Just a quick one on the dog park. There are a lot of well socialised, friendly and happy dogs out there who do not want to go to the off leash park and play with strangers.
The dog park is full of dogs who approach, interact and play inappropriately and rough. Mainly because no one supervises them or has taught them some manners.
So if your dog does not enjoy the experience take her for a walk and do some fun training with her.
The dog park is not for every dog!
Sometimes we see a puppy in class who is really scared of other dogs and displays behaviours such as growling and barking when other puppies approach even on their owner’s lap. Not because they are excited and want to play but because they are scared.
These are behaviours which I consider ‘out of the norm’. It is not something you would expect a puppy to do. This could be caused by a genetic predisposition or bad experiences very early in life. In this case I think it is a bit of both.
We had such a puppy in one of our last puppy classes, she came from a pet shop and the owner was really worried. I was, too!
To live with an unsocial dog is stressful, worrying and exhausting. Even if you do not intend to go to the dog park, the puppy will meet other dogs on social occasions.
We went very softly and let her explore the room on her own, then gradually matching her with calm puppies. I recommended an ADAPTL collar early on but the vet advised against it. She did not improve as much as I hoped and by the end of the four weeks, a lot more needed to be done.
I could finally convince the owner to get the ADAPTIL collar and I offered a repeat of the puppy pre school class at no extra cost.
The owner was more than happy to do this and brought her back to class.
As she had been in the room before, has had a lot of positive association, she was much more confident.
She has now started to interact appropriately with the other puppies, initiates play and social interaction. Not once has she growled or barked in fear.
This is not the end. The owner needs to keep socializing carefully and appropriately until she is at least 12 months old and beyond that.
The last of our classes focuses on a revision of all the things learnt and then introduces a few challenges to socialize the puppies in an appropriate way to new and potentially scary things like a hoop, seesaw and tunnel.
This also introduces new surfaces and sights. We only do this in week four to make sure we are not overwhelming puppies and they have a positive association.
We love children teaching their puppies appropriate interaction.
It is also lots of fun!
Another important topic in puppy class is safety. I know that does not look or sound fancy but unsafe dogs don’t live very long.
We all want safe dogs. However, dogs can develop the tendency to guard things (food, toys, humans, places). It is most often seen with food. A resource guarding dog is a dog who stiffens up, cowers, growls and snaps when people approach ‘his’ food. Or what he perceives as his. The first two signs and other stress signs are often missed.
To prevent this we need to teach the puppy very early that is a good thing to give up things they have. In the video you will see what we call ‘exchange’. The puppy has something we would like and we offer the puppy something else in return. This will eventually lead to a ‘leave it’ cue. But first we let them know it is just ok to give things up.
The second one is the ‘food bowl’ exercise. Don’t get me wrong every dog deserves to eat in peace but dogs who bite when approached while eating are dangerous.
It is very important to make sure they perceive hands coming close as a positive thing. In this exercise the dog learns that hands BRING more good things and do not take it away.
If your dog or puppy goes stiff, cowers or growls stop immediately and talk to an appropriately qualified and experienced trainer.
Supervised play in a puppy preschool is not the same thing as taking your puppy to the off leash area which you should not do under NO circumstances.
However, we all want puppies who are social with people but a lot of owners also want their dogs to be social with other dogs and go (at some stage) to the dog park. If you intend to never do this that is fine. But if you do and every dog will occasionally meet other dogs, you might want to consider safe puppy to puppy socialization for your puppy.
If they do not learn this as puppies they probably never will. Dogs have a so called finite socialization period which means what they have not experienced at a young age might cause them to go into fight or flight mode.
Like any other aspect of puppy socialization people of all ages, ethnicity, mobility, sounds, surfaces etc etc dog to dog socialization needs to be done in an appropriate and positive way.
Better no off leash interaction then inappropriate ‘free for all play’. Puppy to puppy socialization has to be only two puppies at any one time, of similar play style and confidence level and it has to be managed extremely carefully.
On leash interaction is not the same as off leash. I do not know about you but if I am walking my dogs I really do not want them to interact and play with every dog they meet. I want them to walk nicely on the leash, without pulling, and paying attention to me.
I know as a puppy it is cute but unfortunately not for long and you are setting your puppy up to fail. You also create the wrong expectation.
