Deuce, Stop. Lie Down.

I am behind a closed door and I cannot attend to it at that moment. Deuce has followed me around and now he is lying on the other side of the door gently pawing it and barking.  I asked him to stop (the barking and pawing) and immediately after that I tell him what I want him to do instead.

The cosmos loves a void. And where there is a void something will come and fill it.  When it comes to our dogs we need to make sure that we decide what should take place in the void left by the behavior (s) we don’t want.  The dog is rushing at a visitor, who is at the door, then jumps effusively at your guest. Your face turns red in aggravation and even shame for your dog’s behavior.

So, what is it that we normally do instead of telling the dog what we would rather they do?  Most likely we yell in frustration NO!!!! STOP THAT…  confusion will reign.  Your dog completely at odds as to what is a better option.

If instead we get into the habit of
1. Deciding what we want our pup to do in those sorts of circumstances (So we can stop immediately what we don't like.)
2. Replace with what we want.

This is called a re-direct.  Ideally our redirect also can serve as an antidote for the behavior we don’t want.

If I ask Deuce to lie down, I know from experience he will just relax and wait for me to get to the door to let him in or just walk away.  In other instances, we need to use what is called a DRI which stands for differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior.  In plain English, just reinforce for something else that will de facto prevent your dog in resuming in the unwanted behavior.

The typical example is asking a dog to sit instead of jumping on the guest. Or feeding the dog treats as the bell is being rung so that it cannot bark, since barking and eating treats are incompatible actions. The other fantastic bonus of using this sort of rational in training is that as whatever the environment reinforces (and yes, that includes us) will become the preferred behavior offered.

So why is it then that we insist in just stopping what we don’t like in a young child or in our pet instead of redirect for a successful outcome?  Our own behavior can be motivated by several factors.

Perhaps we are exasperated because the behavior that we don’t want happens over and over again and now we are not even thinking of re-directing. Ignorance of this important rule of learning or multitasking?  And so, the list goes on.

I would add where we put our attention, we put our energy. One strategy that works for me is to take something like a behavior re-direct and practice it until it becomes a natural response- even when busy, frustrated or just lack the time of focus to give my dogs clear instructions.

One thing though to keep in mind, that we can only re-direct the dog to do something that the dog has previously learned.  And do keep in mind that sometimes folks think that because the dog responded once or just a few times to our insisting verbal cue does not mean that the dog has actually learned what we mean.

A dog might have learned a sit (put butt on ground) AND a stay (remain in that position until released) however, the stay part has more to do with the dog being able to sustain the behavior for a particular length of time and this is something that requires a lot of practice.  It is hard for dogs to sustain duration without practicing.  Your dog is not willful or a jerk because he breaks the sit (or else) ahead of you, it just means that he is undertrained.

My suggestion to you then, is to make a list of behaviors that your dog can do instead of “x” behavior and that you begin to ask just after you said NO to your dog for that well learned one.  Be ready now, for your dog to respond in kind and for you to pay your pup, otherwise your dog will not begin to offer the behavior you want because it is not being reinforced. 

You are on fire!

On this particular day, I am accompanying John on his regular hikes with our dogs.  Rio is dashing from tree to tree. From scent to scent oblivious of the world around her.  I call her. Nada!  I know better than to keep calling her, but I also take notice that this girl needs a refreshing course on recall. 

We continue our walk as I am planning in my head the next steps to follow up with her. I have several options.  As the walk progresses her recall does too.  Good, but still not exactly what I want.

Next day I have a couple of my client’s dogs - first timers for board and train.  We all go for an off-leash romp.  I begin to call my client’s dogs just as we leave our property to ensure they are coming to me. 

Sedona, the younger one comes back to me with the speed of lighting and with a bouncy, joyful trot.  Good girl, Sedona!  Sienna her much older “sister” also makes her way back to me for a tasty bit.  And indeed Ms. Rio has decided that she too can come when called!  I can’t help but chuckle as to what I think is going in her Beagle brain: “I’m not going to let these guys get the good treats, I am rushing in for mine.”  Whatever works for you Rio, but just come when called.

We continue going up on the steep hill and once again I call all dogs, inviting mine to take a “U-turn” and the others by name.  Indeed, all dogs are now next to me taking their turn to eat their treats.

Go play!  I tell them, as I now can confirm my suspicion that all it took was some healthy competition for resources to get this girl on fire!  

Dogs are constantly competing for resources; it is the way of nature - evolution. The take-home message as I see it, is not to pit one dog against the other crudely, but instead to be mindful of what the dog or dogs might want at a given moment and use that as a consequence for behavior.

