the lizard, and a cat to swallow the bird, and a dog to swallow the cat—whew! Basically, this woman didn’t know how to solve the problem, so she kept sending other things out to solve it for her.
Mon, 06 Feb 2017 - 135 - On Edge: Dog Obedience and Children
Today, I thought I’d write a post about a news item that’s been on my mind lately. If you hadn’t heard, it was recently in the news that the Obama family’s dog bit a teenage girl in the face. The story, as I’ve heard it, is that the girl got in the dog’s face and was trying to kiss it—and he bit her. I don’t ever like to condone a dog biting, but at the same time you can’t condone the behavior of this child.
Wed, 25 Jan 2017 - 134 - Staying Together: How to Train For the Yard
In today’s post, I want to give you a few tips for keeping your dog close. Many clients find themselves using these methods in the front yard, when they’re gardening, chatting with neighbors, or working on their car. You want to be outside and you want your dog to be with you, but you don’t want to tie him down. The dog needs to be able to wander without running off. You can also use this tip when you’re out on the trail and want your dog to hang close without heeling or being on a leash. It comes in handy at picnics and the beach as well, or any situation where you want your dog to stick around without a command.
Mon, 23 Jan 2017 - 133 - The “Pure Positive” Myth: How to Use Correction Properly
This morning, I was out with my dog Chocolate Chip, just running around. It’s a cold winter and she’s in heat, so I’m not letting her run around the house and make a mess. During this time I like to let her have some fun, because otherwise she’ll go nuts.
Mon, 23 Jan 2017 - 132 - Bonus Round: More About the Collateral Effect
In today’s post, I want to talk about something that I’ve brushed on before and want to explain in more depth. It’s called the “collateral effect.” The “collateral effect” is a term that I use frequently. It simply refers to the common trend that when we satisfy one need in a dog, other behaviors that we weren’t trying to fix still tend to fall into line.
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 - 131 - Teeth and (Cock)tails: Choosing Canine Friends
Today, I’m at home doing some work and trying to get up the nerve to take my dog for a walk in the rain. I hope the weather is better where you are! I thought that while I was waiting around inside I would write up a few blog posts. One topic that comes to mind right now, primarily because I’ve been emailing back and forth with a potential client, is this one: your dog’s friends need to be chosen, not happened upon accidentally.
Wed, 18 Jan 2017 - 130 - Airport Blues: Leadership In Action
Yesterday I had to go to the airport to pick up a dog, and it reminded me of my last time there. At the Salt Lake city Airport, if you’ll be gone for a few days and need to park, you insert your credit card to open the gate. You go in and park, and when you leave you put your credit card back in. No tickets, just your card.
Tue, 17 Jan 2017 - 129 - Knowing Yourself, Growing Yourself: Leadership in Training
In today’s post, I’d like to address the topic of about training as it relates to your dog. My dad is an awesome guy. For my whole life, he’s been in sales: sales training, leadership training, and helping people in his field succeed. Even when I was a kid, I read business magazines and books and traveled with my dad to leadership and sales capacitation training events.
Mon, 16 Jan 2017 - 128 - Survival of the Meanest: When Dogs Aren’t Nice
Don’t get me wrong: I love dogs! However, they can sometimes be real jerks. What we don’t often realize is that we often think this because we’re looking at them from our own perspective.
Fri, 13 Jan 2017 - 127 - Act Up, Act Out: Is My Dog Spiteful?
Spite is one of the most human emotions. When something happens that we don’t like, we often like to punish other people because of this feeling. Here’s an example: if someone does something their spouse hates, their spouse might withhold attention or even intentionally do something they know the person hates out of spite. Our species does this all the time!
Thu, 12 Jan 2017 - 126 - FAQ: Basics of Puppy Training
I personally like the plastic mold, but some of this decision depends on budget and the size of the dog. If your budget is tight and you can only afford one crate, I would get one of the big wire ones and partition it off. If the budget permits, however, I do prefer the plastic mold. I think dogs feel more comfortable in something that is enclosed and sturdy, more like a den. Plus, plenty of dogs can break the wire mesh crates. When I raise a puppy, they’re in a small plastic crate for a while and then as they get older they move to a larger plastic crate.
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 - 125 - Unconditionally Loved: Giving Attention Wisely
My last post was about the proverb “you pet what you get,” and that got me thinking more and more about the affection we give our dogs—enough that I wanted to dedicate another podcast to it. Unfortunately, lots of dog owners approach this topic wrong, and it sets their dog up for some problems.
Tue, 10 Jan 2017 - 124 - Pet and Regret: The Downsides of Affection
I want to talk today about an old saying that we have in dog training, which I probably heard for the first time about twenty years ago: “You get what you pet.” What’s that mean? Well, deep within this phrase there’s a very important lesson to be learned. It’s not talking literally about petting, although that can certainly be a part of things. Rather, it’s wisdom that regards showing affection and attention to your dog.
Mon, 09 Jan 2017 - 123 - Touring the Core: On the Go
For my last few posts, I’ve been describing some of the “core behaviors” that are crucial to solid training. These three obedience behaviors can help us manage or solve any dog-related problem we might run into. In my last post I talked about staying when told, and in this one I want to address the last core behavior: walking properly.
Fri, 06 Jan 2017 - 122 - Touring the Core: Stay Put!
In my last post, I discussed the concept of core behaviors: three behaviors which, done well, allow you to manage nearly everything. We’ve already discussed coming when called, so if you missed that one please go back and have a read! Today, I want to talk about how to get your dog to stay when told. Just like recall, staying when told is critical for a lot of things you need from your dog. Often, when I’m talking with owners for the first time, they tell me that their dog knows all the “tricks”: sit, lie down, shake, roll over. But if your dog doesn't do these things very well, then it’s nothing more just a trick. If you can get your dog to come when called in the living room with a treat in your hand, who cares? It’s not useful! That behavior only matters if your dog will still do it in the front yard with the mailman standing right in front of him.
Thu, 05 Jan 2017 - 121 - Touring the Core: Total Recall
In today’s post, I want to talk about a very important subject in dog training: core behaviors. I’ve found over the years that there are three of these “core” behaviors. If a dog does these behaviors, and does them well, then we can manage or solve 95% of the things that bother the owners about that dog’s behavior. Those three behaviors are: coming when called, staying when told, and walking properly. We might achieve these behaviors through various commands, but those three concepts are absolutely critical. With mastery of them, your dog can manage almost anything. I want to dedicate my next few posts to these core behaviors, because nearly every dog I meet has a merely rudimentary understanding of these behaviors. Perhaps he will come, but not very well. Perhaps he will sit, but not stay. That’s not very useful. When the time comes to apply that obedience to aggression or manners, then the dog won’t behave in the presence of distraction. In this post, I want to discuss things you can do to get your core behaviors down better. If your dog comes when called reliably, a lot of problems go away. You can call your dog away from the door when someone rings the bell, prevent your dog from barking at the window, and get rid of aggression. This concept is huge! I like to teach two different types of recall: casual and formal. I use two simply because most people tell their dogs to “come” fifty times a day. We say it all the time. That’s fine, but anything we say that often is going to lose some of its meaning. We won’t be reinforcing it all the time, so because it’s used all the time it will become lax. I allow that with my casual recall. Teaching this recall is vey easy: I call the dog, then give him lots of rewards of food and praise. I do this over and over—simple. But here’s the problem: the casual recall probably won’t be good enough to overcome real problems. Your dog will probably really enjoy coming when called, but when the chips are down you can’t count on that behavior. When the dog has to choose between obeying commands for a treat or chasing the cat, then the dog will usually go after the cat. That situation calls for what I call a “formal recall.”
Fri, 30 Dec 2016 - 120 - A Shared Universe: Some Words on Engagement
Today is a blustery, freezing cold day here in Salt Lake City, and I’m out on a trail where I frequently take my dogs off-leash. While there, I came across two Golden Retrievers that belong to a client and who I’ve known since they were brand-new. In fact, one of them was dropped off at my house before I brought him to the owner. So these dogs feel like family. They’re my oldest clients, and like my step-dogs.
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 - 119 - Cheaters Sometimes Prosper: How Repetition Works
In today’s post, I want to talk about cheating. This topic came to my mind when I was with a client earlier today. We’re training a service dog for her teenage daughter, and right now we’re working on a specific service task. Now, their problem isn’t that the training is too hard or that the dog can’t do the task, but that it’s hard to get the daughter to want to practice.
Wed, 28 Dec 2016 - 118 - Genius At Heart: Different Kinds of Intelligence
I want to talk to you about Einstein, and about a quote of his that I’m probably paraphrasing and not doing justice. It’s unclear whether he actually said this, to begin with, but it’s a great quote. It goes something to the effect of this: “Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will spend its whole life thinking it’s stupid.”
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 - 117 - On Your Own: Understanding “Learned Helplessness”
To start off, I know I haven’t been quite as “daily” as usual lately. There’s a reason for that, and I’ve made it the subject of this post! For the past week or so, my office manager has been on vacation down in Florida. He’s having a good time, which I’m glad about, but that also means that I’ve been taking over his duties. I’m not very good at administrative things like billing, answering phones, and sending emails—plus, it takes up a lot of my time. I just haven’t had an opportunity to do many of my normal activities.
Mon, 26 Dec 2016 - 116 - Taking The Cut: Why Sacrifices Matter
Frequently, I chat with owners who are just beginning to think about getting their dog trained. One of the most common complaints is that their dog is chewing and peeing on the floor, but the owners don’t want to use a crate. Or perhaps the dog is destructive, but the owners don’t want to walk it for forty-five minutes a day Basically, they want the training, but they don’t want to have to work for it.
Fri, 23 Dec 2016 - 115 - Logos Over Pathos: Separating Emotion From Training
In today’s post, I want to address the problems that arise when we do things for ourselves rather than for our dogs. Without intending to offend anyone, I’d like to tell you about a conversation. Earlier today, I talked with a women who had a Belgian Malinois who was over a year old and very aggressive. Now, if you're at all familiar with the Belgian Malinois, you know that this breed shouldn't be owned by most people. These dogs are amazing; I’m a huge fan of the breed, and I’ve imported many of them from Europe over the years. But the majority of people shouldn't own them, in the same way that sixteen-year-old kids should not own Lamborghinis. These are well-built, amazing machines, but kids don’t have the experience or the ability to handle them correctly. Belgian Malinois are great dogs for protection training and for police and military work, but they’re not really suited for average pet ownership. They’re far too much.
