Smart Dog

I Am A Reactive Dog

I'm at K9 Nose Work Camp in Cleveland, GA. It's in the foothills of the mountains, a beautiful place, really. But along with the beauty comes wildlife. I'm not a city-girl (not that there's anything wrong with that), so I'm used to critters. Heck, I pick up bumblebees, save spiders, and move toads out of the dogs' reach. I'm pro-wildlife. 

Just as I'd moved everything into my cabin, this big old snake comes slithering by. I'm ok with snakes and other slithering creatures as long as they stay outside, especially if I'm inside. 

After my snake encounter, I found myself jumping at slightest noise in the leaves. I investigated every room I entered, checking for a snake or lizard or salamander. 

I now have a small idea of what reactive dogs go through. I know my reactivity isn't logical. I know snakes don't want to get close to me. However: I'm now hyper-vigilant whenever I hear something move in the leaves. I jump at the slightest movement or sound. It could be a bird hopping among the leaves, it doesn't matter. I'm getting the heck away from there -- and quick!

This morning, on my way to breakfast, yet again, something moved in the leaves. It's been two days since my snake run-in (with no other snake spottings), but I yelped and jumped. Run first, investigate later. 

My heart was racing and I felt almost angry. When further inspection revealed the creature that made the noise -- a toad, for goodness sake! -- I was rattled. A toad? I pick these things up all the time. I am definitely not afraid of a toad. But that one experience -- and it wasn't a terrible one, nothing awful happened to me (except I was scared) -- has now molded my entire camp experience. If I had to live the rest of my life like this, I would be a very unhappy person. Thankfully, I know this reactivity will naturally fade. 

If I were a dog, I think I would probably have bitten the closest thing to me. Just out of frustration, adrenaline, and anxiety. And if my owner hired a trainer who would correct me for my reaction to the noises in the leaves, I know I would bite! My reaction is reflexive - I'm not thinking before I yelp and jump. And lastly, being reactive is exhausting; it's frustrating! 

If you have a reactive dog, know that they aren't being reactive just to annoy you. They aren't reactive because they want to be. They're reactive because they can't help it.

New Video Series: Need Dogs!

Do you live in or near Frederick, MD? Does your dog have a challenge that you just can't seem to get a handle on?

Maybe your dog jumps on guests? Steals socks? Chases the kitty? Pulls on the leash? 

Or maybe you've just gotten a puppy and you need crate training help? House training tips? Is the puppy nipping driving you nuts?

Smart Dog U is starting to pull together volunteers for a video project. Interested? Keep reading...

Volunteers should be willing to:

• appear on camera with their dog
• open their home to me with the aforementioned camera!
• be on Smart Dog U's YouTube channel, as well as Facebook, and Twitter (and here, on the blog, of course!)
• be available during daytime hours (Monday - Friday)
• film a "before," "during," and "after" segment
• use only dog-friendly training (no choke, prong, or shock collars [aka: e-collars]) for the duration of the project

Dogs should be:

• people-friendly
• any age
• willing to eat treats
• sign a release and waive royalties

We'll accept emails through the end of April. We'll start filming in May. Still interested? Drop us an email with the following information: 

• Your name
• Address
• Phone number(s)
• Dog's name, age, breed (or mix)
• Specific problem(s) you're having
• Desired outcome -- what do you want the dog to be doing when we shoot the "after" video?

 

Part 2: Dog Body Language: How to Tell if a Dog is Happy, Frustrated, Scared, Annoyed

Imagine that from the minute you wake in the morning until you lay your head down at night, that someone is bugging you. You've got someone tugging on you, someone talking to you, you can't get a moment to yourself. Not one second to yourself. 

Now imagine that's what happens every day. You've tried to hide from the person, you've tried giving them the slip, you've tried ignoring the person. Nothing. They're still there, still bugging you. Every minute of every day. 

Finally, you've had enough of it. You can't take it anymore. You've got to do something about it. That person missed all your subtle signals, so you politely ask him (her?) to leave you alone. They don't listen. And worse, you get chastized for even asking. How do you feel? Probably hopeless. Maybe frustrated. Possibly sad. 

