Saturday Blog Hop

Ask The Trainer - House training

Question: Ok so I rescued Duke. He comes from a home where he was not well feed, yellowing teeth, much to much for his age. He was taken from the house that had 10 other dogs and hadn't been fed for sometime. Then he spend 10 days in PACC. Here is our little Dukes problem, he goes to the bathroom on towels and rugs and if lucky enough to get him to go outside its on piles of pine needles. She bought and put in a doggy door but still... New mom is not happy. What kind of retraining ideas can I offer this new mom?

Answer: The easiest way to re-housetrain a dog, or to housetrain an older dog that was never housetrained to begin with, is to attach the dog to you when you are home. Tie a rope around your waist and attach it to the dogs collar. This way the dog is always with you and you can start spotting his signals. As soon as you see his potty signals, take him outside to a designated spot (use the towels or rugs or pine needles outside to start with) and tell hiim to "go potty" or "hurry up". Be totally calm and matter-of-fact about the whole process. When he's done doing his business, praise him lightly and go back in the house.

When you aren't home, if he is already crate trained, put him in the crate. If he isn't crate trained you have two options. Crate train him or get a cat box and put a bathroom towel in it (an old one that you don't mind washing a lot). It sounds like he could have been litter box trained or pee pad trained. You could use this to gradually move him outside through the dog door.

Don't leave rugs or towels down anywhere for him to use for a couple of weeks except the one in front of the dog door. For three days practice luring him outside to another towel through the dog door. On the third day, remove the towel that's on the inside and leave the one that's on the outside for him to use. If you don't make a fuss about things, don't punish him for going in the house, especially don't punish him hours later, then he should be choosing to go outside within a week or two.

Ask the Trainer - Anxiety

Question: I adopted a fantastic little dog from Cold Wet Noses (Terri highly recommends you!). I just adopted my new pup Sunday and she is transitioning exceptionally well.

One thing that I hope you can assist me with- I see she has some anxiety when I leave, which consists of her crying and some howling/barking. She does calm down. She is making small strides in reducing anxiety each day she is with me and I am celebrating her small successes. I would love for her to trust me, and her feel secure since she has been abandoned in the past.

I would really like to enlist your services. I see that you will be offering classes in July and would like to sign up for them if you think we would benefit. She likes to be around other dogs and I think she would really love the group environment. Which series of classes would be best for a small, young dog who has some anxiety when left alone? Also, she does not yet grasp the basic commands such as sit and stay. Or, would it be best for a one on one visit? Many thanks and look forward to meeting you!

Answer :I remember seeing Maddie on the TCWN website, she is a cutie !!!

So, separation anxiety and anxiety in general. Dogs are social creatures, just as we are, they don't like being left alone especially in a strange place. It sounds like you are doing great. Just keep doing what you are doing.

Because she has only been with you since Sunday, the pattern of departures and arrivals hasn't been set with her yet, so the normal "ritual" that I prescribe for separation anxiety most likely won't work. That said, there are many things you can do to make this process go a little faster.

1) Take her out for a good strong tiring walk before you leave the house.
2) Don't fuss about leaving, just leave.
3) Don't fuss when you come home, just walk in the door (if she's in a crate let her out), ignore Maddie completely for at least 5 minutes. Come in, put your purse down, listen to your messages, turn on your computer, whatever, but don't greet Maddie yet. When she looks like she is bored with your arrival, that's when you pay attention to her. Make this greeting of a calm dog really happy and exciting for her.
4) get her some mentalling challenging toys - a busy ball, a kong, treat puzzles and chew toys. Rotate her toys every day, don't let her get bored with them. Have enough toys that you can rotate every day for at least 4 days before repeating a toy.
5) Now take her for another walk or play fetch or tug or with a flirt pole (for her size you can use one of the cat toys which is a pole and string with a fuzzy thing tied on the end for her to chase and "kill").

Dogs love an ordered existence. If you do this every day, where she can count on things happening regularly, it will speed up the process.

Trust is built with a dog through play and shared outings - just like in the wild, they play and rest together and then go hunting. Tiny Tyrants (Thursday nights at 6) group class would be a great place for her to be. She would get the socialization she needs and learn some new things with you, the person who is going to be the center of her life. The class, even though it's for reactive dogs, will help any dog that has issues, no matter what they are. The class teaches three main important things 1) calm 2) that the answer to all questions is look at mommy and 3) how to communicate both with other dogs and the human world.

