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Aggression – a big WHY?
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“Help, I can’t figure out what makes my dog so aggressive…” – I get asked questions of this type a lot, even though it is not really a problem that the potential students are having.
So why does that dog, or this dog, your own lap-loving, couch-adoring cuddly pooch demonstrate the signs of aggression, even though we know well that there’s never been a reason for them to act in this way?Well, talking about dogs’ aggression, and this is the cause of almost 70% of my trainees’ worries, dogs behave in this way because… they are dogs. Dogs eat, run, play, chew, poop, growl, bite, chase, dig, jump, scratch and roll… If you go through the whole list, you will see that it is not endless, and talking about the best behaved dog you will be able to confirm that they have all tried pretty much every little behaviour from the list above.
They have a set of behaviours, a repertoire, that they all go through during their lives, just trying some of the things out, but sticking with the other threads for the rest of their lives. (Pavlov)So, aggression…
Commonly known either as affective (emotional), hostile or retaliatory aggression, or instrumental, goal-oriented or predatory aggression; the list begins here: fear-based, nervous aggression, frustration, redirected (or misdirected) aggression, sexual, territorial, dominant aggression, chase or competitive aggression, possessive and food- and resource- related aggression, punishment aggression, pain aggression, maternal, paternal and play aggression, relational and occupational aggression, and when you thought you were coming to an end of this list, there’s an Idiopathic aggression (an unprovoked, unpredictable form of aggression with no known cause, otherwise described as “rage” syndrome)...Well, I will tell you that your dog probably has all of these within. Concealed, camouflaged, but they are all there. Because they are dogs! Acting on them is a different matter, so don’t get me wrong – this does not justify the fact that he / she just pounced on a passer-by or chased a school-girl down the alley...
Well, you equipped yourself with all of the theories available, and put your dog to the most serious test of his / her life. Of course it is a big deal – the behaviourist you consulted has probably charged you a mere 3-4 hundred quid just to sit and talk to you over a table and later on present you with a massive report telling you that you do have a dog and that your dog is xxx- aggressive and a bit less yyy-aggressive, but not zzz-aggressive at all! Money well spent, you think, just to go home and realise that the dog-guru has not taken the problem away... So what now? After you have gone through that verdict over and over again... “Keep working on it” – just does not do it for you after days and days of practice.
Do not despair – I have seen just the solution in “Back to the Future” recently: You get yourself one of those, a time-machine, I mean, and – go back to the day and time when your dog snarled at you for the first time or nicked a sausage from your other dog and ran off with it. Change that, remove the initial cause – and – back home, to find your dog well and happy with himself and not indicating any of the dangers you were so concerned about. Yes, knowing where your dog’s aggression had originated is extremely important!
But then – I have had an offended trainee turning all unhappy when I held this talk at one of my recent “growlers” class. And I understand why. I make the same old hole even deeper by contributing to the shame and embarrassment of having a “problem” dog.
Identifying the cause of the dog’s behaviour is of paramount value, I will confirm. But what actually spoils the rehabilitation of that hound is identifying it wrongly. And I will try to explain why.A dog snaps at another animal. It gives him a short-term benefit of, say, gaining a comfort, safety or resource (This is your Operant Conditioning, or Instrumental Learning, practical application). There’s always a reason why it happens in the first place, we’ve just been through it all. There are plenty of those. Then it happens again, and the hesitation and uncertainty of what to do in similar circumstances disappears fairly quickly (Thorndike). “If I do that, the problem goes away!” – your pet might conclude and continues acting in this manner. And soon they just do it not because they are hungry, frightened of bothered by an intruder, but because they did it last time, and the time before that. Please read this bit again. We are about to discover something major here!
Sexually frustrated dogs feel rather uneasy in the presence of another male competing for the loyalty of the same bitch. It is hormonal and instinctive. But having done this once, and twice the whole behaviour quickly becomes associated with the subject of the aggression – another male (Pavlov). And there you go – you will soon have a dog-hating canine budging to “sort out” any potential threat in site, be it with, or without a female present to guard. Just because I did it yesterday...
This is called a “Learnt Behaviour”, or “Learnt Adaptive Behaviour”. This is what creates a problem for all of those dogs in trouble. And this is the most common reason they end up where they do.
Let’s talk about this in a bit more detail.
Learning does not necessarily lead to a change in behaviour. Some learning processes lead to a permanent change in behaviour but some do not. Not every dog, frightened to death by a dog-attack turns offensive in the future. Practice demonstrates that most animals can learn new information without demonstrating new behaviours. Good in most scenarios, but bad when it comes to teaching a badly-behaved dog to act better. Knowing what to do and how to do it does not necessarily makes them re-think their repertoire or change anything in the way they act. Attention and Retention of information is what influences this process. They can be individually present there, or might not be – every dog and every situation is highly individual.“But I had never rewarded my dog when he tried to defend his bone, so why is he so protective over them now?” – some might ask. And this is what makes dog training so exciting and thrilling. It does not have to have outside stimuli to reinforce the behaviour. It could become self-rewarding, such as scooping a piece of chicken off the floor in front of another person, but it could also be based on what they call an Intrinsic Reinforcement. According to Bandura, external, environmental reinforcement is not the only factor to influence learning and behaviour. He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of internal reward, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment. Too much? Well, and that is not the end of it either.
