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Monday, July 15 2013

Good Dog Training Newsletter - July 2013

By Raewyn Saville on Monday, July 15 2013, 21:32 - Newsletters

Dog - as man’s best friend

How do you dominate a dog.

Somehow, I just do domi-nate dogs. One of my trainees says, 'well you are such a powerful personality...' Not really sure that that is a compliment, but it may have something to do with it. I do actually believe that some people are born with a capability to get through to other creatures and if they choose to work with it passionately, it is possible to form a very powerful bond. I find dogs quite simple characters, but explaining why and what I see when I am with them is something I struggle with on occasions. My biggest worry is that if the dog is not dominated by the human owner then that means the dog is in control. If the dog is in control it is not going to make decisions that help it fit into human situations. It is going to make decisions for itself as an ego centric dog. I want the dog to check with me before making dumb dog decisions and I have to impress that upon him and stamp him with me very firmly or there will be major difficulties in our lives.

Why some dogs are neurotic and manic and others aren't.

The most manic and con-fused dogs I meet are dogs who live without other dogs in a yard that is completely fenced so they cannot see out and are completely alone for nine to ten hours per day. I ask you to put yourself in the position of that dog. He is incarcerated, there is not much to relieve the boredom. All sounds become amplified and important, all movement of sparrows and other lawn birds becomes a herding game. Barking and howling help to pass the day. Digging, trying to chew one's way out of a kennel or chewing a fence to make a hole to see out of, are what passes as entertainment. Really does sound like imprison-ment doesn't it, especially as dogs just love to be with their own kind or people or both.

The dogs that fare best as Man's Best Friend (Humankind's Best Friend for the Politically Correct).

  • have another dog com-panion,
  • are fully exercised morning and night,
  • have a yard to play in that gives them inter-action with safe objects to play with,
  • go to classes at nights and on weekends, to learn Dog Stuff,
  • go to Doggy Day Care from time to time,
  • have neighbours, friends or family call in to see them, sit with them or play ball for ten minutes or so while their owner is out earning the bone money.
  • on weekends and holidays they get to go places in the car and run with their owners on the beach or in the park,
  • there are children and cycles in their lives,
  • they are so exhausted in be-tween that sleeping is a wonderful pastime.

Some dogs are highly strung and some dogs are laid back.

What breed do you like? If you want a pure bred dog for a best friend then get to know the breed and the breeders very well. Go to breed shows and watch them in the ring. Talk to the people showing their dogs. People who love their dogs can't get enough of being asked for information about their breed. Dogs come in so many sizes and variations it should be really easy to choose one that suits you and your lifestyle. But somehow I still get people coming to classes who do not understand the dog of their choice. Never owned a dog before? Go small to medium. Bichon Friesse, Miniature Poodle, Labrador Retriever, Miniature Schnauzer mmm at a pinch depending on the breed line.

Don't get sucked into this new trend of Maltese/Bichon/Foxi cross nonsense. You may find out that you end up with a dog with a misshapen body, legs that don't work properly, eyesight problems, undershot jaws and personality disorders. The people breeding these mixes are building dogs that look 'sooo cute', with no consideration to the actual conformation of the dog. I have met some people absolutely broke from Vet bills with these designer disasters. Go for the well known breeds too, not something off the wall that you have never heard of but just appeals in a weak moment. For a bigger dog, you still can't go past a really well bred German Shepherd, a Golden Retriever, and if you want exotic, a Greyhound.

Choosing to home a mutt from the Dog Pound.

This is an area of Dog Ownership that is very well patronised by people who care that there are dogs on death row every day in New Zealand just because they were bred by some fool and ended up on the scrap heap. There are some very good accidentally mated dogs, always known as Mongrels they are often the

progeny of already mixed breeds and have a goodness knows pound_hound.jpgwhat background. Once you get this degree of mixed breed, the dog truly is as close to feral as possible and is often incredibly intelligent and just a little bit unable to bend to the needs of your average family. Being smart, may not be very smart for dogs. Some of the smartest dogs I have known have tried the patience of the keenest trainer.

However, with perseverance and man-datory spay and neuter, and given about five years with the same family, you will probably end up with a wonderful loyal family pet which should be what every-one is after in the first place. Some mixed breeds I have owned with a rat-ing out of 10 (being greatest family pet) that I would give them.

  • Dachund/corgi/foxi 8
  • Labrador/Mastiff 9
  • Labrador/Weimarana 10
  • Corgi/Border Collie 9
  • Labrador/Airedale 6
  • Huntaway/Foxi 7
  • Staffi/Foxi/whippet 6
  • Sharpei/Pitbull/Whippet 9
  • GermanShepherd/Kelpie 5
  • Border Terrier/Wirehaired Foxi 8 (so far at 20 months).

