meilleurs oiseaux: dog training

Showing posts with label dog training. Show all posts

Training Your Super Puppy To Be Fearless

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Are you planning to add a furry member to your family this holiday season? You're not alone. Although the downsides are often touted, a well thought out addition is fine. The reality is that many families choose this time of year in order to use the extra time off to begin house training and bonding with their new family member. Today I'd like to offer a few tips from the Whole Dog Journal, along with my own enhancements to their ideas, sure to aid in helping you raise a fear-free pup.

Although ideally you'd want your new little buddy to have these experiences prior to entering your home, adding these enhancements to your holiday playtime will most certainly be good for his growth and potential to be a wonderful family member:

Give your pup a chance to experience walking on 7 types of surfaces: carpet, concrete, wood, vinyl, grass, dirt, gravel, and wood chips. Each different texture will have its own lessons, most importantly that different footing is needed and nothing should be feared by a variety of textures under the pads of the feet.
Offer 7 different types of play objects for a variety of stimulation: big balls, small balls, soft fabric toys, fuzzy toys, squeaky toys, paper or cardboard (toilet paper/paper towel centers are perfect), metal items (without sharp edges and sticks or pieces of hose. Remember that all playtime with toys should be supervised to assure your puppy's safety.
Include 7 different locations in your puppy's experiences: front yard, back yard, basement, kitchen, car, garage, laundry room and bathroom. You'll want your little one to know all of these places are safe and fun, so make sure to offer pleasant experiences in each.
Introduce your pup to at least 7 different types of new people: babies, children, seniors, people with canes, walkers, or wheelchairs, people in uniforms, people wearing hats, and men with beards.
Provide 7 different challenges for your pup to work his problem-solving skills: climb around inside a box, climb off the top of a box, go through a tunnel, climb up steps, climb down steps, climb over obstacles, play hide an seek, go in and out of a doorway with a step up or down, run around a fence. Surely you'll be able to find even more challenges like these. Each will teach your new friend lots of ways to solve new problems.
Offer meals in a variety of different containers: metal, plastic, china, cardboard, paper, pie plate and a frying pan. Don't forget to also use food-dispensing balls for a slower way to serve a meal, while your dog learns to push the ball around the house to retrieve his dinner.
In addition to these ways to eat, your pup should learn that eating in a variety of locations is also a good thing: crate, yard, kitchen, basement, laundry room, living room, bathroom and even an RV. The lesson is clear; wherever you offer food to your pup, it's still yummy!
Exposure to many different types of noises will help your pup learn that sound is not a scary thing. Include as much variety as possible, focusing on things like banging pots, thunder, loud music, traffic, sirens, vacuums, landscaping equipment, fireworks, dog parks, and crowds

Want to get your puppy started as a doga partner early? Try our short yoga videos that include tips on yoga poses as well as how to include your pup in your practice. Join us for more doga fun as we continue to expand this series.

What are your ideas for helping your littlest new family member get a good start? I'd love to share your tips. The comment link is always open!

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Stopping Leash Biting

By Kevin Duggan, CPDT-KA

When you’re walking your dog does he ever decide to play a little tug-o-war with the leash? Do you find this to be a little annoying or downright uncontrollable? This is a pretty common problem that a lot of people are dealing with. This is something that I help a lot of my clients with, as well as a lot of shelter dogs.

Why do dogs even find this to be enjoyable? The simple answer is because the dog’s behavior is reinforced. The dog wants to play tug, and if he gets any sort of tug back, that causes more tugging. It’s a vicious cycle.

So what can we do to prevent this cycle from happening? My answer is to be proactive,

instead of reactive. What I mean by this is instead of waiting for the dog to do it, and then trying to figure out what to do, give him something to do. Some examples of things he can be doing are, looking at you, touching your hand, “leaving” the leash, and walking nicely by your side. These all sound pretty simple and in fact they are. All we have to do is practice cueing our dogs to do those things and reward those behaviors. This will cause those behaviors to happen more frequently in the future. In the video below I demonstrate how to do all these things.

Remember to stay patient, upbeat, and to have some high value treats. The combination of these three things will help you achieve your goal.

Kevin Duggan is a certified professional dog trainer certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. He has been training professionally for 5 years.

