Have a mental picture

I am at my client’s and she is telling me that her little dog did not want to go for a walk last week.

She cannot understand why her dog refuses to walk on lead and basically popped her bottom on the ground in protest.

I am not very familiar with this dog as I have only seen her twice so I cannot immediately shed some light as to why she chooses not to go for a walk.  Is it the collar that she has been recently wearing? As we try to “clear” the aversion she has for the harness my client was using for her.  Perhaps she does not want to go for a walk and potentially meet the neighbor’s large dog that once ran up to them.  At this point it is all a mystery.

I proceed to leash the dog and I encourage her to walk with me in the spacious home. I show my client how to position her body in order to encourage her dog to move forward with her. All this I learned courtesy of TTouch.

Her little dog begins to move along with me.  Initially with slight hesitation but I kept having a mental picture in my mind as to what I wanted the dog to do.

My client can’t believe it.  Her dog is almost trotting along my side delighted in the small treats that I give to her as she approaches me.

Well, I tell her, I have no idea as to why she would not walk at all on lead for her, but here are some of my suggestions.  I tell her that she should have a picture in her mind as to what she wants the dog to do.

I proceed by explaining that having a clear mental picture of what the dog needs to do is helpful in a few ways. First it gives us clarifications as to what exactly we will be reinforcing. In this case, any movement forward on lead which by default precludes the dog placing her butt on the ground and not moving forward.

Secondly, we are focused on the solution, so to speak instead of staying focus on the problem.

I learned of this “technique” from some fantastic horse trainers whose methods of training I admire.  What they can accomplish with their horses is truly out of this world and all of it is trained by using gentle methods, cooperation and never coercion on the horses. My line of thinking was that if these highly skilled trainers were using this technique I could too. Now, it has become part of the natural way of approaching a situation that needs some modification.

We proceed to take the dog outside.  Proof of fire- I tell my client, let’s find out if perhaps there was something out there that concerned her and she wanted to avoid.

As I step into their front patio, I continue to use a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Another proven technique to encourage cooperation. You see, dogs are highly social animals and as such they are constantly taking cues from their environment and us.  If I asked the dog to move along with me without having any hesitation in my mind or tone of voice she then can muster whatever was lacking earlier in her ability to walk forward on the lead.

Once outside, I continue with the same approach as I did in the home and long and behold the pup is keeping up with us now sniffing and almost prancing with delight.

As we turned around to head back home I gave my client the lead as she continues to encourage her dog to move along.

The dog’s reluctant to go for a walk was one mystery I could not resolve. But at least, I had the opportunity to encourage her ever so gentle to walk with me on the lead.  The fact is that there will be many times that we will not know what is behind a particular circumstance or behavior, but we can still use the formula of having a clear picture in our minds as to what we would like that behavior to be instead and from that premise we can come up.

Getting Ready

Few of us have the forethought of getting ready in the event of a natural disaster. Here in the Santa Fe area our biggest concern is fires. As summer approaches and temperatures rise, the risk of a forest fire also increases. Yet, how many of us have a plan in place for ourselves and our pets?

Okay, I am going to raise my hand here. I have actually put together emergency kits just in case we have to evacuate our home in the event of a fire since we live close to the Santa Fe National Forest.

Yes, initially I dragged my feet in doing so, but like most anything else that calls for our attention the dreading part of it took more wind out of my sails than the actual chore! There is my first motivator for you.

Secondly, if we keep in mind that our brain has a difficult time planning (or getting motivated) to move forward when the end goal is not kind of immediate, we can more easily over ride that oh so very human MO. Once you have been aware that this is kind of our default setting, we can push to
concentrate on the “in the future (maybe) goal of being ready when calamity strikes" - ensuring as best one can that our loved ones (yes, I am talking about our pets here!) will be safe and as stress-free as possible.

Okay, hope the above serves as a motivator for you in getting your preparedness outfit in place. To make things a bit easier for you, I am sharing below what the group Animal Rescue Core (http://
animalrescuecorps.org/) suggests in terms of putting together a kit for your dog. They have on their website a list of supplies for a lot more pets and stock animals so if you have other animals in your life please check out their suggestions.

As for me, I put together my kits, which consist of three backpacks, one for John, one for me and one for the dogs that I can easily grab and carry to my car. If the season promises to be a very bad one, I might even keep the backpacks in my car. In addition, we made sure the fire dept. has a way to get into our property and that John and I know where we will meet if we have to evacuate pronto.

