path4animals

[path4animals]

I didn't train my dog for an entire year. Here's what I learned...

Everyone, meet Zephyr, my now 3-year-old chihuahua x miniature pinscher mix.  He was found on the streets in Hesperia, ran out of time at the high-kill shelter, and luckily grabbed as a 3rd Chance at Life dog.  I adopted him from the Irvine Animal Care Center in November of 2022.  It has been almost a whole year together, and he's never had a formal training session with me once.  I had these lofty goals to do a video series highlighting how I train, and how quickly a blank slate rescue dog can progress.  Alas, schedule, health, and just generally being busy interfered.

So here we are, approaching his 1st Gotchaversary, and I've literally never officially taught him anything.  He came home knowing how to sit.  That's it.  He didn't know his name, had been adopted once and returned 2 days later.  He didn't know any house training, leash manners, or anything.  This past year has taught me a lot about what I really need in terms of training in a dog, and shown me a zillion surprises of what I can get by without.

Needs, in approximate order of priority:

house training = crate training for him (he pees on the kitchen counter when I leave the house without him)

name recognition

knowing when he did something right

walking well on a leash

come when called AKA recall

Additional obedience cues I typically teach in a first session, but haven't actually needed this whole year:

Tag AKA touch

Stay & release

Down

Leave it

Drop it

Mat + Relaxation Protocol by Dr. Karen Overall

Heel + auto sit

​ This year has taught me that I can get by on partnership.  I can communicate with Zephyr in a way that helps him do everything I want, strictly having a marker word "yes" and a treat or some scritches.  I have not actually done any formal cue training with him, but he will now come to me, check-in when I say his name, walk nicely most of the time on a leash, and mostly go outside (he still struggles with overnight + freedom sometimes).

This has me reevaluating my entire priority list for clients.  I also still hope to do the video series where I do actually train my dog.  I'm also writing a book I'm calling WHY DOG, which will go into the story of scientific facts, my beliefs as a dog trainer and behaviorist, and what dogs really think about all of that.

[path4animals]

How-to: Change Behavior

We animal behaviorists have 4 quadrants we refer to:

Positive

Negative

Reinforcement

Punishment

Now when people hear words like "positive" and "reinforcement," they think those are good things.  When they hear "negative" and "punishment," they associate these words with bad things.  That's not quite true here, in scientific terms.  Positive adds something, negative removes it.  Reinforcement encourages something, punishment stops it.  None are necessarily good or bad, and all are related to each other in the flow of behavior.  The most common combinations look like this, in order of ethics from kindest to harshest:

Positive reinforcement (add something pleasant to continue desirable behavior)

Negative punishment (remove something pleasant to discontinue undesirable behavior)

Negative reinforcement (remove something unpleasant to continue desirable behavior)

Positive punishment (add something unpleasant to discontinue undesirable behavior)

Tools related to each quadrant:

Positive reinforcement:  treats, toys, praise, affection/petting, favorite activity

Negative reinforcement:  e-collar, leash pressure, presence, body pressure

Positive punishment:  prong collar, e-collar, physical correction, verbal correction

Then there's the ABC's of behavior modification.  This refers to:  antecedent, behavior, consequence.  The antecedent is whatever happens that prompts the behavior we want to promote or extinguish.  The behavior could be desirable or undesirable, it's just behavior.  Then the consequence is what follows after the behavior, pleasant or unpleasant.  We have several ways of working with this:

Management:  do what we can to help adjust the antecedent to be more to our liking (or our dog's liking is more helpful) and prevent problems or increase likelihood.

Use a consequence related to any of the 4 quadrants above to increase or decrease the behavior.

Find and stay under threshold (finding a distance from the antecedent where the dog is able to notice without significant distress and/or vocalization) to prevent aggression.

Avoid trigger stacking where too many unpleasant antecedents occur in too short a time period, causing unbearable stress when combined that wouldn't be experienced one at a time.

Remember, animals are just doing what seems like a good idea at the time.  If we don't like their answer to the situation, we need to replace it with our preferred answer, give them better coping skills, or prevent them from making bad decisions in the first place. 

​Dogs don't experience guilt, spite, or in any way conspire against us.  Guilt implies they have the same understanding of right and wrong that we do, which they would have no reason to recreate in their world.  Spite implies holding a grudge due to a perceived crime/wrong, which also makes no sense since dogs live in the moment.  The whole alpha/pack leader theory was debunked decades ago since it was based on an experiment with 8 captive wolves who were all male, so conspiring for domination is out.  What you're actually seeing is a dog who recognizes things are about to go very badly, and they're afraid.  Let's not anthropomorphize human society onto dogs.

