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The Animal Behavior Nerd

The adventures of Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, Rachel Golub. Serving San Diego and Riverside Counties. Specializing in aggression, reactivity, and fear.

Dog training, behavior modification, and luxury boarding provided by Certified Behavior Consultants.

29/10/2022

Just a reminder that the sole purpose of this tool is to use pain to stop a behavior. No way around it.

Trainers will say it’s a “communication tool” which is somewhat accurate but the goal is to communicate that if the dog doesn’t stop what they’re doing, you will hurt them. That’s intimidation and causes fear.

I also often hear that it’s just a tool that’s used to decrease pulling just like a no-pull harness. No-pull harnesses due inhibit pulling but they do not use the threat of pain to accomplish it.

I choose to not use pain and fear to achieve my training goals. I’m not ok with opting for damaging the relationship with the animal to achieve a contrived behavior that is not natural to dogs. I have the luxury of knowing how to train without intimidation and fear. That luxury isn’t exclusive to me and anyone who has the interest can learn those same skills.

15/10/2022

Beardie had a blast showing off his biker dude costume at ‘s Bark on the Boards event today. Beardie is one of the many amazing Animal Assisted Therapy pets that provide emotional support for the residents at Baylor’s Women’s Correctional Institute! Fun fact, you can target train and teach other fun behaviors with reptiles too! Beardie’s preferred reinforcers are super worms and microgreens.

09/10/2022

So stoked for us to have a bird again! This male red tail is already read to free fly after just under 3 weeks of training.

07/04/2021

I think one of the most harmful dog training myths is “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”.

Dogs of any age can learn new behaviors! I’ve taught 10+ year old dogs to love their crates, to go to their beds on cue, to open doors, and the list goes on and on.

Senior dogs constantly get looked over in shelters and it’s such a shame. I understand not wanting the heartbreak of bringing home a dog and shortly after potentially having to say goodbye. I really do. But think of all that you’re giving to that dog. You’re showing them the love, kindness, and dignity of being in a home for their final days, months, years.

Adopt a senior dog if you can. Please. Like this beautiful lady, Luna. She’s a 9+ year old female mixed breed (looks like a malinois mix to me but 🤷‍♀️). She loves to have her face rubbed, loves to go for walks, loves a good nap, and doesn’t care about other dogs on walks. Meet Luna at our New Castle location and give her the love she deserves!

11/10/2020

The moment when a touch sensitive dog not only play bows with you but also solicits petting is so exciting.

Dylan is a 14 year old Pom mix who’s owner is currently in a hospital and is terminal. Dylan had been alone in the home for quite some time before coming to us. He was understandably scared and confused on intake. He tried to bite several people (including me) due to his fear and confusion.

I’ve been building a relationship with the little cutie through the kennel for the past few weeks and yesterday he let me take him out. When I brought him in my office it took him a bit to acclimate but then he not only started play bowing and playing with toys but he also solicited petting from me. This is such a huge deal for him. After some time he even let me pet down his back and tail briefly. We will continue to work on two way consent to petting and rewarding him for tolerating little bits at a time.

Hopefully we can get this little guy into a foster or rescue where he can continue to become more comfortable with handling and new people.

23/08/2020

I’m growing increasingly more aware of the reality that our beloved Prancer may not be with us much longer. There’s a sense of relief and an immense sadness that comes with that realization.

Prancer has been the reason we haven’t been able to go on a vacation in 11 years, why we can’t have guests come over without a strict management routine, why trips to the veterinarian are highly coordinated and stressful events. Living and loving a dog who’s aggressive to strangers is so incredibly challenging and even as a professional behavior consultant, it’s emotionally draining.

Prancer has given our family so much love and a constant sense of protection. I wouldn’t change a moment of our time with him but I’m also incredibly aware of how much more freedom our family will have once he’s passed. That’s such a hard thing to write but it is the truth.

Much like many of my adopters and clients who’ve loved a reactive, fearful, or aggressive dog, I’m not sure I will ever have another dog with severe behavior issues after Prancer. These dogs give and teach you so much but it is not without sacrifice and pain.

Again, Prancer has been and always will be one of my soul dogs. When he passes we will all be devastated but we are so thankful for all he’s taught us. The tireless protector of my babies will always be our special boy.

15/08/2020

If you haven’t heard the latest episode from ’s podcast check it out now! In it I briefly mention training hornbills to station and it got me reminiscing about working with birds. I’ve worked with so many species of animals but dogs and birds will always be my favorites. Not only have I had the pleasure of training them to do cool things like free fly and come back but I’ve also had the pleasure of hand raising quite a few. This handsome dude is a Southern Ground Hornbill and I had the pleasure of caring for his parents along with siblings from different hatch dates. If you’re a dog trainer who’s never trained another species, I highly recommend it. It’ll humble you in ways you’d never expect.

14/08/2020

As we previously shared, Milo is a dog who displays behaviors associated with a heightened state of arousal. If you look at arousal on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest state of arousal, even without any environmental factors, Milo is generally at a 6.

Milo’s level goes up to about an 8 or 9, sometimes 10 when you add people into the equation. Milo adores his people and revels in the joy of being petted but when that petting stops, Milo doesn’t know what to do with himself and will grab onto his person in an attempt to continue the petting.

