Dog training lightbulbs (2024)

02/07/2023

Can “positive” herding using Dogs exist?

The short answer is no.

I want to preface this article with the fact that I’m not calling for an end to any practise or condemning it. This article is purely to act as a discussion point and what I think is a unique topic I haven’t seen discussed.

Now I’m not saying you can’t teach a Dog to herd in a positive way. A lot of Dogs are bred for that purpose and find it incredibly reinforcing and there’s been a huge move to get away from “old school” teaching on the dogs side and teach the animals with positive reinforcement. That’s something that needs to be praised.

What I’m talking about is the fact there’s another animal involved (the one being herded) and the fundamental relationship is based on using negative reinforcement to make animals move to where we want.

This comes in a few ways:

Typically least force is staring/physical proximity but in extreme cases dogs have been bred to nip live stock etc.

These are all taking advantage of negative reinforcement to get an animal to perform a behaviour.

They add pressure to an animal which is then removed when the animal performs it.

That’s the definition of negative reinforcement.

Perhaps positive trainers of herding dogs are aware of this and choose to ignore it or think that it’s fine. However it is also possible that people just haven’t stopped to think about the fundamentals of herding from the herded animals perspective and that’s why I’m posing this question.

Now I love to deal in “solutions” and for that we can look at zoos. I’ve seen many zoos go from herding/using negative reinforcement to teaching herding or other animals to have a recall or “place”. Co-operative care is a huge part of the zoo movement these days and there’s absolutely no reason farmers cannot adopt this practise too.

There’s also sports that utilise herding instincts/teaching on non sentient objects for those dogs who are bred for that.

Just something worth thinking about (I think atleast)

14/06/2022

Let’s preface this with the fact I personally do not advocate the use of E-Collars in any circumstances.

Most often people will justify the use of E collars by saying they’re not painful. They do this by trying it on themselves or a client before putting them on the dog.

The fact is just looking at the pain aspect is simplifying the implementation of them.

To really experience what the dog is going through we’d have to try E - collars on people in a few different scenarios depending what we’re using for.

A clear example would be a fearful dog. To replicate this we’d put an e collar on the person and put them in a room with a spider. Everytime they showed fear or undesirable behaviour we’d shock them. All other times we wouldn’t or we would give them a reward.

Another example would be taking someone to a theme park and telling the learner they can only walk. If they run or get excited they get a shock. This would be the same as teaching a dog to walk nicely on a lead with shock.

I think the hardest one is probably while teaching specific behaviours. This takes a lot of thinking and pain, aversive stimulus and anxiety which a shock collar will produce make thinking and making choices harder.

Imagine being put into a room and trying to learn a new skill and you get shocked either until you do the right thing (sometimes even behavior the learner does not know) or shocked when you do the wrong thing.

There’s so much more than just pain to consider when using a shock collar on anyone.

23/08/2020

Let’s talk about meeting our reactive dog’s basic needs, why they’re comparable to their “triggers” and how to reduce the impact they have on the dog’s and humans bucket/relationship.

Animals bodily function often rely on negative reinforcement.

An example would be your dogs stomach becomes uncomfortable until they seek out and eat food.

The same is said for urinating, the dog’s bladder gets fuller until the dog alleviates the uncomfortable stimulus by going to the toilet.

But it’s not as cut as dry as all negative reinforcement feels the same.

Being slightly peckish is more comfortable than being starving and in between those two intensities, if we simplify it there’s several “thresholds” of intensity the dog will experience.

Now this system is directly comparable to their “trigger” as they are both relying on “negative reinforcement” to feel comfortable/safe again.
Hopefully the two graphs below show how they can be compared. Remember intensity is not always directly comparable though.

Now as dogs are pets, they rarely have control over these stimulus as we mostly decide when they eat or go to the toilet.

And this is where the stress bucket comes into it.

Depending on the dog and human relationship the dog could be waiting for their bladder to be full and really uncomfortable before they “action prompt” human to let them out, by barking for example. This is especially true for passive copers or dogs with poor relationships with their owners.

And some owners very commonly wait for “action prompting” to happen before they let their dog out.

This means we could be accidentally filling our dogs bucket by unknowingly applying an uncomfortable level of negative reinforcement to our dogs.