Kevin loves working with dogs and helping them mesh better into their homes. He does this by teaching the dog what we would like it to do, and reinforcing the behavior. This is also known as Positive Reinforcement. Kevin specializes in building positive relationships between humans and their canine companions.

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Ask the Dog Trainer: Dealing with Fear of Larger Dogs

by Carrie Boyko, CEB

Oliver (in the middle) Joins the Big Dogs
at the Park for a Group Greeting

Dear Michael,

I have a toy poodle that is about 7 years old. She is prissy and fearful of bigger dogs. Our neighborhood is like dog central. Mostly larger dogs but a few small ones like Chihuahuas and a Boston Terrier, plus a few crosses or rescued mutts. When I walk Muffin she is always interested in visiting other small dogs. She’s not playful but she does sniff and sort of say hello in a doggy way. Sometimes she will even stop to see a medium-sized dog like one cocker that lives around the corner. But when we see a bigger dog she will snap and growl if we get too close. I have to avoid these dogs and their owners so that Muffin doesn’t get herself into trouble. I don’t want her to get hurt. Is there a way to help her understand when a larger dog is friendly and ok to say hello to? I don’t know how to help her with this. Any tips you have would be appreciated.

Thank you, Janet

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Dear Janet,

My heart really goes out to your little poodle. Life is complicated, so full of unknowns. I can really empathize. It’s hard to know who is safe and who is a threat. Why is he looking at me like that? Is she up to no good? Can I trust that one? While our brains are asking and processing all these questions, our emotions (think gut level) are sorting through memories and trying to fill in gaps where memories are lacking. We need to know how to handle every potential social interaction, and antisocial threat for that matter, and we sometimes only have seconds to figure it all out. It’s hard. And we are humans, supposedly the smartest animals on the planet.

Now scale all that down to your prissy little poodle (we really shouldn’t call her that, it’s not nice). But seriously, what’s a dog to think? She’s little. The big dogs, they’re really big (could be 5-10 time her size). And, who knows how the big dogs roll on any given day. One wrong choice can be fatal. For real. Better to be safe than sorry, right? Maybe that’s what she’s thinking.

But no one wants to live in fear. We can all agree on that. And you want to help, which is nice. And I want to help you, too. So, let’s sort this out.

Have your dog’s back. If you needed help with a tough situation, what would you want. An advocate maybe? Someone looking out for your best interests? A coach, perhaps? Exactly. Having your dog’s back includes two things. 1) Teaching her what do to at any given moment. I literally like to teach my dogs to look to me for instructions (like a friend asks for advice) when they are unsure of a situation. Don’t bite, don’t bark, check in with me. As you progress you can teach more advanced skills, like how to interact, sniff and otherwise greet dogs on a loose leash. The second part of having your dog’s back 2) Protect her from situations she’s not ready to handle yet. We humans are always in such a hurry. Hurry up prissy (seriously, no name calling) and get over it already. Well, let me tell you, that doesn’t work. If your dog looks unsure, steer her away from the big guys and gals. There’s no shame in that. Every growl-snap blow-up solidifies her fear and sets back your training considerably. Take your time. Work smart.

Teach her that she is safe. If you use reinforcement-based training to teach her how to handle herself when big dogs are around (look to you for instructions etc.), you can actually help her learn that she’s not in any real danger. A good qualified dog behavior consultant who understands desensitization and counter conditioning can help with this. All your dog needs to know is that you will protect her and that seeing big dogs means good things (not bad) are about to happen. Specifically, she’s going to get treats for following your simple instructions. Every encounter with a big dog comes with structure as well as your praise and treats. It’s subtle, but this teaches your dog that she’s safe (not in any real danger) when big dogs are around.

Support good choices. Let’s watch how this plays out. When you notice your dog making good behavior choices (especially when she sees big dogs), be there to support those choices. Praise her. Treat her. Smile and let her know she’s being a brave girl. Here are some good dog choices to be on the lookout for:

Checking in with you on her own (not barking)
Steering clear of the dog on her own (as you’ve shown her do to many times before)
Approaching the other dog slowly on her own (don’t force this)
Allowing the dog to sniff while she’s calm on a loose leash (your behavior coach can help you get to this level).

