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Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
The Meaning and Purpose of Leadership in Dog Management
Wow! Now I realize that this is a hot subject in the dog training world. One thing that I want to say right off the bat is that I believe that many dog trainers argue unnecessarily over semantics. They may mean the same thing but insist that the words that they use are the correct ones and that they and they alone know the correct meaning of the words that they choose to delineate their methods (realizing that there is no authority like the Webster's Dictionary on dog terms). Leadership in the dog world as well as in the world of humans takes many different forms for practical purposes. Some types are more effective in one situation and other types in another.
For example, in the human world few would argue that the same type of leadership techniques would be equally effective in the United States Marine Corps boot camp where warriors are being trained to potentially kill people on the battlefield and in a kindergarden class in a middle class neighborhood whose goal was to teach 5 year olds the letters of the alphabet. Of course that is an extreme example but you see what I am saying about the difference in the implementation of leadership and the term leadership. Even a mother with a nursing infant has to show some leadership or she will have a spoiled child before he is off the breast!
Many people in the dog training world go "postal" when they hear the word dominance. Reacting as if the mere mention of the word in discussing dog training disqualifies a person from being a serious dog trainer. Now for this reason I generally use the term leadership in my articles and in my training sessions. I believe that when some dog trainers say dominance they actually mean leadership. For some reason there are those who find even that extremely objectionable and assume that when you use that term leadership or dominance you mean dominance in a physically aggressive sense. I realize that there are some who do mean this but more and more often I believe that they simply mean the establishment of who is going to lead or establish the rules and decide what we are doing at a given moment. Answering the question "Who is the leader?" can mean (and will for my purposes) simply "Who is the one with the resources and who will choose how the resources are distributed and when?". Which, as I said earlier, can take many forms. The following is my philosophy of dog training.
1) There are many ways to train a dog. If the dog is getting trained and the people and the dogs are safe, a lot of progress has been made and dog trainers everywhere should be glad that it is happening. If the human or the dog doesn't understand or can't do it in a sustainable way then it's not going to work for either of them. People are different and therefore good dog trainers can use different means to accomplish a similar goal.
2) Not everyone needs, or wants their dog to perform advanced obedience skills even though we might think the dog has the potential. The pet owner has the power, or the lack of it, to shape the dog into what fulfills the needs of the pet owner and the dog himself. The degree to which this happens is largely in the hands of the human who has possession of the dog and not the dog or the professional dog trainer he has hired.
3) Our main goal should be to help the humans to become good stewards of their dogs and to enrich the lives of dog and human alike. If the method of training accomplishes the purpose and the pet owner can sustain the training program then there has been success. If this is happening then we should be pleased as punch that dogs are being trained and cared for. We will not all agree on the particulars of what that means but we are all entitled to our various opinions and we should live at peace as much as possible. This, I believe, is they way to progress and communication between dog trainers in the professional world and pet owners who live with the dogs. If we are all shooting arrows at each other then we are not convincing each other that there is a better way to do things. We are too busy ducking to avoid arrows and stretching our bows.
4) It is my opinion (and world renowned Ian Dunbar's as well from what I have read) that there is no such thing as purely positive dog training. I have watched many dog trainers who claimed to use only positive dog training methods and I am convinced that it can't be done. Often people are not even aware of the times that they deviate from the positive training methods that they wish to adhear to. That being said, I believe that teaching a dog a skill that he doesn't know in the least is best taught in the most positive method possible for a particular handler/pet owner. It simply doesn't seem fair (or practical) to punish a dog for something when he has no idea for what he is being punished! It would be like a parent walking around behind a two year old child with a rolled up newspaper and not saying a word but just slapping him with a newspaper everytime he does something the parent didn't aprove of. It wouldn't improve the relationship with his child in the least, nor would it be much fun for either of them. Therefore it is not, in my opinion, a sustainable way of training a dog or a human.
