Tag Archives: pet convincer

Doggie Sitting Checkers

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Well, I said this blog was coming, and I meant it.  The story of the Pointer I was watching for a few days.

My friend adopted a German Short-Haired Pointer a few weeks ago from a very high kill shelter. They had him for 3 days before they asked me to babysit. They wanted me to doggie-sit (while I had the cute little border collie puppy as well) from Sunday to Wednesday night. I thought this was a great opportunity to get experience with another breed, and work with a shelter dog. I knew this was going to be a pretty significant challenge, especially because this boy was in the shelter for whopping 2 weeks!!

If you work with rescue or shelter dogs, you know how much work they can be, even after being in the shelter for a few days! I was completely unprepared! This boy was a full time job!

Checkers1First thing I noticed: very high energy. This makes it very difficult because I have a high energy dog as well, so managing 2 high strung dogs was the most exhausting thing I have done so far! Boy, what did I get myself into? Well, to make matters even more challenging, he had some aggression towards Napoleon. Nothing I couldn’t handle, it wasn’t severe, and it wasn’t like ‘I’m going to kill you’ aggression. It was because he is un-socialized, and I don’t think he had been around many other dogs before.

Now, I can pick out rude behaviors now [some of them, I’m learning], and immediately saw that Checkers was challenging Napoleon for rank, challenging him to a fight. Napoleon, just ignored him, being the submissive dog he was. Well, Checkers didn’t back down, making Napoleon’s hackles rise up. I also noticed his ears went back, head up, and the lip raising started. That’s when I separated them.

Checkers, again, not being socialized, didn’t care that we were done with the introduction. He was jumping like a maniac, and started snarling at Napoleon. So, I fitted him with a basket muzzle I had on hand. I’m glad I had one! I don’t handle aggression in my training, and this dog has absolutely nothing to do with my business or my training. He was a friend’s dog, and I was asked to watch him for a few days. Just want that to be clearly written here.

Anyway, now that the boys had a chance to be nice, and failed, we left Napoleon outside, and I decided it was time for Checkers to come inside. Just from the first few minutes of being inside, I realized again – un-socialized and has never been inside a house. Out of control jumping on furniture, bolting around the house, and jumping all over the walls. So, on a tether the entire time he was with us.

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My fault. This is what happens when I left something in reach of him getting to it. He completely tore it apart. I’m glad he didn’t get the CO2 container!

Even on the tether, we had to watch him 24/7. He dug at the carpets, chewed on the drywall, baseboards, couches, wired crate, and dug inside the plastic crate while chewing through the holes on the sides. I couldn’t go upstairs for 5 minutes without him. Also, not potty trained. So, again- reason to tether and keep him watched all the time.

Oh, crate training. Yeah – NOT crate trained, and suffers from severe separation anxiety to the point of self-mutilation. He chewed his feet, and chewed the bars until his teeth hurt. So, I switched him to a heavy duty plastic crate instead of a wired crate. This curbed the high pitched whining and constant barking. We had use soft music, a blanket over the crate (which he destroyed), and essential oils just to get him to calm down. We fed meals in the crate, and eventually, I would close the door to my office, and let him roam. He would go in the kennel willingly to rest. Total time of active training to get this achievement: 30 hours. The family says he is accepting the crate very well now, which is awesome. I’m glad I was able to work on this with him.

Is he neutered, you ask? Of course not-the shelter doesn’t do that before they adopt them out. Well, high kill shelters, at least! We also believe he was around 2 years old, meaning he was in his ‘prime’ and was mounting everything. Couches, beds, Napoleon, me, the wall, the air, etc.

Corrections: He did not respond well to any corrections using the Halti. Absolutely no regard for personal space, and would knock you over to get where he wanted to go. He would jump over Napoleon or a couch to get to where he wanted to go. Also, another reason to keep him on a lead. He didn’t ever slow down. Took 4 full days of training, but I curbed the jumping on furniture as well as jumping on people. I used the Pet Convincer, as well as verbal corrections, and he caught on fairly quickly. The Pet Convincer was incredibly effective for correcting him, and eventually I didn’t need to use it anymore, and just used verbal corrections. I think the total amount of active training hours spent was around 8.

Checkers2He was incredibly noise sensitive, and would hide underneath our end table. Not extra loud noises even, like a motorcycle, but things like the TV, washing machine, dish washer, doorbell, garage door, toilet flushing, etc. He got plenty of exposure to this, as I had to stay home with him for a few days because he was so self-destructive while I was gone.

