Pawsitive Dog Training, LLC

30/04/2024

We all deserve a little enrichment and fun—and payment for our work! Including our dogs

07/03/2024

WHY I CHOOSE TO ASK FOR & REWARD DISENGAGEMENT AS THE ANSWER FOR LEASH REACTIVITY

Continued from yesterday’s PART 1:

I choose to teach the dog to acknowledge the stimulus (i.e. glance at it) and then to look away from it by using a “leave it” cue, followed by a reward. In addition, I also focus heavily on rewarding the dog any time they look away from the stimulus voluntarily.

Here’s why.

✅ We are giving the dog clear direction: here, do this. “Leave it” in this case means “look away from whatever has your attention.” I mostly use luring in the beginning stages. Just as you teach sit or down with a food lure, you can also teach “leave it” with a food lure.

✅ We are preventing escalation. The whole “Ladder of Aggression” typically starts with staring as the first rung. The longer the dog stares, the more likely they are to react. We want to turn the dog around and get them off the ladder or at bare minimum to start, keep them at that lower level.

✅ It’s a coping skill. Any dog who is being reactive is having a hard time dealing with whatever underlying motivators are present in the environment. As discussed previously, when something is in our environment that makes us uncomfortable, we do want to keep an eye on it. That helps us feel more safe and in control. Therefore, I want the dog to learn to glance, see that the stimulus is there, then look away, and be rewarded. And then I want them to glance again, see that the stimulus is now over there, and then look away again. We repeat this sequence as many times as needed to pass the stimulus (later on we have the option of building duration if needed but most times it’s not). Acknowledging it’s there and looking to see where it went is totally ok. Staring, is not. Staring is what gets you into trouble.

✅ This skill can be used for more than just what the dog sees. It can also be used for anything the dog fixates on or alerts to that is a sound or scent as well.

✅ “Pavlov is always on your shoulder,” so there’s still counter conditioning happening here if the dog does actually have a negative association with the stimuli. Even though the focus of the exercise is an operant behavior, the positive associations are along for the ride.

✅ And even if the dog doesn’t have a negative association with the stimulus, the choice of doing an operant behavior as a coping skill covers all our bases for all the underlying motives.

✅ A variety of rewards can be paired with the “leave it” cue. High value food is the easiest thing, but we can also use sniffing, space, free time, toys, play, movement, and more as rewards IF the dog is not as interested in food.

✅ Finally, this is a skill that ultimately, the dog can learn to execute on their own. The end goal is to have a dog who notices a potential trigger in the environment, moves on, and minds their own business voluntarily without us having to micro manage forever. The beautiful thing here is that it leaves us the room to reward the dog each and every time they glance at the stimulus and then look away from it. Most “reactive” dogs actually do this already, it’s just not in the owner’s awareness to reward. And the dogs will absolutely catch on and start doing it on their own for the reward, before the owners can even spit out the cue, because they are much faster than us. It’s common for people to miss this part or skip it, thinking that the dog is doing “what they should be doing.” But, that’s not how the dog is thinking. So we absolutely need to reward it. This includes giving at least one reward *even if* the dog completely ignores the stimulus while passing. If they choose not to acknowledge it at all, on their own, that’s also a win.

Now of course there’s way more to this including leash mechanics, set up, working with the environment, etc. And yes of course every dog is an individual and there will be occasional dogs that just don’t do well with this. But, this component truly is the most effective for the largest majority of dogs in my opinion and experience of thousands and thousands of these cases. By allowing the dog to acknowledge what typically makes them upset and then rewarding disengagement (either via a cue or voluntary behavior) it really covers all the bases and empowers the dog to be able to cope and eventually work through the big feelings.

24/02/2024

21/02/2024

We love scent work and sniffari’s!

Welcome to “Sniffari” Sundays!

Be on the lookout as we explore all the benefits of the Sniff. Planning to take a Sniffari this week? Tag us, we would love to see your adventures!

