Our Best Halloween Safety Tips for Dogs and Cats!

Halloween is one of my most favorite "holidays". It's fun and festive and there's chocolate! For our pets, though, Halloween can be stressful and even scary if not downright dangerous. So here's my best tips for a successful night!

1. Halloween Candy is not for pets. All forms of chocolate, especially dark chocolate can be dangerous. This year we even have a new scary substance to worry about: Xylitol, which can be found in sugar free treats. It's so important to keep your candy up and away from your dogs and cats. We like to keep ours in plastic containers that have a tight sealing lid.

2. On Halloween Night, keep all of your pets safely indoors! Halloween is not the night to be leaving pets outside. My parents made that mistake long ago and their cat was hurt very badly by some awful people. Keeping your pets inside is the best way to make sure that they are safe. I would even recommend keeping your indoor/outdoor kitties inside for a few nights before and after Halloween. Black cats are especially at risk for horrible pranks and cruelty that some shelters won't even adopt them out around this time of year so it's important to be cautious with our feline friends.

3. Keep your pets away from the door on the night of Halloween. People coming to the door can be stressful for our dogs during any time of the year and even more so on Halloween where it happens over and over. Some dogs are terrified of children and it's also very common for dogs to be suspicious of people in costumes. Also, Halloween is not the time to work on door dashing, so if you have a dog who is nervous of kids and people or a dog that likes to dart out the door, I would recommend removing them completely to a safe room or crate with a good chewy bone or kong. Or if you've done mat work with your dog, this could be the time to pull it out. If they are comfortable settling on their mat and will stay there then that's okay, too. Remember to give lots of rewards to your dog if they are behaving appropriately and doing what you ask.

Phoenix and Zoe practice settling on their mat.

4. Be careful with lit pumpkins and electrical cords. Pets who get too close to candles can get burnt or even knock it over and cause a fire! We like to use the battery powered candles in our pumpkins and they make some really cool ones these days! You also need to be careful when using decorations that have electrical cords. Some pets like to chew on cords. I have a cat who was a cord chewer. They make cord protectors that you can buy at any home improvement store and we've found them to be extremely helpful in keeping our cat safe.

5. Desensitize your pets to Halloween Costumes before the big night. Make sure you try on your pet's Halloween costume a few times before the big night to make sure you've got the right fit and that it's comfortable and also to desensitize your pet to it. Make sure you give them lots of tasty treats for putting up with being dressed up and make it fun! When Zoe was dressed up as a shark, we played with toys and did her favorite training games! She hardly noticed that she was wearing a costume because we made it so fun for her. We also didn't leave it on for very long, mostly for some cute photos. If your pet does not like being dressed up don't force them to do it.

6. Desensitize pets to YOUR costume. Both dogs and cats can be wary of novel items and if you plan on wearing a scary mask, wig or some sort of funny hat, let your pets smell it and check it out before you put it on. Letting them watch you put it on is also helpful. That way they know the "scary" thing is actually just you and it's not a big deal. Feed them a few treats while you're dressing up and make it a good experience. Don't come out of the bedroom fully dressed in something they've never seen before. It can be very startling and it's not okay to scare your pet intentionally. 

7. Not all dogs were made to go door to door, Trick Or Treating with their people. Even dogs who are great with their family and kids don't like strangers or other people's kids and that's completely fine! Not to mention other households have dogs, too! If your dog has ever shown signs of being nervous of strangers, kids or other animals it's best to leave them at home where they will feel the most comfortable. Like I said above, it's very common for dogs to be nervous of people in costumes so it's important to keep everybody safe. Some dogs are okay to go with their people out into the Halloween night but they need to be practically bomb proof (excellent temperament, good with people, kids and dogs and have good nerves) with a very well trained leave it. Remember that it will be dark and there could be hidden dangers. There could be chocolate on the ground and it will be hard to see. Also keep in mind that your neighbors may not be as dog savvy with their management skills as you, they are probably not expecting trick or treaters with a canine buddy and their dogs may not want strange dogs visiting their house. If you do take your dog with you, remember to bring lots of tasty treats so that you can reward them for good behavior and distract them if they do end up getting scared by something.

8. Last but not least, your pets should be wearing ID. ID tags are important any time of the year but even more so during these holiday events where the door is being opened repeatedly. Chances of escape are much higher and accidents happen. Wearing proper ID with your updated information can be lifesaving and definitely increases the chances that your pet will make it home safely.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! We will be staying home this year! 

What are you doing for Halloween? Are you dressing your pets up? What will they be?

7 Tips On Getting The Perfect Recall At The Dog Park! Positive Training

One of my most frequently asked questions is how I got such an amazing recall with both of my dogs, especially in regards to going to the dog park or any off leash area. So today I'm going to share some of my best tips with you and they are not in any particular order.

1. Stay engaged with your dog! 

If every time you go to the dog park, you sit on the bench and play with your phone your dog will definitely find the environment more rewarding than you. Play games with your dog, walk around and stay interesting!

2. Don't call your dog when they are distracted.

When you're first starting to training your recall, don't overuse it. Don't call your dog unless your are 98% sure they will come. The dog park is a very distracting environment, there are sights and smells and other dogs. When your dog is super distracted they likely won't hear you calling anyways. Wait until your dog isn't distracted and then call them. I've also been known to use my recall word as they are already coming to me so they associate the action with the word. If you need to get your dog and your dog isn't able to listen just go get them. If they are hard to catch I would recommend keeping a leash on and letting them drag it.

3. Go when it's boring.

It's so hard to compete with all the sights, sounds and other dogs. If you really want to work on your recall, go to the dog park when it's super boring during off times when there are not very many dogs or people around. The middle of the day on a weekday or early in the mornings is a good time for this. Let your dog sniff around as much as they want and then when they get bored with that pull out your best treats and practice calling them and then releasing them back to do whatever they want. Do this a bunch of times. You can even try clipping your leash on a couple of times, rewarding them for that and then unclipping it and letting them free again. Make sure they never realize when you're actually going to leave the park. Then once they are really good at recalling when the distractions are lower you can slowly start building up to going at more distracting times but don't call your dog if you aren't sure if they will actually come!

4. Reward your dog any time they choose you.

Yes, I am one of those people who takes treats to the dog park. If you go when it's not busy during off times, taking treats into the dog park is not an issue. Just don't feed other people's dogs and they will eventually learn the snacks are not for them and go away. I always reward my dogs any time they voluntarily give me attention without me asking for it. Any time my dogs choose me, I reward them.

5. Play hide and seek.

Wait for your dog to get a little distracted, then step behind a tree or behind a rock and out of sight. When your dog finds you make sure you give them a big reward and make a huge deal out of it! Be fun and be exciting! This is one of Zoe's favorite games and we still play it! Both of my dogs have so much fun trying to find me and actually "silence" has become one of my strongest recall cues. When I go dead silent that has become their cue to immediately come looking for me and it's more powerful than my actual verbal cue.

6. Don't end the fun when you exit the dog park.

Many dogs won't come when called at the dog park because when you call them the fun ends. They leave the dog park and go home. Don't end the fun when you exit the dog park. Many dog parks are situated in regular parks. Every time we were done inside the dog park, I would always take Zoe for walks around the park. We would go around the lake and she got to hunt for squirrels and we also played a lot of training games. The time we spent walking, playing and training outside the dog park became more reinforcing than being in the dog park and Zoe always looked forward to leaving! It was never a big deal because she knew that the fun wasn't ending when the leash being clipped on and the gate was closing behind us. We were always off on our next adventure, whatever that might be.

7. Practice makes perfect.

Dogs don't generalize very well so it's important to practice in lots of different environments and with lots of different distractions. If your dog isn't very reliable yet, there are no fences or if there are leash laws, I would recommend using long lines. Long lines come in various different lengths from 10ft to 100ft and they are not very expensive. We are lucky that we have a lot of designated off leash areas in Oregon. You can also practice your recall on your regular walks by calling them and running backwards a few steps. Don't forget to be exciting and fun!

Final note and words of caution on dog parks.

Dog parks can be great places to visit and they can be terrible places. I would just like to caution everyone on that. The best dog parks are ones with large open spaces with lots of room. I would definitely avoid the small ones. Remember that anyone with any sort of dog can enter the dog park and you will have no idea how well socialized those dogs are.