The same is said with fear of people/dogs.... we are missing signs our dogs are uncomfortable until they overtly action prompt us to move away from the trigger by lunging and barking.

And let me tell you, action prompting behaviour is a huge bucket filler for humans as well and actively damages relationships between human and dogs.
Who likes their dogs incessantly barking to be let out? Or whinging and pawing until you feed them? Not me that’s for sure!

So what can we do?

Well the best example I can think of is going on a long drive.

We have the choice to get in the car and then drive until our bladder is uncomfortable and we pull over into a service station for a break. This is risky and stressful as often we have several miles until we have the option to stop.

So good management/stress reduction would be to make sure you toilet before you leave, whether your bladder feels full or not and then stop at a station if that’s even necessary before your bladder becomes painfully full.

Same with our dogs, if we are waiting for action prompting from them then we could be filling their buckets. If we’re pro actively letting them out on an appropriate schedule meaning their bladder never gets overly full or uncomfortable then we can reduce the amount of stress that goes into their buckets.

Now if you don’t have a reactive dog then you probably don’t need to be that concerned about this because their buckets are probably big enough or empty fast enough these small elements don’t impact them.

But if you have a reactive dog, every drop in that bucket amounts to something. Every drop we can reduce going in can create room for calmness or for other triggers. We will see more tolerance and happier dogs, isn’t that brilliant to think about ❤️

18/08/2020

❤️IF YOU HAVE A REACTIVE DOG - you probably want to read this ❤️

One of the foundations I really prioritise in assessing dogs, especially reactive ones is whether they’re active or passive copers.

I’ve covered the two types in this post previously:
https://www.facebook.com/105365847512121/posts/323436955705008/?extid=KhN0BRMtAD8lrFPY&d=n

The reason being, from my experience active copers struggle with disengagement.

A lot of the time I see owners or trainers playing games where they introduce novelty to the environment with their dog and then reward them for approaching, getting in, sniffing, investigating etc.

It makes sense until you break down the mechanics of these kind of games and the situations of a dog reacting to a strange dog/human for example

Here’s how I break it down

Dog in environment > novelty appears > dog engages with stimulus and dog is reinforced.

Of course in the game where we have dog engage with a novel item we’ll likely be reinforcing with food. (Positive reinforcement)

With the reactive dogs behaviours like lunging, barking, staring, freezing are usually rewarded with distance or stimulus disappearing. (Negative reinforcement).

So for me growing a skill where I can introduce novelty into a dogs environment and reward for coming away is so much more valuable than wanting or being able to engage with a novel item.

It also really helps us be flexible with brain storming sub modalities for fear/anxiety of things like dogs/people.

An example would be throwing out a toy and then rewarding for the dog coming with you for food.

Or opening a door to a new environment and rewarding inside.

I would also play this kind of with puppies/dogs who are “either prone to being or are already over friendly”, struggle with recall or loose lead walking.

An example may be Labrador puppies (if I was to generalise, sorry labradors 😅😂).

And funnily enough in a most puppy raising protocols, engaging in novelty is one of the core exercises and is applied in a blanket fashion to ALL types of dog/breed.

I think this kind of learning is really key for those struggling with their reactive or easily distracted dog and I hope this helps ❤️

11/08/2020

💡💡💡💡

In my mind I compare these situations. They're all fear based behaviour choices (Yes we can make decisions when scared sometimes)

You hear a weird sound downstairs, you have a choice to make!

Either you grab a weapon and head down the stairs to check it out/confront it or you hide under your bed and hope it goes away.

I think this is huge for people to understand fearful dogs.

I often hear and have thought myself... Why does my reactive dog feel he has to tackle scary things... Why does he head towards them? Why doesn't he just avoid it?

Well I think here is partly the answer put in a different context.

Ofcourse most of us know about fight and flight responses and that's basically what it is in a nut shell.

I also see people say "my dog is fine off leash, he loves other dogs and will run towards them and not react" while for some dogs this may be true, I feel it's a strong misinterpretion of either "I have to tackle this problem" or ambivalence in the dog so they may like dogs but some situations freak them out.

