ADK-Nine Behavior & Training

07/22/2024

Thank you Paws Explore for this look at enrichment for our dogs❤️

06/30/2024

Truth!💖🐶💕🐕

06/12/2024

Colvin graduated from CD2 class this evening with Excellent marks for all 13 skills!💥He rocked!💥 Congratulations, Colvin! Good Job!👏
After class was over, he got to play with some classmates. They had a blast😁
❤️He especially loves Piper💕

05/29/2024

I really enjoy watching Colvin learn about the world around him, and I enjoy giving him time to process this information in his own way, and in his own time.

I was asked an excellent question:
how did I know that Colvin wouldn’t eat this poisonous red eft when I let him sniff it?
The answer: observation of his body language and a knowledge of his behavior history.
1) Colvin’s emotional state was calm curiosity. There was no excitement in his approach. I know that he doesn’t tend to consume things when he’s in this mode. (He’s more likely to paw at a tiny critter when it moves, but this eft wasn’t moving. )
2) I have built a huge reinforcement history of tossing treats on the ground as a reward for him NOT eating the things he finds on the road… so his expectation is that I’ll provide a treat-scatter when he’s done sniffing. (Which I did because he earned it by being such a good boy!)

Send a message to learn more

05/25/2024

I love this! Sabrielle perfectly describes my approach to working with dogs.
Do you have a fearful or reactive dog? Contact me for help.
Doreen Alessi-Holmes

I don't teach obedience.

Not in the traditional sense at least. "Obey" was something I heard too much of as a kid.

I teach pet dogs "how to dog" in our human world. I make the boring things fun. I teach life skills like waiting at doors for safety reasons, not because I have to go first. I teach them to stay behind me when exiting, because I don't want to accidentally startle a person or another dog that might be nearby that I don't see. I teach them "heel", not because they can't go ahead of me, but because I don't want to trip over them or be pulled over. I don't teach "sit" first. I teach dogs to self regulate instead. When they're relaxed, they'll sit or lay down. I don't teach puppies not to bite. I teach them what to bite. I don't teach "no jumping". It's four feet on the floor. Make it clear where to be. Aggressive and reactive dogs don't need to "sit, stay." They need to observe, pair a positive association, and process. It's about showing them the world and how to be within it.

You see, we are the ones who forced another being to live with us. I feel morally responsible to communicate with these beings in a compassionate way.

I don't command anyone to do things. No one commands me. I will however make you want to do what I say. 😉

Just rambling thoughts from your neighborhood dog trainer...

Sabrielle, Fear and Aggression Specialist
The Canine's Voice - Dog Training and Behavior Solutions
386.336.2469

05/01/2024

YOU CANNOT TRAIN A NEED OUT OF A DOG

I am a fan of training in general – which shouldn’t surprise anyone, because after all I am a “dog trainer”. In fact, I begin some sort of training with my dogs from the time they come home as little pups and I continue right into old age.

But perhaps that is because I view training as a way of building connection and providing enrichment, rather than a way of achieving control and “obedience”. Training is an activity that my dogs love and it is an opportunity to connect and do fun things together. Stopping training as they age, would be taking away an enrichment activity that they thrive on, so we keep going, simply adjusting to what they can cope with and what they particularly enjoy.

However, I am also a behaviour practitioner. I have been educated to view animals, not just as operant machines, but as creatures with rich emotional lives. I recognise the fact that behaviour is the expression of a need and the outpouring of an emotion. I believe that having this perspective and deeper knowledge of what drives behaviour makes me a better trainer, because I am aware that there is so much more than just observable behaviour to consider when working with any animal.

Unfortunately, people often use training as a way of making things look better, without actually making them any better on a deeper level – kind of like painting over the cracks in a house when its foundations are crumbling. It might look better for a while, but the entire structure is still unstable and at some point, it is bound to collapse.

