Oh My Dog!

Lucas always tries to understand what I'm saying!

I chatter to Emmett and Lucas all day long. A lot of what I say to them has created an odd set of routines. For instance, they tend to follow me around the house. So when I’m in the office and I say “I’m going to refill my coffee,” they know I’ll be coming right back, so they don’t follow me.

Other things have really specific meaning to them – Want to go for a walk? Are you hungry? Let’s go see Cady! (meaning, play with the darling dog next door). They have really specific reactions to each of those things. At “walk,” Lucas runs and sits at the front door. At “hungry,” Emmett runs and sits in front of his bowl. And at “Cady,” they both run to the backdoor and start dancing with excitement.

But recently I realized that they respond more consistently to nonverbal cues. Like hand signals with training, dogs seem to respond to visual directions… even ones you don’t try to teach them!

For example, when I pull my navy blue running shoes out of the closet, Lucas dashes to the front door just as reliably as when I say “walk.” He has learned that these sneakers – not my black ones, not the yard work ones, THESE ones – mean we’re going for a walk.

Likewise, they’ve learned that when I pick up the single key to our mailbox, they know that they’re not getting a car ride, they’re not going for a walk, I’m not leaving… I’m getting the mail. So as soon as I pick up that one single key on its Colts football key chain, they dash to the front window to watch me walk to and from the mailbox.

Those are just two small examples of our nonverbal conversation. It goes on throughout the day with all the different cues that they’ve learned – this happens, then I get to do this! I know a lot of it is routine, but it takes some pretty deep intelligence to really get the cause and effect associated with certain actions.

What nonverbal cues does your dog respond to? Do you find that your dog does better with verbal or nonverbal communication?

Have you heard of this? It’s sometimes called the Hungarian Clicker Method. Yesterday, I received a YouTube link from someone in our therapy dog group. The video blew me away for both its cuteness and the incredible tricks the dogs performed.

Absolutely amazing! (Sorry about the song, though… shudder…) I had never heard of the Mirror Method, so I did a little googling and found an article done by the Animal Training Examiner. In her article and the additional videos included with her post, the basic method boils down to establishing a leadership role, teaching your dog clearly and concisely with only positive (they use the clicker) methods, and, lastly, allow your dog to be a dog!

That last part is what really fascinated me. The method encourages owners to allow their dogs to swim, run off-leash in the woods, even do bite training – whatever behaviors are instinctive for your particular dog. The concept behind that is that it will make for very happy dogs. Very happy dogs who are strongly bonded to their owners can be taught to do amazing things. I think they prove it in the video above!

Have you heard of this method or ever seen it in action? I’m going to look into it further, but was wondering if anyone had first-hand experience!

Lucas and cousin-dog Turk out for a walk

When we lived in DC, Emmett and Lucas had very busy social lives. They went to the park for 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening. We took them to Petsmart or to friends’ houses for puppy play dates on the weekends. They went to a doggy birthday party with all their park friends. On nice nights, they would romp on our building’s (fully fenced in!) roof deck with other dogs from our building. Dog owners sought each other out for social activities, group walks, and park meet-ups. Every single day, Emmett and Lucas met and interacted with lots of dogs. In fact, I think that’s what helped Lucas overcome many of his dog-related issues. At some point he realized, Wow! Dogs are FUN!

When we moved to Indiana, the comment we received from absolutely everyone was, “The dogs will be so happy to finally have a yard!”

And they are, of course. Sort of.

When I walk the boys around my neighborhood, they get barked at. A lot. There’s the boxer who yelps from over his blue picket fence. There’s the collie-something who rushes his chain-link fence, snarling and snapping. Then there are the dogs behind electric fences, and the dogs who rush out from half-open garage doors to yip and yap as the boys pass by. These poor dogs sound miserable. And, sadly, I only see the same few dogs get walked consistently. (I’m not really a Gladys Kravitz. I just work from home in an office with a window!)