Thu, 22 Dec 2016 - 114 - The Inconvenient Truth About Protection
In this post, I’m going to tell you something that will possibly make you angry. It tends to have that effect on people, whether I say it like a jerk or as sweetly as I can. I think that people react in this way because they have an emotional response to things that go against what they like to hear. Well, here’s that statement: your dog probably doesn't want to protect you. A lot of people swear up and down that their dog loves them and definitely wants to protect them. In most cases, the first element isn’t under question: dogs tend to love their owner. But you have to see things from the dog’s point of view. Just like you and I, dogs are interested in self-preservation. Humans do a lot of things based on certain moral codes, but might still ignore someone getting mugged in order to avoid danger. Dogs are the same. They’re interested in self-preservation, and because of that they don’t automatically have a desire to protect the people they live with. Many people say things like: “All right, then explain to me why my dog barks when someone approaches me,” or “Why does my dog bark out the front window at the mailman?” or “Explain why my dog attacked someone on a walk the other day.” In many cases, these events come about because dogs are territorial. The dog is simply saying “This is my house, and I need to protect it!” That’s a good thing. We want to be able to have control, but I do like a dog that has some territorial urges. My old Rottweiler was incredibly territorial. After being somewhere for ten minutes, he would decide that was his place to protect. When your dog sleeps at the front door or barks at visitors, then, he isn’t trying to protect your family. He’s trying to defends what he views as his territory: the place that he sleeps, lives, and eats. He wants other people to get away from it. So what’s happening when you’re outside the dog’s “territory” and he still growls at people? In most cases, this is self-preservation. Your dog isn’t telling others to get away from you because he really likes you. It’s probably because he’s insecure about someone approaching, doesn’t see his owner as a leader, and thinks that the situation isn’t being taken care of. He says, “This is now my responsibility,” and growls, barks, or bites. That’s simple self-preservation. The dog doesn't see the person on the other side of the leash as a leader and doesn’t feel safe, so he feels the need to protect himself.
Tue, 20 Dec 2016 - 113 - Deck the Halls: Managing Your Dog During the Holidays
Today, I want to write a little about getting your dog ready for Christmas. In my house, we’ve got the Christmas tree, stockings hung by the chimney with care, and all sorts of other Christmas gear. My wife has a blog that a bunch of people read, and this year a company asked her if they could decorate our house for free if she wrote about it. So we’ve got some awesome decorations. Every year around Christmas, people run into problems with their dogs. Stockings, packages, trees—they’re all an issue! Dogs will rip up the gifts, pee on the stockings, tear down the tree, and all other sorts of stuff. The solution to this is simple, because it doesn't require a ton of effort to get your dog to behave. Unfortunately, a lot of people change the variables in their home and don't think about their dogs. Think about the scientific process for a minute. We start with a baseline. If we want to test something, we change a variable and watch how the baseline changes. Most people bring a lot of stuff into their house at Christmastime, which means they’ve changed several variables but haven't put themselves in a position to observe the results. They go about their business without having set up any sort of scenarios to make sure that their dog interacts with their possessions in the proper way. That’s really what socialization is: influencing how our dogs respond to the environment. That environment might include other dogs, people, children, cars, shopping carts—or holiday decorations! Se need to look at this problem scientifically, change our variables, and look at the results. My dog Honey is celebrating her thirteenth Christmas in our family. I know exactly what to expect from her. I’ve seen her response to decorations in the several homes we’ve lived in over the past thirteen years. Now, the first year I had her, I had to observe her quite a bit. She wanted to get into the packages, so I had to correct that. My other dog, Rocco, wanted to pee on the tree at first (he loved peeing on stuff—who doesn’t?) so I had to correct that. When the dogs respond appropriately, I observe and praise them. Simple as that!
Mon, 19 Dec 2016 - 112 - Episode #112: Embracing Joy
Today I’m on the beach at Turtle Bay in Oahu, Hawaii, staying at a resort while I’m working with a client. I woke up at five o’clock and walked down to the beach to have a morning swim. Those who know me will know that I’m not a great sleeper, so waking up early isn’t a big deal. But going and doing something early is a big deal for me. Normally I’d just stay in bed and watch a movie, and try to go back to sleep. But I’m here in Hawaii for just a few days, and it’s unbelievably gorgeous here. Yesterday I went bodysurfing and boogie boarding with our client, which I never get to do back in Utah. As a family, we lived in Costa Rica for a time. I took advantage of the beach as often as I could, but now that we’re back in Utah I don't get to do that very often. So here I am waking up at five o’clock and getting down to the beach! That made me remember a time when dogs were like that for me. This is kind of a confession on my part. When I was a fourteen year old kid, I woke up every morning ready to train my dog or visit the trainer that I worked for. I had tons of desire and energy. Coming here at five in the morning to swim made me realize how awesome my job truly is. I shouldn’t lose that excitement for working with dogs. Not everyone who reads this blog trains dog for a living. Regardless, being able to train your dog is pretty awesome! It’s about as cool as going to the beach in Hawaii. The opportunity we have to love and be loved by man’s best friend is amazing. This post isn’t meant to give a lot of how-to information. It’s just me realizing just how cool playing with dogs is, and recommitting myself to it. Whether you do this for a living every day or work with your own treasured best friend, it’s amazing that we can share a world with these dogs we can train and love. Get out there and have some fun with your dog!
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 - 111 - Lost in Translation: Getting Through to Your New Dog
Right now I’m in Hawaii working with a client, and I wanted to write a post about what I call the translation period. This is something that’s on my mind today because I’m working with a client here who has a new dog. The dog came to them trained, but I need to work with them for a while and teach them how to handle the dog. We used to frequently get this question: “If the dog is already trained, then why do you need to show the owner how to do things?” This is a huge red flag in the training industry because there are service dog and protection dog training companies that will ship you your dog with a list of commands. We had someone local to us who had gotten a dog from a company in the Midwest that supposedly worked for seizures. They asked the company what the dog would do when the owner had a seizure. And the company said: “Oh, the dog will figure it out. Don’t worry!” I’ve seen the same when people buy protection dogs from Germany and ask how the dog will protect them. Oftentimes, the company just says that the dog will “know what to do.” But there’s a difference between a trained dog and a robot. Unfortunately, many people and training companies don’t realize this. That’s why these companies send dogs out with lists of commands and assure new owners that the dogs will “be fine.” That’s not how it is. Dogs are living creatures with their own desires and drives. Just because they’re trained for one person doesn’t mean that they’re trained for another person. Plenty of my dogs have been highly trained, yet other people couldn't get them to listen to a thing. Why would the dog listen to a stranger spouting off commands? That’s because the “translation period” exists. Even if a dog understands the language of training, it still needs to translate it to a new person. This comes up a lot in our bootcamps, where people bring their dogs for training and then takes them back home, or when we send out protection or service dogs. There’s a period where the dog absolutely understands what its old trainers are saying but the new owners’ tones and mannerisms are different. A dog might know what I mean when I say “heel”—when I walk and talk a certain way and do a certain thing with the leash—but that dog might not understand someone else giving that command. The translation period occurs when an owner starts to understand the language of training. This is critical. Have you ever seen a news story about a K-9 police officer who gets in trouble because his dog was doing things wrong? Even though that dog is well trained, the officer might not know how to handle him. At the end of the day, the responsibility is on us as trainers and owners to translate the language of training: corrections, praise, motivation, and mannerisms. For a dog, none of these things are natural. Dogs don’t instinctively know how to listen to vocal commands or understand the domesticated world they live in. It’s up to us to translate it for them.
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 - 110 - Context Is Key: Understanding Repetition
Today I want to talk about something I call a “contextual repetition.” I’ve been thinking about a challenge that some of our clients have, and recently came up with that term to refer to it. A lot of people find that when they start training, they see big results in certain areas. But in other areas, it takes them longer to get the results and sometimes there is a little frustration. Perhaps their dog goes nuts when somebody rings the doorbell, or doesn’t immediately respond to aggression training. I’ve determined that the challenge lies in contextual repetitions. Let’s say you're teaching your dog to sit. You can teach this command in a few minutes, and you can get repetitions in easily around the house. You can get hundreds in the space of a week! As we all know, repetition is a big key to learning. So your dog might only take a few days or a week to learn “sit” or “lay down” if you work on it all the time. Yet the person whose dog learned “sit” quickly might become frustrated when someone rings the doorbell and their dog won’t sit. A big problem is that they’ve done all of their repetitions in a context where nothing else is going on and all their dog needs to do is sit down. But it might take months to get enough repetitions of sitting after the doorbell rings if not a lot of people come to your house. Oftentimes, we have to figure out a way to cheat and get those repetitions in context. In case of the doorbell, you might get your neighborhood kids to knock on the door. If you're dealing with aggression, you might need to find some dogs behind a fence in your neighborhood and work around them. That’s “cheating.” But you need to get those contextual repetitions if you want to solve a problem. Sometimes a client is doing everything perfectly, and all they need to do in order for their dog to change its behavior is do the training in the correct context. Part of this is state of mind, and being aware. A lot of people get used to grabbing their dog and putting it in the bedroom when someone rings the doorbell. So awareness is key to getting enough repetitions. But having the right methods in that moment can be critical in that moment too, so that you can get your dog to obey.
