Glacial progress adds up when training reactive dogs: Coop’s big win!

06•05•18

Last week, as we walked laps around our favorite park, one of the social workers from our adoption agency called John. They had a professional photographer lined up for Saturday to snap some photos to decorate their offices. Were we interested… oh, and bring your dog!

We said yes! Of course!

And then we started to think through the logistics of taking Cooper.

He gets nervous going to new places. His tail tucks, and he quakes like a little leaf in a windstorm whenever we take him to a different park.

He can be hit or miss when meeting strangers out in public. Interestingly, he’s totally fine with anyone who we have over to the house. It’s the out-and-about that causes him anxiety.

He listens almost perfectly at home, but when he’s scared (see: new place, new people), he can dissolve into a neurotic, bouncing, barking mess who can’t focus.

So, in light of those quirks, we started to plan: We had tiers of treats ranging from low value (freeze-dried salmon) to his most valued (squeeze cheese). We decided to get to the park early to walk him around and let him get his wiggles out, go to the bathroom, and start to run some quick cues like sit and down so that he had time to get in the right mindset. Ultimately, we decided to park close to the spot so that, worst-case scenario, we could put him in the car and leave it running with the AC on, music playing, a water dish, and his bed.

The punchline, which you probably guessed from the headline, is that he behaved perfectly. (The pic below is a candid snap I got on my phone during the official shoot!)

Glacial progress adds up when training reactive dogs_ Coop's big win!

Like, if you didn’t know him at all–which the social worker and photographer didn’t–you’d think he was just a wonderful, happy, well-behaved, normal pup–which is what they thought!

He growled at two people; both startled him as they emerged from places in his blind-spots.

Otherwise, he was legit perfect.

He posed. He stayed. He sat. He looked at the camera. He wagged and accepted tons of pets from both women and even allowed the social worker to hold his leash while the photographer snapped a few pics of humans only.

Truthfully?

I really needed this reminder. (Again.)

We work with Cooper in some capacity–whether it’s attentiveness training in the park or impulse control at home, trick training in the living room, or long stays in the backyard, and so on–every single day. Sometimes it’s a few minutes here and there; sometimes it’s concerted, focused training sessions.

I know you guys know, but working with reactive dogs can be so frustrating. It feels like one step forward, two steps back so much of the time. Random new things crop up unexpectedly that leave you wondering if your work is making a difference.

This whole photoshoot experience proved to me that all that work pays off. That sometimes we’ll get off track, or we’ll experience a setback, but ultimately we’re moving forward. Sure, it’s at a glacial pace, but it’s forward progress regardless.

We’ll have the opportunity to purchase these and the rest of the session once they’re all ready, but for now, here are a couple embeds from Facebook showing Coop’s hard work:

With all that in mind, and the reminder that I sometimes need this reminder, how about you? What progress, no matter how slow, have you and your pup made lately? Have you ever had an experience like this that showed you just how far your dog has come?

Is your dog ever “trained”? Are you ever finished training?

03•27•18

Cooper is a good dog.

Cooper is a smart dog.

He knows all sorts of things, from the basic obedience cues like sit and stay and down to more complex cues like shutting cabinet doors and performing tricks. Based on what he knows at this point, anything else I teach him is just for fun. Games. Tricks. Nothing too useful but definitely entertaining.

Which means, of course, that I’ve become complacent in his obedience work. Can I consider him “done,” like a cake? Finished, like there’s no more training to do?

As far as obedience, anyway, there’s nothing much to do here. Wipe my hands. Move on.

Maybe…

But it wouldn’t do either one of us any good (and it might do him some long-term harm).

I recently encountered this statement in a Facebook group that went something like: “Well, my dog’s trained, so we don’t really work on XYZ. No point.”

So, is your dog ever “trained”?

When I work with Cooper, I think of his “training” in two buckets: obedience, the stuff mentioned above that he’s mastered, and behavior, the stuff that’s harder to quantify like being scared of new objects or barking out the living room window because the wind blew the leaves in the tree funny.

The obedience stuff is important, especially in the early days of a new pup. It’s the house training, the basic manners, the useful parts of being a member of a family. There comes a time, though, when a dog has learned pretty much everything they need to… Anything else, like tricks or dog games or even sports like agility, well, that’s just icing on this cake.

Or is it?

