Author: scratchandsniff

As seen in the October 2017 Speaking of Dogs Newsletter.

Having multiple dogs can be a wonderful experience, but when things go wrong it can be stressful for everyone involved. Luckily, there’s a lot you can do to cultivate good relationships between dogs in a multi-dog household.

Our homes are essentially very confined spaces containing limited valuable resources, and we give our dogs no choice in housemates – this can be a perfect storm. There are a lot of arguments for allowing dogs to “work it out” or “enforce the pack hierarchy,” and these arguments have a very basic flaw, as they assume the infallibility of “The Pack.” While the myth of the pack isn’t something we’ll get into here, I’ll touch on some very practical tips and considerations for helping multiple dogs live comfortably in our homes.

The Needs of Existing Dogs

Owners often introduce a puppy into the home with an aging dog, who is perhaps past the period in life where he is interested in going to a rave and body-surfing into the mosh pit. But this may be what the new puppy wants to do, and she will drag the old guy along for the ride! For some older dogs, a puppy puts a new spring in their step and they play the very important role of auntie or uncle dog. Other older dogs become stressed and reserved or even lash out at the puppy – and the last thing a young puppy needs is a bad experience with another dog!

It is critical for an owner to understand and respect the wants and needs of the existing dogs in their home. Use barriers to give older dogs all the space they need from the puppy, and slow the integration between a new dog and an existing dog. Some existing dogs may not be elderly but are behaviourally or emotionally sensitive and need a very gradual integration of a new family member in order to prevent stress and conflict.

You may know the new dog is here to stay, but your existing dog had no say in it! When adding a new dog to the home, always take the needs of your current dogs into account. Some dogs actually prefer, or even need, to be an only dog! Finding a well-matched dog will greatly reduce the risk of conflict in the home.

Multi-dog Walks

Walks may be most easily executed one on one. Particularly with a new dog, you may find that you have a lot of training to do on walks, whether it be for basic leash skills, or for reactivity or fear that emerges as they settle into your home. Using a no-pull harness can be to your advantage if you choose to walk multiple dogs together.

Individual Training Time

Individual training time is critical for all dogs in the household. Positive training is great for cultivating a healthy relationship between you and your new dog and maintaining one with your existing dog. Take each dog to a separate area individually to practise training and teach new skills, and leave your other dog with a chew or stuffed Kong to keep them busy while they wait their turn. Individual training time becomes even more important if you find yourself working through behaviour problems such as reactivity, fear, or aggression.

Individual Play Time

Similarly, find time to play with each dog individually. Integrate play throughout your individual training sessions as well. Structured one-on-one play is a great way to teach impulse control and build a relationship with your dogs. Playing fetch with multiple dogs chasing one ball is rarely a good idea, as it can provoke resource guarding of the ball or create so much arousal in the running dogs that the excitement tips over into a fight.

Hot Spots for Conflict

Be aware of “hot spots” (or “hot times”) for problems between cohabitating dogs. As a general rule, there is potential conflict any time there is

• a desirable resource (e.g., bully sticks, food, toys, access to a person);
• limited space (e.g., narrow hallways, doorways, behind furniture, beds, and couches);
• a mismatched activity (e.g., one dog is resting and the other wants to play); or
• high arousal (e.g., on the way out the door, leashing up for a walk, getting ready for feeding time).

Mitigate potential for conflict by being conscious and watchful during these situations. Be proactive to prevent these potential trouble spots from escalating into conflict.

Separation as Prevention

Make a habit of feeding dogs in separate areas, whether it is meals, stuffed Kongs, or chews. This should be a solid rule for any new additions to the home, and it is recommended for long-term management as well. You might feed in crates, use a gate to separate the dogs, or, for small apartments, you can even feed a dog in the bathroom with the door closed.

The same recommendation applies to leaving dogs alone while you’re at work. Err on the side of caution, and leave your dogs in separate areas. Alternatively, you can crate one or both of the dogs, assuming they are comfortable with this type of confinement.

Problems typically arise long before fights break out in the home, and seeing the subtle signs can take excellent observation skills on the part of the owner. If you’re seeing obvious conflict between dogs in your home, you may be missing much of the lead up to the incidents. If you’re currently having difficulties, seek out a reputable, educated positive-reinforcement-based trainer with skills in behaviour modification to guide you.

This article appeared in the Nov 2016 Speaking of Dogs Newsletter.

How to Read Your Dog’s Mind

Last night, I read a dog’s mind. His owner was working on recall, training his dog to come when called. I suggested, “Billy is going to notice the person sitting over there on his way past and is going to want to go say hi. I want you to recall from a closer distance and angle away from that person so he’s further away.”

Guess what? The owner made a mistake and didn’t angle away from the person… and Billy recalled half way and then ran up to the person sitting across the room to say hi.

Billy’s owner said to me, “Did you read his mind? How did you know he was going to do that?”

In a sense, I did read his mind… and you can too!

Look Where the Dog Looks, Notice What He Notices

The most critical element of “mind reading” is to look where your dog looks and notice what he’s noticing. Dog’s don’t rest their gaze on things for no reason, and you can learn a lot about what a dog is thinking simply by noticing what they look at, how long they look at it, how they look at it, and how frequently they look at it.

This is what I saw Billy do. As he passed by the person, he looked over, pulled his ears back, and gave a little wiggle. It took him about one second between noticing the person and disengaging, but it was a very telling second!

