Training for Clarity

Training Tip from Andrew: I often like to talk about the three Cs of dog training: clarity, consistency, and calmness.

In classes recently clarity has been coming up frequently. When I say clarity I mean several things. Most importantly, what do your commands mean to your dog? For example, when you tell your dog to "sit," what do you want your dog to do? Do you and him think the same thing?

You...'re probably thinking that you want your dog's butt to hit to the ground. Simple enough, right?

Nope - it's not so easy. Based on what we see in classes, your dog probably only knows how to sit right in front of you or on your left hand side in a heel. Unless your dog is pretty highly trained you probably can't tell him to sit from 20 feet away and have his butt hit the ground instantly. If you yell sit from 20 feet away and your dog runs up to you and sits in front of you, that's generally what I expect a "come" command (recall) to be. So now do "sit" and "come" mean the same thing to your dog or are they just guessing?

Also, when you say sit do you want his butt to hit the ground and then run away or do you want him to sit and wait for your next command?

My challenge would be simply to think about what the words you say to your dog mean and think about how consistent you are in reinforcing those meanings.

If my dog escapes across the street I want to know I can yell for him to sit and have him put his butt on the ground and wait for me to come grab him (ideally). If he thought sit meant for him to run up to me and put his butt on the ground right in front of me, well then I've unsafely sent him across the street again without a chaperone and I certainly wouldn't want that.

Training for clarity can make a big difference when you need it the most. If you're interested in communicating more effectively with your dog, please feel free to e-mail me at drew.warner@live.com and we can find a way to start making that happen.

Dogs in Need of Space

What are DINOS?

DINOS is a new acronym for "dogs in need of space." This phrase has been popularized by a group called The Yellow Dog Project.

The aim of this group, paraphrased by me, is to protect dogs from ...humanity. As I've discussed in the past, it is all too common for humans to see a dog and immediately rush into it's space and pet it and shower it with affection.

We love dogs so much this seems so natural for us to do. But imagine if you went up and hugged a random human on the street. Humans may love hugs and affection, but it doesn't mean they want it from you or another stranger. Just like dogs, some humans might enjoy it, but others will feel violated and uncomfortable.

Now imagine doing that to animal with a different value system and a different language. It's very alarming to dogs and not all of them can handle it - this is why the Yellow Dog Project exists - to allow nervous dogs space to feel comfortable in the world. They do this by wearing yellow ribbons on their leash or collar or even by wearing a vest that says "I need space."

My secret is to treat every dog like it needs space. This will only make dogs love you more as well as help you in earning their respect. If your goal is to love and help dogs, I urge you to honor them by treating them with respect and allowing them room to breathe.

So if you see a dog with a yellow ribbon, you know what It means.

If your dog has fear issues, or feels uncomfortable, feel free to reach out to me at Andrew@dog-dayz.com to see if there is anything we can do to make them happier.

What a dog walk should look like

Tracy is my wife and also one of my best students and partners. She doesn't walk the dogs much, but when she does she does it well.

+Tracy Warner

What can Starbucks teach us about dog training?

Training Tip from Andrew: What can Starbucks teach us about training dogs?

I have 3 dogs - 2 pit bulls and a small Chihuahua mix named Georgia Peaches. Of course little Georgia Peaches is naturally the loudest and the bossiest and one of the behaviors I have had to train extensively is her barking.

One of the times she likes to bark the most is when I am taking the dogs through the Starbucks drive-thru window. And when you think about it, this makes sense as something that would scare a dog. She's trapped in a box and can't move, loud noises are crackling through a speaker, and then at the end strange men reach out through a window and grab at her.

This experience, without fail, triggers her barking.

Thanks to our hard work at home, she is trained to be quiet when I tell her to, so I give her the command for quiet and she follows it. If she gets overexcited it happens again and I tell her to be quiet and she listens again.

The reason for the continual relapses is that the training doesn't deal with her emotions, it merely directs her to a new behavior regardless of how she is feeling.

To truly change a dog and to take away their stress, we have the duty to change their emotional responses.

Thus, Starbucks has what they call "Pup Cups." These are just small cups filled with whipped cream. They are awful nutritionally for humans or dogs, but often I am willing to make sacrifices in short term nutritional concerns, in order to make large gains in long-term emotional concerns.

How we change a dog's emotional response is simple. We change their experience and we change their outcomes. Starbucks has done just that.

