Dog Training - In praise of praise

    I have a huge advantage over most dog trainers.  I don’t train in order to make a living, or even as a supplemental income source.  I have a nice police pension and no longer have to work for a living.  But I am a type A personality and the idea of becoming a couch potato after retiring had no appeal. I train dogs to have something to do

    This allows me to stand back from the industry and make my decisions without being influenced by the need to make money.  As long as I pay the overhead, finances are not my motivation.

    When I met Pat Muller, the inventor of Manners in Minutes training, it was an “aha” moment.  I realized that she had come up with a training system that made sense to both the dog and the dog owner.   And since it made sense to both of them, it was the fastest way to train a dog.

    The dog training profession is almost entirely made up of two schools.  The first school is the all positive reinforcement methodology; the second is a dominance/alpha school.

    Positive reinforcement is by far the largest school.  The vast majority of trainers are in this school.  The idea is simple.  Reward positive behavior and through repetition the dog will perform reliably.

    I find some major flaws in this technique.   Too many trainers use food as the reward.  Food reward has some major drawbacks.  Some dogs are not food oriented.  But more often, as I have written before, the trainer fails to get the owner to see the difference between motivation and bribery.  Many times I see dogs that have turned the tables of the owner.  The will only perform for food.  Or they will deliberately misbehave so that the owner gives them food to change their behavior.  Far too often someone ends up with a fat dog that only behaves when food is immediately available. 

   And while some of them claim to be all positive, frustration can lead to harsh corrections. 

   And there is a lot of smugness and self righteousness by many of these type trainers.   They have a built in excuse for their training failing you.  It is your fault, you aren’t kind enough.

    I think, in theory, the dominance/alpha school is closer to the right track.  But in practice, most of them get it wrong. 

     It seems far too many of them are just plain bullies.  They end up punishing the dog to the point that the dog obeys out of fear.  And fear is not the relationship you should have with a dog.  They misinterpret the alpha/pack concept to cover their own shortcomings.

   Because of these people, dominance training has become a dirty word within the dog training industry, especially with the all positive people.

   There is a third school.  I call it the balance school.  It isn’t all positive reinforcement, but instead of punishment it uses gentle correction techniques.   But what sets it apart is the use of praise.

    Unfortunately there are not a lot of balance trainers. You really have to work to find one.  And a lot of people who claim to be balance trainers aren’t.

    I tell my clients even if they mess up on everything else, if they get the praise right, the will get the dog right.  It will just take longer.

    There are some simple rules for the effective use of praise.

1.        Try not to gush.  Gushing is using the same phrase multiple times for one performance.  So when a dog sits when told to sit, tell them “good sit” one time.    Dogs often mistake gushing as barking and one of the reasons dogs bark is to invite play.  Gushing can sabotage training.

2.       When the dog obeys a command, make sure you praise it immediately.  Since one decision gets only one reward (good sit) praise the dog as it obeys, not after the fact.  “Good sit” should be said as the dog is in the act of sitting, not when the dog has been sitting for a while.

3.       Praise everything the dog does even if you did not give it a command.  If you walk by and the dog stands up, tell it “good stand.”  If it does not get up tell it “good down.”  Praise makes the dog believe you are in charge.

4.       If you make a correction, praise the dog when it obeys.  Corrections without praise are revenge; it is the praise and not the correction that makes it training.

5.       Praise the action.  “Good dog” means you like the dog. “Good sit” means you are reinforcing the command.

     The effective use of praise can often overcome other poor training techniques and incompetent trainers.

Doug

A Dog's Six Words

When I first started training dogs in the Manners in Minutes system seven years ago, someone asked me “If a dog could talk what would he say first?” I did not have an answer then. I think I do now.

     If we could give a dog just six words, I think it would come up with two phrases.

     The first would be “It’s not fair.” A dog wants a good pack leader. And a good pack leader is firm, fair and consistent.   I believe a dog has a strong sense of what is fair and what is not.

      But I have also come to the conclusion that dogs are born con artists. Even the best behaved dog is always looking for an opportunity to turn any situation to their advantage. Personally I think the only reason my two Lakelands, and for that matter your dog, haven’t taken a car to go joyriding is that they don’t have thumbs to steer with.

