It happens almost without fail.  I am in a private behavior consultation explaining the use of “high value rewards” for training a dog (which are almost always people food, not dog treats you buy at the store), and the owners look at each other then look back at me and say, “Oh we decided to never give Fido people food.”

Now why do owners say this?  Often, an owner’s main concern is that their dog will start begging for people food.  Most owners have a good enough understanding of positive reinforcement to know that if they feed their dog at the table, it inevitably leads to more intense and continuous begging when owners are eating at the table.

Concerns about begging are perfectly understandable.  We never tell owners to give their dogs high value treats at the dinner table or in any other context in which they do not want their dog to associate food. We recommend that owners save super high value treats (people food) for when the dog is in the presence of scary things, people or dogs. We can use lower value treats like the dog’s kibble for basic training where the distraction is low. Rule of thumb: the harder the thing is that you’re asking the dog to do, the higher the value of the treat.Before we get to how to fix begging let’s talk about “dog food” versus “people food”.  For those of you who watch Mad Men, you will understand that the dog food industry has run a highly successful and honestly quite impressive marketing campaign that has the majority of consumers thinking that dogs should only eat from bags or cans that say “dog food”.    However, up until the 1960s, there were only a few commercial dog food companies.  So what on earth did dogs eat before the 1960s?  Well, they scavenged and ate whatever their humans ate. The line between dog and people food is arbitrary.  In fact, most dog foods are highly processed scraps of human agriculture waste with a lot of preservatives and are not any healthier for your dog than so-called human grade food.  Although, there are a few pet food companies making food appropriate for a predator/scavenger.

Long story short, It is perfectly OK to give your dog food that is not labeled “dog food” as long as it is not toxic to dogs.  If you want to prevent begging, you want to avoid giving your dog ANY kind of food in certain contexts and situations.  This is your prerogative, but some contexts might be sitting at the dinner table, anywhere in the kitchen, at your office desk or wherever you do not want your dog to associate food.  You absolutely DO NOT want to give your dog food when they are actively begging.  This might include sitting staring at you with “those eyes”, whining and/or demand barking for the food.  Begging is 100% human behavior driven.  The good news is you created the behavior, therefore you can fix it.

There are three approaches that we recommend for putting an end to begging.  One approach is to manage the situation.  This one is simple.  When people are eating in one room, the dog goes in another room, outside, or perhaps in a crate with a frozen, stuffed Kong.

The second approach is what behaviorists call negative punishment, which will eventually result in extinction of the behavior.  Wow that sounds really horrible, but in practice negative punishment is a scary way of saying you take something away to stop the behavior.  Although it is called punishment, there is no force, fear or pain involved in the process!   In this case, you are going to take away your attention and the food when the dog is begging.

Here’s a warning though, once a behavior becomes established and we try to stop it by ignoring it or taking things/people away, what can happen next is that the behavior gets worse before it gets better.  In other words, you will get a burst of naughtiness with higher intensity before the behavior will completely disappear.  Usually that burst of naughtiness is where owners give in and reinforce the behavior either with a verbal reprimand (which the dog actually finds reinforcing), praise, touch or food.  You definitely do not want to give in here!  Just be patient, count to yourself, go to your happy place or, better yet, pick yourself and the food up and go in the other room and close the door.  We want the dog to learn that begging doesn’t get them anything.  In fact, it makes you go away and you take the food with you.

The last plan of attack, and the most effective, is to train an incompatible behavior.  Contact us and we can help you tailor the best way to approach this, but one possibility is to train your dog to go to a special mat and stay there while the people eat.  Getting your dog to go to their mat and stay there in the presence of food and people (highly distracting) requires training. You can’t just lure a dog onto a mat and expect them to stay there. You train any stay behavior by slowly building duration and distraction. Start by training your dog to go to their mat. Once they’re going to the mat, you can begin to increase the amount of time they stay on the mat. Once they’re staying on the mat for 20 seconds, begin including distractions like people moving around the mat and then moving around the mat with food. If you really take the time to train this properly, the dog will be staying on their mat when the family sits down to eat.  If Fido stays on the mat during the duration of the meal, then he gets a very special treat when the humans are done eating and all the “human food” is cleared from the table.  If you consistently have trouble keeping the dog on the mat, you can give the dog a chew or a stuffed Kong that they can eat on their mat while you eat. If you’ve spent several weeks training this behavior consistently and your dog is still too excited to stay on the mat, you can use a time out when the dog gets off the mat.

In summary, human food is OK for dog training, but it’s the context of the reward that can lead to begging.  If you are at the end of your rope with begging, our dog trainers are highly skilled at using these methods and can help you develop the best plan of action and coach you through using these methods to get rid of begging for good!

I’m a professional dog trainer so no one is a bigger fan of training your dog than I am. I think that training a dog is fun! What I’ve noticed though is that most owners who call us aren’t interested in training their dogs to DO something. They want their dogs to STOP doing things. The reason we’re focusing on how to stop unwanted behavior is because unwanted behavior lands dogs in shelters. Unwanted behavior is also when we’re most likely to see ineffective, painful and inhumane methods used to turn off behavior. So we’re going to devote the month of January on how to train your dog to stop doing the annoying things you don’t want them to do. This month, we’ll be posting weekly about how to stop your dog from: jumping on people, humping and begging for food. Today’s installment is how to control alert barking.

It’s important to realize that dogs bark for many different reasons. Some of the reasons dogs bark include separation distress, to gain attention, to gather information about their environment or to make scary things, people and other dogs go away. Before you select a method for controlling your dog’s barking, it’s important to know why they’re barking. If you don’t know why your dog is barking you can inadvertently make the behavior worse.

The type of barking that owners complain the most about to me is ALERT BARKING. The dog is in the house and hears something and the barking begins. I’ve never met an owner that didn’t want their dog to let them know when someone was approaching. What all owners want is to control this behavior. We want them to bark to alert us but then we want them to stop once we’ve acknowledged that they’ve done their job. While it may seem counter intuitive, I’m recommending that you thank your dog(s) for barking. In this method, you are NOT rewarding the dog(s) for barking. You are rewarding them for engaging in a different behavior (stop barking and come to me).