5) Even a benevolent leader will need to be firm or even corrective at sometime in his relationship to the follower or things will eventually go south. It simply isn't real life (in my humble opinion) to think otherwise. It is not in balance with the way God created nature.
7) Why is it that we can insist on being so positive with dogs and totally reject the idea of being positive with people, especially other dog trainers! Try positive human training. See if that works for you as well as for the dogs the dogs!
8) So when I say "Be a Leader and Your Dog Will Follow", I mean that we should show a dog that no matter what, it is always in his best interest to do what you want him to do instead of figuring it out for himself entirely. That being said, I like a dog who has learned to think and figure things out for himself under controlled circumstances, while always respecting humans, especially their own human as their leader. Dogs have it in their DNA that a leader is required for survival of the pack! Some people think dogs are always striving to be the leader. This is not exactly how I see it. It is my belief that they simply know that their needs to be a leader and if we (the humans) are not acting in that fashion then the dog simply tries to fill the void so that we will all be safe! By "we" I mean the human/dog pack. It is my observation that dogs tend to become very nervous when they don't have a leader. Often times even neurotic. This is why we must lead our dogs, in the most positive way possible but also in the most understandable way to the dog and human.
Enjoy your dog training!
Enjoy your dog!
Mary
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
For example, in the human world few would argue that the same type of leadership techniques would be equally effective in the United States Marine Corps boot camp where warriors are being trained to potentially kill people on the battlefield and in a kindergarden class in a middle class neighborhood whose goal was to teach 5 year olds the letters of the alphabet. Of course that is an extreme example but you see what I am saying about the difference in the implementation of leadership and the term leadership. Even a mother with a nursing infant has to show some leadership or she will have a spoiled child before he is off the breast!
Many people in the dog training world go "postal" when they hear the word dominance. Reacting as if the mere mention of the word in discussing dog training disqualifies a person from being a serious dog trainer. Now for this reason I generally use the term leadership in my articles and in my training sessions. I believe that when some dog trainers say dominance they actually mean leadership. For some reason there are those who find even that extremely objectionable and assume that when you use that term leadership or dominance you mean dominance in a physically aggressive sense. I realize that there are some who do mean this but more and more often I believe that they simply mean the establishment of who is going to lead or establish the rules and decide what we are doing at a given moment. Answering the question "Who is the leader?" can mean (and will for my purposes) simply "Who is the one with the resources and who will choose how the resources are distributed and when?". Which, as I said earlier, can take many forms. The following is my philosophy of dog training.
1) There are many ways to train a dog. If the dog is getting trained and the people and the dogs are safe, a lot of progress has been made and dog trainers everywhere should be glad that it is happening. If the human or the dog doesn't understand or can't do it in a sustainable way then it's not going to work for either of them. People are different and therefore good dog trainers can use different means to accomplish a similar goal.
2) Not everyone needs, or wants their dog to perform advanced obedience skills even though we might think the dog has the potential. The pet owner has the power, or the lack of it, to shape the dog into what fulfills the needs of the pet owner and the dog himself. The degree to which this happens is largely in the hands of the human who has possession of the dog and not the dog or the professional dog trainer he has hired.
3) Our main goal should be to help the humans to become good stewards of their dogs and to enrich the lives of dog and human alike. If the method of training accomplishes the purpose and the pet owner can sustain the training program then there has been success. If this is happening then we should be pleased as punch that dogs are being trained and cared for. We will not all agree on the particulars of what that means but we are all entitled to our various opinions and we should live at peace as much as possible. This, I believe, is they way to progress and communication between dog trainers in the professional world and pet owners who live with the dogs. If we are all shooting arrows at each other then we are not convincing each other that there is a better way to do things. We are too busy ducking to avoid arrows and stretching our bows.