[path4animals]

Why Training Succeeds or Fails

A lot of my clients are first-time dog training seekers.  Or it's their first time in private sessions.  Or it's their first time in force-free training.  The bulk of my business is private training.  This is how I am best able to help.  Private training lets the trainer get the dog started, then help the owner implement the exercises and changes needed for success.  In one hour/week sessions, we trainers aren't miracle workers.  If the owners don't follow through consistently, there's not a whole lot we can do.  It's important to have fair expectations of all involved:  dogs, owners, and trainers.

There are a lot of elements at play to create a desirable outcome.  The clients of mine who succeed generally have a similar recipe for success:

They choose realistic goals for themselves and their dog.

They are matched fairly well with their dog.

They dedicate time daily to consistently implementing my training homework and exercising their dog.

The family is all on-board.

When training fails, it's usually because one or more of these things is not in place.  To correspond with the numbers above:

When you have a timeline for training that exceeds your ability to practice between sessions, or if you want your malinois puppy to stop biting people, these are unrealistic expectations.  In the first example, we want the trainer to wave a magic wand and fix everything for us.  However, we're the one who lives with the dog, so we're the one who has to do the bulk of the work between sessions in order to progress.  In the second example, we're denying that both puppies and the malinois breed are very bitey.  Please do your research in advance and ensure the age and breed are appropriate for your current lifestyle and family.  If purchasing from a breeder, ask to meet the parents and make sure these are dogs you'd like to live with.  If rescuing, see if you can talk to the foster family and ask all the questions about how the dog or puppy is in scenarios likely to occur in your household.

If you want to integrate a new dog into your family, make sure it's a good idea for everyone involved, including any existing pets.  Make sure you choose a dog or puppy who is a good match.  For example, if you have an adult (4+yo) dog who has never really socialized or trained before and only ever interacted with your previous dog who has now sadly passed away, bringing a new puppy in a few weeks later is not likely to go very well.  Before adding a new animal family member, ensure it's the right time, and not circumstances like grief talking.  If you're incredibly busy at work and can't dedicate at least 1hr/day per young dog in the household, it's not the time.  Consider an older dog or a cat instead.  Senior dogs will want to nap more and that works great for busy working families.  Cats are more independent and many don't mind as much if they don't get attention/interaction/training like dogs need.

Dogs are going to thrive in a home that can meet their physical, mental, and emotional needs.  This requires way more effort than most realize.  Young dogs typically need a 30 to 60-min walk daily (not broken up, all at once), 30mins or more of training per day, and lots of love and attention (snuggles, play time, adventures, etc.).  If your dream is of a dog calmly walking by your side off-leash through town within a couple weeks, you want an older dog who has already had some practice living this way.  If your dream is to wrap your world up in your dog for the next few years then enjoy several more years of life together, a puppy is a great choice.

It can be really disheartening when one member of the family is really gung-ho for a new furry family member, but someone else in the family is not.  It can also be such a sweet gesture to get a new puppy or dog in an attempt to recover from grief.  Open, honest discussion is essential, as is thorough research, planning, and budgeting.  The more advanced training you want the dog to have, the more time, energy, effort, and generally money you need to be willing to invest on a daily basis.

As much as I would like to honor the wishes of everyone I work with, I won't be able to make everybody happy.  I'm not the type of person who will scold you into doing what you need to for your dog.  I'm also not the type of person who will guilt-trip you into stopping doing things that aren't good for your dog.  I will lay it all out on the table, give you my recommendations, get your dog started and successful, then turn it over to you.  At the next session, we can have a brief check-in, address any troubleshooting that is needed, and then progress to the next level, either with the same exercise or something new. 

My priority, however, is always with being kind and fair to the animals.  I know how to turn dogs into robots who perform perfectly 100% of the time.  I simply refuse to do it.  If a dog has to be the equivalent of a slave in order to be successful according to my human clients, I will not continue working with them if they cannot be dissuaded from that path.  If a trainer requires the animal experience any amount of pain (psychological or physical) to be successful, I do not consider that training method a viable learning tool ethically.  There are many balanced trainers who will put a prong, e-collar, or tens collar on a dog and layer in negative reinforcement to increase obedience.  The dogs may even come to associate these tools with good things, because they are getting out, working, and having fun the rest of the time.  Then the dogs appear to love the tool; but I assure you, they don't truly.  Any trainer who tells you these tools cause zero pain was raised on a lie and is spreading it further.  Of course these tools are uncomfortable, otherwise they wouldn't inhibit behavior.  The draw to these tools is that they work so fast, comparatively speaking.  They work through the dog's amygdala, the trauma-storing center of the brain.  This is how all animals learn most quickly -- something unpleasant and even dangerous that must be avoided at all costs, remembered permanently.

[path4animals]

The Partnership Between Trainer & Client

When people contact me looking for help with their animals, they're not always aware of how private training works.  They have this fantastical notion that I will come in, reprogram their dog in one hour, leave, and everything will be all better.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

But it has nothing to do with how good of a trainer or behaviorist I am -- or anyone else is, for that matter.  It has everything to do with valuing the extraordinary intelligence of animals, their need for constant education, enrichment, activity, and bonding with the world around them.  It has been far too many decades that we, as a society, have allowed an incorrect, pervasive approach to dominate our treatment of animals and pets.