Lets talk about ourselves for a moment. Most of our behaviours are very automatic, we do things without thinking too deeply about the consequences, most of the time. We are animals, just like the rest of nature, and we respond in the same way they do. Like Pavlov’s famous dogs – if you show us something that we’ve seen before, we often respond to it in a pre-programmed or learnt way. You will also probably think certain thoughts as a result, again often automatically (though they might not feel automatic). Some of these thoughts are so subtle and you have them so often, you might not even notice them. But believe you me – you did in the beginning, this is why you are where you are.
But the answer to that original question still remains. So, why does my dog behave aggressively? Because they did the same last time, and the time before that. Because this is what you have conditioned them to be, or let them develop the behaviour you are talking about. How many aggression types are there that our dogs get affected by? My suggestion is – One! Learnt Behaviour…But what do we do to help them to get out of acting this way – is a subject for another discussion.
D.Y.
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Why does my dog…?
Each person asking this question sincerely believes their situation is so unique, that it requires if not the Nobel Prize and a mention in London Times, then at least a consultation with the top behaviourist or an individual session with a known trainer who will hopefully be able to understand where the problem is coming from and how to put it right. Self / Home study as an option is rarely taken considered I am not sure why, but, I guess, people just do not bother to move a finger unless they have a massive issue on their hands and the need to have it resolved on the spot is of a paramount importance.
We always wish that our trainees coming to the class looking for help would start telling their story beginning with: ‘I’ve done so much with my dog, but a few things do not seem to click into place…’ Usually the difficulty of prospective resolution takes us to the very beginning and having to build it up from that point to and well above the required level of response… Yes, I wish… but the reality tells us different.
Why do you think Hector attacks dogs when out and about with me or my husband? And then the assessment starts. How responsive is he to the owner’s voice? Not at all. How well motivated by food? Oh, he does not eat when out… OK, what is his level of obedience? Very good but struggles with Sit or Stay? Wow, let’s call it non-existent rather than great… Plays on a walk? Yes, very playful, you say? Let’s see. Toy – no reaction… And the said dog disappears in the distance to play his game of chase and growl with other dogs… OK, so this doesn’t work either… Well, you get the picture.
I would like to create a different story here just for the sake of the argument, and I am also hoping that this will help us to understand where things get wrong and what buttons we are going to press while re-building the “dog under good control” image.
Dogs as well as all other living creatures are born and built to survive. They all are programmed by a set of INSTINCTS offering them pre-recorded responses to this and that and what to do if… There are many of those : Maternity and paternity instincts, pack, sexual, and protective, hunting and chasing, Self-preservation, orientational and play ones, instincts responsible for searching and containment of food, getting it and protecting it, providing drinking water and telling them when to escape and how far, how to – eat, drink, breath, digest etc., building a den…. There are many others, but this story is not about them.
According to research dogs as companion animals have been improving humans’ lives for well over the past 20,000 years. Most of the physiological mechanisms locked within these comfort protectors / hunters and nurturers are about that old, and some much older – dogs inherited many behavioural threats from their predecessors and those – from the ones before and so on. So knowing how to snap at the foreign body that threatens your lunch is an ancient skill; the desire to run off and pursue prey is centuries and thousands of years old; marking the house is too. Also barking when losing your pack (say, due to them going off to work) has existed in our hounds for generations. This is why dogs do these things. They have to abide by this pre-recorded and sharpened by lengthy evolutional survival behavioural program, and it is there not to be argued with. Do it or die. You ignore the noise of falling tree – say good-bye to the world and be squashed… Yes, dogs are jumpy (reactive) initially for good reasons - this is good for the evolutionary selection.
Hector the Irish Terrier, on the other hand, does not have a particular reason to do any of the above. He does not exist as a pet dog, but as a healthy and logical representative of his species. His personality is a reflection of what was (or rather not) put there by his nurturers, the owners. Nothing else. He sees the ball and he’s off. A car door open and he’s out. The predictable dog behaviour of A DOG, not Hector the Irish Terrier. So why does he do all these? Because he’s a dog. Wild, un-influenced, free-to-roll dog whose man-made boundaries and socially acceptable (as per urban dog in 2012) acts of behaviour are just not there. Happy dog though – the pre-recorded guidance has worked wonders for the 16 months of his life! Perfect for him, and if I was coming back as a dog I would want to come back as Hector. See for yourself - No effort required and maximum benefit - do whatever you want and all the boxes in your life are still ticked – he’s well and unconditionally loved! Watered, fed, played with, accommodated, sheltered, maintained, entertained… Lucky little thing. I on the other hand, have to work for my living!
Living your daily life means learning. Consciously, or sub-consciously, the learning process continues whatever we do. The same applies for our dogs. They experience “Trial and Error” all the time - this either gets the dog something he/she wants or avoids him/her from doing something he/she doesn’t want to do. (Please compare this to the households where “anything goes” – whatever that pooch comes up with is tolerated and the outcome does not change as a result of it). There are exceptions, for instance, the state of an animal’s health (a medical condition or illness might well be responsible for the behavioural symptoms). But these are usually easy thing to rule out.