How did he do with my cats? No go. Nada. Neit. Not even close to being ok. Incredibly high prey drive. With his energy level, and the level of aggression he had towards a dog twice his size, I just didn’t even bother with doing introductions for my cats. I was also worried because he chased a bird in the back yard and scaled my fence! Yes, he scaled my 7 foot fence, and went into my neighbor’s yard where he scared and scared the shit out of my neighbor’s small little dogs. Ok, so now he has to be tethered when he is outside in the backyard. Can’t let him off the leash ever. What a handful!

So, of the 4 days we had him, I think it was frustrating but successful. I didn’t plan on doing any training, but it turns out I had to, since he was just completely out of control in my house.

My personal accomplishments with this boy:

-Learned that sometimes, all it takes is switching something in the environment (wire crate to plastic crate)
-Reinforced the age-old comment of ‘Not all dogs are the same’
-Learned more about shelter dogs and un-socialized behavior
-Gained practice in really paying attention to canine behavior while in the presence of another dog
-Learned what ‘Board and Train’ means when I finally decide to do that (years away right now)
-Curbed jumping on furniture and people within 4 days.
-Started crate training
-By the time he left my house, I believe he was fully potty trained. Only one accident, and then he went to the door on his own afterwards…if I gave him the chance. Normally he was tethered.
-Started working on chewing on inappropriate objects with some success
-Successfully introduced Napoleon and Checkers after quite a lot of patience and small introductions. Video below is them playing in an acceptable manner.
-Met a dog who doesn’t respond to the Halti. A prong collar might have been better for this boy. But, I didn’t have one, so I couldn’t try.

Due to my level of experience, and how much time I have available currently to work with a dog like this, I have recommend another trainer take this case. I already have my hands full with another boy, who is making tremendous progress after 6 months of training. Updates on my boy, soon to come!

Here is a video of them finally achieving calm[er] play.

The Rules about Leadership, In my Opinion

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I wanted to write an article about leadership because this seems to be a highly controversial topic in the dog training world. Some trainers say things like “Don’t let your animals on the furniture ever”, ”Make sure to make your dog watch you eat dinner first. They only get fed after you.” “… walk through doorways first.”,”You need to establish you are the dominant one, and you are alpha.” Do I follow these rules with my clients? Sometimes. Do I follow them at home? Sometimes. But isn’t consistency the key? Yes.

Now, I know what you are thinking. She just said consistency was the key, but she ‘sometimes’ follows these rules?

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Here’s the thing: I think leadership is important in any house with a dog.  However, how strict the leadership must be is up to the family, the dynamics and scheduling of the family, and the dog. Some of the scheduling and strict leadership programs out there aren’t feasible for some families. I want the client to want to practice everything we talked about. I don’t want it to be a challenge, and have it be work. In the end, if they aren’t having fun practicing everything with their dog, they won’t do it.

Also the level of how strict the leadership must be, depends on the dog. If the dog already respects humans’ and their boundaries, then the dog is already making the decision to let the human be leader. Which is exactly what we want.

If the dog in question has many behavioral problems, and/or has aggression, a pushy attitude, or never had any socialization, then a strict leadership structure needs to be put in place to set the dog up to succeed. This is my approach. With pushy dogs, there need to be boundaries the dog can never cross. At least until it is trustworthy enough to not push those boundaries anymore.

So, when do these ‘strict’ rules apply, and when can you be lax with leadership with your dog? This is a tricky question. Think of a child. A child who constantly gets in trouble needs more strict leadership. Eventually, when that child starts to make better decisions, he has earned more freedom. Then, somewhere down the line, he makes another bad decision. So, he loses some of that freedom. If he keeps making bad decisions, more and more structure gets put into place. However, if that child makes good decisions, he is rewarded by having the opportunity to make his own choices and either reap the benefits, or face the consequences.

PetConvincerThink about when you learned how to make your own decisions. You made a bad one, and paid for it in some way or another. You made a good one, and realized it’s much easier to make the right choice, than constantly paying for the consequences. And everyone learns at their own pace. Dogs learn in the same manner. They need to learn if they always jump up on the counters, they will get the Pet Convincer used on them. (This is the tool I have handy and use often). Eventually, you will learn to watch out for their signals, and catch them before it happens. Then, because they haven’t self-rewarded in a while, they will forget what that feels like and won’t want to do the undesirable action anymore. There’s no ‘fun’ in it anymore.