Do you think the person that politely asks for a little space, a little peace, a little quiet deserves to be chastized?

So why do we hold dogs to higher standards than we do people? Humans can at least talk the same language. We're actually able to speak our minds and get some space. Dogs don't have that ability - they must rely solely on body signals to communicate their needs, their state of mind. 

When we ignore those signals, we're setting the dog up for failure. That was my point in writing the blog post about Mr. Gibbs, the service dog for the three year old girl. I see a lot of "please give me a break" signals from Mr. Gibbs. And no one is either seeing those signals or doing anything to help the dog. 

Remember the Denver news anchor, Kyle Dyer, who was bitten on live tv by a big white dog who had been rescued from a frozen river? That dog was screaming "Please back off!" but no one paid attention to his signals. I've embedded the video below along with my notes about all the communication signals the dog is offering to get a little bit of space. 

 

0:01 - The dog is already licking his lips and flicking his tongue. These are both recognized dog stress signals. There are 8 tongue flicks in seven seconds. This dog is screaming "I'm uncomfortable!"

0:08 - Pause here. Look at how tight the collar and leash are on the dog. You'll also see another tongue flick here. Also notice how the news anchor's hands never leave the dog's head. She's all over him, never giving him any space. 

0:16 - Now we're getting a tongue-flick marathon. There are seven flicks in rapid succession, right before she leans into his face. 

0:21 - With no means of escaping the woman in his face (he's backed up into his owner's legs and the leash and collar are too tight for him to move away), he bites the anchor. 

Both Mr. Gibbs and the dog above were trying to communicate, trying to get people to give them some space. Both of their signals were either missed or ignored. I'm not drawing parallels between the Mr. Gibbs and the dog that bit Kyle Dyer -- other than both of them had their stress signals ignored. 

What I do know for certain, however, is that if Mr. Gibbs signals are ignored (or not understood), at best he's in for a pretty miserable life. At worst, he'll get tired of being laid on, pinched on a prong collar, and hit in the head with a swing. He may start to ignore the 3-year old even more than he's already ignoring her -- and for that he may get labeled stubborn and then forced to interact. And when his signals are again ignored, he may escalate his signaling to something he hopes the humans can understand: a growl. Unfortunately, many growling dogs are punished, effectively taking the very form of communication away from them that worked. 

Ignoring a dog's signals puts the dog in an unacceptable position. They either resign themselves to their fate or they speak up about it. Both are unfortunate options for a dog. 

And both positions are entirely preventable. 

 

Nemo Has My Husband's Number

 

 Oh, these two. They'll be the death of me. A dog trainer's dog + a dog trainer's husband = DISASTER. 

These are the first words out of my husband's mouth when I got back from teaching dog class last night: "Nemo ate your Junior Mints, not me."

Huh? 

I asked: "How did he get them when you were right here the whole time? Did you split them with him or something?" (Knowing this was 100% possible.)

He replied: "He got them when I was outside with the dogs."

This led to a lot more questions from me such as: If the dogs were outside, how did Nemo get the Junior Mints? Why were you outside with the dogs, anyway? Especially with all three dogs when one -- especially Nemo -- was left in here?

Anyway, the details aren't relevant, but let me tell you what I found interesting about this entire episode. Nemo steals only when my husband is home with him. Never when I'm home. 

And that's not the only thing that's different where Nemo's concerned. When we're eating dinner, Nemo puts his slimy, slobbery, drooley face right in my husband's lap. When my husband's done with dinner, Nemo will actually try to move my husband's arm out of the way and try to lick the plate. I'm dead serious. 

What does Nemo do with me at dinner time? Keeps his distance. I cannot stand to eat while a canine beggar is trying to work his magic on me. I'm impenetrable! I don't even allow the begging. Oh yes, I could ignore it alright, let the behavior extinguish on it's own. But I find begging so annoying that it's just not allowed. Beggars are asked to settle before they even become beggars. Before long, the beggars aren't beggars, but are instead, brilliant settlers. On my watch, that is. 

Back to the Junior Mints. It was, by the way, a movie theater sized box of Junior Mints. And my name was all over them. I had been saving them -- for that very night actually. 

