Positive Reinforcement: The Training Gift that Keeps on Giving!

So I haven't posted on the Positive Pet Training hop in a while. I've been so busy with work and helping people train their dogs, I just haven't had much time for blogging.

This month I feel like I really do need to participate since the theme is "The Gift of Positive Training". Throughout my journey with my dogs, we've had challenges with both dogs; Phoenix with her fear related people and dog-dog issues, Zoe with her prey drive and resource guarding. Discovering positive reinforcement and force free methods was definitely a gift for all of us. We've all learned how to communicate better and Phoenix in particular has given me the gift of patience and extra empathy. Working with both of these dogs has opened up a whole new world for me and they've helped to get me into the career that I actually want to be in. One of my training videos on YouTube actually helped me get my job! If that wasn't a gift from my dogs, I don't know what is!

I've learned how to work through a lot of issues and also figure out how to manage other issues. Recently with all my "teacher training", I am learning how to effectively use positive reinforcement to coach my husband through a new issue that has come up between him and Phoenix.

Phoenix has had a fear regression, she is afraid to be handled by my husband. They were at the park without me around two weeks ago and I guess she ate too much grass. When they got back into the car she started puking. My husband had to grab her to get her out of the car without getting puke all over her and she was traumatized by the accidental "rough" handling. Since that incident Phoenix hasn't wanted much to do with my husband.

Phoenix will not allow my husband to wipe her paws, put her pajamas on or do any sort of touching where something is being done to her. Petting and playing is still okay with her. We are incredibly lucky that Phoenix just tries to flee versus fight. My husband is understandably frustrated with the whole situation. He feels like we've had her for so long that she should just be able to deal with things. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with a man where he was wrong and you had to tell him he was wrong? LOL!!! Yeah... that went as well as could be expected. I am also learning how to communicate better with my husband about dog stuff.

Don't touch me!

So I've had to bust out my new-found coaching skills and it's been going okay! I'm trying to my best to pick out behaviors my husband does that I like to praise and coaching him through some behavioral training. My husband gets to do all the fun stuff, like feeding, treats and play time. I've also been coaching him through counter-conditioning Phoenix to him touching her. My bosses and my mentor are tickled that I've been using my calm "client voice" on my husband.

I think with a dog like Phoenix, who probably wasn't socialized as a pup, definitely was not handled and went through previous trauma before we got her, things will always be more difficult for her than Zoe or any other "normal" dog. She took a long time to trust us and in some things she obviously still doesn't trust us. We still have some work to do with her and I think my husband is realizing that he has to be more involved with it. Phoenix has taught me so much over the years and I think she will probably end up teaching my husband a lot, too!

Positive Reinforcement training techniques have definitely been a gift to us! It's the gift that keeps on giving as I am always learning something new and able to continually help my dogs. It's a gift that I try to give to others as much as I can, too!

What have your dogs taught you lately?

Please Comfort Your Dog When They Are Scared!

The other night we had our smoke alarm alert us to a low battery. It does this by going off and screaming about how the battery is low. It went off at bedtime. If you all remember, Phoenix was rescued from a house fire and she is terrified of the smoke detector. We have no idea how long she was in the house with a screaming smoke detector but it obviously left a lasting impression. She was rescued by firefighters.

We didn't realize we had a problem with Phoenix being afraid of the smoke detector until a little over a year of having her. I probably should of known that it would be an issue and I'm not sure why I didn't think about it, knowing where she came from. I feel really bad that I didn't try to work on it sooner. In our old apartment, the thing never went off. When we moved to our inlaw's house, their smoke detector is extra sensitive and the first time it went off, Phoenix had a PTSD-like episode where she actually reverted back to her pre-adopted state. She was extremely fearful and would not come out of the closet and she would just shake nonstop. She would also shy away from anyone trying to touch her, a problem we hadn't had since we got her. It is absolutely the saddest dog thing ever. I hate watching her go through this fear. Since then we have been working on it but it's very slow going.

You hear all the time how if your dog is afraid you should just ignore them. You don't want to "reinforce their fear with any sort of coddling because it will make them more fearful".

I am here to tell you that is just not true. It is OKAY to comfort your dog when they are afraid and I urge you to do so. You can't reinforce their fear by giving them comfort. Fear is an emotion not a behavior. You can only reinforce behavior. If you would like to read a more in depth article on why this is true, please visit my friend Eileen's blog: It's OK to Comfort Your Dog!

Now when I say comfort your dog, I don't mean clutch the dog to your chest while screeching in a high pitched voice "It's OKAY!!!" over and over. Don't do that. That CAN make them more nervous, if you're afraid they will be afraid, too. Think about the last time you were scared or anxious, what made you feel better? When I'm anxious, a hug from my husband can be really helpful to me. Since dogs are not big fans of hugs, let's stick to scratching them in their favorite spot or something similar.