Thu, 08 Dec 2016 - 109 - Under the Weather: How Little Things Add Up
In today’s blog post, I want to talk about being sick. This past week was Thanksgiving, and on Tuesday we flew out to visit my family in California. It’s a short flight, only about two hours, but I was stressed because we had to wake up at three in the morning. So I didn’t sleep the whole night. I sat up watching movies, afraid that if I fell asleep we would miss our flight. But I’m a thirty-six year old man, so I can’t really skip sleep anymore! I was exhausted the next day, and then I got on a plane with a ton of recycled air. And when I was at my parent’s house on the guest . Coming back, we had to get up early again to get to the airport in time. On top of everything, I’m working on stressful stuff with the business. A week of not sleeping well, flying twice, and some stress all added up. I started to feel sick, and woke up the next day in bad shape. This was a series of little events that left me sick. When you get sick, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what happened. Whether it’s a cold or cancer, it can be hard to tell the cause. Sometimes you can point to something like smoking that led to it, but often you can’t. Say that I had spent the last week at home getting plenty of sleep, and had still gotten sick. That’s totally possible. But I believe that my immune system was hurt because of stress, and as a result I got sick with the flu. Now, I can relate a lot of this to dogs. It’s sometimes tough to exactly pinpoint exactly what is going wrong with a dog. When someone says their dog is behaving badly, we can sometimes point to a specific event. We might be able to say: “The dog was fine, but he went to a dog park and he was bullied, and now he’s not fine.” That does happen, but oftentimes behavior problems—like getting sick—are an accumulation of things in the wrong order. The dog’s owner might be great, but they maybe they weren't walking the dog enough or teaching them about leadership or correction. These aren’t horrible things, but they add up.
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 - 108 - Stuff, Stuff, Stuff: Filling Our Dogs’ Lives
Before I begin this post, I’d like to offer the disclaimer that I sincerely hope to not offend anyone. What I’m about to write is simply an observation I’ve made in my work. Over the years I’ve found that the most experienced “dog people”—whose who train dogs, handle dogs, or simply spend a lot of time with their dogs—have the least amount of “stuff” for their dogs. They don’t have a lot of toys, accessories, and gizmos. I can think of a handful of exceptions, but for the most part people that understand dog behavior don’t buy a billion things for their dog. That might seem counterintuitive at first, but it can be very important. While speaking with a group of dog trainers at work the other day, I noticed a common thread: phrases like “My dog has hardly toys” or “We barely have any of that!” In general, most of these trainers give their dogs only what they truly need. Oftentimes, when owners don’t give their dogs the leadership or structure they need, they nevertheless sense that their dog needs more. They have a bond with the dog, and want to be able to give it what it needs. But because they don’t know how to give their dog the right training, they end up giving material things. Now, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with material things such as toys. But when you buy a lot of them, that often means that you’re not providing some other things. Now, I know that there’s someone reading this who does everything right for their dog and also buys them a bunch of trinkets. However, I’m hoping that some other people identify themselves in this description, and realize that they might be giving their dog material stuff because they aren’t actually providing the right leadership. A dog might have every toy you can buy, treats with his food, treats after his food, treats for when he poops outside, thirty different Halloween costumes, and twenty leashes—but no understanding of right and wrong! That’s not healthy.
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 - 107 - Let It Snow: Winter Stimulation for Your Dog
As I write this, it’s cloudy and windy and chilly outside, and that means that soon we’ll start getting a certain type of call from some of our clients. Oftentimes, we train a dog in the spring or summer and have some great results in fixing aggression or house training. But sure enough, come the first cold spell, clients will call us with complaints like these: “My dog hasn’t gone to the bathroom inside in six months, but he just did!” “My dog’s starting to get mean again—what do I do?” What’s happening here? Well, because it’s cold, dogs are getting less exercise and meaningful stimulation. They might spend more time with their owners because they’re inside, but that’s not all a dog needs. So it’s important to understand some of the things you can do to help your dog. This is an informal list of things that will help to reign in a dog’s mind and body. I often say that you’ll tire a dog out much more quickly by exercising his brain than you ever will with his body. You can gain a lot of leverage by getting your dog’s mind working. The first thing you can do is use the treadmill, which we train many dogs for. For some of my clients, it’s imperative to have excess energy burned, especially those that have anxiety issues. I was recently working with a client whose dog really needed a treadmill. So I pulled up Facebook Marketplace—it’s a little button you can click on that shows what people are selling in your neighborhood—and typed in “treadmill.” Sure enough, within 30 miles there were about a hundred treadmills, solid quality, and under $200. There was even a free one near their house! You may not be able to find a treadmill that easily, but I can guarantee that by using your local classifieds, Craigslist, Marketplace, or any of the other new garage sale apps out now, you can find a treadmill. Teach your dog to run on one. It’s cheap, but it can make the difference between good behavior and aggression or destruction for some dogs.
Fri, 25 Nov 2016 - 106 - “Holding It In”: Basics of House Training
In today’s post, I’d like to address a big mistake that some people make when they’re house training. One big error I see people make is giving their dog too many opportunities to go to the bathroom. In the very beginning, when I’m house breaking a puppy, I try to give them lots of opportunities to relieve themselves. So I might take them outside to the bathroom every hour or so. But obviously you also want to teach the dog to “hold it.” This ability is physical, in that there are small muscles that control those bodily functions which need to be developed. But there’s also a mental aspect to it, in that you have to teach your dog to want to hold his bathroom urges. This can happen for a multitude of reasons: the dog wants to be clean, he wants to be rewarded for going outside, or to avoid the correction that cones when he goes inside. Both of these aspects, physical and mental, need to be developed through training and time. Many owners struggle at first to house train their dogs, and eventually get to the point where they’re taking the dog out to the bathroom every 30-45 minutes. If they break that habit, the dog goes to the bathroom in the house. If they are never forced to hold it, the dog has never developed either the musculature that they need or the desire to do so. They don’t need to hold it in because they go out all the time! There’s no impetus to get better and learn. How do we get around this? Straight and simple: supervision. If you have a young dog that isn’t house trained, that dog should be either in a crate or on a leash and with you at all times. I always hear clients say: “I supervise my dog all the time,” and then later they reveal that their dog “snuck away” and peed in the house. That’s not supervision! Your dog cannot be able to sneak away, and you need to get on a rough schedule. If I have a four-month-old dog I usually shoot for three or four hours between “potty breaks,” because I don’t want the dog to become dependent on them in order to not go to the bathroom in the house. In fact, I don’t even want the dog to tell me that they need to go to the bathroom. I want them to recognize that I’m fair, and will take them outside with enough frequency that they don't need to go in the house.
Thu, 24 Nov 2016 - 105 - A Perfect Match: Why Service Dogs Sometimes Fail
Today I want to write a little about service dog failures.This is something that not many people like to talk about it, and I honestly don’t either. Failure isn’t fun to think about or dwell on—but they do a lot to teach. They’re important lessons that help us to understand what constitutes a good situation for a service dog. We’ve recently been training a lot of service dogs for a variety of situations. Primarily, we’ve been training dogs to deal with PTSD, autism, diabetes, and seizures. Overall, things have gone well. Our dogs have gone on to live in the home, do a good job, and improve their owner’s quality of life 80-90% of the time. There’s an old saying, however, that 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort. Though failures constitute only abut 5% of our service dog placements, I would say that in 10-20% of situations there are challenges beyond what we’ve anticipated. The longer I train service dogs, the more I identify the characteristics that go into successful and unsuccessful pairings. Today I want to talk about those characteristics. The first principle is commitment. This quality leads to the biggest successes and the biggest failures. We drill into people’s heads before adoption, over and over, that the service dog process involves work. Even though the service dogs we send out are trained, a trained dog will become untrained very quickly if certain maintenance isn’t done.
Wed, 23 Nov 2016 - 104 - Where’s The Magic?: Why Consistency Matters
Would you believe me if I told you that your dog lies to you? What if I told you that he lies to your trainer? In the beginning stages of our training program, owners frequently say things like: “I have no idea what’s going on; my dog does great here, but when we’re at home he doesn’t behave well at all!” Obviously, as people, we look for the most glaring difference between those two situations. In one case, we’re in a training center; in the other, we’re at home. So a lot of people deduce that the training center itself is the problem. But that can’t be the case. There’s no magical quality at a training center that makes a dog automatically obey. There’s nothing about being at the center that makes a dog say, “Oh man, there are dogs everywhere and a ton of distractions around, but I’m supposed to be obedient here…so I guess that’s what I’ll do!” Owners often say that their dogs behave better when their trainers are around, but that’s not exactly accurate either. So what’s the real issue at hand? It’s consistency. Before I had a training center, when I worked in people’s homes, owners would tell me that their dogs behaved better when I was around. It became so common that I always joked that people should hire me to come live with them for just $50,000 a month—especially if they had a pool!
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 - 103 - Don’t Turn Away: Addressing Some Big Issues
In this post, I’m going to be talking specifically about jumping and biting. I’ve spoken about this a few days ago in another post, but I want to address it head-on here. I just got off the phone with a gentleman who told me: “I’ve got this young dog, and every time the previous owner would give him a toy every time he tried to bite.” This dog is five months old, and now all he does is bite his owner—because he wants to play! This is a method that is being taught by positive trainers, who usually advocate ignoring bad behavior by trying to get the dog to do something else. Not surprisingly, this method often fails. I often see this among people who say things like: “We’ve been working with a trainer for about six months, but our dog is still jumping, so we’re kind of looking around for different training options.” My response is always to tell people that getting a dog to stop jumping should take six minutes, not six months! Later, I find out that their trainer told them to turn their back every time the dog jumps. The idea behind both of these methods is that if you ignore your dog’s bad behavior, then it’s no longer fun because he isn’t getting any attention. If your dog bites you and you say “Ouch” to let the dog know that it was painful, that your dog won’t want to hurt you. To me, that’s the biggest joke in dog training. Every puppy wants to wrestle with and “hurt” its owner! It’s fun!