Here goes the list…

A large, lidded trashcan makes an excellent storage container for pet supplies. Supplies can also be stored in a pet’s crate. Make a copy of this checklist and tape it to the inner lid of the storage container for reference. Clean, dry spray bottles for cleaning and misting.

Water: A 3 to 7 day supply. A 10 pound animal needs about one quart of water per day; a 40 pound animal needs about one gallon of water per day.

Records: Copies of medical records, especially current vaccinations. Proof of current rabies vaccination is important for public health and safety. Boarding facilities may not take your pet without this information. If you are unsure about your pet’s vaccination status, contact your veterinarian. If you have pet medical insurance, include a copy of your policy.

Food: A 3 to 7 day supply. Food should be rotated every two months to ensure freshness. Don’t forget an extra can opener if using canned food.

Kennel or crate for housing: For dogs, it should be large enough for the dog to stand up and turn around, and include food and water bowls. Label the crate with guardian’s name, address, phone number and an emergency contact number.

Muzzle: A muzzle or a roll of gauze bandage that can be used as a muzzle in case your dog becomes agitated and aggressive during the confusion. Even the gentlest animal can bite when hurt and/or frightened. Your veterinarian can instruct you on the safe use of a muzzle. Or actually, call me! I can help you with this. :)

Towels: Towels for bedding and to cover the crate during transport.

Toys and treats: Just like children, pets can gain comfort with the distraction of a favorite toy or treat. Including an old unwashed shirt with your scent on it can be a comfort if your pet is being cared for by strangers.

I would add to this list the following items:
Harness and extra collar and leashes with id tags
A small first-aid-kit for dogs and instruction booklet
Some non-perishable chewy(s)
Some natural aid to help with stressful situation (try what works for your dog
prior to emergency)

Should dogs meet on leash?

There are many examples that illustrate how our nature is so different from our dogs. Both species are highly social beings, but how we go about being social really differs. I realize in talking to clients that they think it is a good idea to have their dog meet others on leash because they want their dog to have an opportunity to say “hi” - to be social to another dog. The other reason, I presume, has to do with not wanting to come across as anti-social with whomever is holding the leash of the other dog. So what begins with good intentions turns out to be not such good news for 99% of all dogs. Yep, 99 % or there about.

If we analyze on leash greetings from the dog’s perspective, we come to realize that we are messing up royally. When people have their dogs meet they come straight on and never on an arc - as dogs prefer to meet. Straight approaches are VERY THREATENING to dogs!

The first point of contact is always frontal again potentially too “intimate” for dogs that have not met before. The preferred salutation in general is anal investigation and then some face to face. See, I told you our world and their world is really backwards! Dogs get so much information about whom the other dog is and their world in general by olfaction that when they are not permitted to do so altercations often arise.

It is often the case that one dog is more comfortable than the other in this awkward salutation and it does not take long for that one to snap. As a result, the other dog might take “offense” and lash back. So much for making friends!

Adding to this madness is the other side of the leash. Because of lack of understanding as to how dogs truly prefer to interact with one another, they get admonished by their now embarrassed owner. No, Fido! That is not how we say hello! Bad dog, we are going home, blah, blah, blah- typical example of human making nice with their kind.

Ah, poor Fido! Once again the victim of good intentions and ignorance. Of course, Fido has no clue as to why he is being yelled at, yanked hard with the leash because after all Fido had to react back as a result of the other dog’s “poor etiquette”.

It does not take too many of these trials before the dog is now really not comfortable with the proximity of any dog when he is restrained by the leash or just the presence of dogs, period! Keep in mind that restrain is one of the scariest things we can do to an animal (or a person). Restrain removes opportunity for escape.

My suggestions then stands: Avoid, avoid at all costs having your dog meet dogs on leash. Instead arrange for walks where potential (dog) friends can explore together at a considerable distance and share some smells. Have one dog walking in front of the other and then allow the dog in the back to sniff where the first dog has walked. Then change directions and repeat. After having spent a few minutes with the dogs in the same environment- but at a distance either bring them closer together in an arc or better yet, find a neutral safe location for some off leash introductions.

When walking your pup, I suggest you carry with you a few tasty treats and dispense those every single time you and your dog see another.