I recommend going to a few different parks and checking them out before you enter with your dog. Watch how the dogs are interacting and if something makes you uncomfortable don't take your dog in. I would also not recommend going when it's really crowded because dogs can get overwhelmed/overstimulated easily and it's a lot harder to control the situation. If you are visiting a dog park and someone's dog is making your uncomfortable it's okay to take your dog and leave. Always advocate for and pay attention to your dog and to what is going on around you. Remember that you can't control other people and their dogs but you can control yourself and your dog.

If things are going south at the dog park, just take your dog, leave and have an adventure together on the other side of the fence!

How did you train your recall?

Today we are joining the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop! This month's theme is "Recall" but any positive posts are welcome! Be sure to hop around and check out everyone's posts!

Thanks so much to the hosts!

Are You Walking In A Straight Line? Loose Leash Walking Tip

Phoenix gives the most beautiful attention on walks! She's a dream!

Last week I told you all about how I am trying to work on my dog's leash skills. As I was thinking about a training plan, I started thinking about routines. We humans love our routines and it's really easy to get set in our ways. I am no different, in fact, I got super annoyed when a new neighbor moved in and promptly installed tie outs for her dogs directly on my daily path. Tie outs are not allowed in our complex but people do it anyways. Her dogs are reactive and they are now tied in the area Zoe loves most for pottying. Not cool, neighbor! Not cool! Not to mention Zoe is a pain in the butt about finding potty spots.

Anyways, I realized I was pretty much walking my dogs in a straight line, my route was direct and to the point. Just like Zoe and Phoenix, I had somewhere to get to. Without even realizing it, I was trying to get their walks around our apartment complex over with as quickly as possible. I was definitely set in my routine path and any deviation from this path annoyed me.

One big loose leash walking tip is to change directions or turn around and go the other way when a dog pulls. This is not meant to give the dog a leash correction or anything like that. It's to keep the dog from getting reinforced (getting to where they want to go) by pulling. I've been fighting the "turn around" method for 4 years and I just realized it. Turning around and going the opposite direction is not getting me to where I want to go. I was also unable to use this method back in the beginning because a lot of the walks we went on were with friends and their dogs. (Training is hard when you go on group walks and I don't recommend doing them when your dog is first learning.) Turning around meant the dreaded leash walks will take longer and we could be doing something else! (Like training tricks!) Turning around or changing directions was counter productive to my reinforcement (getting the walk over with and doing something else). Of course I love spending time with my dogs, going fun places with them and training them. I just don't like leash walks because they were so often frustrating.

I'll just walk myself.. No worries!

So now that I've realized that I've made a mistake by ignoring a loose leash walking method, I am trying it out! Every time my dogs pull, I turn around and walk in the other direction, then I mark and reward them for catching up to me. I am making sure to keep my rate of reinforcement high for keeping the leash loose, too. If a dog does happen to make the leash tight,  I do use a "no reward marker" which is the word "whoops" then I say "this way" as a cue to get them to turn around with me. My use of a NRM is not meant to be punishing but what it does is tell the dog that the leash getting tight is not the correct thing I want. They don't generally find their NRM punishing and it was trained more like an interrupter.

Another thing I am doing is trying to switch up our route and also not walk in a straight line. We are not in a hurry to get anywhere. It's about the journey, anyways. I make sure I am completely unpredictable about where I am walking when I'm going to change directions (I do cue it with a "this way" cue so they don't hit the end of the leash by mistake) and I am attempting to make walking with me more interesting and fun. I also reward them with a food treat when they are in the bubble of space I am looking for and keeping that leash loose.


This week I also received a question from a reader and that question was about sniffing. "Is it okay to let your dog sniff on walks?" The answer is that it really just depends. It's up to you to decide what your goals are for walks. You could let your dog sniff and I do allow it but being able to sniff is contingent on them not pulling. A lot of times, I will have them sniff and let them find a spot to potty and then once that's done I ask for a more structured walk. Then if they are able to keep the leash loose for a while I will let them sniff again. Sniffing is on cue so they know when they are released to do it. Our cue is "go sniff!"

I see you have some cookies up there!

So I bet you all are wondering how this training is going? So far, I haven't been able to do much work with Zoe because of her paw but the couple of sessions we've had have gone great! She's picking it up very fast and seems to be enjoying our solo walks, even if they are sort of short (to make sure we don't make her paw/wrist sore again). Last week with all of my solo walks with Phoenix, I used the "turn around" method and she picked it up immediately. Phoenix is already a great loose leash walker when her sister is not present so it was easy for her to figure out. Both of my dogs seem to really love their one-on-one time and I'm really glad we are doing it!

I will keep everyone updated with how things go with Zoe and I have more tips on the way so stay tuned!

It's Not About Being Alpha

Zoe & Phee wait politely at the gate.

It's about good manners and safety.

I ask my dogs to wait and I walk through doorways and gates before them and if I don't walk through the door before them they need to at least be polite and not rush through or drag me out. It's not about being alpha. It's about teaching them impulse control and good manners. It's about safety. Rushing out the door can get a dog killed by a car. Rushing out the door can get someone knocked over and hurt. I also ask them to wait at the gate into the dog park until they are released and that's just reinforcing their good impulse control.

Happy National Train Your Dog Month everyone! I think it's pretty cool that there's a whole month dedicated to training your dog but really, training is for life. If you don't use it you lose it. We are constantly working on things.

One of the most important things to train a dog is impulse control. I talk about it all the time because it's so important. Dogs who don't know how to control themselves end up in the ER or dead.

Phoenix waits at the door.

We have a bunch of rules at our house and it's all to keep the dogs safe. I don't allow them in the kitchen while we are cooking, instead they can lie on the carpet near the kitchen and watch. I don't allow them to gobble up anything I drop, instead I ask them to wait and if it's safe I might release them to "get it". I actually had a client who's dog was hospitalized for a week after she dropped two Aleve pills and he ate them. He was lucky he didn't die. So things that are dropped are off limits unless I say it's okay to have it. I also don't allow them to eat things they find when we are out walking for the same reason.

I wish I knew who drew this so I could give them credit!

Again, it's not about being alpha or showing them who's the boss. The dominance theory has been debunked and we actually work together like a team. It's important that the girls have skills to keep them safe and good manners so they are not annoying to live with.

Whatever the dog does before she gets what she wants will be reinforced by getting what she wants. So if your dog rushes out the door and gets to go where she wants to go, that rushing out the door is reinforced and will be repeated. So if we teach our dog to sit and wait politely before we open the door and then she gets to go out, you are reinforcing her for sitting instead of rushing out. You are teaching the dog that by sitting and being patient she will get to go where she wants to go. The same thing goes for any behavior a dog will do. If the behavior is reinforced (by either you or just the dog getting what he wants) the behavior will be repeated. You are able to decide what is reinforced by training and management.

I do this with food and pretty much everything else. I've taught Kikopup's "No Mugging" and they are not allowed to just snatch or grab whatever they want. I also teach a solid "out" in case someone makes a mistake because let's face it. They are dogs and sometimes they do dumb things. I'm really happy to tell you that I've never had to induce vomiting with my dogs and we've never been to the vet because they ate something they shouldn't have. (Knock on wood!) I also keep my house really well managed and everything is kept out of reach and put away.

I also have rules for playing tug. The dogs are not allowed to take the toy until I say they can, they must not put their mouth on my hand and they must "out" when I ask. It's not about me being in charge or me being alpha. It's about me not getting my hand bitten off while we are playing. It's about being patient and polite. Sometimes they get to win the toy, sometimes I win but the game has to have rules. They understand the rules and they have a lot of fun playing.

Teaching a dog impulse control is not that difficult but it does take some time for them to get it. Pick a behavior you want to reward the dog for and wait for it. As soon as that behavior happens, they get the thing they want. You just have to be patient with the dog. If they are demand barking at you for something, wait them out. They can't bark forever. Barking does not get my dogs anywhere so it rarely happens around here unless I cue them to do it. If they are rushing out the door, put a leash on them and wait for them to sit or calm down. Then slowly, inch by inch open the door. If the dog breaks the sit, close the door. The dog does not get to go out until they can maintain that sit with the door wide open and you can walk out without them breaking the sit. (Sit, Stand, Down.. whatever you want the dog to do. It doesn't have to be sit.)

