Building Confidence

Rio is one of those dogs that really never misses a meal or any opportunity for some extra tidbits, but a couple of days ago something strange happened. It is breakfast time and I call both dogs in my customary way. Rio, instead of coming and lying on her bed, is cruising the living room and basically not minding me. I encourage her to come and I receive the same response.

I normally don’t worry if my dogs choose to miss a meal. Normal for animals that are scavengers – the “strange thing” actually is for them to get fed daily!

Whenever my dogs miss a meal I observe more closely their overall behavior. If everything else looks “normal for them” I don’t worry. Soon enough they begin to eat.

But this thing with Rio is gone past that. She is not even interested in playing our run after kibble game that we play some mornings in the long hallway. Instead of running after the kibble that I flick for each dog in opposite directions, Rio’s body language appears defeated: Head low, curved back and low hind-area. She is also clearly averting her gaze from Deuce.

As I sit on the ground perplexed I can't stop but asking: Did I miss anything here? What is going on???????

I have not noticed anything unusual between Deuce and Rio and besides she is just her normal self except surrounding meals or games that have to do with meals.

John also reports to me that he has noticed Rio not going into the laundry room to begin eating as fast as she always does. Don’t worry, I tell him, but let’s do watch her for any other clues.

I decide then to give this poor girl some needed help. I deliver her food bowl as I do daily but instead this time I coax her a little to come get her chow while Deuce is already on his spot eating his. It does not take long for her to realize that eating is something she really enjoys.

Once at her bowl, I stick around in the laundry room and as an added “bonus” I am blocking Deuce from Rio’s view. I pretend to be doing chores as I do not want to focus too much on her but instead keeping things light and up-beat.

Once she begins to eat she seems relaxed. I praise her as she is finishing her meal.

Okay, that did it, I think. But the next morning as I set things up for the run after kibble game Rio goes back to her low-confidence posture.

I get smart and I begin to flick for her not the usual boring kibble, which Deuce is running after full throttle on his side of the corridor. Instead, I send flying high-value treats for Rio to find. Initially she is waal-k-iin-g to them. Argh! Come on girl! But as I continue to toss them as far as I can, she kind of gets into the groove and now she is running to get every treat I send her way.

A couple of days have passed, and she is not 100% back to her normal self surrounding meals; but at least I know I am on the right track.

There are times when just one awful experience - from the dog’s perspective - can really change how your dog feels about something. This is indeed the power of classical conditioning - where it is all about associations. Sometimes we know exactly what happened because you were there, but many times you don't. Either way, the approach for the solution is the same… Plan to give your dog a bunch of positive experiences in relation to the bad experience so that at least the dog remains neutral to the stimulus and at best is back to enjoying doing what she previously did.

Paw Please

Our dogs are not born being able to enjoy being handled such as we must do when cleaning their teeth, holding their paws to clip their nails, etc. In reality we need to teach them to enjoy being touched in this manner and even enjoy it.

It is so easy to just grab the dog and “force” him/her to stay still – as if the dog has much of a chance anyway, so that we can manicure them as needed.

Deuce, in particular, hates having his paws touched - most dogs do by the way. If you touch his paw, he will quickly pull away from you. Needless to say, it is really impossible to clip his nails. Clipping the nails is important because if they remain long, it can compromise the dog’s stand and the manner in which they walk. So…

I have been doing some training sessions with him to teach him via incremental steps to be comfortable with having me hold his paw in order for me to file his nails. I reward each tiny step until he is comfortable enough so that we can progress to the next one. In the end what I was looking for is to put the final behavior on verbal cue having Deuce voluntarily offer his paw to my hand.

We were making some progress here with him letting me touch his paw with one of my fingers for 1 sec. Yes, you have to be this specific when it comes to planning how you will progress so that the experience is acceptable or better yet pleasant for your dog otherwise we are just kidding ourselves and still opting to forcing the dog in some way to remain still while we hold them in place.

Did you know that restraint is one of the most stressful things you can do to an animal? It totally limits their ability to flee if they feel threatened enough to do so, yet they can't. Ouch!

While playing soccer with him I came up with another way of teaching him that me holding his paw for a couple of seconds meant good stuff coming his way. There are so many good ways to reach ones goals, so it is also important to remain open and experimental a bit.

What I did was pairing a primary reinforce for Deuce - which is kicking his favorite “sanctioned” soccer ball (so that he can go after or stop it goalie style) with the aversive of me holding his paw.

In essence classical conditioning, which is all about creating associations. After a few (or a bunch) as the case might be of pairings of the aversive stimulus with a reinforcer he will begin to look forward to paw holding. So this is how I chose to establish the association:

Just before I am going to kick the ball - which is positioned just in front of him while he is laying down I quickly touch his paw for a nanosecond. The first time, I think I surprised him yet quickly kicked his ball so he had no chance of feeling “upset” about it.

In one game of soccer with Deuce, I could get at least 10 reps. of me touching the paw without having him flinch or pull away – building repetitions easily and moving forward. We have been doing this counter-conditioning (counter = opposite, conditioning= learning) for three sessions now and I am up to being able to hold his paw with my hand wrapped around it for a 2 sec. duration. Not bad I thought!

Now, it does not end there since my goal is to be able to not only hold all four of his feet (one at a time) without him trying to move away from me AND bring the noisy, rotating nail-file to touch his nail and file it to perfection.

So the next step of my counter-conditioning plan is to either: Continue to build duration on how long I can hold his paw comfortably while we play soccer or to try the 1 sec. paw holding in another setting, one that is as gratifying for him as me throwing the ball. My goal here is to have Deuce generalize that me holding
his paw for any reason is something that he can enjoy.