4) It is my opinion (and world renowned Ian Dunbar's as well from what I have read) that there is no such thing as purely positive dog training. I have watched many dog trainers who claimed to use only positive dog training methods and I am convinced that it can't be done. Often people are not even aware of the times that they deviate from the positive training methods that they wish to adhear to. That being said, I believe that teaching a dog a skill that he doesn't know in the least is best taught in the most positive method possible for a particular handler/pet owner. It simply doesn't seem fair (or practical) to punish a dog for something when he has no idea for what he is being punished! It would be like a parent walking around behind a two year old child with a rolled up newspaper and not saying a word but just slapping him with a newspaper everytime he does something the parent didn't aprove of. It wouldn't improve the relationship with his child in the least, nor would it be much fun for either of them. Therefore it is not, in my opinion, a sustainable way of training a dog or a human.
5) Even a benevolent leader will need to be firm or even corrective at sometime in his relationship to the follower or things will eventually go south. It simply isn't real life (in my humble opinion) to think otherwise. It is not in balance with the way God created nature.
7) Why is it that we can insist on being so positive with dogs and totally reject the idea of being positive with people, especially other dog trainers! Try positive human training. See if that works for you as well as for the dogs the dogs!
8) So when I say "Be a Leader and Your Dog Will Follow", I mean that we should show a dog that no matter what, it is always in his best interest to do what you want him to do instead of figuring it out for himself entirely. That being said, I like a dog who has learned to think and figure things out for himself under controlled circumstances, while always respecting humans, especially their own human as their leader. Dogs have it in their DNA that a leader is required for survival of the pack! Some people think dogs are always striving to be the leader. This is not exactly how I see it. It is my belief that they simply know that their needs to be a leader and if we (the humans) are not acting in that fashion then the dog simply tries to fill the void so that we will all be safe! By "we" I mean the human/dog pack. It is my observation that dogs tend to become very nervous when they don't have a leader. Often times even neurotic. This is why we must lead our dogs, in the most positive way possible but also in the most understandable way to the dog and human.
Enjoy your dog training!
Enjoy your dog!
Mary
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The Importance of Proper Energy Before any Activity
Making sure your dog has the proper energy before he embarks on a difficult task such as walking through the neighborhood calmly is essential to any chance of success in this area. Take things in small doses and make sure your dog is calm before he even gets to put the leash on! It took me years after I started training dogs to learn this. I have four dogs or more at my house at any given time. Teaching my dogs that excitement gets them nothing and calmness gets them everything is the key to keeping dogs calm. Whether you are trying to teach your dog to walk at your side without lunging out at dogs or people or if you are simply looking for quiet behavior inside the house. Energy is the key.
We need to reinforce or reward calm and ignore excitement. I repeat, ignore excitement! Fussing at or yelling at your dog for being excited won't have the same effect. It might have some calming effect but it will not teach your dog to be calm to get a walk or a treat or anything else he is used to getting excited for. If a dog learns that you will put his leash on to go for a walk, give a treat, let him out into the back yard or let him up on the couch no matter how excited he is, he might get the idea that he made you do it by being excited. Dogs learn by analyzing what happens, before what happens happens. This means that your dog notices what he thinks (and is often right about), is cause and effect. If he is excited just before you put the leash on he may come to believe that being excited is what MAKES you put the leash on. Also, if he is excited before he leaves the house, how much more excited will he be when he gets outside with all the distractions around him. You always have no place to go but up. No matter whether you leave the house calmly or excitedly or anxiously, you will go up with all the outside stimulation. So why not start lower?
Set yourself (and your dog) up for success. What do you do just before you go on a walk? Do you ask Fido in a high pitched voice "Hey boy! Are you ready for a walk?!!". If your dog is prone to getting overly excited or not, that sort of thing will push him toward a higher more excited energy level. You might have trouble putting the leash on after asking him that. If you had just walked calmly to the leash without talking to him or giving him eye contact he might have just stood still and let you put the leash on him.
Well, maybe you have conditioned him to the leash being a source of excitement? If even the sight of you touching the leash causes his tail to go straight up in the air and for him to start whining, barking or pacing around or jumping, you need to go back to square one. Desensitize your dog to you picking up the leash.
