Is Your Dog a Barker?

 Barking is a natural behavior in  dogs and one that  most people dislike the most.  Part of it is because of how stressful noise is in general and in part frankly because we fail to understand what barking is all about.

Barking is not simply just noise coming from our dogs or embedded with one significance.  Once again we need to look at what is going around to help us determine what is behind the barking.

Let me expand:
A dog might bark because they want to create distance from something that concerns him, dogs bark because they are playing and wanting attention, because they need help with something like getting food out of a Kong that proves too difficult for them.

Overall a dog barking serves as communication, and as such, the frequency and pitch also varies depending on why the dog is barking. As you can probably tell there is so much more to barking than “let’s just annoy the humans”.

My friend Luren shows up for the agility class with her pup Elsa- who is pictured in this blog.  Elsa has two main reasons why she barks- at least in the context of attending a class.  She is concerned about new people and their proximity as well as the general movement of people.  She also barks because she wants attention and hopefully a treat. No, she does not get a treat for barking, people!  Luren is a very savvy pet parent to Elsa and knows exactly how to teach Elsa that barking for attention is a no go.

Luren and I work together using a TTouch Calming band.  You can see Elsa wearing it in the picture.

The calming band does not prevent the dog from barking, drinking water, eating treats or even tugging!

What it does do is to bring “awareness” to the dog’s muzzle/mouth area.

There is more to this than I will comment on as to how this works but what is important is that it does.

What we saw with Elsa was quite remarkable!  Once she was comfortable with the calming band around her muzzle - which did not take that long to adjust to, we noticed that Elsa was able to “settle” more easily and to just observe what was going on around her without barking.  We continue to work with the agility exercises we were previously working on and again Elsa was able to work with Luren.

Luren continued having Elsa wear the Calming band throughout the week on walks as well as when Elsa was contently enjoying a chewy.

There is so much that the Tellington TTouch method can offer you in helping your pup settle, relax and just be more confident overall. If you are curious you can go to www.ttouch.com or contact me would love to tell you more.

What a missed opportunity!

I am sitting at a local eatery waiting for a friend to arrive.  A group shows up with a dog and sits almost in front of me.  I like the fact that the owner of the dog immediately positions the dog next to her and away from foot traffic.  Nice!  I think to myself. Someone is paying attention.
The dog, which I cannot fully see, now is quiet; I guess just lying down next to his owner.
Suddenly someone moves something and the dog begins to bark loudly. The owner just moves the dog away from the service people and that is the end of the outburst.

A few minutes later, a member of the restaurant staff is emptying ice into a bucket making quite a bit of noise. Now the dog is barking loudly.  At this instance the owner, which I am assuming was embarrassed by her dog's disturbance, begins telling the dog to be quiet and says loud enough that I can hear it that the dog clearly needs more discipline!

What?????  It is obvious to me that this woman clearly cares for her dog but she learned somewhere that barking as her dog did just now is a matter of “bad manners” nothing else.

Here is what I wish every dog owner will learn about their dogs. When a dog barks as a result of a stimulus such as a sudden and loud noise - in this case ice being poured into a bucket it is not because the dog has bad manners or is trying to embarrassed the owner it is because it has been wired  in them.  Dogs have done this for millennia when, from their point of view, there is something wrong and that concerns them.

Ah!  I think to myself what a lost opportunity for teaching the dog that noises like this are not to be of concern but instead mean good stuff will show up. Truly, it is seldom the case that a dog is “behaving badly” when they bark at something that startles or scares them.
 
This owner’s response was to blame her dog.  More than anything because she wanted to save face with the people around her.

To her credit, I noticed that she had some treats in her pocket and actually delivered a treat after she asked her dog to sit, popped it gently on the nose (why? I don’t know!) and when the dog sat she delivered the treat.

It is always sad and concerning to me when I witness events like this where the dog is blamed for very normal and adaptive behaviors. When, perhaps, someone like this lady is trying to work with her dog but she has clearly not understood basic principles of learning and counter-conditioning.

Dogs are not people in furry coats!  Our world is just a borrowed-experience. They are animals and as such there is much about our world that frightens them.  If we are really going to help them get comfortable in it, it really behooves us to see how our world and our decisions, and how they interact in this world affect them.

I wish that every owner would reflect hard before blaming their dog for behaving.  Dogs will most definitively have better lives once we choose to see their experience from their unique perspective instead of blaming them for our shortcomings in understanding them, in training them well or just the madness in our world.

Work Your Plan at the Front Door

This is the second installment of front door chaos or lack of it - hopefully.

The following advice is for people whose dogs tend to get over excited when someone comes to their home because they love interacting with people and not because they are concerned about who is in their home or dogs that are apprehensive about interacting with a “stranger”.

From my perspective there are a few options to try. Or it is also possible to mix and match depending on your dog. Let’s get started, shall we?

I like to categorize people that come to my home based on their reason for being there. Are they friends? Clients? Contractors of some sort? This will determine how I deal with the front door. So I suggest my clients do the same.

Dogs jump on people because they want to access their faces - their mouths in particular because this is how dogs say hello! It is hard-wired. The idea then is to give dogs what they want, which is social contact and once that need is met, they can move onto something else.

So… if you think your guest will be on board to lowering herself/himself to allow your dog to have contact with their face then suggest this. The person should gently hold on to your dog’s collar to prevent the dog from potentially jumping up and hitting the person on the face. You and your family can try this too. You will see that it only takes a few minutes to assure your dog that you both are “okay”.

I have found that this strategy stops jumping in its tracks because there is no need to do so since you are lowering yourself to the dog’s level and satisfying their need to access our mouth/face. Their interest in accessing our mouth/faces is a result of their genetic past. Wolves will come back to the den and regurgitate food for the young pups. The pup will lick the adults in order to solicit the food. So this is why our dogs jump up to say hello.

The second idea works also very well if your pup is keen on chasing a ball or playing with a toy with you. Place  a basket with toys or balls as the case might be next to the front door so there is always a ball or a toy.

As you come into the home ask your dog to go get his ball or toy. As he does, you can set anything that you might be carrying down and engage in playing with your pup. Once again, you will see that it only takes but a few minutes of this interaction for your dog to feel you have politely said hello to him. It is possible that you might have to face in the direction of the ball or toy if this is the first time you try something like this with your dog. You can also walk a bit in the direction of the basket so that your dog has a clue that you want him to interact with some object kept in there.

Now, if your dog jumps at guests and your guest is not eager to allow face contact or even play ball with your dog, the best advice I can give is to make sure that your dog is put away as the guest comes in through the front door.

Front doors are magnets for arousal because the physical space is reduced from a more spacious room leading to the front door. Dogs are very sensitive to space and their use of it. It becomes with a doubt a “double whammy” if you have more than one dog since there is less space and competition to access the guest.

Once you have said hello to your guest, have them enter a larger area and then go get your dog. Bring your dog out on a leash to meet the guest. You have previously coached your guest to remain neutral: No reaching for the dog, bending over, talking to the dog. Just ask them to stay put while you and your pup walk in their direction.

If you have a dog that tends to drag you on leash to say hello do not permit this. Instead throw treats in front of your dog as you say something like find it.

Practice this a bit first without a guest. Once your guest is home, do the same and walk towards the person, as your dog is keen in finding the kibble or treats. Again, you will see that once your pup has had an opportunity to smell and greet your guest, he will relax and move on.

Practice makes permanent so be consistent and practice every single time you want your dog to greet a guest. If you go back and forth between letting your dog approach at all cost and managing the situation you will not reach success. Instead you will have a confused dog, which will only lead to more frustration for both of you.

The Power of the Crate

One of the things on some dog owner’s list is to crate train their dogs. Most of my client’s dogs are either crate trained or are in the process of being so. Besides the added benefit of helping a puppy with house training, crate training an adult dog comes with a lot of perks for the dog.
So what does crate training mean?

By definition if a dog is crate trained it enjoys spending time in his crate. If this is not true, then the dog is not properly crated trained. Period.

When a dog is taught that his crate is a great place to hang out, get treats etc. then it is for sure an added bonus to his well-being and an excellent managing tool for the people. However, a crate should never be used as a means to “control” an exuberant dog for lack of proper exercise and mental stimulation. It is in fact a tool and not a way of life for the dog. Much has been said about crates being like dens for dogs and I agree as long as the dog enjoys being in the crate otherwise it would be more like a “prison-cell” - not a romantic idea.

Crates allow us to feed dogs valuable items without having them compete – or worse fight over resources. They can also keep them quiet and hopefully entertained when visitors come to the home or in my case when clients and their pups come to train.

My dogs have been taught that the crate is a good place to be. I crate trained them by serving them either their meals in a Kong or putting something really irresistible such as sardines and banana chips - I know, what a combination - as a mid-day snack. In addition they get to chew on a juicy bone several times a week.

If your dog tends to bark at visitors at the front door, the crate is a great way of having your dog practice some quiet behaviors. If he is busy chewing or munching on something delicious, the chances are that he aint’ barking!

Once the dog has been crated trained, I like to have the crate available to them so that they can go in them at will. It is a perfect indication of the dog needing some “alone time” say.