When the dog(s) begin barking:

1. Say, “Thank you!”
2. The dog(s) should come to you for the treat (in the beginning of this training you may need to lure them towards you with kissy sounds, slapping your thighs, etc).
3. When they come to you, say “yes” and give them a treat.

You can strategically place small bowls throughout your home. Blue Dog Bakery treats come in all shapes and sizes and you can find them in all major grocery stores. Owners almost always ask me what to do if the dog starts scamming the rule structure by “fake” barking and then running to you for a treat. Believe it or not, this is actually incredibly rare. I think the reason this doesn’t happen very often is because there is an emotional basis to alert barking as opposed to just pure naughtiness. If your dog seems to be barking for attention because you’ve used “thank you” training, then it’s time to take your attention away from your dog or use “timeouts”. If you need help using timeouts, just let us know and we’ll send you our two page handout on using timeouts effectively.

If your dog’s barking has you at the end of your rope with frustration, try to remember that a part of barking behavior is genetic (the same as you are programmed to scream or laugh). The Belyaev fox study taught us that when we breed for tameness (or domestication), barking comes along for the ride. If you have questions about how to stop your dogs’ barking, feel free to contact us or leave a comment here. We also hope you’ll write comments about your own experiences of controlling your dogs’ barking.

The calls come in through out the year but become especially heavy during the summer and Christmas holiday season:

• “We love our new dog. She’s so sweet but she’s jumping on the children and mouthing them and I’m worried.”
• “Our new dog is dragging us down the street on walks. The kids would like to walk the dog but we’re afraid they’ll get hurt.”
• “We haven’t owned a dog since the family dog when we were children. What should we be doing and not doing?”
• “The dog we adopted from the shelter is sweet and wonderful but we’re seeing behavior that is worrying us and we don’t want to wait for a class to begin in a few weeks. We need help now!”

Instead of over reacting to the dog’s behavior or giving up on the dog, people called me for help. I’m always  thrilled to get these calls. Helping these dogs stay in their homes is one of our corporate missions at Companion Animal Solutions. Here is our advice for all new adopters regardless of where you found your new furry best friend.

Realistic Expectations: It can take months for a dog to adjust to their new environment and display a full range of behaviors. Dogs that seem shut down or shy may come out of their shells to be highly social or they may begin to experiment with behavior you don’t like (stealing food, getting into the garbage, jumping on people). Dogs that were restless and hyperactive often relax once they have a consistent routine. Knowing that it will take a while for your dog to settle in, we recommend that you wait for two or three months before you take your new dog to a big event like a party, soccer game or family gathering. Start off slow with introductions to new people, dogs, and places. It’s best to allow your dog to approach at his or her own pace. If you aren’t sure whether what you’re seeing with your new dog is normal or safe, you can set up a phone consultation with us to help  you figure out what’s happening.

Help Your Dog Succeed: We recommend that you set up a safe zone for your new dog, an area where the likelihood of him making a mistake is very low. This doesn’t have to be a kennel or crate, although those are good options. Sometimes a laundry room blocked off by a baby gate or closed door works well. For small dogs, an x-pen or doggy playpen can be helpful. Just keep in mind you want easy clean up with minimal temptations for your new dog. If you’d like to receive our handouts on crate training or house training, drop us an email to info@companionanimalsolutions.com and we’d be happy to send you this information. Use your safe zone when you can’t keep an eye on your new dog, when you’re house training, during dinner time, when guests are arriving, etc.

Give Your Dog Something To Do: Boredom and anxiety are an awful combination, for you and your new dog. We recommend that you don’t feed your dog out of a bowl. You can still feed them on a schedule (important for house training) but feed them out of puzzle toys. You can see our recommendations here. One of the reasons I’m able to crate training dogs so quickly is because I never put a dog in crate without a stuffed Kong (usually stuffed with canned food and then frozen for a longer lasting treat). Stuffed Kongs are a safe alternative when you need to leave your dog at home. Deer antlers are safe, long lasting chews which are also a great option if you have to leave your dog alone. My dogs’ new, favorite chew is the Himalayan Dog Chews which are higher value than a deer antler and last much longer than bully sticks. They come in small, medium and large sizes (monitor your dog so they don’t choke if the chew becomes too small). If you’d like us to send your our handout on ideas for keeping your dog busy and tiring out their brain, send as an email at info@companionanimalsolutions.com.

Walking Politely On Leash: We recommend using equipment that is highly effective and the least likely to cause behavioral problems down the line which means using front attach harnesses or head harnesses. Now, if your dog is a monster puller a head harness is an excellent option but you can’t just slap one on a dog and expect them to like wearing it. Head harnesses take some training to use effectively. Here’s a video on teaching a dog to wear a head harness and you can email us at info@companionanimalsolutions.com if you’d like our handout on training a dog to love their head harness. There are many well done videos on YouTube for teaching a dog not to pull on leash. A couple of my favorites are from kikopup and pamelamarxsen.

Jumping Up/Mouthing/Humping: For some dogs, jumping up is an attention seeking behavior. For other dogs, jumping up is self reinforcing (they just do it because they like it) or they’re jumping out of pure arousal. For other dogs, they’re jumping up because they’re anxious and looking for any social cue from the human that everything is OK. What we recommend for stopping the behavior depends on why the dog is jumping up. This is true of similar behaviors that we don’t want the dog to engage in like mouthing or humping. Here are some common recommendations to stop this type of unwanted behavior:

• Take your attention away from the dog immediately. You can say “too bad”, fold your arms across your chest and turn around… be a tree! When they stop jumping and/or mouth, reach down and pet them.
• Say “too bad” and leave the room closing the door behind you. I see clients in their homes every day and when I walk through that door the first time, most dogs are jumping on me. I say “too bad”, step back outside and close the door. After several repetitions of this, the dog figures out that jumping makes me go away.
• Tell the dog what to do instead. If your dog knows how to sit, ask then to sit instead and when they do, lean down and pet them immediately.