Of the purebred dogs I have owned or have been family dogs, the Labradors have been true to type - strong, willing, happy, friendly, hardworking. The Terri-ers have been difficult, funny, exciting, challenging and loveable. My one brush with Spaniels endeared them to me but I wouldn't call them the brightest lights on the tree.

Keeping Breeding Dogs

Over the last three years of my life as a mentor for Dog Owners I have come across a phenomena that I never per-ceived would be a problem.

Regular families are keeping entire breeding dogs, and some are keeping both males and females in order to re-produce their favourite breed. So what.... Well so a lot actually. Where do people go to find out what it is like to keep entire dogs and bitches of particu-lar breeds. Everyone seems to think that dogs are just the same no matter what. They will be cuddly friendly house -sharing companions from day one till the day they die. Entire dogs do have a stronger odour than neuter dogs.

You need to know when your bitch will come into season. Most don't know it is a six monthly cycle which will last be-tween four and five weeks. During which time your bitch cannot go to shows or go on walkies. She needs to be crated and kept away from male dogs unless you want her to mate. Why can't she be in public? Because other dogs will attack her either because they are jealous females or randy males. Some bitches are very bad tempered when they are coming into season.

For a week before they come in they will be with both piddle and poo as much as they can. They may take to humping the family cat, people's legs or other body parts. They may get food aggressive at this time or growly.

The best thing is to treat this time as 'not our normal good girl' time. After she has had two litters and matured, a lot of this silly early teenage grumpiness will pass. If you do not mate her and breed, she can form bad behavior habits which will make her very unsociable for the rest of her life. Get good Obedience coaching and enforce her good behavior work.

Neutering of both sexes takes away most of their hormones and the rest of them slowly disappear as twelve months passes from the neuter. The dogs then stay in their calm zone more and more. I do notice my neuter bitches often have a bit of a cycle for quite a long time. I take a note of them because this is a time when they too can make bad behavior decisions. For example they haven't chased cars for ages and suddenly do it again.

Entire Males are always in season. They are constantly marking with piddle and poo and scratching up a storm, they are constantly humping the cat, the furni-ture, the guest's legs. They can be ex-tremely disobedient, not coming when called, not working (sheep, pheasants, agility) consistently because they are overpowered by a passing perfume. Are all entire male dogs like this? Pretty much. However, good experienced dog handlers do (what my father said) come down hard on their entire male (and fe-male) pups.

This sounds violent but it isn't really, it is not letting the twelve week old get away with - jumping up, over-greeting people or other animals, taking food aggressively, running off and not coming back. Really being with the pup at least 8 hours a day, and making him be submissive to all other dogs. Downing him as soon as he shows any aggression.

Once he learns you are 'the boss' at 12 to 16 weeks then you have to consistently reinforce your stance right up until he is two years old. At this age he is really going to want to mark and mate and be naughty so you had better have a handle on it, otherwise he will not be good company. You can allow a strong adult bitch to discipline him quite hard. Allowing farm animals to corner him and he cowers is a good idea.

Taking care not to overdo it. But if he grows up thinking he is king kong, then he will be king kong and an absolute menace.

The worst behavior usually comes from the 'fluff bums'. The cute as house pets kept entire so that you can reproduce lots more cute as fluff bums. They take over the couch, the family home generally, dominate the food supply. It can be incredibly hard to get people to discipline these tiny tyrants properly. But if you have the help of a good Animal Behavior Coach then this can be dealt with.

For myself I have cross breeds for whom there is no option other than neuter. I use them to do the work I want them to do and they work their sox off for me. They are clean in the house, they are my friends and they have 'forgotten' the whole reproductive thing. Suits me fine. If I wanted to keep pure bred dogs then I would have to work with the breeder of those dogs to make sure that I was doing my best for my chosen breed. That it was a sound dog to be bred from and that there was a market for those puppies. I would never keep a dog entire if I was not planning to breed. After a couple of years of breeding life then those dogs too would be neutered.

If you have problems with keeping entire dogs, especially keeping males and females on the same property, then you need a management plan in place to make sure your dogs are always safe. I would be happy to help you.

Raewyn Saville (Dog Trainer)

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Wednesday, November 7 2012

Dogs and Tempers

By Raewyn Saville on Wednesday, November 7 2012, 15:53 - Dog Handling

How frustrating can dogs be...

Today while doing warm up control with our dogs and chatting, as we do while doing this, the subject of frustration with dog behaviour was brought up by me.

Fae, the little darling, has just discovered the world of birds, and bunnies and all things moving. At 12 months all her senses are very developed, including her sight, coupled with the fact that I have had to restrict her movement on the farm and at the lake just recently for her own safety, she is becoming incredibly naughty.

Fae is a terrier, she can be expected to be aggressive to prey and willing to stick with a run or a fight till the end. This is what terriers do. If I was unaware of this I should not have got her in the first place. I want her to hunt and kill vermin, rats, rabbits etc. Already she has a formidable record. She started killing rats and mice at four months and has continued with a passion.

