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.
I've been videotaping a lot of Caysun's training, but haven't put very much of it up. Alas, travel and business make it hard to get something edited and posted...But I've finally gotten some video of some early training.
You'll see Caysun learning to listen to what I'm saying (to my cues). Teaching a dog to listen to what you need them to do (1) saves you some time, (2) saves the dog from guessing, and (3) makes it really easy for the dog to figure out how exactly to earn the reinforcement. In plain language: it makes it easier on your dog to figure out what you want him to do!
Apologies for the sound quality; it's hard to train, click, treat, AND video at the same time. Ah, the life of an entrepreneur!
It's no secret that Tango's my favorite. Over any other dog. (Talos runs a very close second.) I'd rather spend time with him, or travel with him, or work with him, or just hang with him. So when opportunity came callin', Tango and I went running straight for it!
An entire weekend away. Together. Alone. Without any other dogs. It's been a long, long time. I realize I might sound a bit odd: "escaping with my dog," "time together alone." I'm not maladjusted, I DO love my husband just as much as I love my dogs, I'm not a crazy-lady.
However.
Tango and I have this special thing. We're cool just hanging out together. He enjoys hanging out with just me as much as I enjoy hanging out with just him. We're sympatico.
[How do I know this? That he loves it as much as I, you wonder? Easy. He's a different dog when we're together alone. He smiles more, I swear! He's got a pep in his step, he'll frolick like a pup again. Take my word for it, the dog is happy!]
Anyway, we had the chance to escape last weekend, just the two of us. And we ran like the wind. Actually, we sat in the car for 7 hours, two of those hours stopped dead in traffic, but who's really counting...
Off we went to Karen Pryor Academy's first ever reunion! [KPAs Dog Trainer Programs is the flagship course for people who want to become dog trainers or who want to take their business to the next level.] Tango and I were the first group to graduate way back in 2008. KPA was great for Tango and I: it was a terrific excuse to work with him every day - we had exams to pass together, for goodness sake!
I love traveling the road with Tango. He's a master traveler - sleeps the entire way, quietly passing the time, and is ready to roll whenever the car stops. He'll pee just about anywhere (believe me this is a useful trait - you never know what the road will bring] and is happy just hanging out whether we're going at-speed or if we're stuck in a traffic jam.
He's easy-peasy at meetings and conferences, even when there are other dogs around. He solicits attention by flipping onto his back, rolling around, and grunting. Works like a charm. I usually slide from my chair onto the floor with him, egging him on. I'm telling you, we have fun together!
It wasn't all seminars and meetings. No way. Saturday night we had a grand time -- dogs and people -- at our host's house in southern NY state. And Sunday morning held a two-hour (pretty strenuous) hike that rewarded us with spectacular scenery and ice cold streams for Tango to cool his belly.
A little over a year ago, this is what we were doing on a hot Friday night...It's so hot right now, I thought this deserved to be posted again.
Talos hates the water - has hated it since he was a wee pup. It's been triple digits here in the Mid-Atlantic. The dogs don't even want to go outside until the sun goes down. We rigged up a cooling room for the dogs out under our only shade tree inside the fence. It's a garden hose on the "mist" setting.
Watch how 100+ degree weather changes a dog's mind...
A frantic call came in on Thursday. "I need Ike tomorrow morning! We're off to NYC to be on national TV!"
National TV? Seems MSNBC wanted Hero Dogs Saturday morning for a patriotic spot. Ike was a natural choice because he can handle just about any new situation without batting an eye, and because he's got quite a few behaviors under his belt.
I crossed my fingers that he'd be a good boy on national tv. No peeing! No barking! No chomping on the interviewer's shoes!
I needn't have worried. Ike was his usual cool-dude self. He was charming. He was impressive. He was helpful. He was very cute.
And I was very proud. Clicker training rocks! (Check out that waggy tail -- that's a happy, working, reliable dog, thanks to clicker training!)
Watch Ike and his impressive service dog behaviors (and the great things Hero Dogs does, of course):
I found the sport of K9 Nose Work last year and I can't get enough of it! In addition to working with my own dogs, I've assisted at K9 Nose Work Camp in Georgia, I'm attending K9 Nose Work Camp in Pennsylvania in the fall, and I'm on-track to become a Certified Nose Work Instructor at the end of 2011. I hope my dog, Nemo, (the subject of yesterday's post about bad habits), passes his Odor Recognition Test (ORT) at K9NW camp this fall so we can begin competing next year.
My obsession with K9 Nose Work has led to my talking, tweeting, and writing about it, too! I just had a K9 Nose Work article published on Karen Pryor's site Clickertraining.com. And June's issue of Your Smart Dog, is all about K9 Nose Work (as was last month's article). If you're not a subscriber, you're missin' out! Click here to sign up (it's free)!
Last, but not least, here's the video I put together to show people what K9 Nose Work is all about:
K9 Nose WorkTM is crazy fun. For you. For your dog. Wondering what K9 Nose Work is? I thought so. Take a look at this video to see some K9 Nose Work dogs in action! Smart Dog University has a new K9 Nose Work class scheduled to start August 3 (6:30p in Frederick, MD), if you think your dog would be interested. (Hint: You'll love it!)
It's been eight months to the day since Dana came with me to turn Talos back over to Service Dogs of Virginia. I've jumped at every chance to see Talos. But Dana hadn't seen Big T in eight months. I captured their reunion on video.
(Ignore the conversation I'm having --on the phone-- with my mother...)
Here's a quickie sneak peek into what went down at Transfer Camp on Friday. I got to meet T's new person, Kathy, for the first time ever. And I got to see Big T again -- both of which were fabulous. The local news station came to do a follow-up on T and Kathy's progress after working together for a week.
That's a picture of Kathy, Big T, and me, right before I headed home after a full day of watching the two of them together. It was a terrific experience. Service Dogs of Virginia's Peggy Law (not pictured here) deserves a big thank you for allowing me to tag along all day Friday. For another reason, too: she was Talos' second "mom" after I turned him in. Big T lived and trained with Peggy from turn-in (July 23) until Friday, when T's third "mom" took him home for the weekend.
Both Peggy and I know the hole that a big dog (both in personality and stature) leaves. But what a great thing he'll do for Kathy!
Kathy and Talos will return to Service Dogs of Virginia on Monday for another week of coaching and testing before being officially turned out into the world. I'm confident both will pass with flying colors. More to come...
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