Yes, indeed it is easy to roll our eyes and think of the time, know-how and dedication that it takes to get our dogs comfortable with husbandry or all sorts of things that upset them in our world and relationship. I hear you. This, of course, is a choice that we all need to consider. I am committed to trying and work things out with my dogs so that they not only “like” me but so that they can also trust me.

The good news is that when we commit to dealing with these disagreeable situations for our dogs in a manner that is comfortable for them we build a “bank” of positive experiences for them while increasing their confidence and resilience to what life might throw their way.

Coming up with diverse training plans is fun because it requires troubleshooting, being creative, and it is also challenging. Sometimes what we thought would work does not, so it is back to the drawing board. But like anything in life the more we do it the easier it gets besides learning about our dog’s preferences and dislikes. And, this too builds relationship… and isn’t this what we want with our dogs?

Beep, Beep, Beep

Talk about Pavlov and associate conditioning! Bells and everything! Okay, first let me give you some background information about the state of affairs. After having injured my foot at the beginning of the month, now I have a heavy duty brace that by just one look at it I get queasy. I think to myself "how am I going to get this thing on and off?"

I just got it yesterday afternoon. I am suppose to wear it all the time (except when showering and sleeping) for 3 weeks. Okay no problem, I can do that if it means not having to have my tendon get worse where I need to face an operation.

So here I am tucked in bed, half asleep. All dogs happily sleeping on their beds-Louie (our foster) in his crate. When suddenly at 3 freaking am (why is it always 3 am when these things happen? Why do dogs get injured on Sundays when your “regular” vet is closed and you have to go to the ER vet? Why? Why?) the motion sensor in the house goes off! OMG!! It is soooo loud. Why is it going off? The alarm is not even activated? We just moved into our new home in Feb. There is still a lot about this home that I don’t yet know. Like where to “deactivate” this stupid alarm. John out of town… of course, just the same - when it is three in the morning something happens and dogs always get injured on Sundays.

Deuce, Laika and Louie are all freaked out… Do something mom, fix it! I am hoping out of bed, remembering not to put weight on my right foot. Trying to decide what to do next: put on the brace or take the dogs outside… I limp half-naked to get the dogs outside, I forget Louie duh! So, I go back into my bedroom and open the crate: Louie let’s go outside as I put my brace on so fast I cannot even believe it!! Ahh, that powerful adrenaline, you gotta to love it.

As I walked now around my home empowered with my super brace on, I pray to all my mighty powers (and I really have some SUPER might powers) to help me deactivate the never activated alarm. Laika has come in and is now following me around shaking with her tailed tucked. Deuce is M.I.A., I guess still outside with Louie. The alarm finally goes silent. I call Deuce and Louie and began (cheerfully as if this is what I looovee to do at 3 in the morning) dispensing calming treats in the shape of bones to all the dogs as if they were cheap flyers and my dogs being passer-byes on a busy street corner.

I think this will do it. These calming doggie aids are strong… I should have one too! I am kind of still raddled inside. But here you have it. The dogs want NOTHING to do with their beds, which is where they were laying when the alarm went off. Not even Deuce, my matter-of-fact, always cool and mellow Border Collie. He will not go into his favorite comfy-doughnut shape bed. Laika is not having it either. No happy voice is making her go back to her bed. And Louie? Where the heck is he? I (sort) of walk around the house looking for him… I call out just to find him laying in the bathroom that has the doggie-door and thus immediate access to outside. He is half way snuggled into a ball and is not budging. Perhaps the smartest of the lot, he is not going to risk going back to the scene of the crime.

Classical conditioning works by pairing: a stimulus (in my case and Pavlov’s) a noise. In his case, food after the bell in my case: most likely the dog beds. So here you have it: Dogs laying on their beds (Louie inside his crate) and all hell breaks loose… now they won’t go near their beds- as if electrified! I say most likely because Pavlov- who was working in a lab setting, could control very nicely the pairing: Bell rings, dogs get food and after whatever amount of pairings… viola the dogs are salivating (in anticipation of the food) once the stimulus of the bell is presented.

In “real” life, the pairings are not so clean. One of our biggest problems when wanting to modify behavior (counter-conditioning) is that we must be diligent in establishing this strong pairing. There are so many competing stimuli in the environment that who knows half the time which is the most salient stimulus for the animal.

What I do know is that neither one of the dogs is wanting to rest on their beds. Instead, Deuce and Laika are giving me this look and I know they want to crawl with me on mine. Ah…. I love my dogs but when it comes to sleeping… the bed is mine! Louie is still laying in the same place… “no freaking way I am going back to that crate…”

Once my dogs are on my bed and dosing off, I lay awake- on a sliver of bed that I get. I dare not too move too much afraid the motion sensor will go-off again. I am thinking: I sure hope I can “fix” the problem of the dogs having associated the beds with the scary alarm. Darn too because Louie was now going inside his crate on his own accord- even putting himself to sleep when he was tired in the evenings. Just before the alarm fiasco, I didn’t have to coax him to go in by throwing some tasty treats inside the crate. I was so happy that I could pass him on to the best suitor with his fabulous crate training skills. Take note, this is a dog that could not handle any sort of enclosure when he first came to our home…

As I lay in the bed I am also thinking that why on this am did the alarm had to go off when I had such a busy day… two trainings sessions: one with an aggressive dog that was trying to nail me shall I make the wrong way, the other a new client… oh no… And then I am thinking also about placing delicious slivers of chicken and hot dogs all over the beds… come find it… look what just fell out of the sky…. here on your bed, inside your crate…beep, beep, beep.