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Saturday, October 13 2012

Practising Avoidance

By Raewyn Saville on Saturday, October 13 2012, 15:11

rethinking your Dog Training

Professional Dog Trainers talk about Avoidance as though it is some sort of difficult thing to do. It isn't but then again it is a non-human compatible process.

WHAT?? Okay listen. If we are scared of something as a kid our parents ask us to push the boundaries and get over it. If we are scared of water they enrol us in swimming classes. If we have trouble with Maths, our parents send us to Numberworks. If we hate dogs or horses etc. Sometimes it works out good - hey kids say you hate something that you really want and the parents will do the thing so that you grow to be 'well rounded'. It is Brer Rabbit syndrome but that might be hard for younger handlers to understand and dates me terribly. Just LOL right now.

So when our dogs show a dislike, aggression, or are terrified of 'a thing' which makes them shake and be unable to act in a normal calm manner, we are at a loss as to what to do. The regular thinking is that if a gun dog is gun shy, just keep doing it until he gets over it. If a dog shows aggression to sheep, cattle, cats, just keep the dog fronting at it saying NONONO and beating it over the head and the problem will go away. Wrong. It will get worse.

So the first practise is Avoidance. If the dog is turned away from that aggression or terror immediately and held quietly then normality will eventually be the emotion it reverts to. Let's look at an occurrence. Walking down the street, dog on leash, dog sees cat, goes nuts. Immediately turn the dog away from the distraction sharply and stand on the leash with the dog forced to go into a down facing away from the problem. Your leash should be about one and a half meters long you should be able to get your foot on it and move up to the collar clip and down the dog. During this time your action is to forcibly turn the dog on the lead, stand on the lead to the collar clip forcing the dog into a down facing away from the action. You will stand there, upright, not bending over until the dog normalises its behavior. You will not say one word to the dog. No voice, no anger, no feeding treats. As soon as the dog normalises then give it a 'good dog' and a treat if you have one, but definitely touch your dog as soon as it normalises it's behavior. Now, you have a system for dealing with cats on walks. The next distraction might not be a cat but whatever your dog nuts off at on a walk then the action above is what you do.

Next statement from training person, but I let my dog run loose at the park and when it sees a cat it won't come back. Answer, Why are you letting your nutty unreliable dog loose at the park so that it can run off and harass another animal. Training person, but all dogs need free running exercise. Answer, Absolute rubbish, if you are working your dog and training your dog and walking your dog for one hour per day, or two hours total dedication to training and walking, then your dog does not need to run loose in the Park. When he is older and wiser and will come instantly when you call and will have a positive response to all distractions then he can run loose at the Park.

Question - so how long will I have to practise 'Avoidance' . Well it is an interesting question, because almost everyone I train with their dogs actually has their dog's faults pretty much figured, early on in the piece. Many people say to me, he is a really good dog and loves children and other dogs, is good with our cats and budgies but when we take him to the lake he is terrible about the swans. So what I am saying is that every dog has its breaking point, its things that 'get its goat', if you like and most owners know what these things are. Friends say to me they are going bush for the holidays and other walkers are taking their dogs, but they don't feel that their dog would cope as he runs away to hunt and probably wouldn't be good around nesting birds and we might not get him back if he sees a pig, or a rabbit. Great, know your pet's faults. Don't go out there all bravado and let him run riot in the bush and kill a kiwi or disappear never to be seen again after a rabbit, so that your tramping holiday is ruined. If you can't cope, put him in the kennels. That is avoidance. If you take him with you then put him on his one and a half meter long leash and tie him to your belt and put a pack on his back so he carries his own stores, food, poo bags, water, and tramp with him as a companion. Some time in the next five years if you do this often, your dog won't need to be tied to you he will know his job is to stay with you and carry his stores in his backpack. But don't rush it, or better still, train for it. Do short tramps to get him used to the job, just the same as you would build yourself up to being fit enough to do a tramp.