Obviously we add in a lead and we're restricting choice of flight and to some extent fight so we are pushing them towards the fight option.

16/06/2020

Steps to Solving the Issue of Puppy Farms and Over Crowded Rescue

*First of all I want to put it out there that this is a highly debated topic. It is often emotional from both sides which are typically Breeder "vs" Rescue. I'm not posting this to upset anyone but to hopefully educate and offer solutions to a problem that plagues our industry.
This post was actually "inspired" by a discussion I had with someone and I wanted to put my views across*

I'm actually going to prepose there's 4 "sides" to this story, or at least 3 parties that are responsible for coming up and implementing solutions:

Puppy Breeders
Puppy Buyers
Rescues
Dog Behaviourist/Trainers

To put the blame or pressure of solving the issues Dogs and their carers face on just one of these aspects of the dog industry, in my opinion is unfair and not productive.

Of course resources and solutions should be both focused and created by those in the responsible aspects.

It's however also important we consult the other parts of the industry to learn and come up with solutions that work together to fight this issue.

I'm really going to have a think over the next few days and likely do 4 separate posts to propose solutions otherwise this will be a really long post!

09/06/2020

When we video or photograph our dogs or training sessions we’re gaining the opportunity to analyse what has happened. What we did good and what we could do better next time.

But with particular personality types or mindsets we also open ourselves to the possibility of over analysing and that can create emotions such as regret and guilt.

In these moments we have to remind ourselves, in that moment we had our dogs welfare at our hearts. We acted in a way that we either thought was best or would minimally impact the dogs emotions negatively. We do not set up dogs or ourselves to fail but sometimes it happens.

How you handle that at the time is what is super important, be confident you did your best and will do better in the future ❤️

04/06/2020

Working on a nerdy resource for you all about transitions! Should really help dog trainers coaching clients with a huge range of struggles like loose lead walking, reactivity, over arousal, building a recall etc etc

Hoping to make some instructional videos to help too instead of just having written explanations

🤓

04/06/2020

Is your reactive dog 🐕 in pain?

We’ve all probably seen atleast one movie where there’s an animal or monster who’s rampaging or aggressive then a hero comes along, discovers there’s a thorn stuck in their side or some other painful ailment, removes it and they become friends. Just like in the story of Androcles

Well it’s the same in dogs!

If your dog’s behaviour suddenly changes in any major way then it’s time to seek out a professional.

It’s really common for reactive dogs to have some form of injury or pain which atleast contributes to their negative behaviour!

The first call is obviously your vet, they can do blood test, xrays, check for any obvious lumps and bumps or any obvious cause of pain.

If nothing comes back then I would have a consult with a professional experienced in dog osteopath, physiotherapy or massage as they tend to be very skilled at identifying muscular pain from either feeling your dog or watching them move.

Once you’ve ruled out all this then you can focus on the behaviour side of your struggles but treating pain if there is any is essential for any behaviour plan!

01/06/2020

Doggy Reactivity - The Doggy Life Raft

As a Dog Trainer, it is my job to help people and clients understand their dogs.There are many aspects to this.

One aspect is to teach owners about dog behaviour. This involves teaching owners how to go about changing problematic behaviours as well as how to create new and more desirable ones.

Another aspect focuses on the Dog - Owner connection in terms of helping owners to better understand and relate to their dogs. I absolutely love human based analogies for this.

An analogy that I thought of recently, is that of a life raft and water to describe why and how reactive dogs are so often hard to rehabilitate.

Using this analogy, let’s first imagine a stable dog. This dog will have a life raft. Waves will come and rock the raft but the buoyancy of the raft easily keeps this type of dog afloat. This type of dog does not fall over. This type of dog also recovers super fast should anything really go wrong. For example, if a wave comes that is big enough it will push the dog off the raft and into the water.
The dog must then put in some effort by swimming and maybe even flipping the raft over in order to climb back on to the raft. If a still larger wave comes along, the dog might even be pushed under the water and then need to fight to get back up to the surface. This requires not only skill but emotional balance and grit.

Now, let’s imagine a reactive type of dog. They don't have “rafts". They are constantly treading water. Waves such as those that rocked the stable dog’s raft would make treading water much harder to do. The waves that knocked the stable dog off the raft but didn't push this dog under the water would likely push a reactive dog under the water. The even larger waves that pushed the "raft" dog under the water could then hold a reactive dog under the water for a long time.