Oliver's Ears Tell the Story:
He's on High Alert Here

How do you measure success? At first, I look for lower intensity reactions from the dog, like less barking or choosing to walk away rather than snap. I also look for quicker recovery times from the dog, responding faster to your directions if she gets in past her comfort level and barks or snaps. In the long run, we aim for calm social interactions. There’s a lot we can do and there is help available to you. When all is said and done, though, it’s up to the dog. She may end up being more comfortable hanging with the little dogs. Maybe that’s just how she rolls.

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA works with families with fearful and aggressive dogs in Houston, TX. He’s a regular contributor to allthingsdogblog.com, Chron.com and his own blog michaelbaugh.com

Michael's advice does not replace an actual consultation with a qualified trainer.

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Ask the Dog Trainer About Fears

by Michael Baugh CDBC, CPDT-KSA

courtesy bennopictures via Flickr.com
Dealing with Dogs' Fears

Dear @AllThingsDog Daily,

Can someone give me a little advice on my buddy MEAT?? He's an almost 2-year-old 80 pound English Bulldog. For the most part he's an excellent dog, but he has some quirks that I just don't and can't understand. All of a sudden he's become spooked by just about every strange outside noise that he hears. A little bump or something that he doesn't know, and it's grumbling and fussing, all in the form of barking. Sometimes he'll look at me first and if I just shake my head no and tell him it's okay, he'll lay back down.

And also, for some reason he believes in shape shifting, I guess. The other day he was laying in the floor looking straight at me while I put on a hat and looked in a mirror. I turned and looked at him and he starts growling at me. Sounded ferocious until I spoke to him and pulled of that hat. He doesn't think that hats are evil because my brother in law always wears a hat and he never gets that reaction. It's only when someone puts a hat on and he sees them afterward. Is he crazy or what??

Jerry Cartwright via @AllThingsDog Daily newspaper

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Dear Jerry,

Here’s how it goes with most of us humans. If you’re about as crazy as I am, then you’re pretty much normal. If you’re crazier, then yeah you’re really crazy. Not so crazy? Then wow, you’ve got your act together. So really, what is crazy? Is Meat crazy? I don’t know. From your letter he sounds like one of the many varieties of “normal” in the world of dogs. But, we can do better than normal. Hats off to you for reaching out for help (get it, hats off?)

Lot’s of dogs have fears. The ones you describe are pretty typical: sounds, and people who wear hats (yes, even if it’s you). Other dogs are afraid of children, visitors who ring the doorbell, people who deliver packages, tall men, women who wear sunglasses – the list goes on and on. Crazy? Sort of, but not really. You see, if I’m born a dog then there’s a 100% chance my mother was a dog. If I had siblings, they were all dogs too. I came into the world as a dog, expecting to be fully a dog and do dog things. But then, guess what? When I was a couple months old I was plopped right into a family of humans, full of human activities, and all the weirdness that comes with living with intelligent bipedal primates. How crazy is that?

Stay with me here. I’m still a dog, a puppy actually. Up until I’m about 4 ½ months old I’m taking in all this data and figuring out what’s what? Whoa, vacuum cleaner. Is that safe? Okay, maybe. There’s a visitor. Cool, she likes me. Now we’re on a car ride. It’s a bit scary, but then we end up at puppy class and that’s fun. So, car rides check out. They are good. As a puppy in this early stage of my development I’m constantly evaluating events in my life and I only have one criterion. Is this good for me, or not?

Why? Because I’m a dog. Like all animals, I have precious little time to experiment with things that might be dangerous. We expect most animals to be afraid of us and the things related to our human lives. Birds, squirrels, coyotes, and deer are all afraid of us and our stuff. The one’s who aren’t are the exception. Crazy bird, landing on a guy’s extended finger. Crazy squirrel, letting that lady pet him. Crazy coyote get out of here. And, oh deer. Why do our dogs’ natural fears surprise us? Should we expect anything else?