So the Junior Mints. Here's what really blows my mind. Those Junior Mints had been sitting on the counter for two days without incident. I even broke my own rule and let the dogs have the run of the entire house while I dropped off a book at the library. Not a soul even moved from where they were napping. Nothing. 

So, why, I queried my husband, do you think Nemo stole while (1) I was gone and (2) my husband was the sole human being in the house. My husband's answer: "Because he's a bad dog, that's why," said with mock fierceness.

No. Because Nemo plays him like nobody's business. Nemo knows that my husband's not the most observant character. Nemo knows that my husband will be fooled when Nemo barks to go out, getting the other three dogs riled up and go running out, including my husband -- without Nemo. Nemo's a PLAYER! And my husband's the playee. 

And I'm just the girl who gets robbed of her Junior Mints after dog training class...

Get Organized!

Want to be an effective teacher to your dog? Here's a little bit of advice that will get you closer to your goal: get organized. 

I just spent an hour with an organizer -- and will spend another 2 hours on Wednesday -- getting myself and my office organized and streamlined. I had a hard time giving up an hour of my day today even though I know it's worth it. I keep thinking: I could have answered email, I could have written a blog post, I could have blah, blah, blah. Here's the real truth: I probably would have been on Twitter and Facebook if I weren't with the organizer. 

So: I now have the beginnings of a plan to get organized. Yes, it will take some time out of my schedule to implement the organizational plan, but in the end, I will actually gain hours -- and lose stress! I think the same can be said for people who are trying to teach their dog new things.

Here's my thumbnail sketch for you if you're so overwhelmed that you can't even get started with your dog (like me with my office!). 

1. What's the one thing that bugs you the most about your dog's behavior? Just one. (Write it down.)
2. What new behavior would fix that? For instance, if the one thing that bugs you the most is that your dog jumps on guests, what do you want the dog to do instead of  jumping? (Here's a hint: sit is a great replacement behavior, because if your dog is sitting he can't also be jumping.)
3. Manage your dog until you teach him the new behavior so he can't get into trouble. This means: when guests come, either leash your dog (and keep him on a short leash so he can't get close enough to jump) or put up a gate so your dog can't have access to the front door and the guest when they walk in. 
4. Teach the new behavior ("sit" in this example). Make it easy for your dog -- teach the dog when he's already had his exercise for the day, when there aren't any distractions, and use really delicious treats to show him just how great it is to sit. 
5. Systematically work in the "real life" elements like distractions and duration. (For "real life," your distractions will be the door bell ringing, your movement toward the door, the actual movement of the door opening, and the appearance of the guest. The duration will be how long the dog needs to remain sitting.)

That's it! Honestly, it really is that easy. I know, it doesn't feel that easy sitting on your side of the fence. I'm sure the organizer that left here today thought "this isn't rocket science lady, just have a place for everything and then put it there!" And really, I already knew that. I just needed someone to break it down into manageable pieces for me. 

Teaching your dog good manners is just a matter of getting organized . What seems like an insurmountable problem is really just a matter of teaching your dog a few new habits, rather than spending all your time trying to get him to stop the old habits. 

The Easy Solution or the Hard One?

My parents have a dog named Copper. She's a good girl, but she gets over-excited very quickly. When we want to take our four dogs down to the lake, it's mayhem. All four of ours are ready to rock out the door, and Copper is too, but she's not allowed down at the lake with my dogs. She chases Tango, bites him, and generally makes a nuisance of herself. 

My parents are old-school: yell at the dog, grab her by the collar and MAKE her stay. Yeah, that works. [Not.] And I'm just the daughter. I'm not a professional dog trainer -- to them. 

After about four days of enduring the same process (with the same, predictable results -- Copper continued to bark and thrash about -- it was escalating in fact. Surprised? Not me...but I digress), I decided to just step in and do things my way. 

I got a Kong, put a little peanut butter in it and gave it to Copper as we were walking out the door. If you'd not witnessed the chaos the way my parents were handling things, you'd never have believed it. Instead of anticipating our leaving with barks, whines, and jumps, Copper laid on the floor and worked that Kong like she'd been doing it her whole life. 