Now we have to really strive to arrange dog interactions. And, unfortunately, I think Lucas is starting to digress a little. Even though we take him to Petsmart and arrange play dates, he’s doing pretty poorly at greeting unfamiliar dogs again. So we just need to step it up, find more opportunities, or create them!

But it makes me wonder about all those people who were so excited that the boys would finally have a yard… In the city, at least in our neighborhood, dog owners strove to arrange interactions and socialization for their dogs. In the suburbs, at least in our neighborhood, most of the dogs we encounter are barking at us from behind a fence.

So is the yard really all that great? Could it be? Are city dogs happier than suburban dogs?

Can you believe it’s almost May? I don’t know where this year has gone, though I’m so happy to finally have the windows in our house open. It was time to bring in a little fresh air!

You know that old saying (I think it was supposed to be about children): Give ‘em an inch, they take a mile. Well, that applies fully to Emmett and Lucas. Take the door training, for instance. We established a “place” for them to sit while I opened the door to allow our guest in, instead of them rushing our guest, wiggling and pushing and vying for his or her attention. It was working really well. The doorbell would ring, I’d direct them to their place, give the “wait” command, let the guest in, then release them.

But then I gave them that inch. A couple people came by who they knew really well or who had dogs with them… and I didn’t send them to their place. I let them jostle each other out of the way to be closest to the incoming guest. And then they took their mile. All of a sudden they’ve “forgotten” that they need to wait in their place until the guest enters.

My bad.

So for the month of May my primary training goal is to resurrect the door training with repetition and consistency and lots of yummy rewards.

Also, I read this awesome article by Dog Spelled Forward on loose-leash walking, which I think is something that can always be reinforced, so I’m adding that to my list of May training goals!

And, lastly, Emmett and I have been volunteering with a group of young kids at a local mental health facility. The kids were absolutely appalled that Emmett didn’t know how to play dead (“Even if you say ‘bang’ he won’t do it?” one of the kids asked, eyes big and round). So, to appease the kiddos, I’m going to teach Emmett to play dead this month.

What about you? Do you structure your training in any way (goals, schedules, etc.)? How do you determine what to work on and when? And what are you working on?

Currently, Lucas is one tired dog:

And so is Emmett:

I love when the boys are this tired because I can get so much work done, but this level of exhaustion is nearly impossible to achieve with two fun-loving, energetic dogs. But since Thursday, we’ve kept them incredibly busy. So here are my fool-proof 10 ways to tire out your dog! (Click on the images to enlarge.)

1. Have a friend over! Scout came over to play with the boys on Thursday. Just adding a new playmate into the mix keeps them busy all day.

2. On a nice day, break out the hose. It’s sort of like a brand-new toy.

3. Of course, if your dog isn’t fond of water, there’s always rolling around in the dirt.

4. Once the backyard loses its luster, head out for a hike. All the sights and smells keep them captivated and busy!

5. Long days playing outside are perfect for doggy ice cream, too.

6. Invite some more friends over like Cady and Bella.

7. Start a game of tug-o-war! It’s not easy to get three dogs into the game, but someone can serve as the ref.

8. Or just keep wrestling.

9. It’s important to stay hydrated! And drinking water as a group seems like a fun activity.

10. But sometimes it’s just nice to sit with a friend and watch the birds.

And that is how you get two very tired pups!

What did you do this weekend?

Last week, Emmett worked as a therapy dog at a city-sponsored expo on volunteering, a children’s program at a residential hospital, and as a reading partner at the public library. By the time we got to the library on Saturday, he was wiped out and spend his “shift” dozing with his head in the kids’ laps.

He did a phenomenal job at each event, though, and I am constantly amazed and proud of his behavior. When we arrived at the hospital, we sat in the lobby while we waited to be let into the rec room with the kids. A woman sat eating a snack and watching Oprah on the small hospital TV. She kept glancing over at me and Emmett as I ran through some attentiveness drills with him. The receptionist paged the counselors we were meeting, “The therapy dog is here.”

The woman looked over and smiled. “Oh, so he’s a therapy dog!” she exclaimed.

“He sure is,” I said. “This is Emmett.”