Being patient and staying consistent is very important. You have to decide what the rules are and make sure you follow through with them. It's all about the follow through. You can't just let the dog rush through the door one day and then the next they are not allowed to do it. It's the same with jumping up or snatching food, etc.

The girls are still dogs, they get to have fun and be dogs but because we have rules and because we do so much training they actually get more freedom than a lot of other dogs! You can achieve anything with your pups if you work hard enough for it!

Happy Training everyone!

Do you have any house rules for your dogs? Are you planning on teaching them anything new during National Train Your Dog Month? Tell me about it in the comments below! :D

Our Top 3 Favorite Things to Train while Exercising! Positive Pet Training

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great day! Today I wanted to share with you our "Top 3 Favorite things to Train" while we are out exercising. If you've followed my blog at all you will know that one of my favorite parks that I take the girls to for exercise is over 1,000 acres and all but one of the trails is off leash. It's great to be able to allow them to run free but with that freedom, there is also great responsibility. I have to make sure that my dogs are able to listen to me from (sometimes) a great distance. We are always training and it is very rare that you will ever see me without my treat bag ready to reward for good behavior.

The most important thing I train would be their Recall. We work on our recall every single time we go out and I call them a bunch of times and then release them back to the environment. They are never sure when the fun will be over, so they're more likely to come back if they get to come back and then are released to go back to doing what they want to do (premack). I also reward them any time they choose to come back to me without me having to call them. 

You don't have to have a 1,000 acre park or be off leash to work on recall. I would actually recommend starting to work on your recall indoors without any distractions and then progress to working with a long line (you can buy them in multiple different lengths) and in a low distracting environment outside. I actually started training them in quiet ball field and empty dog parks before they ever graduated to the big park. 

 
The second thing that I train while we are out is their Wait (or stay). This one is important to me for posing them for photos but the uses are endless. I can have them wait discretely off the trail as other dogs pass or when we run into horses. I can stop them from running up to people, dogs and horses and I can stop them from going into the river if that's not what I am wanting them to do. I also use it so that they don't door dash. Wait is just a great "impulse control" behavior to have on any dog and we work on it all the time.

The third and final thing I work on every single time I attach a leash to my dogs is Loose Leash Walking. Loose Leash walking is one of my biggest pet peeves and my girls are far from perfect at this particular behavior. So we work on it all the time. I'm always prepared to reward them for walking with slack in the leash and I also try to pay close attention so that when the leashes get tight they are not reinforced for pulling. The dogs do not get to go where they want if the leashes are tight. LLW is one of the hardest things, in my opinion, for dogs to figure out, especially dogs who are really into hunting and smelling the scents like mine are. So we work on that any time the dogs are attached to a leash. To keep LLW fun and interesting, I have them do silly little tricks to keep their attention on me. In the photo above, I'm having Phoenix jump up and touch my hand. 

I love working on training stuff while the dogs are exercising because it really does kill 2 birds with one stone. I can get so much done and they are tired both physically and mentally! It's totally win win!

Do you train your dogs while they are exercising? What do you have them do?

Today is the Positive Pet Training blog hop and this month's theme is Training and Exercise but as usual any positive reinforcement training posts are welcome. Be sure to visit the other blogs and see what they are up to this month!

Three Simple Ways to Prevent Reactive Behavior! Positive Dog Training

Hi everyone! Happy National Walk Your Dog Week! Today I want to talk to you about a few simple things you can do to PREVENT reactive behavior while out on walks! These tips are for dog owners who have a dog that ISN'T reactive yet, they are also good for dogs with mild reactivity. These are great tips if your dog is sensitive like mine are or you have a young puppy who's a little nervous about things.

The first tip I have is if your dog is sensitive, avoid scary situations in the first place. Don't put them into situations they are not able to handle. This might mean that you need to skip the dog park and just play games in your yard with friends your dog already knows. If you don't have a yard then find a quieter park or use the school yard during off hours with a long line attached to your dog's harness. Maybe you need to take a different route on your daily walk to avoid a house with the "scary" dogs. If your dog is worried about strangers don't force interactions. Let your dog decide if she wants to interact with someone or not. It's okay to say, "No. You may not pet." Always set the dog up for success!

It only takes one bad experience to create a reactive dog and the next tip I have for you is something I've been using from the beginning with my two dogs. When we got Phoenix she was extremely skittish and very fearful. I had to use a lot of counter conditioning to get her used to her new world. When we went for walks in the park, I would give her treats every time someone passed us, dog or no dog. I would make sure she had enough space to feel comfortable and I would feed her until the oncoming person or dog was gone. Every time she saw something new she got a treat, no matter what she was doing. Every time she decided to be brave and check something out, she got a treat. She was never forced into doing anything she was uncomfortable with and we let her decide if she wanted to check something or someone out or not.

Recently, I've found that I needed to go back to counter conditioning both of my dogs because of our living situation. All the dogs in our apartment complex are reactive. You can't go out the door and down the street without someone barking and freaking out at you. I began noticing that my dogs were starting to get upset on walks when they would see other dogs because being barked at can be very scary.

The Demon Dog represents everything your dog finds scary!

I started taking my treat bag with me on every outing, even if it's just running out for a quick pee. My bag is filled with tasty treats and every time we end up passing a barking dog, I say "YAY!!!" in a very cheerful voice and I begin treating the dogs while also moving them away from the barking dog. If you need help teaching your dog to move away and come with you, please see this kikopup video: How to stop your dog lunging and barking- Train 'Let's Go!'

The last thing I do, is if we see a dog (or other scary thing) in the distance and that dog is not barking or otherwise acting scary, if we have enough space, I also treat them for it and we play the "Look at that Game". I say "that's a dog!" or "that's a person!" and when they look I feed treats. We do that for a few minutes and then I move them away from the dog in the distance. I make sure that I am mentally prepared for training and I keep my voice even and happy. So that they know I am confident and everything is fine.

By giving treats, we are pairing a scary thing with something the dog loves, hoping to create a positive association and change the dog's emotional state. By moving the dogs away from the scary thing, we are helping the dog to feel safe. Doing these two things together, my dogs are starting to feel better about walking around our apartment complex.

Recently as we were out walking, we passed someone with a cattle dog. The cattle dog instantly hackled and began barking his head off at them and lunging aggressively. Before I started my "YAY!" thing that I do, I noticed that Zoe was just watching him with a curious look on her face and her tail even began to wag. She wasn't upset at all! Phoenix was a little worried but they both got their treats and we moved away from the dog. I continued to feed until the other dog stopped barking.

I will be continuing this training until we move away from this complex. I never know what scary thing will be around the corner so it's important that we keep it up.

The training works if you are consistent! Don't forget your treats and don't be stingy with them either! If you're worried about the dog gaining weight you can use some of their daily diet mixed in with the treats and subtract it from their bowl at meal times.

What do you do with your dogs to prevent reactive behavior?

If you have any questions be sure to leave them in the comment section or you can always email me. I also have a lot of training resources in my training page.

Littermate Syndrome and the Importance of Getting Dogs Out Separately

When I was thinking about getting a second dog, someone told me "two are easier than one!" She was wrong, SO wrong. Let me tell you, two are not easier than one, especially if you get two littermates. (My two dogs are NOT littermates.) Sure, having two dogs and watching them cuddle and play is wonderful but it's not all rainbows and butterflies. Let me explain. Two dogs are actually three times the work! Each dog needs separate walks and training sessions but they also need to walked and trained together!

In the past, I didn't do so good with the separate walks and outings. The past few weeks I've been trying to get better about it and I've been walking the girls separately in the afternoon. When we first got Phoenix we took her wherever Zoe went and she learned a lot of things from Zoe. Zoe taught her that not all strangers are evil and not every dog is bad. It's been really good for her but I've also recently learned that she depends on Zoe for her confidence. She's is very unsure of what to do without Zoe around. Zoe does a lot better than Phoenix on her separate walks. We had a few moments of "hey, where's the other one?" but Zoe was mostly fine and actually happy to be out by herself.

We hung out together, played and did tricks!

