1st of 6 sessions with Hendrix, an 11mo German Shepherd, and his family. Today, e-collar training is combined with positive reinforcement to create beautiful harmony. We spent almost 2 hours this morning going over step by step how to condition to the e-collar / how to teach him this very foreign stimulus that can be quite confusing, and how to implement this one tool to an overall training program. The biggest areas of focus for Hendrix are 1.) stop pulling on the leash, 2.) stop pulling towards & lunging and barking at cars/people/dogs, 3.) get him reliably coming back to his owners off leash so he can have the freedom to run and explore in the woods. It IS possible to make tremendous progress in the 1st session and that's exactly what we did.
Luna would lunge and bark at cars passing by. This is called leash reactivity. She's part Border Collie, so there's also that factor. Is it acceptable, is it not acceptable.. you have options when you have a behavior like this. You can move to the country and shield her from cars (avoid the behavior), you can just let her do it (ignore the behavior), you can redirect her attention with food or toys (only works if the dog has food or toy drive that is greater than the desire to lunge at the cars), or you can correct the behavior (just teach your dog "no"). I'm one of the biggest animal lovers you will ever meet and I recognize that suppression is not ideal, and you want to say yes more than you say no, but we have to keep our dog's safe, so I believe that correcting this behavior is the right thing to do, and giving your dog other outlets such as training them to be off-leash reliable and taking them on trail walks so they can run and explore safe, happy and free, is the ultimate freedom and reward, and using play in your training (tug, flirt pole.. and training a solid "out" or "drop it").. Not everyone lives on a farm, has sheep and has a dog that possesses the drive to do herding. Herding is an intense and inherently dangerous sport, it's more than just seeing if your dog chases sheep. It's about the person learning to handle their dog and work as a team. You and your dog are partners and herding is really an art. When we have dogs that possess drives and they go unfulfilled, that frustration can result in behavior like lunging and barking at cars or joggers or people riding bikes. Behavior is complex and I'm the kind of trainer that takes a holistic approach to understanding and addressing it and that includes food because food impacts everything- physical, mental, energetic, and emotional. But a simple fix for this behavior of lunging at cars, I prefer to just interrupt the behavior with more intensity than the dog is providing. A "hey, knock it off" and a quick
I'm going to start sharing some older content of when I had Allie, the dog who made me a trainer, my journey with her and as a dog trainer. Allie was leash reactive but also could get aggressive with other dogs. She had separation anxiety, too. Had a hard time being crated and in the beginning, was destructive when left alone in the house. Having a very challenging dog for a first dog taught me a lot. I wanted her to get past all of her issues so that I could take her everywhere and so that she could also help other dogs with issues, and that's exactly what ended up happening. This clip is from our hike up Franconia Ridge in the white mountains. It was an 8 hour round trip hike. Allie was off leash the entire hike. Anytime we saw another person (with or without a dog), I would call her back to me, leash her, and either step to the side or heel past them, then back to off leash. Allie got to enjoy the ultimate off leash life because of the commitment I made to her training and rehabilitation.
Had a nice session at Wheelock soccer fields this morning with labs Tilly and Aurora. They both have their e-collars on (Mini Educator 2 dog system by E-collar Tech- the only e-collar I use and recommend). They were trained to have off-leash reliable recall so today was a check in on their progress. Their mom was successful in calling both dogs back to her when they wanted to go say hi to other dogs. Both dogs also listen to her when she changes direction / turns around. Sounds simple but I do see many owners pleading with their dog to come back to them or to turn around, repeating the command over and over, finally going to get the dog and the dog plays keep away. If your dog is off leash, they should have reliable recall at a minimum. We also worked on the "leave it" command walking by a soccer ball on-leash because they are so nuts about soccer balls, they will take their owner down.