“He’s very sweet,” she said as he wagged his tail with his big soft eyes. “But does he know he’s a therapy dog?”

I paused. No one ever asked me that before, and I’ve been asked just about every other Emmett-related question under the sun. “Honestly,” I said, “I think he just thinks that I take him places to get patted.”

Later, I thought about the question a little bit more: What Emmett thinks of his therapy work? Sometimes, especially with kids, he’s super energetic and wants to run from child to child to get hugs and scratches. But other times, like at the hospital last week, he responds to a situation in a way that I could never train. A young girl sat in the hallway crying. She was speaking with a counselor, but she was clearly very upset. The counselor called over to us, “Can we say hi to your dog?”

I walked Emmett over, thinking he’d rush up, tail wagging, and smoosh himself into the people like he so often does. Instead, Emmett walked slowly up to the girl, gave her a very small sniff, then he laid down right in front of her, head on her knees. The girl smiled and gushed, and her tears dried up as she rubbed Emmett. He gazed at her so calmly and thumped his tail lightly against the floor. My heart swelled with pride.

I could never teach Emmett to behave like that, especially in such specific situations. But somehow he always tones down his exuberance in the appropriate environments or patients. But what about those situations tips him off?

What do you think? Do dogs in general (or therapy dogs, specifically) know how to react in specific situations? How do they know?

As I wrote earlier in the week, we’re having some trouble with self-rewarding behaviors. With Emmett it’s the counter-surfing, and we’re working out the technology to do a little Skype-scare with him. In the meantime, we have a similar, but totally different, situation with Lucas.

As far as Lucas is concerned, nothing bad has happened to our little family since he’s been on guard. Maybe it’s his shepherd genetics or maybe it’s his high-anxiety nature, but Lucas patrols the house like it is his sole responsibility in life to keep us safe. Which is fine. Except when it’s not.

Like when he barks at every single person, biker, dog, stroller, or frolicking child that is within his eye line. Especially when he does this while I’m on a conference call.

But in his little head, nothing bad has ever happened because his ferocious barking scares them all (who???) away. Which is why this is incredibly difficult to correct. I’ve been brainstorming a training plan to combat this behavior, but there are a couple challenges: First, every wall in our entire house has at least one window. It was one of the things so appealing about the house, of course, but now it allows Lucas unfettered views of the street in every direction. Blinds didn’t work (he made himself a little peephole by breaking a couple of them) and curtains didn’t work because he just noses them out of the way. Second, while desensitizing him would be ideal, it’s nearly impossible to disallow him to bark, like when we’re not home.

I don’t want him to start ignoring “come,” so I’ve been training a really specific whistle as an alternate recall. They get a very yummy treat every single time we whistle those exact notes. Every single time. I haven’t busted it out when he’s been barking yet because I don’t want to lose its effectiveness, so step 1 is to continue training the whistle with increased distractions.

Step 2 is to start using that whistle whenever I see someone approach the house first as a distraction mechanism, with the yummy treat, of course.

And then step 3 is to use the whistle while he’s barking at something.

That plan doesn’t stop the barking, though. It just calls him away from it. But it’s a start.

Maybe next month, once calling him away from barking becomes reliable, I will start working on desensitizing him (keeping him on leash in the office is one idea, sitting with him on the balcony and clicking and treating is another).

Have you faced this behavior before? Any better ideas or suggestions on how to put an end to this self-rewarding behavior?

Emmett and Lucas do wonderfully with the clicker. Emmett has been able to learn a number of tricks, and we’ve overcome a lot of Lucas’ troublesome behaviors using the clicker and slices of American cheese. But, unfortunately, both boys have a couple of very troublesome behaviors that the clicker has not been able to address…

As we approach a new month (is anyone else as shocked as I am that it’s APRIL already??), I’m working on setting new training goals. The overarching theme for the month, though, is to address and eliminate self-rewarding behaviors.

Emmett first:

He looks so guilty, doesn't he?

