Category Archives: Training Basics
The Invisible Leash
What I call “The Invisible Leash” is a key concept of mine. It could be considered one of the truly fundamental aspects of interacting with a dog.
What is “The Invisible Leash”?
It is actually two things:
1- Consider it to be that bond that you have developed with your dog. Think of it as several “invisible” strings that are wrapped around each other forming a rope like construction. These strings are made up of your on-going interactional history with your dog.
Are you a good leader who is fair and consistent?
Are you spending quality time with your dog?
Do you interact with your dog in a positive manner?
What lessons are you teaching your dog?
Does he/she know your expectations/rules?
Does he/she get enough excersise?
Does he/she receive proper nutrition?
Does he/she receive proper medical attention?
An honest evaluation of these questions will give you the relative strength of this “Invisible leash”. A dog will be bound to you through this leash and will act accordingly. Remember, you can always strengthen this leash, and like wise it can be damaged.
2- Our system of training utilizes a remote trainer to gain the dogs attention and help them to focus on us. So this too can be considered an invisible leash of a different kind.
I tell my prospective clients, during my initial demonstration- “You have two decisions to make when hiring a trainer. First, do you feel that you can trust them and the style(s) they utilize. Second, can you see not only the benefit in the style they use, but even more importantly- is it something you will use.”
My use of the remote trainer supplements and enhances my training and interaction with my dogs. It is not meant to be used in lieu of or a crutch to a poor relationship with your dog. Proper use of the remote trainer in combination with informative education in dog behavior will make your “Invisible Leash” stronger than it is today.
Choosing the right toy can save you a world of problems.
Selecting the proper toy for your dog is more critical then you might think. Going to the pet store and saying ” oh, this is so cute, my puppy will love it” may not be the best way to go.
Choosing a stuffed toy may open the door to your dog chewing on pillows, clothes and other items made of fabric. They can also cause injury to the dog if he swallows the stuffing.
Don’t use old shoes as the dog will not know the difference between the old throw away shoe and your everyday shoes.
Tennis balls may be great, but should only be used in your presence. Many a Police K9 dog died after they ripped up their favorite tennis ball and choked on the pieces.
I encourage my clients to use products like the Gummabone or Nylabone. These products offer the right consistency in a chew toy. These toys provide hours of chewing pleasure and are safe for the dog. Have a teething puppy? Put the Gummabone in the freezer and then let the puppy gnaw on it. The cold will help soothe the pain. You can also soak them in a nice broth to further enhance the chewing session.
Some types of rawhide may be dangerous for the dog so I do not recommend them.
Dogs need to chew for a variety of reasons and if we don’t give them the right toy, they will wind up chewing our furniture.
Who is to blame?
Many times people come across a situation in training their dog and they get frustrated when the dog will not obey. They blame the dog by yelling at it, giving physical corrections, an may even end the session in a bad mood. They blame the dog for its performance. We must get into the mindset that the blame is ours, not the dogs. We must realize that dogs do not have motives for their actions and are not doing something just to spite us. Most dogs truly want to please us, as that is a way for them to earn a reward. That reward is our praise, attention, affection, food or toy.
People need to learn that training a dog is not “cookie cutter” in style in which what works for one dog will work for another. Too many times I have heard that this style or that style or this particular method worked for many of the owners dogs, but not a particular one. Each dog is different with its own motivations, issues, strengths, and weaknesses. We have to be able to bend our training to the needs of the dog and not the other way around.
Learn to take a step back from the situation if the dog is having difficulty and ask yourself:
Does the dog truly grasp what am even asking of him? Or do I need to go back to basics. Going back to basics is not to be looked at as a bad thing, it is just something that the dog needs at that moment on this particular issue.
How can I make this exercise easier for my dog? Instead of trying to muscle your dog through something, try to be creative and figure out a way to make things simpler. A dog that can learn something more simply and give 5 correct responses is better off than the dog that gives 1 correct response because you forced him to comply. Remember, we are trying to get the response (sit, down etc) to become part of the dog’s “muscle memory”. The dog that receives a reward for doing something is more likely to do it again and again if it is rewarding to him. So make it easier for him to get that reward. Use that brain muscle not the arm muscle.
