Wisdom Loading…

One icy morning, I saw a friend post on Facebook that they were driving from Moorhead to Hawley (about half an hour’s drive at 70 mph on a good day). On the drive, they saw someone in the ditch. My friend’s take-away was to post: “If you can’t handle it {the roads} then you should stay home. I know how to drive, and I was able to drive 70 (mph).”

Note: The speed limit on that road is 65 mph, which is meant for ideal driving conditions.

I was driving on the Interstate that same day. The plows hadn’t been through yet. I was going 35 mph in a 55 mph zone. There wasn’t anyone else on the road until someone appeared on the entrance ramp. There was so much space behind me they could have driven slowly and entered the freeway behind me. Alas, they wanted to enter the freeway in front of me, and as they were speeding up to get in front of me, the speed of the tires made them fishtail right in front of me. They literally spun around right in front of me and flew off into the ditch. I can’t believe I wasn’t injured. I just kept driving (slowly) as if nothing happened.

If I had been driving faster, I probably would have been caught up in their spinout. My friend from earlier may have thought that I couldn’t handle the road, even though it was the person that was entering the freeway at a ridiculous speed for the road conditions. It’s just so interesting to me because this person has been driving longer than I have (he’s older than me) and he still hasn’t figured out that sometimes the reason you end up in the ditch is not because you couldn’t handle the road. Things pop up in front of you. Other cars pull out in front of you when they shouldn’t. I bet my friend has pulled out in front of people when he shouldn’t. And I bet he doesn’t even recognize the danger he’s putting himself and others in.

To bring this back to dog training; sometimes we just don’t have the full picture. We may think we can handle something, only to find out later that it is way more complicated than we realized. But if we are too sure, in our word choices, we might alienate the people around us before we even know that we might need their help. If we pre-emptively or incidentally reveal ourselves to be unable to listen, empathize, or conceive of a world where our way isn’t the only way, we may not ever get to hear about experiences that differ from our own. When people hear that you’re sure of yourself, maybe a little judgmental, and have a different opinion, they may never reveal their reality to you.  
 
For example, I was chatting with a colleague about terminology, and our pet peeves about misuse of industry terms. This discussion prompted her to declare that “no trainer is allowed to call themselves a behavior consultant” (untrue – there are professional certifications for behavior consultants). I simply responded, “hmm” and never revealed that I hold one such certification, and am myself, a behavior consultant. I’ve also learned that I shouldn’t go to her for help with my job (I’m new here), because she has shown me that she will confidently say a thing without really making sure she knows the truth.  
 
Stay humble, friends. It’s the only way we can really learn about those around us.

What type of dog trainer do you need?

Get clear on what type of training you need and want for your dog before you choose a dog trainer.

In my opinion, there are three categories of trainers:

Three images of dogs with people form a grid. 

~Working Dog Trainers~

These are trainers that work with dogs that have real jobs. These dogs will be service dogs, police dogs, military dogs, search and rescue dogs, etc.

~Competition-Style Trainers~

These trainers will have their eye on perfecting behaviors that can be used in sports like Obedience, Conformation, Agility, etc.

What competition-style and working dog trainers have in common is that they are focussed on teaching dogs to perform very cool, impressive, and sometimes unnatural behaviors in a precise manner.

~Pet Dog Trainers~

The majority of us need a pet dog trainer to help us help our dogs live in a pet home. Pet dog trainers are often focussed on teaching dogs to do nothing. We're focussed on impulse control, coping skills, house manners, and practical solutions for life with dogs.

Pet dog trainers will have a very different approach to training, and may suggest some things that you may not expect! Pet dog trainers are more likely to be forgiving of small "mistakes," encourage more natural movement, and will probably want to teach your dog just a handful of specific behaviors while helping the humans learn to use those behaviors in everyday life to solve or prevent issues. Doing nothing is REALLY hard for so many dogs. We generally want our pet dogs to chill in the house for extended periods of time, refrain from stealing muffins off the counter, wait for us while we pack the kids in the car, and quietly keep us company while we work from home, read a book or watch TV in the evenings. This is a hard, important job, and lots of dogs need help learning how to do it well.

You may need or want a variety of trainer types for your dog, too! You might want to compete in dog sports, but also need help teaching your dog to be a good house pet for you at home. Or maybe you have a service dog, but you also need help teaching your Very Good Dog to be a good house pet after working hours.

What kind of dog trainer does your dog need?

Behaving Worse for Mom...

A young child cries as her mother pushes her in a cart through the produce section of a grocery store.

It took me a long time to learn how to tie my shoes. Like, a really long time. My dad bought me Velcro shoes until he just couldn’t find them in my size anymore. And then, he’d tie my shoes for me before sending me to school, and if they came undone, I was out of luck. Sometimes I could get a teacher or a friend to help me tie my shoes, but after a while, my fourth grade teacher decided this was something that needed to change about me. Every time my shoelaces came undone, I had to stay in from recess if I couldn’t tie my own shoes. For months, I missed recess every time my shoelaces came untied. This attempt to use Negative Reinforcement wasn’t working, but my teacher didn’t have a great understanding of Learning Theory, so she didn’t modify her training plan at all.  
 