I don't actually teach obedience, but sit, down, stay, wait, leave it, give it, take it, drop it and other "tricks" are part of the curriculum as a step in learning a calming or coping exercise.

Response: Thank you SO very much for your fantastic advice! I am feeling so reassured by your email that I am on the right track with creating less anxiety for Maddie. I need to work on #3 big time and I am definitely not doing that just yet. Thank you so much, I learned quite a bit just from your response! I would love to continue to learn from you and sign up for a series of one of group classes. Any recommendations of which one would be best?

MANY thanks!!

NOTE: Maddie joined Tiny Tyrants and is doing wonderful !!

Ask the Trainer - Bailey, 9mo old Chihuahua

Question: We just got Bailey yesterday and he is very responsive and loving to my wife but is very mistrustful of me. He even sort of bit me( he did not break the skin. It was more a warning). He may have had difficulties with a male but I do not know. We really want this to work for him and us but somehow I need to gain his trust. PLEASE HELP.

Answer: Start hand feeding him - litterally feeding him from your hand. Every meal. Bailey gets no food except from your hand. During the day, throw treats near his feet for him to eat. Otherwise, just ignore him. Don't look at him, especially don't challenge him by looking him in the eyes. When you have to approach him, do it sideways the way dogs will greet each other.

Loosen up your body. Be as loose as possible when around him. Instead of being the big bad pack leader, be the moose - the prey. Think about this - dogs/wolves hunt in packs to capture the animals that are larger then they are. But they also have a great deal of respect for those large animals. They have sharp hooves and antlers. A moose, elk or caribou can stop an entire pack in mid stride just by turning around, standing tall and shaking their antlers at them.

Bailey, being small, sees you as the moose. You are huge and have hands and things that move fast at him. Slow down, loosen up and don't "confront" him. Let him make the moves - "dance" with him.

Don't ever reach for the top of his head from above him. Another lesson from the wild - your hands coming at the top of Bailey's head are like large birds with feet dangling down diving from the air to grab small to medium size animals for lunch. Come at him to pet him from under his chin. The most sensitive part of a dog's body to pet and massage is the chest.


Response: Good morning Jamie, Just as update on Bailey, our new dog. He is doing great!! After 2 days of hand feeding, he is trusting me enough to sit on my lap. He also lets me pick him up and put his leash on his collar. He is eating on his own and has become part of our family. We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you for all the great advice.

Ask the Trainer - Pit and ShiTzu Meeting

Question: Hey if u can email me advice I'd appreciate it. So my bf got a male pit named Mac he's 6 months old and fairly obedient. He still plays too rough and nips a bit but he plays w a 5 and 7 year old fairly well. Sometimes rough. Well I just got an 8 year old female shihtzu named tahllulah. I slept at my bfs house and brought tahllulah but i wasn't ready to have them meet cuz my bf went to bed so mac was in the yard and I took tahllulah to potty out front. Well he was dying to (I hope just) meet her. Oh btw I loveee pits. I have raised only pits tahllulah is my 1st small dog so I don't stereotype pits as bad. I just know as w ppl dogs have their own personality and tolerance. Well he squeezed through the fence and charged at tahllulah and chased her under the truck I dk what he did under there but she cried (she's just fine tho) I got them apart and held her while he sniffed her and he got too wild so she ggave a warning growl. I separated them. I don't think he's vicious maybe it had to do w her not being altered (I just got her she was their cash cow. They bred her til she could no longer handle another litter and then gave her away. Lucky me tho :) mac is very rough with other dogs when he plays and tahllulah is a calm lap dog. Such a loyal sweetie. I dk what to do abt our dogs. I don't want to keep them separate I want them to get along but I'm afraid. Can anyone help me or give advice? Anything is appreciated

Answer: First off, the more fear you have, the more the dogs are going to react. Your emotional state is sensed by the dogs and they start trying to figure out where the danger is, and since Tallulah is the new kid on the block, Mac could target her as the problem or vice versa.