Except it is far worse than a crumbling house, because dogs are sentient beings that deserve better than having their underlying emotions ignored. Trying to cover up signs of anxiety, frustration or deprivation by teaching polite behaviours is incredibly cruel and selfish.

Too often I see posts in positive reinforcement-based training groups where people are seeking advice to address a “problem” behaviour and, despite the very obvious signs that the dog in the post is struggling because a fundamental need is not being met, the advice given always focuses purely on training away the behaviour, rather than addressing the underlying need.

I find it incredibly sad and actually quite distressing, that so many dogs are desperately trying to communicate what they need and all supposedly knowledgeable people can focus on is how to stop them expressing that need – even if it is in a “nice” way.

Let me be clear, no amount of “training” is going to stop a dog from showing some signs of extreme boredom or distress, if you leave them alone daily for 8 – 10 hours. Dogs are social animals and you cannot train this out of them. A dog getting overexcited when they interact with you, if they spend hours separated from you outdoors or stuck in a crate, is NOT a training issue – it is a welfare issue. Long periods of confinement and isolation are detrimental to dogs – they were not built for this and trying to train them to accept it is fundamentally unfair. You also cannot expect a dog that never has any freedom of movement when out and about to walk “to heel” all the time. Dogs need to move, to run and to explore and expecting them to spend every walk on a 1 metre leash at your side with no tension on that lead as a means of exercise is completely absurd.

Dogs have fundamental needs for companionship, security, freedom of movement and exploration, among other things. You cannot train these needs out of them and trying to do so is incredibly unfair. Meeting your dogs’ emotional needs is how you go about building a strong foundation for their emotional and behavioural wellbeing, as well as your relationship with them. Training should be a means of enhancing and making that well-built foundation shine – not a way of covering up its cracks.

04/29/2024

Six unexpected ways dogs can show fear

The more we learn about our dogs' body language, the better we can recognize their feelings and support them. Sometimes the signs of fear can be pretty subtle! Here are six ways your pup may display fear:

⭐1. Refusing treats. If your pup who usually loves his snacks is not interested, there's some big emotion going on! Often, this is fear.
⭐2. Snapping & snarling. Oftentimes, people mistake blustery behaviors for confidence, but it's just the exact opposite: scared dogs may feel like they need to puff up big to defend themselves!
⭐3. Sudden stillness. The "freeze" may last for quite some time, or may be just a couple of seconds.
⭐4. Avoiding eye contact. Dogs who don't make any eye contact are often communicating, "Oh man, I don't want any trouble! Let me be!" in an attempt to escape confrontation.
⭐5. Drooling. Some breeds of dogs drool regularly, but drool stemming from fear is out of the norm and often foamy.
⭐6. Looking all around. Some amount of looking around is normal, but looking around in all directions or constantly scanning the environment is a sign of hypervigilance. Think of it as feeling so nervous that they must "keep on a lookout" for dangers in their environment.

If you've got a scaredy-pup on your hands, we'd be glad to help you out! You know we got you! 🐶😘

04/28/2024

Fearful dogs learn best when they’re in control of their interactions.
What did they learn? They learn that things that were scary aren’t so scary anymore👍
Have a fearful dog? Contact me and I will help you both!

We need to be extremely grateful when a fearful dog is showing avoidance with things they are concerned by. We need to be extremely respectful to not totally thwart their avenues of avoidance in order to suit our plans.

Romanian rescue Bertie was showing a high level of avoidance with me today. He's enrolled on solo training walks but a walk we did not do because he was struggling with wanting to be anywhere near me, ESPECIALLY if I had a lead in my hand.

Avoidance can look like a variety of things. Running away, obviously, but also hiding, cowering, retreating to known safe spots like behind chairs or under tables. What are we teaching our fearful dogs if we chase them, grab at them from under the table, or otherwise force contact before they are ready?

To aggress. That's what we are teaching them. To become outwardly aggressive. Because if leaving or avoiding an unwanted situation doesn't work, that's all that is left. Either submit to it, or fight against it. Young dogs may submit on a few occasions but that behaviour won't last forever. The fighting against it will come and it won't be "out of the blue" when it does.