Let's start with the word dominance.  Studies have disproven the notion that our canine companions are out to be the leader, and the scientist who published the study to give us that impression recanted his findings.  This came from observation of 8 wolves. Not wild wolves, not a family of wolves, not dogs, and not wild dogs.  These wolves were all male, held in captivity, and this is how they sorted out that stressful living situation.  It does not apply to dogs, who have been selectively bred for millennia to please humans.  A different pack of wolves may have established a different set of rules.  It would be inhumane to find out.

In reality, dogs have varying degrees of priorities just like people do.  Some dogs are super excited to go on their walk and charge through the front door, some dogs love to snuggle and jump on all the furniture that has their humans' scent on it, some dogs adore mealtime and get pushy.  These are natural responses to a dog in drive.  They in no way indicate the dog is being alpha, dominant, or otherwise trying to upset the applecart.  Even dogs who resource guard their food bowl by freezing, snarling, or even biting aren't being alpha.  Resource guarding is a genetic survival mechanism leftover from wolves.  This is why some dogs, who have been neglected and are now emaciated, can never develop resource guarding; while other dogs, who have been provided for their whole lives, do develop resource guarding.

So where does training come in?  Trainers are there to teach the dog certain cues to help them fit into human society.  These cues can be patterned to be considered "good manners," or used as-needed for certain situations.  Behavior specialists can take it one notch further, and begin to help address issues such as reactivity, separation anxiety, hyperactivity, etc.  They are NOT behaviorists and should not be addressing the more serious behaviors.  Behavior consultants have been assessed by an organizing entity, so likely have considerably more training than a specialist (though not always, as animal training is not a regulated professional field in the US and such certifications are not legally required).  Behaviorists are rare, and include people like me who have gotten graduate degrees specifically in animal behavior, like animal psychologists/life coaches/counselors/therapists.  Veterinary behaviorists are more like the psychiatrists of the animal behavior world, they are the only ones who can prescribe medication (as can a general practice veterinarian).  I have worked in conjunction with veterinary behaviorists on several occasions.

So what is the owner's responsibility in all this?  It really comes down to 3 things:

The owner needs to make sure that the trainer they're working with, or whatever level behaviorist, follows a humane hierarchy, and focuses on 2 of the 4 quadrants of learning:  positive reinforcement and negative punishment.  Think of positive like add and negative like subtract, rather than good or bad.  Reinforcement means encourage a behavior to continue and punishment means stop a behavior from continuing.  In short, work with someone who puts a GREAT emphasis on positive reinforcement, adding a reward to encourage the correct behavior to continue.  What goes along with that process is removing something so the dog stops doing what you don't want anymore, negative punishment.  You never want to see a trainer add something to make the dog stop a behavior, such as a physical or verbal correction in the form of positive punishment; you also don't want to see a trainer primarily remove something to get a dog to continue a behavior, such as the stim from an e-collar in the form of negative reinforcement.  The flow of learning energy should be toward something good, not the removal of something unpleasant.

The owner should put these methods into practice as part of the everyday routine.  Just like us, if we stop practicing something, we get rusty -- so do our animals.  Dogs live with us, witness our daily lives and are involved with them to varying degrees.  Holding them accountable means we must do the same for ourselves.  If we only have guests over once a week and that's the only time we practice sit-to-greet, the dog will forget and will need a little help.  If one person is feeding the dog under the table, the dog will beg at mealtime.  Consistency is essential, but it is actually very easy to work into our daily lives if we just look at things a little bit differently and take a few extra minutes to include our dogs in the process.

Have you ever heard the phrase, "A tired dog is a good dog"? Well, there's a big misconception due to a popular TV show that "tired" refers primarily to physically tired, including walking extensively, using a backpack, or doing other highly draining cardio workouts.  While all dogs do need some degree of this, the danger is that we actually train them to become super athletes!  A tired dog that is a good dog is mentally fulfilled and drained.  Brain Drain is the name of the game.  Don't feed your dog out of a boring bowl, use a puzzle, or a slow feed bowl, or even better -- ditch the bowl entirely and use your dog's meals to train them!  It goes by so fast, usually just 5 minutes, but makes a HUGE improvement in behavior and relationship for dog and owner.  In addition, the best walk for a dog is the one where they get to use their nose.  Dogs have something like 400x the receptors that humans do, they can literally diagnose with their nose.  If you want a mentally enriching activity, you need look no further than your local park.  Critter trails made new daily, squirrel holes, bunny hides, bird nests, this is Disneyland for your dog.

If you'd like to discuss your dog's routine, please feel free to email me to setup a virtual consultation.  Mention this post and get 50% off.