Why mental stimulation is so critical to your dog’s well-being.

If you are at all in the dog “circle” you have unmistakably heard about mental stimulation. What I think sometimes trainers, like myself, forget to do is to explain to people a couple of important factors about mental stimulation.

 

First off, I would like to define mental stimulation.

It is any activity that your dog enjoys, can engage in, and that in some way or another satiates an innate (natural) canine need. Now, we must dive into what constitutes innate behaviors in dogs. The most scientific way I know how to do this is to consider who dogs are:

We know that dogs are predators. They acquire their preferred food (or at least they did when they were hunting since most present day dogs do not hunt for their food) by chasing down their prey, and they eat it by dissecting it.  As hunters, they do not get a guaranteed meal either so we know that they are opportunistic feeders, as well as scavengers. There in itself, we have quite a few clues as to what sort of activities we might come up with that emulates  behaviors all dogs engage in when they are hunting after a prey or feeding.

In delving into it more closely, we discover that dogs, like any other predator, are highly interested in movement because movement might mean an opportunity to eat. We also now know that they have powerful canine molars to grind and teeth to shred meat apart. Another important clue!

So here are some activities that can supply your dog the opportunity of species-specific behaviors: if we add less predictability to how we feed our dogs, we might just hit the jackpot!

Simply put, instead of serving your dog its meal from a ceramic bowl, make that food come alive.
Toss your dog’s high-quality kibble or dry treats up in the air, without much restrain, so that it spreads everywhere. Encourage your dog the first few times to find each and every one of the individual pieces of kibble as it uses it’s very powerful sense of smell. If you are feeding raw, you will not be able to do this, so please do not try this at home.

Alternatively, you can flick away each piece of kibble down a hallway while creating some really interesting motion for your dog. Now your dog has to run after every single one of them. Does this activity resembles a natural way of feeding for your dog?  Think about it; it’s the same meal but different behaviors to acquire it: chasing to eat.

When it comes to dogs dissecting their protein for consumption, we can find a myriad of manners to feed our dogs so that they have to “work” with those powerful mouths for their food.

Replace then, the food bowl for a Kong filled with your dog’s daily chow, and not just a thin coat of peanut butter.  Now you got your dog’s attention!  It might take your dog 2 minutes or even longer to extract its daily food and that definitively beats spending only 30 seconds in one of the most salient activities of the day for most modern dogs:  consuming food.  If you choose to feed your dog in this manner, you will most likely need to serve more than one Kong.  Wow! The fun just doubled. I strongly suggest feeding your dog like this at least once a day.

You can also add some spin to how your dog gets its meal.  Some really clever food-dispensing toys require that the dog makes the toy spin in order for the kibble to come out. Remember how attractive movement is for our dogs? Again, if you feed raw, then find some acceptable non-raw item that could add some much needed entertainment to your dog’s day. It could be a boiled egg, sardines or perhaps your dog is into apples. I know of a very lucky dog that gets served daily an apple in a Kong.

While all dogs are predators and engage in one way or another in typical canine behaviors, each dog is also an individual. So spending a bit of time discovering which activities your dog enjoys will pay off. Some dogs might get scared if we attempt to throw up in the air a bunch of kibble, so perhaps for this type of dog, a much more low key toy or even tossing each piece of kibble gently (this does not take as long as you might think BTW) is more appropriate. Now, it goes without saying, not because our dogs are scavengers does it mean that we do not have to provide some guidance as to how to pull the food out of a food dispensing toy. So make sure to make things easy for your dog so that he is successful in getting the food out of the toy.  Keep him in the game!  Once he can do this with some effort but still gets to extract the food, make things a bit more challenging for your dog.

Of course, there are also games that provide both mental stimulation as well as physical opportunities for your dog, which don't always involve eating. I will be exploring some of these activities in future posts. Stay tuned!

Dog aggression is (very) ritualized

I am working at my computer totally immersed in what I am doing when I hear a very odd sound coming from Deuce.  I turn and see that Deuce, who was lying on a bed next to me, is completely smacked tight to the wall with his face also turned away towards the wall.  Next to him lies a Kong that I had previously given him. As I turn a bit to my left, I see Rio approaching the Kong. 