Secondly, Tallulah is older and settled in her emotional state right now. She isn't going to want much of that puppy energy from Mac. I would get Mac REALLY tired before introducing them again. Take him on a good long walk till he's so totally tired he can barely move. Then put the two dogs together. This way Tallulah can view him without all the energetic running around. Then make sure that Mac gets plenty of exercise every day so that his interactions with Tallulah are at a level she can tolerate.

Third, Mac outweighs her by a goodly amount even at 6 months. I have to watch two of my dogs with each other because one weighs 60 lbs and the other weighs 10 lbs. The big one likes to push with her paws when playing with other big dogs, but that really hurts the poor toy poodle. So again, make sure Mac is tired so that he doesn't inadvertintly hurt Tallulah.

Fourth and final, start training Mac. Teach him much more then just sit,stay,come,heel. He needs to learn leave it, give it, take it, drop it, how to focus, self control, impulse control and to always look to his owners for direction when he hasn't been taught the answer to a situation.

Ask The Trainer

question: we want to get 2 puppies, my question is: is it easier to train one puppy and then add another one later or to train 2 at the same time? I have 2 young adults to help me.
answer: For two decades I adopted older dogs from rescue and trained them to live in my world and handled the behavior issues that they came with. 2 1/2 years ago, I decided that I wanted to train a dog up from puppyhood again and not have to deal with "issues". So I got a 9 week old puppy. Six months later, I got another puppy and six months after that I got yet another puppy. The youngest is now 1 1/2.

Ruth, the first puppy, got her puppy training alone. Brynda, the second puppy, got her puppy training with Ruth right next to her and Micah, the third, had two dogs helping him. I can say without qualification that it was easier to train Micah then Ruth because I had the examples of the other two showing Micah what to do. Now they are all learning different things. Ruth loves to fetch and I'm going to be getting her into flyball.

Brynda is my "therapy" dog and goes with me to assess the emotional state of troubled dogs and lets me know what they are actually thinking and emoting about. Micah is learning freestyle dance. So they are all training separately.

Right now in puppy class are a brother and sister pit bull mixes. Buddy, the male, is having a harder time learning then his sister, Coco. He learns best when she isn't there to distract him. He's still slower then Coco to pick things up, but when he gets them, he really "get's it". Last puppy class there were 5 puppies. Only one of the puppies had a hard time because of the distraction of the other puppies, but she was also the one that learned the fastest. I think she did it fast so that she could play with the other dogs, that was her "reinforcement" for doing her exercises.

So, honestly, the answer to your question is "it depends". It depends on the personalities and learning abilities of each puppy - even from the same litter. Even learning the housetraining, chewing training and other puppy manners is individual. Ruth was a no brainer, Brynda at the age of 2 still has potty problems and Micah hasn't yet learned to lift his leg like normal male dogs but he rarely had accidents in the house. Neither Ruth nor Brynda chewed inappropriately, but Micah ruined a few socks, pillows and slippers before he understood that he wasn't to chew things just because they smelled like me.

However, as far as time and the impulse to pull your hair out by the roots - get them together. Then you only have to supervise them for 4 months and it's done - I slaved for 18 months till they were all adult enough that I could leave them alone without crating them. You also can generally get into a puppy class with one at half price.

Aggression Revisited

Back in February, I wrote a blog post called When Is It Actually Aggression. This post was based on an actual evaluation that I did. They did hire me based on just my ability to control the dogs during that evaluation. For the next 3 months, I worked with this family trying to resolve the issues.

In my original assessment I diagnosed the problem as boredom, lack of leadership and trying to have two different packs in the same house without melding them. I discovered over the next weeks that I was completely correct in my assessment. There was NO leadership, no direction, no consistency and no communication. But this didn't just affect the dogs. I discovered that Mom and the Scotties didn't actually live there and that she hadn't lived there for 5 years. The Scotties were dropped off there every day for Dad to babysit along with the other three dogs. I also discovered that Dad did nothing but work all day and totally ignored the dogs except when they needed to be rotated from room to room so every one had a chance to do their business outside. Yet, Boone was purportedly his dog. There was no communication between the humans either. They kept secrets from each other, blamed each other for every thing that happened and were pretty disfunctional.