     So if a dog could say “it’s not fair, it would use the phrase the way a four year old human does. Sometimes it would mean you aren’t being fair. But other times it would just mean “give me my way.”

     The next phrase would be “But you said.” Dogs, like children, are born lawyers. While their vocabulary may be limited they know what each word and each command means. And they take them very literally.

     I don’t teach the command “stay” but rather the command “wait.” Stay is usually used to keep the dog sitting in one place while you walk away. I want my dog to stop whenever and wherever I command at the moment I give the command. Wait is an X on the ground where the dog is not to move from until I release it. But unless I add something else it is up to the dog whether they stand, sit, or lay down while holding their wait.

     Sometimes someone else will tell their dog “sit” in here. The dog will sit then get back up. They will then tell the dog “I said sit.” And then I will tell the owner you said sit and the dog sat. You didn’t tell him to wait.

     And as I do the dog looks at them and thinks “But you said.”

Doug

Dog Training, money back guarantee

A few nights ago I had to stop for a couple of cans of dog food. I feed a good kibble but always add a small amount of canned dog food as kibble does not have enough fat for a dog’s diet.

Usually I buy my supplies from an independent (non chain) pet store here in Colorado Springs. This guy is awesome, knowing how to match dogs to food by breed. The best food for one breed may not be the best for another, and this guy is a pro. I send all my clients to him and have had a lot of problems cleared up just by getting a dog on the right food.

But he is all the way across town and was closed by the time I finished here in the center. There is one of the large pet supply chains that is not too far out of my way so I go there when I have to.

I don’t like going there. That is because of one of their “trainers” knows me on sight. This person was at a dog show I had a booth at a couple of years ago. Although this person did not talk to me they did stand there while I explained Manners in Minutes to someone else. I remembered this person because I have a great memory for faces, a survival skill left over from my police days.

Whenever I go into this store this trainer makes a point of running me down to let me know how great the store’s training method and trainers are. I am not that impressed. First it is hard to be in awe of someone who has “trainer” on their smock but every time I see one of them they are either stocking shelves or running a cash register. Secondly my office is bigger that their training area. And third their method is food based training which I have explained my views on elsewhere on this blog.

I did not see this trainer (I also still have my surveillance skills) so I went in. As I walked in I glanced at their board for training. I saw, handwritten, “guaranteed money back dog training.”

My first reaction was “Huh.” Why would they do that? How can you guarantee training? Either you can train a dog or you can’t. If you can’t then you should not take the dog and its owner as a client.

You aren’t selling a washing machine. If you sell someone an appliance and you give them their money back you get the appliance back. But if you sell someone a skill, you can’t take that back.

Then I thought is their training so poor that they need to refund money to keep people from being angry at them? And then I knew the answer, it is marketing.

Dog training is approached differently if training is not your main product. If I owned a chain of stores that sold a variety of products then I would know that training is not going to make or break my business. Due to the high cost of prime retail space, every square foot has to produce income. Since training will never produce the income per square foot the sales of supplies, toys, equipment, and all the other things I sell I can’t afford to use a lot of space. And too keep the price of training down I am not going to pay my trainers a lot.

So since training is not going to be a large source of profit, why bother? And the answer is the marketing plan behind chain store training. The reason is repeat business.

Over a lifetime you are going to spend a lot of money on food, treats and toys. You are also going to need an occasional replacement for a bed, or collar, or line, or something else. By getting you to train in the chain store, they build a relationship and you get in the habit of coming regularly to my store. Then they make their profit from those sales, not training.

So does this affect the quality of the training? I think so.

First since I want to get you to come into my store as often as possible, and I have to keep my costs down, I have to do group training.

Group training has both advantages and disadvantages. For someone training with a dog for the first time I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. In any group there is one dog that needs more work than any other dog. That dog will take up a disproportionate amount of the hour session. Also there is usually one human who also takes (often demands) more time than anyone else. And usually they are together. So if you are one of six people with a dog, odds are you won’t get an even share of the instructor’s time and effort.