Never end your training session on a bad note. If you are having problems, then have the dog do something that is easy and end the session after giving him a big reward. Do not make training a negative for the dog. Always end on a high note and let that be the last thing the dog remembers about training, not that “daddy” or “mommy” is mad at me.
While taking business classes I learned of one of the differences between traditional American business and Japanese business. American style is to fix the blame, Japanese style was to fix the problem. In short, if the dog has an issue, then it is our fault for not being clearer or smarter. If the dog succeeds then it is the dog that should be praised. But dont forget to give yourself a little pat on the back also.
The importance of socializing your dog
Few people understand what proper socialization is, and how critical it is to reducing dog bites.
Proper socialization- the act of teaching the dog to not react by de-sensitizing him to those things he will encounter in daily life.
The positive exposure of the puppy to many situations and environments that the puppy may encounter.
All exposure needs to be introduced at the dog’s pace in order for them to be a positive experience and inhibit any negative reaction.
Another term for socialization is de-sensitization. Unsocialized dogs over react to many common things.
The de-sensitization is done by exposing the dog to the environment in small increments and by helping the dog make positive associations to the things we are de-sensitizing him to. It is important not to overwhelm the dog by over-exposing him to new things. This may cause the dog to be sensitized. By forcing or overwhelming the dog, we cause him to make a negative association to things in the environment and cause him to make a negative association to things in the environment and cause the dog to become more fearful and /or aggressive.
The unsocialized dog:
More apt to bite, be banished to back yard, taken to the pound or euthanized.
Will tend to be shy and over-reactive. May flinch, freeze or withdraw when petted.
May startle easy by things considered routine like children squealing, cars, bikes, etc.
May become fearfully aggressive when people do things like: make direct eye contact, make direct frontal approaches, smile, make movements over the dog head, neck, or shoulder area when trying to pet the dog. The unsocialized dog mistakes these behaviors as they are similar to some very threatening canine behaviors.
The optimum time to socialize a dog is before he is 5 months old.
After 5 months, socialization occurs at a slower rate.
Solving problems before they occur by selecting the most appropriate dog for your family.
One of the best ways of avoiding problems associated with owing a dog, aside from training, is selecting a dog that most closely fits into your lifestyle. Do some research into the various breeds so that you can make an informed decision. That cute puppy may grow up and be a dog that was not what you expected.
There are seven breed types :Sporting, Working, Herding, Terrier, NonSporting, Hound &Toys
Sporting: Brittany Spaniel, German Wire-haired Pointer, Curly-coated Retriever, Golden Retriever, English Setter,Irish Setter
Clumber Spaniel, English Springer Spaniel, Irish Water Spaniel, Vizsla, Wire-haired Pointing Griffon,German Short-haired Pointer
Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Flat-coated Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Gordon Setter, American Water Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel
Field Spaniel, Sussex Spaniel,Weimaraner
Common Characteristics:
High distractibility- may make it difficult for them to achieve focused attention during exercises.
Other dogs and group classes may tend to distract.
Spaniels and Setters may be overly sensitive. May be easy to “correct”, but may not always be suited to live with small children.
Retrievers may be overly insensitive. May be more difficult to “correct”, but better suited to live with small children.
High need for daily exercise- Need running exercise. Behavioral problems may occur (i.e. barking, digging, destructiveness, pacing, or fence running) if not exercised enough.
Working: Akita, Bernese Mountain Dog, Bullmastiff, Giant Schnauzer, Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Newfoundland, Rottweiler, Samoyed, Standard Schnauzer, Alaskan Malamute, Boxer,
Doberman Pinscher, Great Dane, Komodor, Mastiff,
Portuguese Water Dog, Saint Bernard, Siberian Husky
Common Characteristics:
Bred to be dominant and independent.
May try to dominate their owner if not shown strong, fair, consistent leadership.
May become overly territorial or very possessive over objects.
May be difficult to handle for inexperienced owners to handle.