Littermate syndrome is a real thing. I've seen it in client dogs and we are experiencing a mild form of it when the girls are separated. There are different types of littermate syndrome and your dogs don't actually have to be littermates to have it. It can happen with family dogs just as easily. I generally don't recommend getting two puppies at the same time but sometimes it can work out if the family is dedicated enough. Each dog needs individual time with the owner and the puppies should be separated every single day. Teaching dogs that it's okay to be alone should be a part of everyone's training program.

One type of littermate syndrome that is common between two female puppies (it can happen with male/females and male/males but it's not as common as female/female) is hate for each other. This happens all the time. The dogs were fine when they were little then suddenly they got older and they were no longer fine. People go on dog forums and contact trainers to find out what they should do and usually it is recommended that one of the puppies finds a new home. I'm not a big fan of crate and rotating but that can be an option for some people. I've personally seen serious fights between two female dogs who grew up together and most of the time they required a vet to patch them up. If the dogs have decided that they hate each other and they are fighting, please get a pro trainer or behaviorist to help you.

Don't take my sister away!

Another form of littermate syndrome is hyper-attachment and depending on the severity you might need a pro trainer here as well. If you can't take one dog away from the other without them freaking out, you have a hyper-attachment problem. It's a lot like separation anxiety and I've heard of some cases where one dog was removed and another destroyed an entire door trying to get out to find them. Or barking and screaming endlessly. This is not healthy. At some point in your dogs lives, they might need to be separated. One of them might get sick and have to stay at the vet hospital. You might have to take them to the groomer and they need to be crated separately for their safety. At some point they may need to be apart and preventing an anxiety attack is important.

When you have multiple dogs, you should be doing separate walks, separate training sessions and they should each have one on one time with you. When we got Phoenix she was so skittish of us that we relied on Zoe to help us out with her. We needed Zoe to show Phoenix that she could trust us. I did separate training sessions with each dog but I didn't do a whole lot of separate outings. It was a mistake and I'm lucky they are not hyper-attached to each other. They both experience some mild anxiety when the other dog leaves. I think the anxiety on Zoe's part is more that she wants to go and she can't. Zoe is actually fine if I leave her with a stuffed kong and she is able to eat. Phoenix is very attached to both Zoe and myself and is definitely upset that I'm taking Zoe away. She will not take a stuffed kong and she doesn't want any other special treats either. She is better if I stay home with her and it's my husband who is leaving with Zoe.

I love separate walks with mom!

So what do you do with a dog who freaks out when the other dog leaves? I'm treating it just like separation anxiety and we are doing a separation anxiety protocol. The link I provided goes into great detail on how to work with the dog and it's an amazing article. There's also a great video by Kikopup on training your dog to love being alone and you can find it here: How To Train Your Dog to be Left Alone

With doing the training, it can sometimes take me a little while to get out the door with Zoe but I'm noticing that Phoenix is less worried about it. She's not thrilled that we are leaving without her but she does okay. When we started this training I began with very short outings with Zoe. We would go out and come right back in and then I gradually increased the time we were gone. I'm hoping that by continuing to do this, Phoenix will be confident going out into the world without Zoe and also be okay with staying home when I take Zoe. I'm wanting to do dog sports eventually with them and they would likely be attending separate classes so this is a really good start.

If you have multiple dogs, I would highly recommend doing the separation training. It's good for them and they need one on one time with you. I've been loving spending time with each of my dogs on our own and we've been having fun. I always feel a little guilty right as I'm leaving but it passes pretty quickly.

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to email me. I also have additional resources on my training page.

Why Managing & Training Your Reactive Dog is So Important!

Phoenix wearing her Gentle Leader Head Collar

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Today I wanted to talk to you about dog reactivity. I was just reminded of an incident that recently happened at my apartment complex that I'm going to share with you. We were not involved in the initial incident but the fallout from the incident happened to us.

I'm going to start this off with a question for everyone to ponder. Do you want to be the owner of a dog who traumatizes another dog for life?

Okay, okay.. I know.. I went dark, right? But it's an important thing to think about. No matter what size of dog you have, management is huge. Every single dog who has teeth in his or her mouth could potentially do damage to another dog or human. Every dog. It's an even more important thing to think about if your dog is reactive. People say, "Oh my dog is all bark. If he got off his leash he wouldn't know what to do.. He would never actually bite anyone." Those people are WRONG. So wrong. I've personally had this happen to me with Zoe and a small dog. The small dog reacted at her for months, one day the owner got complacent and just opened their door and the dog came charging out and attacked Zoe. I had to pick Zoe up and the dog was still jumping and biting at us. It was awful.

If your dog could potentially get away from you while they are reacting and harm another dog, you need to re-evaluate what you're doing. If your dog is going to turn around and come up the leash on you and bite you because they are reacting and frustrated that they can't get the "thing", you have another problem to deal with. What if your dog goes up the leash, bites you and you drop the leash? Now your dog is loose, you're potentially hurt and the thing they were reacting at is now at risk for being harmed, too. This is where the management comes into play. I know muzzles are wildly unpopular but when they are conditioned properly, most dogs are fine. If your dog redirects on you, I would highly recommend seeking professional help for them. (For links to professional organizations scroll down)

Keeping our reactive dogs under control is so important. You may need to teach them to wear a basket muzzle (Muzzle Training Tutorial) or you need to teach them to wear a head collar. Maybe you have a double leash attached to multiple points on the dog but if you're taking your reactive dog off your property or you live in an apartment complex, you need to make sure that you have that dog under control. You can't fail your dog because it could literally mean life or death.

Zoe showing off her multi leash attachments!

In addition to the management, I would also highly recommend working with a qualified Positive Reinforcement trainer. Training is just as important as management. There are things you can do to make your dog feel better about other dogs and the environment in general. There are also some super fun impulse control games you can play with your dog to help them, too. You can find trainers in your area by going here: PPG or here: CCPDT

If you're just starting your "reactive journey" I would recommend that you do as much research as possible on the subject of reactive dogs. A great website to start at would be: http://careforreactivedogs.com There are also several support groups on facebook you can join.

There's an amazing training book called "Fired Up, Frantic and Freaked Out by Laura VanArendonk Baugh that I would recommend checking out. I really liked the book and the training plan is very easy to understand.

I would also recommend watching Kris Willson's series on her dog Luna's emotional recovery from being attacked: Behavior Modification Training with Luna Session 1 There's some great body language from Luna in these videos and Kris explains them in great detail. Dogs can be really subtle and she does a fantastic job explaining everything the dog is doing.

These are training tutorials by Emily Larlham: How to stop your dog lunging and barking- Train 'Let's Go!'- shy reactive dogs & Giving into leash pressure- for shy reactive dogs In the videos, Emily shows you how to train your dog to move with you and to turn away from scary things. The second video shows you how to teach your dog to recognize and give in to leash pressure. They are both excellent. 

You can also rent dvd seminars of trainers doing presentations on reactivity by joining Tawzer Dog. 

Depending on the severity of the reactivity, you might need to go to a Vet Behaviorist. You may need to get your dog a prescription for anti-anxiety medication. That's up to you and your vet to decide but please don't discount medication and think of it as a last resort. Medication has been shown to be extremely beneficial in helping dogs to feel better about the world. You can also request that your own vet consult with a behaviorist over the phone. If you need help finding a Behavioral Consultant please go here: http://iaabc.org/

Your dog might just need a smaller world. Which means instead of walking during high traffic times with other dog owners around, you play fetch in your yard or play other indoor games, like trick training. You might need to save the walking for early in the morning or later at night when there are less people around. Maybe you need to turn down that super fun invite to meet up with other dog owners for a romp on the beach. You have to do whatever is right for your dog and if that means staying at home then that's okay.

It is always okay to advocate for your dog, even if it means disappointing someone.

We stayed home today.

Now on to the incident at my apartment complex. About a month ago, my neighbor's young dog was attacked by another neighbor's German Shepherd. The GSD reacts to everyone's dogs by barking and lunging and he looks pretty scary. I try to avoid him as much as possible by peeking around every corner before committing to walking around them.  The other day I saw him and ended up having to walk about a quarter of a mile in the other direction to get back to my apartment without us crossing paths. This dog weighs more than his owners and they can't control him at all. They also use aversive punishment which is making his reactivity worse. As soon as they begin correcting him, he turns around on them. It's really sad.