Let’s get back to the Meat of the matter. We have to work very conscientiously to introduce our puppies to the twists and turns of life with humans. Honestly, most of us do a pretty crummy job of it. We skip puppy class. We don’t give our young dogs a variety of experiences. We basically coddle and shelter him from the world he’s going to have to deal with eventually. We miss the importance of doing these things when he’s young, when it’s easiest, when our efforts have the most lasting impact. If this was you, you’re not alone. My guess is you tried your best, and maybe it just wasn’t enough. That happens to a lot of us as well. We have a few weeks to teach our dogs how to live with us in our wacky world, and then the fears start creeping in. I’ve been on this planet nearly 5 decades. I get it. Even that hasn’t been enough time to figure all this stuff out. How can a puppy do it in just a few weeks? Okay, I’ll say it. It’s crazy.

What happened? Our dogs missed experiences in their important early stages of development. Stuff we don’t understand scares us and the same is true for our dogs. They grow into their fears, not out of them. Around 6-18 months we might notice our puppies hiding from certain sights, sounds and experiences. It’s not a big deal. We do nothing, or maybe we think it’s cute. Worst case, we push our dogs to “get used to” the scary thing. We laugh at their fearful reaction. We shoot video. We post it on YouTube and get 17 million hits. It’s funny, until the dog starts barking, or growling, or worse.

I’m sure this wasn’t you, but it happens so often. Let me play the role of the dog again one last time. I don’t know what those sounds are; they scare me. I was born a dog so I’ll do the dog thing and bark to scare them off. I don’t know who that is – he looks different – why is he in my house. I’ll growl to make sure he doesn’t come any closer. Oh wait it’s you. Can you help me? I don’t understand what’s going on.

Of course you can help. Don’t let this blog post be a replacement for working with a qualified behavior consultant. I have some ideas for you, but you’ll need to get some in-person help to guide you through the process. We should teach Meat a few things right off the bat:

Dad’s got your back. This means you’re going to teach Meat some simple skills he can perform when scary stuff happens (usually this includes interacting with you in some way). Use food, toys and praise. Using any kind of force or coercion will only make the problems worse. Having his back also means you won’t force him to handle a scary situation he’s not ready for.
Everything’s cool. Because we are teaching Meat using reward-based methods, we are automatically associating food, play and praise with formerly scary things. Your behavior consultant will call this counter conditioning, and it’s the path we want to walk with our fearful dogs.
Meat has choices. I love teaching dogs to make appropriate choices to help them calm themselves. Again, this often means interacting with you – and it almost always means teaching calm relaxed behavior as a winning choice. Catch him in the act of getting it right and guide his behavior with your feedback.

Chances are these sudden changes in your dog’s behavior have actually been brewing for several months now. We frequently see a tip toward more offensive behavior related to fear at 18-36 months. That said, check with your veterinarian or a veterinary behaviorist to rule out any health problems.

Assuming that checks out, visit iaabc.org to find a behavior consultant in your area. You will be asking him or her about noise phobia, and sudden environmental contrast issues (hats off / hats on). Both are not uncommon issues. Your trainer / consultant will probably ask you several questions about other fears you may not have identified yet.

used with permission
RobynArouty.com

It’s not too late. Help is available. We just need to teach Meat that he’s safe – beef up his confidence a bit. (See how I did that?). I know. I’m crazy.

Michael Baugh CDBC, CPDT-KSA helps people with fearful and aggressive dogs in Houston, TX. He’s afraid of suspension bridges and reckless drivers in pickup trucks, the combination of which causes immediate emotional meltdown.

You may enjoy some of Michael's other posts that can all be found on the Dog Training archives page here, or check out these:

Michael's advice does not replace an actual consultation with a qualified trainer.

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Using Your Dog's Name in Training

Guest post by Kevin Duggan, CPDT-KA

Used with permission, Kevin Duggan

One of the very first things you do when you get a new dog is pick out a name. Sometimes the name is chosen due to one of the attributes of the dog, while other times it just something fun or easy to say. From then on out, that is what the dog is referred to as.

Where I’m going with this is, a dog’s name can be used for so much more than just a name. A dog’s name can also be used as a cue for the dog to look at you. To train this you just have to practice saying the dog’s name, and then reward the dog for looking up at your face.

Why would something like this be of any importance?

This is an important cue because in some situations it can be very beneficial that you get your dog’s attention. When you have your dog’s attention you can then cue them to do certain things.

One example is if you want your dog to come to you when you call. If he is distracted by something like a scent on the ground, you can use his name to get him to look at you first, and then call him over.