I hadn’t yet learned to tie my shoelaces. But I had learned to get very worried whenever my shoelaces came undone. One day, there was a rock in my shoe. It hurt. I felt like I couldn’t take my shoe off to remove the rock, because then I’d have to stay in from recess when I, inevitably, was unable to re-tie my shoelaces. So I left it in there. I didn’t say a word. I was distracted, but I suppressed my pain and held my tongue. Until my mom showed up, that is. As soon as my mom was near me, I started crying and whining and begging for help. It was a full meltdown, and I am sure it seemed like a huge overreaction to a pebble in my shoe.  But there was more going on, under the surface, whether my mom knew it or not. 
 
When you’re dropping your dog off or hearing reports from your dog’s trainer, groomer, vet, vet tech, kennel attendant, or any other pet professional, it may seem like your dog behaves “worse” for you than they do for the rest of their care team. It is easy to feel like you aren’t a good leader, or that your dog doesn’t respect you, or that you don’t know what you're doing, or that maybe you just let your dog get away with too much.  
 
If we observe long enough, and ask the right questions, we may find a very different story.  

A light brindle American Staffordshire Terrier/Pit Bull mix snuggles in a pile of blankets and looks sleepily at the camera.

Behavior suppression can look like obedience, even to highly educated pet professionals. My dog Juniper (pictured above) is a prime example. At home, she is quite assertive. She rarely comes when called. She barks at the neighbors. She STEALS MY SANDWICHES. She threatens to bite anyone that comes in my home unless they have been Juniper-approved. AND she nibbles holes in all of my blankets. Juniper does what Juniper wants, and only listens to me when she decides it’s worth it. But at the vet, she’s been called “very well trained!” and “very sweet!” and “such a good listener”. Juniper is very docile at the vet. She lets them to do whatever they need to do without protest. Except, if she is sitting or lying down, and we ask her to stand up, she’s like “oh I can’t possibly do that.” Upon further examination, we find that she often hides behind my legs, or tries to crawl under the table. I think she wants to be as small and un-seen as possible. This tells me that she isn’t magically obedient at the vet, but she is suppressing her normal behavior, probably because she isn’t comfortable in this space.

When a dog is being handled by their trainer, groomer, or daycare person, their behavior is often being suppressed because they don’t feel quite as comfortable as they do when they’re with you. Just like me and my shoes, when we’re in a place that isn’t as familiar or comfortable, we suppress our behavior as a way to stay safe. The more comfortable and safer we feel, the less inhibited we become. The less worried we are about our safety, the more we can really let others know how we feel. I knew my mom wouldn’t take away my recess time if she had to tie my shoes for me; I was able to show how I really felt when she showed up.  

So honestly, if your dog is “bad” for you but “good” for others, I’m proud of you. That tells me your dog feels comfortable with you.  That tells me your dog feels safe enough with you, that they don’t need to pretend to be something other than what they are.

A young golden retriever happily shreds a tissue box while standing on a gray upholstered bench.

My Neighbor’s Kid Can Walk My Dog…

A young person runs down a suburban road with a leashed dog. The leash is dangerously wrapped many times around the child's arm.

Reasons to hire a professional dog walker over the neighbor’s kid: 
 
1, We pay a lot of attention to your dogs.  

We noticed some abnormalities in one of her dog’s poop, and they were actually able to diagnose this dog with a rare disorder. This dog was always getting a little bit sick for seemingly no reason, and after we started walking their dogs, the vet was able to figure out a pattern based on my poop reports.  
 
We are really interested in dogs, and we have a lot more education than the average person. Having a professional dog walker as part of your dog’s care team could make a big impact on their health. 

2. Leash Safety

There are many dangerous ways to hold a leash. Who knew (well, we did)?  
 
Lots and lots and lots and lots of regular dog lovers hold the leash in ways that can ~break their hand~ if a dog suddenly decides to lunge after a squirrel (or another dog or something else enticing). Will your neighbor sue you for their child’s medical bills? Are you insured for that?  
 
True professionals know how to set protect themselves from serious injury, and will be insured in case our safety measures do fail.  

3. Neighborhood harmony

We know we need to bring poop bags. We're not making your neighbors angry because we left your dog’s poop in their yard. We even pick up other poops we happen to find along the way (especially for our apartment-dwelling clients), hoping to make sure that your neighbors never give you the side-eye when they see your dog struttin’ down the street.  
 
Can you really trust the neighborhood dog-lover to pick up the poop and keep the peace?

4. Loose Dogs

We know that not every dog is friendly. We know that loose dogs are a danger to the dog we are walking on a leash. We know that not every dog we see is a sweet angel-baby. We know just how much damage can be done if a loose dog is allowed to interact with the dogs in our care, and we have the skills to prevent many disasters.  

Does your neighbor’s kid know that not all dogs will interact well together? Will your neighbor’s kid be able to keep everyone safe? 

We take preventative measures, and we can see problems much earlier than the average dog lover because of our experience and education. If you want the safest experience for your dog and your neighborhood, you want to pick an insured professional.  

5. Keeping a Level Head

There are lots of dogs that walk really nicely for their owners, but not so nicely for anyone else. So you want someone that knows this will be a possibility. Additionally, you’ll want your dog walker to be able implement some on-the-fly management and/or training. And that training should really align with your views on how your dog should be treated.  
 
We don't use violence or coercion or threats to gain cooperation.  Are you sure the kid next door can keep his cool when the dog doesn’t listen?

6.) Insurance

If your dog gets hurt, if your dog hurts someone, or if property is damaged, a professional will have insurance to cover these unlikely (but possible) events.

When the neighbor kid cares for your pet, who’s responsible when things go wrong?

