Look What I Can Do! Blog

Why Would You Do That? Pinning Down Puppies and Reactivity. The Dog Trainer`s Dogs Blog

Why would you do that? Forcibly pin puppies down into submission that is? Thanks to Twitter pal Rod Burket of GO PET FRIENDLY for providing me with a title, commenting on one of my "tweets." Getting back to my question, professionals in the field of dog training lamentably continue to recommend the use of forceful outdated and dangerous methods, that can and do increase reactivity in dogs. In the last week, I have regrettably fielded inquiries from concerned dog owners, whose own puppies were progressively deteriorating with behaviors. The commonality? Professionals had recommended the puppies be pinned down for perceived transgressions. The shame? Major professional organizations decry these methods with public statements, such as the AVSAB Dominance Position Statement. Download Dominance statement[1] Read on, and if nothing else, question the advice to use forceful methods on your own dog.

Here is what your puppy can learn by being forcibly pinned down:

• humans are scary and unpredictable
• their world is not safe
• approaching hands are not predictable and safe
• the best offense can be good defense
• a negative association to what is in the environment, at the time of the punishment.
• not to trust you
• to react with increasing aggression

Consider being pinned down from a puppy point of view, an horrific restraint from which there is no escape, with the option of flight in the face of danger abruptly removed. Even worse, does your puppy understand the association of their undesired behavior to the punishment? No. As the puppy grows, does it require an increasing amount of force to pin him down? Well yes, of course. Which brings me to a salient point from the PAT MILLER handout:The Pitfalls of Positive Punishment. From a Level 1 Internship, this statement resonates with the blog subject. "Violence begets violence." Plain and simple.

Certain dogs stand out in my mind: the handsome adolescent lab returned to rescue, the spitz mix that became human aggressive, and the pit mix that became increasingly dog-aggressive. Well meaning owners were following professional advice to pin down their dogs and dogs were responding with increased aggression. Before following the outdated advice to pin down your own puppy ponder the following points.

• Is this in any way teaching your puppy the desired behavior?
• Could this damage your relationship with your puppy?
• Do you want your puppy to trust, not fear you?
• Do you wish to deal with the consequences of an adolescent dog and deteriorating behaviors?
• Do you wish to have a well adjusted family pet for the long term?

I really hope that the people who called recently get back to me, so we can begin the process of getting their puppies on the path to recovery, instead of down the road to being re-homed, or worse.I urge you, if anything in this article raises a red flag, contact a certified positive professional trainer, with a strong background in behavior. Why would you do that? Pin your puppy down into submission?

Leslie Fisher PMCT, CPDT-KA

The Dog Trainer`s Dogs: Making Sense of Desensitization and Counter Conditioning

A good sense of desensitization and counter conditioning would enable dog owners to effectively promote positive changes in emotional issues such as fear. The latter can and does lead to behavioral problems, so if pet owners can effectively use these tools, the family dog may be prevented from traveling down a wrong path.  Granted, fear itself would first have to be identified and many pet owners are indeed aware of fearful behavior from their dogs . For the intent of this blog let us suppose that Fluffie, upon encountering Frankie,a visitor to the home,(a tall large men with facial hair and a hat), launches into some telltale behaviors indicative of fear.. A short review could include: piloerection (hair raised along neck and back), barking, snarling, lunging, ears back, panting, retreating, lowered body position, rounded dilated eyes, whites of eyes showing (whale eyes) and tail tucked between legs.

Going on, let`s make sense of these terms, tools commonly used by dog trainers. DESENSITIZATION  is frequent exposure to a triggering stimuli (Frankie causes fear), but in a carefully controlled environment. Ideally, Fluffie should be able to see Frankie without exhibiting marked signs of fear, as discussed above. How can this be accomplished? The simplest thing to do is usually increasing proximity between dog and trigger (Frankie.) Suppose that when Frankie arrives, Fluffie is already in the bedroom behind a closed door, contentedly chewing on a bone. In this manner, initial escalation of behavior at the doorway is  managed and prevented. Then, with Frankie seated in the kitchen ( seated people are less threatening than standing), Fluffie can be walked calmly on leash to a spot in the living room, well away from the door and Frankie. In this manner of management and prevention, Fluffie should be able to tolerate the sight of Frankie and gradually become desensitized to his presence on subsequent visits.

Adding in the next component, COUNTER CONDITIONING, works to change the emotional response and decrease fear. In fact, a new positive association is created by pairing really good stuff (best treats in the world) with the presence of the trigger causing the emotion (Frankie causes fear.)  If you`ve had a stress laden day, is it not comforting to have that bowl of ice-cream, or that giant chocolate bar? Same principles at work here. While Frankie is present, Fluffie is able to relax far across the room, meanwhile with access to her yummy bone, and being fed bits of chicken. When Frankie leaves, or Fluffie is taken elsewhere in the home, the good stuff disappears. Only the presence of Frankie can open up the treat bar again. Would you imagine, that under these circumstances, Fluffie might begin to eagerly anticipate the sight of Frankie?

