Good Dog Academy

08/25/2022

My girls love fetch, but it’s a special treat, I make them sit and think while playing fetch, and I don’t do it for long at all 🎾

10/28/2021

09/21/2021

Focus on telling your dogs what you DO want them to do vs what you DON’T want them to do. It makes for a much better relationship!!!

09/05/2021

08/19/2021

"My dog won't do what I ask unless I have a treat!" 😧
"I don't want to be bribing my dog with food!" 😠

Have you heard or said either of these things before? We have heard them a lot, and there is something that can be done about it - you just need to make sure you 'fade out the lure'!

To fade out a lure all you need to do is:

🔹 Lure the behaviour with food or another lure, until they have successfully done it 3-5 times in a row.

🔹 Lure the behaviour with an 'invisible treat'. This means you have no treat/lure in your hand but your dog may think you do.

🔹 When they have done the correct behaviour, then show your dog there was no treat/lure in your hand BUT still, reward from the other hand you did not use for the lure.

🔹You can then make the lure behaviour itself smaller and smaller until it becomes a subtle hand signal, or add in a verbal cue.

🔹Once the dog can do the correct behaviour, you can gradually reward them less frequently.

This teaches the dog that even if they do not see a treat on you at the moment you ask for a particular correct behaviour, it does not mean one isn't coming, (getting rid of the need to 'bribe' the dog in order for them to do the behaviour).

This doesn't mean we stop rewarding our dog, to maintain a behaviour; rewards still need to occur, albeit less frequently, however, a reward is not a bribe as the dog doesn't know when it will be coming. These rewards do not always need to be food, but they do need to be rewarding to the dog, otherwise they are not rewards.

We would also like to add that although luring is useful for teaching new behaviours and cues in training, it should never be used to get a dog to do something they are uncomfortable with. This is especially important when working on behavioural modification as the lure will need to be used at exactly the right time in order to be effective, so please seek the advice of a qualified behaviourist or trainer. 👍

08/19/2021

Have a picture of your dog coming when called? Show us in the comments :)

08/18/2021

EDIT: When I wrote this in 2021, I used incorrect terminology, instead of Puberty, the correct term is adolescence.

Let's talk a little about puberty. The real side of it and how it affects us.

Did you know that most dogs who are given up are going through puberty?
Did you know that most of our new private training and behaviour modification clients are dogs in puberty?
Did you know that puppies and humans I have trained before, will usually reach out to me again when their dogs are in puberty?

Guys. Puberty is ROUGH.

My angel baby, Siggy, is currently going through puberty and her energy levels are endless and quite frankly making me jealous😂 She has discovered that if she's really quick she can steal things and run away, she can grip every person's leg when she feels like she isn't getting the amount of attention she deserves and she loves the feeling of her own bark more than life itself 😂

A lot of my humans that have pubescent dogs are struggling with very similar problems. Their dog doesn't know their name most days and tries to see if any all boundaries still exist. Their energy never seems to fade and they are just never calm. I personally see puberty as a big make or break phase in a dogs life and how you handle their puberty will determine a lot of how they will be afterwards. Will they be frustrated or fearful because of all the punishment? Or will they be calm and confident because they've been set up for success and managed correctly?

First, a word of comfort: It gets better.

Stick through it, continue teaching them what to do instead of correcting them for everything that annoys you. Enrich them all the time. Never feed them out of a food bowl, ever, just feed them out of puzzles, snuffle mats, stuffable toys etc. Food time is a prime time to burn off some of that energy, so use it wisely. Do some training and mental work every day, this helped me so much with Titan and it's helping me with all my clients and Siggy too. A mentally tired dog is a happy one! Do some physical exercise with them like a sniffing walk every day, but concentrate more on the enrichment and training as that actually calms them down more. Manage your environments properly. Dogs going through puberty don't have a great track record of making good decisions, so help them by not putting them in situations where they can fail. For eg. Every time people come over, Siggy is on a harness or leash so I can help her stay calm around people and not jump on and grip people.

Work on your own patience. If Titan has taught me one thing, it's patience. My patience level is at a proper boss level now thanks to that amazing boy of mine 😂 Realize that you will have good days and bad days. Write down all your wins so that on the bad days you can still see all your accomplishments and realize how far you've come.

And remember, IT GETS BETTER (It always needs to be said more than once.)

08/13/2021

“Many methods of changing behavior in dogs are effective; however, the evidence-based veterinarian or behavior consultant should be concerned not just with what is effective but what does the least harm and produces the best long-term results.”

So glad that the Veterinary Community is on board with positive reinforcement training!

08/10/2021

This!!!

07/30/2021

In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if your dog sits when you ask them to, but coming when called could save their life - it's worth paying for that behavior every single time (no matter how angry you are that they left your side to begin with.)

07/06/2021

Let us help you!

Let us help you work on your skills while your dog is here with us at daycare. The possibilities are endless.

07/03/2021

Don’t create an adrenaline ju**ie! Rest and being able to settle are important skills!

06/26/2021

Don’t have plans for Labor Day weekend? You do now! 🐾❤️ Come join the fun at Camp Unleashed!

The summer heat is on!! Who wants to cool off in a private lake with personalized swimming instruction? Or try other activities such as agility, flyball, Freestyle, dock diving, scenting classes, off leash games, K9 Tricks, hikes etc. Join us September 3 - 6 in the Poconos! Swimming and lots of other fun activities for you and your dog!!