You are also potentially making your dog leash reactive. If dogs meet off leash they will do that in a circular motion, going for the bum sniff. On leash we make them meet head on which is confrontational in dog body language. If you make your puppy meet other dogs head on too many times even the best tempered dog can get scared and develop unwanted behaviours such as lunging, barking or even snapping.
Yes puppies have to and should play but it should be off leash. And it should be well moderated and supervised.
And again, the dog park is not a place to socialise puppies it is a place for well socialised and resilient dogs.
A long time ago a very experienced and accomplished dog trainer said to me, the new one on the block then: If you are serious about being a professional dog trainer you need to be able to train your dog to someone else’s standard and proof that in a competitive environment.
I thought, no way, how completely unnecessary.
These days I tend to agree. There are different skills that make a good dog trainer, first and foremost, good interpersonal skills with people, then qualification, experience, accreditation, and the ability to train a dog.
One would think that the last one is a ‘no brainer’.
You can do that even if you have a dog with ‘issues’ as a lot of dog trainers do, that is why a lot of us became trainers in the first place. These days there are dog sports that do not require a dog to be social or interact with other dogs or people. Nose work is one such sport or Rally O is suitable for most dogs. Then there is Agility, Dancing with dogs, Tracking, Obedience, dock dog and much more.
I also think dog trainers should take lessons with other trainers to not forget what it means to be taught and not always being the one ‘who knows it all’. I take regularly lessons with other trainers at least twice a week. Mostly in Agility but also in Rally O and sometimes trick training.
I also think that actively doing a sport with your dog improves the relationship, is fun and helps us become better trainers.
And for putting it to the test: Last year we gained our Jumping Excellence, Novice Agility, Novice Strategic Pairs and Novice Gamblers title. We also qualified in the two Rally O trials we competed.
This year I hope to get our Jumping Masters, Novice Rally O and hopefully our Agility Excellence title.
A dog is not an accessory, piece of furniture or another object.
If you work full time and have a busy life style think again.
Yes you can use day care and yes there are great dog walkers.
However, during the first months a puppy or a rescue dog will require a lot of time and commitment.
I have seen a few shell shocked clients lately. They tell me that it is like having another baby. Yes it is and no it will not get better anytime soon. The first few years are really important and will take a lot of your time.
You really should make sure you are up to it and can provide your new family member with the time, training and socialisation they need to develop into a well adjusted canine citizen.
But if you can – happy days!
A few people got really upset when I posted this on facebook and questioned my duty of care. Because in their opinion everyone should be able and allowed to have a puppy. This is not the case. If you do not have time, don’t do it.
I also told them that my duty of care was with the dogs and puppies and not the people who buy them like a care or a piece of furniture.
Your dog is training you!
I hear that a lot. Mainly at competitions when I do not just lock Shellbe up in her crate (she prefers to hang out with me) but spend most of the time with her. Or if I walk them and I let them sniff, or they come up for a cuddle and I pat them.
Guess what. I could not care less. In a successful relationship it goes both ways.
I do train them and we are doing well, they train me, I am doing pretty well, too.
We have to stop thinking that they want to take over the household or the world and finally call it quits with this old fashioned approach of dominance and pack leadership.
And remember, most important things in life are free.
But punishment works. Of course it does and I know that. Punishment is designed to suppress behaviour.
However in my training I do not just want to suppress a behaviour, I want to establish a new more appropriate behaviour.
If your dog barks or jumps up and you scream ‘no’, your dog might stop barking or jumping. Without being to technical, this depends on whether your dog perceives the ‘no’ as aversive or not.
If it is aversive then he will stop. If he thinks his name is ‘no’ and this is a great game because you are both barking now, he will not stop.
Depending on your dog the screaming can have severe side effects like fear, anxiety, panic, distrust and more. Your dog also might generalize to unrelated stimuli present, this could be your children, a friend, a noise, pretty much anything and the dog then might be scared of children, friend, noise or other things present.
Punishment also creates a void as you have not taught something more appropriate.
It might take a bit longer but it is much better to teach a new appropriate behaviour, like ‘go to your mat’ first and out of the problematic context, then manage the environment to set you dog up for success and if YOU fail, use interrupt (gently with the dog’s name) – redirect (go to your mat) – reward with a treat, chew, praise, pat.
It is not rocket science but try it and stop yelling no and ah ah!
How to choose a good puppy preschool:
