7 Mistakes You’re Making In Behavior Modification

I found a really cool article on Sacramento Dog Behavior on the 7 common mistakes people make in their Behavior Modification work. It’s really interesting. Check it out:

YOU’RE TOO CLOSE

Are you afraid of spiders? Me too. But I’m not running around and screaming because of the freakishly large spiders in South America. Why? Because they’re too far away to present a threat to me.

Distance affects reactivity. The closer you get to something you fear, the greater your level of stress. Once the stress reaches a certain level, the brain tells us to react in some way that increases our chance of survival, which can include avoidance…or aggression. The other thing the brain tells us is to stop wasting energy on non-essential functions in that moment. Like eating. Or thinking.

If your dog is exhibiting any type of avoidance or aggression in the presence of a dog, person, or other trigger, you are too close (early warning sign – your normally polite dog starts painfully ripping the treats from your hand). Anything you attempt at this level is only going to amount to temporary suppression of behavior, which is not the same as changing the underlying emotion behind the behavior.

Behavior modification happens at a distance the dog is aware of the trigger but not showing any negative reaction, often referred to as under-threshold. If your dog reacts, MOVE. Get her out of the situation and to a distance that she can give you a behavior you can reward.

YOU’RE TOO LATE

So, you don’t like clickers because they seem gimmicky, and you don’t want to say “Yes!” because it sounds silly. Frankly, I don’t care what sound you use, but if you’re going to be effective, you MUST have great timing. You will never have great timing with just the treat in your pocket.

The point of a clicker (or “yes!” or a click of your tongue, or whatever) is that you have a unique sound that marks the moment of your dog’s brilliance. That sound has been consistently paired with rewards so that the moment your dog hears it, the reward centers of the brain start churning out dopamine, which feels good. So, even if you are caught digging around in the pocket of your jeans for the treat, you’ve still captured the behavior the instant it happened, increasing the chance that your dog will do it again next time.

Why not just use “good dog/boy/girl?” Well, because it’s slower but, more importantly, you probably don’t give your dog a food reward after saying it, so it doesn’t have the association needed to have that feel good effect. Worse, if you say “Good boy” before patting your dog on the head, which he hates, you could be using a marker that has a bad association.

Things can happen quickly with a reactive dog and if you don’t instantly capture that brilliant moment your dog looks at you the moment he spots a new dog, you’re going to end up rewarding the wrong thing.

Read More….

Chad Mackin: “Amplifiers”

Meditation For Dogs?

Impulse control is one of the most common problems with “problematic dogs”.  They see the squirrel/postman/dog/bike, and they are gone. You do not exist to them anymore.

And, the typical training responses are:

A- Correct them big enough so they will listen

B-  If you get a high enough value treat, they would listen.

C- If they “respected” you, they would listen.

I’m sure there are more, but, you get the point.

Here are the problems with those.

They work. In the short term, they totally work.But they cost you in different ways.

A- You can correct the shit out of a dog and get it off of something. But….. Unless you have the hardest of the hard dogs, it going to damage the relationship. Never mind that it can damage the dog. But, you see this with old school trainers. Their dogs are obedient as hell, and totally under control. But, their squinting like they’re looking into a spotlight. Flattened dog. Not my idea of a good relationship.

B- You can put a handful of treats in the dogs face and “magnetically” draw them away from whatever got them nuts. Totally works. But you have to have higher value treats than the “distraction”. And you have to have them all the time. And your dog is excited by the food, and so you end up with this hyper, fat, stressed out dog. Not to mention the stressed out parents! There is a very familiar look on their face as the get to the bottom of the life saving bag of cheese.

C- If you live with the dog skillfully in your home. They wait for their food. They yield you space. They listen to you INSIDE. But….. OUTSIDE…… They’re a monster. I don’t think the problem is “respect”. If they didn’t respect you IN the house….. Maybe that argument would have legs. But, I see TONS of people who have angels in the house, and a devil on the streets. Those dogs (generally) don’t lack “respect” they lack impulse control. So, the “respect” camp will say “Rules, Boundaries, and “Limitations”. Obedience to correct behavior. And it sorta works. If they’re “downing” they aren’t chasing. But the problem comes with how you keep them doing these things when they get REALLY excited. And now we’re back to the bigger “Carrots and Sticks” issue of the above A, and B.

Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use food, or corrections. I use both. But you should use them to TEACH….. Not to “manage”. And that’s a HUGE difference.

Nice. Sounds good. So what.

Now that everyone is mad at me……

I’ll tell you what I do.

I teach my dogs to meditate.

Ok, that sounds like hippy shit….. But it’s kind of true.

The “Place” command is meditation for dogs.

The place command, is asking your dog to lay in a bed (or whatever) and stay there until you release them. But, it really goes much deeper than that. For them to be ABLE to stay in their spot, they have to have some self control. They have to be able to stay calm, even through temptations. Now, that is good for your ability to manage them. But, honestly, it’s really just good for them to have that kind of emotional control. Dogs are cute wound up, and playing…. But…. For their own sanity, and health, they really should be ABLE to bring it down for a bit. A long “stay” is a great way to develop those skills. They end up working the same kind of skills as people when we meditate. They learn to relax into this spot, and stop fighting the urge to get up. They learn to have a thought enter their head and try to steal their attention, and let it go without having it break them. They learn to center themselves, and allow distractions to come and then go. No shit, it is meditation for dogs.

Now, I chose “Place” and not a “Down” because I’m way more concerned with geographic location, and emotional state than a particular position. The “Place” command allows them to stand up. Stretch. Circle around. Whatever. Just stay on the bed, and stay cool. Now, they don’t have to stay there forever. But, should be able to stay there for at least 30 min. Then when they can manage that, you go to novel places or add other distractions!

Yes, you food and corrections to shape this skill, but the point is to get to as little food and corrections as possible. Ideally, I want the relationship (Social +R and -P if you want to get fancy) to be the motivator.

The whole point of this isn’t to have the “Place” as a management tool. That’s just a cool side effect.

The point is to help the dog literally increase their ability to SELF REGULATE. It is just like meditation for people.

And, just like meditation for people the benefits will show in areas off the Place/Meditation mats….

That improved impulse control can solve a ton of issues. From separation anxiety, to different types of reactivity.

It allows the dog to be able to display their respect for you, and listen to you ask them to ignore the squirrel/postman/dog/bike.

So,  teach your pup, the long “place”. Understand what it’s for.

Teach your dog to meditate.

Hell, you could learn how and do it with them.

Probably wouldn’t kill you to learn to relax a little yourself!

How I Explain Choke Chains

First of all, I don’t call them CHOKE chains. I call them slip collars. And that’s not some cool ploy with words to get them over it. I don’t use them for the choking potential, I use them for their LOOSENING potential!

See, to me, the best reward you can give a dog, is freedom, and comfort. And a loose slip collar, is the most comfortable collar there is!

Seriously…. Think about it. When a dog has learned to be fluent in leash communication, they can have a collar that just flops, and dangles. Hell, I make special wide, soft, martingale collars for dogs that aren’t fluent to help keep them from irritating their skin as they learn. And I make them with a chain action specifically to find a similar releasing action… Hell, the name of my collars are Kaiho Collars, because that means “release” , or “liberation” in Japanese. But, as awesome as those are…… when they are TRULY fluent….. I’d prefer a simple chain, because a big ass martingale  isn’t rewarding ENOUGH!

That’s the reason I don’t use flat collars. Because there’s no reward at all! They’re just flat uncomfortable. (Pun intended)

Here’s my analogy:

Neck ties.

Flat collars are like neck ties! Sure, a neck tie  in a suit isn’t choking, but you damn sure know it’s there. It is the opposite of comfortable. And as soon as you can…… You open that bad boy up.

Well you’re dog cant do that in a flat collar. Nothing they do can loosen it. Not one damn thing they do can give that sense of relief. And that’s the problem. I don’t use flat collars because, I don’t want to make my dog feel that way.