So, I hope that makes sense. Basically, just like a parent, you set the rules, and then give the child an opportunity to make the right decision. How strict you need to be with your leadership depends on the dog, and the behavior you want to correct.

Questions, comments? This is in a nutshell, by the way.

Napoleon’s Homework

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NapoleonNapoleon, like any dog, has his issues. Overall, he is a very well-rounded dog. However, he missed out on some things before we adopted him into our lives. Not his fault, but I realized recently we have a lot of work to do…

Good things about Napoleon:

Obedience  (when there aren’t any distractions)
Leash work
Respect and understanding where his ‘rank’ is within the pack.
Friendly demeanor
Makes me happy
Beautiful
Loving
Learns quickly
Knows how to tell us what he wants (or maybe we are just in-tune with him)
Knows many commands, and can pick up on words
Wants to love on you when you are sick/unhappy

Things we need to work on:

Pushes boundaries (I think all dogs do, but still)
Adrenalized
Excitable
Food motivated
Distractions
Stress Mounting (when he is stressed more than normal, he mounts other dogs)
Crating
Napoleon2

One of his constant problems is being over-adrenalized. I have known this since he lost his excess weight (He already lost 40 lbs, and could lose another 6lbs if I really tried) and is hyper all the time. He is MUCH better than when we got him, and has improved at obedience, leash work, and has always had a 90% reliable recall (the other %10 is around my neighbors when they are calling him the same time I am calling him, or when there is food).

Other problem that we have recently discovered is that he is not okay in the crate when we are home. When we leave, I have set up a nanny cam and watched him in his kennel before. He just chews on his marrow bone or sleeps. However, if he is in the kennel while we are home, he whines, lip licks, slams himself against the crate and knocks it over, howls, pants, hyperventilates, and does this high-pitched bark/whine that is incredibly annoying.

About 6 months ago, we met a highly successful trainer in my area, and she recommended we kennel him, instead of leave him outside. This is how we have found out about his anxiety. He knows the ‘kennel’ command, and will go in willingly and lie down.

Since I’m an aspiring trainer, and I am learning about all kinds of things, I had a list of things I have tried with other dogs. Every dog is different, so it’s a bit of a trial and error.
We have tried:

Feeding meals in the crate
Leaving him outside (which was actually better, because he just goes to sleep in his dog house)
Calming music
Covering the crate with a blanket
Doing desensitizing exercises
Making sure he is calm before he comes out
Verbal corrections
Using the Pet Corrector/Pet Convincer II
Ignoring him until he calms down
Practicing when we are home (If he knows you are home and aren’t in the room, he starts his barking routine until you come back in the room)
Making sure the crate is a fun place (toys, bones, praise, etc)
Keeping him in a bedroom with a closed door instead of using the crate (he is an ANGEL if we do this.)

I’m starting to think he’s claustrophobic… is that possible? He’s ok outside and/or in a bedroom, but not in a crate. I’ve never heard of a dog being claustrophobic… maybe it’s not possible.

He will go in by himself with the door open if I am working on my computer, and sleep quietly. If I close the door while he is calm, praise, and then continue working, he’s fine. If I leave the room, however, he starts whining.

IMG_3431A trainer friend I have has recommended using a bark collar while he is in the kennel. The goal of the collar is to teach him it is undesirable behavior when he barks, and eventually stop using it altogether. I am also taking him to her obedience school to work on distraction training while working on obedience. I’m hoping the combination of the two actions will also help with the excited behavior, and help him learn to calm down around distractions.

I do understand he is a lab, and they are a high-energy breed, and love to please. This was the first dog my husband and I raised together, and we adopted him almost 2 years ago. We have learned so much in this time with him, and I want to make sure he gets the most out of life with us. We still have work to do, and Napoleon has a lot to learn as well.

Yesterday, we went out to train for about an hour, and started with a walk. We worked on heel, Sit when I stop walking, turning around and backing up while in a ‘Heel’, paying attention while around distractions (kids, cars, and barking dogs), and then we got into some more tricky things. In the house, he listens to ‘Stay’ with no hesitation for a long time (we aren’t quite up to ‘forever’ yet, but he’s getting there). Outside, it’s hard enough just to get him into a sit without standing if I walk away. I realized, since we have only ever practiced this in the house… we have a lot of work to do. Bring it on.

I work so much with others’ dogs, I didn’t realize how much work my own dog needed. Lesson learned. Challenge accepted. Napoleon, you and I have a lot of homework.