Have you heard about the “Nature v Nurture” argument? Luckily for us (and for the dogs, but they do tend to deny it) there is a mechanism able to override instincts and adapt the animal to the environment without endangering its’ existence. These are called reflexes. They are not there when the dogs are born but they are formed the moment we let our guard off and let the natural responses “slide” – these are Learnt Behaviours. No dog knows how to chase joggers at birth. But dogs chase fast-moving objects or any moving objects, if no other motion is observed. Do it once, do it twice – and there you are - You have a sprinter-dog taking down park strollers just for the sake of it. The dogs doing it look happy – and even this is pre-deposited there… They are satisfying the instincts feeding on that satisfaction. So when we say that some reflexes are not helpful, this only goes for us, not the dogs.
But the helpful ones may mean the difference between a good dog / pleasant society member and the mayhem of a mutt ruining everyone’s pleasure.
So let’s talk about this for a moment. Have you ever tried to throw a ball when out on your morning stroll through the park, but tell your dog to NOT chase it? Just to check it – can we compete with the in-bred tendencies? You haven’t, or you can’t? Either way, you have to, and you have to do it well and polish it up to the point when you can put the dog on a “pause-mode” at any time you want, any environment and everywhere. You don’t have to be doing it all the time, but you need to be able to stop it when you wish and at that very second. How do we do it? Oh, that’s the whole another subject. Easy, usually, if you brainstorm it before you start practicing. Approach it from a few different directions and practice. Proof it afterwards and enjoy your loyal companion that you can trust off lead. Wouldn’t that be nice!
Now you are saying that you can do it after a week of homework? Great, keep it up! Have you taught your dog to not chase balls? Not just that. You battled a huge issue of delivering a message to that Dog Instincts Ministry on how to stop and control temptations on a cue from outside, your cue. Life is full of attractive targets – objects, smells, creatures. But we need to agree on one thing with our beloved pooch: you are not going to get everything you see! Plain and simple. So when your dog chases squirrels in the woods, throwing a ball and hoping to tire it out is not going to offer you a solution; maybe, if you are lucky, perhaps just a temporary relief. You will be strengthening and reinforcing that instinct and giving that dog more and more physical power to cope with the task. But drop a chunk of sausage and call your dog off it on a single command- and you win – you become the guiding voice in your dog’s head, not the voodoo spirits telling it “kill, kill, kill”.
Would you manage the walk through the tunnel of cheese bits with your dog to heel (loose lead of course, or no lead as a requirement)? Once again, you will not just be teaching your pet to Heel in different circumstances, but also to choose your guidance in other situations as dogs Generalize. Look it up. This is our savior, as due to this mechanism, and this one only, you can have your dog learning to listen and do what they hear. There is no way in the world you can socialize your dog with absolutely every creature / object / situation in the book, but once you’ve done your first 5-10 experiences and come out the winner, your dog will assume, that the next one down the line of these experiments will have to end up with the same outcome. Try it. There are bright dogs that connect this after just two-three exposures, and some need tons of variable repetitive reinforcement. But it happens.
Need more ideas to try out? Here! -Dog is put in a stay, you place a slice of salami in front of it, walk away and call it passed the distraction. -Lay your dog down and feed another animal all around it from hand and floor without your trainee getting up (this helps also to influence the relationship with other dogs!). -You heel your dog while kicking a tennis ball in front of you as you go. -Try to “bowl” a dog treat towards the dog’s front paws in a Sit position without it eating it, the nearer the better. Plus make some stuff up – you can never over-train your pet. And don’t you ever forget to reward / praise your dog for being right. However small that progress is - it is a success, so be generous and just, and only then raise the bar.
And please finish with this one: You lay the dog down, and slowly moving that “don’t touch” kibble nearer and nearer to its’ nose end up, position two of them, one on each paw of the patiently waiting dog. This is the cutest (and easiest) skill to teach, and you will immediately be named the greatest trainer amongst all your friends watching this party trick.
Please accept that things do not remain the same. Nothing stays still, and behavioural balance, brain activity and sharpness of responses changes with time. So do not ignore the maintenance procedure that needs to be brought in from time to time.
Feeling like you’ve done the “proofing”? Go out into the busy park / club / dog competition and show off! Enjoy it and you two will make a great team not just keeping safe, but demonstrating to the world that DOGS HAVE BRAINS, and those little boxes are hugely effective, once you help your dogs to wake them up. Your dog’s thinking is a beautiful process, and watching it is the biggest pleasure of having a dog.
Dog Day at Cabbages and Frocks market
SATURDAY, 28 APRIL 11am-5pm
Demonstration times: 12 midday and 2pm – Competitions 2.30pm onwards
Free Admission
CABBAGES & FROCKS MARKET
St Marylebone Parish Church grounds
Marylebone High Street W1U 5BA, (opp. Conran Shop)
Tel: 0207 794 1636 Mobile: 07956 282 532
Back by public demand Cabbages and Frocks lifestyle market in Marylebone Village is putting on another special DOG DAY AFTERNOON.