Due to the cost of space, training spaces in these classes tend to be small. Not every dog is going to get along with every other dog, at least at the beginning. The smaller the training area, the greater the danger that someone can get bit. So you keep your dog on a short tight line. A short tight line tells the dog you are worried. The dog figures that if you are worried, it should be worried too. So you and the dog spend too much time worrying and not enough training. Also small training areas limit the amount of movement you can do with the dog and increases the danger when you are concentrating on the command that another dog will successfully go after your dog or you.

I always wonder about the quality of the trainers. This is not a hard business to get into. Many people with good training skills start by having group sessions at the park. There are a number of issues with this choice, but I think it is better than working in too small a space. If you can’t afford to open a training center, which are usually located where rents are lower, you can start there and then move up. But either way you are going to do better financially than working in the chains.

So who is left in the labor pool since each store has a trainer? Often it is someone who doesn’t mind stocking shelves and running a cash register in order to train. Or is it someone who doesn’t mind training in order to have a job or to make a little more than someone who is just a clerk? While I do not doubt there are some very good trainers in a few of these stores, I do doubt that all of them are equally good.

As for the training itself, the training method must not offend anyone in any way. So this training has to be food motivation. I stay away from food training for one simple reason, it is hard for someone training a dog for the first time to tell the difference between motivation and bribery. Most clients err on the side of over using food. And they end up with a fat dog that won’t do anything if you don’t have a cookie in your hand.

And what could happen if I go to one of these places, have the training not work, get my money back, and go somewhere else? It could be nothing bad, or it could make things worse.

To me there are two possible outcomes. If you have an easy dog, one that has not developed strong habits and/or major alpha drive, then this may be all the training you need. An easy dog does not need that strong a trainer, provided you are working the dog on your own.

If the training works then well, most of them teach several different classes so you can continue on to get to whatever level you need. This often leads you to spend a lot more, and you are going to go to more than one six to eight week course. So you may spend 18 weeks or more to train the dog. And if you miss a class, then your dog does not learn everything or is automatically behind.

If you have a dog that already has the more serious problems this kind of training does not work well for you, then even if you get your money back, you have spent your time for little or no results. However you have also convinced the dog that it does not have to respond to training making your task all the more difficult if you go to someone else. You can get your money back, but not your time, and you may now have an even more difficult dog.

My advice, don’t automatically discount this training. But just like any other trainer, before you sign up, go watch that trainer train. That way you are making an informed decision.

Does Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes have a money back guarantee? No. First of all you are not going to start training here until you have come in for a free consultation. And I strongly discourage from signing up until you have had some time to think things over. If you don’t understand what I do and how I do it, or if you are not comfortable with me or the system, this is not going to work well. On the other hand if it is for you, then success is just a matter of us both doing our part.

The other week I had someone come in for an evaluation. At the end she asked if I had a money back guarantee. I told her no. She asked why. I told her I never had a dog fail in here, but I had had people fail.

She never called back. Sadly I don’t think chain store training will work with her dog. It had too many problems. But at least she could get her money back.

Doug

The only way to train a dog is

The other night after our Neighborhood Pack Session three of my dog owners were outside talking. I joined in.

These three have been working with me for a while. And each of them has an awesome dog.

Vino is a Rottweiler. He started his training at nine weeks. He has been trained to be a service dog and is the subject of an earlier blog. He is 22 months old now and just an incredible dog. He works for his twins. He now gives an alert up to 45 minutes before the little girl goes into grand mal seizures and will intervene if her brother starts bumping his head into the wall he will push him away and sit with him until he calms down. He has passed every test and certification with flying colors.

Athena is a Rottweiler, Aussie cattle dog and Akita mix. She is a rescue. She is a one in a thousand dog. She took one look at her new owner, decided she loved her new mom, and has been a jewel ever since. Training her was a breeze and she is one of my pack leaders in Neighborhood Pack. She will often quell bad behavior in another dog with just a look.

Charlie is a young pit bull. When he started he was dog aggressive. We got him past that quickly and he became playful but at the first sign of any rough play would get pretty defensive. Now he is just playful with everyone. Maturity and experience will tone that down.

