Foiled

Tags

management, safety, sensory processing disorder, trail walks, woods, Zora

Zora is perturbed. She’s more than perturbed quite frankly. See, I put a bell on her.

The bell is on her CoyoteVest that she wears on our woods walks. And it means she can no longer chase chipmunks. I’ve spoiled all her fun.

Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling. The chipmunks all know she’s coming.

Zora in her yellow coyote vest on the creek bank

More importantly it’s now much easier for me to keep track of her when she’s off leash. The foiling of her chipmunk chasing is just a nice (for the chipmunks) side benefit. Hopefully it keeps the coyotes away too!

Training Wildlife

Tags

barking and lunging, behavior change, behavior consulting, Dog Behavior, Dog Training, Dogs, impulse control, intelligence of the dog, management, outside, safety, wildlife

*As of Feb 1, 2019 We’ve moved!* If you like this post please come on over to the new blog at https://www.maplewooddog.com/blog/  Where you can find all the archives you’ve read here plus new posts nearly every week! Hope you’ll join me over at the Maplewood Dog Blog. Thanks!

Dogs that fixate on the wildlife, we all know them, right? Chase squirrels up trees, hunt rabbits, yank your arm off if a chipmunk races across the sidewalk. The dog you know would never recall off a deer.

The dogs and I did get out for our Tuesday walk today, despite the rain. As we were reaching the end of the trail both Zora and Dulce spaniel did something they almost never do, alerted to some critter up ahead to the degree they both struggled with a fast recall response. They really had to make a conscious choice to come instead of give in to their natural impulse to want to chase whatever it was. Their reaction told me we need to review recalls with wildlife distraction and reminded me of one of the ways I used to do that

When I was working with a full caseload, I’d see those dogs so often. Usually that wasn’t the primary complaint that caused their owners to walk in my door, but it was often a co-factor.

So I started training the wildlife on my property.

What? Yes, you read that right.

I figured if I could condition the rabbits, squirrels, birds and chipmunks, I could use them to my client’s benefit.

And it was super easy. All I had to do was feed them species appropriate food in the spots I wanted them to hang out in outside my fence line. And time the feeding so it happened the same time dogs were in the yard.

The wildlife that ate quickly learned to trust the fence. And that no dog could get them outside of it. It was great!

With dog after dog I now had a way to set up the environment for the dog to learn an alternative behavior to chasing wildlife. Predatory behavior never worked. The bird, squirrels, rabbits would hang there eating no matter what a dog behind the fence tried.

There was one dog I think of often, a little terrier type mix of a dog. His owner was in disbelief. She was sure he would never disengage from wildlife. Less than 5 minutes, the dog who had a life time of severe prey fixation, figured out if he focused on his owner it was more fun. Nothing he did made the rabbit 8′ away chewing on some grass move. Which then enabled the owner to reinforce the “focus on me” response, and begin to transfer that skill to other places.

Now that I have a neighbor with outdoor cats who I know hunts wildlife, I no longer train the wildlife in that way. I don’t want them immune to predator behavior around my property. Instead I give them good brush piles to hide in that I often top with thorny branches to discourage the cats from walking on. And I occasionally toss some food for the rabbits and chipmunks deep in those brush piles. It seems to work as there is still a healthy critter population around my yard. Thankfully though they all still seem smart enough to stay outside the bounds of the fence. But means I shall have to think up other ways to review come instead of chase to the dogs.

Ding Dong Doorbell

Tags

Dog Behavior, Dog Training, Dogs, management, training humans

“My dogs are horrible when people come to the door.  Barking, jumping!  It’s chaos.  And really embarrassing.  What can I do?”

I get this question a lot.  A lot.  I was asked it just yesterday in fact.  The good news is there is lots we can do.

Well, first is figure out what your dog is exactly doing and when in relation to the door.  Is it when the doorbell rings?  Someone knocks?  The screen door opens?  A car door slams?  A package drops?  Is it only certain people?  Or everyone regardless?  Does your dog do the same or similar behaviors when you come in the door as well?  All of the above?  Only some of the above?

