Category : Dog Aggression

 

It is bite prevention week!!  Most dog bites are inflicted on children, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that more than 50% of bites are to children.  Most of these bites are imposed on children between the ages of 5 and 9.  Whereas I believe dogs should be taught to interact appropriately with children, and must be socialized (an article to come).  I think it is imperative for parents to educate their children to ensure safety.

Unfortunately, dogs don’t speak English or better yet “Human” they have a very intricate language of their own based on minimal vocalizations and A LOT of body language!   Unless people study dog behavior, most people simply don’t understand the interworking of dog body language and behavior.   The majority of people think they recognize dog language, but in truth they just don’t comprehend the intricacy of it. Read more »

I have recently noticed an increase in the amount of discussion relating to wireless training collars, or more commonly known as electric collars, shock collars or remote training collars.  I have never been one to shy away from sharing my opinion; after all I have almost 20 years of dog training experience to offer.

Wikipedia defines the collars as a collar that produces a static pulse stimulation at varying degrees of intensity and duration to the dog via a small transmitter incorporated into a dog collar. It also states that the collars can be used for positive reinforcement, and operant conditioning, along with positive punishment (stimulation given at the moment of the undesired behavior) and negative punishment (a continuous stimulation is given until the moment a desired behavior occurs in order to increase the frequency of that behavior).

If you don’t know the definitions of Positive Reinforcement, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Punishment and Negative Punishment and understand their inter-workings then the chances are you will not be equipped to use these collars as any type of positive reinforcement.

Vibrating collars are often used on deaf dogs, but these are not shock collars these are simply collars that vibrate to get the dog’s attention since they cannot otherwise hear their owners.  This vibration paired with positive reinforcement can be good, but again this is not a correction or shock.  Your cell phone vibrates in your pocket, it does not shock you when it rings! Read more »

I am preparing myself for hate mail as I write this…some might say I am contradicting years of dog training theory, but I propose that not all dogs should be treated the same and not all owners need to adhere to the same dog training rules and I know some will comment with kudos for finally being able to admit to a behavior we are hard wired NEVER to do with our dogs.

I spoon with my dog!  That’s right, and I am not ashamed of it!  For 9 years he was the only thing that spooned with me.  I use to call him my soul mate and was certain I had been cursed.  I told people, sure my soul mate is big and hairy and he sniffs the butts of other people and animals, but everyone has their down falls!

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I have a cat in my lap while I write this…no…wait, it looks like a dog, it smells like a dog and it is definitely poking me in the face like a dog!  It seems as though I have a demanding attention hound on my hands.

I have never had a dog that felt like it needed to compete with my time while I was on the computer or reading a book, but this one sure does!  I noticed it mostly when I recently took a college class. Suffice it to say, it has been a while since I was in college and spending my time studying, so all of a sudden my days and evenings were spent with my nose in a book.

Often I had a flying super dog dive bomb head first into my book, trust me I have the crinkled, snotted on pages to prove my story.  I tried desperately to accommodate puppy time and stroking WHILE I kept my eyes focused on the information.  For the most part I don’t mind her in my lap…that was until I noticed how DEMANDING she was getting about it.

It was as if contemplating studying would wake her up and bring her running!

She is a very dominant breed of dog, known for making decisions and being difficult to train and I see that streak in her occasionally, so I realized it was time to nip this behavior in the bud!  I don’t want to live with a dictator or a difficult dog and demanding my immediate attention and affection is bordering on turning into a controlling relationship!

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In this video, Judith, one of my clients sent in a video of her dog BEFORE she started using my training techniques for reprogramming dogs negative emotions… and then sent in a video of the dog’s progress after she’d completed half of the training program.

Make sure you watch the whole thing all the way to the end, because it’s a perfect example of how YOU can turn any of your dog’s hyperactive or aggressive behavior into a calm relaxed response anytime they get bothered when someone comes to your door.

If you’d like to take your dog through the exact same training program that Judith took her dog through in the above video, click here:

8 Weeks To A Dream Dog

Enjoy!

Chet

P.S. I’m rewarding Judith with a $100 petsmart giftcard as a way of thanking her for sending in this video!

I was on the phone with a client just the other day who was having somewhat of a familiar problem with her puppy.  She is becoming the entertainment and chew toy in their relationship.  She called because she has scratches, bite marks and lesions and was fed up with her puppy’s bad behavior.