Vino’s Mom started the conversation by telling us that she had taken him into one of the chain stores. He was wearing his service vest. The store “trainer” came over and told Mom that she trained service therapy Rottweiler’s. She immediately asked if Vino had been trained in a method that uses corrections. Mom answered yes and the “trainer” launched into a harangue that dogs can’t be trained with methods using corrections.

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Athena’s Mom also added that she had a similar experience in another of the chains. The trainer had lectured her about the “only way” to train dogs. She went on to explain the superiority of food based training, the favored method of many chains.

Charlie’s mom got stopped by a neighbor. Apparently this is one of those “I come to you” trainers who lives in her neighborhood. The trainer had seen Duke jump on her as they left the house for their walk. The trainer then told her how her training methods are wrong and she should change trainers. The trainer did not realize that jumping only occurs at the start of a walk and is a way he expresses pleasure. It is also the sign of a young dog who hasn’t quite understood why he should not do that yet.

Each of these three different trainers told my client that their training method was the “only way” to train a dog.

At that point one of my clients said that the “only way” to train a dog is the Manners in Minutes system. I disagreed. I believe that a good trainer can train a dog in any method.

I know I could train in any system; choke chain, pinch collar, clicker, food based, or any of the others. . I use the Manners in Minutes system because it is efficient. Not only do I think the dog catches on quicker, I believe the owner learns this method faster than any other. And I have set up my training lesson plan and center to maximize the method.

I have a training center rather than train in a park because I can control the environment. The center also means I don’t have too little or too much space. And I can control who and what the dog is exposed to as the training progresses.

I use very little food because I have long since realized that a client training for the first time will often use food as a crutch. The temptation to offer the food too often or too soon is hard for someone to resist when they first start working with a dog. As a result the client ends up bribing rather than motivating the dog.

I don’t like choke or pincher collars because for an inexperienced owner it is too easy too over or under correct. Under correction has no effect on the dog, over correction results in resentment. Electronic collars don’t make sense to the dog. I don’t use harsh alpha methods because a pack leader is firm, fair and consistent, not a bully. I don’t use clickers, even though I think they are the fastest way to learn to properly time praise, because too many owners have no control when they do not have a clicker at hand.

I stopped offering group classes to start training because I noticed that in every group there was always one dog that was so out of control that too much of the allotted time was spent on that dog to the detriment of the others. Every group always had someone who for various reasons needed a disproportionate amount of my time. Group tends to put the owner with an easier dog at a disadvantage.

So to make sure that the time I spend with you and your dog is efficient I start you in private sessions. That way you and the dog get my undivided attention. Then when the dog and you are ready I move you into group since there are many things we can do in group you can never do in private sessions.

If you have found a good trainer then there is no “only way,” just what they believe is the best way. And if you have found a trainer who has the “only way,” odds are you do not have a good trainer.

Doug

Do it yourself dog training

Like a lot of the articles on this blog, this one was inspired by a phone call I received a couple of hours ago.

A couple of days ago I had a first session with a dog. It is a breed you rarely see. The dog is about 4 and is extremely fearful. In this case I believe that this dog was very fearful as a puppy. It happens.

On a one to ten difficulty scale this dog is about a 7. It will not be the hardest problem I have dealt with but it is up there. It will takes us a while but eventually we will fix the problem.

The first session went even better than I had hoped. I do not expect a dog to be perfect but I know you will go home with a better dog.

The Manners in Minutes system has you work with the dog at home. One of the things I need you to do is to get the dog out at least twice a week, for at least twenty minutes, somewhere where you can work on a twenty foot line.

My client took her dog out to work last night. And she ran into a neighbor with a new puppy.

Because getting a dog over being fearful is a process that takes a while, the client’s dog did react with fear to the person and the new dog.

The neighbor told my client that she had bought a book from one of the “famous” TV show trainers and was training her dog in the “right” system. And she promptly started to tell and show my client what she would be doing.

Then when the neighbor triggered a fear reaction in the client’s dog, the neighbor struck the dog with a stick.

This is just a minor setback. It will not undo what we did or stop the dog's progress. But it did traumatize the dog unnecessarily.