Pick up your dog's leash many times during the day without acknowledging him at all. Don't look at him or talk to him. Just go pick up the leash. Mess with it a little and then put it down. Your dog will soon realize that picking up the leash doesn't always mean he has to get excited. It doesn't even mean that we are going for a walk. It might not even mean anything. If he remains calm you can quietly, without excitement, give him a treat or pet him calmly. Having the dog calm, not just still but truly calm with his heart rate normal, his tail down and his ears relaxed is the proper energy for your dog to have before he leaves the house. If you haven't accomplished this, you will not have success on your walk. This is the foundation for a great walk. There are other things to learn about the walk but this is the most important thing to fix before you even start to take your dog outside on a walk. Never put a leash on an excited dog or he will become more excited when he goes outside and it's all downhill from there.
How can we expect our dogs to be calm if we aren't calm! Calm can be taught. It is not just a genetic trait. It is a learned behavior too. In dogs and humans, we can change the walk, one human, one dog at a time!
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
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| Excited Energy Tense muscles, vocalizing, intense stare  Notice the ears back, eyes are soft, muscles are relaxed. She still has good attention on her handler but she is not striving to make something happen quickly. This is good energy for beginning any activity with your dog. |
We need to reinforce or reward calm and ignore excitement. I repeat, ignore excitement! Fussing at or yelling at your dog for being excited won't have the same effect. It might have some calming effect but it will not teach your dog to be calm to get a walk or a treat or anything else he is used to getting excited for. If a dog learns that you will put his leash on to go for a walk, give a treat, let him out into the back yard or let him up on the couch no matter how excited he is, he might get the idea that he made you do it by being excited. Dogs learn by analyzing what happens, before what happens happens. This means that your dog notices what he thinks (and is often right about), is cause and effect. If he is excited just before you put the leash on he may come to believe that being excited is what MAKES you put the leash on. Also, if he is excited before he leaves the house, how much more excited will he be when he gets outside with all the distractions around him. You always have no place to go but up. No matter whether you leave the house calmly or excitedly or anxiously, you will go up with all the outside stimulation. So why not start lower?
Set yourself (and your dog) up for success. What do you do just before you go on a walk? Do you ask Fido in a high pitched voice "Hey boy! Are you ready for a walk?!!". If your dog is prone to getting overly excited or not, that sort of thing will push him toward a higher more excited energy level. You might have trouble putting the leash on after asking him that. If you had just walked calmly to the leash without talking to him or giving him eye contact he might have just stood still and let you put the leash on him.
Well, maybe you have conditioned him to the leash being a source of excitement? If even the sight of you touching the leash causes his tail to go straight up in the air and for him to start whining, barking or pacing around or jumping, you need to go back to square one. Desensitize your dog to you picking up the leash.
Pick up your dog's leash many times during the day without acknowledging him at all. Don't look at him or talk to him. Just go pick up the leash. Mess with it a little and then put it down. Your dog will soon realize that picking up the leash doesn't always mean he has to get excited. It doesn't even mean that we are going for a walk. It might not even mean anything. If he remains calm you can quietly, without excitement, give him a treat or pet him calmly. Having the dog calm, not just still but truly calm with his heart rate normal, his tail down and his ears relaxed is the proper energy for your dog to have before he leaves the house. If you haven't accomplished this, you will not have success on your walk. This is the foundation for a great walk. There are other things to learn about the walk but this is the most important thing to fix before you even start to take your dog outside on a walk. Never put a leash on an excited dog or he will become more excited when he goes outside and it's all downhill from there.
How can we expect our dogs to be calm if we aren't calm! Calm can be taught. It is not just a genetic trait. It is a learned behavior too. In dogs and humans, we can change the walk, one human, one dog at a time!
