Strong cues
Why does your dog respond with alacrity to some things you say or do but ignore others?
The cues your dog responds to quickly and enthusiastically are the ones which...
โข they understand; and
โข they are motivated to respond to because doing so has consistently resulted in a positive result for the dog
If your dog doesn't respond to a cue it's (generally) because...
โข they don't understand what's being asked of them; or
โข they're not motivated to respond because there's been no consistent reward in the past
Consistency is key. Most dogs are front & centre as soon as they hear their food being prepped because that ALWAYS signals mealtime. Charlie immediately leaps up, even when he's deeply relaxed, when he's asked if he wants to go for a walk because it ALWAYS means we're going out. Consistent, predictable rewards leads to strong behaviours and speedy responses.
If your dog isnt responding to something you ask of him ask yourself two questions - "does he understand?" and "have I consistently made this worth his while?". The answer to one of them is almost certainly, no.
Happy Christmas!
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฌ...๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ช๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐จ ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐จ ~ ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ
Wishing you and your wonderful dogs a happy, peaceful & contented Christmas.
And an enormous thank you for the gift of your amazing support & engagement over the past year. It's appreciated more than I can say.
With love & thanks,
Aileen x
Trackers. A no brainer?
Trackers. A no brainer?
If your Facebook feed is anything like mine youโll often see posts about lost dogs. There are two simple things you can do to maximise the chances of getting your dog back safely if the worst happens and you become separated from them -
โข ensure they have a tag with your contact details (this is a legal requirement in the UK so every dog should have one); and
โข use a GPS tracker
Thoughts?
The Magic Ingredient...
What's the magic ingredient? The secret sauce? The clever 'hack'? The one thing that makes the difference?
Consistency.
That's not very exciting, is it? In fact, that might feel like a bit of a let down. But it's true...
The other day a client asked me what single thing had made the biggest difference when i was working with my own dog's behaviour and I thought about all the different things we did but I realised that the one thing which made the difference was consistency. We did the work. We worked on it every day, every walk, every time we saw a potential trigger. We were consistent. And so it worked.
Nothing beats consistency. Whether it's teaching your dog, learning a new skill or working out for your own strength & fitness. The people who see the results are the people who show up consistently and do the work.
Consistency isn't very exciting. It's not flashy. It doesn't make an attention grabbing headline. But it's where the magic happens...โจ
Why does training fail?
Why does training fail? There can be many reasons but, in general, some common reasons that people don't see results are -
โข training ๐๐ฃ the situation, not ๐๐ค๐ง the situation
โข asking for too much, too quickly
โข too low a rate of reinforcement
Bonnie has big feelings about people entering her home so we're working on creating predictable patterns of behaviour (for her and her humans) when people come to the door. We are -
โข introducing short, daily training sessions when there is nobody at the door. We already know she finds it hard to remain calm when there's somebody at the door so expecting her to be able to learn new behaviours under those conditions is doomed to failure. You wouldn't try to teach a learner driver on a motorway in the rush hour...so don't try to teach your dog in an environment they aren't ready for.
โข breaking the ultimate goal behaviour (stay in your bed while someone enters the home) into manageable chunks. Can you go to your bed? Can you stay in your bed? Can you stay in your bed while I leave the room? Can you stay in your bed while I leave the room & shut the baby gate? Can you stay in your bed while I leave the room, shut the baby gate & go to the front door.... and so on and so on. Small, achievable steps which are repeated & built upon to get a strong, reliable behaviour.
โข rewarding consistently at every point - when she gets into bed and when we return. So many people are worried about generously rewarding their dog for behaviours they like but their training would come on leaps & bounds if they could ditch that human reticence to reward.
Training is more likely to fail when the conditions are wrong, when the task is too hard and when the rewards aren't motivating. If you are struggling with something with your dog ask yourself whether any of these might be in play. And if they are, change it!
Harnesses don't cause pulling....
"๐๐๐ง๐ฃ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ช๐จ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ก๐ก๐๐ฃ๐...."