This is such a simple idea, but it can be hard to do in daily life. It takes a lot of practice to notice these subtle changes in your dog’s behaviour, especially brief glances and slight changes in body language.

What Has the Dog Done in the Past?

How your dog has behaved previously will give you a lot of insights. This is especially important for owners of reactive or fearful dogs, because there could be a lot riding on your ability to see patterns in your dog’s behaviour so that you can take appropriate action before a situation escalates.

Billy often looks at me in the same way he looked at the person he went to say hi to. I know that when he looks at me like that, he will greet me enthusiastically if given the opportunity. Given that pattern of behaviour, when I saw him noticing the person in the training area, I speculated that he would likely do the same thing he’s done in the past.

Body Language

Gaining an understanding of body language is a critical aspect to learning to mind read. Body language needs to be read in the context of the situation, your dog’s past history of behaviour, and each body part relative to the whole picture. For example, a fast wagging tail doesn’t necessarily indicate that a dog is friendly; it just indicates that a dog is aroused. It might be that the dog is excited to see you, but it might also be that the dog is angry or agitated. You can only know by looking at the whole picture.

When Billy looked at the person he wanted to greet, he dropped his head down and forward, crinkled his ears back, licked his lips, squinted his eyes, and had a soft, low wagging tail. I was not worried that Billy was going to run at this person angrily because his body language was typical of a polite and soft greeting. However, this body language also indicated that he was likely to veer off course from his recall.

An Emotional Assessment

Another mind reading strategy is to understand how your dog feels in any given situation. Strong emotion will always override your training, so training that is falling apart can be a good assessment of your dog’s emotional state. Your dog could be fearful or angry, happy, or over-stimulated. A few good tests of emotional state include:

• Will your dog eat treats? If they won’t eat, that is very telling of stress.

• Is your dog snatching the treats out of your hand or taking them gently? If your usually gentle dog is eating your fingers along with the treats, they’re telling you they’re feeling agitated.

• Is your dog taking the treat and scanning the environment, or taking the treat and asking for more? If they’re eating the treat but scanning around or walking away, they’re telling you that they’re feeling uncomfortable.

• Will your dog respond to well-known cues or hand signals? If they’re not responding to well-known and quietly spoken cues, they’re telling you that they need help to settle or need to work in a different environment.

If your dog is not feeling safe or calm, you can bet that you’ll see problem behaviours like barking and lunging or not responding to you. It’s critical that you take this as a set of “symptoms” of your dog’s mental state rather than see it as your dog being unmannerly or disobedient. Reading your dog’s emotional state is a critical part of mind reading.

Developing Foresight

What’s the use of mind reading if you don’t use that information to your advantage? Based on body language and knowing Billy is a young and social dog, I suspected that he would take the opportunity to greet the person in the training space. I therefore offered a modified plan for the recall. The owner was able to follow the direction on the next recall, and the dog performed beautifully.

Distance is very important to dogs. If they are bothered or excited by something in the environment, a primary way to diffuse this is to increase the physical distance between the dog and the distraction. And don’t be stingy! In a training session you can also look at what you’re asking of your dog. In Billy’s case, we shortened the distance of the recall and increased the distance from the distraction. You can also positively reinforce with food or toys. The more frequently you reinforce your dog, the more likely they are to work through a distraction. If you’re dealing with behaviour problems, like reactivity, fear, or aggression, I encourage you to seek guidance from a positive reinforcement trainer qualified to work through behaviour problems.

If you notice what your dog notices, read their body language accurately, and see this in the context of your dog’s past behaviour, you’ll be able to modify your training to help your dog succeed. Your dog’s success is your success, and your dog’s failure is your failure. Learning to “mind read” will benefit you both!

Wonder what past students have to say? Take a look below for a sample of excerpts from our anonymous class feedback questionnaires from our various programs.

Continue reading “Testimonials”

Article as it appears in the March 2016 Speaking of Dogs Newsletter, “Ask the Trainer Column”

“Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.”

Scenario A, Learner’s Perspective

You’re sitting in a high school math class, Introduction to Calculus. The teacher is facing the blackboard, a plethora of letters spouting from her lips as squiggles, stripes, and puzzle shapes sprawl across the board. She concludes triumphantly, “So you can obviously see the tangent line at (x, f(x)) – the derivative f(x) of a curve at a point is, of course, the slope of the line tangent to that curve at that point.”

You raise your hand and stumble through a question. The teacher snaps, “Have you not been listening to a word I’ve said? Differential calculus, the derivative is a linear operator!” She whacks the chalk into the blackboard hard enough to crumble the end to dust.

You nod, still not understanding. Is it too late to drop this class? Maybe you won’t follow your passion for science if this is what it’s going to be like. Continue reading “Training as Teaching”

What does it really mean to say that someone is “spoiling” their dog? This is a common accusation from those opposed to using food in training, and a common concern of owners who are first exploring the use of food to the exclusion of corrections in training.

“To spoil” means to:

1. diminish or destroy the value or quality of

2. harm the character of (a child) by being too lenient or indulgent

Excerpt from the Oxford Dictionary

A “spoiled” child is thought to have a false sense of over-entitlement. A child that feels that they deserve more than anyone else based solely on their “character,” leading presumably to an adult with poor work ethic and inflated ego.

And no one likes an adult with a poor work ethic and inflated ego, right? Continue reading “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Dog?”