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Car Chasing and Other Obcessions
Finally, one of my older dogs who had a really bad habit of chasing the cars along this fence, passed away. I was determined to take advantage of this tragedy and make a change in the behavior of my pack of Australian Shepherds. Of course my dogs don't chase cars that are inside the fence, only on the other side of the fence so it was a bit of prey drive, herding instinct and barrier frustration issue. My older dog that passed away, you would never expect to hurt a soul who was on the inside of our fence. She used to be so aggressive that she would try to bite a person who would walk along that easement. She would jam her head through the wire fence snapping and barking as in a rage but if they got to the gate and opened it she was their best friend. You can imagine that I was pretty frustrated that my sweet girl would do such a thing. The main problem was distance. She would never do this if I was near her when a car would go by or if a person would walk along the fence. It was impossible to stop her once she was engaged in this behavior. She would escilate to red zone behavior. Spinning and barking wildly. If the cars would come by unexpectedly and I didn't have my dog on a leash or at least have her attention solidly on me, I was out of luck.
I finally decided to really put my heart into it and I had good information and a solid plan. I have a power wheelchair that I use to exercise my dogs around the property. I put a treat bag on the arm of my power chair. I fill it with hot dogs that have been cut into small pieces and dried somewhat in the oven. I made a point of keeping this with me all the time when I had the dogs where they might have access to the fence/car problem area. I did not want them to have the opportunity to practice this behavior. While I was on the first stage of this project I would take my four Aussies out only when I expected that my neighbors were at work so that they wouldn't be driving by. I would turn the dogs loose and when they would get out sniffing around the yard I would call them with a whistle (I used a push button electric coaches whistle since I don't whistle myself and I occasionally have trouble projecting my voice) or I would use a loud YIP! Works good when the dogs are far away. It sounds kinda like a hog call. *grin* I set them up for success. When my dogs would come to me they would always get a piece of hot dog as a reward. Sometimes they would get a handful of hot dogs. Pretty soon the dogs would come running at lightning speed to my whistle or Yip ( I did this for several weeks). After they got in a very strong habit of expecting the hot dogs I would give it to them sometimes and sometimes I would just pet them or let them sniff or lick my hands. This increased the intensity of the recall. It is important to go to this variable reinforcement stage to increase the intensity of the behavior you are working on but only after you teach the behavior with the 100% reinforcement schedule for a couple of weeks. By giving it to them sometimes and sometimes not, it becomes like a slot machine in Las Vegas. They never know if it is coming or not and it actually increases the reaction to your whistle or call. As soon as we had this really solid we were ready for the next phase of training.
I finally decided to really put my heart into it and I had good information and a solid plan. I have a power wheelchair that I use to exercise my dogs around the property. I put a treat bag on the arm of my power chair. I fill it with hot dogs that have been cut into small pieces and dried somewhat in the oven. I made a point of keeping this with me all the time when I had the dogs where they might have access to the fence/car problem area. I did not want them to have the opportunity to practice this behavior. While I was on the first stage of this project I would take my four Aussies out only when I expected that my neighbors were at work so that they wouldn't be driving by. I would turn the dogs loose and when they would get out sniffing around the yard I would call them with a whistle (I used a push button electric coaches whistle since I don't whistle myself and I occasionally have trouble projecting my voice) or I would use a loud YIP! Works good when the dogs are far away. It sounds kinda like a hog call. *grin* I set them up for success. When my dogs would come to me they would always get a piece of hot dog as a reward. Sometimes they would get a handful of hot dogs. Pretty soon the dogs would come running at lightning speed to my whistle or Yip ( I did this for several weeks). After they got in a very strong habit of expecting the hot dogs I would give it to them sometimes and sometimes I would just pet them or let them sniff or lick my hands. This increased the intensity of the recall. It is important to go to this variable reinforcement stage to increase the intensity of the behavior you are working on but only after you teach the behavior with the 100% reinforcement schedule for a couple of weeks. By giving it to them sometimes and sometimes not, it becomes like a slot machine in Las Vegas. They never know if it is coming or not and it actually increases the reaction to your whistle or call. As soon as we had this really solid we were ready for the next phase of training.