Mon, 21 Nov 2016 - 102 - Getting Along: A Demystification of Dominance
With this post, I want to talk about myths surrounding the topic of dominance. Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of truisms like “You can’t let your dog on the couch,” “You have to eat before your dog,” “You need to make sure your dog moves out of your way when you’re walking, rather than stepping around them,” or “You can’t play tug-of-war with your dog—and you definitely can’t lose.” You’ve probably heard some of these things too. Many of those tips are actually just myths. If you’re doing the right things with your dogs—establishing a good relationship, teaching obedience, instilling impulse control—then there is a decent chance that inviting your dog onto the couch or losing at tug-of-war is perfectly fine. It’s not wrong to eat before your dog, but there are so many things that are far more right. We give a social hierarchy checklist that we give for our clients, which outlines things like keeping your dog off the bed and making sure that you walk through doorways first. Those recommendations are absolutely true when they need to be, and there are two specific situations when they need to be true. The first situation is an owner who isn’t following through on obedience training in the way that they should. They aren’t promoting the correct relationship with their dog, and as a result they need to use these little tips to keep their social hierarchy in the right place: owner as the leader, and dog as a happy follower. However, some people need this checklist because their dog is, by nature, more dominant than most. “Dominant” is itself kind of an overused buzzword, but in this case it refers to a dog that’s willing to push to get their way. Most living creatures—including dogs—don’t want to upset the balance of a social situation. They realize that if they’re too pushy, things might not go their way. But some dogs are more dominant and will do whatever it takes to get their way. Those kinds of dogs need their owners to follow this checklist: stay off the couch, walk without pulling, wait at doors, don’t jump on people.
Fri, 18 Nov 2016 - 101 - A Comedy Of Errors: What Anti-Aversive Trainers Get Wrong
In this post, I’d like to tell you about the lie of positive reinforcement. That felt kind of silly and overdramatic to write, but it’s an important topic. Dog training, like any industry, gets very political. People have specific views and wish to teach those views or force them on others. one of these views is the idea of positive reinforcement. Back in 1994, I started working for a dog trainer. I was just a teenager myself. Up until that point, the overwhelming majority of dog training had been aversive-based, which means that it used a lot of corrections, a certain level of sternness, and certain techniques that not even the toughest dog trainers today would use. But in 1995, we were a few years into a new movement. It went by a lot of different named: Positive Reinforcement Training, R+, Anti-Aversive Training, and others. At the crux of all these philosophies is the idea that we don’t correct the dog. No spray bottles, no training collars. Some even advocate never telling a dog “no.” Unfortunately, this is all built on a lie. During the 1990s, dog trainers began to receive inspiration from whale and dolphin training in theme parks. They had been making cool strides in this industry. Of course, you can’t put a collar on a whale, so these trainers were coming up with some very ingenious ways of using positive reinforcement. Now, I’m a huge proponent of positive reinforcement. It must be an essential element in any training program. That’s non-negotiable. But these wildlife trainers turned dog trainers realized that they could accomplish a lot through positive reinforcement. Sure enough, they were right! this isn’t a revelation to anybody. We all know that we can pull out some hot dogs and teach our dogs to teach basically anything.
Thu, 17 Nov 2016 - 100 - Pavlov’s Bell: Changing Associations
I want to talk about Pavlov. Many people remember hearing about Pavlov in school, and some of you even studied him in depth. If you don't know who he is, go do a quick Google search and find out some more about him, because he was a transformative figure in the study of behavioral theory. Pavlov was a Russian scientist who studied conditioning. He would ring a bell and give a treat, over and over again through a long period of time. This is his most famous experiment, and a good number of people know him for it. What happened? Over time, the sound of the bell became loaded: the sound itself had a lot of meaning to the dogs. If they heard it, they would start to salivate. The sound alone initiated a physical response. So the joke I always make is this: what if Pavlov had been a jerk? He’s done all this work to make the dogs salivate when they hear the bell. What if he had tried to mess around with them? Imagine that he had rung the bell and then smacked the dog in the face. How many times would he need to do that before the dog started to cower and flinch every time he rang the bell? I don’t know the answer, because I’ve obviously never done this and never will. But I would guess that it wouldn't take too many repetitions for a dog to begin to dislike the sound of the bell, even if they had positive associations with it before. I’m sharing this hypothetical situation because it helps people realize how quickly dogs can change associations when things are presented in the correct way. This story comes in particularly handy when talking about doorbell manners. Without trying, most people have turned the doorbell into a loaded sound for their dog. Every time the doorbell rings, something of interest appears on the other side. Much like a bell that signals food, a doorbell can create a physical response such as barking or becoming aggressive.
Wed, 16 Nov 2016 - 99 - Chew On This: Solving A Common Problem
In this post, I want to address dog chewing. This issue is a big deal! I just got out of a session with a nine-month old dog who’s doing an absolutely stellar job in training. He’s trained off-leash, he listens at a high level, and he’s doing public access work to become a service dog. But he’s chewing on things, like pool noodles and bags of groceries. Even though he’s doing very well, this one little thing is really nagging at his owners and I. So today I’d like to share a simple chewing formula that works well for many dogs, and is working quite well for this particular client. There are a few practices which, if done right, will almost certainly get a dog through a chewing problem. One of these is supervision. This is the one that most people aren't willing to do. Verbally, they say they’ll do it—but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of actually watching their dog, most people aren't actually willing. It takes a lot of effort. Now, the best way to supervise is to teach good obedience. When your dog is obedient, it becomes easier to supervise her. When you’re making dinner, the dog lies on her bed. When you’re watching TV, she’s in a down stay. When you move to another room, she moves along with you. See how much easier supervision is when your dog actually listens to you?
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 - 98 - A Perfect Match: What To Look For In the Shelter
Today I want to have a conversation about selecting shelter dogs, a topic about which many people have questions. Recently I spoke with someone who wanted to rescue a dog from the shelter and train it to be a therapy dog. They asked for our help, and I told them I could give them some ideas about what to look for in a dog. I’d like to give that same information to you here. This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s extensive enough that we can generally use it with success. So I thought I’d share at least a handful of the more important bullet points on that list with you today. Hopefully, if you’re looking to rescue a shelter dog, you’ll find this helpful. The first thing that you should realize is that you’ll probably want to test several dogs. I hate to say this and come across as mean, but there is a reason why some dogs are in shelters. They might have a problematic nervous system, been neglected, or have negative behaviors. Lots of things can totally prevent a dog from being a therapy or service animal. Not every dog can fulfill those roles—in fact, most dogs can’t! Service positions require a certain set of characteristics that aren't present in every dog, especially when you’re looking for an animal that can perform a specific task. That kind of exclusivity immediately rules out a huge portion of dogs that you’ll see, in a shelter or anywhere else. If you need a car that can run in a race, you won’t look for a minivan. There’s nothing wrong with a minivan, but it’ll never be a race car. Even if you put in a ton of time and effort into streamlining and modifying it, it will still never race as fast as other vehicles. Why would you put that effort into But unfortunately, that’s what people do with dogs: they reduce the wrong kind of dogs for service or therapy roles. The same could also be said for agility dogs, protection dogs, search and rescue dogs, and more. What I look for most in a therapy or service dog is confidence. I want a dog that can handle pressure and stress, because those are huge parts of these dogs’ lives. Therapy dogs meet with hundreds of people during their lives. They have to be around medical equipment, strange owners, screaming people, and all sorts of other stressful things. We need a dog that can handle that. So the dog that’s huddled in the corner, frightened of everything? I wouldn't try to train it as a service dog. Now, if you’re equipped to handle that dog, then by all means rescue it! But don’t expect it to be a therapy or service dog. Many owners will rescue a dog like that out of pity, because they see that it needs a home or responsibility. It’s certainly noble, but the chances of a dog who’s already timid becoming confident enough to become a service or therapy dog are pretty slim. So the first glance at a dog can tell you something about a dog. Certainly not everything, but sometimes enough to make a judgment. If I see a dog that’s aggressive or fearful, or is backing into a corner or barking at everyone, I automatically won’t take that dog. I want a dog that wants to confidently greet me. When looking for a service dog, I don’t mind a dog that jumps up on me. That can be fixed through training, and it shows the dog has the confidence to greet a stranger. But I don’t want an overly-hyper dog that’s constantly stimulated and can’t calm down. For therapy work, you ideally want a social dog that wants to engage with new people but is also calm.
Mon, 14 Nov 2016 - 97 - Your Last Dog: A Case Against Unfair Comparisons
Your last dog is not your current dog. It might be a dog that you had to give away, or passed away from old age, or a great companion who died too early from cancer. But it isn’t your current dog. This is a big source of frustration for dog owners, and a big hurdle that prevents them from doing the best for their current dog. Owners will say things like: “I’ve had golden retrievers my whole life, and this is the first time I’ve ever had a problem with one.” How many golden retrievers did that owner have? Probably three or four. What they’re really saying is that they’ve had a few good representatives of the breed and can’t believe that one is showing them difficulty. I’ve heard this with countless breeds over the years, and it’s always a source of shock and frustration. That attitude becomes a hindrance when owners use it as a reason not to seek out more help, whether that’s hiring a trainer or going to a seminar or investing in a good program. When all you can think is “I’ve never had this problem before,” you hit a mental block. They assume that because they figured things out with their last dog, they’ll be able to handle this new dog on their own. But in reality, the average dog owner hasn’t had more than six or seven dogs—whereas the average dog trainer might see that many dogs in one day. Trainers see a huge variety of dogs, and have a much larger ability to understand a dog’s issues. Still, plenty of people fool themselves into thinking that they can solve their current dog’s problems simply because they’ve owned a lot of dogs in the past. Another problem that this mentality creates is that we love our dogs so much that they erase our memories. I mean that quite literally. This conversation occurs all the time: “Our last dog was so amazing! We’re doing the same things with this dog, and he’s just not getting it. Everything is the same, we’re raising him the same way, but our last dog was so much easier.” I often call on the spouse and ask them if this is true. The more logical of the two will say it’s not. Maybe the dog was indeed great, but also had another set of issues. By the time your last dog was four or five years old, they probably calmed down for another five to eight years. Your memories are of those great times, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But sometimes those memories cloud our recollection of what actually happened. Sometimes a husband will tell me that he doesn't think training is necessary, simply because “they figured things out with the last dog.” But when I talk to the wife, she’ll say that the dog just grew out of the problem. That husband is setting himself up to deal with those behavior issues for years and years, until the dog gets too tired to present them any longer. If you have more than one child, then your second child isn’t the same as your first. Likewise, your current dog isn’t the same as your last dog. Every dog has different needs, wants, desires, and challenges. It isn’t fair to keep applying the same strategies to your current dog that you did to your last dog. As Einstein said: “You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created the problem.” (That’s a paraphrase.) Many people are sorely lacking in mindset. They need a new tool bag this time around. So don’t keep living in the past, where the dogs were amazing and brought you breakfast in bed. Live in the here and now, where you’ve got an awesome dog who needs some help. What’s it going to take to help that dog through its behavioral challenges? Probably not the same thing that your last dog needed. Keep that in mind as you train.