In no time your dog will look at the other dog and look back at you because you have conditioned him that seeing dogs on walks means he gets some delicious this or that! In this manner, you are “protecting” how your dog feels about other dogs- they are so fabulous because their mere presences produces goodies. If your dog has been saying hello on leash, this technique will help transition to letting him know that when on a leash we walk and that other opportunities for making friends will be procured.

Have We Reached Success in Training?

How can one measure whether the training done with a dog has been successful? What parameters should one have in order to evaluate if success has been reached?

While the questions above are valid, we also must keep in mind that behavior and changes in behavior are quite complex which requires that we take a different approach to measuring the end results.

Behavior and measure of success are complex for many reasons; here are some of the main ones.

1. If the motivation for performing a given behavior, which was present when the dog was learning it, fails to be present when the dog must perform the behavior, it will go into extinction. What I mean is that it will not happen. There must ALWAYS be some reinforcer for the animal (and this includes all animals - not just dogs BTW). Good news is that the reinforcer should not appear on a one-to-one ratio (also known as continuous schedule of reinforcement) but it should be on a thin (or at least a variable schedule) of reinforcement. In other words, the dog will get reinforced on occasion, which in essence makes the behavior stronger, i.e.: less likely to go into extinction which is, of course, what we want. Now, in the real world there might be more than one motivator for behavior, so again, we are moving away from the notion of … dog sits, dog gets a click and a treat… as we might do when teaching dogs new stuff.

2. The environment is now substantially different to where the (initial) behavior was taught. Part of reaching success in training is to have the dog perform the behavior where we want the behavior to take place. This is called proofing. If I only work with the dog in the garage, I cannot expect the dog to perform at all or at least with consistency when I am out and about with my dog. This is a big problem when working with clients. They fail to understand that in order for their dog to perform, they must continue to practice where it matters. As I am here thinking of this example (funny because I don’t play tennis), but think about a tennis player that always trains on a rubberized, artificial court. Now when she goes to a tournament and the court happens to be clay she will quickly realize that the ball has a different bounce or that she is always late to reach the ball because the ball falls short due to the different terrain. In order for this tennis player to have a chance at success, she must practice under those conditions and adapt to the new environment. Same for our dogs :) with the difference that even a slight variation between the learned environment and the new environment can throw our dog for a loop. These are just but a few examples that might derail good learning.

 

Now, back to my client’s and their expectations for success. It is also part of my job to exactly learn where the dog is engaging in behaviors that are problematic for the owner – dogs never have a problem when they act as dogs - it is always us! Or in the case of aggression, etc. behaviors that can prove dangerous so that I can resolve them in that context. When it comes to teaching new stuff, I also need to know where would the owner want the dog to exercise the behavior at hand… In their backyard? The kitchen? Out and about? Or all three?

I think it is fair for clients to want to know if their dog’s behavior will improve since they are spending considerable amount of resources in the form of payment and time invested in the training of their pooch. So for this reason, the conversation of… is their dog not engaging in “x” or “y” behavior as a result of training or performing with more consistency the target behavior as a result of training, needs to take place.

As such, another conversation that I also have with my clients is to make them absolutely aware that behavior is not a “straight” line but more of a fluctuating experience. Once again, the same can be said about us: consistency eludes us and we have the bigger brain. :)

By doing my job correctly, their dog performs. But only as long as they continue to practice where it matters. They also must keep in mind that their dog is not a robot but also subjected to influences in its environment and as such, not always consistent in responding. And this my friends, is part of adaptation, which we all need in order to thrive.

Still Learning

I am working with some clients and their dog in teaching the dog not to pull on leash. They had come to me after a frustrating full-time pulling outing with their dog.

I take the dog’s leash from my client’s hand and we take off walking, the dog was barely pulling and very interested in what I have to offer him.

My clients who are standing nearby can’t believe their powerful dog is not interested in pulling and jokingly (and probably happy to see their dog can learn) tell me that they are not making stuff up… that the dog was really pulling! I tell them that I know they are not “lying” and that I believe that their dog was pulling because most dogs will pull if they have not been taught otherwise.

As I describe to them what I am doing and why the dog is now not pulling, one of my client’s offers that she thinks her dog is walking nicely without pulling because I am assertive. I tell her that it is not so much that I am assertive (which I am but not the main reason for my nice walking on leash “success”) but that the main reasons are:

1. I know what I want the dog to do. In other words I have a clear picture in my head of what walking nicely on leash is. So I can aim for this goal with less work and more rapidly. Similarly to having good directions when not familiar with a destination.
2. I am paying the dog handsomely for tiny success of him remaining semi-close to me or at least walking in front of me with a loose leash - the opposite of a taut one.