Not everyone has access to a good trainer. And not everyone, especially in this economic climate, can afford a trainer. So if you want to train a dog yourself, go ahead.

For the record, if you cannot come to me or to Pat Muller (the wonderful trainer who developed Manners in Minutes) then you can get Pat’s book or video from Quansa Kennels and train a dog in Manners in Minutes yourself. I have met some awesome dogs that people trained themselves.

And there are other books that are very good. But there are also methods that stink. This trainer the neighbor picked uses a “dominance” system. Sorry folks but in my opinion the trainer should call it bullying.

But no matter what book you pick do not think that one dog and one book gives you the right to interfere with anyone else’s training. You are entitled to express an opinion. But you are not entitled to use your method on my dog without my permission.

And by the way if you ever do that to someone else’s dog in my presence you can expect a couple of things.

You are going to lose your stick. I may be retired from law enforcement but I still have my speed from working with dogs.

And when the police show up, expect to be cited for animal cruelty.

Doug

Why dog training fails, part II, crooked trainers

Back in May I did a blog on why dog training fails. I tried to explain why training fails sometimes to help you when selecting a trainer. I deliberately made “You aren’t comfortable with the dog trainer” the last section.

I struggled with the writing of that section. Most of the struggle was because a lot of dog trainers aren’t bad people, they just can’t train your dog. They are incompetent not crooked.

But I pulled the punches on that too, because I was aware of one trainer who runs a scam. Your dog is always the one with a severe problem. He can fix it but you need to come back for more training. The problem is I have never seen, nor have I ever met anyone who has ever seen a dog he finished.

I have seen dogs that the owners have decided to come to me to fix. And each one of those dogs has been conditioned to aggressive. And since the dog is still aggressive, he told them they needed to have more training. The goal seems to be to keep you coming back and spending more money until you finally give up on the dog.

I decided to stay away from that in the blog as I thought this trainer was so far out of the norm as to be one of those rare situations that are so likely never to happen anywhere else that there was no point in warning about it.

I was wrong.

Last week KKTV here in Colorado Springs posted a news story on a dog trainer here in Colorado Springs. A family had contracted the trainer about training three dogs. They signed a contract and dropped off the dogs. When they came back three days later, one of the dogs was missing. They located the dog near a busy highway. The retrieved the other two dogs and asked for refund. The trainer refused. They contacted the TV station.

If you want to learn more Google “kktv dog training”.

The trainer has been accused of being an ex con who learned dog training in prison. He has never answered the question directly. I don’t know if he is or not. But his evasive answers sure resemble those of experienced liars.

A lot of prisons have dog training programs. And they do some impressive work with dogs. Dogs that might otherwise be put down become great pets. And people in prison can learn a skill that might keep them out of trouble once they get out.

If you have read my blogs before, or read my profile, you know I am a retired Deputy Sheriff here in El Paso County Colorado.

I know a lot of ex cons. And some of them are people who my investigations put in prison. Some of them did their time, learned their lesson, and have come back determined to never repeat the behavior that got them in trouble.

But not all of them chose to change. Some of them think they have found ways not to get caught the next time. It never works, but they keep hoping rather than changing.

This would not be the first time someone got out of prison with a skill that they used to run a scam rather than a legitimate business

I have come to the sad conclusion that this is not an isolated case.

Two years ago I picked up a business magazine with an article of the pet industry. It put the total industry, not just training but all pet related businesses, as a 7 billion dollar a year industry.

If there is money to be made somewhere, you can bet the crooks are going to show up.

So how do you protect yourself? First and foremost, do your research.

Start with the internet. Any search engine will take you to a list of trainers.

But use more than one search engine. If you find me on Yahoo I have only one review, on Google I have 14. On Dex I have seven. Same business, but obviously most of my customers use Google.

Be suspicious of anyone who has a lot of reviews on a less used site. Think about it. Why would you have a lot of reviews on a site where none of the other trainers have any?

Be very suspicious of testimonials on the trainer’s website. Come on, I did my website. I can put down anything I want and you have no way of knowing whether it was edited by me, written by my best friend, or just made up. If the website says the business has only been open less than a year, and the testimonial page thanks the trainer for years of work, you should be suspicious.