While this example is greatly simplified and no substitute for the assessment of a professional trainer well versed in behavior, being aware of these tools can definitely give dog owners a place to start addressing  fear based behaviors. Making sense of desensitization and counter conditioning is not just for dog trainers; dog owners will find this very useful as well. Several resources in which these concepts are discussed are A) The Cautious Canine: Patricia McConnell and B) Help For Your Fearful Dog: Nicole Wilde. Both are available at DOGWISE.  Another great resource for fearful dogs, with more on desensitization and counterconditioning is FEARFUL DOGS  A very useful video on dog body language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00_9JPltXHI  Good luck in continuing your education, and making sense of desensitization and counterconditioning to help your family dog. At the very least, I hope you  may realize professional help from an accredited trainer is necessary.

Leslie Fisher PMCT ABC STudent Mentor CGC Evaluator

Member MAAPPPT, APDT, TrulyDogFriendly, Affiliate Peaceable Paws

The Dog Trainer`s Dogs: Lower Your Expectations and Succeed More

As a dog trainer teaching positive reinforcement classes, I am always reflecting on how to help clients achieve increased success with their training efforts. Nobody has much spare time these days, so I feel that improved communication from myself, to enhance training sessions and increase success ratios is a very important job of mine. To that end, I often observe some entirely unrealistic expectations of puppies, and dogs in general. My job then, is to convey appropriate information as to what a puppy can and cannot be realistically expected to do. I hope after reading this, you might be able to lower some of your expectations, and achieve a higher level of training success.

Not succeeding is downright frustrating! Nothing is more important than a puppy-owner team being able to succeed with new behaviors, from the standpoint of both. Following is a list of behaviors that are often doomed to failure due to inappropriate expectations.

• STAY: baby puppies will naturally follow a person who moves away from them. Beginning stays should be of short duration, **with no distance criteria** added at all. Moving away from a puppy that has no concept of staying for 5 seconds is setting the puppy up for failure. Keep it realistic based on the attention span of a puppy, and set the puppy up to succeed,not fail.
• JUMPING UP: puppies have no internal self-control monitor and need human direction and management. If they are free to run to the door, they **will** jump up on the friendly visitors who are reaching for them. This is not dominance, per the widely touted Cesar Millan concepts, but normal dog behavior. I don`t know many puppies that can think "maybe I should really sit instead of jumping up and greeting this person." A leash, coupled with a cue to sit, followed by reinforcement will greatly enhance success with this behavior.
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• RECALLS: A recall off leash in the great outdoors, with distracting smells and stimuli, is the P.h.D of recalls. Puppies that have just learned to gambol to you from across a room **will not** be able to reproduce this behavior while loose and on the far side of the backyard. Not....gonna....happen. Training to the former level of distraction is an ongoing process that takes time. For now, lower those expectations, make it easy for your puppy, and reinforce those successful efforts.
• LOOSE LEASH WALKING:is another behavior where folks tend to be a bit unrealistic and become frustrated. A puppy that is showing lovely attention and walking nicely on leash in the classroom needs to generalize this behavior to other locations. Distractions need to be added gradually; don`t expect that your puppy will be able to walk politely on leash all the way down the street to the bus stop without pulling. Loose Leash Walking is one of the most difficult behaviors for a dog to learn. Help your pal out by practicing for short distances in low distraction environments, reinforcing successful behaviors generously, then releasing to be a dog. 
• NEVER GROWLING: This is actually a highly desirable behavior, and unrealistic to think that our dogs should never growl. We whine and complain about all manner of things; growling is how puppies express their anxiety/fear/insecurity etc. Punishing growling can literally produce a dog that proceeds to bite first. Popular entertainment on TV (dangerously) expresses the notion that growling is dominant behavior and needs to be punished as such. Providing a distraction, reinforcing another incompatible behavior and managing the environment are all much safer alternatives. 
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This has been a brief overview of how unrealistic expectations can set you up for failure in training efforts. Having an understanding of normal dog behavior helps you to adjust expectations and set your puppy up for success. Have FUN with your training. Highly recommended for those who enjoy reading is the timeless The Culture Clash: Jean Donaldson. This book is available at DOGWISE. Colleague Kevin Myers also has a great recommended reading list on his website DOG LOVERS DIGEST.  Good luck and hugs to your furry friends.

Leslie Fisher PMCT, CGC Evaluator, ABC Student Mentor