Crates are also super valuable in the car. Hands-down the safest way to have them travel. It is also a great tool for those dogs that love to bark or worse lunge at people or dogs approaching the car. In these instances, the crate can serve as a visual barrier, blocking some of the action from the dog and thus making him less inclined to bark or lunge.

When traveling, the crate doubles as “home away from home”; I most definitively would love to be able to bring my bed along on trips! This is now possible for your dog with the (not-so-new) batch of portable crates.

Life happens… even to trainers

Last Sunday we decided that we were going to take both Laika and Deuce for an “urban” walk in Santa Fe. I know it sounds funny to think of Santa Fe, NM as “urban” but since we live in the country about 10 min. away from Santa Fe, we think of walks within city limits as urban walks. These urban walks are some of the things that I miss the most from where we previously lived: Berkeley, CA. I used to take Laika (we did not have Deuce at that time) for 1 hr. walks almost daily. I had my routes depending on how I felt and what kind of training I needed to do with Laika.

A big plus for me during these walks was to have the opportunity to relax by looking at how people kept their gardens (as it seems everyone in Berkeley does). During our walks, I would also enjoy taking in the smell of flowers in spring… ah… I surely miss the fragrance of Jasmine! Here in the high desert there are not fragrant flowers on our walks. As we headed down a semi-busy street in downtown Santa Fe – John ahead with Laika and me behind with Deuce. As I was trying to manage his compulsive border collie (and highly obnoxious) behavior of spotting cars ready to chase them, a car with a huge brown dog - half way out the window sped by with the dog constantly barking.

I tried to warn John that Laika might begin to pull hard on the leash in a combination of frustration and wanting to get to the dog- this is called "barrier frustration." Barrier frustration in dogs is quite ubiquitous. In a nutshell, barrier frustration occurs when the dog that is being held back by any kind of barrier - in our case the leash - becomes frustrated because they cannot access something that they want: dog, person, cat, etc. An animal can get very thwarted over time and it begins to associate the stimulus that initially he/she wanted to access with a source of (the feeling) frustration and thus can respond by lunging, barking or any other display of frustration such as whining.

Laika’s outbursts are for the most part not a source of concern. This is after six years of on-going training, know-how and lots of treats and patience. In essence, a dog that has barrier frustration will ALWAYS have the predisposition to react with an explosive display while in the presence of the stimulus that elicits frustration; since this is just how this particular dog responds to feeling frustrated… think of someone who is under stress and frustrated responds with “road-rage” while others continue to follow the tune on their radio.

This past Sunday was the perfect example of Laika not being able to keep her “stuff” together: the close view of the massive dog halfway out the window barking at her was too much! She began to pull and puff! Off she went in hot pursuit of the car and dog! Needless to say, both John and I were startled and consumed with worry that Laika might either: 1. get run over by the car with the dog or by another car, and the possibility of the dog jumping out of the car followed by a dog fight, or 2. Laika jumping on the car intending to get to the dog and scratch the heck out of the car. John began to run after her as I walked - still holding on to my dog and trying to ignore the pain in my left foot (bad case of plantar fasciitis). The car, Laika and finally John made the corner… out of my sight but not out of my mind. I approached the corner with Deuce in tow to find John and Laika reunited.

So indeed, life happens also to (good) trainers! Collars get loose and we are encountered by circumstances that are beyond our control and potentially very dangerous to our dogs. Is there a moral to the story? I will say yes, since in my view there is always a silver lining.

Now here is an interesting fact for you: Dogs are one of the easiest species to train. Perhaps because of domestication and how much we know (in relation to other species) about them in laboratory settings. Having said this, a dog that will respond to a given cue (request) 90 % of the time (under the same circumstances and levels of distraction) is considered well trained. What I am trying to get at is that in training and behavior modification, as in life there is no 100 %. Of course it does not mean that we need to be satisfied with a behavior having a rate of 90 % when with practice in a myriad of situations (this is called generalization or proofing a behavior in trainer’s talk) a behavior’s reliability will go up.

I wanted to write this week about this particular incident because sometimes I feel people have unrealistic expectations about what their dogs can do albeit a little training and effort on their part. If trainers got paid for every time we heard from a potential client: "I want my dog to come to me when called ALL the time" we would be really rich!

Having a dog follow with our requests is really not magic as in: give your dog this pill and call me tomorrow if things have not improved. Training takes a LOT of effort and consistency- something we humans are not good at  - at all!

There is yet so much more that I can say about dogs chasing cars and their motivations for doing so, but instead I am planning on teaching a class to give clients of dogs who chase cars ( which by the way, it is normal dog behavior- pre-installed and all) some tools so that they can better understand circumstances where their dog might take off in hot pursuit after a moving car (or bike or…). The class that I am designing will also teach the dog alternative behaviors to chasing moving objects.