Puppies play with each other with their teeth.  Dogs don’t have hands and opposable thumbs to hold, throw objects or play with things.   They aren’t able to use their hands to explore their environments.

Puppies are born deaf and blind, they do not begin to hear or see until they are about 2 weeks old.  They learn use their mouths, shortly after they are born, to explore their environment.  As they grow they are constantly learning about their environment by biting and mouthing.  They bite their littermates, they mouth on things in their environment, and they even bite their mother.

It is essential that puppies stay with their mother until at least 8 weeks of age so that she can begin to teach them about bite inhibition.  When a pup bites mom too hard, mom is swift to bite back and teach the pup about the inappropriateness of rough play.  Without mom’s help during this crucial period in a puppy’s life, they often don’t learn about bite inhibition and frequently develop into hard biters and bullies.

It is normal for dogs to bare their teeth, nip, bite, and growl at their littermates and playmates.  Often puppies play hard or soft depending on their playmate.  I have seen dogs throw each other around by their necks, growling and body slamming each other but doing so in play and never breaking skin.

Dogs can only learn to play with other dogs by playing with other appropriate non-aggressive dogs.   I think dog play is a crucial behavior for puppies to learn when they are young!  Older dogs will teach them the appropriateness of how hard to bite, and young dogs can teach them how fun it is to play rough sometimes.

Although it is normal for a puppy to explore its environment using its teeth and mouth, it is inappropriate for them to put their teeth on humans and they must be taught not to do this under any circumstances.

What Makes the Problem Worse?

• Getting a puppy before 8 weeks of age or a puppy that was separated from its mother and or litter mates prior to 8 weeks.
• Many people think that a nipping puppy is cute, they don’t mind when an 8 week old puppy nips but no one wants to be bitten by a 6 month or older puppy, especially a large breed puppy.
• Regularly people play with their hands with their new puppies, pushing, pulling, tugging incite puppies and encourage biting.
• Treating the puppy like a human by spoiling him/her and treating him/her like royalty encourages a blur in the dynamics and respect in the family structure.
• And, in my opinion the #1 reason for inappropriate biting, not enough exercise and obedience.

How to Curb Even a Chronic Biter?

• I cannot be adamant enough about waiting until a pup is at least 8 weeks old before separating it from its mom and littermates.  There is so much learning that goes on during those last few weeks that simply cannot be repeated by us humans, no matter how diligent we are.  However sometimes it is impossible to keep this situation from happening.  If you and your pup are in this minority, you must be even more diligent, because the early imprinting from mom was not available.
• Nipping and biting is not cute at any age.  Unless you are training a professional police dog (which very few people are) biting in any situation is simply unacceptable.  Develop a no tolerance rule!  If teeth come out any time during play, get up and walk away!  It does not matter where you are or what you are doing, you must deal with this immediately by pausing the DVR or getting up from the couch or stopping whatever you are doing to vacate the area

1. Puppies must learn: Teeth=A stop in all fun and interactive activities
2. You can cry out like another puppy would and then leave to see if your pup is sensitive and realizes by your cries that teeth and biting hurts.  However, in some situations and for some puppies crying out can excite the pup and make the behavior worse, if your puppy becomes worse when you cry discontinue this training.
3. When the pup is young you can exchange the idea of biting with giving your pup a toy to chew and play on, by redirecting your pup you are teaching him what can be chewed and played with instead.  Remember mouthing is normal bite inhibition must be taught.
4. DO NOT play tug with your puppy, unless you want to make the problem worse!  Tug teaches them to control their environment with their mouths!

• I often suggest spraying a little bitter apple on your skin or you or your children’s clothes in order to teach your pup that “you taste awful”.  Puppies regularly get spunky during a certain time of day; first thing in the morning or after supper and they are more likely to nip.  Simply spray your hands and arms with a bitter deterrent, my favorite Bitter Apple ™ and your pup will think biting you is an awful idea!  Just remember to wash your hands before you handle food!
• Do not spoil and cater to your canine companion!  This blurs the lines of who is in charge, in your puppy’s mind.  If your puppy gets everything he/she wants without ever having to learn a new skill or do anything in return your pup begins to feel entitled to everything in his world, which can make him into a bully.  When he feels you are robbing him of something he is entitled to, he will use his teeth to cajole you to obey!  This is especially true of small breed dogs because they are carried everywhere and given everything they want.  Put your dog down and set up some boundaries and rules, you will both be happier!
• Add obedience into your dog’s regimen, no matter what age your dog is he can begin to learn the basics and more!  Obedience provides mental stimulation and is fun for your dog, no matter his age or breed.  Entertain his mind and you will see less naughty behaviors.
• Many dogs and puppies have an extreme lack of exercise.  They have ten times the energy for the small amount of exercise they are getting.  Lack of exercise and mental stimulation causes all kinds of naughty behaviors to arise and often cause them to use their teeth in inappropriate ways to persuade you to interact with them.  Exercise creates tired dogs and tired puppies, sleeping dogs and puppies are good dogs!  Give him the stimulation he needs by engaging his mind and body in an exercise and obedience program!