Once you have the avoidance action completely under control and you know how to normalise your dog's behavior by waiting until it happens keeping him in a quiet position without communicating with him, then you can move on to the next step of conquering his absolute terror or aggression or combination of both by starting at a long distance, to confront his demons. It can be a long slow process and it can be very frustrating. Get an understanding trainer to help you work through this. Use the process of Obedience lessons to get his attention back on you and learn how to work through the next stages of distraction. Once you have this under control you will be amazed at how different your dog is about looking for trouble, which is what he has been doing until you started to take control.

If there is any part of this process you do not understand please contact me or another trainer who understands the next steps after avoidance, and I know they will help you to get to a happy place with your dog. If you don't do anything, then your poor dog will spend it's lifetime 'being a nuisance'. Not good enough folks. It is really modern life with it's lack of full time employment for dogs that is causing the neurosis, don't buy into that for your best friend.

Raewyn Saville 13 October 2012

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Monday, October 8 2012

The Haka - Doggy style.

By Raewyn Saville on Monday, October 8 2012, 15:08

What is my dog's aggression telling me and how do I react.

I guess like so many other dog owners and handlers of multiple dogs, there are times when it is tricky to understand your dog's response to stimuli. I definitely know how you feel. But because I was puzzled I tried a few things and I was rewarded handsomely.

Sometimes when out walking my most dominant boy dog will see something that he wants to go attack, but he is on leash. He is sincerely concerned that our pack is in danger and when the other three dogs don't react to his concern he turns on them and bites and growls to rark them up to make a noise , at least, to frighten away the danger. I call this a Haka, or war dance. He is the Chief stirring up the Clan for an attack. My older and wiser dogs respond just as they should they take no notice of him. I give him a push with my foot and don't even look at him, as soon as he settles which is about at that minute of my push with the foot he turns his head to me. I take his eye and say 'Good Boy' softly and we move on. There is never a time that this does not work.

Let me tell you how I have seen other people react. The dominant dog does as above, one of the younger dogs does a slight response which keeps the mood on the boil and the handler who is supposed to be calling the shots starts shouting at the dominant dog to get in behind, or swears at him or whatever, hauls on the leash rope and gets really agitated. There is stress. The dominant dog has won he has rarked up the ranks and you, the handler, are one of the ranks he has rarked. The whole pack are ready to go and attack and you, who is supposed to be in control cannot hold the leashes of your two or three dogs and they break loose and make fools of themselves or get run over or something nasty.

Now I will tell you another story. My dog is tied to the back of my car and he has a ball in his mouth. He drops the ball just as another dog goes by. This is a dog he has played ball with previously, so that dog dives in to take the ball. My dog growls, the other dog turns and grabs and tears at my dog. My dog screams and does not respond or fight back. I break up the fight and stay calm and calm my dog, I do not yell or get stressed as my dog will be frightened at my stress and panic. I put my dog in the car and drive to the Vet. After the stitches are out and he is back at work, there is no response from my dog to other dogs that is abnormal or growly. He does not go looking for blonde curly dogs to beat up.

Let me tell you how I have seen dog owners react. There is a fight between dogs. It gets broken up but the owners of the dogs start swearing at each other, each accusing the other dog and handler of stupid things and promising to report the person/dog concerned. The dog owners are stressed and give their dog a whack just for good measure and at the vet they shake and complain about dogs beating their darling up. When they go out for walkies, after the stitches come out, and see that same dog or another dog that looks similar, they get stiff and stressed and the dog becomes unsure and growly and the owner no longer trusts his dog and whacks it and pulls the lead tight and the dog turns and bites him on the leg. Owner says, 'Ever since my dog got into a fight with a black curly small dog he has become vicious'.

I guess what I am saying is that to be a good dog handler you cannot be fazed by the latest dilemma your wonderful pet presents you with. It is about taking a deep breathe, believing in your own power to be boss dog and take care of consequences and to be completely relaxed under all circumstances. If your dog does help you to achieve peace and calm when all around is chaos then he will have cured you of all your stresses far better that any yogi or human mentor or psychologist. I always think, 'heck if I stress over this I am going to give my dog trouble - calm down woman'. It works.

So here is the story that prompted me to write the above. I have a long time dog training acquaintance , who has probably had more dogs than I have, but she has run into a bit of trouble with her latest girl dog with aggression. When this dog was a puppy she was at an Agility Show with her owner, just to take in the atmosphere of the show. Another person had a young dog she was doing likewise with and that dog lurched out , with malice, apparently, and beat up the puppy belonging to my friend. From then on the puppy had social problems with dogs, and people and was very unsure. I am not a gambling person, but I am willing to bet that my friend was both angry and stressed when that puppy fight happened. I am also willing to bet that a culture of fear and over avoidance of stimuli was the outcome from that event. The problem emotion does not just belong to the dog, it belongs to the team of owner/dog. How do we know this, well if I take a dog, who is showing aggression, from its owner and introduce it to other dogs and people there is no problem. However as soon as I give it back to its owner the trouble begins again.

When a dog makes an initial foray into -'that looks dangerous to me' territory, it is asking advice from those around it. If someone else in the group looks at that 'alien' and agrees with a growlly voice, yes that is a danger to us all right. Then the pack is ready for war. So if my response when my dog does the initial growl and hackles up, is a big pull on the lead, I eye my dog and I yell at him or growl at him, he thinks I am revving or rarking for war, he does not think I am growling at him. Even a firm voice can be affirmation of an excuse to take something 'out'.

Now this is the tricky part, right from when I get my pups or even adult dogs, I do 'good dog' training. The essence is to get him to look at you right in the eye and say 'good boy'' good girl' 'good dog'. When you want him to come from a distance away, say his name, wait for his head to turn and say 'good dog' eye him and he will come. When he gets to you he seeks your eye you tell him 'sit' 'good boy' hold his eye and if you have treat food, give him a tiny bit. In a little while he will be away from you and before you call him he will turn his head,(you have to be awake) you say 'good boy' in your most delighted happy voice. Sincerity is a must for this exercise. Once your dog understands that you are happy with him he will be very relaxed about his life.

So here is the test. I am walking my dogs in a forested area they are just mooching along sniffing here and there, when suddenly as we enter a clearing, there are two people doing Tai Chi in the middle of the path, waving their arms around. The dogs growl, my aggressive dog is heading into the Tai Chi duo fast. Fortunately the Tai Chi ers freeze in place, I take a deep breath and say 'good girl' in my happiest voice. My dog spins around to me, I fix her eye, say her name and I turn away from the direction of the alien object. She trots back to me, not completely calm but willingly. I say 'sit, good dog' I hold her eye and treat her or pat her fondly. I am calm. Because I am calm the other dogs have got over themselves and my more aggressive, more dominant younger dog submits to her leash and we quietly walk past the Tai Chi exponents.

Can you imagine what would have happened if I had yelled at my dog, even speaking firmly is a bit of affirmation. Always remember that dogs are egocentric, they always believe they are in the right and that you are backing them. But in any case when you get out of a situation such as above it vindicates the method, but boy oh boy does it take great mental powers to control ourselves in those circumstances. Always makes me feel grand when I walk away from potentially dangerous situations with everyone in tact.... whew.

This is what I train for, this is the joy of being able to manipulate and co-erce your animals, and to be a leader for your dogs. Don't worry about whether your dogs will be able to control themselves, just worry about you, the owner, trainer, handler being able to be in control mostly of your own emotions.

Raewyn Saville 8 October 2012

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Monday, October 1 2012

Feeding the Dog

By Raewyn Saville on Monday, October 1 2012, 14:57

The Power of Food.

It just amazes me that everytime I go out to do something with dogs a big question and answer session happens inside my head. Sometimes I can find the answer, sometimes I have to dig deep and watch the dogs for a lot longer until they answer the question for me.