If we'd have stuck with the old way, it was very clear that Copper's behavior would escalate. All that collar-grabbing and excited state was going to lead to some unfortunate teeth-on-skin action, I can almost guarantee it. Then it would have been "Bad dog! Rotties are so aggressive! We need to heavy hand her even more now." Ugh, the thought of it just turns my stomach.

So. There's an easy answer (give the dog something else to do) and there's a hard answer (MAKE the dog obey you no matter what). I'll take the easy way any old day. 

By choosing the easy way, we're not just solving the problem. We're actually changing Copper's expectations. Instead of getting more ramped up, frustrated, and frantic, she's now calm -- but eagerly anticipating -- getting that little smear of PB out of the Kong. Voila. 

It's not rocket science. It's just good training. 

What To Do With Bad Behavior?

I teach dog owners how to notice and reinforce their dog's good behavior and how to get more of that good behavior.  

It generally follows, then, that I am often asked: "How do I stop my dog from doing bad things." It's a fair question - how do you get rid of the bad stuff?!

It's relatively easy and there are a few different options. Let's take a look at the solution in detail. First, take a look at that picture. Those are library books. Damage courtesy of Talos, the Great Dane.

If I'm wearing my Dog Trainer Hat, my first question to this owner (me, obviously) would be: How did the dog get those books? Dogs have a hard time getting in trouble if we limit their access to get-in-trouble things (like library books). In this specific situation, I had to make a quick dash to the grocery store, wasn't gone more than 30 minutes. I was too lazy to crate Talos and this is the scene to which I returned. 

Many dog owners think their dogs should "know better." What do they (the dogs) know? That this was a library book? That it cost money? What the heck is money to a dog?! To Talos, this was just something new to chew. It might as well been a brand new dog toy I bought him. (In the end, I guess, it was...)

So. If you don't want your dog to do something, limit his options! I told you this was going to be relatively easy. When you limit your dog's options, you'll also provide ample opportunity for your dog to get involved in acceptable behaviors. In my case, the easy solution would have been to crate Talos with a peanut-butter-stuffed Kong. That would have kept him out of trouble and reinforced him for being in the crate. But more importantly, it would reduce his habit of chewing on things on the coffee table. 

If you can't do it, you don't develop a habit for it. Simple, simple, simple. 

Think about all those things you want to stop your dog from doing. Here are some of the most common complaints and easy, simple solutions:

• Problem: Raiding the trash. Solution: cover the trash with a lid or put it out of reach of the dog. (He can't find out how delectable items in the trash are if he can't get his head into the trash bin.)
• Problem: Jumping on you and guests. Solution: Put your dog on a leash so he can't reach the guests AND teach him to sit in the midst of distractions. 
• Problem: Barking at people from inside the house. Solution: Close the blinds so he can't see out AND teach him how to speak and shhh when you ask him to (and then don't ask him to speak very often). 
• Problem: Chewing the table, baseboard, shoes. Solution: Keep a keen eye on your dog. Don't let him out of sight. Redirect him to an appropriate doggie chew toy and then praise effusely when he pays attention to his own toys. 

I could go on, but you're getting the picture. It's pretty simple once you start thinking like a dog!

An Ounce of Prevention

Ike is the most energetic puppy I've had the misfortune pleasure of raising. He's a pain in the neck Labrador's Labrador. 

He wakes up too early with his tail wagging, ready to go. He's always happy. He's always into something. 

He also always wants something in his mouth. He IS a retriever, after all. But sometimes, that something is human parts - hands, backside, clothing, whatever. It doesn't matter to Ike what he grabs, he needs to have it in his mouth. 

The typical "no!" doesn't work (of course).(Although you'd be surprised at the owners who hang onto that "no!" even though it's never worked. But that's another blog post entirely...) Ike is doubly rewarded when he hears "no!" and he succeeds in getting a body part -- he gets my arm and  I talk to him -- that's a bonus to his little brain. 

What to do? I suppose I could beat him get harsher and more "serious." Something tells me that wouldn't work either. It would either energize him more, or worse -- make him fearful of me. 