I finally started letting them go out with me when I expected the cars to come by. I always wanted to be the one to spot the car first. I called them as soon as I saw or even heard the neighbors car coming down the road. I would call the dogs loudly and give them a big jackpot (hands full of hot dogs) continuously until the car stopped in my neighbors driveway. I did this almost daily until I didn't have to call loudly only at a normal tone. I don't have to use the whistle if I don't have it with me but the whistle really works better. (I sometimes use roasted chicken or other meats to keep it fun.)
I didn't get to practice this too often with the car coming down the road since the summer was so hot this year, so I was surprised one day last month when the dogs saw the car coming before I did. I was not paying close attention to the road and to my surprise, all of the dogs came running to me for their reward when they saw the car coming! I always knew that this was the ultimate goal of my training exercise but I'm telling you it was quite a rush when it finally happened that my dog decided on his own to come running to me when he saw the car instead of chasing the car along the fence line. I didn't have to call them, they just knew what to do. Wow! What a feeling that was!!
I truely believe that absolute determination to make this a reality and the ability to finally muster the patience and persistence to get a routine going and sticking too it like glue no matter how long it takes (the way I always tell my clients) was the reason for our success. The entire process, once I got the right plan in place, took about 3-4 months. I now have the best recall I have ever had for my dogs and I have always thought that I had a decent recall on them under most circumstances but this was over the top. I can now call my dogs away from a running squirrel or just about anything I know of. When their favorite people come, with their dogs no less, to our front ranch gate, I can get them to come and pay attention to me and me alone until I release them. When we run the horses back to the barn they will stay right by my side until I release them as well. So much freedom this gives me and peace of mind for the UPS man as well. Ha!
I truely believe that absolute determination to make this a reality and the ability to finally muster the patience and persistence to get a routine going and sticking too it like glue no matter how long it takes (the way I always tell my clients) was the reason for our success. The entire process, once I got the right plan in place, took about 3-4 months. I now have the best recall I have ever had for my dogs and I have always thought that I had a decent recall on them under most circumstances but this was over the top. I can now call my dogs away from a running squirrel or just about anything I know of. When their favorite people come, with their dogs no less, to our front ranch gate, I can get them to come and pay attention to me and me alone until I release them. When we run the horses back to the barn they will stay right by my side until I release them as well. So much freedom this gives me and peace of mind for the UPS man as well. Ha!
Another thing I used while working on this emergency recall was to call them to a game of chase the water from the garden hose. I would stroll around on my wheelchair with the hose in my hand. When they would become distracted in a wrestling game or a game of keep away with a pine cone, I would whistle and then start a game of chase the water hose. This really got them coming like a rocket. They all wanted to be the first to catch the stream of water in the summertime. One thing to remember when doing this is to make sure that you can stop the water chasing game any time YOU decide you want to. Always have control over the beginning and ending of these intense games! Practice stopping and starting them everytime you play the game or your dog may become obcessed. You really don't want that to happen! Excited is one thing but obcessed is very unhealthy for your animal and dangerous for you both as well, especially with larger dogs.
Happy Dog Training!!
Mary
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:
powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Everything matters to your dog!
Be aware of what you are saying to your dog WHENEVER you interact with him............................
Friday, July 22, 2011
Why use food when training?
People who resist using food in dog training are almost exclusively all into the category of unsuccessful dog trainers.
I like to set my dogs up for success and myself as well. Training without treats is like driving without power steering. Or worse trying to drive without gas. You and I would
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| Photo by Theresa Leib |
Friday, July 8, 2011
Reliable Recall
Most people think that their dog has a recall if they can call their dog's name four or five times and the dog meanders over to them or comes to their vicinity within a few minutes. This is usually done in a home or back yard where there are few if any distractions. I find this very disturbing. It is wholly inadequate for the safety of the dog or humans that might end up in the mix.