Emmett is a world-renowned counter surfer. He’s also a ninja about it. When we’re home, Emmett shows zero interest in the counters. Oh, no. He’s too clever for that. But as soon as we walk out the door, he’s up on the counters, checking for any goodies. Stacking pots and pans to clatter to the floor? Didn’t work! He startled a little, then went back to scour. I refuse to use a scat mat. Refuse. So we are extremely diligent about making sure our counter doesn’t have a single crumb to entice him. Oh, but we’re human. We err, especially when we’re in a hurry to get somewhere. Plus, there are the times when he stays at my parents’ house and scores entire loaves of bread (UGH.). So even though we’re pretty diligent, to Emmett, it’s worth checking the counters every single time we leave just in case.

The plan? A little webcam action! John got a new laptop with a built-in camera, and my laptop has a camera. We’re going to arrange a sting with one webcam trained on the kitchen counters, the other with us down the street. As soon as he so much as sniffs the counters, we’ll correct via webcam microphone. I’m actually pretty excited about this idea (totally inspired by It’s Me or the Dog), and if I can record the session, I’ll definitely post it here!

I’m still formulating a plan for addressing Lucas’ self-rewarding behavior. Details to come soon.

In the meantime, do you have a counter surfer? How did you address/correct the behavior?

Emmett has an extremely solid default sit. Early on, we taught him to sit at the door, sit for his food, sit for a treat, sit, sit, sit. It’s a wonderful default behavior. It’s reliable to the extent that when he’s out doing his therapy work, I can count on him having his butt parked whenever I need it. Especially when he’s hungry:

However.

The solidity of his default means that every time I try to teach him something new, I need to get him past sitting and into the trick or behavior, which adds an extra layer to our training, but it hasn’t been a problem.

Until now.

I want to teach him to back up. I don’t actually have a necessity for him to learn to back up. I just like to add something new every few weeks, I decided it would be back up, and now… he absolutely will not do it.

Luring him with a treat doesn’t work. He sits.

Stepping toward him to guide/shape doesn’t work. He sits.

Even positioning him between the sofa and ottoman doesn’t work. He has no direction to go BUT back. But he still sits.

So I’m throwing this out to you, this fabulous community of dog lovers, experts, trainers. Any troubleshooting tips? How can I teach my dog to back up?

On another note, I dog sat Stanley again yesterday, and I just can’t get over how cute it is to have a little dog wedged in with my big boys!

Whew! What a whirlwind few days! It started out on Friday with Emmett and I visiting three kindergarten classes. That means lots and lots and lots of 5- and 6-year-olds! Emmett did spectacularly, patiently sitting while 75 grubby hands patted him, giving the occasional high five, and demonstrating how easy it is for boys and girls to read to their pets. The only hiccup was when, in the first classroom, the bell rang… Emmett started barking, which frightened a handful of the children, though I explained to them that he thought their classroom had a doorbell. They thought that was funny (“Classrooms don’t have doorbells, Emmett!!”), so we were able to move past it.

On our way back from kindergarten

On Saturday, the boys had a puppy play date with Cady, Lucas’ best friend in the whole world. It was unbelievably gorgeous outside. Dare I say, spring has sprung! Then on Sunday we all went on a hike together for about an hour around Griffy Lake. The weather was perfect, and the dogs had a blast! I think the boys are a little bit out of shape from less exercise over the winter because at the end of the hike, they were wiped.

Tired Emmett

Tired Lucas

Tired Cady

And, lastly, we’re now into the second week of March. I fully intended on setting some training goals for the boys at the beginning of the month, but last week just flew by. So now, so that I am fully accountable to you, my goal for the month of March is to solidify our door training. That means: when the doorbell rings, they can bark a little bit, but then when I give them the “place” command, they run to the place we’ve established (the tile in front of the fireplace) and maintain a “wait” until the visitor is inside of our house.

This plan is the exact opposite of the train wreck situation we currently have whenever someone rings the bell. I’m so glad to finally start implementing this training, and our fabulous neighbors have agreed to help out by ringing the bell when they get their mail in the evening. I’m excited! I’ll keep you posted on our progress!

Do you set training goals? What are your plans for March training?