Fri, 11 Nov 2016 - 96 - Creating Harmony: How We Prevent Dog Fights
In this post, I want to tackle the somewhat controversial topic of dog fights. This subject came up recently because I was chatting with a client about our daycares. We run a daycare, and it’s a little different than most. I was explaining the difference between our daycare and other daycares. They asked what we do in case of a fight, and I realized that we’ve never actually had one. I’m looking for some wood to knock on as I write this, because I know that it’s improbable to expect that we will never see a fight. But as a rule, we don’t see fights in our facility. There’s a reason for that. I’ve been doing group work for about ten years. Before I had a training facility, I had eight to ten dogs at my house training most of the time. We have had the daycare facility for almost three years. So I’ve been working with a lot of dogs for a few years, and a decent number of dogs for the years previously. In all that time, I’ve never had a full-on fight. Once or twice, we have had dogs bite at kennel staff. On one occasion, the dog made contact and caused an injury. We’ve also had dogs get into scuffles and skirmishes, but never a true fight. Why is that? There are a few reasons that I’d like to mention, so that you can apply them to your dogs. For starters, we do a lot of what we call “personality matching.” Basically, we try to understand dogs. If we have a dog with a shy personality or reactivity issues, we don’t place them with an annoying younger dog that loves to get in everyone’s face. If we have two dogs that love to play really hard, we probably won’t put them together either. Personality matching is huge for us. Many people run into problems because they put any dogs together, whether they’re going to the dog park or visiting a friend or going camping. “Well, dogs are dogs,” they think. Consider that for a second. Why on earth would that work? Can you just throw people together—especially kids—and expect them to play well together? There are always personality conflicts in play that you should be aware of. We also don’t allow very rough play. When I say “super rough,” I’m talking about behaviors like stomping all over the place, barking like crazy, running in circles as fast as they can, and other things like that. We simply don't allow that. If we did, then the dogs’ adrenaline would shoot up and they would be more prone to bad decisions. A dog that has anxiety issues might run off or become aggressive, whereas a dog that’s confident might get hyper and annoying and hurt someone. Adding adrenaline to a dog’s personality can be a recipe for trouble. Now, there will always be adrenaline in a daycare setting. Dogs will always play and have a good time. But if you prevent that play from escalating, then you can make sure that the dogs don’t even get to the point of thinking about aggression. The third thing that we do is insist on good behavior outside of play. We don’t let them jump on people, we make them wait at doors, and we don’t allow them to pull on the leash. Plus, we do rotations. At some daycares, dogs play for eight hours straight. People sometimes take their dogs out for playdates where they’re out in the backyard all day. That amount of play is so over-stimulating! Nearly every dog I’ve ever met that spent eight hours a day in full-time daycare has some kind of problems—whether it’s hyperactivity, aggression, or irresponsibility around other dogs. Instead, we practice something called “cycling.” Our daycare dogs move from play into rest and back into play, usually with walks or other training in between. Doing that is what has enabled us to go for three years with no fights that have sent dogs to the vet. I’m going to make sure that we keep doing everything that we can to make sure these dogs are safe, happy, and healthy. I’d like to keep that good track record for as long as possible. If you can do those four things whenever you’re dealing with dogs in a group, you’ll make huge progress. If a client comes to me and says: “We’re going camping with our friends, and their dog is out of control.” Keeping your dog separate isn’t fun—but that other dog is running around with knives in his mouth and paws. imagine that you’re going to an event with kids and one of the parents said “We gave our kid a bunch of knives. He’s super irresponsible and badly behaved, but hey, he’s a kid! Shouldn't he be able to play with everybody else?” That would be ridiculous! You wouldn't let your kid around another kid who had knives and zero impulse control. It’s the same with our dogs. If someone else doesn't have control over their dog, then I will absolutely keep them separate. There is no reason to force a square peg into a round hole, and no reason to force your dog into an unstable interaction. You owe it to your dog to manage situations better than that. Pay attention to those four factors, and you will have success.
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 - 95 - What Braces Taught Me About Dog Training
My daughter is ten and a half—and she needs braces. As we’ve gone to the dentist over the years, it’s starting to look like all of our other kids will need them too. When I think back to having braces, I remember how awful they were and how much I hated those years. My lips got cut, and I couldn't brush or floss. It was ugly, painful, and just no fun at all. And since I didn’t wear my retainer very well, I actually had to get braces twice! To this day, my bottom teeth are still kind of crooked. Now, my daughter is going in tomorrow to get braces and we were talking about it last night. She was acting kind of bummed about it because she thought she was supposed to be—but at the same time, she was smiling. “Oh man, I’ve got to go in and get braces on Thursday!” she said. I was up front with her: I told her that braces hurt my teeth and mouth, but that technology had advanced in the past twenty and she’d be in better shape than I was. She knows that this isn’t going to be a pleasant thing, but she was still acting excited. “You’re kind of acting excited,” I said. “No, I’m not!” she replied. But she was. That’s when I realized that braces meant something else to her. She has a few friends who are eleven and twelve years old, and they’ve had braces. She sees kids at church who are a little bit older and have braces. Her cousins have braces. To her, braces aren’t necessarily tools for fixing teeth: they’re a sign of being older. First you get braces, then you get to babysit, then you get your driver’s license, then you date—and so on. She’s our oldest, and she’s always wanted to feel older and fit in with older kids. For her, getting braces is almost a positive. I’m guessing that once the braces are on, it’ll be a mixed bag. She will probably still feel that sense of maturity that she’s invested in this process, in addition to hating the pain and discomfort. But right now, she’s honestly looking forward to going to thee orthodontist and getting these braces slapped on her teeth. A lot of people think that correcting a dog is as simple as telling him “no” in a stern voice. That’s meaningful for some dogs, but not all. Some people think that you can praise any dog just by giving him a treat. That’s not necessarily true. Oftentimes, the standard value that we associate with food or correction is very different for different dogs. It’s important that we as trainers and owners find out what actually makes a motivating correction or reward. This will be different for every dog. But if you can uncover it, you’ll be much closer to your goal of the best-trained dog you can possibly have!
Wed, 09 Nov 2016 - 94 - Worth The Risk?: Dealing With Child Aggression
With today’s post, I want to talk about child aggression in dogs. This is a very tough topic. Dog aggression is one of my favorite things to work on, and I’ve developed some processes and techniques that are really world-class. I enjoy it, because there’s a lot of predictability in how you can solve aggression in dogs—whether it’s toward other dogs, or animals, or people. But dog aggression toward children is probably my least favorite to work on because it’s so much more difficult and the stakes are so much higher. I wanted to talk about that today, give some examples of things I’ve seen and when you shouldn’t even risk it. The first thing we need to look at is teaching our kids to treat dogs with respect. This is a big deal. I remember a client who had a service dog growling at their kids. We tried to look at the situations from the dog and the kids’ perspective, talking about how the kids treated the dog. “Well, they smack him and they’re rough with him. They lull his tail.” No wonder he was showing some aggression! The owner was under the impression that a service dog should be able to sit down and take anything. But a dog is a living creature. You can’t beat it up and threaten it constantly and expect it to be cool with everything and never defend itself. Even though this is the most important element in address ion child aggression, it’s also usually second in the parent’s mind. When someone calls us to deal with this problem, we always ask what they’ve done with the kids “Well, I’ve tried,” they say, “but they don't really listen.” How do you think you’ll be able to get a dog to listen, then? Sometimes dogs are easier than kids, but too often people put the onus on the dog. That’s not fair. We need to help our dogs handle pressure and stress, but it’s not fair to assume that our kids will behave badly towards the dog. First things first: teach your children to leave the dog alone. If your kids want to play with the dog, then that’s too bad—the dog doesn't want to play with them! Maybe you’ll get the dog back to that point someday through counter-conditioning, but you can’t force play to happen, especially if the dog is uncomfortable. Training doesn’t give a dog a whole new personality. We need to respect the dog enough to understand that this is a living creature with its own needs, wants, and fears. It’s so important to respect the dog as an individual and not place all of the responsibility on their shoulders.
Tue, 08 Nov 2016 - 93 - Taking It Slow: How To Use The Crate Well
In today’s post, I want to talk about crate training. The crate is very important for the majority of dogs, and its level of importance is often related to other factors like age and maturity. In the beginning stages of training your dog in your home, it’s a safe and calm spot (ideally) for your dog to relax and not do anything wrong. When you’ve got a new dog in your house, they don’t know the rules. If you’re not around, they may want to chew or go to the bathroom on the floor. The crate is a fantastic tool for teaching them not to do that. Dogs are creatures of habit. If we prevent them from going to the bathroom indoors and other bad things, that often does the lion’s share of getting them to behave well in your home. Here’s the thing: a lot of people want to move away from the crate faster than they should. This happens for a few reasons. First of all, they look at the dog and say, “Oh, I wouldn’t want to be in a crate! That wouldn’t be fun for me.” (Usually they say this before they go off to work in a cubicle.) And maybe the crate doesn't fit in the house very well. Maybe it’s a hassle to crate up the dog rather than leaving him out. This results in a lot of people moving away from crates far too quickly. However, any time you move away from a training tool too quickly—whether it’s a crate, a leash, or treats—its pattern hasn't had the chance to set in. Patterns take different amounts of time to form, depending on what you’re asking the dog. After a week or two, with a lot of repetitions, I might get my dog to sit or lie down reliably. That’s not a terribly hard thing for the dog to do, so we need less repetitions to establish it. Dogs need a lot of repetitions, however, to be able to remain loose in the house. They need to not pee on the floor or not chew up the couch cushion hundreds and hundreds of times in order to learn. Being in the house while you’re gone is a much more complex behavior than learning to sit. When it comes to the sit command, the dog has two options: sit or not sit. When it comes to being loose in the house, however, the dog is presented with a myriad options: he could lounge around, get nervous and chew, get on the couch, bark at the window, or poop on the floor. In order to overcome all those options, we need a lot of repetition. That’s where the crate comes in. Because we’re not always in a position to give repetitions when the dog needs them, we give him somewhere to be calm and relax. That’s why I call crates “the silent teachers.” When it’s time to shift away from the crate, it’s best to do so in very small stages. I wouldn’t look at my year-old puppy and say “Wow, she hasn't pooped on or chewed anything in over a year. Time for eight hours loose when I’m gone at work!” That’ll backfire on you almost every time.