Now, you will get 2 objections as people try to shoot holes in your theory. People don’t take kindly to you pooping on their paradigm. They don’t really want to realize that choke chains are more rewarding and kind, and flat collars are kind of restrictive, and uncomfortable. Not everyone wants to take the red pill (Matrix reference).

These objections are:

1. Flat collars can be made loose so they don’t feel as restrictive as you’re making them sound.

My response: Listen, if your flat collar is that loose, your dog is probably going to slip it and be gone. A flat collar worn that loose, is irresponsible. Now, if you buckle it tight enough to not slip off…. You’re back in the non-comfort zone.

2: Well, that sounds great, but when you’re dog isn’t listening to the leash, it’s not slipping open. It’s slipping tight. It’s choking them. I don’t even clip my leash to his flat collar, because he chokes himself on it. I use a Halti/No Pull Harness/Etc…

My response: Here’s an idea. How bout, you train your dog to listen to the leash. At what point do we stop defaulting to crazy apparatus to wrench their muzzles sideways and harnesses to pull them in weird angles, and just teach the dog what we’re asking her to do? Rather than use a flat collar to mitigate the dog’s resistance to the leash…. Lets put on a slip, and gently teach the dog, HOW to loosen that collar. How, to find freedom and comfort.

There you have it. The explanation that has convinced several Purely Positive (don’t get me started on that term) people to switch to slip collars!

Take the red pill.

Give your dog the gift, of comfort a slip collar can give.

Calming Signal Or Stress Signal

Apparently, there’s a little “controversy” going on regarding “calming” signals.

Some people call them calming signals, and mean that they are signals that the dog is calming down. As in, they are self soothing, and those are the “tells”.

Other people say that they are “stress” signals. As in, the dog is worried and feeling anxious, and those signs are their “tells”. I’m not talking about ALL “stress signals”. I’m talking about the overlapping ones. Obviously, “Whale Eye” isn’t a “Calming Signal”. The arguments occur in the overlapping ones. “Yawning”, “Shake Offs”, Etc…..

Still, other people say that they are trying to calm other beings down. This is popular socialization circles. They see the dog doing “Shake Offs” and feel like it’s not a “tell” of their feelings, but that they are actually trying to signal the other dog to calm down.

These discussions can get heated.

(Of course….. everything gets heated on the internet)

So…. Who’s right?

They all are.

Dogs use signals for all of those reasons.

Communication evolves. And here is my opinion of how these developed.

Dogs naturally display certain indicators of relaxation. These are the classic indicator type of calming signals. The dog isn’t consciously doing them. They are “tells” of their deepening relaxation.

When this is done enough….. Dogs have trained themselves in conditioned relaxation. As in, they associate those actions with a deepening sense of relaxation, and when they start feeling stressed, they do them in an attempt to induce the sensation associated with it. It’s the same signals designed to self soothe. Same signals….. Drastically different causes.

This happens when they interact with other Dogs. They feel stressed, and so they display those signals. The other dogs see this and (if they aren’t rude little shits) back off a bit. Dogs see the pattern, and realize that those signals can induce relaxation in others. Now they are using them as a communication. Same signals…. Another TOTALLY different cause.

Damn…..

That doesn’t seem helpful.

If they can mean all three things, how are you supposed to know what they mean?

Ah….. The same way that you know your wife is pissed, before she says a word. The same way you know your best friend has a secret they’re just dying to tell you. You get to fucking know your dog!

The same expression can mean they are getting calm, and that calm is leaking out. They’re getting stressed and trying to self regulate. Hell, they can literally be asking you for help with that same signal! As in “Mom….. help! I’m scared of that!”.

Your main job in this relationship (hell in ANY relationship) is to learn their communication. It’s about very subtle differences, and context.

If my dog is laying in front of a fire place and yawns….. He’s probably deepening into “relaxed”. That’s a calming signal.

If I’m having him face some of his issues during training and he yawns. He’s probably self soothing. And that’s a stress signal.

If he’s playing in the yard with dogs, and yawns out of nowhere, and that’s just before play stopped for a second. That was a calming signal as in “hey let’s take it down a notch”.

You have to go through training and life experiences with your dog until you “know” what they’re saying.