Punishment’s Effect on the Trainer

Punishment’s Effect on the Trainer 

A young girl with long hair sits on a bench solemnly looking at her feet. Text says "PUNISHMENT can be hard on the punisher."

I’m a crossover trainer. That means that I learned how to train dogs using aversive stimuli. Knowing me now, you might not believe that my mentor was someone that thought of using food as cheating, and she went so far as to call it “evil.” When it comes to using coercive methods and tools (choke chains, prong collars, shock collars, etc.), I am not uneducated in their use.   

When I was using these aversive tools, it was a constant threat. It was "behave or else...” Behave, or else I’ll choke you. Behave, or else I’ll hit you. Behave, or else I’ll scare you. My brain was trained to constantly watch my dogs for the “wrong” things, so that I could apply aversive stimuli. I started to see “misbehavior” in almost everything my dogs did. I started to get completely embarrassed if my dogs were anything but perfect statues or robots. I became unable to truly enjoy time with my dogs because I was so worried about the “wrong” things they were doing.  
 
I remember one time before going into a show ring, my dog was pulling on the leash ever so slightly. I took it as “naughtiness.” I jerked on her collar and forced her to go into the ring. She performed dutifully, though her movement was a little off (which of course embarrassed me and made me angry). As soon as we exited the ring, my poor dog emptied her bladder (it was an outdoor show ring). This poor dog wasn’t being naughty when she pulled on the leash; she had to pee! I choked her in response to her having a very normal bodily need. She suppressed her needs so I could win a ribbon. I think about this interaction a lot, and I wish I could apologize to my dog, who is long gone.  

Note: for those rolling their eyes thinking that I should have taken my dog to potty beforehand, I did; she apparently didn’t need to go in the 10 minutes before.  
 

The dogs I ow now are reaping the benefit of my continued education. Now I focus on what my dogs do right. Now it’s “behave and then...” Behave, and then you’ll get your treat. Behave, and then you’ll get your  toy. Behave, and then you’ll get to sniff that tree. This no doubt feels better for the learner, but I feel better too. I feel happier about my dogs. My brain is getting trained over and over and over to look for things that I like. I truly enjoy my dogs’ company these days. When they do “wrong things” I usually giggle because it is funny. I’ve also become a lot more accepting of myself and my own mistakes. Everything feels easier this way.  
 
Behave or else, or behave and then - which do you want to be? 

P.S. If you’d like help learning to be “behave and then,” we can help! Send us a message. :)

Honesty in Dog Training

“I don’t like words that hide the truth. I don’t like words that conceal reality.”  
- George Carlin 

A cork board holds individual letters, seemingly cut out from magazines, with push pins. The letters spell "HONESTY."

While I don’t agree with everything in his Soft Language routine, the way Carlin talks about sanitizing language hits home for me. Some language changes are helpful, and some language changes cover up harm.

Sometimes it is helpful to soften our language. I certainly do it at times. For example, I could use the word “cage” when talking about a crate, but the words “crate” or “kennel” are less likely to conjure upsetting associations in our minds. Crates can certainly be misused, but crates are beneficial and often necessary for safety, so I want my clients to feel good or neutral about using them.

There is a popular meme featuring prong collars and/or electronic collars with images of sweet little flowers and words that say “it's not abuse, it’s communication.” And maybe the use of these tools doesn’t always rise to the level of abuse, but it is possible to communicate with dogs without hurting or threatening them. Those cute flowers and soft colors don’t change the fact that these tools were designed to cause pain or discomfort. 

Some language changes are helpful, and some language changes cover up harm. There are some practices in the dog training industry that thrive on secrecy and dishonesty. Every year there are multiple news headlines about dogs losing their lives in the “care” of their trainers. When we say “it’s not abuse, it’s communication,” we’re providing hiding places for these kind of “trainers.”

I’ve heard many trainers say, “I use an electronic collar, but it’s not a shock collar. It provides electronic stimulation.” A collar that provides electronic stimulation is a shock collar. A collar that provides electronic stimulation is not different from a shock collar. It is a lie to say that it's not a shock collar.  

The word “correction” bothers me too. Of course we want to correct behavior we don’t like. I correct behavior I don’t like. The word “correction” has come to mean some sort of leash jerking or shock or some other aversive stimuli. Similarly, the word “education” has come to mean something aversive too. People say this tongue-in-cheek when they’re talking about hurting the learner. If the “correction” or “education” is so ethical, why aren’t we calling it what it is? Why don’t we say, “jerk the leash” or “hit this dog with a wiffle ball bat” instead of “correct your dog”?

Some language changes are helpful, and some language changes cover up harm. If dog owners heard us say “I’m going to shock your dog every time they step out of the ‘heel’ position,” I think a lot them would not consent to that anymore. If our training practice relies on manipulating clients by using words that mask what we are doing, maybe it’s time to rethink the things that we are doing.

Two Tails (2)

The last time I competed in Obedience, there were just two competitors. Me and Cooper, and another trainer (uncredentialed), who I’ll call Emily, and her dog, who I’ll call Gin. Cooper was trained using rewards-based methods, and Gin was trained using no food, only a slip chain.  
 
Cooper and Gin competed in the same class, on the same day, at nearly the same time, under the same conditions and were evaluated by the same judge. They both got a near-perfect score, and I would say they were equally well-trained for the tasks being evaluated.  
 
We had to take an elevator to get out of the competition area. We happened to get on the elevator at the same time. It is tough for almost any dog to be trapped in such a confined space so close to a dog they don’t know. Gin was hard-staring at Cooper and low-grumbling. Emily would periodically pop his collar in response. Cooper was a little nervous and was quietly whining about the situation. I would periodically give Cooper a treat to help him stay calm. We were both controlling our dogs and minimizing their behavior, and I think we were equally competent; there was no fight inside that elevator. 
 
Emily left the elevator one floor earlier than I did. As she stepped off the elevator, she turned to me and said, “at least I don’t have to keep feeding my dog.” I said nothing (but couldn’t keep from rolling my eyes and smirking), but I thought to myself, “at least I don’t have to keep hurting my dog.”  
 
Training  a dog isn’t the same as programming a robot – we're never truly done. Any time we are asking a dog to perform a behavior that is not their default or preferred behavior, there will have to be some maintenance of that behavior.  wonder why she couldn’t see that we were doing the same thing – maintaining behavior. She was reminding her dog to behave the “right” way, and I was reminding my dog to behave the “right” way. I used food to remind Cooper, and she used discomfort and pain to remind Gin.  

When I first started, I learned how to train dogs using coercion, pain and fear. I’ve been where Emily is. I feel so much better about myself, my dog, and the situations we find ourselves in now that I use rewards-based training. I’m so much happier this way.

Long Lines: The Problem Solvers

Long lines are my absolute favorite! I use them for nearly every situation, including walking reactive dogs. 

We take so much control away from our dogs. They have very little say in what happens to them and around them. We tell them where, when and how to go to the bathroom, where, when and what to eat, where when and how to walk, who they'll be interacting with, and we often take away their ability to say no to things

Long lines give dogs the freedom to be dogs, with a heck of a lot more safety than letting them run off-leash. Enrichment, less pressure on the human's arms, and increasing the freedom a dog has to stop to toilet are my main reasons for using longer leashes.

When dogs have more room to make their own decisions, we often see a reduction of those behaviors that we tend not to like. Dogs can feel more secure when they have more autonomy. It makes sense! When you have more time and room to make decisions for yourself and your safety, you feel more safe.

Let's consider an analogy.

Say I'm trapped in a tiny room with a rattlesnake. I can only move a few feet in any direction, and I can't get my body far enough away from the snake to feel safe. I do not feel comfortable. Depending on my genetic background and life experiences, I may have a range of reactions to this situation. I may shut down, become quiet and still, make myself small, or try to pretend that this isn't happening. I may yell and scream and beg for help. I may make threatening moves toward the snake, and I may even attempt to or successfully damage that snake, in an effort to keep myself safe.

Now let's say I am locked in a room with a rattlesnake, but it's a large, open ballroom. I can keep myself much farther away from the snake. I may still feel uncomfortable; I may still prefer not to be in the same room as a venomous snake, but I likely feel much safer in the ballroom than I did in the tiny room.

We can think of a "regular" 6-foot leash as that small room, and a longer leash as the large ballroom. When dogs have more room to make decisions, they often feel safer. They may choose to move away instead of more aggressive behavior. Sometimes we need to teach them that they can move away, but at least we have that option.

This is another reason I love using longer leashes to walk dogs, including reactive dogs. When they're on a longer line, they often walk out in front of the handler. And that gives me the ability to simply watch my dog's head and notice what they notice. If I see their head orient to something, I know that they're interested in something. That gives me the opportunity to practice a recall away from something that is either exciting or triggering, before my dog starts pulling or having a meltdown or lunging or… you get the idea. Walking with your dog out in front of you allows you to stop scanning the environment for triggers, and just watch your dog to see when they notice something.

Back to safety - I actually think long lines, in the hands of a responsible handler, are SAFER than a six foot leash. My favorite safety hack with the long line is having the ability to just step on it. because the leash is often dragging on the ground, I can just stomp on the leash when I need to stop my dog's movement. It is also a preventative measure. One of the hardest parts of any dog handler's walk is when they need to stop and pick up poop. When you're bent over cleaning up, you're not able to watch your dog or the environment (at least not as well as when you're upright). Poop pickup is when many people "lose" their dog because their grip on the leash isn't at its strongest, and they're not paying attention to be prepared, the dog lunges at something and the leash falls out of their hand. Dog is gone. With a reactive/aggressive dog, this is BAD NEWS. Again, these dogs should probably be wearing a muzzle anyway, but they're often not. With the long line, you can step on the line while you are cleaning up.

I also use this step-on-the-leash hack when I notice something coming; a potential trigger like a car or something I know my dog will want to chase or lunge at. I will preemptively "pull off" to the side, step on the leash and start playing Up Downs or Ping Pong or Look at That! while the stimuli passes. It's a nice extra safety measure to help me keep the dog under physical control in case my training fails.

When we are holding onto a leash, even with a good grip, when a dog suddenly putt a lot of pressure on the leash, it can whip out of our hands, or our arm can get pulled and we may even be swept off our feet! Most human adults weigh more than 100 pounds. That body weight plus the friction between our shoes and the ground is usually more than enough to stop a dog from taking off, and can even stop a dog mid-take-off.

Of course there are always outliers. I found this hack as a large person who walks mostly average to large dogs. My body weight plus the friction between my shoes and the ground has always been more than enough to anchor a dog. There are of course, exceptionally small people walking exceptionally large dogs, and maybe this wouldn't be the genius hack that it is for more average pairs, but it works beautifully in many situations.

Stepping on the leash is my favorite safety measure. It is even more secure than a six foot leash being held by an average-strength or weaker human.

It is also easier to tie your dog up to something when needed when using a long line. There are often limited options for poles and trees to tie your dog to. A long line gives you more options, like using a larger tree.

Dogs have similar brains when compared humans. A notable difference is the olfactory bulb (used to process information about smells), which, depending on breed and individual variation, is 40 to 80 times larger than a human's. That tells us that using their nose is really important to dogs. In fact, sniffing is a biological need, the same way that talking is a human need. If we go too long without speaking, we get weird, right? Sniffing is the same way for dogs. One of goals in our Joyful Training Walks is to help the dog learn how to engage in their biologically necessary, species-appropriate behaviors in a safe way, that is also acceptable to their handler.

So do we allow dogs to run off leash, run up to other people and other dogs, get into garbage cans on the curb, because it is a biological need? No ma'am. No. Positive doesn't mean permissive. What we do is let them sniff the grass, trees and other things in the environment. We assess the safety:

* Is it safe to let my dog run up to a child in a stroller? No, so we're not going to do that. We'll use some pattern games to move past that stimulus without directly engaging.

* Is it safe to let my dog sniff the trail of a squirrel and stand up, front paws on the tree, in search to that squirrel? Yes, most of the time, so let's do that when the dog wants to do that.

* Is it safe to let my dog run up to other dogs? No, so let's use our pattern games to move past that stimulus without directly engaging.

* Is it safe to allow my dog to investigate roadkill? That probably depends on the dog, so use your best judgement.

We're looking for places that we can say yes, and always on the hunt for things we can say yes to, instead of worrying about all the things we have to say no to.

Another reason I love long lines is that they allow dogs to choose where their paw pads land. In the summer, the sidewalks get hot. In the winter, the sidewalks are often salty, which can give chemical burns to a dog's feet. A longer leash allows your dog to easily walk on the grass or snow bank if the sidewalk is not the best choice for their comfort and safety. 

Long lines are great for dog owners living with chronic pain. I fall into that category. Long lines changed the way I felt about walking dogs. Walking dogs used be something that I'd have to psych myself up for. I'd have to plan my day around when I'd be walking dogs. I'd have to take a long rest after we got back from our walk every little pull on my body would be SO Painful. My back was sore after just a few blocks, my hands would be fatigued. When I switched to the long line, so much pressure got taken off my body. That alone was amazing. When I was using a short leash, and walking a reactive dog, there were times with the short leash where I was worried I'd drop the leash because of the pain, and that is NOT safe. But with the long line because there is so much slack in the line, and I usually just let it drag, it is very easy to simply step on the excess line that is dragging. And then you've got your body weight to help you manage that dog. OR, if you just need a break from the dog some dogs need more work than others and will still pull when using the long line. When I was feeling too much pain, I could just step on the leash and just take a break. As a person with chronic pain, learning that I could step on the line to stop the pulling was a game-changer. Stepping on the leash is so convenient too. Any time I need to tie shoes or pick up poop, I step on the line so I have my hands free to do those things.

And finally, when using a long line, you'll get to witness more joyful behavior. If your dog is capable bounding, frolicking, rolling, or carrying safe items, using a long line gives them the ability to display those joyful behaviors.

Long lines might just strike the perfect balance between a flexi lead and a traditional 6 foot leash. We get the benefit of the freedom of movement, with the safety of a solid line that we can reel in quickly and easily.

Punishment Works! But Not the Way We Want it To…

Content warning: mention of police (no one is injured) 
 
I drive a lot. Generally, I don’t speed. I usually stick pretty close to the speed limit. There is is almost never a reason for me to be worried about being pulled over. But I do get worried, every time I see a police car. A car I owned in my younger years had a fog light that would constantly burn out. There was something wrong with it. I would replace the bulb, and three weeks later it would burn out again. I got pulled over quite a few times because of that stupid light. They never even gave me a ticket, and I am still worried about getting pulled over. I never even got the firm punishment of a fine, but getting pulled over is an aversive experience to everyone.   

These days, I drive a car with working lights, I don't speed, I wear my seat belt, and I generally don’t do anything illegal (no one’s perfect), but whenever I see a police car, a part of me still panics. When I see a police car, my heart rate speeds up I grip the wheel tight, I can feel myself holding my breath and I get worried and sometimes all I can focus on is the police car until it passes me.  
 
This is an example of the fallout of punishment. Our goal is supposed to be to help people drive more safely, but –for me - a new fear was created. In that time between when I see a police car and by the time it passes and I feel a sense of relief. What if a deer jumps in front of me? Would I see it, or would I be too worried about watching that cop car?  
 
Furthermore, do we really want people to have this reaction to the police? The police are supposed to be helpful. We are supposed to be able to trust the police. Even a punishment that isn’t painful – like a ticket and a fine - it can make us focus on the wrong things. We can often focus on avoiding detection instead of doing the right thing in the right way. I think that is counterproductive. 

I don’t want my dogs me. I don’t want my clients’s dogs to avoid their owners. I want our dogs to enjoy being around us as much as we enjoy being around them. And that is why we choose the handling and training techniques that we do.

Sniffing on Walks

Letting dogs sniff on walks is so important. 
 
Most of us have pet dogs. That means these dogs are hanging out in the house, often alone, expected to be okay with a lot of lounging and learning to entertain themselves. They get few opportunities to engage in species-specific and species-appropriate behavior. Some of those behaviors include sniffing, digging, hunting for critters, foraging for gross stuff to eat, and even just making their own decisions. Many pet dogs don’t even really get to feel grass under their feet, as many are living in apartments or other urban areas, and we expect the dogs to stay on the sidewalk when we walk them These are adult animals and they’ve had their autonomy almost completely stripped away by loving, well-intentioned owners.  
 
So what can we do about this?  
 
In general, using a longer leash and allowing your dog to stop and sniff and do what they want to do (as long as it’s safe) on the walk is going to be my recommendation.  
 
This is easier said than done, of course! Humans have time limits, and we can’t spend all day standing and watching our dogs sniff things. So what humans usually do is let the dog sniff for an amount of time, and then we asked the dog to come with us, or we pull on the leash to get them to come with us. Most dogs will comply, but what can happen here is we can actually train our dogs to spend more time sniffing by using this method.  

I like to think of pulling on the leash or calling your dog away from their sniffing as acting like an alarm clock. The dog “sets the timer” when they start sniffing, and they just keep sniffing until the alarm – you - goes off.  

If you want to allow your dog to sniff, but shorten the amount of time spent sniffing, read on!  
 
In the beginning, only take these walks when you have basically unlimited time. Allow your dog to stop and sniff whenever they like. Simply wait until the dog stops sniffing, then click or praise and throw a bunch of treats on the ground (or hand them to your dog, whatever works for you).  
 
Over time, this turns into a habit loop of “oooh there is a smell I want to investigate“> go sniff the smell > go back to owner or handler > get treats. This reduces the amount of time they spend sniffing because the start of the loop triggers the dog to go back to their handler. 

I love that we can find ways to meet the needs of our dogs and our own. Both ends of the leash matter. We both deserve to have an enjoyable walk. Using a longer leash and learning how to let your dog sniff and keep it moving can make a big impact.  
 
If you’d like personalized help, we’d love to hear from you!

Epigenetics, Culture, and Behavior

Content Warning: talk of pet death 
 
I was visiting a client’s house, and they have an outdoor cat. I filled up her food dish and gave her some scratches. When I turned to leave, the cat stayed right by the house. She didn’t try to follow me to my car. “Wow! I wonder how they trained her to do that?” I giggled to myself and realized that the owners did not train her. They barely train the dog they hire me to care for in their absence. Then I remembered that they used to have many more outdoor cats, too. After chatting with the owner, I found that they did not train this cat; all the cats that followed people to their cars have unfortunately been squished.  

This is sad and super upsetting, but it reminds me of something I’ve been thinking about lately.  
 
Many of the young families I work with are feeling a bit of despair when it comes to their dogs. They got married, they bought a house, they may or may not have children, and now they’re getting their first dog as an adult, and it is hard. It is so much harder than they thought it would be. They call me because it doesn’t feel as easy as it was when they were growing up with the family dog, and they feel like they must be doing something wrong. 
 
The first question I like to ask - are we remembering that family dog of our childhood through an accurate lens? There’s a big difference between having a dog as a child (or as a teenager) and having a dog as an adult. As children, we didn't necessarily see or understand all of the work and all of the problems that come with having a dog. As an adult, you are responsible for that dog. When the dog chews something up, that’s your hard-earned money they’ve destroyed. If the dog runs away, it’s your effort and energy going in to collecting the dog. If the dog bites someone, that is your financial, legal, and potentially criminal liability. Dogs doing Bad Dog Things are not just an annoyance anymore; they’re a real problem!  
 
Let’s head back to the cat from our earlier example. It looks like a well-trained cat, but the owners didn’t do anything to train this cat. This cat just naturally likes to stick by the house. The other cats – the ones that didn’t have this natural inclination to stay by the house - they’ve all been squished. Those more curious and bold cats are not around anymore. We only see the cats that just hang out by the house. You don’t see or even know about the ones that have perished. 
 
Behavior like boldness/pushiness has a genetic component. If this cat - the one that stays by the house - has the ability to breed, they’re going to produce more animals that have a personality that makes them stay by the house too. Not all of their kittens will be homebodies, but more will be, compared to the original population. If the bolder ones (meaning the ones that follow people to cars) are removed from the population (squished), the population becomes less bold over the generations, and more likely to just hang out by the house. This makes training those animals to stay by the house (if you have to do any training at all) pretty darn easy.  

Our tolerance for - and understanding of - certain behaviors in dogs has changed. Simply put, we are keeping more dogs alive than ever before. Standards for our dogs and for ourselves have also changed. Just a couple decades ago, cities didn’t really have leash laws. Lots and lots and lots of dogs were just loose, hanging out in neighborhoods, running around, breeding, sometimes fighting, eating trash, getting hit by cars, chasing school children, etc. Dogs would go home at night to spend the evening with their families (unless they didn’t come home). In some ways, that was better for dogs’ mental health. They got to be real dogs. But it is certainly more dangerous for their physical health, and ours. To be clear, I am not advocating for the eradication of leash laws. I am not advocating for letting our dogs run wild. I am saying that dogs are different now. Their world is different now. Our standards are different now.  
 
When I was a child, we were taught to refrain from interacting with the dogs while they were eating. We were taught not to wake the dog up when it’s sleeping. We were taught not to take the dog’s bone away. We were taught not to tease the dog. Dogs were put behind gates, in other rooms, or in kennels to prevent conflict with small children when active supervision was lacking. The kids were protected from the dogs as much as the dogs were protected from the kids. It was just accepted that the smaller children didn’t have the skills to make good decisions around the dogs, and if the adults weren’t in the mood to actively supervise, they knew the benefits of letting the small children interact with the dogs was just not worth the risk.  

As dogs have become more like family members (I personally am one of those people that feel my dogs are my family), some line-blurring occurs. Dog owners deeply love their dogs. Dog owners often love their dogs like they love their children. If you feel similarly about your child as your dog, you might start to think about them in the same way. You might think that they should be able to interact together the way siblings do: all the time, with basically no boundaries. And that’s really hard for most dogs. It’s too hard for most dogs.  
 
I love that people are thinking about their dogs as family members and treating them with the kindness and love and respect that we give to family members. And we need to keep in mind the needs and preferences of each one of our family members, including the dogs. If, for example, you have an autistic child and allistic (not autistic) child, those kids have different needs. If we’re thinking about dogs like they are children, we might want to start thinking about them as if they’re maybe autistic or something similar. My point is dogs have different needs and preferences than human children do.  
Note: I’m speaking as a person with autism and this analogy makes sense to me. I am absolutely not saying that autistic children are animals.  

I know I have a tendency to meander in my writing, so I am going to circle back to the main point of this article. Many dogs’ needs were better met in decades gone by, because they weren’t confined by leashes and fences and walls. They were able to go out, make their own decisions, and move in the ways they wanted to move. They got to eat garbage and kill squirrels, and really be a dog. More of them died from preventable disease and injury. It was absolutely more dangerous, but dogs were able to meet their own enrichment needs. They were more emotionally and mentally fulfilled. This meant that the humans weren’t responsible for entertaining their dogs, and the dogs were more manageable in the house (if they went into the house). Dogs that couldn’t stay out of real trouble and those that hurt people while roaming were swiftly and permanently dealt with, so there were not as many truly dangerous dogs back then. We are keeping more dogs alive these days. The dogs that tended to chase cars a few decades ago would get hit by cars and die more often, because we didn’t put as much money or effort into keeping them alive. The car-chasers were just not there anymore. It felt like the dogs were well-trained (at least around cars), but more likely, it was just the genetic predisposition in the population of dogs. And if we bring reproduction into the conversation, we get the evolutionary and epigenetic layer to it. The dogs that don’t get hit by cars survive long enough to produce more offspring than the ones that do get hit by cars. In this way, we end up with a population of dogs that are more cautious around vehicles. 
 
If it feels harder to own a dog than you remember it being, you’re not crazy. What you’re experiencing is real. Owning a dog today is different than it was 30 years ago. In some ways, it is harder, and in others – like finding educated dog walkers and trainers - it might be easier.  
 
If you feel like you need help, you’re not alone, and there is qualified help out there. You can find certified professional dog trainers using the following tools: 
 
https://www.ccpdt.org/dog-owners/certified-dog-trainer-directory/ 
 
https://iaabc.org/en/certs/members 

The Power of Nothing: When Doing Nothing is Better than Doing Something

This post contains three examples where giving up some control was a better solution than exerting control over a situation.

—-

My cat used to race into the garage any time the opportunity arose. 
 
There are a lot of hiding places for a cat in my garage, and things aren't stored in there very safely. There are boxes stacked precariously, and I worry they could fall and crush him. When we first moved in here, there were leftover chemicals and other stuff from the previous owners that I was intesely worried about.   
 
Because he is a normal, curious cat, and the garage was off-limits for him, he would race in there any chance he got. And he did not want to come out. He refused to be found. The harder we tried to get him to come out, the deeper he’d hide.  
 
Some years have gone by, and I am a better trainer now. My garage is still a mess, but it is a bit safer, and I don’t feel as desperate to keep him out of there. I’ve given up the idea of tightly controlling this cat, and it has paid off!  
 
I don't try to block his access to that garage anymore. When he goes in, I don't make it a big deal at all. When he comes out he gets a great treat. Now he doesn’t really care about going in the garage anymore. When he does go in the garage, he goes in with me, and follows me out when I leave. And then he gets his treat. A small price to pay for safety.  
 
The same thing happened with the yard. I used to really worry about him running away (because he did run away one time) Again, I tried to block his access to the yard, but that just made him try harder, and he refused to be caught when he did get out. Now I let him go out if he chooses, and I just reward him handsomely when he comes in. I also reward him every time the door opens; he gets a treat every time I let the dogs out. These days, if the door is open, he may dash outside, but his main goal is to immediately dash back inside. It is really quite funny - he's not trying to get outside, he's trying to come back inside so that he can get a treat! 
 
I had to give up my perception of control in order to gain actual control of this cat. 

 
----  

 
I'm not one to say that owners and humans cause a lot of behavior problems, but resource guarding is one area where we tend to make it worse. 
 
We'll see this often in gun dogs (retrievers, pointers, spaniels, setters, etc.). These dogs naturally like to have things in their mouths. And they are dogs, so they like to put gross things in their mouths. Things like dirty underwear and dirty socks. Humans usually don't like this because it's gross, and we also don't want them to wreck our stuff. So when we see them carrying our stuff, we quickly try to take it away from them.  
 
And right here is where so many things happen that just make it all worse.  
 
As humans, we are probably doing something else when our stuff gets grabbed. We might be working, eating, watching TV, or maybe reading.  But when we notice that the dog has a Thing, our attention quickly shifts from whatever we were doing to the dog. If the dog likes having your eyes on them, the dog has just been reinforced for taking a Thing. AND THEN! We play a game of chase! So that's fun too!! But we create a lot of conflict when we do catch up to the dog. We might grab the collar, use an unpleasant tone of voice, pin him down, rip the item out of their mouth, manipulate their jaw, etc.  