I turn to her and I tell her… the “trick is to recognized that Rover is still learning how to walk nicely on a leash." He is in effect in the first of four stages of learning; the Acquisition stage.

When a dog is in this first stage of learning the dog must learn what we want him to do. What exactly will produce a reinforcer. In order for our learner to move into the next stage we must provide ample feedback (read: treats, smiles, praise etc.- any good stuff that will make the dog want to continue learning and working with you).

Fluency is the next stage. In essence the dog becomes capable (or fluent) in his ability to perform the trained behavior as if on “auto-pilot”. At this stage we are seeing more and more correct responses and as the responses go up in number also the number of times the dog is reinforced for “good answers” and because reinforcement increases the behavior that has been reinforced… the number of correct behaviors continues to increase.

Now we can begin stage 3: Generalization. At this stage the dog learns that the new learning has many relevant applications (or context in which it needs to be performed). In our example of walking nicely on leash the dog is now able to walk without pulling not only in a semi-distracting environment. Say, when being walked in front of his home, a familiar location, but in addition, the dog learns that walking on a loose leash when seeing a familiar dog, getting a scent of an interesting smell etc. is the way to go. I know, it sounds almost impossible but it happens all the time!

The final stage is that of Maintenance. At this last stage our learner is consistent in offering the correct behavior in all sorts of instances or environments.

Now, I just described to you what the learner is learning and the process of learning, but what is the role of the “teacher/coach/ trainer/owner" as we teach our dog to engage in desirable behaviors?

There are so many important skills and knowledge base that is needed in order to teach anyone with efficacy and empathy- dog training is no different! And that is in part what makes it so interesting to some of us and such a big challenge to most people.

The one skill I want to focus on is that one of providing feedback to the dog.

One of the biggest misconceptions in training dogs is that the dog learns by the use of a verbal cue (command). In reality dogs learn in two main ways and one of them is by consequences - good and bad.

What I mean by feedback is the use of a reward (reinforcer) as a form of “payment” to the dog but most importantly as a motivator – something the dog wants or would work for, for doing what I want him to do!

There, the big secret is out!

So what I was doing with my leash-pulling friend was reinforcing him for very small successes that kept him wanting to not only pay attention to what was earning him the reinforcer, but also able to continue to work for me for a longer period of time - so learning was taking place. Trainers often hear the following question: How long will I have to continue feeding my dog? The answer is that is depends.

It all depends on the stage of learning your dog is at for that specific behavior. Yes. It is more complex (and fun) than the description above but in essence that is correct. As the dog becomes successful in what we are aiming to teach him we can scale down on reinforcers.

Curiously enough, this in itself will maintain the behavior going strong - under learned circumstances. Once again, the science of animal learning is much more complex than saying “pay lots at the beginning and then pay less.” The devil is in the details and in the understanding of a few principles that will enable our learner to learn and for everyone involved in the process to enjoy it.

Rio, Go To Your Mat… Or Not

Phew, it has been a really busy couple of weeks. Not only did the number of training sessions I do in a week triple last week, but I also had a lovely board & train. Don’t get me wrong I am so grateful to report that my business is doing well and growing, and that I truly enjoy and relish all aspects of the biz. Okay in all frankness, I don’t enjoy it when I am going to someone’s home for the first time and I get lost … a well-known aspect of my personality. Especially here in NM, make a wrong turn … and you are lost for-e-ver with no possible turn around in sight. Truly, getting lost when I have a schedule appt. makes my blood pressure rise, way high.

As part of my love affair with training dogs (and other creatures too) and how much I get out of interacting with dogs and their funny (sometimes really mysterious ways) I train my two dogs on a weekly basis. When I say that I train my dogs weekly, it means that I actually have specific goals for them in mind. I create training plans for these goals based on which dog I am working with, carve the time to do the training and perhaps most challenging…. figure out what to do with the other dog while I am training one of them.