I realize then what was going on: Deuce had already abandoned his Kong even though it still had sardines in it.  Rio, the hound that she is, wanted a second serving. 

My dogs are very good at giving each other space when it comes to enjoying a Kong filled with goodies, a bone and the like.  I also manage them closely to ensure that they enjoy the goods in peace.

Dogs wanting each other’s resources is absolutely normal dog behavior, as is negotiating for resources. I wish you could have seen these two interact as I did!  There communication was a very clear rendition of ritualized aggression between dogs. What I mean by aggression being ritualized is that dogs will signal in all sorts of ways that they do not mean to harm and they much rather not get into a real fight. 

You see, fighting is expensive. If you fight, you might be the one injured or dead, with no genes to pass on to the next generation. 

Now let’s get back to the incident of the Kong lying next to Deuce and how they went about negotiating this situation.

Deuce as described, is lying and perhaps even snoozing with his Kong nearby.  Rio approaches the Kong as she does thousands of times once Deuce had either finished his or decided he is done extracting the food. But this time, Deuce was communicating to Rio that he was not okay with her having the Kong.  A clear case of: Hey! This is mine!

Deuce produced a very low growl with his body stiff and away from Rio (and the Kong). I noticed that he was totally adverting Rio by looking away from her.  As a response to Deuce’s growl and his own body language,  Rio stopped her approach to the Kong.

I immediately took stock of the situation by retrieving the Kong from the ground.  I praised both dogs for not escalating the situation, but diffusing the conflict. I  reached into the Kong and gave servings of sardines to both of the dogs. Once the Kong was empty we all went back to work and snoozing.

While I know my dogs well and I know how to make the best of a conflict like this, I am not suggesting for one second that people try this at home. It is always best to help the dogs not get into conflict over resources. Yes, aggression is a highly ritualized business- full of threats and accommodations, but dogs can also fight over resources. I would hate for someone to be bitten as they intervene between their two posturing dogs.

Now, there are a couple of interesting lessons to glean from a situation like this.  I wish folks are made aware of and implement the following:

1.  Learn what is valuable for your dog.  Dogs do have individual preferences and these preferences vary depending on satiation levels (for that resource at a given time) and the context.
2. Manage any resource that dogs find somewhat valuable. Again, this will be different for any group of dogs living together.
3. Learn to read (observe) dog body language as this (and vocalization) are the best avenues we have in understanding a situation. For example:  Deuce could have given Rio a hard stare, exposing his teeth, but instead he diffused by looking away from Rio.
4. Reinforce your dogs when they act as peace makers instead of fighters.  Remember that laws of learning tell us that whatever behavior we reinforce we will see more of.  In this situation here, the reinforcer was to pay each dog with what they wanted at the moment. The specific behaviors that I was reinforcing were both dogs diffusing the situation and communicating to each other: Deuce by growling at Rio and freezing while looking away; and Rio by stopping in her tracks when she heard Deuce growl, instead of engaging on a full-on physical fight.

Note:
There are always dogs that will choose to fight first, skipping most of the ritualized aspects of conflict.  They have learned that fighting (I am describing  fighting as physical contact that may produce damage – or not) pays off.  However,  (most) of these dogs can also be taught that fighting is not necessarily the best option.  Most dogs, however; will posture and engage in ritualized behaviors instead of fighting, or they will give ample warning even before a fight takes place.

Your dog’s impulse control and my customer service

I have had a cutie of a pup staying with us for B&T for a couple of weeks now.  This pup, while young, has one of the most wonderful temperaments I have so far encountered.  She is friendly to people and dogs, very respectful of her adult dog companions, yet full of zest and confidence.  She is also a bit mischievous which is really okay in my book.

One trait that I noticed needs a bit of work is her lack of impulse control when it comes to being able to remain quietly in her crate after finishing her meal or the nightly chewy.  As soon as she is done she wants out! Period.  Don’t get me wrong, she can sleep comfortably in her crate for the night so it is not that she finds that the crate is aversive. The best way I can describe her behavior is a lack of impulse control which is often seen in young animals. Also true, some adults of all species may also lack impulse control.

Impulse control is like a muscle that needs to be made stronger by multiple repetitions.