Imagine having a 2 year old child and never teaching them manners or allowing him to get any exercise, but giving him everything he wants!  I can’t imagine such a situation for a child, but we often create this situation for our dogs.  Our dogs need just as much interaction, teaching, rules, and exercise as our children!

The woman I was talking with on the phone was physically disabled and confined to a wheel chair.  Her pup had been biting and mouthing since she brought her home at 6 weeks and now the pup was 5 months old.  Because the problem had not been dealt with sooner, it has become a behavioral habit and will be harder to break.  This is the only relationship the dog knows.  I believe that, unfortunately, all of the afore mentioned, problems are factors for her.

1. She got the dog when it was 6 weeks old,
2. She didn’t see the biting as a problem at first and even played and used her hands as prey encouraging biting in the beginning
3. This is a small breed dog, and the dog gets everything she wants and spends most of her time on mom’s lap and has become a bully
4. The dog had little to no leash experience, obedience, exercise, or mental stimulation.

Although her intentions were admirable, she has set their relationship up for failure.  Many dogs end up in the local shelter at this stage.

She needs to change the dynamics of their relationship and become more of a parent/owner and less of a littermate/servant.  Although it is a small breed dog, she can still be taught basic and advanced obedience.  And, although her owner is in a wheelchair, she can still provide exercise!  She can exercise the dog next to her chair and can even take the dog to a day care or play group during the day to help wear her out.

Play groups can be great because you can drop your dog off, get some errands done or some much needed rest and you can pick up a tired dog at the end of the day or a few hours.  Your dog can learn how to use his/her teeth while playing with other dogs.  It is normal for dogs to bare their teeth and bite and shake one another with their mouths, just be sure that the staff is educated and responsible and ask to watch a few play groups so that you can see the staff and dog/dog interaction.

It is never too late to teach your dog appropriate behavior when it comes to using his/her teeth.  Develop a no tolerance rule with humans and provide ample training and exercise and if you can allow your dog to play with other dogs as a way to use their teeth in an appropriate environment with other playful well behaved dogs.

Relaxation and meditation is known for having such health benefits as decreased heart and respiratory rates and decreasing anxiety.  Relaxation can also be taught to your dog as a conditioned response.    Just like Pavlov taught a dog to drool in response to the ringing of a bell, you can teach your dog to decrease his anxiety, and relax in times of stress.  This type of training can be essential for owners looking for ways to help treat dogs with behavior problems and anxiety disorders, and is also crucial for any good training program.

Often, I think we unknowingly condition our dogs to get excited as a response to most exciting things that go on in our world.  Our dogs are unknowingly conditioned to get overly excited when people come over to visit, when we take them out on a leash, when we come home; almost everything we do in some ways encourages our dogs to get excited.

Let me explain; when people come over it is normal for most dogs to get excited the inherent problem therein lies when we allow them to be rewarded for this behavior, we pet them, we allow our company to pet them or we shriek at them to get down and get off of people; therefore giving them attention for their poor behavior.  After a few visits, this excitement, which has previously been rewarded, gets to be the custom and your dog thinks he must show this behavior in order to be interacted with; i.e. a conditioned response to exciting stimulus.

I once worked with a client who allowed his dog to bark and scream and pull him toward the beach each time they arrived.  When the dog was a puppy, he thought it was cute, but he didn’t realize he was conditioning the barking and screaming and pulling as a response to being at the beach.  The dog thought this was a part of a ritual he had to perform to get to the beach.  We had to regress and teach this dog calming techniques and teach him that only when he was calm was he allow access to walks and play on the beach.  They had to drive to and away from the beach several times before the dog realized that he would only be rewarded while he was calm.