I have just finished reading in the latest N.Z Listener, an article about Sir Ray Avery, one of our greatest Kiwi Entrepreneurs. He had this to say: 'My biggest advantage over others was that as a child I had glue ear, was shortsighted and dyslexic'. To learn he had to pay close attention to what was going on around him. He remains convinced that the key to innovation is observation. I can definitely aline with this as a very deaf child my concentration on people's faces and lips to tell me what was going on was intense. If the person had their back to me then I had to read the body language to find out what was going on. Most people find it hard to believe how deaf I am because I seem to keep pace quite well. Although there have been times of monumental cock-ups and mis-cues on occasion but mostly I stayed in one place until I 'got it'. This has been the main driver in my dog training programs. I want the dogs to tell me what the heck is going on in their lives, why they are not relating to their owner/handler. I want them to tell me what they want to do and why. Then I have to convince them that my way is better for us both.

As usual, I have digressed. I often go into homes where the dogs are not very attentive. Not interested, not interacting. If I glance around the house and/or garden I will usually find there is a stash of readily available food for them to help themselves to. This takes away any need to interact with other members of the clan, human or other animal, and the fully sated animal will often secrete himself away and snooze all day, come out and graze some more and then go back to his house and snooze again. This is a very unhealthy way for a dog to live. Why? because he is not exercising his body or his mind. A lot of mental energy goes into figuring a way to get your owner to give you a tasty morsel or to remind them it is dinner time. Feeling hungry is a natural animal desire which aids communication and is the centre of social life for all land dwelling mammals. Dogs who graze at a food bowl are in effect inert beings. Now there is one time in the life of dog that it is quite good to be able to allow them access to food. When they are between the ages of 12 weeks and 24weeks and all that growing is going on and you as a human being are busy and working and so on, having a safe source of food and water that your puppy can choose to have is quite a good idea. I don't do it because I use meal times to reinforce my parenting of the young animal. I hand feed from his bowl all four meals a day, but this takes some committment. I would also worry that the dog might accidentally choke on the food, but then again he could chew on the corner of his blanket and get that stuck in his throat as well, so I figure leaving some food down during this huge growth spurt is not going to do much harm.

One of the ladies who comes to class with her miniature crossbreed told me - he doesn't like me, he never comes and spends time with me , he is always in his kennel. When we discussed his grazing lifestyle she could not equate that with his lack of care for what is going on around him. This dog is not overweight, in fact she tells me he doesn't eat much at a time, but he doesn't need to, he just tops up when he wants to and he is food satisfied. Shame though, there are just the two of them in the household and they are both lonely. She feels he would be deprived if he couldn't help himself to food when he wanted it. mmm that is not what dog is telling me - he looks totally miserable now, couldn't feel less loved I would say.

Yesterday a friend called by so we could discuss her dog's training program for the summer. She told me she had run out of bones and couldn't source any and as she works way out of town and leaves before the shops open and gets home when they are shut, ie. regular butchers etc, then she was concerned that she would not have any bones for the whole week. So I offered to go purchase her some today in my rounds of the town. She was most grateful. So I got the bones and left them at her house in the shed freezer. I decided that I would give the dog a bone as she had smelt them coming through the gate. So I chose one that would be least likely to get stuck between her teeth or have bits break off and cause trouble and offered it. This dog is quite well covered and has a lovely shiny coat. She really is a picture of good health, if not just a little chubby. The bone I offered was fresh, meaty and even I could have been tempted to have a gnaw(joke) but it would have been a really suitable soup bone, she turned me down. It dropped to the ground and lay there as she gazed mournfully at it. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. This dog has a pet chicken, full sized supposed to lay hen, the chook was pecking away merrily at the fatty bits of meat and the dog watched on. You might say that, as I am not this dog's primary handler, she was confused about accepting a bone from me. Yes, except for the last 18months I have been her trainer during the day, up to three days a week, due to the huge workload her owner has in her profession. Her training has been treat food oriented for a good bit of that time. My take is that she was just too full to fit another thing in at that moment. She had either broken into her biscuit supply again or breakfast was so substantial that she felt like she had eaten two Christmas dinners and couldn't put another thing down.