So if you’re a new adopter or know someone who is, the message I’d like you to take away from this article is that help is available and it doesn’t have to be expensive. I get calls and emails from all over the country and sometimes we schedule a remote behavior consultation or sometimes a short phone consultation helps. Other times, I’m happy to refer people to a qualified professional in their area or refer them to a book, DVD or web site that can help. Don’t give up. Don’t resort to force, fear or pain to solve a problem. Ask for help. Share your experiences and ideas here by leaving a comment!

It’s a truism among people who do what I do that “it’s not the dogs, it’s the people.”  In fact, there’s even a good book by that title about running a behavior consulting business.  (The author is Nicole Wilde, CPDT). The truism reflects that it’s generally pretty easy to get the dogs to do what we want… but getting the people to change their behavior, or beliefs, can be a real bear.

Of course, we see many wonderful clients.  We see clients who are already well up-to-date on modern behavioral methods, who are already able (or ready to learn) how to use a clicker effectively, and who actually do what we recommend.  We have clients who are funny, wise, charming, earnest.  Some clients become friends.

No doubt, though… some clients do not make things so easy.  Some have elaborate, and unuseful-to-dangerous, belief systems about what their dogs are thinking and why they are doing whatever it is that they are doing.  I’m willing to grant that dogs may be jealous or angry.  I do not think, however, that dogs “think” they are “big dogs.”  I don’t think dogs behave spitefully or vengefully, choosing to pee on the floor to punish us for leaving them alone for for yelling at them the day before.  I do not think that dogs see us as their wolf-parent and I do not think that peeing over your dog’s spot in the yard is going to prove anything useful to your dog.

There are two types of client I find particularly challenging.  One type are the “yes-butters.”  Now, I myself can be a champion at the “yeahbut” game, and I know how genuine all those “buts” can feel when you are the one offering them.  But I also know that if you can’t make some kind of change, I probably can’t help you.

Some people have a lot more real barriers than others.  A recent client couple was in an unenviable double bind.  They had adopted a female dog of their accustomed breed, and she turned out to be terrified of the husband.  He adopted a male of the same breed for his companion… who turned out to have separation anxiety and confinement phobia.  The husband made one dog miserable if he stayed home, and the other miserable if he left, and to top it off, he had a degenerative illness that made it truly very difficult to do the intensive type of behavior modification protocols needed for both dogs’ issues.  These clients did step up to the plate, but trying to find solutions that could actually work really stretched my brain.

Clients like this tend to make me feel more frustrated with the people whose barriers to change are more chosen and less imposed.  For example, if the dog is barking in the front yard, and lunging at all the dogs and people who pass by, but if the client refuses to put the dog in the house (he will get on the furniture), or in a crate (we don’t have room/I don’t like the way it looks) or fence the backyard (we like to share the yard with our neighbor), my ability to help is very limited.

And then there is the second challenging category:  cases where I am expected to be the arbiter in a family dispute.  Again, I see degrees.  The common case where Spouse A thinks the dog is afraid, Spouse B thinks the dog is just being manipulative, and the couple have agreed to go with my assessment, rarely causes much stress.  Usually we can set up the situation and have the spouses observe body language closely; fear (usually what’s going on here) is generally quite visible once you know what you are looking at.  We occasionally see cases where one spouse really has a pretty good idea what to do, but the other doesn’t take that spouse seriously; hearing it from a paid professional often obtains compliance and clarity and puts an end to conflict.

Sometimes it’s a little less pleasant. In that last case, for example, perhaps the noncomplying spouse is going to continue not to comply, but the spouse who knows what to do is going to use my assessment to bully the noncomplying spouse (who is probably noncomplying because he or she is sick of being bullied….).  I can’t fix that, and it’s not my job to try, but in the end, my concern is that the dog suffers.

Sometimes, it is really ugly.  When a wife’s dog is resource guarding her when she goes to bed, and refuses to allow the husband in the bedroom or on the bed, there is a problem.  If one spouse would rather have the dog bite the other spouse than simply putting the dog into a crate (not to mention doing some training), the marriage is in deep trouble and I am certainly not qualified (and have no desire) to counsel this couple.  And yet, the wife (or worse, both spouses) may see this as a “dog problem” and blame the consultant for failing to fix it post-haste!  Likewise, we sometimes see very rough or very fearful dogs who have bitten, or certainly will bite, the kids, being maintained in the home with access to the children.  How this could not lead to years of therapy for those poor kids is beyond me.

This isn’t to say that every case of a dog resource guarding the owner on the bed, or a dog living with kids he has bitten, involves troubled owners — far from it!  Sometimes the owners truly don’t grasp the risk, or haven’t figured out what to do about it yet.  Many owners are struggling with balancing the real needs of their family members and the real needs of the dog.  For example, if the dog is threatening the husband from the bed because the husband has tried to “alpha roll” the dog for growling in this context, it seems less likely that the dog is being used as a pawn in a struggle and more likely that understanding the dog and knowing what to do (and not to do) will actually resolve the problem for all concerned.

I’d like to think that sometimes, my intervention on behalf of the dog actually does help mend relationships sometimes.  It always feels good to say, “well, she’s right about this, but he’s right about that.  And here’s what we’re going to do next.”  Sometimes, even if one spouse has been resistant (and annoying to the other spouse), my recommendations work for the resistant spouse.  If that resistance diminishes, the couple can work together to help the dog get better – a win/win/win situation.  Sometimes, just “giving permission” for one spouse to drop out of training the dog altogether relieves a great deal of stress.  (“Bob can use the front-hook harness to walk Fluffy.  You can practice loose leash walking when it’s your turn.  Fluffy stops practicing pulling on her collar, and at least she’ll learn to walk nicely with you.”  And the couple can stop arguing over Bob’s abysmal failure to avoid letting Fluffy haul him around on the leash.)

