29/12/2024
To my loyal followers (warning this post is long but important)
I'm so sorry that I have been remiss in posting for so long and I apologize for that. It's been a heckuva year for me with various health issues and life changes but as the year closes, I'm changing it up and trying to get back to posting about the things I love, one of which is dog behavior.
My goal for 2025 is more good content for those folks who truly want to create a connection with dogs and don't want to view the relationship as a who's the boss kind of dynamic. It's not for everyone but for those of you who are interested--read on.
For years, basically since Cesar Milan came on the scene, dog trainers like me have felt like we have been screaming into the void. Serious problem behaviors can't be magically fixed in 30 minutes and those aversive techniques may look like they work but they can have some serious blowback and oh, the cost both on the human and the dog.
To be clear, I am what's called a crossover trainer. When I first got into the business (1997) I was taught to use a combination of punishment (collar jerks mostly) and cookies. Punishment does work but the older I get, the more I endeavor NOT to resort to punishment. I don't like how it makes me feel and I don't think it's necessary and for some kinds of training, it might have some really awful unintentional consequences.
Last year I worked with a young woman who had gotten a Great Dane puppy for service dog work. She had a disability that left her very unbalanced and she needed a dog who was big enough to provide support for her when she was mobile.
All her life, she had mostly she had been using a wheelchair but she wanted to be able to have more freedom and so she set out to find a service dog to suit her needs. She wound up getting her own puppy and because of her disability. Because she wasn't a trainer, she entrusted her puppy's training to first, the breeder and then a trainer that the breeder recommended. Surely he would be in good hands.
Unfortunately, he wasn't, Both used shock collars to train her dog. She didn't like the idea of her puppy being treated that way but she was assured that this was the way it was done so she went along with it (not her fault, by the way).
She reached out to me because she was in Portland (she's from the Midwest) and she was seeing some dog to dog aggression. I haven't been in the service dog business for years, for personal reasons, but I really liked this young woman and I wanted to help her. She was doing consulting for a university here in Portland and was staying in a hotel and her dog was reacting to other dogs in the lobby. The management had told her that she needed to get a handle on this behavior because it was unsafe and unfair to the other patrons who were staying in the hotel.
Because this dog had been trained since a puppy with shock collars, my guess is, this dog had the crap shocked out of him if he ever tried to interact with another dog and probably learned to associate other dogs with not so good things happening. Ando so after bunch of aversive training and thousands of dollars later, here we were.
When we first met, we met in the lobby of the hotel because I don't have a facility to train. It wasn't the most ideal situation but it was what we could do but I did ask her to move herself and the dog away from the traffic in the lobby the best she could. When I saw was a big, out of control adolescent dog that she could barely handle.
Generally, I would have had her back tie the dog (tether him) so that nothing could go wrong but in this setting it just wasn't possible. I had a really hard time reading the dog so I took my time getting near him. When I was close enough without warning, he charged me and grabbed my arm and would not let go. He was big and strong and I could not get him off of me. I had the wherewithal to scatter a handful of high value treats and thankfully he let go but we were both a bit shocked. I didn't see anything in this dog that made me expect it and she had never seen him do this to a human before. The dog problem was a separate issue but this was new.
It was a couple of weeks before Christmas and she was supposed to fly home with him so we decided it might be safer to board him at a place where they wouldn't be using shock collars (a lot of board and trains do).
When she came back from her trip we met again, this time in a room where he could be tied to a heavy table. I also brought another trainer who is a good friend of mine to get her feedback. She is really good at reading dogs and I wanted another perspective.
Both my friend and I took our time working ourselves towards the dog and the owner (who was actually a pretty good trainer as it turned out) was reinforcing him throughout for calm looks at us, engaging with her. I eventually sat a short distance away from her and the dog and verbally coaching her throughout. My friend was nonchalantly moving about, not making any direct eye contact, pretending to be engaged in anything other than him.
By then, he was lying down in that rolled to the side, leg kicked back way that would suggest he was pretty relaxed. We saw nothing in his body language that was concerning to us and finally my friend was able to sit near him and pet and interact with him. He seemed fine and we all were very pleased.
The owner was going to have my friend do a training walk with the three of them so I left them to talk and I went to use the bathroom. When I came back both were ashen. Without any discernable warning (again) the dog went after my friend and jumped on her and was grabbing at her arm and her clothing. It wasn't vicious but it wasn't playful either.
A few days later my friend tried to conduct a training session with the owner and the dog but he pulled out of the owner's hands and went after another dog in the lobby. After hearing about what had happened, I had to make the awful decision to tell the owner that the seriousness of these incidents were enough for me to decide that this dog wasn't appropriate for service dog work, it was devastating for both me and for her.
I did give her the name and information of a trainer in MA who was a positive trainer who trains service dogs and told her to reach out and get another opinion but ultimately, she decided not to.
I tell you this because, though I can't be 100% sure, I'm sure this dog's experience with punitive training methods effected his behavior adversely. I have no idea what the breeder and his first trainer did to him but interestingly he never has gone after anyone other then trainers. I can only guess that he can tell who is a trainer by the context of what's happening (the treat bag, the language, etc.) and doesn't like us much regardless of what our methodologies and beliefs are and who can blame him.
This is the blowback of punishment in training. Some dogs can shake it off and be fine and some dogs are damaged to the core and you can't tell until something bad happens. And to me, the former cookie and corrections trainer, why chance it? It isn't necessary. So away from those methods I move, and I like myself better and so do the dogs.
I'll explain what I would do instead in another post but until then Happy New Year to you and all of our four footed friends. Lots of joy, good health and happiness to you all.
p.s. for a little fun, here is an article about flirt poles--a great way to engage and exercise those high energy dogs
The lure at the end of a flirt pole for dogs mimes the movements of prey, and can be used to engage with a dog's instinct to chase for play and training.
