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Learn about the day to day life of a successful private dog trainer in Chicago, IL. Gain insight into the challenges of being a trainer as well as tips to help you with your dog.
June 2008 - Posts
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 Ever see a dog growling around his food bowl? Ever see those "Funniest Home Videos" shows where a dog is showing teeth while standing over a bone? You have witnessed something called Resource Guarding, a form of dog aggression. This form of aggression is fairly common, but easily preventable. As with all undesired behaviors, I always recommend investing the time in the beginning to prevent a situation from arising, rather than having to work on changing behavior later on. Especially with aggression, once a dog bites someone there is always a chance that he might bite again.
You might have heard people tell you "Never go near a dog when he is eating!" You know what? That is terrible advice. However, I will make one adjustment to that comment: "Never go near a dog that guards his food bowl while he is eating unless you know how to train him not to be aggressive."
Assuming your dog does not already guard his food, the reason that is terrible advice is that if you never acclimate a dog to people being around his bowl then there is a much higher chance that he will start to exhibit resource guarding behaviors later in life. So, as soon as you bring home a puppy you should practice daily exercises to help your dog feel comfortable when people are near his food, objects or locations.
Adaptive Significance of Resource Guarding
Resource guarding is a natural behavior occurring in animals. Once animals take prey, food, or find shelter it is imperative for their survival that they protect their resources from others.
Types of Resource Guarding
Dogs can guard food bowls, bones, toys, people, locations or objects. The fascinating and potentially confusing aspect of resource guarding is that dogs don’t necessarily “need” what they guard. A dog might guard a bone even if he has 100 bones in front of him. He might guard a pen that drops from a desk as if it is the most important thing in the world to him. He might guard a couch that he is lying one or a person that he is standing next to. With animal behavior the “whys” are sometimes murky, but there are specific signals that dogs that dogs exhibit that identify resource guarding behavior.
Signs of Resource Guarding
Besides the obvious signs of aggression including barking, growling, or showing teeth, dogs can show other signs of aggression. When a dog is eating, they can “punch” their food bowl and increase the rate of eating. They can also show stiffness and even a momentary pause in eating is a red flag that they are anxious. Watching people walk by with a hard stare is also a sign of anxiety and potential aggression.
Resource Guarding Prevention
Unfortunately there are no guarantees that you can prevent resource guarding, but there is a much higher chance if you start early with your puppy, practice regularly and continue at least until your dog is 12 months old. After one year, I recommend weekly maintenance for another 6 months and then monthly maintenance for the rest of your dog’s life. The absolute critical point to remember is that it is highly unusual for young puppies to exhibit resource guarding. Most of the cases I see crop up at approximately twelve to eighteen months of age.
Do not get lulled into a sense of security when you start the exercises and your puppy doesn’t do anything. That is the point. You want your puppy to be COMPLETELY comfortable with all of the various actions that might happen around their resources. I hear people say, “Oh, I don’t need to do the exercises, my puppy doesn’t show aggression.” But, that is flawed thinking. Regular practice is the best way to prevent it from ever showing up.
Dogs Do Not Feel Comfortable With Everyone
Dogs can learn to be completely comfortable with one or more members of the household, but bite a neighbor that comes over during mealtime. It is important to do exercises with a wide variety of people including people of different sizes, races, sexes, and ages so your dog becomes comfortable with everyone that he might come in contact with. Children are especially at risk around dogs that resource guard because they often ignore subtle signals that dogs exhibit until it is too late.
Resource Guarding Exercises
These exercises are for dogs that are not showing signs of aggression. If you have a dog that is already showing signs of resource guarding, you should work with a skilled positive reinforcement trainer to help rehabilitate him. You can also join my community for free and ask me questions there. I recommend that you practice during at least one meal per day for at least 3-5 minutes per day.
Food Bowl
- Play with your dog’s food while eating and give handfuls of food with occasional extra treats
- Walk by and drop treats in food bowl
- Pick up food bowl, put a yummy treat in and give it back
- Pet your dog and drop something yummy in food bowl
Bones or Chew Toys
- Hold your dog's bone and allow your dog to chew on it (this gets him used to seeing hands while chewing bones)
- Take bone away, give treat and give the bone back to your dog
- Walk by your dog when he is chewing on the bone, drop treats on ground and walk away
- Pet your dog and give treats
Locations
- Approach dog and give treats
- Pet dog and give treats
If you have a dog that is already showing signs of resource guarding,
you should work with a skilled positive reinforcement trainer to help
rehabilitate him. You can also join my community for free and ask me questions there. If you want even more information on resource guarding, you should purchase MINE! by Jean Donaldson. This is the book on resource guarding.
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 Plug a diffuser into the wall and solve dog problems? Spray something on a towel and put it near your dog and he will be calmer during thunderstorms, when left alone or in the car? Yeah right.
Well, I have found it to work.
I started using Comfort Zone diffusers years ago to help alleviate stress for Ranger, one of my Collies, during thunderstorms and fireworks celebrations. I also tried other strategies including Melatonin and other herbal strategies.
I think Comfort Zone works the best and will continue to use it when necessary. I have to admit that I was quite skeptical before I originally tried it. It is not inexpensive - $46.99 for the diffuser and refill or $26.99 for the spray or refill. The success of the product also hinges on an unusual concept. Comfort Zone uses a synthetic pheromone that simulates a pheromone that lactating dogs emit. This is supposed to be calming for dogs. As described on the Comfort Zone site:
“Comfort Zone with D.A.P. is a synthetic pheromone that mimics the natural appeasing pheromone released by the lactating female to reassure her puppies. The pheromone therapy helps to reduce symptoms of fear that include: barking, house soiling, whining, whimpering and destructive behaviors. It also helps comfort dogs that are newly adopted, moving to new homes, adjusting to new pets, visitors and environments, or those frightened of thunderstorms and fireworks.”
But, the proof is in the results. The first time I noticed a marked improvement is shortly after I plugged it in. Ranger actually lied down just below the outlet in the bathroom where it was plugged in and went to sleep during a thunderstorm. Wow.
Before I used the diffuser, Ranger would wake me up at all hours during a thunderstorm, jump on the bed and walk back and forth on my head in the middle of the night while drooling profusely. Not a pleasant experience for either of us, that is for sure.
What I have found is that the results are not 100% nor does the product work for every dog. While he did calm down, it also made a difference how severe the thunderstorm was. I have asked many other trainers over the years and asked my clients to share their experiences with the products. Basically the consensus that I have found is that it is worth trying if there is a problem with anxiety because it seems to work more often than not and it is a safe option to try.
 Recently a client raved to me about the effects of using the spray version in the car. Her dog was terrified of the car, got nauseous each trip and even got extremely anxious when she put the car harness on. She used the spray version of the product on a towel and put it in the car. She said the difference was very noticeable and she was able to put the car harness on, her dog lied down in the car, took a nap and did not get nauseous.
There are many other success stories on the Comfort Zone site and I think that if you are having challenges with your dog, this product is worth a shot.
You can find it at many stores or order it online.
More Information Comfort Zone Success Stories Comfort Zone Information Site Have you had experience using Comfort Zone? Please share your experiences with everyone below.
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 A few months ago Trooper, one of my Collies, tested positive for Lyme Disease. Thankfully my vet had decided to start testing dogs in Chicago for Lyme Disease after she saw a few cases recently. He must have caught it during one of our infrequent visits to a friend's cabin in Wisconsin. All three of my dogs have had ticks even with preventative topical solutions applied beforehand. After numerous blood tests it has been determined that Trooper will be completely fine and we intervened early enough.
I am much more relaxed now than I was at the beginning because Trooper reacted poorly to the first choice of antiobitics. After five days of twice a day medication he stopped eating for almost five days and his liver and kidney levels elevated, which might also have indicated that the Lyme Disease had taken hold and was aversely affecting him. So we switched medication and started a new three week medication strategy with pills that are huge in size, given twice daily and require three separate pills each time. Now that I only have 2 more days of medication, I have learned a lot about strategies for giving medication and I thought I would share what I have learned with you. Of course each dog is different. My other two dogs will take medication easily and consistently by stuffing it in bread, cheese, lunchmeat or peanut butter. Trooper, on the other hand, has always been a finicky eater. If your dog is finicky or doesn't like to take pills, hopefully these suggestions make it easier to give your dog medication. Consider Medication Compounds
Check with your veterinarian for suggestions for pharmacies that flavor medication including beef, chicken, tuna, liver, peanut butter and other yummy flavors. Avoid Always Feeding Around Mealtimes
When I gave Trooper the first round of medication I gave it during his mealtime stuffed in roast chicken or cheese. When he started to have an adverse reaction to the medication, it seems that he also had a bad association with food and that was one reason he stopped eating. Make The Experience Fun
Try and be low-key and make it into a game. Use the food items that you are going to use periodically during the day without medication in it. This will help prevent your dog from always smelling or tasting the medication in the food and causing a bad association. Follow Pill Immediately With "Empty" Food
I finally decided that it was easiest to give the first pill to Trooper by gently putting my fingers down his throat. I then gave him a big piece of bread followed by a couple pieces of bread with the pills cut in half, followed quickly by more bread without pills. It seemed that while he was eating a piece of bread stuffed with a pill, he focused on the next piece of bread coming his way and did not spend time dissecting the first piece of bread to find the pill. Chart Times On Your Calendar
I found it to be easier to give Trooper his medication if I marked down the time each day on my kitchen calendar. I could track when he took it and count down the days I had remaining. It didn't seem like such a daunting task since I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Do you have any suggestions that you have used successfully to give your dog medication? Share with the community below!
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 There are certain topics in dog training that come up at least once per day. I find myself saying “Change the pattern, change the behavior” in many situations and I realized that this is a powerful concept that you might find useful when working with your dog.
My dog training philosophy is based on changing a dog’s behavior, and not focusing on what the dog might be thinking. Many people fall into the trap of making assumptions about why the dog performed a certain behavior and then run the risk of basing their training strategies on murky hypotheses. Examples of murky hypotheses include:
- “My dog jumped on me because he was being dominant.”
- “My dog urinated on my bed because she was being spiteful.”
- “My dog bit me because he is trying to take charge.”
I get many questions about why dogs do things and I often say, “I don’t know, but I do know that your dog did the behavior. That we can all agree upon, so let’s start there.” Once you move past the “why” and focus on changing behavior, your world may very well open up to a whole new way of looking at animal behavior. Keep in mind that this is not limited to dogs. You can use these strategies on any animal, including the two-legged variety that roam freely around the streets.
Behaviors can be innate (hardwired) such as breathing, yawning or blinking, or they can be learned such as sitting for a treat or responding to one’s name. Often dog behavior problems such as jumping are rooted in learned behaviors over time. How does a dog learn? A dog, like any animal learns through repetition. A situation presents itself, the dog responds in a certain manner and there is a consequence to his actions. If he enjoys the consequence, then the motivation kicks in and he wants to do that again!
Examples of learned behaviors include:
- Dog puts paws on person’s leg, dog gets petted
- Dog barks at person, person moves away
- Puppy grabs sock and runs, person chases, dog has fun
In each of the previous examples, the dog interacted with the environment in a certain way and, in turn, the environment responded in a certain way.
- In the first example, the dog put paws on the person’s leg and he got petted. What happens if he is never, ever, ever allowed to put his paws on the person’s leg? He doesn’t have an opportunity to learn that this might result in getting petted.
- In the second example, what if the dog was kept at a distance where he never felt like barking and never learns that barking causes a person to move away?
- In the third example, what happens if the puppy is never left alone near socks and never learns that grabbing a sock might result in a fantastic game of chase?
I can tell you with certainty what would happen. The dog would never have a chance to decide if the consequence of his actions are enjoyable and these behaviors would not become strong, well-rehearsed “habits”.
So, how do you use this information with your dog?
Stop behavior patterns quickly when you see them developing. Make sure that you think about what you do not want your dog to do. If you don’t want your dog to dig holes in your nice garden, watch him like a hawk and prevent him from ever learning that digging holes is fun. Stop him as quickly as possible when it does occur, and redirect his behavior into a more acceptable behavior such as playing fetch or playing tug. If you can’t watch him, bring him inside.
Manage your dog's access to the environement. Don’t be an absentee trainer. If you can’t watch your dog, manage him in a crate or dog-proofed area so he doesn’t learn that the couch tastes yummy, or it is fun to bark out of the window all day long and build barrier frustration in the process.
Change the chain of events.
For a dog that jumps on guests, the current chain of events might look like this:
- Dog sees person
- Dog runs towards person
- Dog puts paws on person’s legs
- Dog play bites hands of person
My recommended chain events looks like this:
- Dog sees person
- Dog doesn’t jump
- Dog sits to get petted
How to you change the pattern? First of all you need to stop the undesired chain of events from “going down the wrong path”. In this example, the situation degrades when the dog starts running towards the person, so that is where the focus should be placed. To prevent this from happening, the easiest thing to do is to have the dog on leash and prevent the dog from learning that he can run to the person and then jump and then get petted.
Friendly guests can derail great training by petting a dog for jumping. So, you need to take charge and make sure your dog never learns to do this behavior.
Do this:
- Have your dog on leash
- AS SOON as he sees your guest say, "Yes" or 'click' if you are using a clicker and give him a treat
- Move him a bit farther away if he is too interested in the events in front of him and continue the exercise
- As his interest moves from the events in front of him to getting a tasty treat, you can try and drop the leash (it is still attached to his collar) and continue working
- If that is too much for him, pick up the leash and try again
- At this point you can also ask for a “Sit” and reward that by giving a treat and also allowing your guest to come closer for petting
- If your dog jumps at this point, move him away and continue the exercise
- You can also redirect his attention by tossing his favorite toy down the hallway as soon as he sees your guests so he chases the toy instead of jumping on your guests
If you focus on stopping the chain of events before your dog starts the inappropriate behavior, you can change an infinite amount of behaviors including barking, digging, destruction, and even aggression.
Not sure how to apply this strategy to your situation? Join my Forums for FREE and ask me questions that pertain to your situation. I am glad to help.
Happy training!
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 I finished up with a client on Saturday that I haven’t seen in a while. He is now almost twelve months old and is doing extremely well in all the basic areas that are most important to puppy guardians. He walks well on the leash (he has his moments around other dogs), he comes when he is called, he stops when asked and he understands how to learn. I was putting him through the paces at the beginning of the session to see where my clients needed some final guidance and to assess how to structure the session.
“Sit, Good Boy! Down, Stay . . . Come!, Down, Good Boy!” After approximately ten behaviors I gave him a treat. “Ouch!” He nailed my fingers in a painful crushing bite.
I did not remember him having a rough mouth when I worked with him as a young puppy many months ago so I asked his guardians if they toss treats or food to him. Sure enough, they started working on it as a fun “trick” and did not think anything of it until now.
Puppies are not motivated to have a tentative, “soft mouth” unless they are constantly reminded as early as possible to do so. This consistent message should continue well past their first birthday or until you are absolutely sure that your puppy’s default bite is tentative, measured and consistent.
I do not recommend tossing food or treats for puppies until they are consistently gentle with their mouth around food or toys.
Soft Mouth Exercise
For my clients I always recommend using at least one meal per day as a training session to help them stay consistent with their training schedule. This is an ideal time to work on a puppy biting prevention exercise with your puppy.
Basic
- Put one piece of kibble in your fist
- Place it near your puppy’s nose
- If she licks or sniffs your hand, say “Yes” and open your fist and allow her to eat the food
- If she puts any teeth (at all) on your fist, say, “Ouch!” and move your hand away
- Continue working until you feed half of your dog’s food
Advanced
Once your puppy has a gentle mouth with the basic exercise you can move to the next level
- Put a piece of kibble between your thumb and forefinger and repeat the exercise above
- Continue working until your puppy visibly controls herself and moves slowly around the kibble by either licking it or using her lips to get the kibble
- Back up to the basic exercise if this is too difficult
Troubleshooting
- Sometimes the verbal exclamation “Ouch!” can excite a puppy too much, if this happens tone down the volume and pitch of the word
- Try saying, “Good, good” as you are moving the kibble slowly towards your puppy and “Ouch!” IMMEDIATELY upon feeling teeth – good timing will make it clearer to your puppy which behavior is appropriate
See this exercise and more in my high-quality Puppy Biting Video and stop painful puppy biting. Ouch!
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Now that we are headed into the thick of summer, it is always nice to have some books to read at the beach or relaxing outside. I have an extensive library of dog training books that I have read over the years, and I thought you might like some recommendations.
| Before becoming a professional trainer, I had the normal questions about dog training that most people have. I researched the topic online, read other books and was horrified at the suggestions being thrown around with ease by many different sources. Choke your dog with a choke chain, use a shock collar, squirt your dog in the face with a squirt bottle or throw cans with marbles or pennies were frequently suggested because “that is the way you train a dog”. In The Culture Clash Jean very clearly identifies sound reasons why dogs should be trained using only humane, science-based strategies. Jean has a highly entertaining, no-nonsense approach to her writing that brings dog training into the human perspective in such a way that makes sense. She is highly scientific in her approach, but also uses entertaining analogies and stories to make her points. She has chapters on many fascinating topics including dog intelligence and morality, predatory and social behavior, socialization and fear aggression, behavior problems and training strategies. |
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by Karen Pryor Karen Pryor is one of the foremost animal trainers on the planet and started training dolphins for the Navy in the 1960s and was instrumental in bringing the concept of clicker training to the masses. Besides being an exceptional animal trainer she is also extremely adept at breaking down the nuts and bolts of animal behavior and apply it to dog training. She is able to explain WHY dogs do things and the science behind it. You can read her book on many levels. The basic level is how to train dogs and learn some fantastic dog training exercises to practice with your dog. The other level is the science behind training and learning how to improve performance, improve timing, understand the concepts of shaping and clicker training.
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Animals In Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
by Temple Grandin, PhD
Temple Grandin is a gifted animal scientist who also has autism. The central tenet of the book involves comparing her autism with the way that animals see the world. As an autistic person, she relates that she sees the world in a very myopic manner. She can’t even look at a fan because she gets mesmerized and sees each individual fan blade. She is able to use her unique perspective to help understand why animals are afraid and try and understand what they see.
She also relates a lot of information about aggression, fear, memory and troubleshooting specific behavior problems. She also does discuss dog training specifically as well throughout the book. While I don’t agree with everything she says about dogs and dog behavior, she brings up interesting points in a very engaging style.
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by Patricia McConnell, PhD Patricia McConnell is an applied animal behaviorist with more than 20 years of dog training experience. She has written many books on a variety of topics including separation anxiety, two-dog households as well as one of my favorites The Other End of the Leash.
The point of view of this book is to try and understand how dogs interpret our behavior and how to use this knowledge best to train your dog. Of all the books on my list, this is definitely the easiest read. This is not to say that it is not filled with tons of science-based information including how primates and canines can actually live together and understand each other based on how they communicate so differently.
If you are having dog training frustrations, there is tons of great information how to fine-tune your communication skills to ensure that you are being a consistent communicator and removing extraneous movements in your training. She has exercises for you to work on with your dog to proof behaviors in a variety of situations while you are learning how to communicate better.
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Oh Behave! Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker
by Jean Donaldson
This book was recently published and is just one of many books including Mine!, Fight!, and The Culture Clash. Full disclosure, I have not finished this book yet, but I wanted to tell you about it. I can assure you that if you like Jean’s works you will also enjoy this. Similar to Jean’s other books, there are no shortage of big words and large concepts, but she also makes it easy to read and follow.
The book starts out with some interesting ideas about how people choose their dogs and she follows it with a non-scientific fun exercise to assess your dog’s IQ. She then moves into a question and answer format from questions she has received over the years.
She covers everything from how we unintentionally shape our dog’s behavior, to separation anxiety, housetraining challenges, and Pavlov and how it affects everything we do. She also has a large section on rehabilitating aggressive dogs, theories of domestication and dog genetics.
Since Jean’s books can be dense with information, the question and answer format makes it easier to dissect the information in bite-sized chunks. Even though I studied with Jean at her academy and have read all of her books, I still find new nuggets of useful information each time I read her materials whether it helps me apply it to my own dogs or in my professional dog training career. |
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On Monday, I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of this interview with Jeanne describing her strategies and thought process for getting her Wheaten Terrier, Seamus ready for her daughter's school play. Read on for the last part and find out if all the work was worth it.
Q. In hindsight what would you have changed about the training schedule or goals?
I would have started earlier building a relationship between Seamus and Annie in varying contexts. I would have worked more frequently for shorter periods. I would have protected Seamus in rehearsals and taken him outside or kept him quiet when he wasn’t training or rehearsing. Seamus is very cute and loving, and all 127 kids wanted to pet him and hug him and get him to do tricks. Children are Seamus’ favorite playmates but as his guardian I think I should have seen that it was too much of a good thing. He was tired and stressed by the end of the final week and ended up getting a double ear infection in both ears the night before the show.
Q. What was the most important thing you learned about dog training during the experience?
The importance of giving Seamus consistency, short training periods, relaxation time (walking, playing), and quiet time. Build on small successes – give everybody something to feel positive about. Be patient – even when you don’t think your dog is getting it, he’s learning. Because he loves people, Seamus is a dog who won’t establish his own boundaries with people (walking away or even growling when he’s had enough), so I need to establish them for him when working in such a high stimulus environment.
Q. Do you think Seamus had fun?
Yes, except, unfortunately, for the performance, because he was tired and had an ear infection. I think he would have rather been home that evening. During dress rehearsal earlier that day, though, he was hilarious. He not only went to Annie and sat for her song but then started clowning with her – he rolled over, curled around her and asked for a belly rub, which she obligingly did while singing her song. (I had prepared her that if he did anything goofy and endearing like this, to just relax and go with it. Sometimes he likes to sit in people’s laps – he doesn’t know that he’s a little big for that!) For Seamus, it doesn’t get much better than kids to play with, turkey to eat, and lots of time with his guardian.
Q. Would you do it again?
I would. It would be my preference to rehearse in the space we are performing in, if possible. I’d ask for as much rehearsal time as I could get. I’d protect Seamus more – give him a little “star treatment” and let him relax with me away from the kids when he wasn’t training or performing. But all that training was wonderful for Seamus and for our dog-guardian relationship.
Q. What new behaviors are you currently working on?
We’re working on reducing Seamus’ reaction to other dogs. We have a dog park nearby that has two large fenced areas. The space is working well for our desensitization work but we need to get there more often!
I was interested by your blog post on getting your dog to pay attention to you. Since Seamus is a terrier, he is constantly scanning the horizon and not focused on me when we are out. I think this would be very helpful for us.
Q. Anything else that you want to add?
Ha, ha! Do you really want me to talk more about my dog?! Seamus is so great and I’m so proud of him. I could go on and on. Thanks for listening. By the way, did I mention he’s a shelter rescue? There are lots of wonderful dogs waiting to be adopted! I want to thank Jeanne and Seamus for sharing their thoughtful experiences. If you have training success stories, share them below. If you have training questions, visit my Forums or browse my online dog training lessons and get started today! Happy Training!
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 Do you have a complex training goal that you have always wanted to work on with your dog but don't know how to begin? There are a myriad of possibilities for training, but sometimes people get overwhelmed by where to begin and never reach their goal.
In February I was contacted in my Forums by Jeanne, one of my private clients, asking about how to teach her dog to Take a Bow. I gave her some suggestions and filmed a short video and posted it of my dog Ranger Taking a Bow. She mentioned that she wanted Seamus to learn this trick to perform it in her daughter's play, Annie. Seamus' role expanded and he was used in four scenes in the play. Through a lot of hard work and a little bit of help from me, Jeanne successfully completed her goals and Seamus was in the school play. I thought that Jeanne and Seamus did such a fantastic job that I asked if she would like to be featured in order to help others learn from her excellent training work. Read on for her interview and examples of identifying training challenges and
executing the tasks through lots of planning, time and
creativity. Hopefully this will provide you some ideas for your
training goals. This is Part 1 of 2. Stop back Wednesday for Part 2. Have your own training questions? Ask in the Forums. Q. How did you decide to have Seamus in the play?
Seamus loves children and being at school. I thought it would be fun for both of us but I wasn’t quite sure if he could do it. So I tested him, taking him for several weeks to the playground during aftercare – seeing if he could follow commands amid all the commotion and also seeing if he would take commands from the children. I knew the commands would be easy for him (sit, stay, come) but the context would be challenging.
I accepted under two conditions: that we have lots of rehearsal time with the girl who played Annie (this extra rehearsal time was made a condition of her casting), and that there would absolutely be no other dogs present at rehearsal or performance (Seamus is aggressive with other dogs).
Q. What did he do in the play?
He had four scenes:
- The first was the most challenging. He had to come onstage alone and run to Annie, then sit with her through a song. Then Annie put him in a sit/stay and she walked away to talk to another actor. Then she called Seamus to come to her, they walked back downstage and sat together, and Annie reprised her song.
- In his second scene, he had to run across stage to Grace and Daddy Warbucks, who was carrying a sleeping Annie. Grace then shooed him away and he ran back to me. (Grace was played by my daughter.)
- In the last scene he was taken in as a Christmas gift to Annie, wearing a big bow. He was on a lead for this scene, so the only challenge was teaching the children how to hold the lead in order to control Seamus and not get tangled up.
- Finally, he had to walk with Annie on lead from the back through 127 children in order to take a bow.
Q. How did you learn how to teach him what to do?
Seamus already knew how to sit, stay, and come with both visual and verbal cues. So the main problem was context. I learned a lot by trial and error.
Here were my main tasks: How to get Seamus to go to Annie and Grace amid many distractions.
We rehearsed this over and over and over again. I gave both the girls treats and turkey and used a hand signal (lift arm, point finger) and verbal signal, “go to _____.” We rehearsed getting him to go and sit (first with the girl standing, later with Annie sitting). I was surprised how it was hard for him to do the same behavior when we moved from rehearsing in an upstairs room to the gym and then to the set. How to get Seamus to stay with Annie during the song.
We worked on very long sit/stays at home and he’s had “Tomorrow” sung to him many, many times. Annie had treats and turkey in her pocket but he would still get restless and I didn’t want her to have to wrestle him and bribe him to stay with her while she was trying to sing her big solo. (We also had to balance the attractiveness of the treat with the amount of distraction and his mood for a given day. Turkey was good for focus if he was challenged and distracted; not so good if it made him over-excited and he was crawling over her and trying to get his nose in her pocket.) The biggest problem was getting him not to run to me in the middle of the scene. I tried being out of his sight but that just made him anxious and he would try to find me. I found that remaining in his sight off-stage worked better. But I also found that I had to stay very still – even if I smiled at him, he would come to me!
My goal was to make him feel comfortable and safe with Annie – to see her as a little oasis of comfort onstage. Whenever possible at rehearsals, I gave Annie Seamus’ lead and he hung out with her; she played with him, trained him, and gave him treats. The last week before the show, I even went to her classroom for an hour a day. He sat on his bed by her desk and I sat on the other side of the room.
How to get Seamus to follow Annie’s commands onstage.
I had to train Annie how to train Seamus, teaching her verbal and visual cues, as well as positive reinforcement methods. At first little Annie would command Seamus sternly, “Come” or “Stay.” Well, he’s a strong, vibrant three-year-old Wheaten. Although she was a pretty determined little girl, there’s no question of which one of them had a stronger will, in terms of his behavior. So we worked on training with wonderful treats and an encouraging, positive attitude. Annie ended up being a fantastic trainer and she and Seamus adored each other, which was what we all hoped would happen.
Q. How did Watch and Train help?
First of all, training by positive reinforcement is wonderful, for all dogs but especially my rescued Wheaten, who is easily cowed. I don’t want to force my dog to behave and have an obedient, frightened dog. And certainly, that’s not what they wanted to see onstage. I’ve learned from you that training is a win-win cooperative effort between guardian and dog. Seamus would do just about anything for praise coupled with turkey. Why not make everybody happy?
I asked for your help in teaching Seamus how to Take a Bow. When I was consistent, he learned it in about a week. I really appreciate learning that dogs don’t generalize well and that their learning is very context dependent. When you suggested that I think about the constants, I changed the focus of my training to strengthening his relationship with Annie, which I think enabled Seamus to behave reliably in a changing context. I also appreciate that I could post a question or concern I had and get feedback, such as, "Should I exercise the dog before rehearsals and the show? Is burning off energy a good thing or not?” Even if your answer was, “Maybe. Maybe not,” it gave me a way to evaluate what I was doing.
Oh yes, and when Seamus gets happy and excited, as he is likely to do in a gym with lots of children, he’s liable to throw his head back and crow, “Woo, woo, woo!” It was so very helpful to learn not only to ignore his crowing but to also reinforce his quiet. Annie and I would say “Eh! Eh!” and turn our backs and ignore him if he crowed, then turn around when he was quiet, click/treat and say, “Quiet is good!” Did I mention that clicker training is fantastic for showing Seamus exactly the behavior that I want? And breaking down a behavior into smaller steps, so that Seamus could build on small successes was helpful advice.
Q. What was the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge was that the context changed continually. The school does not have a theater and the show was on platforms in the gym. We were not allowed to rehearse in the gym until a couple of weeks before the show and the set was not put up in the gym until the week of the show. So, Seamus only had two rehearsals with the set and the full cast. They were still blocking scenes in the last week. The first rehearsal with the set, I was supposed to send Seamus to Annie, and in between us suddenly there were 15 middle school kids and a garbage can – we couldn’t even see her!
He did fine with the first scene in performance but he didn’t do what he was supposed to do in the second scene, where he runs across the stage to Grace and is shooed away. Again, this was because he couldn’t see her. They changed the blocking and put Daddy Warbucks on Seamus’ side. Then they dimmed the lights. Really not his fault. I couldn’t even see Grace. Fortunately, this scene wasn’t critical for the play. He ran onstage, sat down and scratched his ear, then leapt off the front of the stage and leaned on a nice man in the front row of the audience who petted him. It was cute. Q. How much training time per day/week did you practice?
30-60 minutes at rehearsals, 2-3 days a week, then sometimes a little more at home. The final week of rehearsals, we were there for 2-4 hours every day. (We didn’t train the entire time we were at rehearsals and figuring out exactly how much to train in between his scenes was a challenge. I wanted to train enough to keep him focused but not wear him out.) Come back on Wednesday for Part 2 and learn other tips including what Jeanne would have done differently and what was the best lesson she learned about dog training from this wonderful experience. If you have your own training questions, ask in the Forums. Do you have a complex training story to share? Post your comments below.
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 Dogs of all ages invariably get sick and also can have their bouts with runny stools because of too many treats. I live with an especially sensitive Collie named Ranger that has provided me first hand experience with home health care to soothe upset dog stomachs.
As always, check with your veterinarian before using any home remedies. Even herbs can be powerful and can cause problems if used incorrectly.
Here are some of my favorite suggestions that I have gleaned from first-hand knowledge, conferences, books, and my client’s experiences.
Skip a Meal
This is often overlooked as one of the easiest way to get a puppy on track. Sometimes stomach issues can be remedied by giving the system a break.
Sticky Rice and Steamed Chicken or Beef
This is usually the first suggestion that veterinarians offer to their clients that have runny stools. To get the useful “stickiness” use extra water and cook the rice for a longer period of time. I usually use ¾ portion rice to ¼ portion meat. Keep in mind that many dogs have more problems digesting beef. Chicken is usually a safer bet if you are not sure.
Canned Pumpkin
Try a teaspoonful for a little pup and a tablespoon for a larger guy. This has been known to help either constipation or diarrhea.
Slippery Elm Bark Powder
This is my favorite both because of the name as well as the effectiveness. Slippery Elm as described in Wikipedia is made from the bark of the slippery elm tree. While native to North America, slippery elm bark powder is widely used in many countries to soothe sore throats as well as the digestive tract. I usually try ¼ tsp mixed with the sticky rice and chicken described above. I have also used more as the need arises.
Elimination Diet
Sometimes dogs react to one ingredient and it can be difficult to identify the culprit. The first step with an elimination diet involves paring down the ingredients to a bare minimum until the system is back on track. Then you should add ingredients slowly while making sure your puppy’s system remains stable. Accurate notes are important to track progress.
Never hesitate to check with your veterinarian if your dog doesn’t quickly get back on track. Everything is probably fine, but it is better to be safe than sorry.
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 Puppies are incredibly challenging. There is no doubt about this,
but life with a puppy gets easier as long as you manage their
environment to lessen mistakes and inappropriate behaviors as well as
provide enough physical exercise and training. My job as a professional
dog trainer involves many roles including teacher, cheerleader (you CAN
housetrain your puppy!!), as well as sounding board for problems and
troubleshooting. Often I find myself reassuring my clients and let them
know that their current challenges will get better as their puppy
matures and learns more.
Here is a list of 5 things that happen over time as young puppies
develop that make the life of a puppy guardian so much better and
easier. If you are currently frustrated with your puppy, I hope this
gives you some hope that things will get better.
If you ever have questions about training suggestions, you can view my dog training videos or join my community and ask questions for free in the Forums section.
1. Sniffing Instead of Eating Everything
Puppies are born vacuum cleaners and it can be incredibly frustrating
to walk one of these little street cleaners. Puppies have been known to
eat everything from cigarette butts, feces, glass, pebbles,
plastic bags, and anything else they can get into their little mouths.
Imagine a walk with your little pup that actually involves walking
instead of repeated LEAVE IT OR DROP IT cues. It will happen.
Strategies
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Bring an approved toy with you on a walk and let your puppy carry it
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Scan the environment for items that are ahead of you so you can be prepared to work on cues
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Jog by difficult locations to decrease the likelihood that your puppy learns that this is a good foraging location
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General leash walking, Leave It and Drop cues
2. Telling You When He Has to Go Potty
Housetraining can be maddening. One of the challenging aspects is
teaching a puppy to tell you when he has to go potty. Once you have the
foundation of Housetraining by charting your puppy’s progress, you
should use this information to get to the next step.
Strategies
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Have your puppy in his crate an hour or more before you think he has to go
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Pay attention to his signals
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If he is anxious and you think he has to go potty, take him to the location, on leash
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Ask him to go potty
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If he goes potty in 3-5 minutes, give him an outstanding treat and then give him some time out of the crate
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If he doesn’t go, put him back in the crate and try again in 15-30 minutes
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Once you have a history of his patterns, it will help you identify demand signals vs. potty signals
Normally you don’t want to take your puppy out of the crate when he is
whining, but potty signals are the exception. It is important to put
him back in the crate if he doesn’t go and learn that this was a demand
signal. Demand behaviors such as barking or whining should not be
rewarded or they will probably get worse and then your puppy may become
anxious when alone.
3. Sleeping Through the Night
Puppies can hold their bladders approximately one hour per month of
age. So, a 3-month-old should be able to hold it about three hours. The good news is that they can normally hold it a bit longer
during the night since they are not active and not drinking water.
Strategies
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At the beginning you might have to set your alarm every couple of hours
for a really young puppy until he gets more on a schedule
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If you wake up in the morning and there is ever an accident, make sure
you take all the bedding out of the crate so he doesn’t use the bedding
as a diaper, which moves the moisture away from him
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If the bedding is in the bottom, you also can’t hear if a puppy is
moving around in the middle of the night – usually a sure sign that he
has to go potty
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Stop access to water at 7 or 8pm
4. Leave a Puppy Out of the Crate
Leaving a puppy out of the crate doesn’t have to be wrought with
disaster if you do it correctly. My rule of thumb is to start having a
puppy out of the crate in the bedroom with the door closed during bedtime to prevent
foraging throughout the house. It is also important to increase exercise during the day so your puppy is tired and is not bored. A sleeping puppy can't destroy your bedroom! With that in mind, take extra care to puppy proof the room as well.
Read this post for more hints and specific steps.
5. Off Leash Control
This is when it gets really fun. Imagine being able to take your dog to
a safe area, throw the Frisbee, ask your dog to “Come”, or “Stop” and
he actually does it! This comes through lots of repetition, consistency and good training,
but you can do it. Always make sure you have appropriate expectations
and you only say each cue one time.
Strategies
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Have your dog trail a leash and work on Come, Leave It and Stop
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Socialize your dog properly so he is not anxious around other dogs, people or sounds
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Don’t get frustrated if your dog is in a new situation and doesn’t perform the first time – stick with it and continue working
Visit my dog training videos for high-quality video dog training
lessons or my Forums where you can ask questions about this or any
other topic.
Happy Training!
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 Shaping is an incredibly powerful concept that you should add to your positive reinforcement vocabulary. Shaping is the strategy of rewarding certain behaviors to increase the chances that they will happen again.
You shape behaviors of others countless times throughout the day without even possibly realizing what you are doing. If a friend tells a funny story and you laugh, your friend was rewarded for her efforts and will probably tell you a funny story in the future.
If a friend has been working hard for two weeks to lose weight and you remark how good she looks, she will probably walk with a little spring in her step the next time she is headed to the gym.
If an animal gets rewarded for a specific behavior, then that behavior will most likely happen more often in the future for a possibility of attaining another reward. However there is a difference between dogs and people and how they can understand the relationship between a behavior and a reward based on the timing of the two.
Can you tell the difference between the two previous examples and do you know why the timing of one of the examples would be confusing to a dog? In the first example the behavior (laughing) was rewarded instantly and the person telling the joke knew exactly which behavior caused the desired response.
In the second example the friend’s behavior (exercising) was rewarded after the fact during a conversation. People can make the connection and deduce that the previous behavior (exercising) resulted in a positive remark (you look great!) and will be motivated to exercise again in the future.
Dogs do not make the connection as easily as people about behaviors that are not rewarded almost immediately. This can impact your daily training as well. If you ask your dog to “Sit” and then he sits but then lies down and you reward him when he is lying down he will associate the word “Sit” with the behavior that you think of as “Down”. If you want him to understand what “Sit” means, you should mark the correct behavior with a reward marker such as a clicker or the word “Yes!” and then use a reward that your dog likes.
In other words, timing is important. Using good timing, shaping is a fantastic way of teaching your dog to do specific behaviors that you find useful. You can shape behaviors of any age dog, but I find the following exercise to be especially useful with a hyper-active puppy that doesn’t know a lot of behaviors such as Sit, Down or Stay. You will have more success shaping if you plan ahead and think of behaviors that you are looking for. With a young puppy, you might want to shape Sit, Down, Come, or walking next to you. You can also read this post about shaping the absence of inappropriate behaviors for more examples of shaping.
You can use your puppy’s mealtime as a great opportunity for shaping, or you can use nutritious treats.
In the following exercise I will show an example of how to shape Come, Sit and/or Down. Beginning Shaping Exercise - Walk away from your dog
- If he follows you, mark the behavior with a succinct “Yes” or ‘Click’ using a clicker and give a reward
- If he jumps, ignore that behavior and wait for him to sit and then mark the behavior and reward
- Once he starts sitting reliably, wait until he lies down and mark that behavior and reward
- If you find that your dog is just doing one behavior and isn’t offering anything new, either walk away from your puppy or take a break and try again later
This is a very simplistic example of watching for behaviors that you want your dog to do and rewarding them. You can work on very complex behaviors using the concept of shaping including teaching retrieve, tricks like take a bow, or behaviors like loose leash walking.
Trainers sometimes make the mistake of focusing on their dog’s bad behaviors and miss all of the good behaviors that they exhibit. The main point that I want you learn from this post is that if you reward behaviors that you like, they will happen again. More questions about shaping or other behaviors? Watch my high-quality videos, or ask in my forums section.
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