Handling Our Frustration with Our Dog’s Behavior

Those of you who read my blog regularly know by now that I have been struggling with Deuce’s and Rio’s “performance” or interest when it comes to flying Frisbees.

Well, this morning was one of those mornings. I am gathering the Frisbees and the energy to start working with these guys. Both Deuce and Rio appear excited at this point. Good, I think. I throw my first air born Frisbee for Deuce and he remains standing looking at me as if asking me what do I want him to do about that. What??? I recall yesterday you were chasing Frisbees as fast as you could when we were practicing in the back porch and today??!

I call Rio and she kind of gives me the cold shoulder and begins to sniff the air amused by the freshest smell in her vicinity. I up my enthusiasm by running away from her, yeah; look it is really fuunnn - I am almost out of breath; still, she snobs me.

Darn! Okay, I actually thought more than that - but I will keep it civil here. I am now really frustrated. I proceed to tell the dogs to get out of the field where we are “working” and to my surprise they both obliged wondering what is wrong with me that I have turned into a Meany. I think to myself: plan B… but, what is plan “B”????

I proceed to call the dogs one at a time as the other one watches. I then get all excited as to convince them that they are the lucky ones by being summoned to play.

NOTHING! Once again I tell them to go outside as I began to practice my Frisbee throw. I nail a few throws but thanks to Rio’s obsession in chewing them they now fly haphazardly.

No point in buying new and expensive Frisbees if my dogs don’t want to play – I sulk.

I am done having fun at my party-of-one and I collect my mauled Frisbees. I pass by the two of them who are now lying in the shade waiting to see what’s next. I give them a glance and I tell them harshly that we are done playing. They both kind of don’t believe me since this rarely, very rarely happens. I ignore their doggy-plea for an explanation and I put the Frisbees away.

Believe me when I tell you that I was very frustrated. I was actually so frustrated with them and my ill attempts in getting them motivated to play that I decide to basically ignore them. I am dog less now. And that suits me just fine.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in this mode also trying to figure out what is behind my strong inclination in playing Frisbee with them. I ponder upon my goals and in the process I am feeling kind of bad that I am doing something I do not want to do: I am thinking of my pups as robots or tools that must conform to my wishes and perform as I see fit when I do.

I also tell myself almost admonishingly that all training and learning MUST be fun or at the very least intimidation free! This is something I really believe in and now I am turning into something I don’t like.

I also recognized that I did the right thing by not taking too much of my frustration on Deuce and Rio. Yes, my less-than-fun body language reveled to them my current state; but no one got yelled at, or physically abused, but since my “ignoring” mode very rarely happens with these two, I guess they were caught by surprise and took notice.

I decided to cut myself some slack, but investigate further. These are some of the thoughts that came to me as part of my process of learning about myself, my expectations and how to deal with frustration with my dogs and their behavior:

1. Dogs are not tools. They are sentient beings with whom we should enter into some sort of contractual agreement when we want them to do something such as catching the perfect thrown disc, remain next to us as we navigate the world of disability, search over and over again for possible victims in search & rescue teams, win the Iditarod or the Agility competition.
2. Learning should be as stress free as possible and without intimidation.
3. Learning should consider the needs of the learner with the “teacher” observing and adjusting to fit the lesson’s goals as well as the needs (emotional, cognitive) of the one learning.
4. Learning and training MUST be enjoyable and as equally important...
5. We will NOT succumb to the reinforcing nature of punishment. This is actually why punishment (presentation of an aversive) abounds in animal training, children rearing and life in general: Because it is reinforcing for the one administering the aversive.

One of the things I enjoyed most about my job is that I get to trouble-shoot and find the many “whys” why dogs rather do something else at a given moment than what we have in mind for them. As well, I miss finding the motivators to have them happily comply with us.

Sure enough, by our next training session, I had come up with a plan “B” that I could live with. This training plan had fun, had knowhow, but above all it was fair to the dogs.
Stay tune for next week’s installment.

Behavior Chains

Deuce is almost flying as he's catching the Frisbee that I throw for him while Rio takes the 'Hound' approach. She is strolling around the area where we are just sniffing the ground in high hopes of finding a forgotten treat from a past session.

I decide to ignore her and just concentrate on Deuce and our game together. I slip Deuce a treat here and there after either dropping the Frisbee or just for being Deuce and acting cute. Rio spots me doing so and starts marching in my direction.