On the day of the incident, my other neighbor was walking his young dog and the GSD happened to be out and he began reacting. The GSD ended up getting away from his owners and he attacked the dog. He completely flattened her on the ground and was biting her. It was awful. We were inside and we could hear the screaming.

After that attack my other neighbor's young dog is now reactive when she sees dogs and on Tuesday evening, she started barking and lunging at me and my dogs as we were passing her. The dog was barely under her owner's control. She almost got away from him. Luckily, I was far enough away from her that we were able to get away and she didn't get us but she is at least twice the size of my dogs and could potentially do damage, not to mention my dogs would defend themselves. This could of been a really ugly situation but I'm glad we came out of it okay. What makes me really sad is that neither of these two dogs are getting the help they need. Their owners are ignoring the problem or worse using punishment.

So if you have a reactive dog, please, make sure your dog is under control. Get help from a professional if you need it! Don't wait around and hope the reactivity gets better on it's own. It won't! There is no shame in using a basket muzzle. There is no shame in using a head collar for better control. If you're not comfortable with a head collar, then at least a double clipping harness that clips to the front. Maybe your dog just needs that smaller world and that's okay too! Not every dog is capable of being out in the environment or in crowded places. If your dog is happier at home then that's fine!

I know I am mostly talking about big dogs here but trust me when I say that all of these same things apply to people with little dogs. Little dogs with reactivity are not cute, either! Yes, they could potentially do less physical damage than their larger cousins but they can still emotionally damage another dog. Remember the little dog that went after Zoe in the beginning of my post? That dog was only 10lbs and Zoe was always scared to walk past their place after the dog attacked her. Also, little dogs can get hurt very easily (bigger dog goes to defend itself or won't put up with being bullied by a small one) so it's really important to keep them from going after other dogs.

I'm just going to throw this in right here: NO Flexi leashes!!! 

If your dog is reactive the last thing they need is to be on a flexi leash! Those things break all the time, not to mention the damage the cords can do. They are dangerous with even the most friendliest of dogs. The only time I would ever say a flexi leash is okay is if you are in a wide open space, you're alone, you have 100% visibility and your dog is very well trained.

Long Lines attached to the harnesses at the beach.
 Long Lines can be a great alternative to using a flexi lead.

Now lets talk about Phoenix. I usually call Phoenix my "highly functional" reactive dog. She is able to go out in public and she is generally not leash reactive (she's triggered by dogs being excited or playing roughly, she will want to chase and nip at their butts). Unless a large dog happens to get into her face and scares her, then she might think she needs to defend herself. 95% of the time she will avoid interactions with other dogs if she is given the choice. Even with that being the case, I've conditioned her to wearing a muzzle (both kinds, soft and basket) and I've also conditioned her to wearing a gentle leader head collar. We don't need these tools very often but it's good to have them available and she's already used to wearing something on her face if she needs it (ie: vet visit).

I'm hyper vigilant when she is out in public. That means that I am never on my cell phone, I never use headphones with music. I don't allow other dog owners to distract me and I give my dogs my full attention. Complacency is a killer. You cannot afford to be complacent when you have a reactive dog. I am always on the look out for trouble and planning our escape if we need to. Even with all of this, we've had our share of mess ups. Off leash dogs have run up on us, owners have let their dogs drag them into my dog's faces, excited dogs have accidentally run into us. Phoenix has occasionally threatened to snap at those dogs. Luckily everything turned out okay but I would never want my dog to traumatize another dog so I am constantly working with her.

I really feel that it's important to protect other people's dogs from our reactive dogs, if at all possible. No one is perfect and sometimes stuff happens but being proactive is so important. We can't be normal dog owners, as sad as that is. We have to better than everyone else.

What do you do to manage your reactive dog? Comment below!

I have additional training resources on my training page so be sure to check that out! 

Indoor Exercise and Impulse Control for Dogs

Have you ever been sick or hurt yourself? Maybe it's too hot or too cold for going out. What if you have a breed that can't tolerate the climate you live in? Maybe you're disabled and you can't always walk your dog. Your dog might be reactive and you just can't handle another day of barking and lunging.

I think we've all been there at some point in our lives where getting outside just isn't going to happen. I've had days where I was sick, days where it was way too hot and days where it was pouring rain. My dogs absolutely hate going out in the rain and they don't like being cold. Dogs still need exercise and mental stimulation and that's where coming up with indoor games is critical.

Recently I signed up for Susan Garrett's "freecaller" program. You got a portion of her "recaller" class for free. Sadly, her program is way too expensive for us and we couldn't continue with it but at the end of the free portion she did a live webinar. During the webinar Susan did a demonstration of her puppy playing an impulse control game that she dubbed the WOW! game. We've played a lot of impulse control games before and I really liked the way she did that game so about two weeks ago we started playing it, too.

Here's a video of my dogs playing the game. 

Note: In the video, you can see that Zoe does not like having her collar grabbed and she does not like being restrained. She is more weirded out about the restraint and doesn't like it when I use it to "drive her forward". I'm definitely planning on working on this!

After doing this game for about twenty minutes they were both ready for naps. They were exhausted and since the game is mentally and physically challenging it's win-win! They love playing this game and it's a great alternative for going outside. It also makes feeding time a lot more interesting than just pouring a bunch of kibble into a bowl and setting it down. Since they also have to "search" for the kibble it gives them a job to do and dogs love jobs.

Teaching Impulse Control is such an important aspect of dog training. They have to learn how to control themselves and that not everything dropped on the ground is for them. It's also helpful in so many other ways and makes living with dogs much easier. I plan on doing another post about this important topic so stay tuned.

Now for some directions. If your dog is new to playing impulse control games I would recommend taking a look at the It's Yer Choice tutorial. Kikopup also has a great one about teaching them not to mug your hand. I would recommend working on those two things first before proceeding on to the more advanced version of what I did in my video. You can still toss kibble and have them chase it for the exercise, though! I also do a version of It's Yer Choice (with the treats in my hand first and then near me on the ground) before I start the WOW! game to warm them up for it. 

Do you play indoor games with your dogs? What's your favorite?

Happy Fit Dog Friday everyone!

Positive Does NOT mean Permissive

Recently a famous "self help" author posted this question on his facebook page:

"Any dog trainers out there? I'm all for positive-reinforcement dog training, but most experts seem to dodge a major question: What can you do when pups do something "bad" (e.g. chewing furniture, jumping up on chairs, etc.), besides ignoring it? Re-directing is one way to get them to temporarily stop, but it wouldn't seem to teach them that something isn't allowed. Anyone with experience out there? Thanks!"

The amount of pro aversive comments really disturbed me. The abusive things that people are doing to their dogs will probably haunt me until the end of my days. One woman wrote in that she puts pennies in a can and throws it at her dog when he does something wrong. So sad. Some others heavily promoted Cesar Milan, saying that they learned so much about dog behavior from watching his show. My reply to that is how can you learn dog behavior from someone who has no idea what he's doing? He doesn't even know dog behavior. Sigh...

Anyways, my comments were removed by the author (which was really weird because they were respectful) but one of the things I was wondering was which trainers he's talking to because none of the PR trainers I know would ever avoid that question.

Just because I train my dogs with positive reinforcement does not mean I am permissive. I do not ignore "bad" behavior. Everything is addressed immediately. If you've read my post "Clever Alternatives to using Aversive Punishment" you'll probably already know what I'm about to say so I apologize for repeating myself.

 Set the dog up for success. Don't set them up to fail.

MANAGEMENT. 

We are the humans with the big brain. Prevent the dog from being able to do the "bad" thing. If dogs are allowed to repeat things they will get better and better at the thing. It's better to use management to prevent the "bad" behavior from ever happening in the first place. Some examples of management would be: Crate train them so they learn to love their crate and don't allow them to roam loose when you're not home. Put your stuff away so they can't chew it and give them "legal" items to chew. Get a trash can with a secure lid so they can't get in there. Use a baby gate to prevent them from having access to certain areas of the home. Put a leash on the dog so they are unable to dash out the door. Take them for frequent potty breaks while they are learning so they don't have the opportunity to make a mistake. Put them on a food schedule so you will know about when they will have to go potty.

REDIRECTION. 