Alfie is severely leash reactive / very explosive on leash and we are using a Pet Corrector to stop his unwanted behavior of losing his 💩 when he sees another dog. Implementing corrections and positive reinforcement. Alfie is learning how to avoid corrections in this small clip and is in the process of resocializing. I believe the majority of reactive dogs are extremely social. They might not have social skills at this point which is why this factor is so important. Because ultimately most of them just want to get to the dog, they just want to socialize. But if you just cut them loose and let them react and go and be crazy, it can actually turn into aggression. It can turn into fights because they're so jacked up. You've got to chill them out and calm them down before you give them access to socialization.
Off-leash reliable obedience- down/stay at a distance and recall. Ecollar is on Tucker but only used for corrections at this stage, at the lowest level needed
2 main things to keep in mind to have your dog walk nice on a leash.
#1. Be relevant to your dog, do not fall into the idea that to be friendly your dog must be allowed to meet every dog and every human on a walk.
#2. Use your leash as a training tool, not a restrictive device. Leash walks should involve the leash being loose unless you are giving information to your dog.
If you are struggling to walk your dog(s) and this looks like a dream to you, I encourage you to book a call with me!
Tucker enjoying the water this afternoon. He started out afraid, avoiding the pool, not wanting to go in, which is what I expected. When I adopted him at 11mo and we were on a walk after it had rained, I noticed he had a fear of puddles and would do whatever he could to avoid them. This afternoon he spent some time with his neighbor, Papi, and I lured him in with a treat and did that a few times and then he was going in on his own. I don’t need him to like water but his confidence definitely went up today after showing him that it’s nothing to be afraid of.
Quick video from the group dog walk this morning.
Off leash reliability / ecollar training
Explaining how ecollars work, how they’re meant to be used, and what it is not
Murphy learning the basics of ecollar conditioning so he can have a solid off-leash recall. I find the dog’s lowest perceived (barely feel) level indoors with minimal to no distractions or outside on the driveway, and i condition it two ways- continuous stim right before the command, and second is tapping stim immediately after the command. Both with very light straight line leash guidance. As soon as the dog turns to move toward you, you let go of the button on the ecollar and mark with a big YES. And reward when they get to you. This is how it starts.
Luna is staying the weekend! She loves Tucker
The two ways to condition the ecollar, that I learned from Larry Krohn…
The black “S” button can be used as just a tap or as a continuous.
1.) we will use the button held down (continuous) right BEFORE the command
And
2.) we will use the button just as a tap AFTER the command
We built the marker word YES prior to doing this.
The ecollar doesn’t teach anything, it just reinforces. The leash is the most important tool but we’ll want to phase it out, and we will phase out the ecollar and food as well because a trained dog isn’t reliant on a button or food.
The non verbal continuous or tap is showing us that JoJo is in fact feeling the ecollar pressure and also knows how to shut it off, and this is important to teach as well
Does your dog know not to fly out of doors? Car door, backyard gate, door to the house, etc?
Sawyer and her pal, Teddy, walking side by side on the way home from playing fetch and having a ball in the tennis court this morning! Sawyer can be a little defensive and protective over his mom and Teddy’s excitement can be a lot, but the two did very well hanging out today, even afterwards at Sawyer’s house! Overall it was a very positive experience for all!
Tabitha is a very lovable Bully mix that’s currently up for adoption through the @medfieldshelter and is being fostered by an amazing family who is doing everything to make sure she has the best quality of life. She has some dog issues so she needs to be your only pet. Today she came with her foster mom to my group walk and did so well. This is a structured group walk for dogs undergoing training, some dealing with aggression and reactivity and everyone walked so nicely together. Also all the pet parents are gaining confidence in walking their dogs on a loose leash and calmly socializing their dog. Socialization does not have to always be an off leash football match. It can be a calm walk around the neighborhood where everyone is coexisting nicely and feels safe and advocated for, being guided by their handler.
Group class Saturday morning. Teddy, Luna and Milo struggled with leash reactivity so it’s great to see them out walking with other dogs. Group classes are great to supplement private 1-on-1 training with.
