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Recommended Reading
Here are some books I wholeheartedly recommend. They provide great
information about training, behavior, and living with your dog.
A great place to get books is www.dogwise.com.
Puppy Training and Development
- Before You Get Your Puppy - Ian Dunbar
- After You Get Your Puppy - Ian Dunbar
Training and Understanding Dog Behavior
- Culture Clash - Jean Donaldson
- Don't Shoot the Dog - Karen Pryor
- How To Teach a New Dog Old Tricks - Ian Dunbar
- The Power of Positive Dog Training - Pat Miller
- Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog - Pat Miller
- How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves - Sophia Yin
- Parenting Your Dog - Trish King
- Dog Friendly Dog Training - Andrea Arden
- Excel-erated Dog Training - Pam Reid
Behavior Problems
GENERAL
- Dogs Are From Neptune - Jean Donaldson
AGGRESSION
- Aggression in Dogs - Brenda Aloff
- Mine! - Jean Donaldson (resource guarding)
- Fight! - Jean Donaldson (dog-dog aggression)
SEPARATION ANXIETY
- I’ll Be Home Soon - Patricia McConnell
- Canine Separation Anxiety Workbook - James O’Heare
FEAR AND OTHER ANXIETIES
- Help for Your Fearful Dog: A Step by Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer His Fears - Nicole Wilde
- Cautious Canine - Patricia McConnell
- Help for Your Shy Dog - Deborah Wood
TRUISMS ABOUT DOGS & DOG TRAINING
1. Every dog is hardwired - training is the softwiring!
Dog behavior is shaped by a combination of factors. Breed and individual
characteristics are "hardwiring". These are the characteristics
with which dogs are born. Breed characteristics indicate what "jobs"
our dogs have genetically been bred to do. For example, border collies
have been bred for many generations to herd sheep, so it should
come as no surprise when they herd up family members as if they
are a flock.
Training is your dog's "softwiring". It is important
to recognize his hardwiring while you work on his softwiring because
hardwiring gives us parameters and patterns with which to work.
This helps us set training expectations appropriately, and recognize
behavior challenges and opportunities.
2. Boredom is the mother of destruction.
Many problem behaviors - particularly destruction - reflect boredom
and bottled up energy. Dogs need outlets for their energy - lots
and lots of outlets! They are not household ornaments or lawn decorations
- they are living, breathing, digging, chasing, chewing, drinking,
problem-solving machines. And the problem many dogs seek to solve
is this: What can I do now?!
Dogs need stuff to do - lots of stuff to do. They need chew toys,
chase toys, stuffed toys, tug toys, rolling toys, throwing toys,
buried toys, bouncy toys. Dogs need toys like peanut butter needs
jelly, like Romeo needs Juliette, and like Mutt needs Jeff.
The king of dog toys is the KONG toy. It is indestructible, can
be stuffed with great stuff, and bounces in funny directions. Get
your dog a Kong - and 20 other interesting toys-today!
3. The only well-behaved dog is a tired dog.
Dogs have energy to burn. Exercise burns energy. Give your
dog a daily dose of exercise appropriate to his age, abilities,
and energy level. It will help your dog - and the exercise
will likely help you too. For his sake and yours, think of
your dog as an exercise machine with fur. |
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4. A dog's motto: What's in it for me, NOW.
Dogs, like all creatures, do things that provide payoffs. Payoffs
are of four types: food, toys, access, and attention. Dogs like
to get payoffs and do those things that give good payoffs repeatedly.
Think of a few examples: the payoff for jumping up on us is ………attention.
The payoff for sitting before the food bowl is……food.
The payoff for barking at the UPS truck is……the UPS truck
goes away (your dog doesn't realize it wasn't his barking that made
it go away). The pay-off for snuggling up next to you is……..petting
and love. The payoff for looking at you with those pleading eyes
is…..you take him for a walk. When you think of why your dog
does things, think payoffs.
5. You get what you reinforce, not what you want.
Since dogs do things because of payoffs it follows that our dog
are getting payoffs from behaviors we consider undesirable AND desirable.
A paradox of interacting with our dogs is that we often reinforce
(give payoffs) to the very behaviors we don't want. Consider the
following examples. Your dog barks at the back door until you let
him in (which you do because you just can't stand the barking anymore).
His barking just got reinforced. You don't want your dog to jump
on you, really you don't, and he should know that because every
time he jumps on you shout at him. Since he jumps for attention
even "negative" attention can be a reinforcer. A key to
dog training, and to sanely living with your dog, is always be aware
of just what you are reinforcing. Be sure you are reinforcing the
behaviors you want.
6. Every time you are with your dog, one of you is training the
other.