Train a positive interrupter and interrupt them when they are doing something they shouldn't be and then redirect them onto a behavior that's more appropriate. If you are consistent with management and redirection the training will stick! If they are really determined to do the "bad" thing then there's something else going on. For example, the dog might not have gotten his morning walk/run or fetch session and he's bored.

TRAIN AN ALTERNATE BEHAVIOR. 

If you don't want them on the couch, teach them that going to their bed is the best place on earth to be. If you don't want them jumping up teach them to sit.

TRAIN THE DOG. 

Train the dog to do what you want them to do. They have no idea what you want if you don't teach them. You have to be proactive about it. They don't come pre-programmed knowing stuff. Focus on what the dog should be doing instead of what the dog should not be doing.

NOTE: Dogs don't generalize as well as we do. What you taught in the kitchen they may not know in the living room or outside (where distractions are a huge thing) It's important to train new behaviors in different locations so they understand that the word "sit" means "sit" wherever they are. If the dog is not doing a behavior that they "know" don't assume that they are being stubborn. Go back to the basics and try again as if you never taught it. In highly distracting environments keep your expectations low and your rate of reinforcement high. Don't ever be stingy with rewards.

EXERCISE AND MENTAL STIMULATION. 

If 95% of the dogs with "behavioral problems" got exercised properly, their brain and their body, they wouldn't have behavioral problems. A twenty minute leash walk around the block is not enough exercise for most dogs. Dogs also need their brains exercised so teaching them tricks or giving them puzzle toys will help immensely. Don't feed the dog in a food bowl. Give them their meal twice a day in a puzzle toy that takes them some time to figure out. After 20 minutes with a puzzle toy they will be way more tired than that 20 minute walk around the block. Or better yet, use those meals for training. A lot of my dog's meals are fed as training sessions.

CONSISTENCY. 

You have to be consistent when training your dog. Decide what the rules will be and stick with them. Dogs are easily confused and behavior that is reinforced will likely be repeated. So one day it's okay for them to jump up and give kisses then another day when their paws are muddy it's not, the dog will be very confused and they won't understand why you're upset.

IMPULSE CONTROL. 

This one is huge. It's so huge I'm making a separate paragraph for it. If you teach your dog impulse control they will learn that the whole world is not their oyster. That's an important thing for a dog. I still spend a lot of time working on this. There are a lot of fun games you can play with your dog just check out youtube for ideas. It's so easy and the lightbulb comes on immediately. Teaching impulse control goes a long way and is probably more important than anything else. I'm planning on doing a whole post about this important topic soon.

TIMEOUT. 

Sometimes a timeout can be good for both the dog and the human. As long as it's done in a positive manner and not an intimidating one. I usually give this advice in particular to people who have puppies who are biting excessively.

I've been doing this sort of training from early on with my dogs and they are perfect house dogs. They've never had the opportunity to get into trouble in the home and they are allowed access to most of our place when we are gone. Neither of my dogs have chewed anything of mine because I keep my stuff put away. If it's valuable it's not going to be left out. They've never gotten into the trash, either. It's just never occurred to them to do so because they've never had access to it. We don't have any behavioral problems at home because they are addressed immediately and I've been proactive about management and training. My dogs have never door dashed, either because door manners was one of the first things I worked on, especially with Phoenix. The dogs are allowed on the furniture but they will get down as soon as you ask. They sleep in their own beds at night. 

We have rules and they follow them. 

I've always felt that dog training wasn't that hard. A little bit of skill and you can go a long ways, especially if you are consistent. Most people don't need their dogs to know the advanced tricks and that's okay. The dogs just have to know what the rules are and they need your time and attention. You don't have to throw a can of pennies at your dog, you don't need to hit them. Any sort of aversive punishment will have fall out and it's not necessary to get results. A lot of people have recall problems because sometimes they do terrible things to their dogs. The dogs don't want to be around their person or come back because their person is not fun. I want to have the best relationship possible with my dogs. I never want them to be scared of me. I'm sure you do, too. So don't use aversive punishment. Dogs only do "dog stuff" they don't know that it's right or wrong. They are being reinforced for it so they will keep doing it unless they are taught to do something else. Any failure on our dogs part is OUR fault, not there's.

If you need training help, please email me! I would be happy to offer some advice or support. I can also point you in the direction of finding a qualified PR trainer or behaviorist to help you more. If I don't know the answer to your question it's very likely that I know someone who does.

Dog Training Requires Patients!

Everyone loves a KISS!

Hi everyone! Today we are joining the Positive Pet Training Blog Hop! This month's them is "training mistakes" but any positive training posts are welcome. Thanks so much to the hosts and be sure to click around on the linky list to see the other ones!

Ah... training mistakes. There's so many places I could go with this but I'm going to take you on my own personal battle with myself. Fighting the "Frustration Demon."

Training Multiple Dogs - Positive Reinforcement Pet Training

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a great day! We actually got that rain storm I was telling you all about! Since it's pouring outside I decided that I'm going to share some tips for teaching multiple dogs to settle and to take turns being trained. That way you can train two dogs at once without being interrupted! This is great for teaching dogs to control their impulses.

Training multiple dogs at the same time can be challenging but it doesn't have to be if you set them up for success and prevent unwanted behavior by proofing. When we got Phoenix I knew that we were going to have a lot of stuff to work on but there was also Zoe to consider as well. Zoe loves her training sessions and I would still need to work with her, too.

Hide and Seek Recalls - Dog Training

Hide and Seek Recalls is a game that I have played with my dogs a lot. I started way back when I first got Zoe. We'd go to completely fenced dog parks and I'd hide and let her find me. Sometimes I would call her and sometimes not. She would need to use her sight, hearing and nose to find me and it was a great way to work her brain.When we got Phoenix we didn't play as much because getting Phoenix to take her eyes off of me for even a second didn't happen very often. I used to call her "Overly Attached Girlfriend" (Have you seen those memes? They are hilarious).

Clever Alternatives to Using Aversive Punishment in Dog Training

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well! Today I decided to write about some alternatives to using aversive punishment in dog training. If you've read any of my previous posts you will know that I am a huge advocate for using Positive Reinforcement and Force Free Methods.

I would like to introduce you to the Progressive Reinforcement Manifesto by Emily Larlham. I do my best to try and follow it and I did get permission from Emily to share it with you.
 
Here are the key points to the Manifesto:

• Training by rewarding desirable behaviors so they will be more likely to occur in the future, while preventing reinforcement of behaviors that are undesirable.

• Interrupting and preventing undesirable behaviors without physical or psychological intimidation, as well as rewarding an alternate response (training a behavior you find desirable in it’s place).

•  Taking an animal’s emotional state and stress levels into account.

• Socializing and teaching an animal to cope with his environment using reinforcement.

• Using a marker to train, whether it be a clicker, some other noise-maker, your voice or touch, or a visual marker.  Or, on the other hand, not using a marker, and instead for example reinforcing an animal by feeding a treat directly to his mouth.

• Employing humane, effective, respectful training based on the latest scientific evidence.

Progressive Reinforcement Does Not Mean:

• The intentional use of physical or psychological intimidation.

• Intentionally disregarding an animal’s stress levels or signals.

• Holding selfish or uncompassionate goals for your training.

What is an aversive? 

An aversive is basically anything your dog finds punishing. It can vary from dog to dog but some examples could be: poking, hitting, kicking, jerking the leash, shaking a can filled with pennies or rocks, shocking them, squirting them with water (or other harsh things like vinegar or lemon juice) or even raising your voice (for my dogs, me raising my voice is very aversive). The list could go on, unfortunately. 

In Emily's Manifesto she talks about why we should refrain from using aversives and I highly recommend reading it.

If there's a way to get a behavior out of your dog or even get a behavior to stop without using intimidation or force why would you still choose to use it? It's something that really bothers me and boggles my mind. I think it's a really excellent way of ruining your relationship with your dog. It also creates fear and in most cases additional behavioral problems. There is always fallout when you use aversives, it may not appear right away but it will likely show up at some point.

In example, I used to groom a sheltie named Zeke. He was a really nice dog until you turned the water on him. As soon as the water turned on he turned into cujo. Lashing out, screaming and biting, he even bit one of my co-workers through a muzzle and drew blood. It was a very serious situation. After speaking to his owner, I found out that they had been using the squirt bottle and water hose to discipline him. He was TERRIFIED of the water and grooming him was HIS nightmare. I wish there was a happy ending here but there isn't. He was later euthanized for biting a younger family member when they tried to correct him.