I know none of my readers would ever embroil me in a marital dispute, of course!

If you’d like to hear Cindy Lewis-Bruckart from Regarding Rover interview me (Greta Kaplan) about the sport of flyball, head over to blogtalkradio to listen. Now, on with the rest of the post…

I teach and coach flyball, a fun dog sport that is not often shown on TV, so most people have not seen it played before they come to class.  Many people hear about the sport, and focus on the name of the game.  Unsurprisingly, they think it is a ball game, and they conclude that because their dog loves balls, this would be a great game for their dog.  It will never happen, but as a coach and instructor, I often wish we could change the name of the sport to remove the word “ball.”  Flyball is not a ball game!

Flyball has  been around in its current form for about 30 years.  It resembles a cross between a drag race and a relay race.  Every racing team consists of four dogs.  In competition, two racing teams compete in parallel lanes.  On each team, the following progression unfolds in each heat:

*The start dog runs, trying to cross the start line at top speed at the exact moment the start light turns green.

*The dog strides over four low jumps, set ten feet apart.

*He then approaches the flyball box, a spring loaded contraption with an angled, rubber front that spits a ball out of a hole when the dog’s feet hit the rubber.

*The dog simultaneously executes a U-turn on the angled rubber front of the box while grabbing the ball from the hole.

*The dog returns over the same four jumps and carries the ball over the start/finish line.

*The dog goes straight to his handler, releases the ball, and receives a reward, often a vigorous game of tug, or perhaps a food treat or some other type of reinforcer.

Meanwhile, the next dog’s handler releases her dog some dozens of feet back from the start line, aiming to have her dog’s nose cross the start line (measured by an electronic beam) just as the returning dog’s nose crosses the same line as he returns to his handler.

By the end of the heat, all four dogs have run down and back, stayed in the lane, carried the ball all the way over the line, and gone to their handlers for an reward (usually a game of tug, or a treat). Since this is happening in both lanes (about 30 feet apart), there are now eight high-energy, highly-aroused dogs, eating, tugging, barking, and bouncing around in a space the size of a large living room, getting ready for the next heat.  (There are three to five heats per race.  Each team has several races per day, for a total of about 20-30 heats.)

Now, review that description paying special attention to the role of the ball.  The dog traps the ball at the surface of the box, takes it into her mouth, and carries it at least 51 feet until after she has crossed the finish line.  The ball barely moves on its own. It is not thrown.  It is not rolled.  It is just something to be carried a specified distance, like a dumbbell in obedience, or the morning newspaper.  As you can see, it’s really not about the joy so many dogs experience when we fling a tennis ball out over the grass, and our dog stretches out and runs, tracking it in the air, pouncing on it when it lands, and bringing it back so they can experience that predatory-based ecstasy all over again.

What if your dog really, really loves tennis balls?  Many dogs do!  I don’t know what they put in those things, but for some dogs, tennis balls are truly like crack — they are a mind-altering drug.  If there is a tennis ball around, the dog cannot think about anything else.  Not me, not my tug toy, not even a piece of roast beef in some cases.  If there are five balls on the ground, this dog may obsessively try to pick them all up, inevitably dropping one, making it move so it has to be chased again, and so on.  He can’t do a recall, or a sit, if there is a ball on the ground because his top priority is to get to that ball, and to chew it, or bring it to you and drop it at your feet.  Let’s call this imaginary dog “Lola.”

Lola comes to flyball class, and we try to teach her to do a box turn.  A well-done box-turn is a somewhat difficult skill.  The dog must do a U-turn, at an angle, with all four feet striking the box (either simultaneously, or first front feet, then back feet, in rapid succession as the dog flips around in the air).  At the same time, she must grab the ball.  It takes a lot of coordination from any dog, and we spend a lot of time on it.  We start without a ball in the box, and Lola is a star!  She is pouncing on and pushing off, joyfully doing her turn for a food treat.  Then it is time to introduce the ball… because, you know, you have to retrieve a ball to do flyball.  And Lola sees the ball, loses her concentration, rushes to the box, runs her front feet into it with her body pointing straight at the box surface, grabs the ball, and settles down to chew it in ecstasy.

What happened to my carefully trained box turn?  Oh… right.  Lola can’t think around balls, so she went into a primitive lizard-brain place and all that training was left behind.

Of course, we have ways of helping the dogs learn to cope with this tension (do I get the ball ASAP vs. do I do what I was taught to do?).  It can take months, or even years, longer for a Lola to learn to do a proper box turn, with ball, than it does for a dog who is eager to return to a tug or a disc, but it can be done.

Is Lola going to be a fast racing dog?  On the way to the box, she will run like the wind! Her ball is down there!  On the way back… not so much.  She’s got her number one prize, and she knows from experience that she’s not going to be able to go play an extended game of fetch once she gives it up to her handler.  She may dawdle a bit.  Sometimes we can fix this with careful, extended training… and sometimes not.

How is Lola going to handle it when she sees a dog in the other lane heading for another box, with a ball in it?  Likely, she will get quite anxious; that other dog is going to get a ball, and any ball is hers!  She must get to it!  She is at a high risk of crossing over to the other lane, distracting and possibly injuring the other dog, or herself, even if she does not direct her frustration at the other dog.  Or maybe she does aggress.  That’s obviously very bad news in any sport, and especially one where numerous dogs are in the ring, offleash, at once.  (Two written-up offenses result in expulsion from competition.)  With careful training, we can convince Lola that she still gets her ball no matter what is going on in the other lane, but it can take time, because this is quite an emotional issue for Lola.

What if a dog running before Lola in the lineup dropped his ball in the lane? It happens sometimes; it’s an error, and we try to train the dogs not to do it, but if they get a bad grip or bump a jump or the dog loses focus, the ball can drop early, between the jumps.  Not a problem for the dog who’s focused on getting back to his handler for a tug, but a huge problem for Lola, who may skid to a halt, trying to pick up the other ball, leaving the lane, preventing another dog from running and causing the heat to be called off and her team to lose that heat.  We can teach Lola to ignore loose balls on the ground in the lane, but it takes work.

