Stubborn as a mule?

Stubborn:
Unwillingness to yield; refusing to move or change one's opinion; obstinate

Stubbornness:
Difficult to handle or overcome; resolute adherence to your own ideas or desires; not giving in to arguments or requests

“Sit”

“I said SIT”

“You know how to sit – you have done it a million times. Why are you so STUBBORN?”

Oh, we have all been there. Usually in front of a crowd where seemingly the entire world views our lack of skill as a dog handler.

“Are you going to let him get away with that?”,  generally follows.

As humans, one of our greatest gifts is our ability to “see the big picture”. Our wonderfully complex brains can scan the environment and give us messages without our having to sort out each little bit of data step by step. All of this analysis goes on behind the scenes, brain synapses firing in nanoseconds, finally spitting out conclusions.

Errrr...except sometimes those conclusions are wrong. What looks like a stubborn disposition to us is not really applicable to dogs at all-and at the very least, it is not helpful to label it as such.

Dogs live in the here and now!


If your dog does not respond to a request:

1.    You have not trained this behavior to fluency
You have taught your dog that the word 'sit' means to place his bottom on the floor, but have you taught him that this applies in different locations as well? It’s easy for humans to generalize but for dogs, not so much. You must teach your dog that the word 'sit' means sit in the kitchen, sit on the patio, sit in the back yard, sit... anywhere! Have you also taught your dog that 'sit' means the same thing if you give the cue while you are standing beside him, or even with your back to him? Keep in mind that when you change anything about the behavior (location, distractions, duration, etc.) you must cut your dog some slack and not expect the behavior to be perfect right away until he adjusts to the change.

2.    He is unsure of what you are asking
What you think is the cue may not be the cue. I once was asked to give my dog my cue for 'down'. I stood before my dog and gave his cue,  the word ‘down’. My dog responded with a lovely down. Yeah, that's how we do it, I thought smugly. I was then told to hold my body perfectly still and use my word cue again. Piece of cake. I did, and…nothing. Huh? He knows this! No he did not.  Until it was pointed out to me, I was completely unaware that each time I spoke my cue, my upper body tipped forward ever so slightly-this is what Stoli thought meant 'down'! Lesson learned.

3.    He is physically incapable or physically uncomfortable
Aside from physical injury, examples of this are asking a dog for a sit or a down on prickly grass or hot asphalt, or maybe simply on a surface he has never been on before.



4.  The behavior has not been reinforced (what is reinforced is repeated)

We ask a lot from our dogs. First, we ask them to perform behaviors that are foreign to their very nature (they are a different species, after all). We require they do as we ask when we ask, no questions asked,  each and every time. Well, why should they? If I demanded you perform a behavior that was completely meaningless to you, anytime, anywhere, with no benefit to you and a LOT of expectation on my part that you immediately comply-how motivated would you be to continue doing so?  Now, what if I paired the behavior with something pleasant so that the doing of it became pleasant by association? This is exactly what Pavlov observed when his dogs began to salivate upon hearing the sound of the bell used to signal dinnertime. If we pair a reinforcement-usually (but not always) food (after all every dog must eat) with an event (the behavior) a pleasant association between the two is likely to develop, greatly increasing our chances that the behavior will be repeated.


Corrections:
Some of us have a very hard time giving up 'corrections'. So, for those who just cannot let go of the idea that they are necessary, this is for you.

Step 1: Take a newspaper and roll it into a tight cylinder.
Step 2: Stand before your dog
Step 3: Raise the newspaper
Step 4: Give yourself a few sharp raps to the forehead (I know...I know....it's going to hurt you more than the dog to do this)

Bottom line: If your dog is not performing the behavior you requested it is because you have not trained it!

I Command You!

Tomato/tomahto? Modern dog trainers use the word “cue” rather than “command” when teaching behaviors.

A command carries with it an implied threat-do this or else

A cue, on the other hand is an opportunity to perform

But, Chris, my dog should do what I tell him to do, when I tell him to do it, because I told him to do it!

Why?

Seriously, have you ever asked yourself why this is so?
Television, books, movies have all contributed to the myth of the dog who lives to please (in many cases sacrificing his own happiness for yours!)

The fact is; dogs (like humans) repeat what is reinforced!
 
The myth of the dog that lives to please is just that-a myth. Dogs do work for us and have for thousands of years, but why? What makes him work so willingly? The common denominator...enjoyment.

The Border collie herds because he enjoys chasing stock, the Siberian husky pulls the sled because he enjoys running and the retriever retrieves because…well you get the picture.

Method 1~Traditional training

Repeat the "command" over and over until your dog catches on, whether he likes it or not. You are the one doing the majority of the work (physically manipulating the dog into position and “correcting” the dog when he gets it wrong). You tell him “no this is not what I want you to do" when he does not perform the behavior. His motivation~ you stop correcting him and give verbal praise when he gets it right.

State of mind for the dog: confusion, stress, fear, and frustration, relief when he is not being “corrected”
State of mind for the trainer: stress, anger, frustration, relief when dog finally “gets” it

Method 2~Clicker training

Your dog is working to figure out what you want. For his efforts, he is rewarded with information in the form of a marker (click) that tells him “yes-you are on the right track” along with a payment to reinforce the behavior (a tiny bit of food or a short game of tug/fetch/play-whatever your dog likes).

When he gets off track you back up and begin from the point where you were last successful. There are never any reprimands. Once your dog is performing exactly what you had in mind, then and only then do you name the behavior (the "cue"). His motivation-an investment in the outcome in the form of a reward for each successful step.


State of mind for the dog: motivated, excited, and joyful
State of mind for trainer: motivated, excited, and joyful

Method 1-when I get it right bad things stop
Method 2-when I get it right good things continue

But how will my dog know he is not getting it right if I don’t correct him? Won’t he become frustrated?

Karen Pryor says this, in Reaching The Animal Mind:

“It’s not the information that’s the problem; it’s the reprimand. The message ‘That’s not it’ is embedded in the use of clickers, conveyed not by the addition of something but by the absence of the click”.

Personally, I want my dog to be an active participant in training session. This will not only increase the likelihood of successful training, but makes the training process enjoyable for us both.


The Thinking Dog: Crossover To Clicker Training by Gail Fisher explains why a thinking dog is her preference:

“A trained dog will ‘obey,’ but a thinking dog goes far beyond obeying commands. It goes beyond training your dog to sit, lie down, and come when called. While teaching responsiveness to commands is a component of any training, achieving voluntary good behavior—what most of us want from our dogs—is about so much more.”

For me, if training is enjoyable I will want to do it.

Guess what? So will my dog!

My dogs in a training session (Dante top, Stoli below) Note complete focus on me, yet relaxed, happy expression

How To Train Your Dog To Not Come When Called- A Play In Three Acts

Location: an enclosed, an off-leash Dog Park in Anytown, USA
The players: a dog and his owner, regular visitors to the park
The time: time to go home


Act 1: Owner decides it is time to go and calls the dog. Dog begins sniffing the ground, a few feet away from the man.

Owner calls the dog again-this time a bit more forcefully-he is getting a bit impatient-he has things to do! Dog continues sniffing ground and moves even farther away.

Owner calls dog, but now all pretense of friendliness is gone (darned stubborn dog, he is thinking). “Get over here NOW!”

Dog continues to sniff the ground, stopping to lift a paw as he glances sideways at the owner, not looking him in the eye. Man walks toward dog- dog moves farther away, always staying just out of reach.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Act 2: Man angrily throws his hands up in the air. He stalks around a bit, pulling his hair.

Bing! A light bulb appears.

The man crouches down and calls, sweetly, through gritted teeth, “Here puppy…come here …yes…good boy”.

The dog slowly approaches, on his belly, curling sideways, tail wagging frantically while licking his lips…as soon as he is within reach…

The man grabs his collar, gives it a good shake and scolds, “BAD dog. You COME to me when I call you!!!”

This man has just successfully taught his dog to never come to him again.

Of course, that was not his intent. The man thinks, "I have just corrected my dog for not coming to me. I have taught him a lesson. Next time he will come to me when called".

 Not likely.

When this happens again, the man will then assume,  “This dog is very stupid. And stubborn. He will not listen”.

Wrong! Here is what the man is missing-the dog is incapable of matching his own action of “not coming” to the collar shake and scolding.

Why not?