Another example of fallout is dogs that are walked with painful training tools. If they get jerked every time they see another dog what happens is DOG = Pain. So the dog will start having reactivity and lash out in attempt to make the other dog go away so the pain doesn't happen. It's probably an oversimplification and I could go on longer about this but I won't in this post.

YouTube: What not to do to your best friend and why - Emily Larlham

Photo is borrowed  and belongs to: Big Cat Rescue

If we can train tigers, lions, bears and other zoo animals to do voluntary blood draws and other behaviors without the use of force and aversives, why can't we do the same with our dogs? If you tried to force a tiger into doing something he didn't want to do you'd probably be dead. We are lucky our dogs are more cooperative and forgiving.

 

What is Dominance Theory?

 

1. That wolf pack hierarchy and social order is comprised of an 'Alpha' pair of wolves who maintain the pack hierarchy through physical dominance and even outright aggression to keep the rest of the pack subservient.
2. That, because dogs are descended from wolves, they will have the same 'Alpha' pack hierarchy and social order as wolves, and share the same behavioural traits.

Based on the combination of these two beliefs, Dominance Theory suggests that, in order to have a successful human-canine relationship, the human must assert his/her dominance or 'alpha' status over the family dog in order to keep the dog subservient and 'in line' within the human's family structure.

In example, Cesar Millan believes in dominance theory. He believes that he must be the pack leader and that any time a dog does something it's not supposed to that the dog is being "dominant". In many of the episodes he describes dogs as"excited-dominant" or "calm submissive", etc. Basically he explains away any behavioral problem by calling the dog dominant. He then uses aversive punishment to control the dogs, like poking them, kicking them, rolling them on their backs, etc.

To read more about Dominance Theory, click on the link above. I also have some great resources about why dominance theory is false on my training page, so be sure to check that out!

I wanted to make sure that I had clear definitions of what an aversive is and what dominance theory is because there was some confusion on this from another blogger recently. Dominance is not synonymous with Aversive.

So how do we go about getting rid of aversives in our lives and training with our dogs?  

One of the best ways is to use management. When I encounter some sort of behavioral problem in my dogs or someone else's the first thing I think about is how can I prevent this behavior from happening or being reinforced? Is there something I can do so the dog won't be able to practice that? The more they practice something the better they get at it. I've found that since I've used so much management with my dogs from the beginning and have set them up for success, they don't even think about doing some of the things that other people's dogs do. I'm proud to say we have never had an incident of counter surfing and neither of my dogs have ever gotten into the trash. 

I never ignore behavioral problems! That is one huge misconception in the positive reinforcement world!! That PR trainers ignore bad behavior and then wait to reward the good behavior. There are some situations where you can ignore behavior, like if the dog is not going to harm himself or others and it's just something annoying but most of the time ignoring doesn't give the dog any feedback or tell them what they should be doing. Management, training alternate behaviors and redirection are the best ways to go about working with problem behaviors.   

 

Examples of Management:

One of the "naughty" things my dogs do is get into the kitty litter box. So the easiest way to deal with that is to put the litter boxes where the dogs don't have access. When we are not home our dogs are in a "dog safe room" without access to the litter boxes. When we are home we supervise and make sure they don't get into them. I could also use a baby gate, as well. If a dog goes towards the area where our boxes are we re-direct them by calling them away and asking them to do something else.

Phoenix and Zoe hanging out in the "dog proof" room (aka: our bedroom) 

Keeping them in a dog safe room when we are unable to supervise is another great way of keeping them from getting into anything while we are gone, too! You could also use crates, as well and sometimes we do!

Keeping your valuables put away is another form of management! We keep our house picked up and our expensive items out of reach. We also provide appropriate toys and chewies for them.

If you don't want your dog to counter surf, don't leave food out or give them access to the kitchen. When we are cooking the dogs are not allowed in the kitchen. They either lay on their beds or wait at the threshold. I've found that training a default leave it to be extremely helpful in this situation, too. I can set a plate of food next to my dogs, get up and walk away and it will still be there when I get back, untouched. I have a friend (who shall remain nameless) who complained about her dog counter surfing all the time, then later I saw a video on facebook where they were feeding her treats off of it! Not only was the dog self reinforcing by counter surfing, they were also reinforcing it! They thought it was funny. I will admit that I was mildly horrified when I saw the clip. Consistency is so important in dog training. You can't be mad at the dog for counter surfing sometimes and then feed the dog off the counter at other times.

Decide what your rules are going to be and stick with them!

This video was taken at the inlaw's house. They did know they were being watched even though I was in the bathroom with my phone poking out but it doesn't matter. I could leave the room and leave the camera running. They won't touch food that we don't give to them or ask them to leave alone. In the video you can see some stress signals happening from Phoenix. Zoe has some mild resource guarding so Phoenix was worried about it. Notice, I did not use a stern voice or anything. Just a normal toned "leave it" was all that was needed. There is no intimidation here.

To learn more about how to teach "Leave It" check out the many videos that Emily Larlham has on her YouTube channel. I would suggest starting with this one: How To Teach Leave It Without Intimidation. Even though that particular video is old, it's still very good!

Speaking of resource guarding, if you have a dog that does resource guard from other dogs or humans there's a lot of management and training to be done. I would recommend checking out the book "Mine" by Jean Donaldson. That book is excellent! My dog only resource guards with the other animals in the house and it is mild to moderate depending on the item. Luckily the other dog and cats respect her space for the most part. Generally, she will only guard high value food items so those are fed in the crate. You can also see a bit of mild guarding in the video above but it was only a look and a tongue flick. The other dog listened immediately and actually jumped off the bed to avoid conflict.

Training an alternate behavior is another great way to get rid of behaviors you don't want.

In example, the dog jumps on guests at the door teach them to sit or down. Or you could have them run to their beds. When we have someone at the door, I've taught them to back up to the carpet and sit. It's a great way to keep them from jumping on guests and door dashing! Two potential behavioral problems killed with one stone. You could also put them on a leash before you open the door as well for better control.

If your dog is fearful of strangers, you might just want to put them in a dog safe room or crate when guests are over. That way the dog is not stressed out and you don't have to worry about your guest getting bitten. We may not be able to control our guests but we can control our dogs and ourselves. Sometimes having them put away and safe is the best option for everyone. In this case I would also recommend getting a PR/FF Pro Trainer to help you work with your dog's issues. The removal should not be a punishment! I would give my dog a stuffed kong in her crate when we had a (dog) guest over that she didn't like. She was perfectly happy and it was never aversive.

Another really important thing to think about is will this behavior be "cute" later? Don't reinforce things you don't want!! Your little puppy jumping on you might be cute now but when he's big it won't be! Teach the puppy to keep four on the floor! Only reward when all four feet are touching the ground.

I have a very brilliant trainer friend who got rid of her dog's problem jumping by teaching him the cue for down was patting her legs or belly! She was having a problem where family, friends and strangers were encouraging her dog to jump on them by patting themselves and asking him up. So she taught him when people do that they want him to lay down and problem solved!! The dog doesn't jump up on people anymore and it was very perplexing to the people!! I'm sure it was also highly entertaining! How clever is that?

Phoenix is the one in the bed on the leash.

When I first got Phoenix she was obsessed with my cats. She would constantly be hunting for cats and trying to chase them. I used a combination of management and training to help with this. For the management portion I kept her either crated, tethered or in a safe room (sometimes putting the cats away in a safe room, too) to prevent the chasing behavior. For the training part I did set ups. I fed her treats when a cat would appear, then later fed her and the cats treats together. Then she learned her "leave it" and we also did impulse control training so she learned to control herself around cats. Now she sleeps with them, cleans their ears and they even play. She is completely cat safe. Sure, I could of punished her for chasing my cats but why would I want her to think cats = bad? If a cat equals something horrible or scary happening, how would that encourage her to have a good relationship with them? Not to mention her relationship with me!! Instead Phoenix learned that cats = best things ever!

 

Redirection

I use redirection a lot. I use a "positive" or "cheerful" interrupter, get my dog's attention and then ask them to do something else. I have a couple of different cues that I use. One is a kissy noise and I also use Uh Oh! 

