Which we all know, of course, but we had a HUGE reminder of just how well positive reinforcement works earlier this week.
But first – flash back to last summer. I had just moved to Louisiana with the three dogs. We worried about them (Cooper, in particular) meeting Newt. Emmett couldn’t care less about it, pretty much from the first moment. Cooper, to our immense surprise, decided she was his best friend ever, and the two haven’t stopped playing since. Lucas… well, it was about as bad as it could’ve been. He wanted to eat her. So, six months of daily positive training, a whole bunch of setbacks, then a few leaps forward, and today, the three boys and Newt are fully integrated, even when we leave the house! Even out in the yard!
Enter, Petey.
We had her isolated for a few days, but as her fleas disappeared and as she started to get bolder (and bored of being in the bathroom), we decided to dive right into Petey/dog training. We figured that if we got Petey socialized to the dogs while she was still an impressionable youth, it would go better.
So, how did it go?
We’ll get to that. But… Let me say that we made one mistake. After the first round we realized that we should have let the boys into the bathroom one at a time to sniff all of Petey’s things and the space. They never go into that bathroom, so it’s an unfamiliar space and all her scents mixed with the novelty. We sort of just expected them to focus from the outset, but we should have let them drink in the room’s smells first. But, we learn from our mistakes! Every time they’ve done “Petey training” since that first night, we’ve held Petey while they run around and sniff like crazy.
Ok, so here’s how it went:
Emmett just didn’t care. He got super annoyed because she kept leaping up and grabbing onto his legs, biting his ankles, and chewing on his tail. He kept flicking her off, like she was an annoying little gnat. When he started to give us The Look, we knew it was time to call it. It’s been the same every time we’ve taken him visiting.
Cooper wanted to PLAY. Immediately.
He took one look at her and was like, “OK! You look like fun! You can be my second best friend!” We tried to keep him from getting too rowdy because she is so small and he could really hurt her. He did a decent down/stay while we let her wander all around, but he got very frustrated, crying and snuffling. We’re giving him a bit more freedom than that first night but still closely monitored.
So, the big question: How did Lucas do?
We started with him very conservatively. I held Petey. John brought Lucas into the bathroom and asked for a down. He got out the cheese and started rewarding for calm behavior. Once he looked around the room and realized I was holding the kitten, he started to whine a bit. John set the kitten on his lap, and we increased the rate of reward.
BUT!! He did EXACTLY what we trained with Newt! That is, he looked at Petey for a second or two, then IMMEDIATELY did a watch-me on his own without being cued!!!! I know this is a lot of CAPS!!! And EXCLAMATIONS!!! BUT!!!! He did it exactly right from the outset. Check out this watch me!
We’ve done a few more visits, giving him a little bit more freedom each time. We’re keeping the sessions super short because he’s still really whiney, which means he’s not entirely comfortable yet. But, whoo!! All that work with Newt totally set him up for success with Petey. I’m so proud of how hard Lucas has been working, and I’m thrilled that those six months of training had such a direct baring on this situation.
Next steps: Visits with Petey in a room other than the bathroom, a space that’s more “the dogs'” space. Then, we’ll do two dogs at a time, until we can work up to all three. Hopefully we can get them rock solid before she’s off her quarantine so that we can focus all our attention on introducing Petey and Newt! (Which, btw, I’m terrified about… I have zero experience with this.)
Have you had any training successes to celebrate? Leave the in the comments so I can cheer on your victories, too! I just love when we can see training work!!!
Wow!! My dogs tolerate the cats well inside, but they want to “herd” them outside on the deck. My complaint with my crew is the way they react when someone knocks on the door or rings the bell. They go beserk!!
Oh, jeez. Same here!! I don’t know if I have it in me to try tackling that… where to even start?!?! Let me know if you figure something out!
Good job for all of you. You are definitely entitled to use a lot of UPPERCASE.
It’s always good when something we know will work (positive reinforcement) actually does have great results.
THANKS! 😉 Yes, I think I get mired down in the tediousness of some of the work with Lucas, so moments when I can celebrate feel that much bigger to me!
I am bad about the cats, but I think that is because my dogs just chase them, they aren’t aggressive with them. But we don’t have cats, just when we’ve watched our daughters cats and the cats for the most part are amazing.
What I am super proud of is Delilah and her reactions to other dogs. We’ve gotten to the point on our walks where is she sees another dog losing it, she looks to me for her treat and I walk her past feeding her goodies. She may ‘raise an eyebrow’ in curiosity, BUT the snarling, lunging, “I will chew you up and spit you out” seems to have left the building. 🙂
That is HUGE, Jodi. Like, a seriously massive accomplishment. I hope you’re as proud of yourself and Delilah as I am!
Introducing two cats in infinitely easier when one of them is a young kitten. Plus Newt has proven herself to be pretty laid back. It will probably be fine!
Thank you for the reassurance!! I really appreciate it!
Mom Kim here – I love that watch me picture – Lucas is watching you while Petey is watching Lucas. Since Shiloh’n Diva Shasta are now 11 and almost 8, respecitively, there is not much new training going on (and there are no cats in the house). However, I do occasionally re-visit their formal training at home just to see what they still know. Also, when I feed them I almost always do a leave it or sit and wait. And since both know a few tricks, I like to use some mini-treats to put the dogs through their paces. I think what I am the proudest of (sorry for the brag but these are two Beagles – not the easiest to train, especially when it comes to taking food) is when I have them take a treat from my outstretched palm – I have taught them the word gentle so that when they do take the treat, the most I ever feel is a soft nibble if that.
That’s a really great thing to teach, Kim! I bet it was really difficult, so you absolutely should brag. It’s definitely a very safe behavior to teach, so nice work to you and them!
Congrats on your success! All we do here is pawsitive training. Doggies can learn LOTS, good and bad, we just need trained properly!
Your Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
You are so right! They definitely learn good and bad… although I think they learn the bad stuff from watching each other!
This is fantastic news! Good for you and John – you’ve trained your dogs in a way that allows them to take what they learned in the past and apply it to a new situation. That’s pretty impressive and you guys should be really proud.
Thank you so much, Amy! I know you’ve done the same thing with your boys. Sometimes the repetitiveness of reinforcement gets… tiring. It’s always so nice to see that it is actually working! I’m mostly proud of Lucas, though. He’s the one who’s had to work the hardest to get here. Such a good big boy!
Hope even if you don’t keep her she finds a nice home with dogs that she can get along with.
Yeah, that would be wonderful!! (BTW – I keep meaning to email you about your off-topic post from last month… if I forget, remind me!)
When you do introduce her to Newt there may be some growling and hissing. This is similar to the dominance displays dogs make when meeting, though often more violent sounding. Before cats really get into a fight there is a LOT of noise and bluster, and that can go on for a long time (and get more and more ugly sounding) before things get physical. Cats aren’t naturally as social as dogs but they can get along in pairs (or larger groups). The last cat I introduced to my herd, Former Feral Eris, had been shut away in the spare room for so long that when she did finally come out the reaction from the others was like “Oh, yeah, I’ve been smelling you for weeks. Hi.” No promises that Newt will react the same way, but it’s possible.
Good to know! I think that Newt is slowing getting used to Petey’s smell because I catch her sniffing under the bathroom door just about every day. Someone suggested letting them explore each other’s spaces (once Petey gets the health OK) first. I want to take it slowly because – as you know – I’m a huge worrier! When it gets closer, you can be sure I’ll be bugging you for advice!