Up until now she has come back quickly from her chases, been rewarded for returning and been a really great puppy to own. Right now though she does not come back anymore. She chases prey across roads, she has lost the ability to listen. All she wants is to hunt, on her terms. I have seen this before throughout my life. I know that in about twelve months as she matures she will be thinking far more about her desire to go too far from home. She will listen better etc.

However, right now it is hard. I am training her hard on lead. On longline, I am rewarding all the positives and I am not being grumpy or growly when she goes Awol. I do have to keep her locked up a lot which is a bother, but it is necessary. If I can't watch her and keep her safe, she will be flattened on the road or disappear with unscrupulous dog thieves, as she is a really delicious looking little thing.

So there is no point in my losing it with her.

Throughout my life and in spite of the positive influences of many doghandlers, through farming and hunting, upland game work and duck retrieving, I have witnessed a lot of violence against dogs. It seemed quite natural for a handler to beat the living daylights out of some poor benighted creature for a slow retrieve or a bad piece of hunting . Even when the dog did not know it was doing it wrong.

I have also seen people outside the Obedience Ring harsh handle their dogs. I have witnessed prominent Agiliteers overcorrecting and overhandling which is very close to violence.

Throughout my whole 61 years, the thing that I have noticed is how the face of the handler looks and how the dog looks through this performance. The handler looks bad tempered, is hissing through clenched teeth at the dog and goes all red in the face, bends over the dog and either beats it with a chain or a leather strap or punches or kicks to go with it. This is an ugly thing to witness. Even as a small child my view was that the dog handler was just getting rid of his frustrations and anger, using the dog as a whipping boy.

The dog cowers and looks really frightened and lies there blinking and shaking, not knowing why it is receiving this attack. At the end of the attack he tries to crawl away, sore and confused but is usually on the end of a chain or a leash and can't go anywhere so he is forced to follow the person who has just injured him.

When a dog doesn't do what you want, it is your problem, you are the trainer, you are the smart alec know it all person who bought the dog for the job you wanted it for. You knew exactly how to get the best out of this dog, so don't blame the dog for being a dog and getting it wrong when he doesn't understand what the hell it is you want in the first place.

A dog that is receiving the instructions clearly and understands the action required on those instructions, will do pretty much as directed. But it takes practice.

Let's go back to Fae again. I have praised her and hunted with her. She knows I want her to do this work, so she is going at it manically. I have not reinforced the stop button properly yet. Probably should have started with the stop button, but I did not want to pull her off the prey when she was keen. I didn't want to turn her off, just when she was turning on. It is a fine line. Now as I go towards her when she is hunting, she hunts harder. By that I mean she disappears under the riverbank to show me she means to get this rat. By doing that she puts herself at risk of not being able to get out. So I have to make sure she has sufficient line on her to pull her backwards. At home if she gets into the drains and starts digging it can be really hard to get her out of a hole. So I have management things to do as well.

Of course she disappears on a hunting foray just when I have changed into what passes for my best clothes, to get to an appointment with say, the doctor. So I have to lock her up an hour or more earlier to make sure I do not get caught with a missing dog at an inappropriate moment. As she hunts day and night 24/7 this is a mission.

I am laughing about it as I know this will pass. I have a 14 year old staffie x who for most of her life hunted herself stupid, but she did get over it enough to also have a career in agility and flygility and a bit of Obedience as well. So I know I will win and I will stick at it till I do.

In the meantime she will make decisions that frustrate me, torment me and challenge my training capacity to the limit. Under no circumstances will any of that be reason for loss of temper, harsh handling or bad attitude to this puppy.

When she is too overburdened by hunting to do other training, it is just too bad. Put her on a line and leave her to think about it for a while, or return her to her pen for an hour or two and try again later. Speak nicely to your dog.

When I am really frustrated that I have time to train and she is preoccupied, I get her eye and say'Fae this will not do'. Then I tie her up. I am absolutely sure she has no idea what I am on about, but I have had my say. That is the end of it.

I recently wrote about my trip to NZDAC where our club had the good fortune to win a few things in Flygility. At the opening ceremony the Chair of the Organising Committee read out a statement which included, among other things, that Harsh Handling would not be tolerated at the Show and that anyone who treated their dog badly would be dealt with very severely by the Committee.

I was saddened that it was even necessary at this high level of competition and then realised that it would be seen as the 'dog's fault' if they did not win a ribbon. What rubbish, every dog is only as good as his handler. Beat up on yourself if your dog messes up but whatever you do do not beat up on your beautiful dog.

If I truly believe that dogs are my best friends, then I need to make sure I treat them with the respect I would treat any of my best friends. I am pretty sure my human friends would not hang around very long if I treated them badly and beat them up.

When I see people harsh handling I am tempted to find out how many friends they have. Probably none. I wonder why....

Raewyn Saville 6-11-12

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Monday, October 8 2012

The Haka - Doggy style.

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

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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