Too much time has passed between the action and the consequence! Let’s break the sequence of events down into tiny pieces using a simple behavioral formula that is easy to remember:

ABC Formula

A=Antecedent (what happens before)
B=Behavior (what the dog does)
C=Consequence (what happens as a result)

Antecedent: Dog hears man calling sweetly, “come here, baby”
Behavior: Dog approaches
Consequence: GRAB/YANK/SCOLD

The dog has just learned: Approach = GRAB/YANK/SCOLD

All that went on before is not in the least tied into the Consequence; a dog’s brain is not capable of putting that complex pattern together.

Dogs are very simple creatures and a human brain is very different than a dogs brain. A huge portion of our brain is devoted to solving complex problems such as remembering consequences in a big- picture format.

Dogs do not have this brainpower and if they did we would be in BIG trouble! In fact, most of their brain is devoted to scenting.  They are very good at reacting-a dog smells a rabbit and POW! he reacts by chasing.

This is the saddest part of all;  sometimes, when the dog is called, bad things happen- and he has no idea why.


But here is the main problem- we think dogs learn a lesson from a scolding or punishment. They don’t. But they look to us  like they do. By cringing and creeping towards you, you naturally assume that the dog “feels guilty because he knows he was bad”.

Not so.

This is a miscommunication between species. This cringing behavior in Dog Speak means, “I am no harm to you-I do not wish conflict”. The dog does sense the anger despite the man using baby talk to trick the dog into coming to him-perhaps he can even smell it-I would not be surprised. BUT he cannot apply that knowledge to his own actions- the context is lost on him.

So he reacts to this anger by using dog language indicating “no fight, please". When he does this,  we see “guilt” because it appears identical to our body language for guilt.

Go back to the paragraph where the dog continued to sniff the ground-this is called a Displacement Behavior. Just as we sometimes fidget when nervous, so do dogs. We rub our arms, smooth our hair, perhaps even pace.

But this looks to us like the dog is purposely ignoring us in favor of sniffing-he is "blowing me off".

If you see your dog sniffing, yawning, blinking, scratching, all out of the blue and out of context (of course dogs do all of these things when they are not stressed, too!), he may be experiencing some stress. Paw lifts are another means to signal, “I do not wish conflict”.

Act 3:  If you want your dog to come to you when called you must begin to establish a strong history of reinforcement for this (remember ABC?). Make sure only good things happen when he is called. Never ever scold your dog for coming to you.

If “bad things” such as leaving fun behind must occur (we do live in the real world, after all and disappointment is part of life!) then make leaving unpredictable-if your dog hates to leave the dog park, practice calling him to you and when he comes give him a pat or play a quick game of fetch and then release him to play.

Mix it up, in other words. Giving him a cookie when you get into the car can also build a strong association of Good Things happening when we leave the park.

Finale: Remember the ABC's! Before applying a human explanation to a dog behavior, stop and ask yourself, what consequence is at work here? If it is reinforcing for the dog, it will be repeated-for better or worse.

Happy Traning!

Waggoner's Field Guide to Dog Interpretation

Inviting a member of the species canis familiaris into your home can be a mutually beneficial experience or a disaster.

You may discover that your needs could be met with a less demanding creature.

That being said, I enjoy the company of dogs and currently share my home with five of them. They are part of the family. The road to this state of nirvana is oftentimes bumpy due to language and cultural differences. Until I learned to speak Dog, I, like you, misinterpreted most of what dogs were trying so hard to tell me.
  
A Dog to Human translation guide is essential and will reduce the potential for embarrassing faux pas on both sides of the culture gap. Besides this one, there are other guides available. Look for authors who do not view this species with suspicion and bias. Make certain their information is current. A dog’s motivations for his actions are not to crown himself King of the World. He, like you, does what works for him and responds to fair treatment and clear instructions.

Dogs (and humans), communicate a great deal with body language. While some body postures are similar to ours, in most cases they have very different meaning.

If a dog does not something you request of him, first ask yourself; is this a communication error or a cultural misunderstanding? Remember, dogs speak a foreign language-repeating your instructions more loudly will not make them any clearer to him.


This brings up the controversial subject of "corrections". If the dog repeatedly does not respond to a request, the following correction may be necessary:


Taking a section of newspaper or magazine, roll it tightly into a cylindrical shape. This should be no more than an inch or so in thickness. Next, stand before the dog and repeat your request, calmly and clearly. If he again fails to comply, take the cylinder you have fashioned and give yourself a sharp rap to the head.  Repeat as needed. This should remind you whose fault it is that the dog has failed to comply.

