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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.
October 2008 - Posts
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 Halloween is a great opportunity for dog training. The uniqueness of the holiday provides some dog training experiences that you can take advantage of to help your dog get to the next level in his socialization and guest manners skills.
Socialize Your Puppy
Halloween is a prime opportunity to expose your puppy to new and interesting sights and sounds. Bring treats with you on every walk and say, "Yes!" or 'Click and Treat' every time your puppy sees halloween decorations, hears ghoulish sounds or meets trick-or-treaters.
Remember, with socialization it is critical that your puppy is not showing signs of fear or you are going too quickly. When a puppy stops taking treats, that is a sure sign of fear. Move him or her farther away and give treats from this new distance.
Doorbell Desensitization
Trick or treaters provide a perfect opportunity to teach a dog to be calm when the doorbell rings.
Keep some treats in your pockets in anticipation of the little ghosts and goblins and practice this doorbell desensitization exercise:
- AS SOON as the doorbell rings, say, "Yes!" or 'Click' (if you are using a clicker) and drop treats on the ground
- As you notice that your dog's reactivity lessens throughout the evening (he might even start sniffing the ground after the doorbell!!) start talking to him more before giving treats
- By the end of the evening, try and walk him calmly to the door and have him sit after each ring
- Practice walking him to the door and sitting periodically between visitors to give him more practice
 Have a Safe Place for Candy
It is easy to lose track of your child's bounty after a long night of trick or treating. Make sure to help your kids put the candy in safe place to avoid making your dog sick (or worse) after ingesting candy.
Chocolate, macadamia nuts, raisins, and grapes are really bad for dogs and could prove fatal.
Wrappings can also cause intestinal problems.
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A new $15 million hospital opened in San Antonio, Texas to care for dogs wounded in combat.
"We act as the Walter Reed of the veterinary world," said Army Col. Bob
Vogelsang, hospital director, referring to the Washington military
medical center that treats severely wounded troops.
Before the new facility opened, dogs were previously treated in a facility that opened in 1968. Since Sept. 11, 2001, demand for combat-ready dogs has increased dramatically. They currently also train dogs at the Lackland Air Force Base where the hospital is located.
Originally reported in the Chicago Tribune.
Read the article here.
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 I taught hundreds of dog training classes for two years before switching to all private sessions five years ago. I enjoyed teaching classes but enjoy the flexibility and autonomy of private sessions more. But, I still see value in group classes and often refer clients to other group classes in Chicago. Are you currently deciding between group and private classes and don't know which option to choose? Here are my thoughts on both options.
Socialization
Whether you choose private training or group classes for your puppy, it is critical that you spend much more time on socialization than what your puppy class or private session provides. You should concentrate on learning how to socialize your puppy and learn about dog body language, play styles, and how to break up fights if they occur. Puppy classes can be beneficial if you are training your puppy in the winter and might have difficulty finding groups of puppies to play with in inclement weather. Since my private clients live in Chicago near high concentrations of puppies, we have ample opportunities to meet puppies during sessions to ensure they understand how to continue the socialization process in between sessions.
Scheduling Flexibility
One of the benefits of private training is scheduling around your busy schedule. I take appointments from 9am - 7pm and most private trainers work flexible hours. You also do not have to schedule the same time each week. With classes, you are usually obligated to meet at the same time each week. Some classes offer "drop in" type schedules. If scheduling flexibilty is a priority for you, check with the trainer about flexible shedules and cancellation and makeup sessions as well. All training facilities have different rules about making up classes if you miss one.
Cost
Private classes are definitely more expensive, but there are other costs to factor in. With classes, you have to travel to the location. My clients enjoy the flexiblity of meeting me at their house without any travel time.
Theoretical vs. Real World Training
One of the biggest challenges for any student that takes a group class is to apply the strategies learned in class and apply them to real-world challenges at home. For instance, teaching guest manners such as no jumping, or no barking at the doorbell is a common question tackled in group classes. it is challenging to recreate the situation in class without the actual doorbell and door at your house. During my private training, I show my clients step-by-step instructions on how to desensitize their dog to the doorbell, and how to teach their dog not to jump near the door when guests arrive.
Territorial Aggression
If your dog exhibits territorial aggression in the home, you need private training. The triggers that cause territorial aggression can't be recreated in a group setting.
Dog-Dog Aggression
You can make progress in a good "growly" group class as long as you are working with a skilled positive reinforcement trainer (my recommendation is to ONLY use positive reinforcement). The challenge is finding a good trainer that really understands how to treat this issue and has enough assistants in class. The rule of thumb is that there should only be 4-6 dogs in each class and there should be one assistant for each dog in class. Dog-dog aggression is handled very well in a private setting with the right trainer. 40-50 percent of my cases involve dog-dog issues. I work with my clients in their neighborhoods where the issues occur on a daily basis. I also often bring one of my personal dogs to a session in order to help my clients learn their dogs tendencies while focusing on getting their dog comfortable with one dog for an extended period of time. This allows my clients to study their dogs anxiety signals in order to apply this knowledge when they encounter other dogs on walks.
Distractions
Some of my private clients tried group classes and stopped going out of frustration. They could not get their dog to pay attention in class around the other dogs. A good teacher can usually help redirect a dog and provide guidance on how to achieve focus. However, sometimes it is easier to start with private sessions to lay the foundation of training principles before attempting a high distraction group setting.
These are just some thoughts that hopefully will help you make your decision about group classes or private training. Either option can be beneficial and fun if you find the right trainer. Go watch the classes that you are considering, check references and talk to other clients of the trainer before making your decision.
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Everyone is a critic. If you have a job specialty I am sure that you look at others performing your job with a critical eye. Maybe they are less efficient, charge too much or have a questionable work ethic. I am the same way. I am always critical of other dog trainers and enjoy watching other trainers work to hone my skills of assessing a situation and formulating a strategy that I might do differently.
I first put my criticism into two categories: humane and non-humane, and then I filter through many other factors including clear instruction, efficiency, mastery of subtleties and speed of learning. The first one is the deal breaker.
If I ever hear of, or see someone performing training that is not humane, I lose complete respect for the trainer. There are many levels of inhumane treatment of dogs in dog training and the important point to keep in mind is that aversion, or the application of something that is unpleasant, is in the eye of the recipient. Some dogs might be fine if you raise your voice, others might cower and shake in fear.
The point is, it is impossible to know the threshold of pain and anxiety that a dog can take before they turn into a mess, so why apply any level of aversion? There are numerous trainers that use much more abusive trainers including using choke chains and shock collars. The tragedy is that the dog training world is largely unregulated and clients hire "dog trainers" because they don't realize that these abusers are using methods that can physically and emotionally scar their dog.
 Read this story about a dog in the UK that was tortured by someone calling himself a dog trainer. Thankfully, this poor excuse for a human being was found out and fined, but many much more heinous actions are being done RIGHT NOW to dogs all over. Just because someone takes your money or has a facility with a cute sign with a dog on it doesn't mean that you should trust them with your dog.
Do your homework, check references, watch them work and DO NOT get scared into using their services. Many abusive trainers use the same scare tactics on their potential clients as they do with the dogs in their care. Especially if someone has an aggressive dog, they often tell them that if they don't "Show their dog who's boss" and "Be the alpha" and "Whip them into shape" then their dog will never get better and will probably get worse. This simply isn't true. I have worked with thousands of dogs, many of them were aggressive, and have only used positive reinforcement.
I will NEVER use choke chains, prong collars, shock collars or abusive methods. Keep this in mind when you are looking for trainer. Just like finding a good teacher, finding a good trainer might take some time. But it is worth it.
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 Want to take your dog training skills to the next level? Enlist the help of someone to watch you train and give you constructive help based on the following criteria:
Consistency
Make sure you are clear and consistent with your verbal cues or hand signals. Did you say, "Come" or "Come here"? For a "Stand" cue, is your palm facing your dog or away from him?
Say It Once
Repeating cues is the fastest way to dog training frustration. If you want reliability (who doesn't?) you need to make sure you say the cue one time and then help your dog get it right. If you find that you always feel like you have to repeat cues, this is an indication that your dog needs more help on that aspect of training. If this happens, practice 5-10 repetitions where you say the cue, and then help your dog do the behavior by using a food lure or other "helper" such as gently pulling the leash for "come". You need to condition the behavior and associate with the cue by doing lots and lots of repeitions. But, saying it once is crucial for reliability.
Quiet Body
When you are communicating with your dog to "Sit" do you bend at the waist a little bit? This is a common occurrence with new trainers. If you add extraneous body movements, your dog might think that this is part of the cue. Your dog might be confused (and you might get frustrated) if you ask for a "Sit" next time without bending at the waist.
No Blocking
Blocking occurs if you give a hand signal and a verbal cue at the same time. Why is this a problem? If you want your dog to learn both hand and verbal cues individually, then he might be confused when he sees just one of them if you sometimes put them together. You might have to always give both cues for it to make sense. He might also not learn one of them if he pays attention to the cue that he is more familiar with.
Keep Your Dog Interested
Is your dog engaged in the training session? Is he giving a lot of eye contact. Is he having fun? One difference between novice and professional dog trainers is the skill to keep a dog excited about training. The more excited your dog is the more he will pay attention and will give you a better opportunity for teaching more skills. Use enthusiasm, great treats or toys, move around a lot and reward frequently to keep your dog interested. Also do short training sessions and stop training before your dog wants to stop to keep things fresh.
Dog training is a skill that evolves over time. Pay attention to the details of training and you will increase your skills and have a lot more fun.
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Dog
daycares are quite common in Chicago. Especially these days with the
economy in shambles, people have a tendency to work longer hours and
might even need to take on a second job to make ends meet. It is easy
to feel guilty about dogs not getting enough exercise or attention. So
many people look into dog daycare to provide their dogs with necessary
exercise and social interactions. But, can these trips to daycare cause
more problems than they help? In a short answer, I would say, yes.
Don't
get me wrong. I think dog daycares are great in theory. I truly believe
that the owners of dog daycares are usually caring, responsible people
that truly love the dogs that they take care of. However, there are
reasons why dog daycares can be problematic and that is what I want to
address today. I am basing my theories on over six years of experience
training thousands of dogs. In countless interviews over the years many
of my clients identify behavior changes as a direct correlation to
trips to dog daycare. I have also witnessed first-hand dozens of
interactions at a variety of dog daycares in Chicago that absolutely
can cause major behavioral problems even if they happen sporadically
during visits. But, based on my experiences, the interactions that I
saw happen more frequently rather than less.
I
always recommend dog walks instead of daycare unless a dog has severe
separation anxiety and can not be left alone. Dog daycare is an option
until the proper separation anxiety exercises are practiced and the dog
can be left alone.
Here are the top reasons why I have found dog daycare to cause behavior problems.
No downtime. Some
daycares advertise "cageless boarding" as a benefit. However, dogs need
a lot of sleep. If they have constant stimulation of playing and
barking dogs, they can become extremely over-stimulated causing
stress. An over-stressed dog can be more reactive and less tolerant.
This can lead to anxiousness or even fights between dogs. Even daycares
that offer downtime in cages throughout the day dogs often have
numerous dogs that bark continously throughout the day, further adding
to the stress.
Bully dogs.
Dogs that are either improperly socialized or have overly aggressive
play styles can wreak havoc in dog daycare. Depending on the confidence
level of your dog, he might learn bad play styles or become anxious or
even aggressive around other dogs.
The attendant's knowledge of dog behavior.
When you leave your dog in the care of a daycare, you are assuming that
the attendant can identify problems before they start and skillfully
prevent situations from getting out of control, right? I have
personally witnessed a Yorkshire Terrier puppy shaking out of fear in
the corner of a play session while the attendant either did not see him
or ignored his obvious distress. He should have immediately taken the
dog out of the play area, called the dog's guardian and told him or her
that dog daycare is not the best situation for their dog.
I
have also witnessed many play sessions where one or more dogs are
getting harassed and no one steps in to help. This can lead to dog's
learning that the only way they can get help is to escalate their
behavior until it is obvious that they are scared by snapping, growling
or snarling at other dogs. These dogs can then start exhibiting this
behavior at home when they are under duress.
I
have clients that have used dog daycare for years with no problems.
However, I see many problems that can be directly attributed to going
to daycare. You need to use your judgment and monitor your dog's
behavior if you choose to use daycare for your dog.
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 Dogs exhibit specific signs of stress when they are under duress. If you know what to look for in your dog aggressive dog, you can help him remain calm around dogs. To do this, you need to learn his specific signals and then move him away when stress occurs.
If day in and day out your dog is kept comfortable around other dogs, he will learn that he doesn’t need to be “on guard” when dogs around. This will lower his anxiety. If you also pair all meetings with FANTASTIC treats, your dog will also form a positive association for the presence of dogs.
Signs of Stress
Pay close attention to his subtle signs of stress
• Not taking treats
• Taking treats more roughly
• Not performing behaviors easily that he normally does
• Wide eyes
• Raised hackles
• Sniffing the air
• Scratching
• Yawning
• Licking lips
• Freezing or stiff movements
• Moving head or eyes side to side
• Obvious indicators like growling, snarling, or snapping
Use Assessment Tools to Keep Your Dog Calm
Each stage of interactions with dogs should be assessed to determine if your dog is comfortable or anxious. Keeping him calm the entire walk will speed up results. The more times he reacts on each walk will make all treatment more difficult. If you are unsure of his mental state, move him away from the situation. After he calms down after more distance, continue the exercises.
Use a clicker or say “Yes” to mark when your dog looks at the other dog. Make sure you are watching your dog’s head for the instant he sees the other dog. If a dog is approaching, move to the side at a comfortable distance and wait for the dog to approach. If your dog reacts by barking, lunging or growling, move him away until he is calm and then continue the exercises.
Here are specific ways to gauge your dog’s anxiety. If you follow these guidelines on every walk by moving away if your dog shows anxiety, eventually your dog will get comfortable with other dogs.
Low Anxiety – Stay where you are or move closer to the other dog
• Turns around immediately upon hearing the ‘click’
• Takes the treat gently
• Is able to look away from the other dog
• Is able to do a behavior such as sit on cue (do not try too soon in the process)
• Relaxed body, face, ears
Medium Anxiety – Stay where you are, do not move closer, possibly move away
• Turns around after the ‘click’ after a slight pause
• Doesn’t turn around, but still takes the treat when presented to him
• Slight stiffness
• Upright ear movement
High Anxiety – Gently move him away
• Barking, whining, showing teeth
• Doesn’t turn around and doesn’t take treats after the ‘click’
• Takes treats with a rough mouth
• Extreme stiffness, pulling excessively on leash
Have more questions about dog to dog aggression? Join my community and ask questions for free.
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 Housetraining a dog can be a very frustrating experience. Especially if you had a dog in the past that was unusually easy to housetrain, your current dog might seem "flawed" or you might be at your wits end. Here are some general tips to keep in mind and some ideas to try if you are frustrated with your puppy.
Physical Abilities
Puppies can hold their bladders approximately one hour per month of age. However, they can usually hold it much longer at night, so you need to pay attention to the time during the day to get an accurate reading.
Use the Correct Size Crate
Crates should be just big enough for your puppy to walk in, turn around, stretch and lie down. If there are accidents or destruction in the crate take EVERYTHING out. It is not cruel for your puppy to sleep on plastic for reasonable amounts of time. Dogs sleep on wood floors, and hard marble fireplaces all the time by choice. If the crate is too big, divide it with a divider and put something in the back of the crate to make it look smaller. It is important that your puppy doesn’t have enough space to potty in one corner and sleep in the other. The crate is not a torture device. You are not going to use it for longer than your puppy can hold it. You will use a long-term confinement area, described below, if you’re going to be gone for extended periods of time. The reason the crate is small is to motivate your puppy to hold it. If you extend the time a bit longer each day, you will physically condition your puppy’s bladder to increase the amount of time between potty trips.
If There are Accidents
Do not rub her face in it, yell at her or anything else. Calmly clean up the mess and make sure you are charting all of the accidents in a daily chart. If you scare your puppy before she is comfortable going in front of you, you can actually scare her and she will avoid going potty in front of you. You need to build up a reward history for going in the correct spot. A success happens when you say, “Go potty” and your puppy goes potty in the right location. After 10 successful trials, if you catch her in the act of going inside, you will do what is called, “Interrupt and Redirect” by saying, “Potty Outside!” and clap your hands once. Hopefully she will stop mid-stream. You then pick her up or put her on leash and run her outside or inside to the puppy pad and start the process again. As with all management techniques, you need to limit the amount of mistakes in order to get a smooth training procedure up and running
It is very common for accidents to happen shortly after a puppy goes potty one time and the person thinks they are “finished”. As with all accidents, write it down on the chart, circle it to make sure it stands out and then the next day at this time allow your puppy a much shorter amount of freedom and then put her in the crate. Take her out again a short time later to finish her business. As you get more comfortable with the timing and her signals, the amount of accidents should diminish.
Setup A Long-Term Confinement Area
You should also designate a long-term confinement area for times when you are going to be away longer than your puppy can currently hold it. You should be able to go out for the evening and not worry about your puppy having an accident in the house or hurting herself. You should use the long-term confinement area sometimes when you are home to ensure that your puppy gets comfortable with it. Some options include:
• An exercise pen
• A puppy-proofed bathroom or other room
• Baby gates at either end of a hallway or in a kitchen
You can have a crate in the area, but the critical elements are some type of puppy pad or paper, and water if you are gone for a while. I do NOT count a puppy going potty off of the pad as an accident. The entire reason for setting up a long-term confinement area is because you are expecting your puppy to go potty during that time. If they go on the pad, great, if not it is better than in the crate or in another part of your house. It is purely a management strategy, not truly a housetraining strategy.
When is a Puppy Housetrained?
Puppies can be housetrained as early as 5-6 months, but more commonly puppies are accident-free between 7-9 months. With that said, you should see continous progress and less accidents each week. The less mistakes that you make the better. This means that you need to closely monitor your dog’s behavior and have her with you all the time or in the crate until she is potty trained. She is officially potty trained if she is accident-free for 30 consecutive days.
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 Have you ever gotten bored working on "Sit, Down and Stay?" Sometimes
it helps to have some suggestions for ways to make training a bit more
interesting. Here are some simple ways to keep it fun for you and your
dog.
- Reserve top tier chew toys, bones or treats for a point in
the training session when your dog improves his performance. For
instance, when he holds a Stay for a longer time than the last session,
give him his chew toy as a reward.
- Hide Kongs or other
stuffable toys around the house filled with your dog's dinner. Work on
a training session and then allow him to search for his dinner after he
does something outstanding.
- Work on improving criteria. For
instance, the criteria for Come When Called include speed of the
behavior, avoiding distractions, the position of your dog after he
comes to you, etc.
- Work on basic training exercises on walks.
Many people don't work on periodic sits, downs and stays on walks. This
will improve reliability by providing your dog practice training in a
variety of locations.
- Work with a friend on two-dog training
goals such as working on attention around distractions, coming when
called running next to each other, and come up with creative two-dog
tricks.
- Practice a 5-minute training session without using any verbal cues, and just use hand signals.
- Move away from treats and use more verbal encouragement.
- Use
toys as rewards. If your dog likes to play tug or fetch, do quick
training sessions and reward with a quick game of tug or fetch.
Hopefully these ideas spark some other ideas for training. Often simple changes can keep things interesting.
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 Did you ever want to change a cue or teach your dog a new cue for an old behavior? It is actually very easy to do this with just a little planning.
Why would you want to teach your dog a new cue for a behavior that he already knows? One common example is when someone wants to teach their dog another cue for Come When Called. My dogs know many different cues for this behavior including the verbal “Come” as well as a whistle, and various visual cues. I use a different cue depending on how far away they are and whether they can hear me or not.
To change or add a cue you need the following:
- A new cue that you want to teach
- A cue that your dog already knows
Let’s assume you want to teach your dog to “come” when you whistle. To accomplish this do the following:
- Have your dog sit and stay
- Walk 10 feet away from your dog
- Whistle
- Pause for a moment (if your dog isn’t already coming to you)
- Ask for your dog to “Come” or another cue using a cue that he already knows
- If he doesn’t come right away, help him gently by guiding him with a leash or tapping your leg
- Repeat this exercise until he doesn’t need the secondary “Come” cue and has learned that the whistle means the same as “Come”
Helpful Tips
- It is important to give the new cue first and make sure you pause before providing the cue that your dog already knows. If you give the new cue and the old cue at the same time, this is called "blocking." If blocking occurs your dog might not learn the new cue because he has all the information he needs from the old cue. The new cue can become “background noise”.
- If you pause between giving the new cue and the old cue your dog will learn the cue eventually because he will anticipate that the new cue is always followed by the cue that he knows
Have fun changing or adding cues. Here are some fun things to try.
- Scratch your head to teach your dog to sit
- When you sit on the couch, teach your dog that this means he should lie down on his bed
- When you open the front door, teach your dog to sit
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