Now, what about the part where Lola has to carry this ball back to her handler?  Her handler is on the far side of the start/finish line, along with seven other handlers and dogs.  Every one of those dogs may have carried a ball back over that line, and then dropped it.  The balls rolled around… that is what they do.  Lola is now confronted with a plethora of ball options.  Being Lola, she loses it!  She pounces on one, then another.  She runs in front of a running dog to get to a third ball, oblivious of her handler calling her back.  She might get into a fight with another ball crazy dog after the same target.  It takes her handler extra long minutes to regain attention and control, to get the ball out of Lola’s mouth, and to get her set for the next heat.  We can teach Lola to give up the ball even in the height of arousal with a lot of competition, but it can be really difficult because we are trying to contradict a very intense instinctive behavior for her.

Often, Lola is not even having fun.  Her ball obsession is so intense that having a million rules around what  balls she can and can’t have, and when, and what she has to do to get them, when other dogs want them, is very stressful.  Meanwhile, she is tripping dogs and people, or smashing into them in her fanatical pursuit.  She’s costing the team time if not throwing the entire heat with a technical error.  She’s delaying starts.  People are getting frustrated with her.  She’s stressed!

Compare Lola with Cedi, my wonderful retired flyball Aussie.  Cedi loves balls, but she’s not obsessed with them, and she really loves her soft disc, too.  Cedi waits quietly at the start line.  She runs to her box, brings the ball back, and drops it to get to play with her frisbee.  Because she could think around the ball, she retains a very pretty box turn.  She does not leave the lane to pick up stray balls, nor does she get agitated if another dog heads for her box.  (And I should add that Cedi is a grumpy, dog-reactive resource guarder in real life.)  She runs down fast, and back faster, because the best part of the game awaits her in the runback:  A game of tug with me and her soft disc.

Flyball is a team sport.  It is a complicated, multi-skill game.  The hardest skills for most dogs are the box turn and staying on task around other dogs running straight at them or close past them, or playing tug violently a couple of feet away.  The ball retrieve is just one part of it, and it is much easier to train to a regular old dog (not ball-obsessed) to do a simple obedience retrieve than it is to train a ball-obsessed dog to do all those other skills in the presence of balls.  Flyball is not a ball game!

Ball-obsessed dogs remain welcome in my classes.  Some owners get discouraged and quit.  Some, like the owner of the real-life Lola (an absolutely wonderful dog — and owner — by the way!) stick with it.  Lola, a happy, intelligent, and athletic dog, might possibly earn her very first points in just two weeks.  It has been more than two years since she started training with me, and about 20 of those months have been spent in simply teaching her to be able to do the whole routine with balls around.  Most people do not want to go through this… and I don’t blame them.  If only folks with tug-obsessed dogs thought flyball was great for their pets!  That would make this all so much easier.  On everyone, including Lola!

In one of my previous posts, Why Dogs Bite, I talked about fear aggression and why asking an owner before trying to approach or pet their dog is so important. But let’s face it, humans love dogs and sometimes people get so caught up in how cute a dog is or how unusual a particular breed of dog is that they just approach or reach out without thinking. In my article, What Is a Reactive Rover?, I discussed different types of leash reactivity and why dogs behave the way they do on leash. Owners of non-reactive dogs simply don’t understand the plight of the owner of a reactive dog. They honestly don’t see anything wrong with letting their dog walk towards your dog for a greeting or allowing their off leash dog run up to your dog for a quick butt sniff.

If you’re the owner of a fearful or dog reactive dog, read on because this post is for you. If you own one of those lovely, non reactive dogs, or maybe you don’t consider yourself one of those clueless dog lovers, you might be tempted to stop reading. Please don’t. When you see a dog owner using any of these techniques or tools while out walking their dogs, you’ll have a better understanding of what is going on.

Dealing With Approaching People

Some people own dogs who are afraid of people. If you’re an owner of one of these dogs, you’re working very hard to counter condition your dog’s social fear and keep your dog from reacting fearfully while on walks. This is difficult to do if well meaning strangers keep approaching and asking you to pet the dog. This is impossible to do if your dog is so adorable that people simply approach and reach out to pet your dog. That’s why one of my favorite products is the Dog In Training vest. It’s a nice neutral color with an equally neutral message printed on it: “Dog in Training — Give Me Space”. We really like the CAUTIONWALKER Safety Leash (review of this product here) which provides a stronger message to on comers which is sometimes necessary. Rest assured that if you see a dog wearing one of these vests or on one of these leashes, the dog does not want to meet you.

Believe it or not, even if your dog is wearing one of these vests, even if a person has asked you whether they can pet your dog and you say, “no, she’s afraid of people”, someone will try to pet your dog! I’ve heard them all from these well meaning but clueless dog lovers. “I’m good with dogs, they won’t bite me”. “Ah, he’s so cute I’m sure he won’t mind”. Really, I’m not kidding. I was working with a client and her fear reactive, unneutered, 140+ pound, male Newfoundland who was wearing a Dog In Training vest. We were working at a park. A man who had to be six feet tall made a beeline for that Newfie and only stopped two feet away from him because I body blocked him by stepping between him and the dog. I explained that the dog was working and even apologized yet the man was still angry when he walked away. I’m going to share an idea from my wonderful colleague Nicole Wilde. Nicole recommends that if someone asks to pet your dog and you don’t want them to, just say, “no, he has a contagious skin disease”. This is hilarious, but it works!

Dealing With Off Leash Dogs

Most owners have non-reactive dogs who love meeting people and other dogs. These owners never consider that their off leash dog who is running towards you might be heading for a traumatic experience. Even worse are irresponsible owners who allow their dogs to escape from their yards or out the front door without ever having trained a reliable recall (come when called command). Sometimes an off leash dog is aroused or may be itching for a fight. Here are some tips for dealing with off leash dogs while on your walks.