The behavior stuff, on the other hand, has to be ongoing if you love a dog who’s anything but a happy goober. You know the kind of dog I’m talking about… No dog I’ve ever cared for has been a happy goober. 🙂 (Well, maybe Molly…)

This is the forever training, the ongoing stuff. The reinforcement and the conditioning. This is the training where one day you discover that your quirky pup is afraid of the new bird feeder you hung in your backyard, so you work on that. This is the training where you try to catch your dog every single time he, say, sees a person on a motorcycle while riding in the car by tossing treats from the bag you keep in your glove compartment.

This type of training, in my opinion, is never “done.” Unless, of course, you’re the person of a goober dog!

That said, I’ve discovered that the obedience training conditions Cooper to learn. If we’re working on a behavior issue, or if I’m simply trying to build up his confidence so that he can go to a new park without shaking like a little leaf (we’re not there yet), obedience training does the trick.

He gets into “work” mode.

He starts to focus.

His mindset shifts from “AHHHHHHOMG!!!!” to “hey, I know what to do!”

We had a great session recently when we went to the playground. We traded off pushing Violet on the little baby swing and having Cooper “work” on basic cues. On the other side of the playground, a small family played on the climbing rocks, and on the soccer fields behind us, a bunch of guys were playing a pick-up game. It was a super distracting environment, though it was a park he’s very comfortable with. And he nailed it. Of course, we thankfully didn’t see any other dogs–this would probably be a different story!–but it’s progress.

Cooper is a good dog. At home, or at my parents’ house, he’s nearly perfect.

But he’s nowhere near “trained” and we’re certainly not done training.

Even when he’s reached a happy old age, games and toys and trying new things–all pieces of “dog training”–will be part of his daily routine because it keeps his mind fit, just like research shows daily mental activity like completing sudoku or crossword puzzles helps stave off Alzheimer’s.

And so, my long, meandering post comes to an end with my conclusion being, of course, that a dog might know a lot of stuff, but training can keep him mentally engaged and mentally fit to help his aging process go smoother and to stave off boredom. He might know all his obedience cues, and we’re not working to turn him into an obedient little automaton, but training is a big, important piece to his overall wellness.

Currently, of course, we’re working on his mat work… and making great strides!

How about you and your pup? What do you think? Do you consider your dog “trained” or your training “done”? How do you work to keep your dog mentally fit and engaged? Leave a comment below, and let’s trade training notes!

Setting Realistic Dog Training Goals: Mat Work

02•08•18

Last week we talked about limits: figuring out what our dogs’ limits are and how to honor them.

The other side to that coin, though, is knowing which limits to push and how. Otherwise, you risk becoming stagnant. Pushing limits, too, helps expand your dog’s world bit by tiny, incremental bit.

When I talk about pushing Cooper’s limits and setting training goals for him, I try to think of what my long-term goal is first, then work backwards. What is my desired outcome?

Right now, I’m focused on a big one.

Impulse control.

Of course, that’s a vague concept, but there’s one specific behavior we need to work on: his mat.

Long ago, we worked with an amazing trainer in New Orleans. One of the things she pointed out is his reliance on routine and predictability. We took a walk around our neighborhood, and she noticed that he knew every single house in the entire neighborhood that had a dog in the yard because he would tense up before we got there. An unexpected dog showed up in a yard he didn’t know?

Flip Out City: Population 1.

Same thing with, for instance, a bench at the bus stop. It was plastered with a real estate agent’s face and phone number. He spotted that face from the car and lost it. Or when the church on the corner set out their nativity scene with nearly-life-sized statues. Gonzo.

The trainer called it “strange pictures.” He didn’t like things out of his ordinary. He still doesn’t. If something looks weird or is unpredictable or unexpected, it’s not to be trusted. So, he barks.

He’s always been that way with movement, too. If someone trips (me), he barks. If someone dances in the kitchen while cooking dinner (me), he barks. If someone shrieks and runs around with arms waving (small children), he barks.

Out-of-the-ordinary movement startles him. He barks.

Oddly enough, he has not barked at Violet. I think there are two reasons why: First, he thinks she hung the moon. He just adores her, and I know he realizes that he needs to be careful around her because I can see him modifying his behavior when she’s around. He’s been like that since day one.

Second, her developing movement has happened gradually. She went from being a little lump to wiggling to rolling to scootching to crawling incrementally over the course of eight months.