20/02/2024

Keeping guests and dogs safe 🙌🏽

Relaxation + Distance from Owner + Tether + Muzzle + Rewarding Good Choices = A perfect solution for a dog who is aggressive towards guests, but is also hyper attached to his owner. This set up allows for a little more independence on the part of the dog, but in a safe manner for the training sessions.

30/12/2023

Absolutely BRILLIANT management solution!

Management is something every trainer I know talks about - it’s one of the first conversations I have with clients. Baby gates, x-pens, leash tethers, the list goes on…

I’ve always thought I was good at finding adaptive solutions but today I walked into a lesson and was blown away by the genius of my client! Their dog is a big boy who loves to counter surf, but also struggles with being confined.

Look at this beautiful AND creative solution they came up with! This is a portable ping pong net 🤯 I am so in love with this and was so impressed with their ingenious idea.

You can find them on Amazon - get one while you can because I think this is gonna be a new trend 😂

26/12/2023

“As always when reading body language we have to remember to read it like we would a sentence.”

Fantastic post on body language in dogs!

DOG TALK TUESDAY: Raised Paw

When a dog is standing still with one paw raised, that’s an indication that the dog is getting “ready” for something. Either the dog is getting ready to make a move or the dog is getting ready to respond to what the other dog or person is going to do next. We often see this with fear but we can see this with dogs who are more offensive, as well.

This chihuahua is giving a direct side eye stare with dilated pupils, eye whites, closed mouth, ears forward, and flagged tail, to the large dog standing behind him. (You can see the back of his head in the photo). The chihuahua is conflicted, but ready to respond with forward aggression (based on this individual dog’s history) depending on the other dog’s next move.

As always, when reading body language we have to remember to read it like we would read a sentence. Understand that it’s all the words together that create the meaning of a sentence, not one word alone. Thereby we also need to take all of the dog’s body language signals combined to create a meaning, and not focus on one single body part by itself.

19/12/2023

It’s the time of year! If you are living in South Jersey and looking for premium group classes to have your puppy or adult dog learn all of the things enroll NOW while you still can for our 5 week Group Class program!

Puppy Kindergarten class date Monday January 15th @ 5:00pm

Elementary for Everyone class date Wednesday, January 17th @ 6:00pm

Contact via website www.thepawsitivetrainer.com or email @ [email protected]

06/12/2023

Happy holiday season!

23/11/2023

11/11/2023

Cooperation during blood draw with a leopard. Pretty cool!

10/11/2023

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08/10/2023

An important reminder for our therapy and family pet dogs ♥️

A big part of being a good therapy dog handler is understanding your dog's body language. It is important that we are advocating for our dogs on our visits. This might mean asking someone to pet your dog a different way, asking them to sit or kneel instead of bending over them, or even moving your dog away from a person completely. One of the most common things we hear after an accident is, "I knew I should have left, but I stayed anyways."

On Kindness to Animals Day, tell us about a time you had to advocate for your dog during a therapy dog visit.

08/10/2023

The perfect webinar for families with children (especially small) and dogs! 🥰🐾

14/05/2023

Happy Mother's Day to all of our dog and human moms out there. We appreciate you!

Do you have a photo of you and your dog? We would love to see you share it below! And if you don't have a picture of you and your dog, this is a great time to get one!

29/03/2023

The Dog Trainers Promise:

I am your Dog COACH,
YOU are your dogs TRAINER.

I am here to teach you HOW to
✅build communication with your dog
✅teach/change behaviors
✅perfect your timing
✅understand the way your dog thinks
✅problem solve & troubleshoot
✅set your dog up for success
✅alleviate problem behaviors
✅provide structure & firm boundaries
✅better your relationship with your dog
✅build a reliable dog
✅advocate for your dog
and so much more!

But in the end,
YOU are your dogs trainer for the rest of your dogs life!

What does it mean to be your dogs trainer?

You are your dogs role model.
❤️the person that they can always look to for answers
❤️the person that they can always trust to have their back
❤️the person they value more than anything else in the world!!!