Another example would be if you’re taking a leisurely walk and your dog starts to get fixated on something. The first thing I recommend doing is getting your dog to look at you instead. This is what is referred to as teaching an incompatible behavior. It can work because if your dog is doing what you ask, which is looking at you, it isn’t doing what you don’t want which would be fixating on something.

This is one of the first things I teach all my clients. I’ve chosen to use the dog’s name as a “look at me cue” but you can actually use any word that you’d like. Just be consistent. Here is a dog training video describing all of this!

Kevin Duggan is a certified professional dog trainer certified by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. He has been training professionally for 5 years.

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Ask the Dog Trainer About House Training

by Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA

Here’s what I know about potty training dogs, and even young puppies. It can be as simple as we want to make it. It can also be as complicated as we want to make it.

That may seem a bit obvious, but think on that a minute (I’ll wait).

We worry an awful lot about our dog’s behavior when it comes to potty training. He won’t let us know when he wants to go out. He does his business outside when he wants to. Or worse still, he poops and pees in the house when he’s mad at us. My advice: let’s focus more on the behavior we can actually control – our own.

Successful potty training has everything to do with our actions.

Let’s show up and notice when the dog poops and pees outside (and reinforce that behavior).
Let’s supervise our dog carefully inside so he doesn’t “go” in the wrong place. And let’s set up a safe and comfortable area for him to stay in when we can’t supervise him.
If that’s still too complicated, try this. To successfully potty train our dog or puppy, all we have to do is answer one question correctly: Where’s the dog?

Where’s the dog? He’s with me outside. I’m going to praise him and give him three treats right after I see him poop or pee.

Where’s the dog? He’s with me inside. I’m watching him carefully and will take him out regularly for potty breaks.

Where’s the dog? He’s in a safe room without carpet behind a baby gate. I can’t watch him now, but I know he’s not wandering around the house making messes. I’m also working on crate training my dog so he can stay there for short periods of time and maybe even overnight. Dogs who are crate trained have an easier time “holding it” in between potty breaks.

Maybe we get hung up on potty training because it is pretty straightforward and maybe we expect it to be complicated. That said, we could add a little flair to it. We can teach our dog to signal us when he wants to go out. Here’s how:

Decide when we want to take our dog out for a potty break (every 1-2 hours in the early stages of training).
Walk your dog to the door to exit, but ask him to “sit” before you open the door. (Use the same door every time for best results).
When he sits, praise him and open the door. The back yard awaits him to trade in his (eh-hem) “precious products” for puppy treats. Ah, relief and snacks, that’s a good deal.
Before long, you’ll notice your dog sitting at the door waiting to make that awesome deal over and over again.
Now we have our signal – sitting at the door patiently. Notice when this happens – praise – let him out – treat him for doing his thing outside.

Used with permission
RobynArouty.com

Complicated? I think that’s really up to us. If we pay attention, see our dog potty outside, praise and treat, maybe it’s not so complicated. If we get the whole family onboard and keep asking each other “where’s the dog?”, it can be a delightfully simple team project.

Think on it. In the meantime, let’s take the dog out. Don’t forget the treats and the cleanup bags.

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA helps clients who have fearful and aggressive dogs in Houston, TX. He learned more than he ever wanted to learn about potty training from his Chihuahua Mix, Stewie.

Michael's advice does not replace an actual consultation with a qualified trainer.

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Ask the Dog Trainer About Quelling Puppy Biting Behavior

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA

Buffer

courtesy Michaels Dogs
Puppy Biting Hurts!

Sure they're cute. But puppies bite. In fact, they can be little piranhas. And, puppy biting hurts.

There is good news, though. Seriously. Most puppies do grow out of their nasty biting habit. Better still, there are things we can do to help speed up the process.

So, grab a paper towel to stop the bleeding. Then check out this video for a quick course on how to keep your puppy’s sharp teeth off your delicate skin.

If your puppy is a bit older and still bites to get your attention, take a look at this article on play biting. It may not be aggression but it hurts too. Young puppy or older puppy – either way, a qualified training professional can help bring some sanity back to your life.

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA is a dog trainer in Houston, TX. He produces TV segments on dog training and behavior for KHOU-TV in Houston and WFAA-TV in Dallas.

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