The Good Boy Dog School will be back putting on a display headed by Dima including synchronised obedience and trick sequences.
Competition times:
2.30pm Waggy Tail
2.45pm “A Bit of Ruff” for mixed breeds
3.00pm Lookalike competition
3.15pm Miniatures and toy breeds
3.30pm “Matching pairs”
3.45pm Best Puppy
4.00pm Best in Show
Dress as Smartly as your Dog
There will be masses of stalls to choose accessories for your pet and lots of like minded two and four legged friends to talk to. Tempting food and fashion stalls will also be there.
Don’t miss out, you may go home with a rosette and purchases for you and your pet. Either way we guarantee you a fun filled day!
www.cabbagesandfrocks.co.uk email: info@cabbagesandfrocks.co.uk
See you all there at the “Dog Day”, spectating or taking part.
Canine First Aid and emergencies - practical advice for dog owners
Christian LeVan BVM&S MRCVS
Thursday 23rd February 2012
7:00 – 10:00pm
Jack Abraham, of the Well Animal Clinic in Hampstead, has been our favourite vet for decades! But since his retirement, veterinary surgeon Christian LeVan took over being a partner at the clinic and is going to be our lecturer for the evening.
Christian was born in London and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1999. He spent two years working in Somerset then worked at various practices across the UK for several years, including time at the central RSPCA hospital in Birmingham. He has been the principal vet at Well Animal Clinic since 2006.
He is interested in all aspects of canine and feline medicine and surgery and is a member of the European Society of Feline Medicine. He now lives in West Hampstead with a Border Terrier called Chester, along with being a butler to his cats Bullet and Bertie. Christian is also an active fundraiser for the RSPCA.
His First Aid lecture will cover many aspects of dog welfare and health including:
Basic Health Examination
Principles of First Aid
Road Traffic Accidents and severe trauma
Dog fights
Wounds, burns and bleeding
Poisoning and toxicity
Parasitic and infectious disease
Gastric dilation and torsion
Heat stroke
Epilepsy, seizures and fits
Eye Injuries
Whelping bitches
Case studies
and will include practical sessions on some of these subjects as well as a Q&A session.
All attendees will obtain a brochure / summary of the presentation and attendance certificate.
Tickets: £15 per person (sorry, no group discounts this time)
(Cash or Cheque. Please enclose SAE if you require paper ticket and purchased by post)
Hot and cold drinks / snacks provided.
Venue: 1st Barnet Scout Hut, Priory Grove, off Westcombe Drive, Barnet, Herts. EN5 2BE
Information / Payment: Dima Yeremenko / Good Boy Dog School, 12 The Highlands, Edgware, HA8 5HL; Tel: 07957 228 269 / 0208 931 8207; Email: dimadogs@hotmail.com
What DOGS want?
So, OK, your dog bites, or tries to… It’s bad. Or does it pull on the lead? Tries to run away? Barks incessantly? Does not like … the list goes on. This is my working week answering the phone. - What can I do for you? – “I have this dog / s and the problem that didn’t seem to be serious at first seems to be ruining my life…” Yes, this is the nature of calls I receive from people looking for help with their dogs. I still hope that one day the phone will ring and the person ringing will ask whether I have any more fun ideas on making their training / communication together more fun, exciting and challenging. This is what I want the Dog Training to be, and not just the way to resolve someone’s wrong-doing (or non-doing!).
And then I go and see the dog/s in question and attempt to put things right. Day after day, session after session. But what if there was a trick to do all this in one go, to help all the dogs at once, to install a gadget / secret recipe that will work for every dog in trouble? How much more fun that work would have been… Teaching good dogs to be great, improving the well-behaved dog’s reactions towards achieving the best this dog can be! And I am sure the day will come, but for now there’s one thing that will make it all so much better, easier and promising – it is finding the reason WHY this hound does that thing that puts it on the “bad” list in the first place.
And there is an answer. I think you would all agree with me as over years of observation and working with dogs, I noticed that almost every badly behaved dog is not motivated to listen to its owner and will therefore do (or not) what it’s told. But what is this illusive MOTIVATION and how do you find it when needed? So here we go:
Every dog has NEEDS. There are a few, and most often a combination of them is presented, but they all are a MUST and no dog can go on without them. They are:
Need to eliminate bodily waste products (basically, when you need to go, you need to go!) – understandable, metabolism, or functioning, has end products – it is the activity itself as a result of energy produced, and it’s by-product, waste.
Need to thermoregulate – whether you like it or not, all living things tend to move towards the best temperature suitable for their specific organism. We might not even know what it is, but our bodies do, and the rest of this machine will do whatever it takes to provide it with the best possible climate.
Need for drinking water / fluids – it goes without saying that no living thing can function without the fluids needed for the many internal processes to take place. Be very careful with this one as it can save lives as well as irreversibly affect one’s physics if the provisions are not sensible.
Need for food – you wouldn’t run your car once the fuel is out. Same goes for your pooch. Keep filling them up and they go on, and on, and on.
Self-preservation – safety seems to be something that every dog somehow knows a lot about. Sometimes rightfully, and at times wrongly, but what is perceived as a threat will be avoided or dealt with. Plain and simple.