Yes, it is true like in the case with Rio, sometimes circumstances or the environment itself will launch competition full force as it did with Rio and my client’s dogs. And there is nothing wrong in using this to work on some need recall, etc.  

Consider this:  One of the most salient traits that separates excellent dog trainers from “so-so” trainers and average dog owner is the ability that excellent trainers have in capitalizing in the use of consequences for behavior. After all folks, it is not the cue (or command) that drives behavior it is consequences for behavior that drives this.

Our ability to recognized the gazillion reinforcers at our disposals and our correct and timely use of them will up our training game. And as the laws of learning point out… whatever behavior gets reinforced will become the norm.  Nice!

Rio continued to enjoy her walk just like the previous days, but today, she was a girl on fire, claiming tasty pieces of duck and proceeding to run like the wind away from me and in search of new smells.  Sprinting finally at the end of our walk down the ridge to the familiar path that bringing us home. 

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.

Using Food as a Reinforcement, Part 2

One of the most salient mistakes people make when using treats in training besides using treats as bribe or agonizing if to continue using food, as discussed on the last post, is not fading the food lure soon enough so that the dog learns to work for food as a consequence for behavior instead of only working when food is in the picture.

A lure could be anything that either helps position the dog in a certain way. For example, to teach a dog to sit we place a treat just above the dog’s nose so that when the dog lifts its head to get the treat, his butt hits the ground. In other words the dog sat!

Luring is a crafty way of doing this. The dog follows the food and we can then very gently and clearly, when done well, teach all sorts of things such as sit, down, stand, etc.

If one is to use food in this way, we also need to teach the dog to trust that we will pay once he has done what we want him to do. At this stage the dog must learn to take a leap of faith! When the dog learns that he will get “paid” for doing something his confidence in the process and in us is established and he can begin to relax and “work for us” knowing that we will keep our end of the bargain.

The eminent outcome in failing to remove a food lure, or any other type of lure, in a prompt manner is a dog that will only work when food is present. As a result, we have placed ourselves in a corner as the dog now has to re-learn to trust the process and this will most likely be frustrating for both the handler and the dog.

As I mentioned previously, we also must be crafty enough in our use of food when training because once the dog has learned “x” behavior (in that context) we are ready to begin to pay the dog with food in what it is called a variable schedule of reinforcement. In other words, the dog will only be paid sometimes instead of every time for that specific behavior. Learning how to use schedules of reinforcements continuous, variable and a few others, takes time and critical thinking.

The effort invested in understanding different schedules of reinforcement and how to use them is worth it. Because when appropriately used, the dog will perform with more readiness.

Appeal to the masses

One of my clients emailed me wanting to know if I have seen or used the “technique” in the picture (see below) to keep [a] dog under control and if so he wanted to know what I thought about it.

He and his wife had attended a crowed art fair and saw many pet guardians using the technique on their dogs. Here was my response: “I have not seen the technique below or used it. Nothing "wrong" with the harness but I am not crazy about having the lead under the dog's belly… How uncomfortable that must be! No wonder the dog remains still (and the person can control the dog better).

The other reason why I don't like this is because even though some dogs might not mind it, others might find it quite aversive and now the dog is stressed and potentially creating negative associations with people around, other dogs or whatever is going on in the environment...

In my mind, this technique is a good example of appeal to the masses: it spreads around because people see other people doing it and because of that it sort of becomes "acceptable."

Unfortunately, not too many people take a second look and think about the implications for the dog as you are. In my book, this type of restrain is not right or appropriate. If someone needs to keep the dog closer to them as to preventing the dog from interacting with other dogs, etc. then a shorter leash - versus a six foot and holding the dog tightly is the way to go. There is always a clicker and treats (or other reinforcements) to have the dog focus on the owner and not in the environment."

After our interaction I got to thinking: why is that we are always trying to control our dogs? I get that sometimes it is necessary to do so for their own safety, safety of others or because the law requires that we do so. However, aren’t we taking this a bit too far?

As with any training technique or advice, we must get into the habit of thinking about the pros and cons of the advice or the technique; instead of just responding by inertia. As I mentioned to my client, not one size fits all.

Every dog is an individual and every situation must be assessed individually as well. Unfortunately, many a times our solution to a problem or situation, for example -restraining a dog, does not take into consideration the consequences for the animal.

I know, I know, we are all super busy, we are tired and what is worse, we have been conditioned to expect instant results with the least amount of effort.

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.