As with anything else, once you know, it all becomes simple. I hope you will learn from my mistakes in this first of several to come installments.

Items commonly found around the house and the difference in how they are viewed by dogs

If you or I spotted a pair of socks lying on the floor, we would ignore them (in the case of my teenaged daughter) or pick them up and put them where they belong (me). Your canine housemate, on the other hand, will view the socks as an opportunity to settle in for a nice chew.

If you attempt to take them from him, he may hold them more closely, or even growl. This is not because he views the socks as an item he has “stolen” nor is he being “defiant” or the other “D” word.

Translation: In the world of dogs, possession is nine tenths of the law. If an item is held between his paws, close to his body (especially while lying down), there is a presumed safety zone between his mouth and the item. It is understood by all other dogs that the item belongs to the dog who has possession.

If you remove this item you are then behaving rudely, in his view, even if the item is unsafe to him or your carpet. Better to trade him for the socks and move on. No harm, no foul.

An item left alone is up for grabs

This includes the roast beef innocently placed on the table.

Alarmingly, any dog, no matter his size, is capable of devouring a three-pound roast in a stunningly short amount of time. This behavior is unacceptable in polite human society, unless we are participating in a structured competition to determine who can who can eat the most number of hot dogs or pie in one sitting, the motivation being a prize and bragging rights.

Upon witnessing this shocking behavior (I am not speaking of pie eating now, although this can also be shocking to witness), you may involuntarily let out a cry of surprise or even outrage. This will likely cause the dog to lower his body to the ground and begin to slink and cringe towards you. You naturally will interpret this body language as a display of shame and guilt.

It is not.

Translation: Dogs are capable of sensing even the smallest changes in your body chemistry causing them to respond in their own language.
The dog is telling you with this behavior, “I do not wish conflict with you-I am no harm to you” This language can also occur in the presence of damage to possessions, or after a house training error, again leading the human to misinterpret the behavior because it LOOKS identical to our language for guilt.

This reaction by the dog may lead you to question: "If he recognizes that a particular action by him makes me angry, does he therefore not retain that knowledge and store it so the action will not be repeated?"

If only.

Translation: Dogs live very much in the “now”. They react, they do not plan ahead. If they did, they likely would rule the world, judging on how successfully they have convinced another species (us) to house, feed, and care for them. We are indeed fortunate their brains are so small.

Next installment:

Hygiene. Topics covered will include inappropriate public grooming and why carpets make wonderful toilets

Take Me Out To The...Dog Park!

 Dexter, on our way to the dog park!


Right off the bat, I must confess I have reservations about most dog parks. 

Group together a bunch of under-exercised and over-stimulated dogs, with people who have overly optimistic assumptions, ("all dogs enjoy the dog park!") and events can quickly spill out of control!

So, then, what was I doing at the dog park this weekend?

The short answer; because I still believe in the concept of dog parks.

Far too few modern dogs have the opportunity to roam off leash and explore. I really believe that dogs benefit from this sort of activity,  but only if done in the right environment. I know that somewhere, there are good dog parks.

Which brings us to: What makes a good dog park?

In my opinion, these three things must be present:

1. The people using the park appreciate that dogs have varying levels of tolerance and respect that fact. The trend in dog parks is moving towards paid membership, with pre-screened participants. I have not been to this type of park, but it certainly sounds promising.

If your dog has never been to the dog park, and you are unsure if he is ready, check out these tips, first.


2. The people present are continually alert for signs that their dog is becoming overly aroused or anxious.

Those of us who love dogs and who live with dogs were never taught to "speak" dog. Even those we turn to for help more often than not are usually are using their own interpretation of what their dog's body language means, or they are relying upon handed-down anecdotal interpretations.

Why is this?

The answer given most often is that dogs are all around us-we take their presence for granted so no one has really taken the time to study them! Fortunately, this is beginning to change and the discoveries being made about our canine friend is nothing short of fascinating.

This video illustrates what we know so far, of the language of dogs. I have included some great examples of canine play language here. Watch them-you may be surprised at some of the things your dog may be trying to tell you!