Need for fresh / breathing air – as most of the reactions inside a dog are bacterial or have a chemical nature, it requires a strictly balanced atmosphere to function at the fullest. Air is there and we don’t need to notice it. But we all need it at all times.
Sexual desires – ok, some can live without it, but some dogs (let’s just talk about dogs here) get seriously affected by it, and sexual drive becomes one of the only things that matter for them once they are out of their den. They might not even want or intend to act in this way, but the hormones in their blood stream make them act in this way, not usually acceptable by the outside world.
Need to chemically balance the food intake (micro and macro-elements needed for the organism to properly function are numerous. Whatever the dog diet is, they may need lots more ingredients and chemicals to digest it into the system, which would have been available in natural diets of whole prey carcasses, plants and various waste products that dogs seem to instinctively want to find and consume.) Please look up the term “Homeostasis” for more info on this.
Need to exercise / movement – greatly varies in all dogs, so this cannot be generalized and routinely prescribed to every student.
Physical activity helps the body to release beta-endorphins, enhances nor-adrenergic activity (increasing production of noradrenalin) and increases serotonin metabolism in the brain.This means that it benefits brain chemistry, enhances mental stability and well-being and increases immunity and activity level and health overall.
Need to recuperate / rest / sleep. With all the above in place, a dog has to still recharge it’s batteries. Let the sleeping dog lie, and it will be once again your loving and caring companion once it is up.
Organism deals with quite a high level of adrenalin and cortisol, which is exhausting and makes it work extra hard almost all the time. Rest and sleep help them to produce Melatonin that helps to balance all of the bodily functions and immune system.
Social needs – mysterious zone, described widely and by every pretender to the “Dog Whisperer” title, but mostly misconstrued as they are not physiological needs as such, though we will still list them here as they often overlap with other behavioural necessities.
Leadership, attention and affection – this is a source of those positive emotions, mental stimulation and excitement in animals’ life-cycles. Depriving your dog of these will only work once the alternative has been offered aplenty.
Cognitive Needs – these are not far fetched from the ones described above. Dogs (presumably!) have more than just a pre-programmed set of instincts. They also have the ability to think and problem solve. They need to experience more than just the same old scenery of their own home. Mental stimulation leads to a happy dog.
Chewing – very commonly overlooked as a physiological process, chewing is a source of quick serotonin just as sleep, and it, being a hormone of calm and happiness, gives a dog what no other activity can. Given a chance to rip the flesh of an animal and consume every tiniest remain of its carcass would obviously compensate this need for a self-sufficient animal, but receiving all your deer and pheasants on a silver plate you should expect the uneasy attitude many owners have over destroyed table-legs and ripped-off shoes.
Overall health not covered with previous points – skin, ears, eyes and other sensitive zones’ well-being (there are four basic types of animal tissue - epithelium, connective tissue, muscle tissue and nervous tissue).
For more on these please see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, best described by J. A. Simons to help our discussion. There you will see that all those needs can be spaced out in certain order by which you can understand a dog’s priorities and order of behavioural tendencies lots better. But in this presentation it is irrelevant as we are just trying to understand what gives the dog the reason / s to do what they do. And hopefully to control it better!
Have I missed anything? Please point this out if I have and I will happily accept my lack of academic knowledge on the subject.
But keeping in mind that all of the above are the sole reasons for ALL of our Fido’s antics and not most – we can now easily figure out the trading currency needed to modify / improve on any of the behaviours we are interested in changing. Bluntly speaking – close off the dog’s air-supply, or the rear “canal” (please don’t) – and you get yourself a devoted servant for the time being. Keep him up all night, or out in a wet and cold (don’t you dare!) – and the chances that he’d sell his soul to win back what’s being taken off him will be substantial. Easy-peasy! Make him believe that from now on your love is conditional – and he’s your silent follower for life!
“It doesn’t help” – you’d probably say, and you will be right. None of the listed is applicable due to the whole issue of keeping your dog as a pet, not as a beast being treated with just “Stick and a carrot”. We love our dogs, however good or bad they are. But we need that trading tool, the motivator, the currency that can buy those good behaviours, habits and thoughts from our pooch.
But there is a point that you will find usable. One of the needs that actually works when controlled by humans who know what to give, how much and when just as well as the tens of thousand years of dogs’ evolution have made our dogs want to pursue. It is food! And this is the reason we encourage you to consider HANDFEEDING – the nicest of motivational practices and a gentle approach that can do no harm.
And remember – it is not just about delivering or withholding the stimulus you find working for your Canine. It is about teaching them to value your input, appreciate your part in the whole daily routine of being fed and being provided with nutrients and extras everywhere and any time. It is about forming a habit of feeding from a pouch on your belt or bum-bag be it in a park, on the way to shops or in a car. Get used to doing it, and learn to enjoy it on the dog’s part. In brief -
Reflexes are built by repetitions.
Attitude is a result of motivation.
Reliability is a product of good handling skills.
And Handfeeding offers a solution to all of these and more. Lots more. Just see the videos below if you are tired of reading.
Training should not just be about dealing with problems - using the Handfeeding technique you will learn the way to turn Dog Training into fun and games –a training game with a happy, content and compliant dog and a skilful, coordinated, consistent and understanding owner able to teach their own dog at the end of it.