Be wary of people who want you to leave the dog to be trained. There are people who do that kind of training and you are going to get a trained dog. They are great people. But if the trainer is not going to work the dog, or do things that mean you have to spend more money, are they going to want you to see the training?

Don’t count on them being in business a long time as a guarantee of success. Bernie Madoff ran a con for years. And I bet he had a great website.

Watch them train. If they have group then go to their group session. If everything is privates then get a couple of times to go in and do not let them know when you are showing up. What you see is probably going to be what you get, if you control when you see it.

Don’t be rushed into signing with the trainer. If I am good at what I do, then I don’t have to sign up everyone I talk to. If I am not, then I only get one shot at separating you from your money and I can’t afford to let anyone get away.

When I trained cops I used to teach them that:

If it walks like a duck

And it talks like a duck

It is probably going to be a duck.

It is better for your dog if you walk away from a good trainer than to sign up with a bad or crooked one.

Doug

Finding a Dog Trainer

FOREWORD

The original purpose of this blog was to give people considering training with me some insight to how I do things. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was also a good way to blow off some steam.

What I also did not realize was how many people outside Colorado Springs would read this blog. A few weeks ago I got a request to print a blog article from New Zealand. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of how much my head swelled up on that day.

So for those of you in Colorado Springs thinking about training here at Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes read this and apply it to me too. For those of you elsewhere, I hope this helps you pick a trainer.

THE DOG DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WANT.

If you look at it analytically, training is getting a dog to do something they already know how to do and can physically perform, when you want them to do it. They know how to sit. You first teach them the word for it and then you teach them that sit is a command to be obeyed. On the other hand since a dog doesn’t have thumbs, you probably can’t teach them to drive.

The key is consistency. If the trainer is not consistent with your dog, or the trainer does not have the time or ability to make you consistent, the training never goes well.

THE OWNER DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT TO DO OR HOW TO DO IT.

The trainer has taught every command, and made it reliable, hundreds or thousands of times. The owner hasn’t. Since the average trainer sees more dogs in a week than the client will own in a lifetime, the trainer is not going to have a problem. But it the trainer fails to teach the owner the what and how of the training system, then the dog will not become reliable.

Some people can train dogs but not people. And I suppose some can train people but not dogs. Find a trainer who trains both.

THE PACE OF THE TRAINING DOESN’T ADAPT TO THE DOG’S NEEDS AND EXPERIENCES.

Dogs can’t be turned out like cookies with a cookie cutter. Different ages, different breeds and different events shape how the dog learns. A six month old retriever who was obtained at six weeks is going to train differently from an eight year old terrier that is at its third home.

If the training system or the trainer cannot adjust the training to meet the dog’s needs, then it will not work.

THE OWNER NEVER LEARNS THE BASICS OF PACK LEADERSHIP.

The pack leader is fair, firm and consistent. If the trainer or the training method fails to teach that to the owner, then the dog will not respect the owner. Without respect, no training method will work reliably.

If the trainer is not fair, firm, and consistent, you will have a hard time being fair, firm and consistent. Both of you may be alpha, but that bullying, not leadership.

THE TRAINING METHOD DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO THE DOG AND/OR TO THE OWNER.

If doesn’t make sense to one or the other, then it just is not going to work. Some methods make sense to the dog but not the owner. That is the fault of the trainer. Some methods do not make sense to the dog, that is the fault of the system the trainer uses

The trainer has to make a commitment that the dog and the owner will not fail. The training method has to give the owner the ablity to keep that commitment.

YOU AREN’T COMFORTABLE WITH THE TRAINER.

Sometimes people pick trainers because of really good advertising. You call because of the size of the ad or the wording of a website. But all advertising (including mine) is designed to get you in the door. That doesn’t guarantee that what is inside the door is what you want, what you or the dog can do, and most importantly what you feel comfortable with.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows there were over 41000 people who listed themselves as full time animal trainers (all animals, not just dogs) in 2008.

Of course if there was a reliable way of grading them you would have a bell curve distribution. Only a very few will be really, really bad, and only a very few would be very, very good. The greatest number will be okay.