Relaxation must be taught as a response to exciting stimulus, and can even be used to help focus dogs with mild aggression problems.  (Dogs with severe aggression problems should seek the advice of a Veterinary Behaviorist before trying any training program.)  Do not pet or reward your dog if he is showing signs of stress, teach him to be calm.

Take your dog to a quiet room, one that is free of distractions.  Next take a treat in each hand and show them both to your dog, then bring them up toward your eyes.  Your dog should look from one treat to another and back and forth until finally in a moment of frustration he looks directly into your pupils.  As his eyes look into yours tell him what he is doing by saying “Watch” in a calm tone.  Dogs often mirror our behavior, in order to teach your dog to be calm you must show the same attributes.  After a few brief seconds of holding your gaze, praise and give your dog the treat.  If your dog is tense, do NOT reward!  If he is showing signs of stress stop this lesson and try again later.   Do not reprimand him, just discontinue the session.

Your dog MUST be relaxed!!  Relaxation is the purpose of this exercise.  Your dog’s posture should be malleable and tranquil, if he is stiff, trembling or shivering then try again later.  His pupils should be small in size not large and hard.

Continue this until he is readily looking into your eyes.  Once you think your dog has mastered this command, take the treats away from your eyes and take them out at arm’s length out to each side.  If your dog is still staring deep into your eyes and not looking at your hands your dog has mastered the command.  If your dog is still watching the treats in your hands, he is not yet ready.

If you are having trouble getting your dog to relax, try this exercise just after your dog has taken a nap and is already relaxed, or when he is tired, just prior to a nap.

Once your dog is looking at you in a peaceful manner, hold the treat behind your back and give the “watch” command.  Wait until eye contact is made then reward.  If your dog can do this with no problem, wait to reward until he holds your gaze for a longer period of time.  Every time you change the difficulty level expect some failures and just back up a few steps in training if needed.  DO NOT get frustrated, this does not encourage relaxation, simply back up and praise him for something that is easier for him to achieve.

Practice on and off throughout the day at random times.  Just remember not to reward your dog for any signs of stress i.e. panting, whining, crying, pacing or trembling.  Extend this until he can stare into your eyes for 15 to 20 seconds.

Once your dog is 95% reliable with the command in an environment without distractions, take him to a room with a few distractions (like windows or your kids playing).  When he has mastered (95% reliable) in a room with minor distractions, take him outside to the backyard and work until he has mastered the command in that environment.  As he masters the command in a multitude of environments you can continue to increase the level of difficulty while still expecting some failure or learning events, just back up in your training as these occur.  Remember don’t get frustrated, this is a normal step when learning any new behavior.

When your dog can stare into your eyes reliably with a multitude of distractions, you can begin using this command for all kinds of situations:

• When you have a dog that is fearful or mildly aggressive
• In situations when you are unsure how your dog will react
• To bring your dog’s focus and attention back to you before you give a command or after a distraction is added
• And even when preparing for competition obedience

Eye contact is the foundation to good obedience, and it is a great way to strengthen the bond between you and your canine companion.

There are fewer joys in life greater than a good walk; add a well behaved dog to that equation and in my opinion you have pure perfection!  I have the great honor of training and walking 5 Weimaraners twice a week.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of exhilaration and exercise, I tell my friends I am Weimar-running or doing Weimar-obics.  Although it is a job for me (thank goodness for wonderful clients who rescue dogs) it is an opportunity for me to get outside, enjoy the weather and beat some of my stress.

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Do you sing to your dog?   If not, perhaps you might want to give it a try.   According to Roberta, you might be in for some surprising results!

Singing to your dog has an effect.

by Roberta Baxter, January 15, examiner.com

Yes, you read this correctly! No I am not going off my rocker! The senses for animals are different than human sensory abilities as we know specifically from the sounds the dog hears that we don’t.  It is not just the pitch, but the flow of tones that catch a dog’s attention. Try singing  “Yankee Doodle” to your canine and see what the response is.  Then sing  ”Brahms Lullaby”.  You know the one that mamas sing their little ones to sleep with when they are cranky. Now one must really get into the depth of the meaning of those songs as you are singing, because if you don’t the effect will not be accurate.

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Delightful video… Take notice of the two cats sitting idly by, as usual, on the railing toward the end of the clip!

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