The easiest way to tell an off leash dog to back off is is to use your body language and your voice. We’ve selectively bred dogs for 15,000 years to live with us, interact with us, and work with us. A recent study even proved that our domestic dogs understand a human pointing a finger as well as a small child (and better than a primate!). Lean over and hold out your hand like a crossing guard indicating that you should STOP! You can stomp your foot, stomp forward one or two steps, and issue a low, smooth, vocal warning, “baaaccckkk offfffff”.

There’s a product on the market called SprayShield which comes in a small can with a clip which you can clip to your belt or fanny-pack. It sprays a highly concentrated stream of citronella oil which is aversive to many dogs. This spray is handy for breaking up dog fights as well. If you’ve used this product in the past, it used to be called Direct Stop. What if the owner of the off leash dog becomes angry? First off, explain that you didn’t use pepper spray which is what most people will think you have used. Explain that it’s citronella and doesn’t hurt their dog except to make them smell lemony. You can also offer to call 911 for the offending owner since in most cities in America, having a dog off leash is illegal.

The last suggestion I offer to owners is to carry the smallest umbrella they can find on their walks. With this technique, make sure that you’ve used the umbrella with your own dog combined with treats. We don’t want you dog to be afraid of an umbrella flying open suddenly. Once your dog ignores the umbrella when it’s opened outside, you can use it as a deterrent to an off leash dog. Yell something short like “scram”, pop open the umbrella, and slowly move towards the approaching dog.

Most of the time, these things work. The only time they don’t work is when the off leash dog is truly dog aggressive (rare) or when the off leash dog has been trained to fight other dogs. So, what if none of these things work? If your dog is small, you can pick him up. If your dog is too big to pick up, drop your leash. I know, dropping the leash seems counter intuitive but if your dog is going to fight for his life, you don’t want him to be handicapped by you restraining him on leash. Just drop your leash and call 911.

Whew, well that was a stressful way to end this post but I hope this information was helpful. If you have a fearful dog, please take the time to tell us about your journey. We want to hear from you!

In the past two months, I’ve received calls and or emails from two different shelters asking me for advice on training a dog who is both blind and deaf. There are terrific web sites for training blind dogs and for training deaf dogs, but I’m not aware of a web site devoted to training a dog who is both. I thought that publishing some ideas here (ideas I have gathered from many other sources) would not only help other rescue workers, but I’m hoping that it will generate a dialog on how to best train these dogs who not only have the misfortune to find themselves deaf and blind, but homeless as well. Let me be clear, I’m not stating a position on whether these dogs should take up precious rescue resources when plenty of “able bodied” dogs are euthanized every year. That’s a debate for another time. The reality is that some rescues will take these dogs, do their best, and try to place them (or not). So, how do we train these dogs?

Work to Eat: It can be incredibly difficult to exercise a dog who is both deaf and blind so environmental enrichment is absolutely necessary to lower anxiety and tire out the dog’s brain. Don’t feed any food out of a bowl and make sure all the dog’s calories come out of toys or by hand in training. There are an amazing array of work to eat puzzles on the market now.

Stay on a Mat: An excellent way to position (and keep track of) a blind/deaf dog is with a mat. You can reinforce him every time the dog finds the mat. You can make it easier for the dog by scenting these surfaces. According to many people, lavender is the “relaxation” scent. Make sure you dilute the scents with water and spray them on the surfaces. If you can smell it, it’s probably way too strong for the dog. Finding the mat and staying there is the first thing I teach these dogs. Safety first! Giving a dog frozen stuffed Kongs on the mat will help build the dog’s duration on the mat. If the dog rolls the Kong off the mat, lure the dog back to the mat with the Kong (hopefully he doesn’t guard Kongs).

Follow the Carpet: Make paths out of carpet runners or other substrate material and teach the dog to walk on the path. Following the path keeps the dog safe and out of trouble (hopefully).  Again, you can scent these paths to help the dog along.

Condition a Marker: You’ve got to come up with a touch somewhere on the dog’s body to let him know he’s getting it right and that’s why he’s getting the food. Decide on a body part (I like the neck for this). Touch the dog in exactly the same way and in the same place each time (decide if you want to use a tap, short touch, long touch, or stroke). Condition this marker just like you would if you were charging a clicker. Touch/food, touch/food as randomly as possible (try not to fall into a pattern). I’ve used vibration collars with deaf dogs to get their attention so I can give them the “thumbs up” but they can be pricey and frankly, any piece of equipment has the potential to be lost or broken. I’ve had trouble convincing owners that they want to have that big remote handy at all times. If you do use a vibration collar (I would use it to train the dog to find his mat), make sure to introduce it to the dog carefully. You want the “page” to predict a treat, not startle the dog into a panic.

Target Train: Teach the dog to touch a target with his nose. Scent the target so that he can find it. I like using something sturdy like a wooden spoon because you can tap it on the floor and the dog should pick up on the vibration. This is an excellent way to lead a dog around so you don’t have to be hauling him around by his collar all the time.

Training Behaviors: With a dog who is both deaf and blind, I think that lure/reward training is the way to go since shaping can be next to impossible if your “clicker” is a touch to the dog’s body:

1. Lure the dog into a sit.
2. When his butt hits the floor, touch him in his “clicker spot” to let him know he got it right.
3. Give him the treat.

Once he’s offering sits voluntarily, you can add the cue. I like a tap on the butt for this, it seems a natural to me. You insert any cue whether it’s verbal, a hand signal, or a touch in the same way:

1. Tap him on the butt.
2. Wait a few seconds (at first he won’t know what it means), then lure him into the sit.
3. Touch him on his “clicker spot” to let him know he got it right.
4. Give him a treat.

Over time, he’ll figure out that the tap on his butt means “if I sit, I’ll get a treat”. You can repeat this with any behavior you want him to learn as long as the behavior can be lured.