YOU are responsible for the:
✳️consistent follow through
✳️daily practice
✳️holding your dog accountable
✳️commitment to the work & the big picture

and most of all, you are responsible for the overall promise to your dog that you WILL help them become the best they can be.

You WILL provide them with the
🧠knowledge
🏠structure
🌀routine
needed to live an enjoyable life with you in this human world.

Being your Dog Coach means that I will be there every step of the way to help you:
❇️navigate this training journey with your dog
❇️hold you accountable & keep you on track
❇️provide you with an abundance of dog knowledge that you can not only apply to your current dog, but you can then also apply to any dog in your future!

Not ready to become your dogs trainer and all the responsibility it holds?
Then why do you have a dog?

21/03/2023

Incredible work!

21/03/2023

Happy Birthday, B. F. Skinner!

I wanted to share a Skinner quote with you today because March 20 is B. F. Skinner’s birthday. :)

Our culture teaches us that learning should be hard.

That we learn by making mistakes over and over again.

That lots of errors are a necessary part of learning.

However, early behavior analysts proved otherwise. Errors are not needed for successful learning to take place, even for complex tasks.

One of my favorite parts about graduate school was learning about research that was done related to errorless learning and programmed instruction in the 1950s and 1960s.

What IS needed is for successful learning is:
— A thorough understanding of the behavior that is to be taught
— An analysis of the learner’s entering repertoire
— A well designed set of shaping steps
— An understanding of how to use positive reinforcement effectively, and
— A responsive teacher who can make adjustments, as needed.

When these conditions are met, we can produce learning with minimal, if no errors.

Of course, in practice, this ideal is often much easier said than done!

Creating learning with minimal errors requires a great deal of knowledge, work, and effort on the teacher’s part.

But, I think it is inspiring to embrace the idea that errors aren’t necessary for learning.

We can strive for this ideal in our training and work to create training programs that help our horses and other animals learn with happiness and confidence.

Source: This quote comes from the first chapter of one of Skinner’s books, “The Technology of Teaching,” which was published in 1968.

P.S. In honor of Skinner’s birthday, the B. F. Skinner Foundation is offering a free PDF copy of Skinner’s book, Verbal Behavior. You can find it on their website for the next 24 hours.

21/03/2023

MUZZLE MONDAY

While many people tend to be successful in getting their dog to get their nose into a muzzle for treats, and maybe even getting the straps secured, I find that most people struggle with building DURATION with the muzzle on.

One of the first steps in building duration is simply just having the dog sit, focused on the owner, receiving a steady flow of treats. They come one after another, while gradually increasing the length of time between each treat and bridging the gap with praise and verbal encouragement.

We’ve all gotta start somewhere!

18/03/2023

17/03/2023

I don’t always show up to tell people what they want to hear. In fact, more often than not I’m telling clients things they don’t want to hear, or didn’t expect. Especially during initial consults. While I don’t know what the average dog owner really expects to hear from a behavior professional when discussing aggression cases, I can say that many of them meet my recommendations with resistance.

Storm’s owner was one of them. She was skeptical and didn’t openly accept my suggestions during our first session. But, she made the changes, put in the work, and became a believer. A few weeks in, she texted me saying she could give me a hug and when we met for that second appointment she followed through with that statement lol. She couldn’t believe the difference thus far, by following my recommendations and even though they still have a ways to go, she got validation that this was all worth it.

If you hire a professional for ANYTHING - try to take their advice. That’s why you’re paying them, after all. Unless their advice seems dangerous or unsafe or goes against your gut feelings… just give it a try. I have been pleasantly surprised myself when I followed the advice of professionals in my personal life even though I may have doubted them at first or met them with resistance. But, they’re the professional, so give them a chance. Who knows, you might end up hugging them in gratitude later.

17/03/2023

Antecedents antecedents antecedents!

NLCA: WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT THAN A STREAM OF CONTINGENCIES?

