Getting Unstuck!

Deuce and Rio play great together. As with any good dog that is a well match with its playmate, they not only enjoy each other but their play has never tipped-over to a fight. However, when there is a third dog in the mix, Deuce forgets all his great play manners and resorts to wanting to manage Rio’s movement by gently biting on her neck repeatedly. I can imagine how obnoxious this is for Rio! I normally ask him to watch himself with a time-out from play if he fails to stop. This weekend as I saw them playing with one of their favorite pals, Scout, Deuce was getting all stuck and play biting Rio on the neck.

It got me thinking of how to get him unstuck so that he uses a more ample repertoire in play. I

have also been thinking a lot lately about the importance of not having our dogs engage (literally use their bodies) in behavior(s) that we want to modify. Every single time he puts his mouth on Rio’s neck that behavior is getting more and more engrained in his brain and more resistant to change.

 

The Rx for modifying any behavior is then:

1. Manage the environment so that the dog cannot practice the behavior we want to end.
2. Teach the dog another more appropriate behavior to do instead.

An important caveat however, is that whatever behavior we teach must also satisfy the need the dog had in the first place when engaging in behavior # 1. In other words: If the dog wants social contact, find a way (behavior) that will allow for that while preventing him from rehearsing the behavior we want to eradicate. This is not only fair for the dog but also savvy.

If we do not acknowledge the needs of the dog, he will find another way by which to satisfy that need. Another salient example: Here is a dog that is fearful of strangers and thus will lunge and growl to keep the stranger at a distance. By teaching the dog to move away instead of aggressing at the stranger we have satisfied the dog’s need for safety (away from what scares him) AND he has stopped partaking in lunging and growling at the stranger.
With Deuce, I decided to try the following:

1. Ask him for a play bow in the middle of their playing - a behavior I trained independently as a cute trick. If he could switch his attention to the play bow he could not at the same time be biting Rio gently on the neck. It worked! What I also liked about this option was that a play bow is an intrinsical element of all good dog play.
2. I also incorporated a ball in the play session when Rio and Deuce met a potential board & train client’s dog. I did this to not have both dogs overwhelm the young pup, and so that Deuce doesn't revert to his Border collie mode (Border collies and other herding breeds take it upon themselves to “patrol” the movement of other dogs in an effort I think to either stop the movement or to collect the dogs as they do with stock).

This again proved to be an effective strategy. Deuce was able to interact with Ruby and Rio nicely, but because he was also focused on his ball which was either in his proximity or in his mouth, he did not once try and stop Rio from moving by grabbing onto her neck.

Now my job is to keep having Deuce practice a more ample repertoire when playing with other dogs and Rio thus making for happier playful pals.