Saying "no," doesn't work, so what's an owner to do? How about this gem: put something else in his mouth so he can't grab me (my parts or my clothes). Genius, right? 

It works. It's fantastic. I'm meeting Ike's need to have something in that shark retriever mouth AND I'm able to pet him sans teeth. It's a win-win. 

But here's the best part: by positively (and pleasantly, I might add) encouraging Ike to put something else in his mouth, I'm preventing a bad habit (grabbing people's parts) from taking hold. If a habit's not there, you'll never have to break it. 

Do you know how much easier it is to prevent a bad habit than it is to break a bad habit?! Tons easier. Tons. If you've got a young dog, or a new-to-you dog, mull this over and then create a plan to help your dog develop good habits. You'll never have to call me to help break those bad habits. Wait a minute, I should probably delete that sentence...

Crate Hate to Crate Tolerate

Ike came to us with the comment "He's kind of noisy in his crate." After easy-peasy Teddy, Ike did indeed seem quite noisy in his crate. He whined. He barked. He shrieked. He gave me a headache. And I think if dogs can get headaches, my three dogs had 'em!

I approached this problem like I would any other behavior problem: find out exactly what I'm dealing with (get a baseline), set goals, develop a training plan, create a management plan, implement both to improve behavior.

I started by getting that baseline. I observed Ike's crate behavior for two days before I started to work on it. I needed to see precisely what I was dealing with, when he'd bark, when he'd stop, IF he'd stop (he did, but it took awhile), and the potential triggers of said barking.

My two days of observation yielded lots of good information I used to develop a training and management plan. First, Ike was perfectly happy going into his crate. He'd leap in, turn around and happily wag his tail, waiting for his treat. So going into the crate was fine and dandy. And he didn't mind staying in the crate, either, as long as there was something in there to do. If his dinner was in a Kibble-Nibble or a Squirrel Dude, he was happy as a clam. The second the dinner was gone, though, he was unhappy. And wasn't shy about it.

I had our trouble narrowed down, then: Ike didn't like staying in the crate if he had nothing to do. I'd also observed that Ike seemed to tolerate the crate a little bit better even after the goodies were gone if he was in the same room as the other dogs. Proximity to people and other dogs was important to him.

Knowing that, I created a training plan that looked like this:

1. Continue feeding all meals (and special treats) in the crate with the door closed. 
2. Monitor Ike in the crate to determine when he was nearing the end of his food. I wanted to capture even one second of silence after the food was gone. I would gradually increase the duration of silence required to earn a click and release from the crate. 
3. If Ike began to bark before I was able to click and release from the crate (example: if I was in the shower when he finished his meal and wasn't able to click him for one second of silence), I waited until he took a breath, calmly praised him (gave him the attention he was so eager to receive), then clicked and released from the crate after a second or two of silence.
4. Send Ike to his crate at random times during the day with a food-stuffed toy so crating didn't become predictable (only at meal times or only as I was preparing to leave). 
5. After Ike was quiet in his crate for 30 - 60 seconds, I changed the criteria a little bit. I started going out of sight while Ike was eating. I'd come back into sight as he was finishing up.
6. I then clicked Ike if he was quiet for one second while I was out of sight. I'd then come back into the room and calmly let him out of his crate.
7. I gradually increased the time Ike needed to be quiet while I was out of the room. 
8. After Ike was able to be quiet for a few minutes, I changed the criteria again. I stayed in the room, but now, for Ike to earn the click and release from the crate, he had to relax in the crate. That meant Ike had be quiet and had to lay down. I didn't ask for a down, I simply kept an eye on him and clicked and released him the instant he laid down.

My management plan looked like this:

1. Move the crate to the room I was in when feeding Ike. (Remember, Ike seemed to do better if he could see me and/or the other dogs.
2. If I had to leave the house after crating Ike, I'd turn the radio or television on. I also made sure Ike was in the same room as the other dogs. (Even though I was pretty sure he gave my dogs a headache with all the barking!)

Ike's crate hate has now turned into crate tolerance. We're at Step 8 at the moment. He's able to be quiet in the crate, even if I'm out of the room, but only for a short period of time. And he's just now started to lay down to wait for his release. I'll gradually extend the amount of time he needs to lay down.