As I approach her crate one morning, I find her sitting patiently. She has learned that sitting and waiting politely for a couple of seconds without barking is the key to that crate being opened.

I look at her and I smile because she is indeed flexing that muscle!  For some reason, thoughts of how I respond poorly in certain circumstances such as when talking to customer service or tech support, flood my mind.  Yes, indeed, there are areas where I too can flex the impulse/polite muscle a bit more- it is not only this young pup.

The point I am trying to make is that behavior and its motivation is so freaking complex. For example: an individual dog can exercise some awesome self-control under certain circumstances but not others.

I would say that it is more a practice than a temperament trait. Yes, indeed, some temperaments in dogs are more prone to easy arousal, while others appear to habitat the world as if they had no cares.

Being mindful that impulse control in young animals is something that needs not only our attention but also our understanding makes the process of teaching it more benign. We can appreciate that dog “x” is really good at waiting politely for the Kong now filled with their daily chow be delivered. This same dog waits at the door instead of rushing out with little regard as who’s toes they might step on, etc. However, he struggles with walking on a loose leash.

Rio, is a perfect example of this.  Her walking politely on leash is something we are still working on. However, this girl gets an A+ in not eating anything from the ground while we are cooking and while she waits (patiently- ever so patiently) for us to reward her with a tasty bit. There you have it. Two perfect examples of the same dog scoring high in some areas of self-control and not being so successful in others.

So here is my message to you: Observe carefully what your dog’s behavior is.  Don’t label your dog!  Instead, choose to see him by appreciating that they are complex beings and not automatons. They have better days and bad days, the have moments of brilliancy and moments of failure.  They can be taught to be patient, polite in all sorts of circumstances but above all they are alive and as such their behavior will be ever changing. Adapting to their surroundings just like we are.

Single child (dog)

Our friend’s Robin and Lisa come over for dinner and they bring along Skylar who is one of Rio’s and Deuce’s BFF. The dogs are excited to hang out together - first inside as it was still hot. Just as the sun was setting we all step outside to go to the field and let the dogs play hard. They run and take turns chasing balls. My eye caught Rio at least twice politely deferring to Sky her big red ball. Good girl Rio! I told her as I smiled with motherly pride. They continue to play for a bit and now the ball is back between these two. We are all kind of gathered around the dogs when a spat took place between Sky and Rio. It did not last long. We quickly remove the ball from the field.

They keep hanging out and I see that both dogs are back to “normal”. Good, their relationship is intact.

Afterwards I am thinking about single child/dogs and if they are at a deficit when it comes to learning how to share with other dogs. Similar to some single (human) children who find it difficult to do so. I sustain this thought for a few minutes and I reach the conclusion that any being that is alive will have to learn to share resources and protect them as well. Yes, it is true that when there is more than one dog in the household the dogs get daily practice in negotiating all sorts of stuff such as places to lie down, food and other goodies.

It is also a fact that some dogs really like their toys and they might not be as happy about sharing with others. Here is the case of Sky and Deuce. I am not sure if this is an ongoing problem between Sky and her other doggie-pals because this was the first incident of her guarding the ball from Rio. Or perhaps Rio was the one who began the posturing because she was not willing at that point to have Sky keep the ball. Who knows; it all happened kind of fast.

Deuce, for example, is so good about sharing almost everything. He totally looks the other way when Rio (food monger - per excellence) steals his half-eaten chewy or a Kong. However, I need to separate them when I roll out food-dispensing toys (with the exception of the Kongs - go figure!).

If I don’t separate them, Deuce will give Rio and the food-dispensing toy a hard stare and begins to vocalize in a very high pitched tone. If Rio remains close to the toy, he will go towards her and sort of peck on her with his muzzle. Since I know this, I just don’t expose Rio to this sort of nonsense. So they get to eat and play with the food-dispensing toys always apart. Now, Deuce and Rio have a toy box filled with all sorts of goodies that they can access at any time. They each have their favorite toys, with balls ranking # 1 for Deuce. Rio loves them all!

I don’t recall if they have ever felt possession over one of these toys. Perhaps because there are so many to go around that there is truly no need to guard them.