Here are the links to the free help available:
http://goodboydogschool.com/
http://goodboydogschool.com/
http://goodboydogschool.com/
http://goodboydogschool.com/
Please note, that the recommended Handfeeding course should be attempted over a course of a few weeks, usually between 2 and 3 after which all of our dogs are then put on normal bowl (or Kong, Activity Ball, or Buster Cube if you prefer) feeding so you would not be able to tell the difference in the owners’ input. Being the most commonly asked question I just felt that I’d rather tell you this now. Try it, stick with it, wean the dog of it – and you are good to go!
Have fun, and keep us posted on your progress.
Dog Training - out and about, or a story of an international Dog Training Spy
This is the theory:
The idea behind taking your dog to classes is this – you convince a dog to follow your instruction of whatever kind, and dogs just generalise it and behave in the same manner in all sorts of environments and circumstances. Well, this is the theory, but the practical side of it varies greatly from trainer to trainer. So in order to get a better picture on the subject I embarked on another exciting journey- please see below.
Months of visiting dog training clubs is about to come to an end. Competitive and Pet classes, professional and part-time trainers, large and small groups held in the mornings and evenings, midweek and weekend as well as indoors and outside (yes, there are many places where you can take your dog to work outside even on a cold November morning!) – There are so many choices people have when searching for a place to take their dog for some tutoring/training.
I cannot comment on a few establishments whose trainers turned really protective and would not agree to a visitor such as myself after being told that I am not looking to enrol a dog, but would like to learn the ways they teach. I guess they have something to hide or perhaps they are just not as confident doing it in front of someone who’s not a novice!
You have to agree, that whatever your trade is, after years of doing it day and night you might lose a sense of reality to some degree, get rusty and wish to brush up on the way you work, and on the ways the business is organised elsewhere. Well, this was my idea.
It was all initially intended to gather some new and effective training hints and secrets to share with my students and have a chance to meet up with some really knowledgeable and skilled trainers. But what came out of it was something not quite as planned, but rather a bit different – I saw a niche in the programmes and methods practiced so widely in and around our area. I probably understood a bit more the reason behind the fact that so many trainees come to us at times supplementing their training elsewhere with what we teach, and more often, people come and see our place for themselves and decide to stay on. I am going to tell you why shortly.
I personally own a mutt of a dog called George (he came with the name from RSPCA kennels where I teach) with no birthday, particular breed looks or characteristics. And even though he’s been on the Kennel Club working register for a few years now, I do not live for shows or competitions; neither can I commit myself to hours of heelwork and stays in order to succeed in a show ring.
This is how it is done elsewhere:
This is what I found myself watching in those numerous classes: a variety / mixture of combinations of Sits, Stays, Downs, Stands, Heel, Sits, Come, Downs, Heel, Sits and so on with longer and shorter breaks in between; just Stays, Come, Heel, Sit, Stand, Down, Come for the whole session…
Some of the more inventive classes would also enrich the routine with “Off-you-go” or even “Good Boy” and “Good Girl” but that’s about it, all keeping the dogs on the lead the whole time. All the places I have been to use rewards, some more than others.
And every time when coming home or having a brief moment of having to do something useful with my hound, I would take him for a short round of Heelwork …and struggle to design a “Precision” training routine that at the same time would be fun, exciting, variable and easy to teach.
Precision training can take as many shapes as you wish. You could be working with some experts making a work of art of an old obedience round – it looks fantastic when you pay attention to every little detail. Or you can put your dog (and yourself, not sure, who’d have to work harder) through an agility training program changing the course every few minutes. This will still gain that perfect anticipation / attention and focus from your dog. Heelwork-to-Music seems to overthrow all the Schutzhund, Working and Gun dog trials in the multitude of elements taught, as well as voluntary participation from the dog involved. And I hope I manage to explain to you why.
What I struggle to organize at our venue as well as for my individual training plans, is an exciting and variable routine of hand feeding reinforcements and polishing up the same standard obedience exercises – sits, stays, heel and recall… I know I am not that good at it – teaching a dog to be accurate and “spot-on” for an obedience ring is hugely different from convincing the same dog to become compliant and to try hard to please which is what I have been polishing up as a science for ages. OK, if you are good at what you do and creative at the same time, your dog might be asked to also perform a few stands, downs, send-aways etc, and experts in the field would also break down each exercise and introduce tons of tiny sub-exercises, such as keeping close, holding it’s head up high enough, and remaining in a close position with its’ shoulders level with the handlers left leg (knee, thigh or heel for different breeds). I absolutely love watching advanced handlers and trainers who make up a hundred and one tiny precision tests of, say, heel position, that are really different if you think about it – heelwork in slow, fast, and normal pace, touching the leg and not breaking the position when being rewarded, walking in a left-hand and right-hand circle, a figure of eight, passing distractions, anticipating the reward and being treated with right and left hand, recalling to heel from different directions at the start and end of each exercise. This list for a true expert in competitive obedience will go on for pages and pages, and lucky dogs being taught this way will have plenty to do and will hardly get bored neither will their handlers as they have to master absolute brilliance in each of the above micro-tests. Obviously, once you get involved in this sport, you might discover that all of the above does not even begin to describe the huge number of points you’d be training all individually trying to achieve that perfect heel position throughout your obedience round. Briefly, you might want to polish up the attitude of the dog being asked to walk passed the distraction and stay focused on the handler, work with and without food incentives in sight, and also food carried by the handler and/or laying about on the floor. You’d be working on prolonging your dog’s attention and consistency during, say, 10 or 15 minutes sessions as well as their, reaction to other dogs and people on the floor and doing the same outside and in. Many minute and hardly noticeable fluctuations will escape even some experienced minds, things like training a dog whilst it is being excited, and remaining calm and un-interesting as well as being near your dog when producing reinforcements as well as doing so from a few steps away. Verbal and non-verbal signals, stationary positioning with left (and later on - right) leg slightly bent, brought forward, lifted back etc.; straightening and changing angulations both on the move and standing still, then alternating the two… I do not doubt that handfeeding just for the obedience round can be stimulating and intriguing for a dog, but how many of you, readers, are prepared to spend your time firstly getting into all of the above plus lots more, and then putting it all into practice having a professional understanding of what you are doing, and where to go from there?