So find someone you are comfortable with. Do your research. Look at everything you can find on them. Take everything, especially testimonials on their website and reviews on lists that don’t have everybody, with a grain of salt.

Go and meet with them. Most aren’t so rich and so famous that they do not have time to spend on you before they sign you up. See their training center. If they have an evaluation, watch how your dog reacts to them and how they react to your dog. Ask if you can sit in on a class. And don’t rely on how their dog acts. It won’t be an average dog.

If you are comfortable with the system and the trainer, you probably found the right match.

Doug

Dogs who don't speak Dog

I just read in a forum about an owner who has a six month old dog. He has taken the dog to a park where it has been attacked twice by older dogs.

Without further information it is hard to determine for sure what causes this. But there are two general reasons for this behavior.

The first is that many dogs are dog aggressive. Something happens to dog aggressive dogs that has taught them that they need to attack in order to prevent being attacked. Those dogs do not try to read the intentions of the second dog, they act immediately by attacking. The solution is simple, though not easy to do. A dog aggressive dog must be de-sensitized to the presence of other dogs.

The second reason, which I suspect is the case here, is that the puppy doesn’t speak dog.

Dogs do the vast majority of their communication through body language. But many dogs today literally do not know how to “speak” to each other.

When two well socialized dogs meet for the first time, each dog lets the other dog know what its intentions are. If they intend to come close for a sniff (and a sniff is a handshake in the dog world) the dog approaching negotiates the approach and the other dog gives permission. Normally the dominant dog will ask to approach.

But because many of today’s dogs leave the breeder and go to a one or two dog home, they never develop their body language communications skills. Their humans communicate primarily through the spoken word. And if there is another dog in the home that lacks body communication skills, the two dogs may develop a relationship and body language that does not allow them to deal well with others.

This summer I had a dog in that spoke “dog” the way Yoda in Star Wars speaks English. When he first walked in his entire body language said “hi, I’m friendly” but as soon as he got in range he attempted to bite. Later I had him on a line and was sitting (deliberately) where I could just reach the top of his head with my hand. He walked over with body language that said he would bite. When he got to my hand, he flipped it up with his head so I could pet him.

Your dog began to develop its body language skills as soon as the litter began to interact. But before they develop full language skills they are off to their new owners. During the first few months where skills are developed, the dog spends the vast majority of its time with humans. The skills may not progress.

The human analogy is this. If you left a two year old with normal language skills on an island where everyone else is a deaf mute and then came back two years later, the child would have lost most of its limited skills. If you placed two children there, they would have a language that only they understood.

What is the solution here at Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes? After a dog has finished its private lessons it comes to Neighborhood Pack Sessions. In Neighborhood Pack we sharpen their language skills in a safe and controlled environment.

Doug

Death by phone call

I have been struggling with whether or not to write this particular blog. By nature I like give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to their decisions, believing that most people are basically decent. Yet my street time as a cop has shown me that poor judgment can show its ugly head in many situations.

I read a column by a trainer recently. The trainer was contacted by phone. Someone had gotten a dog off one of the internet boards. The dog had started to show some alarmingly aggressive behavior. Apparently based on a phone description of the behavior and the trainer’s “knowledge” of the breed’s behavior, the trainer advised the owner to put the dog down.

The point of the article appears to have been to be very careful when getting a dog from this kind of a source. That is a valid and useful point. People are not always honest about why they want to place a dog.

What was so aggravating to me was that, unless this columnist is a poor writer, that trainer never saw the dog.

That just mystifies me. It is not that hard to get a pretty good idea of what you are going to be dealing with when someone calls. And some behaviors are so mild, that you can help them with just a few simple suggestions. You should be able to give the owner some good general advice on what they are dealing with in any conversation. But you should make it clear that until you see the dog, you cannot say for sure what the problems are.

But the trainer should insist of seeing the dog, especially if they think the problems are dangerous. To diagnose a dog as un-trainable over the phone is an extreme act of arrogance. Or it is the mark of someone who should rethink how they train.