Teaching a reliable recall is of the utmost importance. This is especially true if you will be taking your dog to a dog park or other off leash environment. It will also help if a dog somehow gets loose from his leash or if his collar breaks while on a walk etc. Dogs are notorious for chasing squirrels or cats when we aren't expecting it. This will put them in danger of getting run over by cars or becoming entangled in a fight with an aggressive dog.
Below is my solution for teaching the 'reliable recall'.
The first step to teaching this type of recall is to make up a large stash of treats. When I say treats I'm not talking about the kind you find in the store. Even the juiciest packaged treat is not adequate to teach with the reliability needed for a safety recall such as we will be discussing in this post. Hot dogs, cooked chicken breast, salmon or something like steak will be needed for this exercise. Now some people will frown upon this use of food. If this is you. See my post on using food for training.
Your dog needs to be convinced that it is a great likelihood that you will come up with a really terrific reward for coming to you so it is well worth leaving whatever it is that he is doing to come to you on the chance that there might be something really juicy in it for him. He doesn't have to see or smell the treats for this to work once you have him conditioned to the whistle call.
When I say a large stash of treats I mean a LARGE stash of them!! In teaching this recall you must be extremely generous. The treats should be cut in very small pieces, it's the taste, not the fill factor that excites your dog. Cut them in pea sized peices. Each time your dog responds to your whistle you will be indulging him with 10 or 20 treats to reinforce his response to your cue (which in this case will be a loud whistle). I give them to the dog one or two in my hand at a time so that it is repeated over and over. That is why they need to be so small. No need to be concerned about your dog gaining weight because of this, since you are using cooked chicken there will be few calories and you can adjust his meals if you think he has had too much during training time.
The other two things you will need is a carpenters apron with pockets to put the large amount of treats in and a whistle on a lanyard to put around your neck or on a wrist strap so that you will have your whistle handy at all times.
Now to the exercise:
For the first couple of weeks you will be conditioning your dog that whenever you whistle, good things are coming right now!!! At this point never do this if you think there is a chance that your dog will not be paying attention to you.
This recall will need to be maintained by doing it a couple of times a week for the rest of his life but it is worth it to keep your dog safe and reliable. Keep with the pattern of slowly increasing the distratctions and take a few steps backward if you find you are having trouble, to the previous step. You will have a very reliable recall. Your friends will be amazed and your dog will be safe!!
Happy training!!
Mary Kowalczyk
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Teaching a reliable recall is of the utmost importance. This is especially true if you will be taking your dog to a dog park or other off leash environment. It will also help if a dog somehow gets loose from his leash or if his collar breaks while on a walk etc. Dogs are notorious for chasing squirrels or cats when we aren't expecting it. This will put them in danger of getting run over by cars or becoming entangled in a fight with an aggressive dog.
Below is my solution for teaching the 'reliable recall'.
The first step to teaching this type of recall is to make up a large stash of treats. When I say treats I'm not talking about the kind you find in the store. Even the juiciest packaged treat is not adequate to teach with the reliability needed for a safety recall such as we will be discussing in this post. Hot dogs, cooked chicken breast, salmon or something like steak will be needed for this exercise. Now some people will frown upon this use of food. If this is you. See my post on using food for training.
Your dog needs to be convinced that it is a great likelihood that you will come up with a really terrific reward for coming to you so it is well worth leaving whatever it is that he is doing to come to you on the chance that there might be something really juicy in it for him. He doesn't have to see or smell the treats for this to work once you have him conditioned to the whistle call.
When I say a large stash of treats I mean a LARGE stash of them!! In teaching this recall you must be extremely generous. The treats should be cut in very small pieces, it's the taste, not the fill factor that excites your dog. Cut them in pea sized peices. Each time your dog responds to your whistle you will be indulging him with 10 or 20 treats to reinforce his response to your cue (which in this case will be a loud whistle). I give them to the dog one or two in my hand at a time so that it is repeated over and over. That is why they need to be so small. No need to be concerned about your dog gaining weight because of this, since you are using cooked chicken there will be few calories and you can adjust his meals if you think he has had too much during training time.