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 - 92 - Eye On The Prize: Setting Good Expectations
In today’s post, I’d like to tackle a topic that comes up a lot among my clients: developing realistic expectations for our dogs. On one end of the spectrum of expectations is the dog owner that doesn't realize the great accomplishments and successes they’ve had. For instance, say someone is dealing with an aggressive dog. When they come back to us after a few sessions, they’re down in the dumps. But as we dig deeper, we find out that before they couldn't even go on a walk because the dog was lunging. The dog used to be a nightmare, but a few months into the training he’s doing way better. Unfortunately, the owner’s complaint then becomes: “We’re doing fine on walks, except when another dog charges at us! Then we’ve got a problem.” That’s totally valid, and we have to fix it. But it’s not uncommon to see someone make huge strides and solve 80% of their dogs’ problems, yet still focus on the problems. From a mindset perspective, that’s an issue. It’s hard to get the ideal dog if you’re constantly nitpicking. If you tend to dwell on problems despite progress, then your misplaced focus on will affect your dog training. There’s nothing wrong with saying: “We’ve made some awesome progress, even though we still need to fix this issue.” With the correct consistency and technique, that mindset can get you a lot of results. The other side of the spectrum is made up of folks who are in denial about their dogs’ enormous problems. They say things like: “Oh, he’s so good—he’ll wait as long as it takes for his dinner!” or “He attacks everything he sees, but he knows how to sit!” This type of owner only sees the good. Obviously, they know that the dog has major issues, which is why they’re seeking out training in the first place. But they have a very difficult time training their dog because their standards are so low and they excuse all the problems that they see. That’s why, when a client tells me that their dog bit the mailman but knows how to shake and speak on command, I’ll say: “Amazing...aside from all the murdering, right?” Having these unrealistic perspectives about our dogs—either seeing only the tiny good things if the dog has huge problems, or only seeing the bad things even though the dog is making big strides—is not conducive to results. To solve this problem, I always encourage people to look at their dog training from an “addition and subtraction” perspective. Here’s what that looks like. First, we remove all our care and emotion toward the dog and look at actual behaviors that influence our quality of life and the dog’s quality of life. Forget about how much we love our dog and how much he loves us. What do you need to add to your dog’s behavior to get the quality of life that we both want? What do you need to subtract? Addition might be adding behaviors like good recall on hikes; subtraction might be getting rid of a habit like jumping up on the counter. Once you have your columns of addition and subtraction, you can look at them as simply behavior issues. If you started out with a dog that had a bunch of troubles, you can look back to those columns and realize that those few remaining issues are small in comparison to what you’ve done. You can see that you’ve done a good job. If you’re a little bit in denial, you might look at those columns and realize that you need to subtract all the murder and add every good behavior under the sun. Maybe you’ll realize that you need to buckle down and train. In the end, a more correct perspective on who your dog is, what your relationship with him is, and what your dog needs will get you results so much faster.
Fri, 04 Nov 2016 - 91 - Getting Around: What Does Socialization Really Mean?
In today’s post, I want to speak a little more about socialization. I’ve written about how almost every dog trainer hates dog parks, but I want to get a little deeper and help people understand what we’re trying to do with socialization. I talk about what not to do, but that doesn't give a lot of information on what to do. When you understand the purpose behind socialization, it’s easier to know what to do. It’s very hard to accomplish something when you’re just being told “do this” and “do that.” Knowing the core principle makes it easier to figure out what’s best for you and your dog. “Socialization” is a misused term, and the process itself is often done improperly. When someone gets a puppy or rescues a dog, they think they need to go to the dog park or to a neighbor’s park to get socialized. Most people want their dogs to get around stuff and interact with it. They want their dogs to play and have a good time enjoying those things, whether it’s other dogs or neighbors or children. That isn’t wrong on its face. But there’s a more complete definition of socialization. We want our dogs’ socialization to quite closely parallel our socialization. In understanding that, we see that the purpose of socialization should be teaching dogs to leave things alone! I know that goes against what every owner—and a lot of trainers—there says, but good socialization ensures that a dog’s primary response is to leave things alone. Think about it: what goes on in your environment When you’re in line at the grocery store, you don’t need to play with the people around you. You shouldn’t just strike up a game of tic-tac-toe. If you’re driving you should ignore other cars, not signal out the window to get the other drivers’ attention so you can ask them to play later. We don’t touch other people’s houses, cars, or wallets. The list goes on and on. The majority of dogs that you encounter, you should leave alone. You don’t know if they’re scared, anxious, or aggressive. When you encounter people and animals, you should mostly just leave them alone. Most things we encounter in this world should be left alone. If we constantly tried to interact with everything we come across, that would be a problem. The overwhelming majority people don’t work that way. Humans don’t communicate with everyone they meet. Yet this is exactly what many people expect of their dogs. They want their dog to see another dog and immediately go over to play with them, even though they don’t know if the other dog is aggressive or anxious or mean. Why would you want your dog to interact with that? You don’t know if the people that you come across have good dog sense, so why would you want them petting your dog?
Thu, 03 Nov 2016 - 90 - It’s All In The Execution: Sticking To Your Plans
Today I want to talk to you about execution. No, I’m not taking about executing your dog—even though some of you might be looking at your dog’s behavior problems and wondering if that’s an option! But I’m thinking about executing a plan. To some extent, this is a flaw in the human condition. A huge percentage of the population wants to write a book. How many actually do? The number of people who write a book is pretty tiny in comparison to the amount of people who say they want to do so. No one executes on their plan. What about losing weight—how many times over a person’s life do they say they want to get healthy and then not execute on that desire? Or what about people who don’t get along with their spouse or children, yet complaining about it is as far as their problem-solving goes. People’s thought process stops at the lament. “Woe is me!” we say. “I can’t have what I want.” That’s because execution is the hardest part. Execution done poorly is usually better than execution not done at all, because execution done poorly gives you data that you can modify in order to make it better. A lot of people are held back in their dog training because they’re frustrated and don’t see any results or because they’re lying to themselves about their execution. I remember working with a client whose dog had a house training issue. The dog was new to the house and didn’t know the rules, so I recommended 100% supervision and told them exactly how to do it: keep the dog on the leash at first, then move on to using down stays. The clients said they understood. But a few weeks later, they said “The dog is going to the bathroom in the house!”
Wed, 02 Nov 2016 - 89 - The Problem With Husbands
Husbands are the bane of my existence. Now, I realize that I happen to be a husband. Is this a post about self-loathing? No! See, I’m a good type of husband. But I always joke with other dog trainers that if it weren’t for husbands, I’d be a rich man. Husbands have cost me more dog training over the years than anyone. This is something that’s happened numerous times. I’m not calling anyone out. The other day, I got a call from a woman who’d been referred to us by her friends. She said, “We have a real problem. Our dog is attacking people. He has some big-time aggression. My husband’s been working with him, but we just can’t seem to make headway.” We chatted, and I told her the program that I recommended. She immediately responded that this was what she thought they needed. “Now I just have to see if my husband is on board,” she said. So I sent her the information, and told her I’d be in touch in a few days to see if she had any questions. I could tell she wanted to move forward. A few days later, I called back to ask if they wanted to get started, but I talked to the husband. He said: “Well, we’ve decided not to move forward. I’m just going to solve this on my own.” Now, I’m a guy that doesn't get offended easily—but even to me, that’s kind of offensive! I’ve dedicated thousands of hours of my life toward fixing dog aggression, and to hear someone who’s had maybe three or four dogs in his life decides to fix his problem on his own is crazy. It’s as if I heard from my mechanic that my engine needed to rebuilt and deciding—even though I’m not mechanically inclined—to fix it myself. Or going to the doctor and hearing that I need to have my gallbladder removed and saying “Okay, I’ll do that one on my own.” It’s easy to say that you can do someone else’s job without any training, but it’s very hard to do it. Years ago, when I was a little more fiery, I should shoot back at people who said things like that. I would ask them: “If you’re going to fix it, then why haven't you fixed it by now? What’s going to be different tomorrow? What will you know that you don’t know today?” If you’re reading books and trying new things but nothing seems to work, then tomorrow won’t be any different. What is the point of trial and error? Maybe if your budget for doing a big project is absolutely not there, then I see the value of putting in sweat equity on your own. But the reality is that so many people won’t be able to figure out how to do what they need to do.
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 - 88 - It’s All Greek To Me: Why Language Matters
With this post, I want to talk about languages. I speak Spanish very, very well. It’s one of the things I’m most proud of. If I talk to someone on the phone, oftentimes they think that I’m a native speaker. I think that’s a pretty big deal, considering that most people’s second language Am I tooting my own horn? Absolutely! However, it took me many years to get good at speaking Spanish. I still practice it whenever I can with my clients who are from Mexico or random people that I meet. I always joke that I’m good at two things: Spanish and dogs. So far I’ve made a living with dogs. Maybe it’ll be Spanish one day. When I first started learning Spanish, if someone had just come up to me and started talking in Spanish, getting upset when I didn’t understand, I would have been completely confused. After all, what is language? I’m sure there’s an excellent dictionary definition out there that I’m going to butcher right now, but here goes: essentially, language is external communication. It’s something that people agree on and jointly decide to use. At some point, people decided that the word “me” means “this guy right here.” Some other people agreed that “comer” means “to eat.” Some other people agree that “coucher” means “to lie down.” Language is a set of agreed-upon meaning, and when it works people can communicate. Everything you do in training your dog is an attempt to use a language. When people get a puppy, they tend to bring out treats and trying to talk to the dog in “treat language.” But for the dog, this is brand new language! Some dude with a hot dog in his hand is putting something in front of its nose! This is an external action that has no real meaning to the dog at first. There must be a meaning attached to a language for it to be effective. As another example, I often talk to clients who are very confused because their new puppy won’t walk on leash. They say, “He’s a dog, shouldn’t he walk on a leash?” Not necessarily. Leash pressure and leash communication is a language. It’s not something that a dog automatically understands. The same is true of e-collars and voices. Every tool is a different language we’re attempting to teach a dog. We’re not just using English, or Spanish, or Dutch when we talk to our dogs. We’re also using body language, tone, and other subtle, hard-to-qualify means of communication. We use a variety of different languages, but all of them are foreign to our dog. People recognize certain things as universal, perhaps because they’re ingrained or perhaps because we learned them growing up. We get to a point where we can communicate with body language, but some people have a very difficult time with that. We communicate with spoken language, but if you don’t know the language that someone speak you’ll obviously struggle to talk to them. But when we use food or e-collars or voices with our dog, we often find that those “languages” are too foreign to our dogs. Many owners don’t take the time to properly give meaning to the things they’re trying to do. Those people end up with very confused dogs. If you’ve ever tried to learn or teach another language, you know it’s not easy. So when we’re talking about teaching languages across species, we should expect it to be difficult. Bear that in mind when you’re frustrated with your dog or wondering why he doesn’t understand what you’re saying. More often than not, you’re not communicating as well as you could be.
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 - 87 - One and Only: My Most Useful Principle
Someone asked me an interesting question recently, and I wanted to share it with you. The question was this: “You have over 20 years of experience working with dogs, so you’ve seen a lot of things. Given that, if your experience and knowledge was erased, but if you were able to keep mastery of one dog training concept, what would it be?” I thought this was an intriguing question when it came up, but it actually didn’t take me very long at all to determine exactly what that one concept would be. For me, it’s the ability to create focus. Focus oftentimes is looking at the owner. Now, I’m not talking about the kind of focus that is created when your dog looks at a treat you’re holding. Rather, I’m talking about a level of focus where the dog is engaged with you, trusts you, and defers to you. That focus, the more I think about it, is at the root of solving 99% of the problems we deal with. Aggression, anxiety, bad manners, lack of obedience, destruction—so much of this either goes away entirely on its own or goes away much more easily if you’ve established focus. I’d like you to do a little thought exercise with the next five or ten dogs you see, whether it’s a dog you come across walking down the street with its owner or a friend’s dog that you meet at their house. Which dogs you encounter have focus on their owners? How many of them pay attention to their owner rather than pulling ahead to sniff at every bush? How many of them defer to their owner when someone is coming through the door, rather than going to jump up or attack the newcomer? When people walk into our shop for the first time, their dogs’ minds are everywhere: they’re jumping up on the counter, they’re backing away from people because it’s scared or lunging because it’s aggressive. I can only think of two or three times in my whole career as a dog trainer when I’ve met a dog for the first time who was attentive to its owner. Of course, that makes sense—why would anyone be hiring me if they already had that? But at the root of fixing anything you might hope to fix at any point in your dog’s life is getting your dog to focus on you or your commands. You might ask your dog to focus on lying down in a particular place, heeling by your side, or coming toward you. That level of focus impacts everything! You’ll have a closer relationship with your dog. Your dog will be a thousand times calmer. It’s at the root of everything.
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 - 86 - Under Control: Using Checks and Balances
“Checks and balances” is a term that we use frequently in the United States to describe politics. We often use it to describe the three different branches of government: legislative, judicial, and executive. (I can’t believe I remembered those!) Ideally, the legislative checks the executive branch, the executive checks the judicial branch, and so on. As a result, a single branch can’t run away and do whatever it wants. Whether that works well is a topic of hot debate. This is also a term that I use a lot in dog training, in a very similar way. In government, this system helps to balance each branch. What we end up with is something that works much better. Dogs are much the same. If we allow one mindset to continually get its way and go without any sort of balance you almost end up with problems, such as aggression, anxiety, or hyperactivity. That’s just the reality, and that’s why I talk so much about creating checks and balances in our dogs’ lives. Dogs’ minds and bodies are very intertwined, and they’re not terribly imaginative. Now, as humans, we have highly connected bodies and minds, but our behavior can be determined by imagination or anticipation of something that hasn’t happened yet, or memory of past incidences. Dogs’ behavior is also influenced by those things, but they live so much more “in the now” that their bodies and minds are the same. What their body is doing, their mind is doing as well. We’re not like that. People can sit on the couch watching TV, for instance, while being absolutely terrified about how they’ll find the money for their bills or whether they’ll ever get their kids to behave. You don’t see that behavior with dogs. They don’t simmer. You don’t see a dog’s body sitting there while its mind is freaking out. If we can put checks in front of body motion, we often find balance. A “check” might be something like making your dog wait at the door, so he isn’t rushing physically or mentally. Or maybe sitting for a treat or a meal, so he isn’t just getting food because he feels like it. Or, when you’re on leash, ask your dog to walk properly by your side to restrict his ability to pull and jerk on the leash. The list goes on and on!
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 - 85 - Drawing the Line: How to Balance Training and Life
In this post, I’d like to speak to you about how to create a healthy relationship between training time and “real life.” I find myself talking about this a lot because many of our clients struggle to find that balance. They tell me: “When I go outside to a field or park to practice this, my dog does amazing. But when we’re just around the house, he has problems.” I always reply that these two situations are in fact different, because we’re behaving differently and expecting different things from the dog. When people are out training, they walk a certain way and pay 100% attention to their dog. They have their training gear and treats with them all the time, and they’re ready to follow through on their commands. But when they’re just hanging out in the house watching TV, they don't always follow through. As a result, their dog realizes that they have two sets of rules: one for who they’re out training and another for when they’re not. In these scenarios, we teach our dogs when to pay attention to us. That ends up being a big problem. There are a couple ways around this issue. The first is to make sure that no matter where you give a command, you’re in a position to back it up. This mostly applies during a training period of a few months, since you typically reach a point when your dog just listens to you if you’re doing things well. Especially at the beginning of a training program, however, you need to be able to make sure that your commands happen every time you give them. Regardless of whether you’re watching TV or having a training session in the yard. If you don’t, then you’re showing your dog that you’re not serious and won’t follow through. We also recommend something to our clients called integration training. Integration training is setting up scenarios where you’re otherwise occupied but also ready to teach your dog. Watching TV or making dinner? That’s a great time to work on down stays and place commands. Giving your dog his meal? Then work on a sit command. Walking through a door? Work on waiting! You’re anyway in the middle of doing something, so why not do two things at once? Integrate training with everyday moments so your dog realizes that even when you are making dinner or tidying the bedroom, your commands will still be reinforced. Sadly, a lot of dogs realize that they don’t get commands unless they’re out on the training field. If you can integrate training more into your daily life, your dog will start to understand that they need to be obedient at all times. The key here is to not create such a wide differentiation between training and living. Those two areas of life shouldn’t feel far apart. Living with your dog should feel similar to training him.
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 - 84 - Understanding “Stubbornness”
In this post, I want to talk about stubborn dogs. Here’s the thing: even if you think you have a stubborn dog, I doubt it. You might, because they do exist. But I highly doubt that you have one. It’s common for me to be working with a client and hear something like, “Oh gosh, my dog is so stubborn!” This is a frequent claim that owners make about their dogs. Sometimes I’ll agree with them—but not often. When I call a dog “stubborn,” this is what I mean: the dog fully understands what you’re asking, and then chooses not to listen or pay attention. Makes sense, right? It’s not a crazy concept. But the reality is that very few dogs actually know what’s being asked of them, and so many owners think their dog knows exactly what’s being asked of them! So when owners complain that their dog knows what they’re asking but doesn’t do it, they almost always mean that their dog is clueless! The dog hasn’t been taught very well. Maybe the dog understands what “come” means in certain situations, but once they change the setting or add a distraction he is confused. Now they aren’t coming when called. The dog isn’t stubborn, he just hasn’t been taught how to deal with distractions or to obey from a distance. A dog who is truly stubborn understands the command, yet doesn't obey it. The reason this is so rare is that if a dog does understand what’s expected and desire, they usually want to do it. Most dogs enjoy work and are totally willing to please. They enjoy the camaraderie that comes from working together with their owners. Of course, some dogs are little knuckleheads that know what you want but won’t do it. I see this situation go awry often. Frequently, owners say that their dogs know what they want because of a facial expression. They might say to the dog, “Hey, come here!” When the dog doesn’t, they go after it. If the dog appears to be sorry, then they say, “See, he knows what I was talking about.” That’s not true. The dog simply understands that its owner is upset. He’s trying to say “Sorry, I would have come if you had told me that’s what you wanted—but you didn’t.” Other owners might say “He heels it a lot, just not off-leash” or “He can sit, but he doesn’t when guests come over.” They think that’s because their dog is stubborn. In reality, it only seems like the dog was taught to come or stay. The second you add those other elements that you didn’t spend any time teaching about, the dog doesn’t understand. It’s not because he’s stubborn. Stubbornness is active; not understanding is passive. If your dog is being disobedient, it’s probably because of the latter. Will you come across stubborn dogs occasionally? Yes. But out of the dozens of dogs that I’m currently working with, only two or three of them are actively stubborn. If you frequently find yourself calling your dog “stubborn,” slap yourself on the wrist and recognize that there’s probably something you’re not teaching. Only then can you start teaching your dog better!