So, they’re all right.

Pay attention to your dog, and let them tell you what they mean.

Next time you are on the internet with someone over the meaning of dog signals….

Quickly look over your shoulder and see if your dogs isn’t sitting there just trying to tell you something.

It’s a relationship. Go relate.

Adrenaline And Choices

Mabel And Jax Getting Crazy!

AAAARRRGH! Pit Bulls!!!!!

Yeah. Super tough.

How is it that people aren’t in love with these dogs.

I’ll just never understand how anyone lives without a Bully.

-Jay

Fun Pull Pics/Vids!!!

Got the pics/vids from the Fun Pull last weekend! Check it out-

Milo Making it look easy! (ok it was a warm up run, but still):

A few Shots of Mabel in Action-

Here is Mandy handling-

And here we pull out the “Big Guns” and bring in Grandma to handle!!!!

She LOVES her granddaughter!

And yes Mabel’s weights are super light, but……..

A. It’s about the experience, not “winning”.

B. She had double TPLO surgery about a year ago, so we think this is DAMN impressive!

Last but not least…. Bella:

Leash Rant Revisited.

OK, when you’re REALLY, REALLY pissed about something, you have to stop and look at it and figure out, is my anger completely righteous,  or, did I contribute to it, and that’s why I’m so mad? Well, I was good and pissed. So, naturally the next part of the process was introspection. Mad, is only a good thing, if it creates drive to solve the problem that is pissing you off. Just MAD…… That’s just a waste. Just drama.

So, in that light, I’ve given my incident lots of thought. And, I’ve tried to not just blame it on the other people (my first reaction). I tried to see how I could have done better. Aside from having my dogs so well trained that I can get a down in motion and not have them break while being goaded by an aggressive dog from an inch away, thus allowing me to run the offending dogs away…….
Here’s where I think I really screwed up. I wasn’t running neck lines on their rigs, because I was letting them have a more relaxed tempo. Neck lines are lines that hook collars to the tow line, so if a dog on the team starts to lag, or drift it keeps them in line. But just making the rounds by my house, and not being around other dogs, I don’t use them. This allows one to drift a tad, or drop back for a second. Just a bit less “strict”. Now neck lines per se, wouldn’t have helped with the fight, but it would’ve necessitated collars and collars would have! But, I didn’t have them on. Just their harnesses.
When I take my dogs around other dogs, I always have a slip (or at least a flat) collar on them, just in case shit hits the fan, I can adjust their oxygen, and stop things if I need to. But, I ASSUMED based on a decade of running dogs on this route, that I wouldn’t see anything. So, no collars. Would’ve been the only tool to help in that situation. My two redirected and got tangled with each other. I could’ve ended it quickly, and begin untangling. Repeated as necessary, until they stopped initiating, or I got them untangled and could adjust distance, and bring out of drive, and work my way back to them sitting controlled with each other. Certainly would’ve stopped my bites from the breaking up my two. And probably would’ve avoided the bites from the loose dogs as well, If I were standing tall, and obviously controlling, they most likely wouldn’t have run in for their cheap shots. Certainly would’ve minimized the damage they did to each other, and reduced the time.
But, I didn’t. I assumed.
Lesson learned:

1. Always, always, always, use the gear that would work if EVERYTHING went wrong. Never assume.
I’m the asshole that didn’t put his seat belt on, because “I won’t crash”.
Won’t make that mistake again. Even if you decide on your gear, and strategy. The walking stick/spray deterrent/slip collar/etc….. won’t work if you don’t bring it.
Maybe someone can learn that from this, without getting a hole in their own face.

2. Working on a variation of a neck line that is rigid. Prototype will probably be PVC over a normal neck line. but will eventually be more sturdy that that. This would allow me to take dogs on a pull, and insure that they CAN’T redirect. Well, they technically “could” redirect, but they couldn’t engage. And that’s gonna make it easier to deal with. I’ll keep you posted, if I come up with something useful!

Really, it all boils down to what you learned as a kid. Be prepared. If something makes you mad, figure it out. Don’t just be mad.