For the next two weeks, I worked with Peggy on getting her two dogs (Lucy and Zed) to understand that she was now the one in charge, getting them focused on her so that they would take direction from her, and trying to get the dogs out of their rooms for physical and mental stimulation at least an hour every day. In that two weeks I received at least two phone calls or texts from Peggy daily explaining how the dogs were still acting up and excuses as to why she hadn't take them for a walk or set up the obstacle course in the backyard. On the third session, I asked Peggy why her Mom wasn't there sometimes to help. That was when I found out that not only did Mom not live there, but that Lucy was actually Mom's dog originally. When Mom left, Lucy was given to Peggy's sister who she adored. Then the sister went off to live her own life leaving Lucy behind for Peggy to take care of. That was when the fighting started.

I also learned on week three that Peggy had hired a trainer two years before who hadn't accomplished anything and according to Peggy, the fighting escalated because of what the trainer did. The next night I got a frantic voice mail from Peggy. The dogs had gotten in another fight. Dad had miscalculated when rotating the dogs and Lucy and Zed had been left in a room together. I spent the next three weeks - free of charge - at Peggy's house every other day working with her and the dogs. I purchased out of my own pocket, muzzles for the dogs so that even if they got in a fight they couldn't hurt each other badly. I bought several books on aggression that I hadn't read before, re-read a few that I had, trying to find a solution for these dogs. Peggy in the meantime wasn't doing anything unless I was there. She refused to work with the dogs because she was afraid of them. She still wouldn't take them for walks and asking for help from Mom, Dad or sister was not an option. I was beginning to despair.

Then all of a sudden I started getting rave reports from Peggy. The dogs did this and the dogs did that - all good, getting better every day. So I relaxed and started steering her in the original direction of exercise and mental stimulation. Things were progressing. She and Dad started bringing the three dogs to behavior class on Saturday morning. I worked with her at her house three more weeks which ended the original contract. Peggy said she wanted to continue for a few weeks working with the dogs before buying more hours. All fine and good.

Then nothing from her. Absolutely nothing for two months. Then a text message about how Lucy is now attacking the young boy Boone for no apparent reason. I asked her to write it all up for me, all the details and then I'd call her and set up a meeting so we could work on another program. She never got the write up to me and then yesterday she asked me for a refund.

I think one of the greatest challenges for all of us as dog professionals is that on a daily basis we have to work with other people’s limitations. For the most part, we succeed. People change their lives and their dog's lives for the better. But there are always a few people who challenge our patience, our mission, and their own ability to grow and evolve. And in the end, they make us better trainers.

Limitations are OK. We are all human. But there is nothing worse than a situation where a client attempts to make a case for their negative attributes instead of figuring out how they are going to do the work. This case is the perfect example: “Well, it’s difficult for me to work with my dog every day because it’s only me and I work full time and go to school and I have to have a life too, and it just seems like a waste of time. Can't you just fix the dog right now?”

I don’t care that you’re not perfect and neither does your dog. Neither am I. Ask almost anyone. The only thing I or any trainer will ask from you is that you make a committment to yourself and your dog and not expect your trainer to wave a magic wand. That you bring a sense of trust both for your trainer and for the spirit of the work you do together. That you follow through until the end in helping your dog be the best s/he can be.

The story of Peggy, Lucy, Zed and Boone is sad. She says she has hired more trainers since the frantic text message about Lucy attacking Boone. I wonder if these new trainers are going to have to get out the pliers as I did and pull the teeth of the truth from Peggy one tiny piece at a time. Maybe someday, I'll see a blog post about Peggy and the dogs from some other trainer and how this time tried and true methods just didn't seem to work.

Clueless: A Dog Park Tail

Generally I don't have to deal with people who think they know everything there is to know about dogs. The people whom I work with one-on-one and at behavior and puppy classes are there because they know they have things to learn. The dog park, however, is a different scenario. Although I tend to go very early in the morning (5;30 to 7:00am), by 6:30 others start showing up.

Most of the people and dogs that come to the dog park at that time of morning are wonderful. The dogs are mostly balanced and just want to play and run around with their friends. Every once in a while, someone new shows up with a dog that has never been to a dog park before and has minimal socialization in other settings. We either integrate them quickly into the pack, or the owner and dog leave in a hurry, the owner embarrased by the inappropriate actions of his/her dog.