Bertie was comfortable by the time I left to be sniffing my clothes, mooching around me, sitting with his back to me, lying down watching me... But he still was walking away from me going even just a step into HIS space. I could have grabbed his harness and put the lead on but that's a life lesson he DOESN'T need: "I won't listen to you".

Fearfuls NEED to be the one in control. Until HE can come to me and not move away as soon as my hand goes near a lead to clip it on, he needs me to hold off any plans I may have to help him in the outside world.

But that's just fine. I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Trust is worth building, in their own time 🐾💜

04/19/2024

Let’s talk about raising a puppy! A colleague’s new book on raising puppies is fabulous! The book was recently highlighted in this article by Marc Bekoff.

Having empathy for confused transplants from Planet Dog is the key to success.

04/19/2024

https://www.petsradar.com/news/want-a-happier-relationship-with-your-dog-this-trainers-simple-tip-is-a-game-changer

Help your pup to feel safe and your connection will deepen.

04/14/2024

Let’s normalize the behavior of letting our dogs have a say in their walks. Let them sniff. Let them process their environment.

Waiting is a big part of all my dog walks, whether it’s my dog or a clients. Just hanging around, while they get ALL of the information from a sniff spot, or sniffing the air or observing something.

But I was thinking today how uncomfortable I can get if I’m just stood around waiting when there are other people around.

Not so much when my dog is sniffing as thankfully awareness of the importance of sniffing for dogs has grown.

However, there are many other reasons dogs like to stop on walks and I like to honour them as much as I can. On today's walk alone, my dog stopped because…

She was air scenting

She was taking time to decide which direction she wanted to go

She wanted to watch the person walking on the opposite side of the road

There was another dog walking towards us and she needed time to decide how she was wanted to handle the situation

All of these are perfectly valid reasons to stop. But I’ve found that just waiting around makes me feel a bit embarrassed. I assume that onlookers must think how silly I look, just standing around.

While I know I’m giving my dog time to do what she needs to do, I suspect to others that it just looks like my dog is also just standing around doing nothing. How odd that must look.

Sometimes I let my self-consciousness get the better of me, and encourage my dog to move along before she’s ready.

I know all of these beliefs I have on what others must be thinking are just my own thoughts and not fact, but I figure that if I feel this way, there’s probably others that do too.

Time to stop on walks is super important for our dogs. We live fast paced lives and we tend to sweep our dogs up in our rush to keep moving forward. But I suspect that losing the ability to stop, take in information, and take a moment to decide what they want to do with it, could be the source of many behavioural struggles for many dogs.

I encourage you to watch your dog on your next walk when they stop, and stop with them. If you haven’t paid close attention before, it may have looked like they stopped for no reason, but there’s always a reason. Consider what information they might be absorbing and allow them time to do it.

It probably wasn’t all that long ago that it was less common to see people patiently waiting for their dogs to finish sniffing on walks, but now it’s encouraged and normalised.

So I’ve decided that instead of worrying about how strange I look when I’m pausing on a dog walk, instead I will think about how I'm advocating to others that it's ok to just stop and wait with your dog, and play my part in normalising it.

Please join me in doing the same. We’ll be leading the way forward by standing still.

04/11/2024

Living with a dog with a strong predatory drive can be difficult. I can help with that!
I learned a lot from Tracey’s course for dog pros a few years ago 👍
I love her explanations 👇

Canine Instincts and Wildlife 🐾🌳
So many dogs utterly lose their mind at the first sight or scent of a squirrel/rabbit/deer/bird. Nothing works to get their attention at those times. When that happens, a common human response is to keep the dog away from whatever is making them lose their mind.

Understanding Your Dog's Natural Behaviour 🐕💭
What we need to remember about those reactions is that the dogs are responding like that because they have deep and often carefully bred for instincts to do something with wildlife. When they are young and haven’t got the skills they’d need, their responses often are quite extreme. They might bark with frustration and lunge. To see your dog react like that is alarming – and that is what often drives the desire to keep them away from whatever causes them to act like that.