And this is how we do it:
I guess developing the feeling when you just know that your dog is doing great takes time, and whether you are achieving it doing your obedience round, or teaching a silly vocabulary of rollover and jumps – you still know what to do and how it needs to look once it is all complete. But again – imagine the surprise of the newcomers being asked to go home and practice all the nuances of that positioning and heights of sitting when doing sit-stays… Send them home to do a hundred and one fancy exercises of crawl, paws and begs – and you will see how happy and inspired they will come back a week later to demonstrate the art of the challenges they remembered from all that “rubbish” you taught them a week before.
So I start with a “follow me” walk. A step or two forward and reward. You remember that we are talking about the feed rather that an extra-dietary treat or supplement – healthy stuff and not junk food!
A couple of “Twirls”. Fun! Fast and refreshing. Then the two together. Then the tugger game – feed – short stay and back into the heelwork. This time a step or two into it and walk about – 180 or 360 degrees turn around yourself, perhaps, a walk between your legs – throw the titbit on the floor, vary the direction of this. Start with the sit – beg – sit and wait. Feed-feed-feed for each of the steps on this routine.
Start with forward and back - walk towards you and back, feed for that, repeat (as we always do a few of those repeats on each step). Get the dog to follow you in a zigzag direction on the walk besides you forward, mild at first, but building up a speed as you go along. Get the dog’s head up and down by luring it where you want it to be. Speak to it, give all of the steps a name – you might, and most likely will, need them all at a later stage.
Try to watch the dog’s gait- is it pacing or trotting? You’ll probably struggle to get a dog galloping to heelwork if the dog is anything bigger than a pug or Pomeranian.
Incorporate all the speed variations into your routine as well as anything else you might think will help (or, rather, complicate it)!
Then I would probably reward myself with a hot drink and after wiping my hands clean sit and have a few biscuits and tea, but continue the work – while in your comfy chair. Try to send the dog from left to right, then into a sit on each side, turn them inwards and outwards when changing sides, and add the number of exercises for each reward – see how they cope with the job. After all, they need to work for you – their meals are now earned bit by bit rather than given for free in the kitchen. We are already a hundred or something close to it of reinforcements and variations since we started the session a few minutes ago. And we will be running out of their meal soon enough – you will never spend too much time handfeeding, and if it exceeds 10-15 minutes for each meal – start giving a few kibbles together rather than just one at a time, or drop your standards – it doesn’t have to be a hard work at all! Have fun, speak to them, praise at will, and laugh as I am sure they will give you lots of reasons to!
If we need to continue – lets do a couple of “give me your paw”, come (stepping away and facing a dog, no other commands for that one), and I love putting “catch a biscuit” into this sequence a few times. In between the legs, back into the heel (or other side) stationary position, then try to teach the walk on the other side – I usually give it a name “side” or similar – again, the more variety, the more vocabulary – the better. The more interesting it is, the cleverer the dog will be in enabling you to teach more and lots faster as the time goes by. I love working with clever dogs, so the more “waste of time” exercises you teach, the more time saving this will give you in the long run. There’s no such a thing as wasting it really. Think of how many classes you spend your money on for your kids? Are they likely to become astronomers, historians or ballerinas? Well, some will, but we teach them the whole range, however gifted they are and whichever career you may wish them to pursue.
These dogs learn how great it is to work for their mum or dad. This is how you want your dog to think of you: “However stupid this command may sound, do it and enjoy the outcome. Not sure about it? Do not like the sound of it? Go for it anyway – has your mum ever lied about the good outcome? No, she didn’t! Has your dad encouraged you to use your own brain to figure out what to do? No, you just go with the flow, and take the hints from the person delivering your meal, they do the thinking, and somehow you seem to enjoy sticking to the doing.” This is the message.