Conflicts between dogs are potentially dangerous for them. That is why for the most part, (unless the dog has learned that pulling his weight around pays off) most dogs tend to exhibit ritualized behaviors that never escalate too much. It is evolutionarily advantageous to remain injury free.

Either way, I try really hard to keep the relationship (yes, it is a true friendship what these two have) between Deuce and Rio as conflict free as possible and the same goes for their other doggie-friends. Playing it smart and anticipating any possible conflicts pays off and will allow for many hours of fun play with or without a precious ball.

Can Your Dog Learn From Halloween?

What is the consensus out there, I wonder… can our dogs learn anything (positive, I am hoping) from Halloween?

I remember years back walking Laika around Halloween in Berkeley where we lived at the time. We came across a Halloween decoration and Laika took a step back. Okay, I thought perfect opportunity for Laika to learn about Halloween and “funny pictures”. Dogs interact with the world using all their senses with the sense of smell and sight as their predominant way of “making sense” of their environment.

So when a dog sees something that appears to the dog out of context, or different than the previous “picture” (representation) of that object or even perhaps something completely new to them, it is common for dogs to feel concerned or afraid since they cannot fully understand this new context.

A perfect example of these funny pictures is the quintessential plastic bag flying in the wind. Most dogs have seen plastic bags lying on the ground, on the kitchen counter, etc. But now the bag is flying… Or take, for example, another typical funny picture: someone walking with crutches. Dogs are aware that people walk with two legs and are even keenly aware of our cadence and body language. But now add the third element to the picture (crutch) and the dog has no idea what to make of it.

Dogs constantly have to adapt to our human world. And learning to feel comfortable (non-threatened) by the funny pictures that they see daily is of primary importance. I take every opportunity during walks, for example, to take advantage of the funny pictures we might encounter. To do this, I pair the viewing of the out-of-place object with something really good for my dogs. For the most part, I use a clicker to communicate to either Rio or Deuce that their choice to approach to investigate this object will gain them a reinforcer. The trick here, of course, is to make sure that the dog is the one making the choice to approach, and if so, how close. For the most part, after a few seconds of approach/avoidance – (moving away from the object) both dogs realize there is nothing to fear and they take a final sniff before we move on with one more little victory and a more confident dog.

So, Halloween is a perfect opportunity to look for those out-of-context scenarios to practice confidence building. Do not be surprise to discover that what you thought was indeed scary to your dog does not register as a “funny picture” to him or her. Do not fret, you will find one that will.

I am not much of a Halloween type of gal; the holiday has little meaning for me. But I realize that for a lot of people it is an opportunity to pass along candy to kids in all sorts of costumes. In other words: Funny-pictures galore!

If your dog is friendly to people in general but especially comfortable with children you might try and make this opportunity a learning opportunity for your pal. Here is how: Arm yourself with some super tasty treats. Whenever trick-or-treaters approach your home and your dog seems them, toss your dog a treat away from the door. Do this a few times. If your dog is an escape front-door artist, leash your dog to a heavy piece of furniture where he can enjoy the activities at the front door while he gets a freebie for hanging around all these “scary” looking kids.

However, if your dog has fear related issues towards people and children play it safe by keeping your dog in another room, while enjoying a delicious bone or stuffed Kong. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that if our dogs are already super friendly to people and especially children our work is done. But when it comes to people-proofing our dogs the end is never in sight. Take these golden opportunities instead to make sure your dog is SUPER comfortable and happy about seeing people in general and especially children in all sorts of odd situations. Happy trick or treating to you all...

Mine, Mine It’s Mine

Laika has been taught to not feel threatened when she has a covet resource such as a bully stick, marrowbone etc. when a person approaches her. So as a result we can confidently ask her to surrender an object – at least that was the case until she got very sick and eating was not
possible. Clearly food and food –related objects have acquired a new meaning for her.

I do not fully understand the medical side of this but it appears that Laika wants to eat but at the same time she is unable to do so because of severe nausea due to the cancer. A very painful scene indeed. At some point when she was still eating a bit, I gave her and Deuce a marrowbone. I approached her and to my surprise she sneered at me. Wow! She totally surprised me. I thought that perhaps it was not the proximity to her while she was nagging on the bone but because I was also petting her and that this was in some way painful.