So now when I go through the drive through, the crackling speakers, the man reaching through the window are no longer something scary - they are now associated with the pleasure she receives from diving nose first into a pup cup. All the previously scary triggers are now precursors to something good happening.

Think about this in your day-to day life with your dog. How can you apply this to the vet? To the groomer? To the mail man? When you start thinking about changing the emotional responses your dog has, you start solving problems for good.

e-mail Andrew@dog-dayz.com if you have any questions on how to eliminate problem behaviors with your dog.

Beware the problems of a winter puppy

Training tip from Andrew:

Beware the problems of having of a winter puppy.

I would argue the most important time in your puppies life is the first 6 months. This is your dog's primary socialization window and if your puppy doesn't meet enough people or enough dogs, you're going to be solving problems in your dog's adult life.

Most people think timid, nervous, or aggressive dogs were victims of physical abuse or other types of trauma. Most of them, in reality, were probably just drastically undersocialized.

In the summer months when everyone is out and about and parks are crowded, it's easy for your puppy to be exposed to tons of new people, places and things. In the winter months, when we tend to hibernate a little bit ourselves, it's more of a chore.

If you're getting a puppy in November through February, save yourself a bunch of problems and find a way to get your dog to be social.

A good puppy class (we have a 3 week one starting December 3rd to make sure none of our DogDayz puppies missed out) is a good start. It's not the only work you'll have to do though. It's at least a good place for your dog to meet some new dogs (who will teach him how to play) and some new people in a safe and controlled environment.

As I always like to say, in life and in dog training, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Be vigilant with your winter puppy's successful socialization.

how to approach a nervous dog

Training tip from Andrew (Andrew@dog-dayz.com): 

How do you approach a nervous dog? The human side of us wants to extend our affection towards nervous dogs. This makes us want to pet them, hold them, talk in a baby voice to them and other things we might do to soothe another human. 

For most nervous dogs, this tends to be far too strong of an approach and can send the dog further into it's shell or in the worst cases cause a bite.

The best gift you can give to a nervous dog is the gift of space. Try not to approach at all until the dog naturally approaches you, smells you and gets to know that you are okay. Safe the pets, eye contact and other signs of love for when the dog feels you have earned the right into their personal space.

When the dog gets comfortable with sniffing your legs, lower yourself so he or she can smell more of you while still not acknowledging the dog.

Repeat this for a while and the dog will eventually be begging for your affection. Give a nervous dog time and eventually the nervous dog will give you everything.

If you have any questions or have a nervous dog yourself, feel free to e-mail me at Andrew@dog-dayz.com.

Training Tips for Your Jumping Dog

Training Tip from Andrew (Andrew@dog-dayz.com: I often get asked about dogs that jump on their owners or dogs that jump on house guests or about dogs that jump on everyone. 

More often than not, dogs are jumping on people because that's what we trained them to do. Every time the dog jumps on someone and receives a pat on the head, a full-on petting, even eye contact or words, the dog MAY be receiving exactly what it was looking for - your attention.

Rather than go straight to punishing your dog if it happens to be a jumper, I usually tell people to try "unrewarding" the behavior. Fixing any dog behavior is all about getting into a dog's head and asking "is this behavior working for the dog"?

Remember, if you're talking to your dog or looking at it, the dog may still be getting the reward it's after.

There are a few basic, pain-free solutions to change this troublesome behavior:

1) When he jumps on you, turn away slowly and completely ignore the dog until it tries an alternate behavior (like standing on all fours or sitting). You can acknowledge the dog only when it is doing what you want it to do.

2) Direct the dog into an alternate behavior like sit - this can be difficult if your dog is extremely hyper.

3) Get your friends and guests in on your project. Send out an e-mail or a text message to guests letting them know not to reward this behavior on accident. If the dog finds success anywhere, it makes the habit hard to break.

4) If you must, restrain your dog with a leash when you are having guests. You want to try your best to be perfect at not allowing your dog to jump. Every time your dog jumps up, that behavior has been reinforced.

5) Stay calm and practice the "no touch, no talk, no eye contact" rule until your dog is behaving in a way you want to reward.

6) While your dog is learning, it may help to approach your dog while bringing yourself lower to the ground. . As it gets the hang of not needing to jump you can begin approaching in your normal way and rewarding the appropriate behavior

Good luck and happy training. As you probably know by now, training your dog is a life-long project that doesn't end after class. Enjoy the ride.

E-mail me at Andrew@dog-dayz.com if you have any questions or want to set up a time to work on some drills to get your pup to stop jumping.