For some reactive dogs, waves can happen often. By the time these types of dogs reach the "surface" of the water to catch their breath, they find themselves under the water again.

Dogs can't build rafts but humans can! We can help reactive type dogs by helping them to develop appropriate coping strategies and by helping them to form positive associations. By doing this, we can help these dogs to build rafts and also teach them how to remain on their rafts. We can also teach them how to help themselves back up on to their rafts should they fall off.

This takes time and love. I believe this is possible!

30/05/2020

Your Dog is Scared and That's OK - A Post for Reactive Dog Parents

Hello everyone,

Today I wanted to discuss a topic that is really close to my heart and I've been meaning to write this for a while and will hopefully give those that own reactive dogs a sigh of relief.

Now a few years ago I entered the community of "force free" or "positive" training. The main goal is to approach animal training in the most ethical way we know how.

Now this comes with a problem that's put a lot of pressure on both dog trainers, behaviourists and owners, or at least did for me initially.

That is the desire to completely remove stress, fear and anxiety from our dog's life. Makes sense right? We want our dogs to feel great!

It got to the point where if there was a possibility my dog was experiencing any of these negative emotions I would become extremely stressed, feel guilty and felt I had failed him.

The thing is, negative reinforcement is naturally occurring. If you need a wee, your bladder starts to feel full until you empty it.
If you're hungry your stomach feels empty until you fill it.
I feel scared so move away from the spider.

The times naturally occurring negative reinforcement becomes unethical is when we limit the ability to turn it off or reduce the intensity.

For example my dog can only wee outside, I've taught him this. It would take his bladder to be extremely full and uncomfortable before he'd wee in my house.
Letting him get into this state is extremely stressful for him so of course I let him out regularly and give him the opportunity to wee.

This is exactly what we have to do when our dogs experience fear. They become scared so they do behaviour(s) to feel safe again. Of course we don't want to intentionally cause this but if it does occurs, let your dog do behaviour(s) that make them feel safe as quickly as possible, that is the best thing you can do for them at the time.

For me learning about this really took pressure off me. I really don't want my dog stressed or anxious but it happens and if you stay calm and give them the ability to feel safe again as soon as possible:

YOU ARE STILL DOING YOUR BEST FOR YOUR DOG!

It is super important that you don't let yourself or anyone guilt you into thinking anything different.

You are a super star owner if you care for a reactive dog, mistakes happen but I believe you are trying your best

20/04/2020

I am a game based dog trainer

Games incorporate anything that is rewarding and fulfilling for both me and my dog.

It includes using food and toys as elements to get behaviours to become more likely.

People often ask “when do you stop using food?” or “how long do I have to play this game for?”

My answer is never and always 🙂

I’m 100% comfortable with that and will not work with anyone as a coach who is not open to this being part of their life.

Games are for life because they’re fun to play and they shape my dogs to make great choices whether that is by their self or cued by me.

Why would I want to “get rid”.... for sure some games aren’t for some dogs so I don’t play “all games” and for sure I have core games for specific dogs I work or play with but they will never stop 🙂

If your ethos isn’t games there a ton of trainers who can coach you to have your dog do things other ways and again, I’m 100% comfortable and confident that this is ok.

03/04/2020

If you’re not mobile, fast, like being loud and crazy you can still be relevant to your dog.

Your reinforcement strategies can be that for you.

Bazzy likes chase... so chase is always in our reinforcement kit whether it’s food, toy or chasing me.

I have a bad back and neck so I can’t be too crazy, plus I like to sit and take in nature!

I know amazing dog trainers who are shy, have disabilities and all other reasons for not being “exciting”!

And that’s the power of games ❤️

15/03/2020

One lightbulb moment we can take away from this crazy time is value of reinforcement changes.

Toilet roll has gone from having very little value to most people to being extremely high value.

The same is for our dogs reinforcers... chicken might be reinforcing at home but not when they spot an aversive stimulus...

A toy may be exciting one minute and have little or no value the next.