Notice all of the behaviors the dog is doing.  Is it bark and retreat?  Is it bark and charge?  Is it a fearful bark or an excited one?  Is there any urination?  Does body posture change?  What is body posture before, during and after?  How long does it take for your dog to disengage or settle back down?  How does your dog approach the door and the guests?  Does your dog come close enough to be touched or stay out of reach?  What happens when the person stops touching the dog?  Or when they continue to touch the dog?  And so on.

And figure out what your dog is trying to accomplish with the behaviors.  Are they excited and thrilled you have people coming in the house?  Are they afraid and trying to scare the people away?  Are they unsure?  Does it depend on who is there?  And so on.

Then once you have all of that data consider how you can create a training, behavior and management plan to enable you to decrease the chaos and increase calm and safety around the door.  There is no one size fits all for such a plan.  There are too many factors to consider.  A dog who finds static behaviors stressful and is nervous about people coming in the door would require a vastly different plan to be successful vs a dog who wants to be touched by people coming in the door and has little body awareness.

Regardless of those above answers, most effective is creating an environment where you aren’t in any rush to actually answer the door.  And managing the environment so that you don’t end up in the situation where you feel pressure to open the door.  A problem people often run into is they themselves get flustered or rush or move quickly to answer the door “Someone is here I must open the door!” and the dogs start feeding off of that and the arousal levels increase from there, “Someone is here!  Someone is here!”  When you have the space and time to practice the desired behavior you can then effectively be consistent.  When you feel pressure to get the door open then you are more likely to degrade the criteria and set your dog up for failure.

For me personally, I handle the challenge of ‘pressure getting the door open for the person’ a couple of ways.

This is my awesome sign that hangs by my front door.  It reads:  Shhh…responsive dogs.  Please don’t knock or ring bell.  Leave packages by the door.  Text or call if you need something.

1.  If someone rings the bell or knocks on the door, I don’t answer it.  Anyone who is knocking or ringing the bell is not someone I want to deal with. We actually have a little sign on the door for people to not knock or ring the bell and it works.  One of my very good awesome friends gave it to us as a gift.  Yet another reason she is one of my very good awesome friends.  It works so well that people have told me they stopped by unannounced, read the sign and were afraid to knock or ring the bell, they happened to not have their phone and so they walked away to go get their phone.  Those responses actually make me happy.

2.  People who I am expecting or who I would want to talk to/greet all know to either call or text before arriving.  My little door sign also reminds people to do this, again if they don’t have my number they likely aren’t someone I actually want to talk with.  Occasionally my sisters somehow think I don’t know they are there (I always know they are there!) because of course the dogs aren’t barking, and I’m slightly delayed in getting the door open.  Instead of calling they knock once.  They get a very annoyed me when I finally open the door.

3.  Because people give me notice when they are here or that they are on their way I can then structure the environment to best fit the dogs I currently have in the house before I go anywhere near the front door.  I can cue them to go to their bed, I can put certain ones behind gates or in crates or on the deck, I can make sure I have some treats at the ready, I can put ones who need it on leash, etc.  I have the power to set the dogs up for success.  Communication gives me options and the chance to create an environment where the desired behavior for the dogs when people come in the house is most likely to happen.

4.  Because anytime someone rings the bell or knocks nothing exciting actually happens, those aren’t a trigger for my dogs.  They don’t associate such events with anything exciting happening.  So they don’t get excited, they really don’t even care, what reason would they have to?  Seriously the doorbell rings and they don’t even get up.  Neither do I.  On the other hand I have had dogs in the past learn that if I ended a phone call with “ok see you in a minute” someone was soon to arrive which created a whole other bunch of behaviors of mine to be aware of!

What strategies have you found helpful in setting your dog and guests up for success at the door?

Never disturb a sleeping corgi.  Sleeping corgis are too cute to be bothered.  Zora sleeping on the couch.

 

 

Off the Side of Normal

Tags

be who your dog needs, behavior change, being a dog, Dog Behavior, Dog Training, environmental enrichment, fun, management, PromptADay, Tom, visitors, Zora

I sent a little video to one of my clients of her dog having a great time playing while he was with me.  She loved the video and seeing him have so much fun, then she said, “I heard you call him weird on the video.  Is he weird?”