We're not yet at crate love, but we're getting there! I'll keep you updated on his progress. If your dog is a crate screamer, as we so lovingly call them, start using the protocol above and see how it goes. And leave me a comment to let me know your progress. Happy training!

 

A Scary Moment on Our Morning Walk

Alternate Title: WHY I HATE UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC FENCES.

We walked every day in Europe. We walked a long time. A long way. It was really fun. I wanted to keep up that habit when I returned home. So this morning, I leashed up the three dogs and we went for a nice neighborhood stroll. As I walked out the door, I dismissed the idea of bringing my cell phone (the battery was really low). And I'd never ever needed the DirectStop. Ever. So it stayed behind, too.

The walk was nice - Lily (the dog who's reactive to other dogs when she's on-leash) did a great job dealing with the maniac dog who rushes his electric fence barking like he's going to kill us if we get close enough. (This alone is enough reason for me to hate underground electric fences. But wait, there's more. Keep reading.) She started to go into her frenzy but then turned and looked at me when I called her name and very quickly was back under conrol. Nice work, Lil!

We continued our walk, loving this beautiful morning. Around the next bend was a 90-pound dog, safely (so I thought) contained by his invisible electric fence. Thing is, he looked WAY too close to the road. Generally, he stays about 30 feet away from the road.

Uh oh.

He took a step closer. By this time, my dogs (Lily, especially) noticed this big guy who is very stiffly staring at us. Stiff is never something you want to see in an unfamilar dog - it usually means trouble. I yelled at him (I can sound pretty tough) to get away, but he's laser-locked on my dogs, taking very deliberate and slow steps toward them.

By this time, my guys are pretty fired up. I was unable to get Lily's attention, so she's in full-blown bark mode and now, with Tango (my yellow Lab) and Nemo (the hound/Dane mix) as back-up, she's in rare form. When Tango and Lily are together, even Tango (who ususally uses his brain and is reasonable) gets a little haywire.

The neighbor dog wasn't stopping. I had some decisions to make. And quickly. I wasn't going to get in the way of him. I hoped he'd notice that it was going to be three against one and would reconsider. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, he kept taking those slow, deliberate paces straight toward us.

I decided against trying to pull the dogs away: (a) I'm not strong enough (I was outweighed) and (b) tension on leashes, especially in a situation like this, is never a good idea. My next thought: give my dogs as good a chance as possible if this big dog decided to have a go at them. So I dropped Nemo's leash -- he's the least likely to fight and would try to escape if possible.

By this time, the big dog is squarely in the middle of my dogs. I'm still yelling (like an idiot) and thankfully Lily begins to calm down. (I don't think it was because of my yelling - more about that in a minute.) Things are still awfully stiff among the dogs, there's a lot of posturing and I'm still not sure how this whole thing is going to turn out.

I decided to drop Lily's leash as well - she's the smallest and if there was going to be a disagreement, I wanted her to be able to get out of there, too. Finally, I walked between Tango and the big dog, calling my dogs as I did it.

They looked up (!) and I began to walk away. The big guy decided he'd like to follow, so I turned, made myself as large as I could (hard to do for a 5' 1" person) and bellowed "GO HOME." He didn't necessarily listen, but I think the bass of my voice took him by surprise. He looked up at me and at least stopped moving forward.

My dogs got lots, and lots, and lots of food (I always carry food with me) and we extricated ourselves from the situation.

Remember the yelling I was doing as the dog was approaching? If I could do it all over again, I'd try to get myself under control first - yelling was ineffective at best. It could have helped encourage a fight. I was panicked, however, at the thought of a fight, blood, and the fact that I had neither my phone or any way to get an injured dog back to my house.

Things I will never leave behind again: Cell phone and DirectStop.

If you have an underground electric fence: PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COLLARS ON YOUR DOGS ALL THE TIME. The dogs really DO know when the collar isn't on. DON'T leave your dog unattended. And when they start to bark like maniacs at the boundary, call them back! All that frustration is not a good thing for your dog. And having them cross that barrier to get to my dogs isn't good for me. Or my dogs.