Training occurs 24 hours a day - not just during "training
time", or when you have lots of energy, or treats in your pocket.
Not just on walks, or in the kitchen, or in the yard. Training goes
on constantly because when we interact with our dogs we are each
responding to the others' behavior by offering and taking payoffs.
The payoff to me for letting in the dog who barks at the back door
is….. quiet (my dog has trained me to open the back door when
he barks). The payoff to my dog …. he gets to come inside (I've
trained my dog to bark when he wants to come inside).
The "24 Hour Training Rule" is especially true of puppies
who are experimenting with the world around them, trying out this,
trying out that. Ask yourself, between your dog and you, who is
the trainer and who is the trainee? By paying close attention to
payoffs, and the ways they reinforce behavior, you'll be able to
be your dog's best teacher, trainer, and friend.
ASK THE TRAINER
Do you have a question about dog training? In this column, Sarah
Richardson, CPDT (Certified Pet Dog Trainer) answers questions about
dog training and behavior that are drawn from her work with clients
in California, Texas, and Canada. Please check back regularly to
see new featured questions (and answers!).
Dear Sarah,
Our 8-month-old puppy, Dancer, is uncomfortable when strangers
approach her. She growls and backs away from them if they try
to pet her. She has always been a little uncomfortable with new
people, but this behavior has us really worried. We had heard
that we should get a choke collar and correct her by "snapping"
it whenever she growled. At first this approach seemed to work.
Dancer did stop growling, but that did not stop the problem. Now
Dancer often trembles when she is around people. What has us really
concerned is the last time we took her out she lunged at someone
who tried to pet her, without any warning whatsoever (thankfully
she did not hurt the person, but it sure scared us!) We really
love this dog and are very concerned. Is there anything we can
do?
Concerned
Dear Concerned,
Anytime a dog has lunged, snapped or bitten the VERY FIRST STEP
is to manage the dog's interactions with people to ensure that
people (and your dog) are safe. This means ensuring that your
dog is not put into situations that make her uncomfortable while
you work on a more permanent solution to her problem with strangers.
Now let's think about A MORE PERMANENT SOLUTION to Dancer's discomfort.
Dancer was providing you with important information when she growled
at approaching people. She was saying, in doggie language, "I'm
uncomfortable with you and I want you to go away". When dogs
are uncomfortable with things it is often because they are fearful
or anxious. When it comes to new people, some dogs are just naturally
timid or shy while others behave this way because they did not
receive important socialization during the critical socialization
period in puppyhood. Additionally, Dancer might have experienced
a scary or traumatic event with one person that has caused her
to generalize her feelings to all unfamiliar people. While we
do not know the reason for Dancer's fears, her growls provide
us with important information. And we need to listen.
Many people will respond as you did when their dog growls. They
will punish ("correct") the behavior. Punishment can,
indeed, make the undesirable behavior go away, but not because
we have treated the problem (fear). Instead, we have taught our
dog that if she demonstrates the symptom (growling) bad things
happen (the choke collar gets snapped). In Dancer's case she learned
"I'd better not growl, or else I'll get punished". The
problem with using punishment in situations like yours (and this
is a BIG problem) is that the end result is often a dog who: (1)
has now learned that it's better not to communicate her anxiety
and fear and (2) is even more fearful than before because of the
negativity added by corrections. This is why Dancer stopped growling.
Your corrections taught her that she ought not growl. And this
is why she started shaking. Her already fearful state was likely
elevated by the choke collar corrections. When we understand Dancer's
behavior, and the effects of punishment on it, it is easy to understand
why Dancer snapped. Her escalating fear, and inability to communicate
her discomfort, pushed her too far.
Rather than punishing Dancer for her fears, she needs a behavior
modification program that will help her learn that ALL people,
of all ages and appearances, are OK. This program will help Dancer
gradually learn that people are not scary (this is called "desensitization")
and that interacting with them can, in fact, be pleasant ("counter-conditioning").
It is critical that this program be implemented in such a way
that Dancer's fears are never provoked and that she does not have
opportunities to revert to old feelings and behaviors. And, it
is equally important that we do not reinforce Dancer's anxieties
by letting her think that her fearful feelings and behaviors are
desirable.
Our dogs communicate to us in many ways, including vocalizations
and body posture. It is important that we listen to our dogs,
especially when they are telling us about any discomfort that
might lead to an aggressive act. These are messages to which we
must pay close attention. If they were email messages the subject
line would read "Urgent: Anxiety". Our reply should
let them know we heard them, we thank them for communicating,
and we'll do our best, using principles of behavior modification,
to help them become more relaxed, reliable, and comfortable.
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