There are tricks to get a dog to move into the parallel position whilst at heel and maintain it through the steps. Trainers adjust the dogs to following their shoulder line rather than knee or hands, and the heels / back of their foot to observe the parallel instead of making shortcuts on the turns. But it can, and always does once you start doing it, get far too complicated and just not comprehensive for a novice handler. (Or, perhaps, I am a bit behind in it myself?) Replace it with a little hop on a cue, insert a stop or a “look away” trick into it, educate a dog on moving its’ hind legs independently of the front - and you got it – a dog will try to be precise in doing whatever it does, and when eventually the handler masters the ring discipline – will immediately grasp the new skill necessary for the successful round in front of the competition judge.
So to summarize the above – 5 commands mixed around make boring, monotonous training that is dull, un-inspiring and disinteresting. “Pick whatever you like” approach allows handlers to experiment, and create as challenging and colourful a routine as they wish, the more imagination put into it, the better. Hundred or so tricks to do during a class, and to remember them all to take home and recite is hard work, but thanks to the handouts and demo videos available on-line it is certainly doable, creative and individually adjustable. Like it – take it on-board, and if you don’t – just do not do it. There are plenty of alternatives. Sidesteps and pivot towards the handler may not be the stuff for a first-timer and not for the first lesson, but all the bows, catch and chase the biscuit – are, and it is great to teach things like this, just try it yourself – your dog is a few steps away from you, and instead of calling it back you sharply acknowledge that in a few seconds you two are going to be racing for the treat on the floor a few steps away from you but on the opposite side of you from the dog. Sharp – “Race you” and you two are on your way. Whoever gets it first keeps it. How many times do you think your dog will let you win and ignore the instruction? Not many. Better prospects and lots more fun than teaching recalls, but the meaning is nearly the same – you listen – you win! Do it faster – and the world is your oyster. Pose with your front paws on handlers arm in a sit or stand – get you a treat, do it with the lead on, and you have a problem of pulling when on leash flying out of the window. Teach words like “neck” or “tummy” with a subsequent touch – and treat that. You have yourself another bonding experience, top it up with a figure of eight in front of you and then between the legs hand-following, walk around (finish exercise) and two sets of twist and twirls again – and it a great fun combination that will still teach the compliance, accuracy, attention and focus.
A bit of homework recommended would be trying to put your mind to go through 30 different things your dog would do with you sitting in a chair. You may bribe (and bribery and corruption work like magic, believe me!) and you may use the cues already introduced – as long as you feel you are making progress. After all, there’s no cue for everything, but once you have taught your first 100 skills, the path to generalizing and basing your act on previous experiences should help you both. So, lure, observe the performance and reward, repeat and after a while put it on a cue – this is what you do with any skill / behaviour you are teaching. Done it? Great! Next time you practice, just pour yourself a cup of tea, turn your TV on and make your Corrie night not just about watching someone else’s adventures.
And the total recall: Dog Training as the way to solve problems is a search for a quick fix by lazy people who do not love their dogs. Take your ‘difficult’ dog into the sitting room, teach it to follow 50 silly instructions into 50 different positions and actions – and see if there’s anything left from the problem you were having previously. It is fun, it is creative, gentle on the dogs’ nervous systems and emotional sensitivity, and turns the dogs into little geniuses in no time. And you forget the reasons that brought the dog into the class to start with. What can be better?! No rules to follow, not much effort, no need to sound vicious or look dominant, and no need to get soaked when the weather is not nice on you. If I was a dog, I would thank you for taking the time to learn to be fun and stimulating and for finding a nice and gentle way to get me out of whatever problem I got myself into to start with.
Have fun! Lots of it!
D.Y.
Discover Dogs London Earl's Court 2011
The dogs made me so proud! With joint help of our wonderful walking / training assistance, Diana and Fernanda, we managed to put a lovely 1 man + 13 dogs routine together and it worked like magic! I think all the hounds had a bit of showmanship in them beforehand - all 4 demos were fantastic with occasional tiny mistakes that were hardly noticeable. Hardest job was to pick up the shortlist of dogs for the demo as many of our regular trainees / walking companion dogs would make a good team member just as well.
Not “Just a walk in a park”
The Cure Cancer @ UCL Charity
would like to invite you to join Good Boy Dog School on the 4th of December
with your pet on a beautiful stroll
in Sunny Hill Park with Dima Yeremenko
and his performing dogs.
As well as enjoying the walk you will be helping to raise money for the curecancer@UCL charity www.curecancer-ucl.org
All of the money raised will go directly to purchase much needed equipment at UCL to find a cure for cancer.
You will be welcome to not only have a lovely walk with like minded people, but also see a demonstration of synchronized obedience and heelwork-to-music. Dima is a specialist dog trainer who has been featured on many TV programs, including
The Underdog Show, Leader of the Pack and many more.
Registration will be at 1pm and the walk will leave the Pavilion promptly at 1.30 so please don't be late.
Good Boy Dog School team will be on hand to answer any of your doggy issues.
Refreshments will be provided by the Pavilion Cafe in the park.
It’s simple to sign up – and it is only £15 per person.
PLEASE NOTE: Free parking is available in Sunningfields Road / Crescent. The Park car park will be closed for the event.
We look forward to walking with you and having a fun day out!
For more info please contact Sandra: sandrahamilton@curecancer-ucl.
Registered Charity No 1141310