The Challenge of Avoidance 🚫🐦
Part of the problem is how to avoid. I don’t know about you but there is no way I could avoid birds. Even inside the house, my dog will watch them out of the window. As soon as we go outside, I can guarantee she’ll see birds.

Where I live deer are not as common as birds but still, in over 20 years of living with predatory dogs in Scotland, I am yet to find anywhere that is reliably free from deer. Even areas that have been carefully fenced to keep the deer out end up with deer in them. All it takes is for somebody to leave a gate open – and somebody always does that eventually.

The Consequences of Restricting Instincts 🐶❌
The lack of ability to reliably avoid leads to the second part of the problem with avoidance when you are dealing with predation. Lack of access to instinctive behaviour, makes dogs – all animals really – want them even more. By avoiding, you tend to create a huge amount of motivation in the dog. Dogs who are hugely motivated will go over high fencing, back out of harnesses, chew through leads. They become hard to manage and feel impossible to live with.

How Deprivation Fuels Desire➡️🔥
We know that lack of access builds motivation to do the thing that the animal has been deprived of. The scientists who first started studying learning in animals would use deprivation as standard practice in their experiments. If they wanted to train an animal to press a lever or stand in a particular spot to get food, they’d make sure that the animal was hungry. Not starving but keen to eat. That way the animal would make more of an effort to work out what they needed to do to get the food. If they were full and satisfied, they might have just given up and had a nap.

Motivation to solve maze puzzles would be built by confining the animals for a period of time prior to the experiment so that when they were placed in the maze, they were keen to move.

The Irony of Avoidance 🔄🎯
Nothing builds motivation for instinctive behaviour like being deprived of it!

So when we avoid and try to calm our dogs down and look for ways to get them to ignore enticing prey, often what is happening is the dog’s motivation to get to the prey is building and building.

What is the answer? 🗝️🐶
Well, almost all instinctive behaviour can be modified through learning.

If you have a puppy who is screaming and scrabbling at your cupboards whenever you prepare food, you wouldn’t respond to that by not feeding your puppy. Instead, you would teach your puppy that sitting calmly or going to a particular spot is the way to get their food. Nobody would ever question that it is possible for dogs to learn that they can get food by doing something specific.

It's the same with instinctive predatory behaviour. You can’t take that instinct out of your dog but your dog can learn to do something that is more socially acceptable than lunging around and screaming on the lead.

Consistency in Training is Crucial 🐕
It is important to remember that the instinctive behaviour is always going to be the most obvious thing for your dog to do so keeping up with training and being sensible about when and where your dog is off lead are both important things to do too. But you certainly don’t have to keep on living with a dog who loses their mind at the sight of a bird.

04/09/2024

Fear of crates and other thoughts…
If your dog has trouble with their crate for any reason, I can help you figure out the underlying cause(s) and create a plan to keep them safe and less stressed.

FEAR OF CRATES

I'm always really disappointed when I see canine professionals recommending feeding all meals in or close to the crate to tackle an existing fear of them. This demonstrates such a lack of empathy and understanding, and a real disregard for the dog's feelings. Attempting to feed a dog their meals in a crate when he/she is scared of it is way too much exposure, and constitutes flooding. The last thing we want to do is risk creating even more conflict, sensitising them further, and poisoning the food in the process. We need to respect their fears, even if they don't seem logical to us. Using food in this way is highly aversive, and will also damage the dog's trust in us. Please don't do it!

Welfare, including physical and emotional well-being, needs to be at the forefront of everything we do, rather than focusing on achieving behaviours. Just because we can do something, it doesn't automatically mean that we should. Instead, we need to try to identify the root cause of a problem, and consider why a behaviour might be occurring.