This morning I had a totally different type of human to deal with. This person and his "friend" have been coming for the last week or so with their two small old dogs (pug and peke or shih tzu mix). This person, whom I will call Bob, tries to get all the other dogs in the park to come and interact with him. His rational is that all dogs love him. Bob tries to prove this by chasing the dogs down and then holding them while trying to get them to accept his petting.

My Husky mix Ruth was having no part of Bob and let him know it. The first day he persisted until Ruth growled at him and then ignored him to chase her ball. Brynda licked him in the face a couple of times, but mostly just stayed away despite his efforts to encourage her to jump up at his face and lick it. Micah won't even acknowledge that Bob exists. Even Jake, who loves men and thinks they should all be his bosom buddies, doesn't like Bob and stays away. Today I noticed that none of the regulars would go near Bob either and made wide detours around him as they raced madly about the park.

But does Bob notice this? Does he pay attention to his own dog? The answer to both questions is a resounding no.

This morning Bob decided that he was going to entice what to him was a new dog in the park. Stanley however isn't new to the park, he just doesn't come often. Stanely is one of "my" dogs (he took behavior class) and he and his owners actually live within two blocks of Deena and I and have become good friends.

I don't actually know what actions Bob took before I noticed what was happening - I was paying attention to Brynda and Micah running with Bandit and watching Ruth share her ball with Brownie. When I did notice, what I saw was Stanley, foaming at the mouth, frozen to the spot he was standing on, whale eyed and "huffing" at something. Stanley was more stressed then I'd ever seen him in the six months I'd known him and his owners. Normally, Stanley is a very friendly, mild-mannered dog. He came to behavior class because of hyperactivity which no longer exists. He is however, slightly shy around strange men.

I looked along Stanley's line of site to see Bob. Bob was stalking Stanley, his arms and hands out in an "I'm going to capture you" position, barking at Stanley and staring at him straight in the eyes. I took immediate action and yelled "HEY!!! Stop that right now". Bob yelled back at me "NO, I'M PLAYING WITH HIM LEAVE ME ALONE". Well that devolved fast into a shouting match, but at least I got his attention off Stanley and his owner distracted him with a ball.

At the end of the shouting match, where I accused him of abusing Stanley and he insisted that dogs need to be played with and me saying that staring at a dog straight in the eyes is NOT an invitation to play, Bob decided that he wasn't going to win the argument. He started parroting back to me exactly what I was saying to him. His final parting words, shouted as loud as he could shout, before I just threw my hands in the air and walked away was "No wonder you're single".

Where the heck did that come from? What does my relationship status have to do with how to interact with a dog?

Barking and Territorial Behavior - or Why Dogs Bite Men in Uniforms

Many owners have problems with their dog or dogs barking incessantly throughout the day whenever anyone goes past the window or walks past the house or when the mailman delivers the mail.

Dogs that bark are demonstrating territorial behavior, which is a warning for the intruder to keep away. This is an area where dogs either look for leadership or assert their leadership. Pack animals are territorial creatures. Your dog, being a pack animal, instinctively understands territorial behavior. This is why many dogs react so aggressively when someone passes by or enters your home. Your dog considers your home as his den. A pack leader's role is to protect the pack at all costs and a dog that has assumed this position takes these responsibilities very seriously.

When people visit, dogs often become very excitable and go running to the door barking while the owner is trying to keep hold of the collar and open the door at the same time. A dog that goes to the door and is involved in deciding who is allowed into the den has been given the role of pack leader by the humans in the home. If the person at the door comes in, even though the dog has said "no", then the dog will resort to biting to affirm his decision.

With small dogs, owners will often lift the dog in their arms to contain him. Lifting a small dog up in your arms gives the dog height. To a dog, the one who is highest (not tallest, just on the highest ground) is the dominant one in the pack. You can see this often at a dog park where in greeting a new dog, one dog will attempt to put his head on the shoulders of the other dog, thereby saying "I'm higher ranked in this pack then you are".

It is not your dog's role to answer the door. A good way of reinforcing this message is for you to claim the door as yours, putting down an imaginary boundary of where he is allowed to go and no farther. The moment your dog goes to move forward you must block him by using body language. Stand up as straight as you can, put your hands on your hips (makes you look bigger to your dog), take a step toward him and say "hey" firmly and confidently. It doesn't have to be loud, there is no need to yell. You can use whatever sound you wish, but I suggest that you don't use "no" as you've probably used it so many times without backing it up that the dog thinks it's just meaningless barking.