Either way, I moved away from her. Thank you Laika! Message received. What a lot of people do when their dog sneers, growls as a result of protecting a resource from being taken away is to take it personal. If we can think on our feet and realize that it is perfectly normal for a dog to guard precious resources from others. When it comes to guarding from people (again, normal from the dog’s perspective) we do want to teach the dog that we are not a threat to them or that we actually want their stinky bones because displays of aggression such as sneering, air snaps and the like can very well turn into full-blown aggression. I guess it is also the case of dogs living in our world (and one more time) they have to learn to comply with our rules.

When people take their dog’s display of aggression personal and as a result they take it upon themselves to teach the dog who’s boss or that they should mind their manners the dog learns not to trust this person (or all people) around its precious resources. In other words the dog’s
fears materialized: They wanted a resource for themselves and the proximity of the person meant the resource was removed. Why not teach our dogs instead that the contrary is true: Whenever a person is in their close proximity when they are chewing on a bone, or eating dinner, it means that something even better will come their way! Now here is the good news.

Unless the dog is already actively guarding, there is a very easy and effective way to teach dogs that we do not want their precious possessions. The exercise works like this: If your dog has no history of guarding from you, when he/she is chewing, working a Kong or eating from a bowl walk by and give or throw inside the bowl something absolutely delicious- much better than what the dog is working on. Do this as a cold trial… as explained above and you will see that after a few days or weeks of this simple exercise your dog will even welcome your approach. You will see your dog looking at you (the source of the goodie) with adoring eyes confirming that you belong on that pedestal- his/her demeanor soft and relaxed, mouth open perhaps as she goes back to the task at hand and you go on your way.

Another effective way of teaching your non-guarding dog that you totally rock is to do a series of exchanges. Your dog has something that you rather he/she does not have, say a pair of expensive shoes (they are always the expensive ones…) approach your dog with calm body language while you present him/her with a tasty treat. In essence you are teaching your dog that when he/she surrenders “x” object they will get paid for their trust and efforts. Lastly, I have taught both our dogs that if I ask “give” for whatever reason they surrender only to find that they will get the chewy back a.s.a.p.

Now, if your dog is already guarding from you or anyone else, things are a bit trickier. I have worked with dogs that guard so ferociously that their amorous playful personality changes into a Cujo-like dog when in the presence of the resource they choose to protect. Not only do I want to keep the dog from practicing the behaviors that I want to replace for more appropriate ones, but it is plain dangerous to work with dogs who are guarders without some safety precautions in place. The protocol on how to deal with this volatile situation is elaborate and lengthy yet the success rate is high in most cases.

Oh No, Not the Dominant Thing Again, Please!

Yes, our dogs (if you have more than one dog at home) are individuals and we want to treat them as such. However, aren’t there times when we need to treat them equally? So, here is a scenario that I have heard from some of my clients and that I have witnessed with my own dogs.

Deuce and Laika get a snack mid-day. Mostly it is whatever goodies I have in the fridge that is good for them that can also be stuffed in a Kong. Or, an old-time favorite: sardines tightly packed with a dry small bone. This past week, I noticed that Deuce, who is not as good as Laika in dissecting his food out of tight Kongs, had come back from the backyard kind of soon… Mmm, I wonder what happened, I remember thinking but continued working. Shortly thereafter, I see Ms. Laika with a pretty full Kong- tossing it here and there as her favorite strategy to get the job done fast! Ah, now I know what happened. Laika went outside where Deuce was working on his Kong and basically took it away from him.

I then went and took the Kong away from Laika and gave it back to Deuce, calling Laika in with me. So here is the turn of events and my take on it:

What Laika did: perfectly normal (from a dog’s point of view).
Deuce’s response: i.e.: acquiesce without putting up a fight also a perfectly normal behavioral choice. Indeed Deuce chose NOT to fight Laika for the Kong, but instead walked away from her and came in looking for me …you will see later why I know this.

As I was washing dishes later that evening, I thought about how sad and detrimental to the welfare of a dog it must be when it is being bullied on a regular basis. Bullying between dogs does not mean that there has to be physical contact, a fight or blood all over the place. Bullying is also intimidation -- most likely what Laika did to Deuce when she wanted more than her fare share.