Um, yes.  Her dog is indeed a tad bit of an odd ball as far as dogs go.  But so aren’t the majority of dogs on my string.  They’re all rather peculiar and a bit skewed on the normal scale for dogs.

Some of my favorite goofy guests Lena, Dulce, Beau & Zora

And I love them for it.  I like working with the dogs that have quirks.  I find it fun and challenging.  I like that they make me think outside the box, they create a puzzle for how to best meet their needs and make them feel comfortable.  I like striving to create opportunities for growth for each of them.

Right now, I 100% accept that in my life it wouldn’t be a great situation for me, the family or the dog if I had a dog 24/7/365 as my own a few clicks to the side of normal.  Trust me I’ve had a number of them in my lifetime (to be honest Tom and Zora are as close to normal as any dogs I’ve ever had.  I mean they are really easy dogs, Zora can be a bit of a nutter at times but all told she’s rather low on that scale.  It shocks me often quite frankly).  So I get my fix through my client dogs when they are here for boarding.

The boarding dogs and their peculiarities are really what prevents me from jonesing too bad for a puppy or a 3rd dog.  I don’t really want a puppy.  I don’t really want a 3rd dog.  Ok I don’t want a 3rd dog at all.  What I want, what I really crave is the challenge.

Now that Zora is 3 and pretty much grown up, and Tom is and always has been Mr Perfect, there isn’t really much challenge.  I mean I can create training challenges and teaching them new skills.  And that’s super fun.  But there really isn’t much life challenge if you know what I mean.  I don’t have to do much micromanaging, or hyper vigilance on a moment to moment basis.  I don’t have to think about when the mail truck will arrive, or what windows are open at what time, or make sure all socks are in the hamper, or that the gate to the basement is shut, or remember to be prepared when I turn the tv on in case a dog appears on the screen, or even where the dogs are in the house at any given second.  Which I mean all around yes is a good thing, but my controlling nature likes the excuse that a dog with challenges gives me for micromanaging.  Tom and Zora don’t need me to do that anymore.  They both are overall good at self regulating, and all the elbow grease I put into Zora as she was growing up has paid off.

Most people breathe a sigh of relief when they get to this point with their dogs.  It’s their goal all along.  I’m glad we are at this point but mostly it’s because I like how happy my dogs are when they are at this stage.  Where they trust life is going to go well, and their needs will be met and they can respond appropriately with no to little stress to the various events of life, where they feel confident and safe, where they feel comfortable self regulating and that hyper arousal isn’t necessary.  I like that they feel safe to relax and enjoy their life.  That is the part that makes me happy.  But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I miss the role I had in getting to this stage.  There are times where a year ago Zora would have needed my help and now I start to go ‘oh!’ and she’s already taken care of it appropriately.  Sigh, ok then.

Which is why I love my overnight guests.  I love that they are all a little weird.  That they all have different needs.  That they all need me to think outside the box and plan and remember certain things to set them up for the most success possible.  I love watching them feel safe, confident, relaxed, playful.  I enjoy being a part of their positive growth.  I enjoy giving them a safe place and outlets for their weirdness.

In part they help me to be grateful for Tom and Zora.  But mostly they give my desire to be needed an outlet.  And one that doesn’t require we get another dog.  Which my husband, Tom and Zora (and ok honestly me too) all appreciate I’m sure.

Video of Ted (one of my favorite odd balls) and Zora swimming.  Apparently it is an anomaly for a shih tzu to love swimming so much.  Isn’t he adorable in his life vest?

via Daily Prompt: Peculiar

Let there be Peace (& Quiet)

Tags

barking, humane heirarchy, management, outside, quiet, relaxing, Zora

Today’s peace and quiet brought to you by Natural Reed Fencing.  Simple.  Affordable.  Easy to install.  Effective.  Very effective.

A lovely relaxing afternoon in my back yard, in my new comfy recliner lawn chair, with happy chilling dogs.  Happy quiet chilling dogs.  Even with the neighbor’s kids running around playing on their jungle gym next door.

I love environmental management.

Reed fencing installed over our chain link fence.  Quiet returns at last.