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.

Breaking my heart - Just a little

I had been away for a week in a dude ranch in Wyoming working with horses and TTeam. While my trip was filled with many fun adventures and I got to learn from fantastic horse trainers I was ready to get home. John picked me up at the airport and before heading to the car I was wondering if he had brought the pups along. As we got closer to the car I noticed Rio. She spotted me and in her excitement she was trying to get over the metal barrier that keeps her and Deuce in the back. I approached the window and I said an enthusiastic "hello" while asking her to stay in the back. I peeked further looking for Deuce. I spotted him either waking up from a nap or just relaxing. He saw me but did not jump up nor did he appear that excited to see me. I felt my heart kind of aching - just a little. I have been away for a whole week and this is how you receive me??

My thought took a more self-righteous turn as I admonished Deuce inside my head: Who feeds you every morning? Takes you for walkies and sheepherding? Who plays soccer with you and trains you? And on and on and on…

Then suddenly I stopped and realized that I was clearly taking Deuce lazy-fair (aloof?) response really personally.

Once at home, I let both dogs out of the car. Rio jumped out of the car excited as she began to whine and ask for my attention. Deuce got out of the car still cool as a cucumber.

Before going inside John and I took a short stroll. As I am walking towards the house I spotted Deuce laying just next to me with his ball between his front paws. My gaze met his. Ahh… this is the way he is saying “hello” to me.

I reached down to pick up the ball to throw for him.

While I felt “dissed” at the airport by him, I soon realized that for me giving my dogs choices and options when possible is way more valuable than demanding their attention when laden with feelings of quasi-rejection.

Apparently though, my feelings of wanting Deuce’s attention are not that unusual. In a study by Christy Hoffman, PhD, assistant professor of animal behavior, ecology and conservation, at Canisius College, reveals some interesting findings regarding the bond people create with their dogs. You can read about the study here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140606120403.htm

Flexibility

I was talking to my sister on the phone and among the topics covered we were exchanging stories of our dog’s latest mischievous activities. As I was describing Rioja’s I heard myself telling my sis that Rioja is more “flexible” in her learning than Deuce. Later on I was thinking about what I meant by “being more flexible." I wondered about this for the next couple of days.

So this is what I mean by “flexibility” be it for learning or as a temperament trait if you will. I will give you an example involving Deuce and Rioja: As I have written in a past blog post: Deuce It’s Soccer, We are Playing Soccer, it took me literally months to teach Deuce how to retrieve and bring the ball back to me. I won’t repeat here what it all entailed, but I will just mentioned that one of the major stumbling blocks I had with Deuce was that if the ball was not kicked in a certain direction, in relation to where Deuce was laying he would not go after the ball. If Laika was nearby, or Rioja now for that matter, Deuce refuses to engage with the ball. The conditions for his retrieving of the ball had to be just "right."

Figuring out what “just right” meant for Deuce required flexibility on my part. Similarly to the example above, Deuce’s willingness to eat out of food dispensing toys is contingent upon “certain Deuce rules”… He will only eat out of them if he has spectators- be it Rioja or myself. I think he has made a game out of "terrorizing” Rioja with a game of “I got a food/toy and you don’t” kind of a thing. And since she is the opposite, and will engage with the food dispensing toy with gusto finishing her meal in a flash.

Here goes another example: Deuce will only jump on the bed to say “hello” to us in the morning when he wants to regardless of how much calling and inviting we do. Once he is on the bed, he will only stay on the bed for a few minutes regardless of how much coaxing we do. He has trained me (John is still a “work in progress”) not to ask him to come to bed to visit with me. Instead I reinforce him for doing so.

Of course, it is so easy to think that Deuce is just begin “stubborn." This is one of the reasons I hear frequently as to why our dogs refuse to do what we ask them to. However, I beg to differ. Not so much in defense of Deuce, but I differ based on what science tells us about animal learning and the role of motivators for an animal to engage in behaviors or in learning.

Any living animal (including humans) must be motivated to partake in a given behavior. Period. The motivation, of course, varies depending on the environment and the needs of the individual at a given moment.

Are motivators internal processes or external? You might ask. And the answer is that they are both. We are always in relation to our environment, learning and living do not take place in a vacuum, but at the same time because motivators are valuable to the individual then they are also internally driven. Now back to dogs and flexibility – (or lack of thereof) Rioja in my experience is more flexible when it comes to training. I notice this by her ability to respond with less effort to changes in contingencies. It amazes John and me alike how quickly she learns and adapts!

When it comes to our training sessions, regardless of what the content or my goals for the sessions are, I must plan my training with Deuce very carefully. Even so, Deuce very often surprises me with his responses. I also plan ahead of time my sessions with Rioja as I think that everyone training their dogs should for the sake of clear communication. It is true that sometimes Rioja also surprises me with an unexpected response but so far I find her responses to my requests more “predictable.”

Here is another example of a recent session. As I am working with Rioja, Deuce is auto-feeding from a food dispensing machine in the same room behind a baby gate. Just about the time Deuce’s meal is over, it is time for me to switch the dogs. Rioja will eat kibble from the machine behind the baby gate and Deuce and I will train (with higher-value “stuff” otherwise he will not work- Rioja is good to working with the same kibble she just gobbled at the machine). Normally both dogs would rather be training than eating out of the machine but they have also learned that their turn will come. Now this particular morning, Deuce decides that he wants nothing to do with me no matter how yummy the treats or how “fun” and engaging the training session. He decides instead to stare at Rioja and whine expressing frustration over not working with the feeding machine.

What gives Deuce? You just spent a few minutes eating boring kibble from it! So I put him on leash and walk him to our training spot. He is still unmotivated to train. I change gears- testing my own flexibility and I engage him next to where Rioja is eating in a furious game of tug- now he is working! My goal here is to have him engage in a super rewarding behavior (tugging is way up on his list) when Rioja is with the machine/toy thus creating a positive association for Deuce of Rioja and the toy - something he struggles with most of the time but not all the time (ai-yay-yay).