Due to stubbornness in training, be prepared to focus on positive reinforcement techniques. Utilize “No free lunch” policy.
May be very insensitive and difficult to correct. May react to corrections by becoming aggressive or shutting down.
Owners must be seen as strong, fair, and consistent leaders.
Herding:Australian Cattle Dog, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervuren
Briard, German Shepard Dog, Puli, Cardigan Welsh Corgi,
Australian Shepard, Bearded Collie, Belgian Sheepdog
Bouvier des Flanders, Collie, Old English Sheepdog
Shetland Sheepdog, Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Common Characteristics:
High prey/chase drive. Makes it difficult for these dogs to become de-sensitized to the activities of small children and moving objects (i.e. bicycles, skates)
Herding Behavior. Likely to bark and nip when excited.
High need for mental activity. May develop undesirable behaviors like barking, tail chasing, animal chasing, child chasing, pacing, fence running digging or aggression if not given enough “work” like fetch, obedience and tricks.
High need for daily exercise. May develop behavioral problems without sufficient exercise.
Herding breeds are typically easy to train since they were bred specifically to work closely with humans.
May become overly attached to owners and develop separation anxiety if not taught to accept being apart from their owners at an early age. Crate training is highly recommended.
Terrier: Airedale Terrier, Australian Terrier, Border Terrier
Cairn Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier, Irish Terrier, Lakeland Terrier
Miniature Bull Terrier, Norfolk Terrier, Scottish Terrier,Skye Terrier
Staffordshire Bull Terrier,West Highland White Terrier
American Staffordshire Terrier,Bedlington Terrier
Bull Terrier, Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Wire Fox Terrier
Kerry Blue Terrier, Manchester Terrier,Miniature Terrier
Norwich Terrier, Sealyham Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Welsh Terrier
Common Characteristics:
Active and tenacious as they were bred to hunt vermin and not back down if attacked. May be difficult for inexperienced owners. Could respond aggressively to “normal” corrections.
May be viewed as destructive or “hyper” when not given enough exercise or acceptable work like fetch or obedience.Fast dogs that may leave their owner behind.
Digging and hunting are their natural instincts unless their energy is properly channeled. May be dog/animal-aggressive.
Non-Sporting: Bichon Frise, Bulldog, Chow Chow, Finnish Spitz
Keeshond, Poodle, Tibetan Spaniel, Boston Terrier, Chinese Shar-Pei, Dalmatian, French Bulldog, Lhasa Apso, Schipperke
Tibetan Terrier
Common Characteristics:
This group has less in common with each other and individual dogs have characteristics of other groups.
Working Group- Keeshond and Schipperke
Sporting Group- Finnish Spitz, Poodle and Dalmatian.
Bred to guard- Chow Chow, Shar-Pei and Llasa Apso.
Companion/Gifts- Bichon Frise, Tibetan Spaniel, Boston Terrier, French Bulldog and Tibetan Terrier.
Some of these dogs were not bred to “work”, they may be difficult to motivate for training. “No free lunch” policy may increase motivation to “work” by obeying obedience commands.
Because they were not bred to “work” may make them better pets. Less drive to hunt and chase can make them easier for the inexperienced dog owner to handle.
Hounds: Afghan, Basset, Black and Tan Coonhound
American Fox Hound, Greyhound, Ibizan Hound
Norwegian Elkhound, Petite Basset Griffon Vendeen
Rhodesian Ridgeback, Scottish Deerhound, Basenji, Beagle
Bloodhound, Dachshund, English Fox Hound, Harrier
Irish Wolf Hound, Otterhound, Pharoh Hound, Saluki, Whippet
Common Characteristics:
Easily distracted by scent and sometimes movement (sight hounds). Be prepared to increase dog’s motivation to focus on you (“No Free Lunch”). Being allowed to sniff around could be used as a reward.
Bred to work independently of humans. May have less pack drive or desire to “please’ their owners. Use less repetitions when practicing obedience as these dogs will quickly become bored. Rewards should be very valuable/highlight of the dog’s day.