In my opinion finding appropriate reinforcement is the single hardest part of positive, reward based training and it’s because it is so flexible and changing. You cannot force something to be reinforcing, you have to learn your dog, when they find things reinforcing or not and then apply it to the best of your ability :)

07/02/2020

Working on transitions while I give chilli a mid adternoon snack 🙂

Worried or stressed dogs struggle with change in environment. So here I am working on a change (back door opening) predicting a calm activity 😊

22/01/2020

Puppy socialising.... one of the most discussed topics, one a lot struggle or worry about, even trainers have pre-puppy worries about this sort of stuff.

It is very understandable, because there seems to be a rise in aggression in dogs and worrying you might get “one of those dogs” is so so normal.

So tips?

I don’t really socialise puppies with puppies.....

You wouldn’t let a toddler teach your son English right? They just don’t have the skills, experience and understanding that is needed to teach dog to dog skills. Now I’m not saying it NEVER would. At puppy class for example short greetings is absolutely cool as long as they’re handled safely and positively.
Just be mindful that puppies tend to helicopter in arousal and two puppies doing this is a risk of pairing other dogs with high arousal levels.

I socialise with stable adult dogs.... but here’s the problem. I feel dog training is in a perpetual cycle where we have a scarcity or lack of adult dogs with good skills for puppy teaching. Unless you know someone with a dog or your trainer has “stooge dogs” to help socialisation then your other option is local meet up groups or bumping into other dogs....

Novel/unknown dogs are a socialisation RISK.

We don’t know their temperament, how they deal with pups who can be full on or too much. We don’t know if they’ll air snap and scare the puppy or do the appropriate thing and just disengage from them.

And these dogs also add a huge spike in arousal because they’re novel. Unless your dog is super optimistic then novel things, especially sentient things are something to be a bit pessimistic about. This makes it harder for pup to make good choices and for it to be a positive or helpful session.

Again, not always the case but you really have to think is the risk worth it? Are your and your pups skills good enough that if something a bit negative happens they can either brush it off quickly or have a fab recall so you can move on?

I love meeting up with “dog friends” for sure maybe initially your pup will get excited at seeing them but with some marking calmer behaviour and rewarding and waiting a little before letting them off lead together (do some parallel walking) the arousal levels will come down and you can get a lot more positive experience in there, rewarding awesome choices such as check ins, calm walking in proximity of owner/other dogs etc.

Things to look out for!

RESOURCES (treats, proximity to their owner, ball, sticks). These can cause squabbles or even fights, know the dog before you risk having your pup near these things and even then, he smart! Be aware that balls etc raise arousal and again, can cause inappropriate behaviour or a negative experience.

My take on puppy socialisation is calm walking with other well rounded dogs that are tolerant of “rude” behaviour.

You can help them out with a game of scattering food into the grass for them to both sniff out, be careful of resources though, if any concerns have pup and dog on lead and have a pile of scatter for each dog and no cross overs!

This is a huge topic, there’s no A-Z book for puppy socialisation so know your dog, know the dog you’re socialising with and be your pups advocate!

Hope this helps ❤️

19/01/2020

DOG TRAINING IS A STRUGGLE.

Do not get into thinking it isn’t or that some people “have it easy”.

I am very much about keeping it real, I think it helps Dog owners who are struggling feel a bit better.

Chilli is hard work, his struggles fill up my stress levels on a daily basis. Working on his issues is hard and I fail a lot of days simply because I’m too stressed myself to cope with them.

Find ways to cope, find easy ways to manage on days you’re stressed yourself. That is the biggest and most important part of owning a dog that is stressed or stressful and never fall into the trap of thinking it should be easy.

Keep going strong, your dog needs you ❤️

17/01/2020

Transitions

Reactive/fearful/sensitive etc etc dogs really struggle with them.

All I did was open a window and the new temperature, smells, sounds and other things that coming with opening a window was enough to send Chilli into high arousal.

This is exactly why I’m not working *directly* on his dog/people sensitivity right now. If he can’t deal with the change in environment like opening a window how can I expect him to cope with a novel being appearing or a dog running towards us or sounds associated with his triggers.