3. The main reason the people are present at the dog park is their dog, rather than for socializing. Socializing is great-it just should not be the main motivation for being at the dog park-it is called the Dog Park, after all!


If those three things are in place, the dog park should easily function as it was intended- a place for dogs to be...dogs!


Resources:


"Visiting the Dog Park" by Cheryl S. Smith

''The Other End of The Leash" by Patricia McConnell

"On Talking Terms With Dogs" by Turid Rugaas

"I chew, therefore I am"

This week I responded to an email from a very frustrated gentleman who lives with a lovely young Golden Retriever. He had very good reason to pull out tufts of his own hair-reasons to the tune of perhaps hundreds of dollars in carpet repair...!

But I will let him explain.

"The behavior started a few months after we got her.
At first my wife and I attributed it to puppy energy as she would tear up papers off of the table and things like that, but she would also rip holes in her toys and pull the stuffing out.

Gradually she moved up towards shoes, and then she ripped up two of her beds- actually it was 3 beds.

The behavior mostly occurs when my wife and I aren't home. She's chewed shoes while we were home, and the carpet attack 2 nights ago was while we were in bed. Normally she's left alone for about 7 hours a day."

Signed,
Hardwood floors are not so costly after all

Dear Sir:

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news-you have a normal dog
The bad news-you have a normal dog

Take toys-dogs "play" with toys as they would behave with prey-that's the whole point! A dog tears up a toy because that is exactly what they do with prey. That cute stuffed hedgehog with the squeaky in the middle-prey dogs (RETRIEVERS-hello!!!) "kill" Mr. Hedgehog, then spend the rest of the time dissecting him, pulling out his "intestines".

The carpet? While not a toy, she has learned that working with her mouth is a GREAT stress reliever.

So, then, what to do?

First, your girl needs more exercise. A daily walk minimum-a daily jog, better.

Second, supervision. She cannot be left to her own devices. She is not being bad ~and if you think she "looks guilty" after ripping something apart, go STRAIGHT to my website and click on Page Two.

Third, she needs plenty of good things to chew. She needs stuffed Kongs (stuff with peanut butter, cream cheese, wet dog food-the sky's the limit!). She should get her daily food in a way that she has to work for it. Either in a training session where she works for her kibble or in a Buster Cube or some other dog puzzle. In other words-she needs a rich environment.

It is not a normal state for dogs to be left alone. Dogs are very social animals! They can and do learn to tolerate being alone, but we should provide them with options and opportunity to use their time in ways we approve of-remodeling the house is probably not on that list.

Patience, Grasshopper

So many of the behavior problems we pet owners face on a daily basis all boil down to patience (or the lack of it, to be more precise!).

This part may surprise you, however...it is not the dog's lack of patience that is the problem :) How do I know this? Experience, my friend, experience. You name the mistake and I have made it at one time or another.

What are you teaching your dog? Everything you do is teaching him something-that something is not always what we intended!

If you feed your dog while he is jumping and crashing into you and the furniture, then guess what? You have taught him this!

"So how do I fix this!?!", you may be asking yourself, as your dog rockets around the room.

The answer lies in p-a-t-i-e-n-c-e.

Take a nice, deep, cleansing breath, Grasshopper.

Let us begin.

First, if you want a dog that waits nicely before, say, eating his meal, you must be the one who sets the rules. Start by holding the dish out of his reach. Wait until he is not jumping around before placing the food on the floor. You may have to feed him in a small enclosed area (bathrooms are nice for this type of work) at first so that you can walk out if he cannot control himself. Trust me, he will quickly learn that to get his dinner, he will have to settle down first.

Bad habits don't start overnight-start slowly and work up to the behavior you want. Every day ask for a little bit more. It is not fair to punish the dog for something you taught him, is it? So no yelling allowed.

No speaking is necessary during this process, by the way. In fact, try not to speak at all- let your actions do your talking for you.

We chatter way too much at our dogs-it means nothing to them and in fact, over time your voice will become meaningless background noise-not because your dog is "blowing you off" but because you have taught him that your voice is just patter. Humans speak through verbal language-we say to someone "I hear you" when we want them to know they are understood. Dogs communicate through body language. More on THAT later.


Photo: Dexter waiting at the front door to be released.
This may save his life one day!