Anyone out there with “special needs” dogs? Are there dog trainers reading this with experience training dogs who are both blind and deaf? I’d love to hear all the creative ideas out there!

I read a tragic news article:  “Puppy Owner Pleads Not Guilty for Choking Animal to Death,” Associated Press, February 26, 2010.  According to the article, the owner admitted holding the 10-week old Labrador puppy down for 20 seconds after the puppy bit the owner’s girlfriend on the nose, causing what the Animal Services officer called “a minor scratch.”.  According to the officer, the puppy was taken to an emergency vet where he “couldn’t walk, was breathing poorly and had reddish saliva and blue gums.”  The puppy died.

Without further information, of course, we do not know what motivated the owner.  Perhaps he was really angry and lost his temper, badly enough to kill the puppy.  Certainly, this does not match the description given.

If we accept the description given, the owner deliberately held the puppy down, using quite a lot of force.  It appears this holding-down maneuver was intended as a consequence for a bite to the girlfriend’s nose.  It’s reasonable to conclude that the owner believed two things:  First, that the bite to the nose was a seriously unacceptable, even aggressive act that justified severe discipline; and second, that holding a puppy down with severe force is an appropriate way to discipline a dog, including a ten-week old puppy.

Both of these propositions are false.  First, puppies this age bite.  It’s developmentally normal and almost never “aggressive.”  (Serious aggression in puppies this age is so rare that it causes a flurry on trainer email lists if observed; many trainers simply never have seen it.)  Second, holding a dog or puppy down as a form of discipline is dangerous and unnecessary.

The danger can be to the person if the dog is an adult, particularly a large one.  Holding a large adult dog down puts the person’s face near the dog’s mouth, and a dog who panics, or decides not to put up with the human aggression, is very likely to target the face simply because it’s nearby.  It can also be dangerous to the dog, as in this case, where the size and strength disparity was extreme.

This type of discipline is unnecessary.  Dogs simply do not use “holding each other down” or “rolling other dogs over” as a way of punishing or enforcing status.  Wolves may do it, but they do so extremely rarely; but in any case, dogs are not wolves; and even if they were, we are not wolves and do not remotely understand how and when to apply this type of serious, dangerous consequence.  There are numerous other safer, saner and more effective ways to influence your dog’s behavior.

Where, then, would an owner get the idea this was a good tactic?  One popular dog training book by The Monks of New Skete advocated the “alpha roll” in its first edition, about three decades ago.  The second edition, much more recent, retracted that advice with an apology.  However, the original edition is still out there; I recently saw a client who’d done a few alpha rolls on her young dog, based on that very book, which she’d picked up secondhand.

Realistically, though, not many people read that book any more.  On the other hand, every week, millions of people watch a television star who often performs maneuvers very like the one that killed this puppy.  You can watch, on YouTube and the National Geographic website, as this entertainer grabs dogs and pushes or slams them onto the ground.  In some clips, you can literally see the dog’s tongue turning blue after some time on the ground.  No wonder many pet owners might get the idea that this is a potentially appropriate response to perceived aggression from the dog.

And, this same performer often delivers this type of consequence for behavior described as “dominant.”  I don’t doubt that he might describe normal puppy biting as “dominant.”  So again, it’s no wonder that a pet owner might be led to perceive normal puppy biting as “dominant,” and to respond in a way he’d seen repeatedly modeled on TV.

I do not know whether the owner of the dead puppy, who is being charged with felony animal abuse, has watched “The Dog Whisperer” on TV.  However, I don’t know one competent behavior consultant who did not immediately, on seeing this tragic news story, make the same guess I did.  This type of human behavior is repeatedly modeled by a charismatic, persuasive, and apparently effective role model on an extremely popular television show.  It is inevitable that someone was going to “try this at home” with disastrous results; and this puppy’s death might be that disastrous result.

I like to consider myself a fairly non-judgmental person.  People may do things to their pets that I think are horrible, but I cannot judge them, since, in the past, I have done most of those things myself.  We all grow and learn and change.

However, there are two things that get under my skin and make me want to slap folks upside the head.  Or at least sting them with my sarcasm.  All of my caring, nurturing and willingness to help simply fly out the window.  I end up jamming my fist down my throat so that I don’t say anything that I will regret.

Number one pet peeve.  “I’ve tried everything.”  Really.  Everything?  Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do now, is there?  No place to go from here.  Thanks for calling and have a nice life.  I suppose what they really mean to say is “I am desperate and need you to help me.”  Okay.  But do they think I wouldn’t help them unless they were desperate?  This is my profession.  I want to help.  Desperation merely gets in the way.

Maybe the underlying message is:  “I’ve tried everything I can think of.”  Better.  At least they give me a chance to think of something.  But it still does not give me much information.   What was tried?   How did the pet respond?  Even if medication was tried with no success, there are many reasons why that might be the case.  What was the dosage?  Too much or too little medication can have unsatisfactory results.  How long was the medication given?  Some medications require a month before full effects are seen.  How was the medication given?  Ear gels may not deliver the needed quantity of the medication to reach therapeutic blood levels.  There is the possibility that a different approach to medication may help.

So, my request is to please give me some information that I can process.  Let me know what has been tried.   Let me know the results.

Number two pet peeve.  “I think he is jealous.”  My first snarky impulse is to say, “Well then, I think you should stop catting around.”  But, I hold my tongue.  I take a deep breath and ask, “What is he doing?”

Jealousy is an emotion that we may or may not be able to ascribe to animals. We may be able to tell if a pet is feeling good or feeling bad, but to assign a nuanced emotion like jealousy is not really helpful.  Are we talking about bitterness or suspicion?   Possessiveness or demanding attention?  Even if I could get the cat or dog to lie down on the couch, I still can’t discuss with them any feelings of abandonment or inadequacy.  I can’t get them to understand that they don’t need to feel that way.  And even if I could somehow communicate that to them, it wouldn’t help.