YouTube - How to Get Your Dog to Stop Unwanted Behavior - Emily Larlham

Any time your dog is doing something that you don't want them to do you can use the interrupter and then redirect them to something else. I used this with Phoenix and her cat hunting as well. When she would zero in on them I would just make my kissy noise to get her to break eye contact and then we went on with what we were doing.

Another example of redirection would be if one of my dogs was barking at the sliding glass door. I can use my positive interrupter, get their attention and then have them do something else. A lot of the time I will tell them "Great job!" for alerting me to something outside and then I have them go do something else. That could be a quick game of fetch or tug or I will have them go to their beds and chill. If you have a dog that is constantly looking outside and barking, you could use management, too by putting a sticky privacy film on the glass so they can't see out, they even have really pretty decorative ones! Or you could prevent them from having access to that room/area.

I also use it when play gets out of hand. Both of my dogs can get a little rowdy at times and play too roughly. When that happens I redirect them. First I interrupt the behavior and then I will give them each their own toy or get them doing something else. Sometimes I have them lay down and take a break. Once they are calm, I will allow them to continue playing.

 

Waiting them out.

I mentioned before that I hardly ever ignore unwanted behavior but there are times when it can be really useful. Dogs are smart and they can figure things out on their own pretty quickly if you set them up for success. I have a friend who was working with her dog's demand barking. Her dog really wanted the BALL and was barking her head off. My friend waited for a brief second of quiet and threw the ball. She continued to wait her dog her out every time she brought the ball back. Whenever she was quiet, my friend would throw the ball. Very quickly the light bulb went on and the dog figured out that quiet = ball thrown. No aversives necessary and it didn't take very long, either! By the time she was done her dog was sitting and waiting without being cued to do that either!

The above also worked for another trainer friend of mine who rescued a pug and the dog would not stop barking in his crate. He wanted OUT and RIGHT NOW!!! He hardly stopped to even take a breath and it was driving her crazy. She sat next to the crate and waited. The dog paused long enough to take a deep breath, CLICK and TREAT. He paused long enough to eat the treat, another click and treat then he looked at his owner with a cocked pug head and she said you could see him thinking about what just happened. He did start barking again but the next pause was much faster and another click and treat. Eventually she was able to teach him to be quiet in his crate and it happened very quickly. 

 

Exercise and Mental Stimulation

Sometimes dogs do exhibit problem behaviors because they are under exercised and bored. I'm not one of those people who think "A Tired Dog is A Good Dog". I believe that exercise and training go hand in hand. Dogs need exercise and mental stimulation! Exercise is very important but it's not the only thing you should do.

About 7 or 8 years ago, one of my friends who was not dog saavy adopted a border collie pit bull mix.. Oh man... worst breed combo ever and he was her very first dog, too. She was a cat person. Back then Cesar Millan was just coming onto the scene and was very popular and he was always advocating for exercise, exercise, exercise! Basically run your dog into the ground so the dog will be good!! My friend did that. She would jog with her dog for miles on end. Guess what happend!?! Go on guess! The dog ended up just building up muscle and extra stamina and needed to run even further. She didn't do much training with him, just run, run, run. My friend was exhausted. No matter how far she ran, he was never tired or calm. Eventually she found an excellent PR trainer and believe me back then they were much harder to find and that trainer explained what was happening to her. She was giving him lots of exercise but she wasn't working his brain. In fact, a lot of the time he was getting overstimulated. He needed to learn how to control his impulses and he needed a job where he could use his brain, too! Once that got worked out things went much better! 

There's a huge amount of resources on Training Impulse Control on the dog forum I belong to. I would recommend checking it out. In my opinion, impulse control training is one of the most important things you can teach your dog and it's one of the first things I work on and continue to work on throughout their lives.

I also find that using Puzzle Toys are a great way to stimulate your dogs brain. I've reviewed a bunch and my dogs love using them! 

 

Premack Principle and Prey Drive

What is the Premack Principle? “The observation that high-probability behavior reinforces low-probability behavior.” High probability behaviors are what the dog wants and low probability behavior is what you want. 

Here is an excellent article about the Premack Principle: What's Premack Got To Do With Dog Training?

For example, my inlaw's used Premack on my husband when he was a kid. They had a rule that he must clean his room before his friend could come over. "Can Donald come over?" "Did you clean your room?" "Nope" "Clean your room and then your friend can come over". Eventually my husband would clean his room before he asked if his friend could visit. The high probability behavior reinforced the low probability behavior. 

I've been using premack on my dogs for the past few years. Especially because Zoe has a very high prey drive. When she gets into her hunting mode she doesn't hear, see or think about anything else but the prey animal she wants to kill. A lot of my training was at the dog park that was fenced so she was completely safe. She would be at the fence watching the squirrels. I would stand next to her and call her name and reward for a split second of eye contact, she would get a food treat (premack doesn't always include the use of food but I chose to use it) and then she was able to immediately go back to watching squirrels. Rinse and Repeat. I slowly worked her up to longer periods of eye contact, then I added behaviors such as sit or down and then she was allowed to go back to her squirrels. Every time she was allowed to go back to doing what she wanted to do. Eventually (after a month) I was able to call her off of a squirrel running loose in the dog park. She did a complete 180 and came right back. I immediately released her back to the squirrel. 

I know that this training is not always possible because you want to keep your dog safe. If you don't have a fenced area to practice in, I would recommend using a long line and running after the prey with your dog. We used to do this in the forest outside of the dog park in the area that wasn't fenced. In addition to that, like I mentioned above I also did impulse control training and taught leave it as well because you can't always use premack. 

I was having a discussion on facebook about aversives recently (it actually inspired the writing of this post) and one of my friends accused me of "not having high drive dogs". It's actually the most common thing I've heard said that high drive dogs have to be punished and that PR doesn't work on them. That you have to use a combination of both. 

YouTube - Training High Drive Dogs - Emily Larlham

It actually kind of bothered me but honestly this friend doesn't know that much about my dogs, their training or myself. The assumption that they are not high drive was probably because they are so calm and easy to live with but again it was an assumption without knowing that much about what I've gone through with them. To quote a trainer friend of mine: "Drives are basically just too much seeking circuit. If anything, drives make it so much easier to train". 

In other words, you just have to take that drive and channel it into what you want. I've spent a lot of time training and working with my girls. Working with Zoe on her prey drive by using premack and impulse control training. When Phoenix came home, she was not an easy dog to live with at all. We used to do 3+ hours a day of exercise and training and she was still bouncing off the walls. Eventually I figured out that I needed to select for calm behaviors and I spent a lot of time capturing them. She was "jackpotted" treats any time she would lay down and relax on her own. The first 6 months to a year were very tough and exhausting. With training, some time and patients things are great now!! You get what you reinforce. Zoe still isn't 100% perfect when it comes to prey animals but really there's no such thing as perfect. Phoenix can still be hyper sometimes, too but they are dogs! 

I truly believe that positive reinforcement training works on every dog, high drive, low drive. It doesn't matter. It just takes a little bit of knowledge and a bit of outsmarting our dogs. You can accomplish anything! Be clever, figure out how you can make behavior happen or not happen. There's no need for aversives. 

I also think that sometimes dogs have behavioral problems that might be too much for their owner to handle by themselves and when that happens, please do find a dog trainer who is dedicated to using force free methods to help you! Don't wait until the problem gets out of hand. Get help now. There are resources to help you find a trainer on my training page.

 

The Last Piece of the Puzzle

Is You. You can choose not to use aversives whenever possible. I will admit that I'm not always perfect. Far from it actually! I've made lots of mistakes with my dogs, I've punished them and I seriously regret it. We are all human and we get frustrated or mad. Every one of us. When I feel like that I put my dogs away and we stop doing what we're doing. I work on controlling myself all the time and I try not to use punishment. If I even see that something I'm doing is causing my dog stress, we stop. It's just not worth it to me. My sensitive dogs remember everything and I want us to have the best relationship possible!

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments below or email me. I would be happy to help if I can. If I don't know the answer I probably know someone who does and can point you in the right direction. 

I also wanted to say a special Thank You to Emily Larlham for allowing me to share the manifesto and for being an amazing role model! Thanks so much, Emily!!