Maybe someday I’ll find out it was just poor writing skills. But I kind of doubt it.



I wrote the paragraphs above two weeks ago but decided not to put it on the blog. Then the columnist wrote another column. The columnist got several e mails taking him to task on this. The writer made a point of how he had won over the worst critic.

When I was a field training officer I taught my young cops always try to get the suspect’s story. There were occasions when I had a solid case against a suspect. I had enough to do a warrant and make a good arrest. They seemed like slam dunk cases. But every now and then, when I got the suspect’s side of the story, the case fell apart. Either the crime hadn't occured or the supposed suspect was actually the victim.

It didn’t happen often, but it did happen.

They day will come when I have to advise someone to put down a dog. The dog will be so badly traumatized that it cannot be saved.

But I guarantee I will have seen the dog in person.

Doug

I don't like shock collars

Last weekend we went to a home and garden show. The last time we went I was surprised to see one of our local dog trainers had a booth. As he has a lousy reputation and is known as a hustler, I wasn't surprised to see him there.

This show had a local trainer of one of the chains. I haven’t paid much attention to them other than to note that two of my customers had “thrown them out” of their homes when they came to do a presentation. They do advertise extensively and have a great logo.

I saw the trainer with a dog that I would describe as way too worried. But we had flooring to look for so we walked past. Later when they walked by I was amazed to see the dog wearing a shock collar.

A little bit of research found that this chain does train with shock collars. I just cannot find a way to rationalize that. I could see, in an extreme case, where you might use a shock collar. I have never had to use one, but I was a cop too long to say that I would never use it. But if I did, I guarantee that when the dog left my center, it would never wear it again. To send people out with a permanently attached shock collar is just beyond belief.

It is one thing to correct a dog. But it is another to punish it. To send someone home and rely on their experience, which is limited if they are using a dog trainer, to be firm, fair and consistent isn’t realistic. We have all seen those college psychology experiments where the student is allowed to shock the test subject.

And the bottom line: I barely understand electricity. I don’t think I ever meet a dog that did. Why would you subject a dog to discomfort at best, and outright cruelty in some situations?

I’m not sure what I would call this, but it definitely isn’t dog training.

Doug

Training the dog owner

A couple of days ago a gentleman called me about training his dog. It is a bull terrier mix of unknown origin. It had just shown some aggression towards a child and an adult. No biting, just aggression.

I explained to him how Manners in Minutes training de sensitizes a dog to behavior that triggers aggression, and where aggression in dogs comes from. I then told him about how we build behavior training from one command to another so that when we are done, the owner has on, off, and dimmer switches that controls the dog’s behavior.

His comment was he was sure when we finished I could control the dog, but when he went home he would not be able to control the dog.

He hit on one of my pet peeves about dog trainers. A lot of people who become trainers started out in someone else’s class (as I did) and did well with their own dog. From that they got the idea that they could train dogs. And, in a way, they can.

Most dog trainers are natural alphas. They never really had a problem with their or anyone else’s dog because dogs recognize their alpha qualities and do not challenge them. I don’t know how many times someone has told me to watch out for Spike because he hates everyone. I then have to tell them fine, but get Spike off my lap because I’m getting tired of rubbing his tummy.

Now I have a huge advantage. I spent twenty four years as a Deputy Sheriff working the streets. After walking into more than one situation where you either take control or end up in the Emergency room, you learn to be a very effective alpha with people. If you can own a bar full of drunks who want to fight, being the pack leader to a dog is not that hard. So it would be very easy to amaze people with how well their dog does with me.

I also spent twenty of those years as a Field Training Officer. If I can teach a twenty one year old young man or woman how to deal with that bar, making you the alpha dog in your pack just isn’t that hard.

When your dog goes home with you, I’m not there to enforce the rules. So if I fail to train you to be in charge, I’ve failed you and the dog.

And sadly all too many trainers just do that. The dog is fine with them and at the training center, but you go home with the same old dog. Before you pick a trainer, go watch them train. If they don’t spend more time with the owner than the dog, find another trainer.

After the first Manners in Minutes session I tell owner the dog doesn’t need to come back for the follow up, the owner needs to come back.

Doug