This behavior is unheard of in my doggy family. The dogs get a bone at about 4p.m. if we are home and not out at evening agility training . They all go for it. I have to slow them down so that chaos doesn't break out. When they are finally allowed, they take their bones and off into their favourite bone chewing spots. One on the front lawn, one on the side lawn, one in the back porch and one in the garage. They will not surface for about an hour or more. Meaty bones are a major part of the food I give my dogs. This is it. Later on in the evening I will throw a handful of kibble out on the concrete and they pick up their share. My dogs are looking to me for the stuff they get. They understand that I am the provider and they come when I call. They are known to sit and look wistfully at me eating something and sometimes I will share a bit and other times I don't. They all have access to fruit and vegetables, and they take advantage of that and pick up the windfall apples and kiwifruit and little Fae will climb into the grape vine and eat ripe grapes. There is plenty of long grass of the sort dogs really love, and they do eat dandelion and shepherds purse and cleavers of their own free will. When we go to feed the donkey in the mornings they will wait to see if he accidentally drops a bit of carrot out of his mouth. It happens some times and they wait each morning for a tasty bit of half chewed carrot. They also have total access to donkey dung, goat dung, cattle dung. But Rabbit dung is really the thing apparently. I also have to say that they do take a bit of a swipe at the dung early in life but they get over it. As pups they seem to indulge more in dung than as adults. So it is not as though they don't have access to food sources of sorts. Obviously the food I provide has a greater pulling power than most dung, vegetation and resurrected part rabbit. I think this is as it should be. I use treat food at the beginning of my puppy training and then I try to drop it as it is counterproductive to teaching a dog the game of work you want to train it to do. I will use food as a comfort if the dog is really miserable.

From my early hand feeding efforts with my new dog or pup, my dogs believe that my hands produce these wonderful tasty things and if they stick around I will share it with them. That is what I want.

So when I excitedly provide food to a dog and it looks at me as if it has no understanding that I am the provider, I am sad. A special part of the bond between the dog and the handler is that the dog is reliant and happy and gleeful and watchful for what it's special person is going to do next. What's the next game, what work are we doing today, wow a bone, can I come in the truck today can I can I? That interaction is reliant on the early food training, kind hand, training, and general attitude of team work together that I want to forge with a dog. Any dog, not just my dog. If I am going to help to train a dog then it is important to me that some bond is there with the team I am working with.

If I get a team to work with where the handler is disinterested in the dog, or the dog is disinterested in the handler, or worse, both, then we have to go back a long way to bring the working bond into play. Sometimes it takes a very long time. Other times, both partners, 'get it', pretty much straight away. Sometimes it is a matter of normalising the behavior of both handler and dog in a public place, or in front of others, as there is a reticence to let on about the games they play together at home, or the way they talk to each other at home. The handler generally feels 'silly' saying 'lets play cuddly bear' or wrestling with a toy with their dog in class. Consequently the dog feels something is wrong and tenses up and becomes stressed.

And finally some people are very guarded about what they feed their dog, when they feed their dog, how they feed their dog, how much, how often, etc. There is obviously not much thought going into the special food time sharing thing. Or if there is they don't want to talk about it. Often the person who brings the dog to class is not the person who feeds the dog either, so there are a lot of issues around food provision that have been totally neglected.

Some people will say, 'doesn't matter'. Well I challenge them to change some things and see what develops. Take away the 'self help' food supply. Change the diet from kibble to raw, or the other way round. Feed a little bit of leftover table scraps - not chop or chicken bones. Hand feed a little bit and then tell me that your dog isn't paying you full attention. I will bet there will be a change in attitude for the better every single time. Just at least think about it.

Raewyn Saville 1 October 2012.

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