Fear of the crate could occur for any number of reasons: perhaps there is confinement anxiety at play, separation anxiety, physical discomfort when crated because of a medical condition, or aches and pains. A negative association may have been made with the location of the crate, the dog may have received an injury while inside the crate, a scary noise might have happened while they were crated, and so on.

Without knowing why they are fearful of the crate, it is unlikely to be an easy fix. Although we can modify behaviour through counterconditioning and desensitisation, sometimes avoidance and management is the best option, and finding an alternative in order to prevent prolonging stress for our dogs. Maybe a room they feel safe in can be dog-proofed for when they are alone? Can an area of a room be gated off to form a pen? Are they quite content snoozing on the sofa? We must always choose the most appropriate course of action for each individual, and find the most ethical pathway in each case.

©️ Trailie Paws For Thought

For further reading on the use of food, counterconditioning and desensitisation, stress and fear, why not check out my blog?

www.trailiepawsforthought.com

I'm very happy for all of my content to be shared, but please do not copy and paste (to avoid sharing from source), screenshot, or download any part of it. THANK YOU! 🐾 🐾

04/09/2024

From the post below:
“I will let you into a little secret.
Training dogs to do things is pretty easy. But understanding them, being able to communicate with them,compromising for them, earning their love and trust but not expecting it and being their advocate, is not always quite so easy.”
👏👏👏

Just because a dog behaves well in societies eyes, does not make their human a dog expert.

I see plenty of 'well behaved' dogs trying to communicate with their humans but their communication falling on deaf ears. I see scared dogs, uncomfortable and unhappy dogs that get praised for being quiet and well behaved.

There are people out there that work tirelessly at being amazing advocates for their dog. That understand their dog. That continue to educate themselves about dogs. Some of these people have dogs that walk beautifully with them, that love everything and everyone, who hang off every word they say and some of these people have a dog who society deems as badly behaved. There are so many factors that contribute to how a dog behaves. Their human is just a part of it. There are plenty of dogs who struggle but have amazing humans.

Many dogs walk around with people who think they are amazing dog people but who dont realise that they actually just got lucky and have a dog that is well behaved inspite of them, not because of them.

A person that can get their dog to obey them says nothing about their understanding about dogs as a species.

The people that really impress me are the people that make no apology for putting themselves out for their dog.

The people that walk their dog at 5am in the morning because their dog is socially sensitive and that's the best time to walk them.

The people that make no apology for not being able to come out because their dog is under the weather or may need comforting in a firestorm.

The people who sit on the floor because they dont want to disturb their dog.

The people that dont take their dog to the pub because although they would love it, they know their dog doesnt.

The people that have bubble wrapped the whole of their house to protect their furniture whilst they support their new dog who is terrified of the world. (Yes this is a client I have at the moment who I think is amazing!).

The people that are brave enough to tell other people to not stroke their dog whilst the other person looks at them like they are mad, because all dogs love to be stroked by strangers, right?

The people that always know that they need to learn more about dogs because they cannot possibly know everything about such a complex, beautiful species.

So if you want to impress with how great you are with dogs. Dont try and get them to sit, give paw or lie down. Show what YOU can do for your dog, not what they can do for you.

To all the lovely people out there that constantly impress me with their efforts to be better humans for their dogs. Dont listen to the people who think they know best. Keep up the good work.

I will let you into a little secret. Training dogs to do things is pretty easy. But understanding them, being able to communicate with them,compromising for them, earning their love and trust but not expecting it and being their advocate, is not always quite so easy.

You can be lucky enough to have dogs that fit in with the world easily, all your life. But dont assume that because a dog is not behaving the way society thinks they should, that it is the humans fault or because they dont know anything about dogs.

All dogs are unique and untill you have spent time with every single one of them, you still have a lot to learn 😉

04/07/2024

I love adolescent dogs❤️❤️❤️
Adolescence is such an important stage of development! Adolescents require extra patience, kindness, and thoughtfulness on our part. This supports their brains and bodies to develop to their highest potential!