I encourage her and I give her a treat followed by high-pitch trainer’s voice for joining in on the fun or at least not fully ignoring me. She clearly is still not that interested in running after the Frisbee. I then proceed to ask her for a nose target to the Frisbee which she does with no problem and again she gets a treat for this. Then I ask her to paw the disk with her paws - something she loves to do full-force. As if showing me she “knows” what I am talking about. I noticed that she is still not really ready to just go after a thrown Frisbee, but just kind of warming up. Seconds later I begin to move the Frisbee on the ground away from her as I talk to her excitedly. Ahh, too much for this girl and she pounces on the plastic toy with gusto.

She is now kind of “begging” me to throw the Frisbee for her. 'Are you reaadyyy?' I ask her as I try to build some anticipation…'Reaadyyy ?' I can tell that she is now ready to go after the Frisbee and I send them both flying into the air.

We continue playing like this for a couple of minutes until all the Frisbees that I own are laying somewhere on the ground. The dogs are laying in the shade taking a needed rest. I call them to come back again to play. This time both dogs are eager and the fun begins once again.

I have no idea why Rio is not so interested in playing Frisbee with me from the get-go. She does LOVE to interact with the Frisbee by chewing on it and for that purpose she has one and only one that she can chew and carry around to her heart’s content.

The reality is that it does not matter why she does not want to do the Frisbee thing with me. I might never find out why she is not keen on this game. It is also very doable that tomorrow she would be the first begging for the Frisbee to catch.

As I am playing with Deuce, I develop my plan for Rio because I do want her to go after the Frisbee. It is a great and fast way to give them both a fantastic workout and I just love to see how agile this girl is!

So my plan consists of building some excitement and anticipation by asking her to do stuff she enjoys doing such as the nose touch, striking a paw on the disc and chasing a moving Frisbee on the ground.

Stormy Weather

It's March and I am beginning to desensitize Deuce to the noise of thunder. Deuce, like so many dogs, is afraid of storms. Be it the noise, the lightning itself or potentially all the atmospheric conditions that accompany a storm.

Deuce’s thunder phobia (or storm phobia, perhaps more accurately) is not really bad, but it is bad enough that it warrants doing some counter-conditioning and desensitization. The poor guy will come to whoever is around in search of some needed comfort. If the storm is really bad he becomes almost catatonic. He won't move, take treats and on a few occasions he wouldn't even play tug.

Helping dogs with thunderstorm phobia is actually complicated because there are many factors surrounding this fear that we cannot control. Now, if we do some work before the season begins we might really have a chance at making a dent in their well-being.

The trick here is to create calming & reassuring circumstances for the dog that can be replicated when a storm might strike. If we wait to console the dog once he is afraid, our efforts will probably accomplish very little.

I am beginning my protocol early, before the season is in full swing, by having Deuce wear a ThunderShirt for soothing and fun activities. I put on his ThunderShirt just before serving him a meal, just before we are going outside to play Frisbee or soccer and I remove it afterwards. Deuce accepts the ThunderShirt with no problem, which is great because he is one of those boys that do not like having too much on him. I guess he is not an accessories kind of guy!

The goal here is to have him associate the wearing of the ThunderShirt via multiple pairing with something fun and pleasant so that when the storm season begins, I can help him feel a bit more relaxed by putting the shirt on when I know a storm is forthcoming.

I like to think of and explain it to my clients to make the ThunderShirt become some sort of “magical  attire”- almost like a “protection-shield” - embedded with “magical-powers” due to the many pairings made with positive experiences.

In addition to working with this, I will begin working on desensitizing him to the sound of thunder by playing a thunder CD again under pleasant and fun circumstances for him.

Now, the timing and methodology here is crucial! In order for us to have a real chance of pairing together two (or more) distinctive stimuli we MUST set it up appropriately: The scary-stimulus, in this case the sound of thunder, should always produce the fun /soothing stimulus. So I begin to play the thunder CD at a low yet discernible level and after the sound has begun I proceed to engage Deuce in fun & games.

If the CD begins at the same time or just after the game (fun stimulus) our chances of any pairing worth influencing his emotional state will be nil.

It is also important to keep in mind that starting desensitization and counter-conditioning program once the storm season has begun will most likely also disappoint. The dog is already anxious and thus less capable to learn. On the same token if the ThunderShirt is only used when a storm is forthcoming it will only take a couple of times of fitting the dog with the item before he starts anticipating the storm - real bad news for the dog. :(

So, do not delay the process of teaching your dog - if he suffers from thunder-phobia teach him or her that storms are not that bad by carefully find things your dog loves to do with the best replications of stormy conditions.

