I called my sister the other night to wish her a belated birthday. We talked, as we occasionally do, about growing up. I asked if she read the blog “Butchie’s Paper Route. She then reminded me some other family dog stories.
When I was about 4 and my sister was about 2 our Dad decided it was time to get a family dog again. He found a Brittany Spaniel. Her name was Dozie (pronounced doozie) from combining our names, Doug and Suzie. I don’t think Dad saw this as prophetic. But it was.
I personally do not believe any dog is dumb. I tell people if you know someone with a dumb dog, what you really know is someone with a smart dog who’s figured out acting dumb pays well in their home. I don’t think Dozie was dumb but she was flighty and absent minded.
We lived in Wichita at the time. The people next door owned a Boston Terrier. The dogs were good friends and their favorite activity was chase. Back then no one had fences so the dogs would chase each other around the Boston’s house. Dozie was usually the chaser, meaning that the Boston was probably the dominant dog.
The Boston was much smaller than a Dozie. About the third time around the house he would run under the gas meter. This was the old fashion kind with the big body that came out of the ground between two pipes. He could make it under the body. Dozie would follow him. But she was too big to make it so would run head first into the meter, knocking her woozy.
A couple of years later we moved to Arlington Texas. We added a parakeet to the household. His name was Sweetie Pie.
Sweetie Pie soon learned to exactly mimic my father’s whistle, which Dad used to recall Dozie.
Periodically you would hear that whistle. And Dozie would dutifully run to the dining room where he was kept. She then would frantically look for Dad, who was often at work. Sweetie Pie then would add insult to injury by loudly declaring “Dozie is a dirty bird.” She would look at the bird in disgust and then go back to whatever she had been doing.
Sadly I don’t have a picture of a Brittany to put with this blog. I kind of wish I did. I don’t think there is a prettier dog than an orange and white Brittany.
Doug
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Pat Muller and Manners in Minutes
I check the stats on this blog on a regular basis along with the stats on my website, www.ppmim.net. Among other things I can see what web pages or articles get looked at and how many people looked at them. I also get the search phrases that found each site.
One of the more common search phrases is Manners in Minutes or Pat Muller Manners in Minutes. I think some people are looking for her rather than me.
So if you came to this site looking for either Pat or her wonderful training system, let me tell you about her.
I met Pat about seven years ago when she gave a seminar in Denver. We had taken Chicklet, our female Lakeland Terrier, to that seminar when a fairly good and very likeable trainer in town here had worked with Chicklet. And unfortunately his training had not helped, it had just made things worse. When I asked my breeder what to do, she sent me to Pat.
I attended a lot of seminars when I was in law enforcement. Most were pretty good, some were excruciatingly bad (usually the subject was okay but the instructor was lousy) and a very few that had an immediate and important impact. When Pat stood up and explained how her system and tools worked, a light bulb went on over my head. This was a system that both the dog and the owner could understand. And this was a system that mimicked how dogs learn when raised in a working pack. And Pat is one of those speakers who leave an indelible impression on you.
A few months later we attended a Lakeland event at Pat’s Quansa Kennels in South Beloit IL. There is a reason I call this blog the Accidental Dog Trainer. Somehow from those two events, without intending for it to happen, I ended up opening a Manners in Minutes training center here in Colorado Springs when I retired.
It did not take me very long, due to the Manners in Minutes system, to start to build a solid reputation as a dog trainer here. And it would be easy for me to get a swollen head. Cops aren’t known for having modest egos. But for the first couple of years I got to go out and train with Pat for a few days each year. And that has kept me humble. It still does.
When each dog finishes in here, it goes out a well trained and well mannered dog. A big part is my experience in using the system, an even bigger part is the system itself. But the biggest reason for that dog and owner’s success is the talent and brilliance of Pat Muller.
So if you got here today because you are looking at training in the Manners in Minutes system, then yes, you should use it to train your dog.
There are a couple of ways to train in this system. Pat does mail order both a book and a DVD on how to train the dog yourself, along with the necessary training equipment. And she has a Yahoo group that supports her system. A few of you may know someone who has trained in the system who can help you. I think it really helps to have someone with experience in the system to work with you, but I know that is not always possible.
Through Pat I know a number of people who are not doing this professionally, but help out with rescue and other organizations.
If however you want to travel where you can work in a training center in this method, at the moment you only have two choices, Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes here in Colorado Springs with me and Quansa Kennels in South Beloit IL with Pat.
As much as I would like you to come here for training, and I will add that I think it’s prettier with a nicer climate, if you can't come here, go to Quansa.
Listen to Pat, do what she teaches you. You will end up with a wonderful, well mannered and obedient dog.
I did.
Doug
PS The picture is Pat Muller training me at Quansa a couple of years ago. The dogs were fine, I needed some extra work.
One of the more common search phrases is Manners in Minutes or Pat Muller Manners in Minutes. I think some people are looking for her rather than me.
So if you came to this site looking for either Pat or her wonderful training system, let me tell you about her.
I met Pat about seven years ago when she gave a seminar in Denver. We had taken Chicklet, our female Lakeland Terrier, to that seminar when a fairly good and very likeable trainer in town here had worked with Chicklet. And unfortunately his training had not helped, it had just made things worse. When I asked my breeder what to do, she sent me to Pat.
I attended a lot of seminars when I was in law enforcement. Most were pretty good, some were excruciatingly bad (usually the subject was okay but the instructor was lousy) and a very few that had an immediate and important impact. When Pat stood up and explained how her system and tools worked, a light bulb went on over my head. This was a system that both the dog and the owner could understand. And this was a system that mimicked how dogs learn when raised in a working pack. And Pat is one of those speakers who leave an indelible impression on you.
A few months later we attended a Lakeland event at Pat’s Quansa Kennels in South Beloit IL. There is a reason I call this blog the Accidental Dog Trainer. Somehow from those two events, without intending for it to happen, I ended up opening a Manners in Minutes training center here in Colorado Springs when I retired.
It did not take me very long, due to the Manners in Minutes system, to start to build a solid reputation as a dog trainer here. And it would be easy for me to get a swollen head. Cops aren’t known for having modest egos. But for the first couple of years I got to go out and train with Pat for a few days each year. And that has kept me humble. It still does.
When each dog finishes in here, it goes out a well trained and well mannered dog. A big part is my experience in using the system, an even bigger part is the system itself. But the biggest reason for that dog and owner’s success is the talent and brilliance of Pat Muller.
So if you got here today because you are looking at training in the Manners in Minutes system, then yes, you should use it to train your dog.
There are a couple of ways to train in this system. Pat does mail order both a book and a DVD on how to train the dog yourself, along with the necessary training equipment. And she has a Yahoo group that supports her system. A few of you may know someone who has trained in the system who can help you. I think it really helps to have someone with experience in the system to work with you, but I know that is not always possible.
Through Pat I know a number of people who are not doing this professionally, but help out with rescue and other organizations.
If however you want to travel where you can work in a training center in this method, at the moment you only have two choices, Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes here in Colorado Springs with me and Quansa Kennels in South Beloit IL with Pat.
As much as I would like you to come here for training, and I will add that I think it’s prettier with a nicer climate, if you can't come here, go to Quansa.
Listen to Pat, do what she teaches you. You will end up with a wonderful, well mannered and obedient dog.
I did.
Doug
PS The picture is Pat Muller training me at Quansa a couple of years ago. The dogs were fine, I needed some extra work.
Monday, January 16, 2012
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
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
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Puppy Training Part III, the worst two weeks to own a dog
I think the hardest two weeks to own a dog are weeks 14 and 15.
Because of the way a dog’s mind develops weeks 8 (usually the youngest age a breeder will sell a dog) through week 14 are pretty easy. Again during that time you aren’t really training, you are conditioning.
Training differs from conditioning in that in training we give the dog a command and if it performs, we reward the behavior. If it does not we correct. In conditioning there are no corrections, just distraction.
We take advantage of the fact that during that period, the puppy’s whole world revolves around its owner(s). When we tell the puppy to sit we raise our closed hand. Since a dog has to sit down to look up, it sits and we praise. When the dog comes running to us we praise it effusively while giving a recall command. Since puppies are all about pleasing us, the praise reinforces the reaction to our words.
If we walk by and the puppy stands up we tell it “good stand” and if remains laying there we tell it “good down.” If it bites our hand we shriek or use a rattle can while saying “no bite.” When it releases we praise.
Because a puppy is all about pleasing us during these weeks, it seems like the puppy is already training. And if it were not for what happens in weeks 14 and 15, it would be.
Then the puppy hits week 14. This stage in a dog’s development can be described as the worst parts of the terrible twos and puberty all wrapped up in one. The world is not about you, it is about the puppy. The dog has gone from pleasing you to pleasing itself. It truly believes it is now smarter than you and you are there to do what they want, not the other way around.
I see this all the time in Neighborhood Pack Sessions (group). Puppy came in for puppy class and now comes to Neighborhood Pack every week. It sees how the adult dogs listen to their owners and tries as hard to work for its owner as the big dogs do for their people. Exposure to adult dogs in a pack situation is one of the best things you can do with a puppy.
And Mom and Dad are just beaming. By week 13 I can see it in their eyes. Their little darling is going to be the best dog ever. Why they won’t even have to spend the time or money on adult class.
The next week the phone rings here at Pikes Peak Manners In Minutes. It is puppy’s owners. I get told that the dog will be 16 weeks and one day (the point where it can train as an adult) on the 22nd. They would like the 7:00 AM appointment.
I know what they are going through. And I can usually give them the 7:00 AM appointment.
Oh and the picture is Vino, the legendary service dog Rottweiler, as a puppy in 2009.
Doug
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Why dog training fails, part III
Every now and then I get a minute to look around the web at web sites for dog trainers. I pick a city and see who is out there and what they have to say. You never know when you might find something to help you improve.
Today looking a city in the Midwest, I came across a website. On every page the trainer emphasized and re-emphasized their years of training. And yet they did not seem to have stayed anywhere very long.
Then I remembered something a great trainer told me once.
This person was not a dog trainer. He was my field training officer when I joined the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office in 1984. And he was a great trainer.
This was old school police training. Back then you did not go to a six month academy and then 14 weeks of Field Training. They swore in and took you to the range where they taught you to shoot, in an afternoon. You then spent a week working in each section of the office. That was followed by just five weeks of field training and you were out on your own. If you survived, and did not get the sued, then you went to the academy before the end of the first year.
When I showed up that night for my first shift most of the deputies introduced themselves. One made a great show of telling me, in front of everyone, that he was a ten year veteran.
Later that night Skeeter brought up that conversation. Then he told me:
“Look there are two kinds of ten year veterans. One kind has one year of experience ten times. The other has ten years of experience.”
This is why I highly recommend you meet with any dog trainer before you decide who is going to train your dog. You want a trainer who grows and improves with every dog, not someone who does the same thing over and over again.
Doug
Friday, December 23, 2011
A Boston Terrier's Tale, an update
The most popular article on this blog, judging by the number of views, is A Boston Terrier's Tale.
I just got this picture from Moose's owner. I'd like to share it and his e mail with you.
Doug,
I wanted to wish everyone at PPMIM a happy holiday season and give you an update on Moose. I would imagine a lot times in your business, you work with a dog and then owner and K-9 disappear and you never know the rest of the story. Moose as you remember was an adopted dog and a very troubled one due to 15 months of abuse. He had severe
fear aggression toward large dogs and men. I 'm happy to report, thanks to PPMIM, Moose continues to be a success story. He no longer has any fear aggression towards large dogs or strange males and hasn't for over a year. All the group therapy and continually practicing the principles learned has paid off with huge dividends. Moose continues to be an ambassador for the Boston Terrier breed. At the dog park he spends the entire time racing from dog to dog as if he is the official greeter. He really has turned into an amazing dog. Moose has demonstrated a passion for frisbee and runs side by side with his sister Lily(lab pit mix) like a veteran. In his down time his favorite thing to do is snuggle. I have attached several photos of Moose doing what dogs are supposed to do.. just enjoy life. Thanks again for providing a safe and controlled atmosphere which allowed Moose to shed his fears and become a normal, life loving companion.
David
I'd like to take a lot of credit for this, but it was a good owner, comminted to his dog, hard work on both their parts, and a solid system that made this happen. I just got to see the results.
Doug
I just got this picture from Moose's owner. I'd like to share it and his e mail with you.
Doug,
I wanted to wish everyone at PPMIM a happy holiday season and give you an update on Moose. I would imagine a lot times in your business, you work with a dog and then owner and K-9 disappear and you never know the rest of the story. Moose as you remember was an adopted dog and a very troubled one due to 15 months of abuse. He had severe
fear aggression toward large dogs and men. I 'm happy to report, thanks to PPMIM, Moose continues to be a success story. He no longer has any fear aggression towards large dogs or strange males and hasn't for over a year. All the group therapy and continually practicing the principles learned has paid off with huge dividends. Moose continues to be an ambassador for the Boston Terrier breed. At the dog park he spends the entire time racing from dog to dog as if he is the official greeter. He really has turned into an amazing dog. Moose has demonstrated a passion for frisbee and runs side by side with his sister Lily(lab pit mix) like a veteran. In his down time his favorite thing to do is snuggle. I have attached several photos of Moose doing what dogs are supposed to do.. just enjoy life. Thanks again for providing a safe and controlled atmosphere which allowed Moose to shed his fears and become a normal, life loving companion.
David
I'd like to take a lot of credit for this, but it was a good owner, comminted to his dog, hard work on both their parts, and a solid system that made this happen. I just got to see the results.
Doug
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Canine Rage Disorder
I’m not a veterinarian so I can’t make any judgments about medical causes of this condition, but I have seen one case of extreme Canine Rage Disorder. So this blog is about rage and a possible behavioral explanation for the rage.
I received a call well over a year ago. A vet referred an owner to me. The owner explained that he had a French bulldog that was extremely aggressive. The dog was fine with another dog in the home, his wife and he, but would suddenly attack any other dogs or humans.
I like to know generally what I am going to be asked to deal with before people come in for an evaluation. But usually I wait to get the details. And I deal with aggressive dogs all the time. But this owner was almost frantic. He said he was reluctant to even bring the dog in for fear it would attack me. I assured him that I was used to working with aggressive dogs. I told him that if the dog did attack it was an occupational hazard I have learned to live with.
I will not work with any dog without the dog and owner coming in for a free assessment before taking the dog. First I like to have an idea of what the dog is like. And it is very important that the owner understand the Manners in Minutes dog training system and be willing to do the work required for the training to succeed. If the training is to succeed the dog, the owner and I must be on the same page and be able to work together.
I always come out to see the dog as soon as you pull up. I am watching the dog as you bring it in. The dog tells me a lot about itself from the minute I first see it. By watching this I get a lot of information about what is going on with the dog.
Except for that evening every aggressive or dangerous dog has told me, via body language that I needed to watch out. This dog gave me nothing to alarm me. But I was on guard because of our phone conversation.
When a dog comes in I have you wait at the door. The dog is always on a line. I watch the dog and ask a couple of questions. But I am really looking at the dog’s behavior and judging its reaction to the center. If all goes well I have you drop the line to see what the dog does next.
I was a little more cautious than usual but again did not see anything. I deliberately stood away to the side at a distance. Then I told the owner to just let go of the line.
When I do this I am looking at three things, confidence, curiosity and caution. The dog has walked in and has already figured out by smell that there have been thousands of dogs in here. To a dog that is supposed to mean that the center is possible a den for a really large pack of dogs.
First I want to see if your dog confident enough to leave your side. A dog that has no confidence will just stand there with rear and front ends lowered. A dog with too much confidence will start peeing on everything in sight to “mark” territory.
A dog with normal curiosity will quickly begin to explore. And if the dog has the right amount of caution you will see it in their body language. When you go to some other pack’s den, you need to be prepared for confrontation.
This dog stood calmly for a moment. He took two steps. Then he turned suddenly and latched on to my shin.
It hurt. But I was a cop for 24 years. Police work is a contact sport and I have the scars, healed broken bones and surgical reports to prove it. It wasn’t very high on my list of pain situations. And I don’t panic easily.
Normally I would have just growled hard at the dog and walked my way up the line (reaching down would have guaranteed an attack at my face) until the line pulled the dog off my shin. But the owner was panicking and any movement on my part would have escalated the situation and made things worse.
I stood there taking the bite and calmly told the owner to slowly pick up the line and pull the dog off of me. Then I had to calm the owner who was reacting all out of proportion to the situation.
After I calmed the owner I had him attach the dog to a point so that the dog could not make another mistake and started to find out what had happened.
The owner told me he got the dog several years ago. The dog was normal and had no aggression. When the dog was two it disappeared from his backyard.
The dog was chipped so they checked regularly with the Humane Society to see if he showed up. After a year the figured the dog was never going to show up. They bought another dog. They did report the dog as stolen.
After the dog had been gone for two years they got a call from the Humane Society. The dog was at the shelter and had been identified via the chip. They went and got him. The Humane Society told them that the police had gone to a home of an older lady on a mental health check the welfare. Due to the lady’s behavior they had taken her in for an evaluation which turned into a mental health hold. As there was no one to take the dog the Humane Society had been called. When they checked for a microchip they found one and discovered the dog had been reported as stolen. As there is no legal right to stolen items in Colorado, the dog had to be returned to the owners regardless of how the other woman got the dog.
They took the dog home and he seemed to be fine until they took him for a walk in the neighborhood when he tried to go after every dog or person he saw. They thought time would cure him but he hadn’t gotten any better.
Then the owner told me that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his military service. With all kinds of alarm bells going off in the back of my head I asked some more questions and then did some behavior testing.
My greatest concern was whether or not the dog had lost the ability to trust. If he had, then the chances that training could undo the damage were minimal, at best. As a rule of thumb I will not work with a dog that has lost that ability to trust. But there were some signs that he still had the ability to trust.
I do not like people to sign up for training at the end of the assessment. I want you to be very sure before you start with me that this is what you want. And based on what I now had heard and seen I wanted to think about this dog before committing to training it.
I sent them home with a brochure and told them to think it over. I also wanted to thing about whether or not I was willing to work with this dog.
I mulled it over for a couple of days. I decided that the dog was worth the effort. And I believe that if they followed my instructions that we could fix the behavior. But I knew if it failed the dog would be too dangerous to ever have even the slightest chance of getting loose. I decided that I would impose some unusual conditions.
I decided that if the dog worked with me, and it did not work, then I would refund their fees but that they would have to agree to put the dog down. If this dog was so traumatized that training did not work, the dog's life was one of constant fear and that kind of dog was just too dangerous to everyone.
Then I thought about the owner. I figured his wife would keep that agreement but I wasn’t sure about the husband. I knew they loved the dog and they might be tempted to keep it even if the training wasn’t working. Sadly sometimes there is no choice but to put a dog down. But not everyone will make the best decision for the dog.
Luckily they never called back, so the decision was taken out of my hands. I never learned what happened to the dog.
Assuming that all the information they gave me was accurate, I believe that whatever happened the two years that dog was gone filled that dog with rage. And sadly I will never know more about what caused it and if it could be undone.
I haven’t seen anything even close to this since, but I know the next phone call for this condition will come sooner or later. I hope the outcome is better.
Doug
I received a call well over a year ago. A vet referred an owner to me. The owner explained that he had a French bulldog that was extremely aggressive. The dog was fine with another dog in the home, his wife and he, but would suddenly attack any other dogs or humans.
I like to know generally what I am going to be asked to deal with before people come in for an evaluation. But usually I wait to get the details. And I deal with aggressive dogs all the time. But this owner was almost frantic. He said he was reluctant to even bring the dog in for fear it would attack me. I assured him that I was used to working with aggressive dogs. I told him that if the dog did attack it was an occupational hazard I have learned to live with.
I will not work with any dog without the dog and owner coming in for a free assessment before taking the dog. First I like to have an idea of what the dog is like. And it is very important that the owner understand the Manners in Minutes dog training system and be willing to do the work required for the training to succeed. If the training is to succeed the dog, the owner and I must be on the same page and be able to work together.
I always come out to see the dog as soon as you pull up. I am watching the dog as you bring it in. The dog tells me a lot about itself from the minute I first see it. By watching this I get a lot of information about what is going on with the dog.
Except for that evening every aggressive or dangerous dog has told me, via body language that I needed to watch out. This dog gave me nothing to alarm me. But I was on guard because of our phone conversation.
When a dog comes in I have you wait at the door. The dog is always on a line. I watch the dog and ask a couple of questions. But I am really looking at the dog’s behavior and judging its reaction to the center. If all goes well I have you drop the line to see what the dog does next.
I was a little more cautious than usual but again did not see anything. I deliberately stood away to the side at a distance. Then I told the owner to just let go of the line.
When I do this I am looking at three things, confidence, curiosity and caution. The dog has walked in and has already figured out by smell that there have been thousands of dogs in here. To a dog that is supposed to mean that the center is possible a den for a really large pack of dogs.
First I want to see if your dog confident enough to leave your side. A dog that has no confidence will just stand there with rear and front ends lowered. A dog with too much confidence will start peeing on everything in sight to “mark” territory.
A dog with normal curiosity will quickly begin to explore. And if the dog has the right amount of caution you will see it in their body language. When you go to some other pack’s den, you need to be prepared for confrontation.
This dog stood calmly for a moment. He took two steps. Then he turned suddenly and latched on to my shin.
It hurt. But I was a cop for 24 years. Police work is a contact sport and I have the scars, healed broken bones and surgical reports to prove it. It wasn’t very high on my list of pain situations. And I don’t panic easily.
Normally I would have just growled hard at the dog and walked my way up the line (reaching down would have guaranteed an attack at my face) until the line pulled the dog off my shin. But the owner was panicking and any movement on my part would have escalated the situation and made things worse.
I stood there taking the bite and calmly told the owner to slowly pick up the line and pull the dog off of me. Then I had to calm the owner who was reacting all out of proportion to the situation.
After I calmed the owner I had him attach the dog to a point so that the dog could not make another mistake and started to find out what had happened.
The owner told me he got the dog several years ago. The dog was normal and had no aggression. When the dog was two it disappeared from his backyard.
The dog was chipped so they checked regularly with the Humane Society to see if he showed up. After a year the figured the dog was never going to show up. They bought another dog. They did report the dog as stolen.
After the dog had been gone for two years they got a call from the Humane Society. The dog was at the shelter and had been identified via the chip. They went and got him. The Humane Society told them that the police had gone to a home of an older lady on a mental health check the welfare. Due to the lady’s behavior they had taken her in for an evaluation which turned into a mental health hold. As there was no one to take the dog the Humane Society had been called. When they checked for a microchip they found one and discovered the dog had been reported as stolen. As there is no legal right to stolen items in Colorado, the dog had to be returned to the owners regardless of how the other woman got the dog.
They took the dog home and he seemed to be fine until they took him for a walk in the neighborhood when he tried to go after every dog or person he saw. They thought time would cure him but he hadn’t gotten any better.
Then the owner told me that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his military service. With all kinds of alarm bells going off in the back of my head I asked some more questions and then did some behavior testing.
My greatest concern was whether or not the dog had lost the ability to trust. If he had, then the chances that training could undo the damage were minimal, at best. As a rule of thumb I will not work with a dog that has lost that ability to trust. But there were some signs that he still had the ability to trust.
I do not like people to sign up for training at the end of the assessment. I want you to be very sure before you start with me that this is what you want. And based on what I now had heard and seen I wanted to think about this dog before committing to training it.
I sent them home with a brochure and told them to think it over. I also wanted to thing about whether or not I was willing to work with this dog.
I mulled it over for a couple of days. I decided that the dog was worth the effort. And I believe that if they followed my instructions that we could fix the behavior. But I knew if it failed the dog would be too dangerous to ever have even the slightest chance of getting loose. I decided that I would impose some unusual conditions.
I decided that if the dog worked with me, and it did not work, then I would refund their fees but that they would have to agree to put the dog down. If this dog was so traumatized that training did not work, the dog's life was one of constant fear and that kind of dog was just too dangerous to everyone.
Then I thought about the owner. I figured his wife would keep that agreement but I wasn’t sure about the husband. I knew they loved the dog and they might be tempted to keep it even if the training wasn’t working. Sadly sometimes there is no choice but to put a dog down. But not everyone will make the best decision for the dog.
Luckily they never called back, so the decision was taken out of my hands. I never learned what happened to the dog.
Assuming that all the information they gave me was accurate, I believe that whatever happened the two years that dog was gone filled that dog with rage. And sadly I will never know more about what caused it and if it could be undone.
I haven’t seen anything even close to this since, but I know the next phone call for this condition will come sooner or later. I hope the outcome is better.
Doug
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