Rescue and Re-homed Dogs

The number of rescue organizations has mushroomed in the last couple of years. In addition to the breed rescue organizations and the local shelters, a number of other volunteer groups exist in almost every community. You see them outside the big chain pet stores on most weekends.

Rescuing a dog is a wonderful and generous act. But it is often very traumatic on the dog.

Dogs are pack animals. And for thousands of years dogs were born, raised, and worked, spending their entire lives within the same pack. They were working dogs and the farmer, rancher, or herder needed a pack to ensure that they had a reliable source of working dogs.

Today most dogs are pets, not working animals. So instead of staying in the same pack their whole lives, they end up moving at least once. Now to a young puppy (8 to 14 weeks) that move is usually not too traumatic. The excitement and attention of new people, combined with the fact that all the normal attachments have not been completely formed, make the transition to a new home comparatively easy.

But for the older dog, the effect is much harder. And if this dog has been given up from a home where it has lived a while, that dog it has now lost at least its second pack. It begins to believe it cannot trust that it will be a lifelong member of a stable pack. In nature losing your pack means either death or the difficult task of finding a new pack and fitting in.

Move a dog too many times and it may lose the ability to trust.

When you get a new rescue dog, then the dog needs time to adjust to its new pack. Where we are all excited that the dog now has a secure and loving home, the dog is wondering if this time the pack will accept and keep it.

The dog will often come into your home as the Omega dog. The Omega dog is the lowest ranking member of the pack. It is often the stress relief to the rest of the pack. It will be nipped and harassed, but not harmed. It is the last to eat. Its only job is to play with the pack’s puppies. But in a well established pack even that dog has a sense of security and belonging. But a rescue dog may see this as only a temporary position.

We refer to this as the honeymoon period. Usually this is about a month, but it can be shorter or longer. The dog seems very subdued, submissive and passive. The dog is calculating how high it can move up in the new pack. If it decides it can be the Alpha dog at the end of the period it will “take over.” And if it considers you a weak or ineffective pack leader you suddenly have an out of control dog.

But if it has lost all hope it may actually give up on even being the Omega dog. And without the security of knowing it is a valued member of the pack neither your life or the dog’s life will be very pleasant.

Before you get a rescue, have a plan to establish trust. Also make sure you know how make the first few weeks as stress free and successful as possible. Talk to a trainer so that you know the things to do to make that transition work so that you end up with the kind of dog you want. And make sure the trainer knows the difference between working with a rescue dog in the honeymoon period as compared to a rescue dog that has been in the home for quite a while.

Doug

The Three Problems

Almost all behavior problems come from just three issues. Now some dogs have one, some have two, and some have all three.

They are:

Pack Order Confusion. In the pack the pecking order is very clear. Every dog knows how high they are in the pack. Pack order changes from time to time. A young dog, as it matures, may move up. Ultimately a new male and a new female will become the alpha pair. And the old pair will move down. But everyone knows their place.
For many dogs in homes, the pack order is not that clear. A dog with high alpha drive may challenge you to become alpha if your leadership is not clearly established. A dog with low alpha drive may still challenge you because your lack of clear leadership makes the dog insecure.

Fear Aggression. All aggression in dogs comes from fear. When the dog is triggered by an event the aggression shows. For example a dog bitten by a badly socialized large dog as a puppy may become aggressive with all dogs, with big dogs, or just that breed. I have a lot of dogs come in that are afraid of vacuum cleaners. So I have what I believe is Colorado Springs only dog training vacuum cleaner.

Trust. Your dog can love you, be a faithful companion, and still not trust you. This is the one that is always hardest for my clients to hear. Because trust issues almost always come with the dog when you first get it. But people want to blame themselves. And they don’t need to.

I have some breeders who bring all their puppies to me for imprinting prior to being sent to their new homes. Now I know these people, I know their dogs and kennels, and I know how they raise their dogs. But in a litter of six, I know I will find two or more puppies that have already developed problems trusting not only humans but other dogs.

The key to successful training is to identify which of these issues exist in your dog and making sure they are dealt with during training.

Doug

Having a Training Center

The other day I was finishing the first lesson with a new dog. My client looked at me and stated that this was so simple that we could have trained the dog in the park. He then asked my why do I have such a large center, with all the overhead, when Manners in Minutes training could be done anywhere.

I told him when I started I had three other choices. I could work with dogs in their homes, in a park, or in a space rented from someone else.

I will train in people’s homes, but only if they have physical problems that keep them from coming to my center. When you train a dog, you are changing their habits. A dog’s home is its den and pack area. I am a stranger. The dog has too many advantages and we make accepting change that much harder on the dog. In my center is obvious to the dog from the minute they come in that this is my den and I am in charge. The training goes quicker and more smoothly.

Parks are nice, but this is Colorado. We had a huge snowstorm this week and I would have had to cancel sessions. Plus when you are in the park there is always someone who wants to take up lots of time either asking questions or giving suggestions (and the less they know the more suggestions they have). My clients are paying me to work with them and their dogs, not talk to bystanders. And I always worry about the person with an out of control dog off line that they think is friendly. Often it is a poorly socialized dog that causes unnecessary worry and confusion in my client’s dog.

Renting space for an evening pretty much limits you to doing group classes. I don’t mind doing group classes but I prefer privates. In group there is always one dog that has so many problems and or an owner who has so many questions, that the other students don’t get their fair share of instructor time. And I limit my group classes to just four dogs at a time. If I was paying rent on a room somewhere I would have to put too many dogs in a class to make it as effective.

So I have a 3700 square foot facility. Outside we have a huge open area to work with. Inside we can practice stay at 50 to 70 feet, not 10 or 15 feet. We work on long lines so your dog doesn’t think you are only in charge if they are less than six feet away.

Today I was in one of the big pet stores picking up some new collars. I looked at their training area. My office area has more space. Hope they don’t work with many Mastiffs or Great Danes.

But in the end the biggest advantage is that every piece of equipment and supplies is readily at hand. I don’t care how well you plan and pack, everywhere else you run the risk of not having the one thing the client and his dog need to get the most from every training session.

Doug

Remington's tale

This is a dog I trained about a year ago. He had been adopted from a local shelter. When he was found he had three bullet holes in his leg. They were already infected and his left rear leg had to be amputated.

His new adoptive parents named him Remington.

When his owners called their question was, “can you train a dog with three legs”? I hadn’t had one yet but could not think of any reason why Manners in Minutes wouldn’t work. I had already trained a couple of deaf dogs so this did not sound like too much of a challenge.

As soon as they walked in the center I had them drop the line. How the dog reacts to his first few minutes in the center helps me identify problem areas. Remington was just about right. He explored with confidence but natural caution. That meant he wasn’t too timid or had too much out of control alpha drive. He also showed no signs that the missing leg was impairing his movement.

Remington is an Australian Cattle Dog mix according to the owners. Like any herding dog, once he checked out the center, he tried to herd us all in a corner. That meant he thought he was higher in the pack than humans.

Herding dogs are some of the easiest dogs to work with. We put two Q Calmers on him to help him concentrate and started the lesson.

Now one of my beliefs is that all dogs are born con artists. They quickly learn that the body language for submission is cute and endearing to humans. We say “oh look how adorable he is.” As soon as they hear that they now know they can manipulate us to get their way.

In every lesson there comes the moment when the dog recognizes that if I continue their life will change. Manners in Minutes training is about pack order and the dog is taught that humans are higher in the pack than they are. If they are comfortable being higher in the pack, (if they aren’t you probably don’t need a trainer) they will resist the change.

At that moment the dog will instinctively try to get the owner to feel sorry for them and stop the training. Most will tangle themselves in the line.

I was teaching Remington to walk on a long line with the line always slack. As Remington walked past his “Mom” he suddenly dipped the hip on the missing leg. Although he had been in the center for almost thirty minutes, he had never done that at any other point. He then looked at her with “help me” clearly on his face. She instinctively got up to rescue him.

Like any good pack leader I immediately growled at her. “Don’t you get up and indulge this dog.” She sat down and we continued. He would try the leg dip three more times. When it didn’t work he stopped and did not try that again for the rest of the lesson.

Think about it. I bet your dog has at least one manipulative body sign. And I bet it uses it to get away with everything short of murder.

Doug

Pushing a Pumpkin

We picked up Chicklet, our female Lakeland, in September of 2004. In October my wife put out the Halloween decorations. She immediately seized on the plastic pumpkin we had by the door.

Periodically she digs it out of her toy basket. She will grab it and shake it, she will stick her head in it, and often she will push it around the floor with her fiercest growl. She will put other toys in it and then get them out and shake them. She will play with it for quite some time, and then unexpectedly leave it and go on to something else.

For the longest time I thought it was just one of those goofy things dogs pick up. Then I thought about what Lakeland terriers were bred to do. Unlike the other terrier breeds that are used to go after foxes, the Lakeland will not only bolt the fox out where the hounds can kill it, it will also go into the den and kill the fox.

Now in the Lake County of England, where the breed originated, fox are not hunted for sport. Most of the farmers have sheep and the fox endangers the sheep herd. So for economic reasons the Lakeland was developed to be able to go in the rocky terrain to make a kill so that the farmer did not lose sheep. They have been known to spend up to a week tunneling and digging to get to the fox.

When I read that I knew why Chicklet pushes the pumpkin. In almost every breed, play is also practice for the work they were originally bred to do. Chicklet is practicing pushing rocks aside to get to the fox.

And it isn’t just Chicklet. The picture is a puppy at nine weeks. Izzy saw the pumpkin and started working with it immediately. Izzy is a proud graduate on Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes and a wonderful dog. Hopefully I told her owners to get her a pumpkin, otherwise she may appropriate theirs this October.

Doug

Training a Bear

Sometimes you get a dog that is a perfect match for his or her name. And as you can see, Bear matches his name.

Bear was in last weekend for his first Manner in Minutes training, and he was a delight. His owner brought him in the week before for an evaluation. I could tell right away he would be fun to train.

I had to talk to Pat Muller, the wonderful trainer who came up with the Manners in Minutes training system a couple of days earlier. I mentioned Bear and told her he was a Golden Retriever/ Chow mix. I had not seen that combination before but told her I thought it would be a great one to work with. Pat, who has worked that mix before, confirmed that those two breeds make a delightful dog.

Now the Chow Chow is a “serious” breed. They are a nice dog if well socialized and under control, but dangerous if they are not. Golden’s on the other hand are all about fun and attention.

So Bear was very serious about fun and attention.

He left here with all the basics in place. He will be back next weekend for follow up. I am looking forward to the session

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