Toy: Affenpinscher, Chihuahua, English Toy Spaniel
Japanese Chin, Toy Manchester Terrier, Papillon, Pomeranian
Pug, Silky Terrier, Brussels Griffon, Chinese Crested
Italian Greyhound, Maltese, Miniature Pinscher, Pekingese
Toy Poodle, Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier
Common Characteristics:
Misbehavior is not always addressed due to size. May be viewed as surrogate children or “toys”. Owners send the wrong message which causes obedience training to be more difficult. Behavior not allowed for a large dog is accepted by these dogs.
Training can be difficult due to dog’s stature. Place dog on a table or chair.
Many of these dogs do not realize they are small and take on larger dogs to play or fight with.
These dogs have a delicate physiology and can easily break a leg by jumping off a bed or sofa.
It is important that you take the time to make an informed decision and not make an “impulse” buy based on that “cutesy” factor. Also, take advantage of the various shelters and rescue groups. They offer great dogs that truly deserve your love and attention.
Why do some people still use punishment techniques?
1- Because they work- since not all dogs shut down with its use, it has achieved its affect.
2- Because these techniques were used on us- tickets, firing for poor job performance, getting yelled at or spanked. We do not reward obeying the speed limit.
3- Because the act of punishment itself, can be rewarding to the punisher- serves as revenge for perceived acts of defiance
Sit Means Sit trainers do not employ punishment to get our dogs to perform a desired cue. You will not even find us yelling at our dogs. We have a system that works without yelling or employing punishment.
What is a dog’s drive?
Behavior drives are the instincts that make a dog act the way he does.
Almost everything a dog does can be attributed to a specific behavior drive.
The key is to manipulate a dog’s natural drives to create wanted behavior.
Recognized main drives are; the sociability drive, the food drive and the prey drive
What is temperment?
Temperament can be defined as an individual’s way of behaving or reacting to specific or general stimuli or situations. Reactions can include fear, curiosity, willingness, courage, aggression, etc..
Temperament is a combination of genetics and environment. Genes define the outer limits of how and what an animal can learn. However, environment and experience can shape the moment-to- moment reactions and overall disposition of the dog. Training can go a long way toward modifying undesired behaviors but genetics are always a factor in how successful a training program is.
What is the difference between Obedience training, activity training, behavior modification and problem solving?
Obedience Training-Is generally teaching a dog to perform specific behaviors, such as sit, down, and heel on cue. A dog can still be ill-mannered (jumping on people etc) even if he has been completely obedience trained.
Activity Training- Is teaching a dog a specific activity. These may include agility, herding or fly ball for example.
Behavior Modification- Is the elimination, curtailment or management of complex and sometimes dangerous behaviors. These can include dog on dog aggression, dog on person aggression, separation anxiety, phobias, and compulsive disorders. The treatment plan generally requires an advanced amount of knowledge and skill.
Problem Solving- Is the elimination, curtailment or prevention of common behaviors that are labeled undesirable by dog owners. Dog owners will have different ideas of what they consider ‘problem behaviors’.
A behavior not believed to be an issue with an 8-week old puppy will become so when the dog is older.
A history of dog training
Prior to WWI, most dogs were members of family with important jobs (herding, ratting)
The dogs became “trained” as a result of the working arrangement.
During WWI, dogs were needed to assist the soldier, many dogs became casualties
A need to train vast quantities to replace those lost.
This need for rapid training brought about the compulsion revolution and the birth of formal dog training.
Many dogs were broken by the training and thought to be “inferior”
This resulted in the idea that all but the hardest, most alpha were incapable of learning.
WWI ended and the trainers brought their skills to the public.
The idea of obedience training the family dog through punishment caught on.
Similar cycle ensued with WWII etc
Our society does view learning through punishment and “rewards” constitute bribes
1970’s brought modification with less aversive techniques.
1980’s brought scientific research based on wolves- dominance.
Idea that dog had to be dominated or he would dominate you came prevalent, unfortunately
1990’s brought popular usage of operant conditioning.
While positive reinforcement is the primary tool, neg punishment, neg reinforcement, and positive punishment are also components.
Sit Means Sit revolutionizes the dog training world with their system of training.