The other two things you will need is a carpenters apron with pockets to put the large amount of treats in and a whistle on a lanyard to put around your neck or on a wrist strap so that you will have your whistle handy at all times.
Now to the exercise:
For the first couple of weeks you will be conditioning your dog that whenever you whistle, good things are coming right now!!! At this point never do this if you think there is a chance that your dog will not be paying attention to you.
- Make up a whistle pattern and use the same one all the time. The one I use is 2 short and 1 long whistles. It is similar to a Morse code pattern. Have your dog close to you and on a leash in a place with no distractions such as your living room or your back yard depending on your dogs attention capabilities. Whistle to your dog with whatever pattern you have chosen. Make it about three tones and very loud.
- When he looks at you and steps toward you give him his chicken 10 pieces one at a time.
- Allow him to get interested in something else but keep him on the leash and then whistle again. Reward him generously each time with 10, even 20 pieces. Remember to give them to him one at a time but all after only one recall. This is very important.
- Continuing to stay in a place where there are no distractions: For the next week or so, put your dog on a longer line of about 10 or 15 feet. At this point you will want to wait for him to look at you and then whistle and treat at the same generous rate. You must make sure that there is little or no chance that your dog will ignore your whistle. Set him up for success! You can do this off leash only if you are certain that your dog will come EVERY time in a place with no distractions.
- The next step is to keep your dog on a long line just as before and whistle when he is looking away from you. You don't want him to be so distracted that he is zoned in on a cat or squirrel but just looking away from you.
- Continue as before, rewarding generously when he comes all the way to you. Make sure you don't reward him for coming almost to you but right at your feet. This is very important all the way through the plan. If your dog is not showing interest your treats may not be yummy enough or you might need to read this again.
- Putting your dog back on a long leash but letting him drag it instead of holding it. You will want to make sure you are in a safe place throughout the training. Remaining in a place for this step where there is little to no distraction, wait 'till he is looking around sniffing or doing what dogs do and then whistle/reward when he comes to you. You may use different types of meats but always freshly cooked and warm so that they smell really good to your dog. Never forget to be very generous with the treats, your dog will remember if you were generous or if you were stingy with the treats and it will affect his response.
This recall will need to be maintained by doing it a couple of times a week for the rest of his life but it is worth it to keep your dog safe and reliable. Keep with the pattern of slowly increasing the distratctions and take a few steps backward if you find you are having trouble, to the previous step. You will have a very reliable recall. Your friends will be amazed and your dog will be safe!!
Happy training!!
Mary Kowalczyk
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Excited Greeter
The why:
Most puppies are excited when someone new comes into the house or if they enter a house where they are expecting to be greeted warmly on the other side of the door. It's very hard not to greet an excited puppy with the same
Most puppies are excited when someone new comes into the house or if they enter a house where they are expecting to be greeted warmly on the other side of the door. It's very hard not to greet an excited puppy with the same
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Walk Time Issues
Attaching the leash can be a real ordeal for some people and their dog as well. This is a common problem with a dog who really loves his walk, especially if he doesn't get one often enough because he makes his owner crazy when she is trying to
Catch and Release....
No, I'm not talking about bass fishing. :-)
The average dog can quickly figure out that when you call them and grab their collar, the fun is over. To avoid this, try catching your dog repeatedly during a play session, give him a treat or scratch him up really good and then let him go and say "free!" or "go play!", anything to give him the
The average dog can quickly figure out that when you call them and grab their collar, the fun is over. To avoid this, try catching your dog repeatedly during a play session, give him a treat or scratch him up really good and then let him go and say "free!" or "go play!", anything to give him the
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