Now, though, she’s almost 10 months. She’s crawling at top speed. She’s pulling up on everything, falling over, sitting up, falling over, dancing, clonking her head, giving me a heart attack about 975 times a day. She also chatters little baby jargon and shrieks her head off all day long. In fact, her go-to move when she spots one of the animals is to start shrieking with glee and crawling at top speed toward them. Of course, they see/hear her coming and skedaddle before she can get there… to her disappointment…

Anyway, we’ve been lucky that this developing movement has been so gradual, but I want to prevent Coop from starting up his usual barking response if, when she starts actually standing and toddling, that movement makes him uncomfortable. I don’t know that it will, but I want to focus on preventative training.

Specifically, circling back to almost 600 words ago, impulse control.

So, my training goal for the month ahead is to reinforce (erm, restart) his mat work. You guys, we tried to get through the whole Relaxation Protocol twice. I’ll take the blame for our failure to complete the entire thing. The system is sound but I don’t know… We worked on a modified version with our trainer in New Orleans, so I think I might start there then decide if we could benefit from the entire protocol. (Anyone who’s seen it through: worth it???) Since then, we’ve sort of lowered our criteria and accepted him going to either his mat or his bed when we mean to send him to his mat. Gotta work on that…

Bottom line: My goal for Cooper for February is to work on proofing his “on your mat” cue during calm moments, gradually increasing his criteria to chill on his mat (probably with a stuffed food puzzle) in the living room while we’re playing with Violet.

It’s actually the perfect time to be working on this, too, since we’re already mostly stuck in the house with this seemingly-unending winter! Might as well train!

I think we have relatively little time before she’s up and about, toddling and falling all over the place. I’ve been thinking through this plan loosely, and I think February is the month to reinforce the basics, then in March we’ll tackle sending him to his mat to relax with increased distraction.

That’s my goal! How about you? What are you guys working on with your pups this month?

This post is part of the monthly Positive Pet Training Blog Hop! Check out some of the other inspiring posts in the hop below:

Limits

01•30•18

“It’s so beautiful outside! Let’s take Cooper to the park to enjoy this gorgeous day!”

Said no one ever…

“It’s gray and lightly drizzling. I’m taking Cooper to the park for a jog.”

I said on Sunday.

Cooper doesn’t go to the park on a beautiful, sunny day. Why? People go to the park on beautiful, sunny days. Dogs go to the park on beautiful, sunny days. Youths on wheels go to the park on beautiful, sunny days. So, Cooper does not.

Here’s the thing: Cooper is a good dog.

Cooper is not a perfect dog.

He’s well-trained and smart as a whip. But he has limits.

Someone recently asked me, in response to me saying that Cooper will never be a dog who chills on a restaurant patio with us for Sunday brunch, “Is that something you’re going to work on?”

For a beat, I paused. Is it?

We’re a goal-oriented society, right? We set goals, work to achieve them, and then push the goalpost further out. It’s certainly how I work, and it certainly formed the basis of a lot of the training I’ve historically done with the dogs. What do I want them to do (or not do)? How do we get there? And once we get there, what’s next?

It makes sense to say, OK, we’ve identified this problem–Cooper can’t relax in a crowded place–so, now how do we work toward a solution? What is my project plan? What are the next steps? How do we progress?

But, the other important piece of the dog-training puzzle: limits.

Knowing them, and respecting them.

It’s just like in people. Everyone, every dog included, has limits. Somehow with dogs, sometimes people who love their dogs very much, still fall into the trap of thinking, “Oh, we just need to work more/harder. Let’s try a new protocol,” etc. etc.

Sure, there’s some stuff you have to push your dog on, whether it’s for safety’s sake or basic manners.

But when it comes to limits… I use myself as an example. I am, by nature, a shy introvert. I needed to learn how to speak in public, so I took steps to train myself. I read books. I watched TED talks. I joined Toastmasters. That sort of thing. Yes, I improved. No, I’m not confident or comfortable. Yet, if someone were to ask me to do something like act a part in a play, you better believe I’d be hiding under the closest rock I could find because no way, never, not gonna happen, are you flipping kidding me with that?! I know my limits.

I just have the luxury of making all my own decisions so can turn down things that I know are far beyond my reasonable capabilities.

Dogs don’t have that luxury. We make all their own decisions.

So, identifying their limits–carefully, too, and with kid gloves because some limits need to be pushed–and then respecting them are so crucial to forming a strong bond and a lasting friendship with your dog.