You see, jealousy isn’t the problem.  It is the behavior that is the problem.  What is the pet doing that you don’t want them to do?   Urinating inappropriately?  Chewing things up?  Tearing things down?  Now those are behaviors that I can address.   Ultimately, it is the behavior we want to change.  And unless I know which behaviors are the problem, there isn’t much I can do.   I often deal with changing a pet’s emotions, but even then, I rely on body language to let me know how the pet is feeling.  Ear position, eye position, body posture and vocalizations are all reflections of emotions.  These are the things we can change.  Jealousy is not one of them.

Well, I gotta go.  I have to feed my cats, walk my dog and water my peeves.

When I got Nickel, my oldest dog, I heard about flyball and decided to take him to class.  He seemed to enjoy it, and did all right, and I had fun.  Since I knew little about structure, sports training, or related topics at the time, it took me a while to figure out that Nick actually was not cut out to dedicate his life to performance sports.  He’s plenty smart, but low-key, and his structure isn’t so great, so he’s not that fast or efficient.  He was satisfied after a few minutes and could not see the point in doing it another ten times.  We wanted to adopt a second dog as a companion for him, and so I gave myself a crash course in dog structure and started identifying traits I hoped to find in a dog who would really love to do flyball with me.

After a careful search, I found a tremendously athletic, drivey, and beautiful female Aussie in rescue.  In addition to these traits, I discovered, Cedi was also quite anxious and dog-reactive.  Between that and various other life circumstances, a couple of years passed before we were really ready to dive into flyball.  She had no trouble with the physical skills — running, jumping, box turn, ball carry.  The mental skills, staying focused on me and unreactive when there were a lot of dogs zooming around and barking, were much more difficult.  I got tremendous lessons in helping a reactive dog as I took her first through some basic obedience classes (no running, no balls), then some agility classes (running dogs, no balls!), and then back to flyball classes (running dogs carrying tennis balls).  She became a stellar athlete, running any position in our club’s “A” team, participating in the team’s record time that stood for a couple of years, and often double-running the whole weekend with nary a mistake.  One year she was even among the top 250 point-earning dogs in NAFA: North American Flyball Association.  Flyball reduced her reactivity.  She could walk around a tournament without a growl, and even just once-weekly practice took the edge off so she could live a comfortable life.

When she was six, she and Nickel and I moved from California to Oregon.  I’d planned to join a team an hour from the house I bought, but this turned out to be a challenge.  There was no competition-oriented team closer to me, so I started one myself.  I then realized that no one in the area seemed to know how to teach a good box turn.  Though I’d only assisted at my old club’s classes, I felt I had something to offer in this new market, so I started teaching classes.  Meanwhile, it was time to add a puppy to my family, so I brought home Mellie, a Border Collie from a carefully researched breeder.  I knew so much more now; it was so much easier to teach flyball to Mellie!

Flyball is now one of the main things I do for fun.  My club, the Portland Tail Blazers, has grown slowly with a solid core of members who get along reasonably well and share goals of training well and competing with dedication and integrity.  Flyball is a team sport, and attending tournaments can be grueling.  Tournament days can be long, eight to ten or sometimes even twelve or more hours.  In our region, the majority of the tournaments are held in British Columbia, at least a five or six-hour drive from Portland.  Tournament days are a combination of “hurry up and wait” punctuated by several ten-minute intervals of intense excitement when your race comes up on the schedule.  Exhaustion and stress can make it harder to get along even with people you get along well with!  Having a wonderful group makes all the difference.

I should add that there is also some “non-team” flyball now.  The newer league, United Flyball League International offers singles and pairs racing in addition to the regular four-dog format.  Unaffiliated dogs can race, and the singles format allows for very accurately timed speed trials, making for some fun statistics.

In addition, we get to do some fun stuff closer to home.  We receive quite a few requests to do demonstrations at events such as dog park fun days, and every year we participate in a number of these.  Our favorite demo opportunity is half time at Portland Trail Blazers games.  The staff get our equipment onto the court and set up in about two minutes; then we race six or seven rapid-fire heats; and then we get out.  We often make the races a little closer for entertainment purposes, and put a little verve into our tug and disc rewards in the runback.  A little showmanship doesn’t hurt!  We’ve played to a full house a few times, but even when the game is not sold out, it’s exhilarating to feel the energy of around 20,000 spectators.  The dogs seem totally unfazed.  They see their jumps and box and know what to do!  The more social ones often get to pose for pictures with Blazer Girls, and Spam, the tiny Staffordshire Bull Terrier, invariably gets a huge amount of attention as she looks like a toy pit bull. (Spam is the model for our club logo, and one of the reasons we take a firm anti-BSL stance.)

Although flyball seems far removed from my “real work” of being a dog behavior consultant, it’s actually been a big help for me.  In flyball contexts, I work with some very intense, aroused, high-drive dogs.  I’ve learned to tug like a pro, and how to use and control tug (and other intense play rewards) in a safe and positive way.  Flyball directly presents the issue of a dog being able to focus and behave safely in the immediate presence of things that often trigger reactive or aggressive behavior:  Running dogs, growling or barking dogs, people who run, yell, or wave stuff around, and so on.  A flyball dog must pass another teammate nose to nose with both running near top speed, in a lane two feet wide.  Being able to do this really helps dogs stop worrying so much about a dog invading their space!  All this experience has built my confidence in working with dogs that intimidate many people (including some trainers) and has given me tools to help them more effectively.  I just talked to a new client who specifically sought me out because I had experience with high-drive, reactive working dogs.

Of course, as Nickel taught me early on, flyball is not the right sport for every dog. In my next blog, I will talk about another specific type of dog that, surprisingly, may not be a good candidate for this sport.

Do you participate in flyball with your dog? What is it like to train your dog for flyball? Do you enjoy competitions? What is your favorite thing about this sport? What’s your least favorite? I can’t wait to hear from fellow flyball enthusiasts!