My favorite ways of keeping the one not training busy is by feeding their meals or a super yummy – lasting treat out of a Kong, a food-dispensing machine that dispenses kibble at a preset time or a chewy bone. However, an interesting occurrence happens where I chuckle and I roll my eyes at my two dogs followed by a: what gives? What they do is the one working with the food-dispensing machine also wants to come train and abandons his/her food. Wow, talk about a grand stroke to the ego. My adolescent dogs want to hang out with me????? They prefer whatever I am doing than their chow? Ah, life is grand isn't it?

Ego stroking aside, I do have a problem. For some training sessions, I work with both dogs at the same time, for others working with them individually is the appropriate way to teach them.

This morning when my little alarm rung to remind me that I had a training schedule with Deuce and Rioja I chuckled… and thought about the last time I trained them “this formally." I think it has been 8 days.

Now the reality is that even though I am committed to working with my dogs (and have always done so) on a regular basis in an organized, well planned (and recorded by video - most of the time, depending on what I doing) training sessions, our dogs are always learning. Very similar to children, no? Where you better watch what you say, but most importantly what you do (which in many cases it is actually the opposite of what we say they should do).

I call this type of learning “passive-learning” or learning by “osmosis” not technical terms that I am aware of. For sure learning by “osmosis” does not appear in the animal learning lit. Either way, I like to frame these types of learning experiences like this because they make me aware that learning is always taking place and that I must also teach them in control settings (with a training plan, a location in mind, contingent plan, etc.)

Take the case of Rioja. She would eat anything at anytime that food is presented to her. Yes, call her Ms. Piggy and one of my challenges is to keep her waist nicely trimmed. In order for Deuce or Rioja to get fed their meals, they must be sitting or laying quietly on their mats (beds) in the kitchen area. Okay, mea-culpa I have not “formally” taught Rioja what going to her mat means… so it is not entirely her fault that she gets up and wonders around the kitchen hoping that this will get me to hurry up and just dish her meal out.

Yes, I do have a specific (super fun) plan in mind to teach her almost seamlessly how to go to her mat as I point my finger to the location. BTW, even though most of us take for granted the fact that our dog actually respond to our finger (arm, leg) pointing in a given direction as no big deal (perhaps never consider that they actually do so) it is an ENORMOUS advantage to our living together and sharing our lives. Not even our closest relatives the chimps can do that with the finesse that our dogs do! It is part of their genetic – thanks to domestication make-up. The research behind this finding is intricate and reads almost like a spy-novel.

I was aware of the capacity for dogs to follow our fingers – a contextual visual cue, but I never imagined how important this is for establishing our relationship with them as [wo]man’s best friend. If you want to learn more about this, which I totally recommend you do, read Brian Hare Ph.D. and Vanessa Woods newest and terrific book: The Genius of Dogs, you can buy the book here:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DEG166

Okay, I am digressing here, in the meantime while Rio learns that: impulse control (her staying on her mat) pays in the form of me feeding her more readily and that in order to get fed she must be quietly on her mat – I’ll take a sit, but down-stay is the future goal is the ONLY way she will get fed I have stopped acting like an amateur trainer and repeating myself with go to your mat thing when I known that I have not formally taught her that behavior to fluency so why the heck would she be able to perform it???

So my options are:

1. Teach her the behavior pronto - to fluency so that then I can just point my index finger and direct her to her precious mat for a accelerated meal experience.
2. Ignore her ambling around me – NEVER feed her when she does this.
3. Pay her big time when she goes and sits or lays on her bed by throwing her and Deuce a little sample of the menu that day. Now this is a perfect example of learning by osmosis. Actually the “technical” term for this type of learning/training is capturing: when you pay for something that your dog did without you requesting it but it is still something you want him/her to do more of.

We acknowledge the behavior that we want to see more of when it is voluntarily offered. Now remember, law of learning tells us that whatever behavior we reinforce…. Ta, ta, ta, ta…. We will see more of in the future… LAW of learning is not my opinion, I should point out.

No magic tricks here, no head scratching for an answer, just follow that simple rule of learning. And most and foremost, please let go of: She SHOULD know that bla, bla, bla… No! She shouldn't. Why would she?

In reality, the sooner we forgo the notion that dogs must do what we want them to because they should, the faster they will surprise us with their ability to learn. It is all about finding time and again (in that moment, that day, this dog) what motivates the dog to do so.

Now, shouldn't you give this a try? If you choose to do so, you will be surprised to see how your dog learns faster with his confidence level soaring and both of you can then take a break to sit on a couch and read about fingers pointing and the dogs that follow them.