Yes I’m working on concepts that will help these long term but he is nowhere near ready for working with predictable human beings, let alone unpredictable ones ❤️

16/01/2020

Great value Dog Training food in Farm Foods (UK)

I love this because the chunks are big so if my dog isn’t gritty or is easily frustrated they’re easy to find when doing things like scatter feeding or bowling games but you can also cut it to smaller pieces.

Really convenient too because you can just take out what you plan to use, defrost it then off you go!

15/01/2020

Probably the most effective way I’ve increased my confidence, self worth and being able to accept praise for things I’ve done....

Is praising others!

Seriously not only does it grow relationships, it also helps you know how someone is thinking or feeling when they compliment you or when you turn down a compliment.

I bet you’ve done it, someone said “your hair looks nice” and you said “oh noooo it’s a mess” and they’ve gone “no really!” And you still don’t believe them.

But you’ve also probably been on the other side and felt kind of frustrated, sad or unappreciated for a compliment you gave because they turned it down or said it wasn’t true (usually down to their own lack of confidence).

Remember how that feels and let it tweak in your mind when someone compliments you or your work.

Even if you fake it until you make it with a simple “thank you” to begin with while you truly start to believe it.

There’s a time and place to be modest and receiving a compliment isn’t one of them 🙌

08/01/2020

Earlier a guy on a bike was coming towards me and my dog on a bike path.

To make life easier I called Barry into a control position by my side and stepped off the path to make room.

He passed us but did not interact.

In my head I said “you’re welcome” and I’ll tell you why.

I have two choices really.... either I get angry that he didn’t bother thanking me

Or I accept maybe the world doesn’t revolve around me and it doesn’t mean he didn’t appreciate it.

By saying “you’re welcome” in my head I acknowledged my own good deed and also stopped myself feeling a negative emotion which would ruin my day.

You never know, perhaps the guy was deep in thought, maybe he’s anxious about talking to people or he just remembered too late. I know for sure I’ve done it in the heat of a moment.

Being bitter helps no one, INCLUDING yourself. If you stop saying thank you because someone didn’t say thank you to you or stopping moving out of the way you literally become the person that angered you.

I love how my mind dealt with it, the old me for sure would of been angry!

29/12/2019

This is the vibe I love my “reactive dog” walks to have. Very little from a-b, nice wandering, sniffing and exploring a “confined” area.

It’s just great for their brains and tiring them while not building too much arousal 🙂

Also lovely and peaceful for a handler, very little input and expectation from both sides

My Vizsla thrives off of it 🙂

26/12/2019

Something people in the Dog training industry struggle with, especially new ones are that they do not fit every single client and that is absolutely ok.

You could insert diet/personal trainer/physio therapist/mental health therapist... it’s all the same.

We all have preferences and effective ways of learning. It is what makes us individuals.

It could be something as simple as your energy levels when you’re teaching don’t match the clients or something huge like dog training ethos (e.g. “positive” or “balanced”).

Of course our whole job as dog trainers is promoting change and I use the word PROMOTING instead of anything else because that is our job.

If you know anything about behaviour change in both people and dogs then you will understand what I mean this will be obvious to you but just incase I’ll say it anyway.

Using “force” is not going to get lasting results. They’ll at best try your methods half heartedly and then either not do it for long, say the training is not working or lose faith in training altogether.

We can definitely inspire our clients, in fact that is our job but what I think we have to do even before they become clients is give them hints about what we do.

Each business has a “vibe” whether they know it or not. This will attract certain types of people in particular and repel others. That’s the nature of individuality.

But it also stops frustration from both the trainer who might get a non compliant client or the client who gets a trainer that doesn’t fit them.

Here’s the thing, the more you give away the better.

Literally the best marketing is free.... an ebook, a training video, a blog... it gives people a taste for you and what you’re about while also filtering away people who are not a good fit for your business. It also makes them coming in to the consult or class with some already useful tools.

The thing is if you charge upfront and have a client come to you who is not a good fit. You’re setting both sides up to fail... and that could mean a lot of damage to your business through word of mouth or a bad review when actually neither did anything wrong other than not picking a good fit.

Where as being upfront and honest about the way you work without being preachy or forceful will get clients that fit you better which leads to more compliance and a happy client and dog ❤️

Dog training lightbulbs

02/07/2023

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