As we have said before, when our mom attends a dog training seminar, she always comes back with lots of new ideas that she wants to try on us. Any good trainer should do this, and when looking for a dog trainer, you should ask about their continuing education. However, as a dog trainer's dog, it's pretty annoying.
Mom just got back from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual dog conference (and received a new certification, yea!) with lots of new ideas for her classes and working with reactive dogs, which was the focus of this year's conference. Guess who's reactive in this house -- yup, me.
Kathy Sdao gave a talk about teaching dogs with a fear of people to become more comfortable approaching strangers. It begins with teaching "touch." This is a really good skill for reactive dogs because it gives us something to do instead of stare at the thing we are afraid of. My mom loves to teach focus, which means look at me instead of the scary thing, but touch is a more active reaction, and some dogs respond to it much better.
To teach "touch," you just put out your hand in front of your dog's nose. If your dog touches it, say "good" and give a treat. Repeat this til your dog is seeking out your hand all the time. This should be taught in a quiet environment that isn't stressful for your dog.
When he's doing that well, you start doing it in more distracting environments. Then, when your dog sees something scary and you say "touch," he knows to turn away from the scary thing and touch your hand. He gets rewarded and is happy. This begins to create a positive association. (You should never have your dog touch someone else. That will just increase his fright. The touch should always be you.)
My mom has never taught me this because she has taught me lots of other things instead, but since learning about this new "transfer touch" technique, she has decided to renew her interest in touch. So I'm practicing that now. I'm really smart so I learn new behaviors fast. When she starts teaching me the "transfer touch" stuff, I will tell you what it's like.
I hope it's not too scary! Love, Muggsy
Friday, October 30, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Greatest Recall
Today, I thought I would write about my own dog training adventure since none of my dogs were there to witness it: the most enthusiastic recall I've ever seen.
I was training a pit bull named Marley, who is featured on this week's facebook note as October Dog of the Month. His story is amazing, but that's all detailed elsewhere, so I will just say that he was found on the street by his new mom, Gennifer, and definitely found the match he wanted. He is so attached to her (and nervous to boot) that it has caused a little aggression around other dogs as well as some separation anxiety.
In teaching him some rules that he needs to follow to put Gennifer a little more in control, we began teaching recall (to learn how visit my facebook page). In order to teach recall, you have to start small using a 6-foot leash and then build up to a 30-foot line and eventually off-leash. Since most of my lessons are at people's houses or in parks, I am generally teaching with a long line. One of the things I do to build up distance and distraction is start walking the dog down the street until he is sniffing or searching for something interesting and then have the owner call them.
Marley gave the kind of performance for which all dogs should strive (just without the drama). I took him around the corner so Gennifer was out of site. This made him very unhappy, and I had trouble getting him to focus on anything but her. I gave him a treat and let her call him from the top of the stairs at her apartment complex. He was so excited to get to her that he tried to leap onto a three-foot ledge rather than take the stairs. In his excitement, he missed the ledge, did a flip in the air and cut his lip and leg in the landing. All the while, he did not stop moving!! He hit the stairs in the same stride and made to his mother in under 5 seconds. We had to take him upstairs after that to clean him up, so recall practice was over, but I was very impressed at his dedication to the recall!
If you aren't sure you could call your dog from around a corner like that, keep practicing your recall! All of your dogs have a little bit of Marley in them (but without the stage dive)!
Love, Melinda
I was training a pit bull named Marley, who is featured on this week's facebook note as October Dog of the Month. His story is amazing, but that's all detailed elsewhere, so I will just say that he was found on the street by his new mom, Gennifer, and definitely found the match he wanted. He is so attached to her (and nervous to boot) that it has caused a little aggression around other dogs as well as some separation anxiety.
In teaching him some rules that he needs to follow to put Gennifer a little more in control, we began teaching recall (to learn how visit my facebook page). In order to teach recall, you have to start small using a 6-foot leash and then build up to a 30-foot line and eventually off-leash. Since most of my lessons are at people's houses or in parks, I am generally teaching with a long line. One of the things I do to build up distance and distraction is start walking the dog down the street until he is sniffing or searching for something interesting and then have the owner call them.
Marley gave the kind of performance for which all dogs should strive (just without the drama). I took him around the corner so Gennifer was out of site. This made him very unhappy, and I had trouble getting him to focus on anything but her. I gave him a treat and let her call him from the top of the stairs at her apartment complex. He was so excited to get to her that he tried to leap onto a three-foot ledge rather than take the stairs. In his excitement, he missed the ledge, did a flip in the air and cut his lip and leg in the landing. All the while, he did not stop moving!! He hit the stairs in the same stride and made to his mother in under 5 seconds. We had to take him upstairs after that to clean him up, so recall practice was over, but I was very impressed at his dedication to the recall!
If you aren't sure you could call your dog from around a corner like that, keep practicing your recall! All of your dogs have a little bit of Marley in them (but without the stage dive)!
Love, Melinda
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Fearful Golden
Remember me? The forgotten dog, Chubbs. I used to be featured in all these posts, and now I can't get a word in edgewise between Fenway complaining about her ears and Muggsy talking about how he used to be bad and is now good. Blah, blah. Who does Mom turn to when she needs help with training? Me.
So last weekend, I went with her to evaluate a golden retriever who was showing aggression to other dogs in his foster home. My mom likes to help dogs find new homes. If you know of one, she'll post it on her facebook page.
Anyway, my role is to walk with Mom, politely as possible, and look at her instead of staring at the other dog to antagonize him. I have to stop walking when she says, and sometimes I even have to lie down so the other dog will calm down.
The prognosis for this dog was really good because he was showing lots of avoidance signals and checking in with his foster mom a lot. He was looking at her for guidance, but she didn't know how to communicate with him. Lots of times, barking behaviors begin because we look to humans for advice, and they don't have any, so we do something that feels natural -- bark!
This dog looked at his mom, turned his back to me and tried to jump in her arms before he finally started barking. Avoidance is good! If your dog is scared of something and showing avoidance instead of aggression, award that! Don't force them to do said scary thing. Just be happy they are deferring to you. If you then force them to do something that scares them, aggression will develop, even in puppies. My mom then advised the foster mom on what to do in those windows where the dog was looking to her for help and she thinks that dog will find a good home!
I hope so! Every dog deserves a good, loving home. I was abandoned, too, and I'm so happy where I ended up.
Love, Chubbs
So last weekend, I went with her to evaluate a golden retriever who was showing aggression to other dogs in his foster home. My mom likes to help dogs find new homes. If you know of one, she'll post it on her facebook page.
Anyway, my role is to walk with Mom, politely as possible, and look at her instead of staring at the other dog to antagonize him. I have to stop walking when she says, and sometimes I even have to lie down so the other dog will calm down.
The prognosis for this dog was really good because he was showing lots of avoidance signals and checking in with his foster mom a lot. He was looking at her for guidance, but she didn't know how to communicate with him. Lots of times, barking behaviors begin because we look to humans for advice, and they don't have any, so we do something that feels natural -- bark!
This dog looked at his mom, turned his back to me and tried to jump in her arms before he finally started barking. Avoidance is good! If your dog is scared of something and showing avoidance instead of aggression, award that! Don't force them to do said scary thing. Just be happy they are deferring to you. If you then force them to do something that scares them, aggression will develop, even in puppies. My mom then advised the foster mom on what to do in those windows where the dog was looking to her for help and she thinks that dog will find a good home!
I hope so! Every dog deserves a good, loving home. I was abandoned, too, and I'm so happy where I ended up.
Love, Chubbs
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