06/24/2021

06/24/2021

So. True! 🐾❤️🙌

06/23/2021

We are looking for permanent part time employees at both our Stonington and East Lyme locations.
Please share our post. We love referrals.

06/22/2021

Reinforcement goes beyond the use of treats or toys, it encompasses everything in your dog's life. A reward is anything that your dog receives reinforcement from.

06/17/2021

06/07/2021

Do you struggle with your dog's reactivity on walks? Chances are, he or she may be practicing that behavior all day long from home.

One of the first changes I make in the home of a reactive dog is to eliminate their visual access to the street. Am I just a mean person who wants to deprive the dog of patrolling for cats and squirrels? No, I want to reduce the times that the dog practices reactive behavior. Management is the first step in an effective training program.

Each time someone passes your house and your dog barks at them, the barking works. From your dog's perspective, he chased them off. He doesn't know that they were just continuing on their walk, ride, or mail delivery route. He knows that when he barked, they went away.

Say it with me, "DOGS DO WHAT WORKS." If the barking works from your front window, it must work on walks. Hey, look at that! It DOES work on walks! Your dog just made that person with the stroller turn the corner and leave!

Now, instead of covering your windows, you could put a sign in your front yard that says "PLEASE STAND STILL AND WAIT UNTIL THE DOG STOPS BARKING," but we all know that most people don't follow instructions very well, so you might find yourself frustrated by their stubborn lack of compliance. Jerks.

Instead, reduce your dog's visual access to the front of your house (and side, if you live on a corner or along an alley). In our house, we used a frosted glass insert, which still allows light in through the window, but creates enough of a visual barrier that Parker can't see through. It also gives us more privacy.

Other products include adhesive films sold at your local hardware store, which is a temporary and low-cost option. Blinds and drapes may work, but be sure your dog isn't clever enough to push them aside (I once worked with a dog who learned to work the rod of the plantation shutters with her nose)...or worse, persistent enough to just tear right through them.

If your dog is reactive on walks or is aggressive towards visitors, you're still going to have more work to do. But by eliminating visual access to passersby, you are going to reduce opportunities for your dog to practice the unwanted behavior, which is going to make the behavior modification program go more smoothly outside the house.

BUTS

"But, I want my dog to have something to do during the day when I'm gone!" Imagine that you are home alone at night. Suddenly, you hear a would-be intruder rattling the door. You run to the door, large knife in hand, and yell "Get out of here before I call the cops!" Now, repeat this a dozen times through the evening. Relaxed? Feel like you had a full day of fun activities? Not really? Yeah, that's what it's like for your dog. You're better off giving your dog a frozen Kong stuffed with noms to work on for 45 minutes after you leave than to subject him to repeated stress.

There's also the consideration of sleep-deprivation. Dogs suffer from it, too. Your dog needs a considerable amount of sleep during the day - I've read anywhere from 12-14 hours per day. If your dog is only getting 8 hours of sleep at night with you, but the rest of his sleep is constantly interrupted to bark out the window, that is going to have an effect on his overall behavior...and health.

"But, he barks as soon as he hears the noise!" Yes, that's because he's associated the sound with the visual of the perceived intruder. But behavior is driven by consequences, not triggers (antecedents). For a week or two, your dog may hear the delivery truck and run to the window...but, he will no longer see the consequence of his barking. Every single client who had this concern reported that their dog's barking significantly decreased within a short time.

"But, we don't have a solid fence in our yard, I can't cover the whole thing!" I see this a lot with people who have wrought iron or other see-through fences. In such cases, the best course is to not give the dog unsupervised access to the yard. This may mean gating off an area on the side of the house where the fence is solid, or keeping the dog inside, if possible. Given the increase in dogs being stolen from yards lately, it might not be a bad idea to keep your dog inside when you're gone, anyway.

"But, I want my dog to alert me when someone is breaking into my house." Trust me, you are not going to train that away if your dog already has that tendency. Preventing him from barking at the mail carrier is not going to turn him into a burglar's accomplice.

"But, my dog likes to look out the window and never barks." That's great and if you don't have any problems with reactivity on walks, aggressive behavior towards guests who enter your home, your dog may be able to handle that access without any problems.

Just keep an eye on his/her behavior and watch for any signs of change. I once had a dog who didn't have problems for years, but gradually got worse and worse, until one day when he was 7 years-old, I came home to a cracked window and a note from the mail carrier that I was welcome to get a P.O. box if I wished to continue receiving mail.

There's no such thing as always or never in behavior. Like most things in life, prevention is always easier than modification!

"But that's not going to fix reactivity on walks."
No, this step, alone, won't fix reactivity. But it will stop the practice of it when you're not home, which is an important step in the behavior modification process.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
These images and the articles that accompany them are free to share on FaceBook via the “Share” link. Downloading for redistribution is strictly prohibited. ©2015 Lisa Mullinax. All rights reserved.

05/29/2021

05/28/2021

Two new Out and About classes are starting at the beginning of June. These are the best classes to your foundation skills to the test in real life situations with a trainer to help

05/17/2021

A great options for pandemic pups or teens that are struggling!

With the pandemic having limited our options for bringing our dogs to new places, many of us are struggling with dogs who are great at home and with family but are highly distracted and over-energized when we take them outside the house. Now is a great time to take the opportunity to learn some str