Thu, 20 Oct 2016 - 83 - Unusual Methods: Working Through Fear
With this post I want to talk about overcoming fear, perhaps in a manner that you aren’t familiar with. While I have written about this subject in the past, I want to cover some new ground. Today I had my last private session with a particular client before they start coming to our group sessions. This client had gotten a two-year-old rescue dog whose history and background was totally unknown. When she first got the dog, she was scared of everything: sounds, people, and even her own shadow. Since she was an exceptionally nervous dog who didn’t like to cuddle, her owner really wished that she would bond more with her. A lot of owners want physical affection from their dogs, and this dog just wasn’t into that. I can still remember sitting in our first session and taking about this issue. The client asked me: “What can we do to get her to want to bond with me? How can we help her get over this fear?” She had tried many things that you would naturally do, like giving the dog lots of treats. Unfortunately, however, the dog’s fear was bigger than her desire for treats. In a moment of fear, the challenges she faced overcame any of the need she felt to get a treat. In our first session, I told the owner that I wasn’t sure what would happen, but that I hoped that as we worked through obedience training, she and her dog would bond naturally. Today was the last season in our Transforming Your Dog In Sixty Days Program. We’re essentially two months into the program, so I asked this client how her and her dog had been bonding recently. Her response? “It’s great! She wants to please me now, she wants to work for me and cuddle with me. She’s excited when I get home.” Not only that, but she’s not afraid of people and situations she used to fear.
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 - 82 - Walking the Walk: Minimizing Distractions, Maximizing Obedience
A question I get frequently is “How aloud I walk my dog?” I know that sounds silly, but all people are really wondering is whether they should let their dog sniff around and wander or keep their dog next to them the whole time. There is no absolute answer to this question. We handle this in a very structured way, which we believes helps a dog become calm and get over aggression, and behave well. We’ve found that walking dogs in a specific way does make it easier to achieve those results. Maybe that sounds ridiculous to you. The answer, to me, comes down to context. Generally speaking, if I’m walking a dog on the sidewalk in my neighborhood, the dog is heeling. If I notice that she needs to use the bathroom, I’ll scoot over to a green strip and encourage her to use it. In that case, I would let her wander a little bit. But for the most part, I want her at my side when we’re in the neighborhood. Now, dogs who have reactivity and aggression issues, this is ten times more important. When your dog is in a position to encounter distractions and triggers, they really need to pay attention to you. Is a walk about exercise? Yes. But it’s actually more about what’s going on with the mind than what’s going on with the body. I’ve had clients through the years who say things like: “My dog and I will go up to the hills and he’ll chase me on my mountain bike for two hours—but when we come home, he still has a ton of energy! I don’t know what to do!” How do you get that energy our? Well, if that same dog walks beside their owner in a focused way for thirty minutes, they’re suddenly a completely different animal. They’re calm, relaxed, and yes, even tired. You tire a dog out much more quickly through mental exercise than physical exercise. So when you’re in the neighborhood, walk your dog next to your side. He’ll handle distractions better and feel more fulfilled. Some people struggle with this because they like their dogs to be able to wander. Today, for instance, I was out walking my dog on a trail near my home. Up until we reached the trail, she heeled at my side the whole time. But once we got to the trail itself I let her off leash to run around.
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 - 81 - What’s The Deal With E-Collars?
Today’s post covers a topic that’s become controversial in recent years: electric training collars. These tools, sometimes referred to as shock collars or remote collars, are often accompanied by a lot of debate. The bottom line, however, is that they’re incredibly useful tools. My company does a lot of great work with the e-collar. The question I receive often about the e-collar is simple: “Why do you use it?” I usually get this question from two competing groups of people. The first of these groups is comprised of trainers who use treats and toys (and hugs) in order to get results. When they ask this question, it’s normally with the implication that I’m a monster. The second group that asks that question is just asking because they’re interested and wonder why I use one. In today’s post, I want to spend some time talking about why I love e-collars, why I believe that they’re the most humane way to train a dog, and why they’re so much misunderstood. At the root of my love for this tool is the fact that any healthy and humane dog training program has to have some element of consequence, both negative and positive. A positive consequence might be a treat or a pat on the head. But a good training program also includes negative consequences. If you run into a dog trainer that says that isn’t the case, then leave! They’re not informed about the latest research into how dogs learn. Some sort of physical consequence has to exist for any living creature to learn. If we understand that truth, then we want to use consequences that are easy on us and easy on the dog. We want something that is leveraged; in other words, that produces a great result for a little effort. We want something that is fundamentally humane and fair. When we put all these things together, we get the electric collar. Back in the day when the electric collar was new—around 20 years ago—they had three levels: high, higher, and highest. They would blast the dog with a literal, and very painful, shock. But technology has changed a lot in the past two decades, and today’s e-collars have various levels of intensity. When I let people feel the e-collar, they’re often surprised because it doesn’t feel like a shock. People often assume that these collars produce the zap you’d get off a live wire or the fence around a cattle yard. But it’s not a big jolt. It feels more like a tickle or a pulse. These tickles are annoying or itchy to the dog, though. For 99% of the time, that’s all the consequence that you need. At its best the e-collar is pleasant because it’s giving the dog attention, and at its worst it’s only slightly aggravating. Since we already know that we need a negative deterrent, why wouldn’t we make it the easiest one possible? That deterrent is the e-collar.
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 - 80 - Pressure’s On: How To Use Rewards Responsibly
In today’s blog post, I want to talk to you about pressure. you’ll hear many dog trainers, including myself, talk about something called “pressure and release.” This is essentially a training strategy that uses the combination of a pressure—like a leash or body language—and a rewarding release. Maybe you have a leash pulling towards you, and as the dog comes that pressure is released and the dog is rewarded. Or maybe the dog has been given a stay command on a bed, and when he tries to get up we move toward him, increasing body pressure until he sits back down. This concept isn’t unique to dog training. In fact, horse trainers use it as well. And it’s modeled on the way life actually works. If you get up in the morning because there’s pressure to pay your bills or make breakfast. Even something like going to the movies comes from the pressure to have fun or avoid boredom. Pressure and release dictate everything we do. Here’s the problem with training that involves release but no pressure. Treats and praise should be a big part of any training program, but when you use them exclusively you get a one-dimensional dog that doesn’t know how to deal with pressure. And life is pressure! It’s full of other dogs, people, cars, and shopping carts and Halloween decorations. If your dog doesn’t know how to handle external pressure, he won’t be able to cope with those scary things. In using pressure and release, we teach our dogs to look to us for solutions. By paying attention to the owner and listening to commands, your dog will develop depth. He will learn to react to stress with crazy behavior, but to work through the pressure in a way that is healthy. If all you’re giving your dog is treats and love and giggles, he won’t be able to deal with the world.
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 - 79 - Pills for Pups: Medication and Behavior
Today I want to talk about drugs. Not in the Nancy Reagan, 1970s, “Just say no!” way, but in relation to dogs. It seems that every year, more and more dogs are getting on drugs to hopefully modify their behavior. These are drugs similar to the ones that humans take for depression and anxiety to deal from everything from aggression to hyperactivity to excessive barking. There are generally two groups that push for drugs. The first is veterinarians, whose mindset I can understand even if I don’t agree with it. I love vets and I think we all need them. But they don’t generally have expertise in dealing with behavior. Even veterinarian behaviorists tend not to be up to snuff on how to affect change in dogs’ behavior. Why is this? Because veterinarians look at the body. They want to know how they can neuter a dog, heal its wounds, or treat an allergy. When it comes to behavior, their training persists. So when a veterinarian is confronted with an aggressive dog, then, they often suggest giving a pill to make him calm down. I don’t agree with this impulse, but I do understand it. There’s a large parallel with what has been happening for a while in the human pharmaceutical industry, where a lot of doctors and veterinarians are prescribing things that they probably don’t need to. I can’t speak to the human medical side of things, but I am an expert in dog behavior. I’ve helped many dogs get off their medication. On the other hand, I’ve seen what medication can do. Sometimes it can be a great help. The second group that pushes drugs is dog trainers. I’m mostly referring to the “pure positive” or “anti-adversive” style of dog training that’s appeared in the past twenty years. While every dog training program should contain plenty of positive reinforcement, these trainers don’t use corrections at all. These types of trainers also push for a lot of drugs and medications. The reason is very simple: you can’t train dogs very well using a “pure positive” method. Most dogs with bigger problems like aggression or anxiety can’t be helped by a trainer who’s just pushing treats, so something has to fill the gap. A lot of these trainers are inexperienced or simply lack expertise. They’ll suggest that their clients go to the vet and put their dog on medication instead of actually training the dog with a method that works. This is becoming a big problem. Medication, at its root, is a chemical. For that reason, it may be very helpful to a person who has a chemical imbalance such as bipolar disorder or thyroid problems. When the body is not producing the chemicals or hormones it needs to be healthy, medication can be hugely helpful. This is not an anti-drug post! But I do believe that a majority of dog behavior problems are not related to chemical imbalances. Now, I’m speaking not from hard research, but from anecdotal experience as a person who’s trained thousands of dogs. Nearly every problem I see is a simple behavior problem, stemming from poor socialization, lack of correction or structure at home, or not enough exercise. A number of factors can cause behavior problems, but very few of them are chemically related.
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 - 78 - Walk In The Park: Giving Your Dogs What They Really Need
In today’s post, I want to talk about a potential problem that people run into because they misunderstand their dog’s needs. If you poll dog trainers, you generally won’t get the same answer from any of us. We tend to disagree about everything. Sometimes I think that’s just for sport. You could ask “What’s the best color shoe to train dogs in?” and some trainers would argue that red or gray or black shoes are better than others. The reality is this: we don’t agree on many things. But there’s one thing that most trainers actually agree on: don’t take your dogs to a dog park. Dog parks tend to create inappropriate relationships, which in turn lead to aggression and fear. The majority of the aggression and anxiety problems we see at my company stem from time at dog parks. Every time I say this, I get an email from someone whose dog does wonderfully at parks. Well, some people can smoke cigarettes for ninety years without getting cancer, but that doesn’t mean that is good behavior! The same is true of dog parks. I’m sure that there are dogs out there who have no problem going to the park, but the percentage isn’t very high. When I talk to people about dog parks, I try to get to the root of the issue. Owners often say that their dog loves the park, I don’t want to be that jerk who immediately replies: “Oh, that’s bad!” I want to get to the bottom of things and understand what people want their dogs to get out of the park. Many owners will say “My dog needs to play with other dogs,” or “We got two puppies at the same time so they wouldn’t get bored.”
Wed, 12 Oct 2016
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