So, will I train Cooper to sit with me at a restaurant or walk through a packed park on a beautiful day?

Nope.

Will he miss out on some adventures together?

Yep.

We could work on some stuff. We could work on having him lay on a mat in a busy place. We could work on restaurant sounds. But we can’t really work to make him feel happy in those scenarios. He’d just be a tense ball of anxious energy trying to work through commands, never relaxing, never feeling comfortable. Is that worth it?

Truthfully, I feel like if I could ask him and he could answer me, it would probably go something like this:

“Cooper, do you want to go sit on the patio at the cafe down the road while we eat breakfast?”

“Is it crowded, noisy, full of people and loud, unexpected sounds? Hell nope. Thanks, but I’ll stay home with the cats.”

Does your dog have limits? How do you differentiate between the ones that are firm and need to be honored versus the ones you need to push? How do you decide when you’ve hit your goal versus pushing the goalpost further out?

From the archives, a few oldies about Cooper’s behavior, um, quirks:

How to Keep Your Dog Busy on a Rainy Day: 5 Indoor Activities

12•04•17

Let’s talk about crazy dogs, shall we?

You guys know me, so you know I say “crazy” with tremendous love in my heart.

I’m talking about dogs like Cooper: high-energy dogs, smart dogs, creative dogs who come up with their owns methods of entertainment when they’re under-exercised or under-stimulated…

Cooper runs. A lot. He does slow neighborhood wogs (walk + jog) with me, and he does long marathon-training runs with John. Yet… he wallops the cats, skitters around the furniture, barks his face off out the window, goes bonkers with his toys, and so on IF we skip a day.

And, honestly, sometimes we have to skip a day because, well, life.

Keeping a high-energy dog busy can be a real challenge, and it becomes even more difficult in cold, rainy, or snowy days when you just can’t get outside. With that season around the corner (OK, actually, it should be here… it’s December… why is it 60? #thanksclimatechange), I’ve revisited some past posts about indoor activities and thought it was time for a refresh.

When the weather doesn’t cooperate with outdoor fun, here are five DIY enrichment ideas you and your dog can do… indoors… to help keep that energy at bay!

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Muffin tin game

Fill the slots of a muffin tin with treats or your dog’s kibble. Place a tennis ball on top of the treats in each slot. Hint: Some active pups quickly learn to tip over the whole tray. If that happens–and you don’t want to clean up the mess each time–try the next game instead.

Paper towel tube puzzle

Stuff a treat in an empty paper towel tube. Crimp down the ends to trap the treat. Let your dog tear, shred, and pounce on the tube to get the treat. Hint: This one is great for cats, too.

Will work for food

Change the way you feed your dog breakfast. Engage his mind first thing in the morning! Rather than plunk it down in a bowl, make him work. If you have time, offer him one bite at a time in exchange for behaviors like sit or high five. If you don’t have time, divide the food among five or six bowls, and hide them around the house before you leave for work in the morning.

Nose work

Dogs love to use their noses. Hide treats around the house, first in obvious places, then with increasing difficulty. Make mealtime a job by combining it with nose work; hide your dog’s dinner around the house, and let him hunt his meal (kind of like above but without the caches in bowls… spread the pieces wayyyyy further). Or, use a snuffle mat like the Wooly pictured above!

Obedience rally

Get your dog thinking by running obedience cues around the house. Have him wait in one room, then call him from another. Practice sits and downs on the bed or work on long stays with distractions. Reward along the way! For dogs who need to blow off extra steam, run the drills up and down the stairs. One family member sits at the top and calls your pup. Ask for a basic cue, like sit, then another family member at the bottom calls and asks for another cue. The physical activity of running stairs, combined with the mental activity of obedience tires out even the rowdiest hound.

Remember, if you’re new at these types of games, your dog will need a little guidance and support at first. Help your pup as needed, and give lots of praise (and treats!) to encourage his efforts.

I had this awesome idea for tonight while Violet gets her bath–we’re going to combine two for an epic wear-out session: While I’m bathing her upstairs and John’s cooking dinner downstairs, we’re going to feed him his dinner by having him do obedience rally back and forth between us in exchange for bits of kibble. My guess? He’ll be asleep before Violet tonight!

If you have a high-energy dog, how do you wear him out? What tips and tricks can you share? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments!

For another 20 ideas, check out these two posts: