Here’s my dog Charlotte trying to get me out of bed one morning. If I didn’t know my dog and her intention in this moment (the context), I might look at this picture and think, “this dog looks worried!”
Here is something short and sweet that I wanted to share. I have been seeing too many people misinterpret a dog’s communication resulting in confused and worried dogs, frustrated humans, and sometimes even a dog bite. There are a lot of things I want to say about this but I will save it for future blogs–perhaps even a several part series. For now, I want to talk about a basic concept I like to call Parts vs. Whole when it comes to when the dog ‘talks.’
When observing what a dog may be saying to you, it is important to consider the whole picture; dogs communicate with their entire bodies, not just parts of it. This is similar to how people communicate with their whole face. Can you genuinely smile using just your mouth, or do the eyes also smile? And to make it a bit more complicated, the context of the situation influences what the dog may be saying. A dog I had named Charity, a 30lb. Staffordshire cross, often went belly up when meeting a new dog. Most people thought she was being submissive to the new dog, but in fact, it could have meant one of three things: she was, in fact, deferring to the new dog saying “you’re in charge, buddy;” she was inviting the new dog to play by immediately showing him that she is not a threat; or she was not interested in the dog so she is attempting to disengage in a passive manner. What a fluent pup I had! And usually, Charity was communicating the latter of the three options.
The same thing goes for humans. A mantra I say to people, especially kids, is “a belly up doesn’t necessarily mean a belly rub.” Just because the dog is exposing her belly doesn’t mean she is inviting someone to bend over her and rub her belly. She could in fact be offering what’s called a TAP OUT. Just like the wrestling move, she’s calling “mercy!” and asking the person to back off. You can tell the difference of whether it’s an invitation or a warning by the way in which the dog offers the belly up position. If the dog’s body is wiggly and the face looks relaxed and has an open mouth, the dog is likely inviting a belly rub. If the dog’s body is tense and the mouth is closed, she is likely asking for space. The dog in the latter example will likely have wide eyes and even a tucked tail. They also tend to TAP OUT when they don’t want to be touched. As soon as this dog has space from the human, she will likely move away.
My dog Tricky is belly up, but she is not inviting me in for a rub. This is her sleeping position after a long run in the park. Always remember context when the dog is communicating.
Back to parts vs. whole. There is a common misconception that a wagging tail means a happy dog. That is not the case! The tail’s position and movement, indicate what the dog may be feeling at that moment and that’s not even looking at the rest of the body to understand the full picture. Be sure to read the entire body to get a comprehensive understanding of how the dog may be feeling. A position of an individual part of the body could mean a few different things. If you combine that body part position with other body part positions, in addition to looking at it within the context of what’s going on, you will better see how the dog feels.
While attending a behavior seminar two months ago, I heard a very clever metaphor to explain the importance of management in a behavior modification program: allowing a dog to practice a behavior that you are trying to change is just like pouring water into a bucket with holes. Management is important because it helps to create an environment in which the dog has little or no opportunity to practice the behavior you want to change. Otherwise it’s like taking three steps forward and two steps back. Many of you have been following my newsletter discussion about my dog Charlotte and her behavior of barking and lunging at other dogs, a behavior I wanted to change. By allowing Charlotte to practice the behavior of barking and lunging, she was only getting better at barking and lunging. Management in this case means doing my best to avoid or minimize situations where Charlotte can practice barking and lunging. I have a human example as well. A decade ago, I had a friend who wanted to quit smoking but was struggling to do so. This was during the time when people could still smoke in bars and restaurants had smoking sections. After a few failed attempts, he realized why he was having such a hard time–he kept hanging out around people who were smoking. For three months, he avoided public areas, including parties, to better support him in quitting smoking.
When I was walking Charlotte and Tricky around the block the other day, I had to weave in and out of kids coming out of school, dogs pulling across the sidewalk with retractable leashes stretched out like trip wire, scooters zooming by, and people stopping abruptly to text on their phones. A lot to think about! I was reminded of a defensive driving class I took in my early twenties. The instructor lectured us on how to be careful driving and avoid getting into accidents. Isn’t that exactly what I was doing that day when I was walking Charlotte and Tricky around the neighborhood? I was maneuvering my dogs through the sidewalks keeping aware of the environment and avoiding situations that could trigger a reaction out of Charlotte. Defensive handling on the sidewalks of the city.
It’s simple but not easy to be skilled at managing a reactive dog. It takes lots of practice to sharpen your own mechanics while teaching the dog various exercises to help the dog stay focused on you. These skills–both human and dog–have to be practiced regularly, away from the things that trigger the dog. My sister is a professional in the stunt industry. Yup! My sister is a stunt woman! So cool! Not only does she fall out of buildings and kick the you know what out of men, she also drives a stunt car. One of the reasons she is successful in the stunt industry is because she practices…a lot. Talk about defensive driving! Here is a link to her driving stunt reel:
http://stuntphone.com/viewprofiledetail.php?id=797
In a future blog post, I will include specific things I did with Charlotte to help prevent her from barking and lunging. It’s a busy world out there and can sometimes feel like moving through a maze. All of this training can help make the experience feel more like a game vs. a mine field of potential triggers.
When I started my business, DogCentric Training, a year and a half ago, I saw it as a chance to start over. I had a dog training business with my now ex-husband for 10 years. I thought about who I wanted to be, what I would do differently, and how I could present my experience and knowledge as an opportunity for someone in need of dog training services? After lots of consideration, I realized a few things, including I love watching people fall in love with their dogs. And most of the calls I receive are from clients dealing with behavior issues that are a result of a communication breakdown. With that in mind, I knew how I wanted to represent myself as a dog trainer.
I believe my strongest attributes are my ability to be a student of the dog’s responses, my ability to sympathize with my clients and understand their perspective of the situation while having compassion for them, and the belief that the dog is a reflection of my skills as a trainer.
My Training Principles
Student of the dog’s responses – Although I have a training plan in mind when I work with my dog, a client’s dog, or a shelter dog, I am able to adjust that plan to meet the dog’s specific needs at that time. For example, when my dog Tricky was younger, I often had a training plan in mind for agility. I would plan to work the sexy behaviors, such as sequencing through obstacles. Tricky, on the other hand, might be struggling with focus and motivation instead. I would adjust my plan on the spot to address the struggle rather than build new behaviors on top of a week foundation.
Understanding a client’s perspective – I make it a point to get into the client’s world in order to better understand his or her perspective of the behavioral issues I may be dealing with. This allows me to have compassion for the client so that he or she can feel better supported and understood. This, in turn, allows for a better working relationship, a higher level of client compliance, and a higher success rate with the dog.
The dog is a reflection of my skills as a trainer – (This is something one of my former agility instructors has said.) Years ago, I took this statement very personally, thinking of myself as a dog trainer with limitations—I could only resolve certain behavior problems, specifically in the sport of agility. Over time, with coaching and experience, I made peace with that statement and now find it empowering. My agility instructor was helping her students see that the dog’s behaviors are limited to what we know as a trainer. In order to expand on the dog’s understanding and skill set, I had to expand my knowledge and skill set as a trainer.
Clarity & Harmony…a better way of living with your dog.
Back in our high school days when we were first introduced to the subject of psychology, we learned about the famous Pavlov dog experiments. In 1927, Ivan Pavlov experimented with his dogs and their response to hearing a bell ring before they were fed. He knew that dogs salivate when they smell food. He knew that normally dogs don’t salivate when they hear a bell. He found that when he rang a bell each time before he fed his dogs, after a while, the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the bell, even if they were not fed afterwards. Pavlov’s profound work lies at the foundation of behavior modification and dog training.
It is this technique that I used in the beginning stages of working with Charlotte. Initially, Charlotte would see other dogs and feel an emotion that caused her to bark and lunge at them. In order to change behavior for the long term, you have to get to the source. The dog’s emotional state is the source of reactive behavior. Instead of feeling anxiety or frustration when she saw dogs, I wanted Charlotte to feel happy and relaxed. Food was the vehicle I used to create that happy emotional state. Now, Charlotte sees another dog and thinks, “Chicken!”
This exercise is called classical counter conditioning, meaning we want to change how your dog feels about dogs on the street. We are trying to teach your dog to have a new, positive relationship with dogs. He does not have to be friends with them, but we don’t want him to get upset every time he sees a dog. This is a technique that I use very successfully to help reactive dogs change their emotional state and their behavior.
- Every time your dog sees a dog, start feeding him pieces of hot dogs (or whatever very yummy treat you choose to use), a stream of really yummy treats (meaning, give him one treat after another, after another, after another, until the other dog is gone). Ideally you want to start feeding before the reactivity starts, as soon as your dog sees the other dog. Make sure to use really great treats for this work. Really great treats can include cheese, hot dog, turkey, roast beef, etc. Feed your dog continuously even if he is barking and lunging at the dog. You are not rewarding the lunging, but rather building an association between the treats and the dogs. For the association to be strong and clear, you must feed your dog when he sees a dog regardless of his behavior.
- Keep feeding and praising him until your dog no longer sees the other dog, or the dog has passed and is more than 20 feet away. Make sure to literally shove the treat in his face (don’t push it into his face, just keep it in front of his face), even if he is lunging. You might have to pull back on the leash to reach his face with the treat.
- Talk to your dog in a happy tone when you see another dog. He will start to make the connection that you are happy when you see another dog. Praise is also linked to the food reward.
- Try to stay calm as well. Breathe, chew gum, sing-do whatever you have to in order to stay calm. Your dog will sense if you are stressed, especially if you hold your breath in anticipation of lunging.
- For now, avoid dogs that want to pass on the same side of the street. Move off of the sidewalk between cars and be ready to feed when the dog is in your dog’s sight again.
Every dog has a threshold of what they can and cannot handle in terms of how close the other dog is before they react. I usually tell my clients to start at about 20 feet and over time, the goal is to decrease that distance until, eventually, you and your dog can walk past other dogs without incident. Some dogs need more than 20 feet and some dogs can manage with less. Charlotte’s sweet spot was 20 feet.
There are MANY other variables at play and pieces of the puzzle when working with a reactive dog. This is why it’s important to hire a professional dog trainer to support you. Someone like me has the experience, knowledge, and training to give moment by moment and situation by situation guidance. The exercise I described here is an important piece of an overall training plan. It is important to individualize a plan for your own dog based on your dog’s needs.
Charlotte is much more relaxed now days. We are not completely out of the woods but at least she is not on high alert on our walks.
The very cool thing about dog training is that the more you reinforce a behavior you want, the more it grows–literally, reinforcement builds behavior. Another word for ‘reinforce’ is ‘reward’. I have been experiencing this with Charlotte with regard to her reactive behavior towards other dogs. Charlotte and I have worked really hard and I am delighted to report that one year later, much of her reactive behavior has disappeared. And when she does react, there isn’t as much ‘heat’ in it. A year ago, when she saw another dog, she ‘freaked out’, barking, lunging, growling. Today, when she sees another dog, she her typical reaction is to relax and look at me instead of the other dog.
Dog training is an investment. If we want to see a change in our dog’s behavior we have to do the work, simple as that. If I want a six-pack, I have to do sit ups regularly in addition to lots of other things. Sorry folks! There is no magic wand, no quick fix when it comes to changing behavior. Believe me, I wish there was! I wish I could tell Charlotte, “Listen sister–these other dogs are cool so let’s just enjoy our walk around town.” Time, information, and effort are the three components that will make all the difference.
I often tell my clients that a behavior is like a set of balance scales. Often, the behaviors you DON’T like are significant and weigh down the scale so that one side (the ‘bad side’) is way down and the other side (the ‘good’ side) is way up. Over time, if you keep rewarding behaviors you DO like, the scales will start to shift and eventually there is more weight (value to the dog) on the behavior you want. The dog will choose the behavior you prefer because that’s the one for which he has been repeatedly rewarded. If you stick with the training, the behavior will change over time. Charlotte’s formerly reactive behavior is a perfect example. Now that the ‘good side’ is way down, I feeling more relaxed when I take Charlotte for walks, and her quality of life has improved because she is less stressed. Charlotte doesn’t feel like she has to constantly manage the dogs she encounters on the street.
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