Brann doesn't appear to have got that memo....๐
Putting a harness on a dog doesn't make them pull. Putting a harness on a dog keeps them safe if they pull. Our goal as trainers has to go beyond simply achieving a behaviour. It must also have at its heart the dog's health & welfare. And training which relies on pressure on the neck from slip leads, prong collars, grot collars etc takes no account of that.
When you see trainers using these tools it's worth asking yourself whether they don't ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ that these tools can cause harm* or they don't ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ that these tools can cause harm. Neither of which are great...
Lovely first loose lead walking session with gorgeous big boy Brann who's modelling beautifully that harnesses have nothing at all to do with a dog's motivation to pull.
=============================
* ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ. ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ...
โข ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ด: ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ. ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐., ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐. ๐๐ค๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข ๐., ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ (2020)
โข ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ'
Avoidance isn't the answer...
"๐๐ค๐ช ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐"
Finn's human used to avoid other dogs as much as possible due to Finn's reactivity. When we discussed possible locations for training the thought of working in a large park with lots of dogs in the environment was really daunting for them.
But if you continually avoid the thing you are anxious about then you will always be anxious about that thing. What Finn needed wasn't avoidance; it was gentle, supported exposure at a pace he was happy with. What Finn's owner needed wasn't to be told to avoid triggers; it was to be given the skills and confidence to navigate an environment containing other dogs.
And today Finn's human told me that she'd visited the park to practise a few days ago and was disappointed that it was so quiet! That's the kind of progress which makes me very happy indeed. There's still some work to do but they have made a huge leap forward from their days of avoidance.
If we possibly can we owe it to our dogs (& ourselves) to give them the chance to learn rather than simply avoid. Because avoidance can be hugely limiting.
Should I stay or should I go?
๐๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐ค?
One of the challenges owners of reactive dogs face is judging when to move their dogs out of a situation and when to stay put and give them time to work through it.
King & Beni can be reactive to other dogs in close proximity. In this clip they are doing well in the presence of the other dog until she decides to move in for a closer look. When she does they rush forward to the end of the lead and bark at her. We had two choices at that point - move away or stay and help them through the process. On this* occasion I chose the latter because -
โข there is no intent in their behaviour...it's just noise so I have no concerns for anyone's safety
โข The other dog is a total star - she's socially skilled, calm, confident & unbothered by the boys briefly barking at her
โข Both dogs began to settle quickly after their initial reaction
By working through the interaction we give them a chance to learn. To see that another dog approaching maybe isn't quite as awful as they thought. To practice new skills under new conditions. And when they met the next dog their reaction was significantly calmer.
Your dog barking at another dog isn't ideal, of course it's not, but it also needn't be the end of the world. If conditions are right* you can work through it and learn from it.
*๐๐ฝ under other conditions I might well have made different decisions. Dog training is a dynamic process and the decisions we make are a reflection of current conditions. With different dogs, on a different day, we might make a different decision. The welfare of ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ the dogs in the interaction is paramount and no other dog should be subjected to undue stress or pressure in order to train your own dog. If I'd had any concern about the stress on any of these dogs we'd have moved off rather than stay put.
Give them space!
Give them space!
I talk a lot on this page about giving dogs space. And, usually, I mean physical space. But metaphorical space is important too. Space to think, space to process and space for the dog to make their own choices without micromanagement (or direct reinforcement) from us.
In our enthusiasm to reward desirable behaviours I think we can sometimes be guilty of crowding our dogs and interrupting their behaviours just when they are getting into their groove and working out how to do things for themselves.
In this clip Lulu looks up, sees the two daschunds passing by and then disengages and starts sniffing. It might be tempting to jump in to reward her as soon as she's seen these dogs but might we be interrupting the natural flow of her behaviour if we do? Reinforcement comes in many guises and it doesn't only come from us. If Lulu is learning that she can choose her own alternative behaviours and that naturally ocurring reinforcers exist then shouldn't we let her get on with it without interference from us? Would jumping in with a piece of food add anything here?
There are behaviours here which we are directly reinforcing - checking in with her humans, for example. But if she is making other, good choices on her own then why not let her do that?
Ultimately our goal is to create thinking dogs who can make good choices without micromanagement from us. So if they're doing that then we should step back, give them space and get out of their way.
