Recommended Reading
Truisms about Dogs
Ask the Trainer
Wake Up!
 

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.

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-KA (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

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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.