Nonlinear contingency analysis (NLCA) is a mouthful, and it can be hard to understand what the term “non-linear” is referring to. Isn’t it just an analysis of multiple ABCs related to the presenting problem contingency? Let’s compare and contrast three approaches and see where we land on that question. Our goal is always the same: To understand, predict, and change behavior (when change is necessary) with the least intrusive, effective strategy.

First approach: Presenting problem contingency - A1: Hand follows parrot on perch, B1: Parrot bites hand, C1: Hand is removed.

That’s a helpful analysis. Negative reinforcement: When a hand follows the parrot, if the parrot bites, then the hand is removed. Now there’s a parrot saying “No!” Gotta respect that! But not everyone does respect an animal’s right to say “No” so this analysis too often leads to punishment.

Now let’s consider a linear stream of multiple ABCs and see if it adds any important information:

Second approach: A1: Hand presented, B1: Parrot walks away, C1: Hand follows parrot on perch -> A2: Hand follows parrot on perch, B2: Parrot bites hand, C2: Hand is removed.

That’s a very helpful analysis because it shows us that biting is an escalation, given that walking away didn’t work to remove the hand. It also leads to a reinforcement solution – actually a pair of them! First, we can build an intervention where we reinforce walking away (R-) AND shape it into something smaller like a slight lean (we don’t want to eliminate the “no” we just want to make it safe and infrequent). Second, we can shape enthusiastic stepping onto the hand with strong, positive reinforcers (R+), outcompeting the negative reinforcer, which results from saying “No!” Learners saying “Yes!” That’s what we want! Note that behavior streams are multiple linear contingencies (a series of contiguous ABCs, one after the other).

Ya still with me contingency nerds?

Third approach: Finally, there is another useful model to consider, especially when a single ABC or a stream of multiple linear ABCs doesn’t give us the info we need to effectively and unintrusively intervene. That's NLCA. The non-linearity refers to the interplay among a group, or system, of contingencies. NLCA is not a linear stream, it’s more like an eddy. With NLCA the goal is to identify the group of interacting, or co-dependent, ABCs that exist within the same “ecology” as the problem contingency, which impact the occurrence of the problem behavior (e.g., biting). And, if we can solve one or more of those interacting ABCs, we may solve the presenting problem without even addressing it directly. Here we go:

Parrot has arthritis in leg from a past injury. Stepping onto the hand results in pain and instability. Once on a steady course of pain relieving medication, the parrot readily steps onto an offered hand for seed treats and a lift to the outdoor aviary. On the rare occasion that the parrots says “No” with a slight lean away from the hand, the hand is removed immediately. Over the many repetitions, we observe that the bird steps up more and leans away from the hand less.

Now that’s a very, very helpful analysis. Neither the single ABC of the presenting problem nor the linear stream of ABCs gets us to the ultimate solution. With NLCA we ask, what other contingencies in the ecology of the animal’s life help us better understand, predict and change behavior?

Another example, to broaden the point beyond medical issues (don't want to get stuck there): A colleague was late for work every day. We had many discussions about changing antecedents at home (getting essentials prepared the night before) and reinforcers at work (hot coffee – his pick), but he continued to be late. When the discussion turned dire, we broadened our focus to obstacles related to, but not included in, the presenting problem ABC. He explained that his daughter got on the school bus at the same time he needed to leave for work. We adjusted his schedule by 30 minutes, and he was on-time from then on (and enjoyed the hot coffee waiting for him).

Note that like a behavior stream analysis, NLCA refers to multiple contingencies but with NLCA the ABCs are not sequential. A splash, a stream, an eddy. An ABC, a sequence of ABCs, a swirl of ABCs. They are all useful. The trick is in knowing which analysis best fits any particular situation.

Hope that helps widen our view on behalf of all the learners in our care! Thanks Joe!

16/03/2023

Just an average day of work over here, hanging out on the couch.

It’s so important to incorporate any training tool (muzzles, leashes, and vests included) into your daily routines. Especially if that piece of equipment is going to be used mostly during situations that could create stress. We never want the dog to associate those things *only* with the stressors. Downtime with them on helps to reduce the potential for negative associations to develop.