Lucky for Deuce, I know how to handle a situation like this. It is simple! No bullying in my household. And after all I make the rules because I am the parent (pet parent that is) and I pay the mortgage. Unfortunately, for countless dogs and their guardians, some of the my clients, they have heard that they MUST support the “dominant” dog in their household. So in other words, if I (or anyone for that matter) could accurately determine which of the dogs is dominant, we should allow all sort of naughty behaviors from that dog. And, just ignore the other dog – choosing not to intervene since this will interfere with the dog’s relationship or their status.

Unfortunately, it is not that simple to figure out which of the household dogs is the “dominant” one. In essence there is not such a thing as a dominant dog. So what exactly is a “dominant” dog? The answer depends on whom you ask. The popular definition of “dominant” dog is a dog that growls when groomed, jumps or leans on people or does not come when called, is also often referred as acting “dominant” or is “dominant” by temperament.

Now, if we look at the scientific literature (and there is plenty) the definition of dominance changes. First off, the term dominant does not appear as a “stand- alone” term but it is linked with the word “social” as in social dominance. This is an important distinction and here is why: According to the scientific literature, dogs are not dominant by nature or by temperament. A dog may challenge another dog when it comes to the acquisition of a valuable resource- and it is the dog who decides what is valuable, not the human.

Dogs may also challenge a given dog in a specific context but not in another. In essence: social dominance as defined in the animal behavioral literature is fluid. It is based on the relationship between individual competition for valuable resources as well as being context specific! For example: Laika and Deuce have to share the spotlight, their toys and their home etc, whenever I have a client’s dog stay with us for training. What I have witnessed many times is how Laika or Deuce and the guest dog negotiate over resources - be it the larger bed, the privileged spot next to me when watching a video, and on and on. In other words, my dogs, which normally lay on their beds, readily allowed the visiting dog take the (larger) bed when they are more interested in lying outside in the sun. It is not that Deuce or Laika cannot lie on their beds, but in this context, they are willing to share a coveted resource because they'd rather lie somewhere else.

The good news is that dogs, for the most part, (as well as other animals with complex social structures) resolve a conflict by not having one to begin with. Instead, they learn how to negotiate  based on the specifics of the relationship with another dog(s) at a given moment in time. What these scientific findings mean to the human-dog relationship is that we too should relate to our dogs as “partners” in a life of mutual collaboration and friendship versus viewing our dog as “dominant” or adversarial.

The scientific theory of social dominance asks that dog guardians/owners recognize that the behaviors they are labeling as displays of dominance are, for the most part, ways by which a dog is either communicating, i.e. I have not been taught to like being brushed/handled so I am letting you know by snarling or growling, or the dog is just being a dog and simply wants to lay down on something soft like our beds.

Deuce, the younger of the two and a newcomer to our household has excellent social skills. He will avoid a confrontation at all costs. Good lad Deuce, good lad! What he does instead, if he wants to exit a room and Laika is laying close to the door, or if he wants a toy that is in close proximity of Laika, (even though Laika is not really that interested in toys) is to bark. I have learned to recognize when he needs my “help.” So I come and help him. The way I help him is by positioning myself between him and Laika, while Laika doses off really not that interested in harassing or hurting Deuce. Yes, I know it sounds like a pain to have to stop what I am doing and a major case of: who is training whom here – an interesting topic for another time, but there are several good reasons to do this.

1. Your dog will learn to come to you (or call you when he/she is in trouble instead of running away if he is hurt).

2. Your dog learns that you are trustworthy and that is a sweet thing.

3. You get to make decisions about interactions between your dogs and “explain” the rules when needed…. No we do not take bones (unless these have been abandoned) from each other.

4. It is really good to get up from the chair and move around when you have a home-office since it is so easy to just plug away at the computer. So, I see these interruptions from my dogs as the equivalent of taking a break at the water fountain or stopping by an office-mate’s cubicle to comment on each other’s nail polish or the upcoming elections. These interruptions, which do not happen daily, are also great opportunities for me to learn about my dogs and enjoy what they do best: being dogs.