Building Confidence
You can't build confidence by forcing dogs to tolerate things they are worried by. That leads to a resigned, forced tolerance...which is a very different thing from relaxed confidence.
When Isla was a puppy she refused to enter a puppy class held in a hall with a shiny floor and 3 trainers tried (and failed) to physically force her in. The result? An aversion to shiny, polished flooring which persists months later and is expressed by a refusal to enter spaces with shiny flooring and a refusal to walk on it.
We don't need to force Isla to comply. We don't need to make her 'face her fear'. We don't need to 'show her who's boss'. We don't need to put a slip lead on her and force her to walk under threat of physical punishment.
Instead we allow her to start in a carpeted area where she feels safer (although she's still not loving being in this space, initially). We give her the time to get her bearings and have a think about her surroundings. We don't force her or rush her or put pressure on her. We let her investigate & explore and then we gently ask her whether she can move towards the scary shiny floor. When she tells us she's not comfortable we listen to her and give her a bit more time. And because we do she decides to give it a go and very soon is happily wandering round the shop & the scary floor isnt so scary any more.
You can force your dog into submission with brute strength & ignorance or you can work with your dog so that they are a willing partner. Which would you rather do? Which would your dog rather you do?
Setting the stage...
๐๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐๐...
Dog training uses consequences - the things that come ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง a behaviour - to change that behaviour. Dog does something we like? Reward it. Dog does something we don't like? Ignore it or ask the dog to do something different or (if you're that way inclined, which I'm not...) punish it.
But we miss a huge trick when we focus only on what comes ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง at the expense of what comes ๐๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ the behavour. What do I mean by that?
Willow is rarely allowed off lead because she has a history of scarpering when she's given her freedom. And yet here she is, in her first ever recall session, off lead (technically...she is on a long line for safety but it's trailing and she's not being physically restrained in any way) and staying with us, moving with us voluntarily,, remaining connected and able to ignore distractions in the environment.
And, yes, she's ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ช๐๐ฃ๐ to do these things because we are rewarding them consistently & generously. But she's only ๐๐๐ก๐ to do these things because of what we did before....
โข we slowed everything waaayyyy down
โข we built calmness & focus before we let her off lead
โข we chose our environment thoughtfully
โข we transitioned her from the short lead to the longline gradually
โข we didn't give her too much freedom too quickly
โข we paid close attention to her body language and general behaviour to help us manage her levels of arousal & keep her regulated
And by taking a little time to do these things we made it really easy for Willow to make good choices which we can then reward. If we had taken her to the park, let her off immediately when she was hyped & excited what do you think would have happened? Very likely exactly what has happened before...she'd zoom off into the distance and have a grand old adventure on her own! And then we'd have nothing to reward.
So while it's true
Confidence on Lead
Sometimes there are bumps in the road.
Margot is a super confident little pup under most conditions. She's taken everything in her short life in her stride...until it came to having a lead attached to her. The lead spooked her so much that she would simply freeze when it was attached. It didn't matter if it was on her collar or her harness, if it was a long lead or a short lead, if it was held or allowed to trail. She simply shut down and refused to move. Which has meant no walks.
While it is important that Margot gets out to experience the big, wide world outside her home it's equally important how that is done. Simply dragging her out and forcing her to walk on a lead in order to 'socialise' her runs huge risks. It risks making the negative emotions she already has about the lead even more deeply ingrained. It risks associating the outdoors (and everything she will encouter there) with feelings of fear & anxiety. It risks undermining her trust in her human.
Instead of 'making' her comply we do the opposite. We take the pressure off. We listen when she says 'no' but we also stack the deck to make it more likely that she'll say 'yes'. And when she does we reward that and, ever so gently, ask her whether she can do a little more. And so she does.
Dogs aren't automatons. They experience emotions like fear and anxiety just as we do. And (I think) we do them a huge disservice when we don't take those fears & anxieties seriously. We have a responsibility as guardians to help our dogs through their fears. But we also have a responsibility to do so with empathy and understanding...not simply use our position of power to force them into submission.