Go!

Holidays are great opportunities for recharging. Besides perhaps getting more shuteye and visiting with friends, I do like to keep things somewhat routine for the dogs. We might add a new place to visit or just spend more time hanging out. This Thanksgiving weekend I spent the time upping my Frisbee game with them.

Playing Frisbee is:
A. A fantastic way of exercising the dogs in just a short time since it is a highly aerobic form of exercise and …
B. Much more technical than people give it credit.

There are so many skills the dogs need to learn in order to catch a Frisbee over and over again. I noticed as I was teaching Deuce and Rio how to do so (I got some good advice from a Frisbee champion) that they needed to develop eye coordination while gauging the speed of the Frisbee so that they could get it in the air prior to its landing.

Besides these skills, dogs need to be athletic – able to jump and learn how to land without injury. This is the aspect of the game that ”worries” me the most: Dogs, just like people, can get easily hurt by moving their bodies in the wrong direction, landing wrong, etc. That is why us learning the basics of this sport is really crucial prior to having our pups flying into the sky in pursuit of the disk.

The person should learn how to hold the Frisbee and how to throw it. My emphasis here is twofold: hold and throw in a way that gives the dog the advantage of not only seeing it mid-air, but enough opportunity to catch it. Also I try and send the disk so that my dogs do not have to jump vertically too much. Yes, indeed this looks “super-cool” but the problem is that injuries are bound to happen.

Throwing and playing with my dogs and the Frisbee requires that I pay close attention. I also like to give them enough breaks in between the running and jumping. Dogs are sprinters (not long distance) so making sure they rest in between throws is paramount.

As I was playing with them this am, I focused my attention on making sure that my shoulders are pointed in the direction where I could throw the disk and that my knees are slightly bent to give the dogs a visual cue as to when I am ready to throw. In no time both dogs were much more able to reach the toy and to catch it because of my cuing them.

Our dogs are always watching us. They take massive amounts of information from everything we do and, of course, the tone of our voices. It was the process of domestication that most likely gifted dogs with their keen sensibility to how we move, how we position ourselves in relation to them, etc. It is also the case that dogs study and communicate with us as they do with other dogs. So I guess it is fair to say that it is not only us that pressures dogs to learn our verbal language but they too relate to us as they with their own kind. Ideally though, we meet them half-way.

Everything I do with my dogs is tailored to keeping them safe and happy. I put tons of effort into making sure that their lives are catered to their doggy-needs. And in the process we both get so much out of it. In essence both parties are constantly looking for opportunities for engagement and this my friends, is one of the highlights of living with dogs!

Why?

We just finished playing with the Frisbee and I am now calling the dogs to come inside so that I can feed them and get on with my day. Yet Rio refuses to come in. Instead, she remains laying down in the cool front porch - her expression appears to be one of asking: Why would I want to come in?

I stop asking and I shut the front door behind me. A few minutes later she has changed her mind and wants in.

Do you remember being a kid and your parents asking you to do something and when you asked them why you had to do it their response was: Because I am your… (fill in the blank) and you have to do what I say, bla, bla, bla…

Guess what? It is not any different for dogs! Before they march themselves to “obey” our orders or requests the dog is always thinking: Why? What's in it for me??? Yes, I know we really love to think that dogs do things out of love for us and while I have no interest in denying the love they might be feeling, I also know that they are completely self-interested beings.

We need to understand this basic principle: All living species engage in behaviors based on self-interest. So the bottom line is that behaviors get executed when there is the motivation to do so. In essence…it is all about MOTIVATION people!

It is our job (since we are setting the “agenda for our dogs” and we have the big primate brain) to find, time and time again, motivators so that our dogs perform behaviors that we want and need from them.

I am aware that for some folks this scientific fact is too much to bear. Perhaps not “romantic” enough. Frankly, I do not doubt for one second that my dogs “love” me or that they want me around, (most of the time, say) but I have made peace with the fact that they too need to follow their own self-interest and that these two realities can coexist!

The fun begins when we find ways of bartering (motivating) our dogs to do what we need them to do because it is good for them even if they don’t “know it” or because it is what we want them to do. Besides, aren’t the best relationships filled with negotiations?

Using our dogs self-interest and need for motivators to our advantage is in my opinion one of the biggest differences between professional trainers who have an understanding of animal learning and the “average” pet owner. I see so many of my clients struggling with this aspect of their relationship because they hold dear to the belief that their dogs “should” do “x” “y” or “z”…kind of like our parents did…

I wonder if this big “misunderstanding” comes from the fact that our society thinks and treats dogs - and other pets - as possessions. Possessions, of course, have no agency!

