Taking a week “off” is relative, of course, meaning mostly not owing drafts to clients. Other demands of life continue. HOWEVER, Lilly and I ventured to Boulder for dog training class with our dog trainer Gigi Moss … for the first time this year. I’ll tell you how it went tomorrow. Today? A video showing just how much Lilly loves her dog trainer.
So, I spent a little time, just a few minutes, working on HOW I might teach Lilly to wag her tail on cue. We’ll have to keep working on it, but I plan to treat the the wag / no wag a bit like an on / off switch. Here is my 5-step plan for teaching this dog trick.
I sometimes wonder if I’d ever deliberately adopt a truly fearful dog again. Truth? I didn’t know what I was getting myself into with Lilly. Still, I cannot imagine missing out on all the amazing things she taught me about not just dogs and dog training / dog learning theory but also about life and love, relationships, and finding (perhaps) my true calling.
A few months ago, I saw a discussion on Facebook between a few dog training folks that essentially blamed people who wear bait bags for ruining the reputation of positive reinforcement trainers. Personally, I disagree, but I wanted to open up the debate.
Despite the germs (which linger, I’m sorry to say), I took Lilly on a little outing down into town last weekend. We went for a short walk. Lilly scaled rocks and walls. She even practiced a little shopping etiquette. Here is how it went.
Years after we tackled the Relaxation Protocol ourselves (both the one by Dr. Karen Overall and the one our own behaviorist prescribed), it remains one of the top reasons people come to Champion of My Heart. Pretty neat, huh? So, I decided to revisit a couple of the common questions I get about our Relaxation Protocol work.
If you are new to our site, please check out the MP3 audio files to make doing the Relaxation Protocol easier.
One of the things I love so much about positive reinforcement dog training, and clicker training specifically, is how dogs learn to love learning and how brave they become in trying something … anything … new in hopes of finding success. Imagine your life, if you could find that same spirit.
In week 5 of the 2010 Never Shock a Puppy dog blog campaign, we offer a few ideas on how to get your dog to COME when you call. The main post started to get REALLY long, so I’m continuing one idea here. And, it is this: Playing FETCH is a great way to practice recalls every single day. We even made a little how-to video (see below).
This week’s topic in our Never Shock a Puppy campaign is barking. And, if you’ve ever seen those border collie t-shirts that say, “Welcome to the BARK side,” you know I speak from experience. Some dogs, some breeds, simply bark more than others.
Lilly barks to try and "control" other dogs during play. Here, Ginko waits happily for me to throw the ball. Lilly ... Well, Lilly does her thing. Different breeds of dogs bark more than others. This is a good example of that.
Border collies (and many herding dogs) bark. So, do terriers of many stripes. One way to manage barking is to know your tolerance for it and which breeds might better meet your expectations from the get-go.
This barking video dates back two years, and you can hear me trying (not succeeding) at getting Lilly NOT to bark incessantly at her best, best dog friend Katie (the borzoi). Lilly is noisy when she plays. I’ve accepted that (somewhat).
More Than One Barking Dog: Divide and Conquer
I’ve tried to address the group dynamic of two barking dogs in the past, particularly when it comes to chaos right before they go outside or right before they eat. Lilly and Ginko get so riled up. It can be quite noisy.
I’ve tried teaching that barking/noisy dogs don’t get what they want, but trying to teach BOTH of them at the same time is very hard (at least for me).
So, my advice … if you’re dealing with more than one barker … is to train/re-train them individually before you ever attempt to manage the situation with both together.
While this is somewhat better in my mind for the timing required (versus the kind of shock collars triggered by a remote control held by a person), I’m still opposed to their use.
Very few dogs bark for “no reason.” So, for me, the key is to know why your dog barks and WHAT you can do to reframe the situation so that the dog doesn’t bark or HOW you can retrain that scenario so that the dog learns that barking doesn’t pay.
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Enter to Win Great Prizes (tell your friends!)
Again this week, we’re doing random prize drawings for some awesome gift packages on the Never Shock a Puppy site. We’ll take entries (via comments posted on Never Shock a Puppy). I hope all of you will hop over there and comment for a chance to win. Seriously. Nice. Prizes.
Please Donate?!
We are halfway through our 8-week campaign, but we’re ONLY about 22% toward our goal of raising $2,500 for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley’s upcoming No-Choke Challenge (set to begin in November 2011).
Every little bit helps, even $1 or $5. So, if you believe in our cause, we’d appreciate your vote of support via a donation.
The donation widget will be to your right in the sidebar during the campaign. Just click the donation button on this handy-dandy donation widget to get started! If for some reason you cannot see or use the donation widget, please visit the Never Shock a Puppy Donation Site instead.
This week’s topic in our Never Shock a Puppy campaign is how to teach loose leash walking. Because it’s completely aggravating to have a dog who is terrible on leash, it is no surprise that so many people turn to shock collars, choke collars, or pinch collars to feel like they have some control. I disagree with those tools and methods, of course.
But, in the interest of full disclosure, there was a time when I used a choke collar on my Dalmatian. It’s not something I’m proud of, but there you go.
It was 1990.
I was 22.
She was my first dog as an adult.
She was a wild monkey of a girl.
I didn’t know boo about dog training.
When the dog obedience instructor at the big box store told me to use a choke chain. I used a choke chain.
Because we’ve had less than zero luck trying to use BAT (behavior adjustment training) in the real world with dogs (because the ones we run into have their own issues), I tried doing a little BAT work with Lilly and this one black-and-white horse who loves to run out and follow us (along the fence line) on our walks.
When we’re teaching or shaping a new dog behavior, many of use the click/treat strategy that marks the behavior (click or verbal marker like YES!) just before we reward the behavior (with food or a toy). Dogs need to know every time they get it right … at first. Later, we introduce more intermittent reinforcements, where the dog doesn’t know which correct response will earn a reward. We’re told that a variable reinforcement pattern is the MOST motivating one out there.
Once in a while, everyone gets stuck. Maybe it’s stress. Maybe fear. Maybe illness, in ourselves (or those around us). When friends face what we called “stress lock” back in my college days, I typically tell them this: “Action is always better than inaction.” In other words, do something … anything … to make progress, no matter how small.
Justine van der Leun‘s new book Marcus of Umbria: What an Italian Dog Taught an American Girl about Love essentially ends with Justine and Marcus getting on a plane in Italy to return to a non-existent home stateside. As I mentioned in yesterday’s book review, while I liked the book a lot, what intrigued me more was what happened next. So, Justine and I spent a good hour or more on the phone Monday, talking about Marcus and how she learned to live in a modern, urban world.
