Interested or overwhelmed? Which one is it?

I am taking Thor a lovely and super handsome 5 month old puppy/adolescent for a socialization walk this morning. The intent is to get him super comfortable with all sorts of stimuli such as cars, people of all types, but mainly men and children.  I park by a local and not too busy park where we have walked before, but today we are venturing downtown. Known in Santa Fe as “the Plaza”.

The walk towards the busiest part of town is not a long one but as I shortly found out, one riddle with enough mental stimulation for Thor that he is becoming a bit “unglued”. We are walking parallel to some traffic and the noise itself is making him feel restless. I notice at some point that he is placing his long body - front paws first on walls that are opposite side to the cars passing us by. Initially I thought that he was curious and that he wanted to see what was on the other side of the wall.

A few moments later I began to think differently! Thor is quite overwhelmed with the traffic and his placing of the paws on the wall appears to be more an effort to escape the busy sidewalk than an interest in what is on the other side of the walls.

We move carefully yet with speed to a bigger intersection. As we are waiting to cross the street, I press the pedestrian button. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT a forceful manly voice advises - the voice on the pedestrian signal. Poor Thor is trying to figure out who is talking and why so loud as there is no one next to us. He can barely focus on me and is not taking any treats, his eyes kind of darting in many directions.

As we approach a more ample street, Thor begins to relax and now he is chasing leaves as they fall to the ground in all sorts of shapes and speed. We get to “the Plaza,” our destination and there we see all sorts of people. Single people, groups of people, taking in all the historical buildings as they listen attentively to their guide. We approach a man that is playing a strange instrument.

Thor is getting paid often every time he sees someone; he tries to approach them or just interacts with curiosity with the environment. He is such a handsome dog that lots of folks want to know about him and they too give him a tasty morsel.

We are now heading back with Thor clearly enjoying his outing. The contrast is clear. Before he was mainly overwhelmed instead of curious, but now his demeanor is different. Relaxed body, open mouth, able to attend to me as I call him when he pulls on a leash, able to take treats instead of almost holding his breath with hesitation. As we approach the narrow and loud street that will lead us to the car, I begin to play a game of Find it!  This is a simple yet very effective game that allows the dog to move rapidly thru an area such as a sidewalk cafe, a nearby dog or even noise and traffic with something fun and specific to do. I make sure the treats bounce close to him and he is clearly having some fun - not missing one of them.

Yes, he is still aware of the traffic but I time my delivery of treats as the cars are passing by, but now Thor can handle the noise and all the commotion and he settles for sniffing leaves or eating treats.

Is it okay to multi-task while training dogs?

I have been pondering this question since I have two dogs and I train with them on specific things on a weekly basis.

The second portion of this question is: Is it okay to train two dogs at the same time? Again, something I have been playing around and exploring lately.

I have come to some conclusions and for the most part the answers to both questions is no!

Training requires such carefully laid out lessons and much concentration from both parties such that having two learners and one “teacher” is really asking for trouble and frustration.

As I write this, both Deuce and Rioja are being “trained” to learn to be totally chill in their crates without chewies… so in essence I am breaking my own rule, no? Training, just as everyday life, is fluid and with variations. Circumstances must be addressed individually.

It is important to me that my dogs really learn to enjoy quiet time in their crates because when I have a class or a client at my home (aka: C.H.A.C.O.’s training hub) they must remain calm and quiet for up to two hours.

Whenever they go to their crates, they get something interesting to eat or chew. However, the chewy might not last for that long of a time so here is where making them comfortable in their crates without a chewie is essential.

Now back to the training. I have developed a really nice format of working with bothdogs separately while the other one is also busy and not in the way of the training of the other. There are several strategies that I use such as Kongs in the crate for one dog for breakfast, while I work for a brief period with the other and then I switch dogs. Or, I use a manners-minder, which in essence is a kibble-dispensing machine (or toy if you like) that keeps one dog busy and expectant of the next kibble being dropped while I work with the other. I did have to teach them to ignore the noise the dispenser makes and now they can work with me without being bothered by the noise or wondering if the
other dog is getting some tastier- which they are not! Yes indeed, in training you sure need to cross your “t's” or it will come to bite you in the… you known … (butt).

However, some of my goals require that I work with both dogs at the same time and that I multi-task. Yep, this format also requires prior planning: being clear about my goal for the training, acknowledging the possible hiccups that I might encounter working with two different dognalities and the intricacies of moving forward at a pace nd understanding what both dogs can handle.

Here is a really bonus about this training plan. A training plan is all the specifics about the lesson such as: goals and a step-by-step on how to achieve those goals. A training plan takes place before the actual training with recordkeeping for future trainings after the
session.

Below is a training plan that has allowed me to have fun exercising and training my dogs in just under 30 minutes.

I end up with two content and tired pups – ready to take a snooze and giving me time to get some “real” work done. Deuce and Rioja are both ball crazy and tug crazy, they also love to run and just be kind of goofy.

One of the challenges I was having when Deuce and I play soccer is that Rioja loves to take the ball away from Deuce.

Yes, it is kind of cute but also very annoying to Deuce and to me. In essence it was Rio calling the shots. There is something really important about playing games with dogs: you control the dog (arousal levels & good play “etiquette”) by controlling the game always! I suddenly realized that Rioja was not playing nice.

I sat down to work out a training plan so that we could continue hanging out together while Rioja sharpened her play etiquette. Here it is; the finalized version of it… I have a tug in my hand while I position the soccer ball for Deuce in front of him. As he lays waiting with eyes glued on the ball, I kick the ball for Deuce while Rioja is close to me in a sit/stay.

She has learned after just a handful of trials that Deuce chasing after his ball means that she gets to tug with me.

Because of this, she approaches me and waits for me to give her the let’s tug verbal cue “take it”. In this example, we have a compound cue: Deuce running after the ball and me saying “take it”. If I do not say take it she should not engage with the toy. See how it is possible and also beneficial to multi-task sometimes?

As Rio and I are playing a fun game of tug, Deuce has returned with his ball to the kickoff
location - this took literally months of careful training as he was not retrieving the ball
but just wanted to chase and more importantly block the ball, Border Collie style, so that
it would stop moving.

Here and there I throw a monkey-wrench to the steps above to continue to push the envelope on what I want my dogs to learn and to keep things really fresh. Sometimes Rioja gets to run wild with the tug toy. She would just take off giving Deuce and me another opportunity at kick-off.

Rioja is now returning faster and at her own volition with the tug toy to play more- a sign of a well “installed” game of tug (installed = taught or learned).

This morning I realized that my plan is working! Rioja is not chasing after Deuce’s ball anymore – while Deuce defers to her every single time… wow Deuce, you are a gentleman! And, she is also getting to do an activity that she finds reinforcing.

Training plans don't always work so smoothly and for the most part, there is always some issue to resolve. I love the troubleshooting aspect of training! It’s fun and a good challenge, yet not as much fun as seeing that your dogs can learn specific skills as I learn to multi-task efficiently.