Possessions have no needs and no self-interest. But because our dogs are not possessions, they will behave in ways that they consider advantageous.

I recently heard someone saying that her dog was "opportunistic" in the given situation that we were discussing. My immediate thought was that indeed her dog and all other dogs on the planet are opportunistic since they come pre-wired with the self-preservation. One can even argue that domestication lies at the center of self-preservation. However, this does not exclude them from forming strong bonds with us.

This topic of discussion is potentially controversial because it appears as if we have to take sides: Dogs are selfish OR dogs are capable of empathy/love. The debate continues and I truthfully don’t know why. Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., a former Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and cofounder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, among others, have demonstrated that many animals including dogs are capable of empathy, humor and care of others. Since dogs are beings with intricate, emotional lives isn’t it possible that they can demonstrate empathy and care, AND also act out of self-interest? Perhaps the “problem” is that we are beginning to appreciate how similar dogs are to us and for some folks this notion is (still) very controversial…

Frisbee Dogs

Teaching your non-interested dogs to play with a Frisbee is similar to having to choose which chocolate to eat from a box of chocolates.

This morning as is our routine, I played/trained Deuce and Rioja before it got too hot. I have been working on teaching them how to play Frisbee. Believe it or not, the first few times I threw the Frisbee they looked either away from the flying disk with complete lack of interest or they looked at me in search of an explanation. Needless to say, I was crushed! My two athletic, super motivated dogs who'd do anything fun had no interest in the Frisbee!

It was clear to me after a few throws that this technique was doing nothing to peek their desire to chase after it. Suddenly it dawned on me to attach the Frisbee to a whippet since they both love to play with them and emulate as best I could the motion of a Frisbee. That worked like a charm and in just a couple of playing/training sessions both dogs were eager to be the one chasing the object.

I continued building a strong history of reinforcement with the Frisbee attached to the whippet knowing that at some point I needed to try my luck and throw the Frisbee as it is intended to be used and hope that both dogs jumped into action.

See how teaching your dogs to play with a Frisbee (or pretty much any kind of training) resemble choosing which chocolate? The experience is full of expectations and surprises!

I just got a new Frisbee that is made of a soft plastic that both dogs can pick up from the ground with no problem - an issue I did not anticipate when I began throwing the Frisbee for them.

Yesterday I played again with them just before dark and again this morning. I carefully noted what I needed to do for both of them so that they continue being interested in chasing the disc, being able to catch it midair as well as observing what they normally like to do once they are in possession of the toy.

There different personalities require that I pay attention so that I can design an individual training plan for each.

For example, when Rioja is in possession of the Frisbee she loves to run around (and away from me) with it in her mouth. When she does that she resembles more a young colt just out of the confines of the stable than a dog.

I have to be mindful not to immediately ask her for the toy or call her back to me so that we can begin the game again. Instead I thought, it is important that she gets to do something that she finds really fun after catching (or attempting to catch) the Frisbee.

The fun that she is having while going after the object and her little colt impersonation will translate later in a dog that is thrilled about catching and bringing the Frisbee back to me but first things first. We build behaviors slowly.

In essence, in the beginning stages of training something elaborate like playing with the Frisbee, it is important to keep things fun. Besides engaging the dog with the activity when I stop directing their every step, I get an opportunity to learn more about them: what do they like to do? What do I need to work on more? Etc.

Deuce, for example, is learning very well how to leap in the air as I throw the Frisbee in front of him close by. Keep in mind that is not necessarily “obvious” for a dog to be able to just grab the flying object. They too need to learn to coordinate their body in addition to running or jumping with speed. Speed and precision are the name of the game and dogs must learn this too!

Deuce does not run around excited with the toy, instead after jumping and catching it, he goes and lays in the shade anxious to have another go at it. He needs to bring the Frisbee back to me instead of expecting for me to go retrieve the disk. Having more than one Frisbee will solve this problem.

Since Frisbee throwing is also a new activity for me, I am experiencing the three of us learning at the same time. The mental notes that I take as I work with them are teaching me about their strength and weaknesses besides laying in front of my eyes the process of learning a new skill. The expectation of having them learn something new, or becoming proficient with a task keeps me wanting more. Not knowing how the session will progress keeps me focused, constantly checking my expectations with
their present abilities.