Try to be as calm as you possibly can. I know sometimes our own emotions can get the better of us, especially when we are having to witness our dogs go through something unpleasant. It's better if you can keep an even, quiet tone, while petting them gently. Or whatever the dog will like that might help them feel better.

So let's talk about what I did with Phoenix when the smoke alarm went off. The first thing I had my husband do was unplug the stupid thing and take the battery out. We knew that when we put a new battery in that it would screech again. So I got ready for that by getting some high value treats out. As soon as he plugged it back in, I started feeding Phoenix as quickly as possible. (This was my attempt at Counter Conditioning, however I would like to note that she was probably over threshold already since the noise had already gone off and she was scared. Counter Conditioning works much better if you are able to keep the dog under threshold and do it before the thing is so scary. Noise phobias are very complicated and hard to treat because they are unpredictable.) I am lucky that as long as the food is very good she will still eat it. Some dogs when they are very scared won't take food at all. If that's your dog, then you just do what you can for them. Getting away from the scary thing is important as well, so if you can move the dog to a different location that would be a good idea. Our apartment is small so unfortunately we don't have that option.

Even after the smoke alarm stopped screeching at us, Phoenix was still very visibly shaken and upset. If I wasn't interacting with her directly, she would run around the house with her tail tucked looking for a safe place to hide. I continued interacting with her, giving her treats asking for very simple known behaviors that would be easy for her to do to distract her. All while quietly praising her and giving her scratches in her favorite spots. Then when she was a little more calm, I broke out one of her favorite toys and encouraged her to play with me, getting her to play with me did take a while. She was still very nervous and didn't really want to but eventually she couldn't resist her favorite toy. When we were done playing, I took both dogs out for their nightly "before bedtime" walk. We actually went further than we usually do and I think the walking also helped her to calm down. Once the walk was done, when she came back inside she was mostly back to normal and we were able to go to bed. This whole process took around two hours but it was so worth it to me! My dog's emotional health is more important than sleep and always will be.

So if your dog is scared, it is okay to comfort them and don't let anyone tell you not to!

I was unable to take any photos during the time I was dealing with Phoenix being afraid. I hope no one minds cute photos instead of fearful ones.

Fallout from the 4th of July.

While families are having barbecues and celebrating by blowing up the neighborhood, we sat in our hot apartment in fear of opening the windows that the booms would be even louder. Zoe huddling in terror in the bathroom and Phoenix either glued to my side of hiding behind the recliner, every 2 seconds the sky sounded like it was falling. Boom after boom until early in the morning. The entire weekend consisted of booms with only a bit of relief during the hottest part of the day. By the end of Monday, I started to feel punished by the fireworks as well. Watching your dogs having a panic attack with no way to comfort them is the worst feeling in the whole world and I started to feel jumpy at the booms, too.

I feel so badly for all of our dogs at this time of year. I wish there was a way to explain to them that it was dumb humans celebrating and that the booms can't hurt them. I can't imagine how our war vets must be feeling with all the booms going off, too. It must be so hard for them! I wish people would be more considerate and keep their celebration to the day instead of extending it for days on end and I worry about all the misplaced pets in shelters. I wonder if they will find their owners again. At least my dogs had the luxury of being tucked safely inside.

Since the celebrations started, Zoe does not want to go outside. When we get outside she mostly refuses to walk. I have to really coax her to go. She gets to grass, goes potty and then attempts to drag me back inside. Phoenix has been pretty much the same way. Neither dog is comfortable going out. Zoe has also been refusing her meals and we have to really beg her to eat or add toppers to her food to get her eating. I am really hoping that people will stop lighting stuff off and that my dogs calm down soon.

Living the Anxious Life!

I'm sorry that I didn't get around to everyone's blogs yesterday! I had a really bad migraine for most of the day and looking at shiny screens doesn't work out very well. I spent most of the day in bed hiding from the light! I'm feeling a little better now but my head is still pounding.

I can cue "sad, puppy eyes" if only I could cue happy. Sigh.

Two nights ago we had a thunderstorm roll in. It was one of those weird freak things. Yes, it rains a bunch in Oregon but we don't usually have thunder. My husband said to me, "the weather app says it's going to thunder!" and then we laughed about how the weather apps are always wrong and went on with our evening.

Noise Phobias in Dogs

Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a great day and Happy Friday!! :D

On New Year's Eve, I wrote a little bit about Zoe's noise phobia and how I was worried about the Fireworks. Today I wanted to update everyone on how everything went and tell you more about her problem and her history.