Another method is desensitizing the dog to people coming to the door. Put your dog on the lead and have someone knock on the door. The moment your dog lunges forward or barks, take him calmly and assertively in the opposite direction while the other person opens the door. This is a very effective way of demoting your dog and alleviating him of the stress of being in charge. Wait until your dog is calm before having your helper knock on the door again and you will soon notice that with every repeated knock, your dog becomes more and more relaxed. When he realizes it is not his decision to allow people into the home, he will look to you to see what you want him to do when someone knocks.

It is very important that whoever comes into the house pays absolutely NO attention to the dog until he is totally calm and settled somewhere in the house. It's even more important for YOU to remain calm and assertive throughout the retraining or desensitization process. Your dog will sense your emotions and attitude and respond accordingly. You being calm, reassures your dog that there is nothing wrong. If you shout at your dog or say something in an anxious tone, you will be confirming to the dog that there is potential danger.

Once you have achieved the required response, other than needing an occasional reminder, your dog will be unaffected when someone comes to the door.

My Dog Is Friendly - Really !!

My Dog is Friendly

How many of you have heard someone say this as their off leash dog comes running up to you and your dogs on a walk? Better yet, for those of you who like the dog park, how many times have your heard "She just wants to play" or "That's how he plays" while your dog is frantically looking for a place to hide.

Most of you have probably learned the lesson about how well people know and can control their own dogs the hard way. Lots of people take the chance but I won't anymore. I decide what dogs my three interact with if for no other reason then that a lot of people just don't understand the role of a responsible dog owner. They're not bad people, but it's impossible to tell who has or hasn't learned about dogs in general or their own dog in particular.

So what do we do in situations like this?

First, protect your dog. If she is on a leash, put her behind you, stand up as tall as you can and GLARE at the oncoming dog. Put your hand out in front of you like a policeman does while directing traffic. Make sure you tell the oncoming owner that you are not happy with the way his dog is approaching and that you will do everything you need to to prevent harm to yourself and your dog. Don't be shy, be assertive. If the other person is clueless about their dog, do you really care if you make them a friend or not?

By putting your dog behind you, you are accomplishing three things:

1) You are getting your dog out of harms way

2) You are telling your dog not to engage with the oncoming dog and

3) You are telling your dog that it isn't her job to decide whether to greet a new dog or not.

Second, protect yourself. Carry a walking stick, a golf umbrella or even a baseball bat. I prefer a walking stick, although my ChuckIt (or as a friend calls it - the orange stick of death) will deter most approaching dogs. If a dog is approaching you off-leash in a super excited or menacing manner, don't worry about what the owner is going to think when you brandish your "weapon". The law says dogs need to be leashed and 99.99% of the time you only have to wave the "weapon" and not use it..

What do you do in the dog park?

First, learn canine communication signals. Know when the play is getting too rough or your dog is frightened or otherwise put-off by the "play" of another dog. Break things up before they escalate and leave the park if the other dog's owner is oblivous to what is happening or is making excuses as to why his dog is doing these crazy things. Owners sitting on the sidelines not watching their dogs are disasters waiting to happen.

Second, keep your eyes on your dog. I know it's not good human manners to talk to people without looking at them, but the safety of your dog and yourself can depend on you being somewhat rude. In addtion to keeping your eyes on your dog, stay as close to her as you can. Don't sit on the sidelines watching from a distance.

Third, make sure you and your dog enter the park in a calm manner. No rushing in or jumping around. This will signal to all the other dogs that you and your dog are no threat. At the same time, assess the other dogs that are already in the dog park. Watch how they are playing or not and how intense the activity is. The more excited and intense the activity at the park is, the greater the chance it will escalate into an altercation.

Fourth, no matter what happens, stay calm. You can't help if you are standing there screaming or wringing your hands or running around chasing fighting dogs. Dogs have four legs and can run circles around us poor limited humans. Wait for an opening and then grab whatever you can get and toss it. Grab hair, a tail, a leg, whatever. Get in fast and then toss whatever you caught. Don't hang on waiting to get bitten.

Fifth, teach your dog to "check in" with you every 5 minutes or so. That way, if she does get in trouble, the first place she'll go to is you.