In this video you’ll see the result of several weeks of training Milo to 1) go to his station, the bed 2) lay on the station with duration 3) the combination of these behaviors equals the human engaging him in a variety of different ways including toys, petting, or treat delivery. The goal of this was to give Milo some control over when he can request interaction from the human rather than attempting to get it on his own by jumping up and grabbing onto the person wherever they may be.

Most normal adopters will engage in petting and sitting with their newly adopted dog so in this video we’re trying to teach Milo the skills needed to exist in these types of situations. Dogs like Milo need almost a constant stream of feedback on the new behaviors they’ve learned to keep them on track. You’ll notice the repeated words and tones I use. I’ve used these tones and words incredibly consistently with Milo so that he can somewhat understand their meeting and associate them with my behaviors and expectations.

I also break up our interactions by tossing the toy away from the station and encouraging him to retrieve it. I do this so that 1) he learns to take breaks on his own 2) it gives him an outlet for that arousal before it boils over and 3) it teaches him an alternate behavior for his mouthing.

12/08/2020

When you and the new stray that came in’s hair are the samesies. The humidity doesn’t agree with either of our coiffures. Live in Philly? Recognize this adorable troll dog? Send them out way!

09/08/2020

Working with high arousal dogs has kind of become my specialty. Having lived with several, I’ve had the privilege of seeing them blossom into wonderful easy to live with dogs but not without a ton of work. That work isn’t for the faint of heart and most pet parents don’t want to invest in that kind of work. One of the highest population of dogs that are surrendered to shelters are adolescent dogs exhibiting these high arousal behaviors. Living with these dogs is challenging, time consuming, and takes so much patience. It’s also incredibly rewarding. These dogs generally aren’t born this way, they become this way due to a lack of training and socialization as puppies. They’re the dogs that are adorable between 8 weeks and 4 months but become demanding and obnoxious at 6 months resulting in their pet parents spending less time with them, putting them outside more, and hoping they “grow out of it”. These dogs need the opposite interventions, they need consistent training and a clear daily routine. Milo here craves human contact but once he gets it, he doesn’t want it to end so he desperately attempts to grab on to his human or the tether that connects him to the human. This behavior can be dangerous if the human isn’t quick enough or results to violence to try to decrease the behavior from occurring. Teaching the dog to get distance from the person and to settle into a location where all good things are provided helps the dog regain some control over when their human interacts with them. In this video we are working on the beginning stages of teaching Milo that if he goes to his cot and lays down, his human will come to him and engage him in petting. In a subsequent video I’ll show what the final stage of this training looks like and how successful it can be.

14/07/2020

Part 4, the final chapter of our resource guarding series. In this video we discuss enrichment feedings devices along with a recap of things to do and not to do with dogs with food intensity and/or resource guarding.

10/07/2020

For phase two of our resource guarding program for emaciated dogs in shelter, once the dog is reliably checking in with the handler and following a hand lure we begin teaching the dog to go to a station such as a bed or cot. In this video we start reinforcing Benji for getting on the bed. I also started shaping a sit because he was in a good position for it but that’s not something we usually introduce this early on. We mostly focus on marking and reinforcing the dog when they follow the hand onto the bed or choose to go on it on their own. Stationing is such a great behavior that can be used with a variety of species for a variety of things. It’s a foundation behavior that every dog should know.

09/07/2020

Good training looks boring. This is the first stage of the resource guarding prevention program we’ve developed in shelter for our emaciated dogs who show intensity around food. Basically, we click any time the dog orients towards us or makes eye contact and then drop a few pieces of kibble on the floor. This pairs the sound of the click with the food and it teaches the dog to check in with the handler for the food. It looks incredibly boring but is so important in building the foundation of this program.

06/07/2020

Resource Guarding Part 3.
Rachel Golub, the Behavior and Adoptions Manager for the Pennsylvania SPCA, discusses ways our behavior department works with dogs in shelter who have high level food intensity and/or resource guarding.

In part 4 we will show some of the enrichment devices we use and recommend.

05/07/2020

I thought we were fostering a dog but it appears to be a baby deer.

04/07/2020

Rachel Golub the Behavior and Adoptions Manager of the Pennsylvania SPCA’s talks about some of things people do wrong when it comes to preventing resource guarding in young dogs. She also talks about ways to start working on resource guarding and food intensity.

Part 3 will cover a more intense resource guarding program we do in shelter and some ways to do enrichment feedings.

03/07/2020

Rachel Golub the Behavior and Adoptions Manager of the Pennsylvania SPCA gives a quick break down of what resource guarding is and some behaviors/body language associated with resource guarding.

Part 2 will discuss some things that people do wrong when it comes to working with their dog to prevent resource guarding. Stay tuned!

21/06/2020

Warning: graphic photos if you keep scrolling.
The love of my life Benji, is searching for his forever home. This sweet baby came into us severely emaciated after being surrendered to the local municipal shelter. He had lived his life tied outside and neglected. After our medical team nursed him back to health, Benji went into a foster home where we learned he had some pretty intense guarding of food and some major fear of strangers but specifically, men. When he returned from foster our behavior department worked diligently on helping Benji overcome his fear of strangers and reduce his intensity around food (we will be posting a video later next week on the program that we created for dogs like Benji). He’s come so far and we are all so intensely proud of his progress but it’s time for baby bird to leave the nest and find the forever home he deserves. Benji comes with an easy to follow behavior plan and 3 one on one training sessions with our behavior team post adoption to help him in adjusting to his new home. For more information on meeting Benji emails us at [email protected]!

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