Being flexible or not has nothing to do with how “smart” a dog is. I think that in part what is at play is the dog’s breed. Is the dog a “full”- breed or a “mix”? Of course the particular make-up of the individual is also relevant.

Now, if we look at breed-specific behaviors we can clearly identify what are called Fixed-Action-Patterns (FAPs). In essence FAPs refers to how a dog’s brain is “wired.” FAPs are stereotypical behavior sequences that require no learning and which are ‘triggered’ or displayed when a releaser (a given stimulus) is presented. Some FAPs are breed specific, but not all. When it comes to breed specific FAPS … retrievers will point at prey, herding breeds gather (or herd) stock, terriers will hunt prey by going underground, etc. In the case of Deuce, a full Border Collie, his lack of “flexibility” I think, is a result of a “spilling-over” of typical herding-dog behaviors into other kinds of training or even everyday activities. This is just a “hunch” more thinking/research on this theory is needed…

My “job” however, is to notice the dogs different learning be it my own or a client’s so that the learning experience is efficient and with the least “wear and tear” for the dog.

Nicely so, their different learning modalities keeps my own flexibility in check! I have a policy when training, which if a dog I am working with makes three mistakes in a row- mistakes from my point of view or my goals-not the dog’s I must acknowledge this and change something. This is what I mean by “wear and tear.” Of course all learning involves some level of frustration but if the dog (or horse, human etc.) finds the learning experience too frustrating or stressful no learning will take place.

Training dogs never ceases to surprise me! Through the process of interacting with dogs and our working and learning together I can better “witness” my own process (am I being flexible etc.?) Once I have been made aware of my own approach during the training session (or when not formally training but just interacting with the dogs) I need to find creative ways to reach my goals while honoring the individual dog I am training- and that for me makes getting up in the morning really worth the shot.

It’s soccer Deuce! We are playing soccer.

Teaching a border collie to act like a retriever and bring you the ball is not that simple! At least my border collie would much rather not bring the ball back. In his case, I think it is a combination of mild resource guarding: i.e.: mine, this ball is mine!, and the interest in keeping the ball still. You see, border collies are bred to work with sheep. Their job is to work in tandem with the handler (in trials) or shepherd. Vergil S. Holland explains it very clearly of how this works in his book titled: Herding Dogs Progressive Training where in section Pressure and Balance he writes, “The concepts of pressure and balance are intimately related and are based on actions of the sheep and/or handler and reactions by the dog:
1. Movement by the sheep (or handler) creates an action.
2. This action generates pressure to which the dog reacts.
3. The dog reacts in such a way as to establish or achieve balance (lack of movement from the sheep).
4. When all pressures are equalized, balance has been achieved or the dog has “reached the balance point”. This is the point at which the dog feels the stock are most under control or least likely to escape. This equalization of pressure, creating balance, is the result of herding instinct and ability.” ~ Holland: 1994, p.g. 6

The ball could very well be a substitute for sheep, and Deuce still wanting to “control” wants to stop the movement of the ball. It is not typical collie behavior to want to go after the ball (or to bring it back for that matter) it is however more instinctual in this breed to stop movement. Yes, that is why they chase cars, kids, skateboards, bikes and, and… they don’t make good “pet-dogs”.

My desire to play soccer with Deuce AND to have him behave a bit more like a retriever is that playing soccer with your dog is really fun and a fabulous way of exercising him and not so much me!

Trying to teach Deuce to bring the ball back instead of him laying happily in the shade in possession of ball # 1 (we play with two identical balls) while I bush-whack my way trying to find the ball we just lost between the piñon trees, becomes a matter of many training/game sessions and more than a few head-scratches on my part.

Here is where my challenges are:
Dog will chase ball (good dog!) but will refuse to bring ball back.
Dog will sort of bring the ball back but to only a certain distance (more head-scratching).
Dog will bring the ball back and then suddenly turn around with ball in his mouth and run away from me.

I had the good sense to know that if I started playing his game (you run I chase) I was doomed!
I also would find myself repeating inside my head the mantra I learned from Kay Lawrence (clicker-trainer extraordinaire and one of my all-time favorite trainers): “Your ball is always the most interesting ball…”

Little by little I began to implement a comprehensive training plan to have Deuce be a good sport and begin to play “real” soccer with me… Okay Deuce, you can be the goalie! I know how reinforcing it is for you to STOP the movement of the ball but first you need to understand the rules of our game:

You get clicked if you sort of bring the ball back to me. (At this point I am ignoring him and just “happily” playing with my special ball. I would not even dare look in his direction or he will dart away from me- taking his ball again with him… damn!) You will also get clicked if you approach in my direction and stop. Another click if you would lie down and let me get the ball from you (without having to pry your mouth open) at my verbal cue of: mine.

All of the above behaviors where reinforced by me kicking the ball for him. Remember though, most reinforcing for him is to stop the movement of the ball, but for that he has to get the ball… now we are playing soccer.

It took me months of playing twice weekly mainly outside but also inside - in a long corridor where I could better “explain” to him what I need from him little by little, session by session. My efforts began to pay off. Deuce is bringing the ball towards me (or John who you will see in the video below). He will make his out-run and if we are busy playing with our ball and ignoring his approach, he will quietly get closer to us and lay down waiting for us to kick the ball again.

Kay Lawrence explains that: “chase [ing] is loss of face for a collie”. I don’t doubt that Lawrence is right on the mark but I have to say, that Deuce and I really look forward to our weekly soccer games.

NOTE: Deuce also goes sheepherding weekly and you should see him working those sheep....