Do you have an adolescent dog? I have a course for you! Message me for details.

ADOLESCENCE:
As dogs go through adolescence, it’s safe to say things turn a little topsy-turvy! 🙃

If you’re currently at this stage and feeling like you’ve taken one step forward and two steps back, don’t panic! During this stage of life, there’s a lot going on in their busy little brains.

Here are three facts about the adolescent brain 🧠👇

1. The inhibitory neurons of the amygdala that help to dampen down emotional responses don’t fully mature until the END of adolescence.

2. Communication between the frontal cortex and amygdala, which is essential for skills training, decreases during adolescence.

3. Extinction memory is impaired during adolescence, so if your dog has a bad experience it’s much more likely to lead to a ‘hard wired’ fear memory.

Have patience and compassion as you support and guide your dog through this vulnerable period of brain development.

04/05/2024

It doesn't take much for a negative association to form.
We may not understand it because (to us) there may be "fun" associated with the object or item which they now find scary or avoid.
Cars are often seen by dogs as scary even though they may love to run to the garage yet stop and refuse to budge or go in. They may even be conflicted.
Cars often have negative associations associated with them as many dogs are car sick when younger...the sickness they felt creates a negative association.....and the loop begins.
The car now has a negative association.

The vets are a very obvious target for negative associations....but they don't have to be.
Many people will try making a positive association with the vets yet not change many other cues associated with visiting....they may pull up in a different spot in the car park and this time are armed with treats....their dog still refuses to budge.
Start from FAR away, park way down the road and walk past the vets on the other side of the road ( maybe the building is just visible...maybe not, your dogs body language is the guide ) and start making a positive association with just being in the area. Save a special toy or treats....repeat again and again....gradually getting closer over days or weeks....and it is a gradual and slow change for some dogs.
Others may make a positive association after a couple of visits.
The less pressure you put on your dog the quicker they may respond.

Sometimes we simply don't understand why a negative association has been formed....it doesn't actually matter...your dog knows why.
Maybe going through the front door the door banged in the wind (negative association has been made).
The treat toy your dog loved is now something that turns their tail under and lowers their body in fright....Why ?
Maybe their tongue got caught and hurt while using it.

Food bowls are often the target of negative associations and many people believe their dog has simply gone off their food......perhaps the reason for this is you dropped it around them either once...or one too many times.
Or maybe they twinged their neck muscles when they ate.

Your dog IS the decider of why and how they have made a negative association.

Break it down into little steps and make each step positive...you will know when you have taken it a step too far (your dogs body language will let you know)....go back and start again below the new "threshold" and KEEP making the positive associations there for a few days or longer...then gradually add in the next step.

If you push this, you are likely going to add a whole lot of other issues and create more negative associations....for example your dog may start to make a new negative association with the garage AND the car.

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04/01/2024

I spent part of this sunny (but chilly) afternoon habituating Colvin to the new next door neighbor. (The house was unoccupied for all Colvin’s short life.)
I use the term *habituation* intentionally.
I’m helping Colvin normalize hearing and seeing the neighbor without his having to grumble, growl, or bark. We spent a pleasant hour chillin out and he got rewarded for watching quietly and learning not to be concerned.

Habituate: make or become accustomed or used to something.

(If Colvin had already become *sensitized* to the neighbor’s presence, we would have practiced some desensitization and counter-conditioning. Habituation is the step that people tend to miss.)

03/30/2024

Today we did a hike to Moose Pond (Bloomingdale) to meet up with friends. Colvin learned to cross the scary metal grate bridge and made a new friend.

03/22/2024

I always tell my students to use their words with their dogs. The Mr Rogers hack is only one example of the many ways that verbal information is helpful to our dogs.
Now we are learning that dogs can form mental representations of objects based on the words they hear!
Talk to your dog like they are a toddler. Keep it simple, but give them more information!

Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary, find a human N400-like semantic mismatch effect in dogs’ ERPs to objects primed with matching or mismatchin...