As difficult as it may be, it is almost always better to just ignore a dog that has stolen an item. Paying attention to it is likely to make that item feel more valuable. Instead, we might grab a more appropriate toy and make a big deal about how special it is, play with it by ourselves, and before you know it, the dog will probably decide that the appropriate toy is more valuable than the stolen item. This is, of course, so much easier when the stuff you really care about is put up out of reach of puppies and adolescent dogs.  
 
 —-

Now I’m going to talk about a mistake that I made. I was speaking at a 4H class. The library was so kind to let us have dogs in the basement. It was orientation night, and the children were not supposed to bring their dogs. I brought Mason to do some demos because he is excellent with people, and he is safe with dogs, but he is... loud. He'll scream and scream and scream and scream if they can't meet. It's very off-putting, and it can be very scary if you don't know him. 
 
It was just my luck that one of the parents either didn't see the e-mail or chose to ignore the instructions, and brought a tiny puppy. It was very small, and very cute. They hid it in their coat, and Mason made it through half of the class without realizing that another dog was there.  
 
But I knew the dog was there, and I should have just brought him to my car and completed the lesson without a demo dog. But I thought “oh, if that puppy just stays in their coat, Mason will never know, and I can teach the lesson as planned.” Alas, the puppy did not stay in their coat.  
 
I made three mistakes:  

1.) I probably should not have brought Mason into a space that’s known for requiring quiet participation.
2.) I should not have trusted that parents and kids would abide by our rules. 
3.)  When I finally did learn about the dog that wasn't supposed to be there, I should have brought Mason to the car before anything happened. 
 
Of course, the tiny puppy woke up and wriggled out of the owner’s jacket. Mason saw A PUPPY and his brain melted out of his skull and he started screaming. Mason is safe, even mid-meltdown, but the whole performance is incredibly off-putting, extremely loud, and again we were in a library.  
 
A library worker came down when she heard Mason’s noise. She was quite frustrated with me, and she was understandably upset that this was happening. I was already trying to get Mason out of there. I ran into this library worker in the hallway as I was trying to get him out to my car. I was already leaving, but her need for control got in the way. She ended up delaying the outcome that she was looking for. I was already on my way out, but she still felt the need to stop me in the hallway. She kept telling me over and over and over and over that the dog needed to leave.  I was nodding and agreeing, and just waiting for her to stop talking and move out of my way. She was blocking our escape with her body, and she just stood there scolding me, and I just kept nodding, and Mason just kept screaming. 

That need for control... it's a tough thing to balance. The library worker probably thought that she was protecting her patrons. In reality, she ended up prolonging the perceived risk to her patrons by exerting her authority in that situation. Wielding that that control was totally unhelpful in that situation.  

—- 

There are so many areas in animal training - and in life - where giving up a little control will actually give us more control, and make things safer, easier and more enjoyable. It sure is hard to do, but I’m working at it. I hope you’ll join me!

Fatphobia in Dog Training: Resistance to Using Food

I was engaging in therapy remotely a few years ago. I was on Zoom in my house, and I had a board and train client at the time. Most of my board and trains are working on impulse control and just overall refraining from terrorizing the house when someone is not paying attention to the dog 100% of the time. So I was sort of talking to my (ex)therapist and tossing treats to this dog lying on his mat every so often. The therapist asked me what I was doing. I told him I was training a dog, and he responded. His tone was shocking, especially coming from a therapist that has a couple of specialties in childhood development and in teaching parents how to parent with positive reinforcement. It was just so weird; his tone got really dark and he said, “oh he’s going to get fat.” 
 
That was his first - and possibly only - concern. He was so worried that this dog (a dog that he doesn’t know, and who’s owner paid me - a professional dog trainer - good money to train), would get fat. The longer I think about it, the crazier it feels.  He is a mental health professional, and he’s still in this mindset. That’s the state we’re working in here. 
 
I am sure that, like many a layperson, this therapist didn’t realize the dog’s regular calories could be used to do the training. The dog has to eat something every day, right? Why wouldn’t we put that to use? But still, it was absolutely crazy that I had to take time out of my therapy session that I paid for to educate this man, and eventually to tell this therapist to mind his own business.  

I think about this interaction often, and I can’t help but make the connection to fatphobia in America. Of course the resistance to using food to train dogs is rooted in our own fatphobia!  

Another time, I was walking dogs for a local rescue. We usually had one or two dogs with some pretty severe behavior problems. I’m thinking of a particular dog – we'll call her Gretta. Gretta must have been at the building for about a year. She had some dangerous behavior problems, but one of the milder issues was lunging at cars while out on walks. Even on leash, she almost got hit several times! She pulled the leash out of many a dog-walker's hands as well. We implemented a training plan that included pairing her favorite treats with the sight of cars. It worked! It was easy to walk her around cars after a few weeks’ worth of training. Towards the end of her stay in the shelter, Gretta started to get a little chunky, but she was still functional and joyful. I was talking with the shelter coordinator because she was complaining about how fat Greta was. I said, “well I mean we’re feeding her a lot at meal times.” It was a lot. I remember thinking “this is twice what I feed my dogs of the same weight, and my dogs are way more active than she is.” So I just suggested that we could reduce the regular food at mealtime. The coordinator looked at me with a sharpness in her eyes and said, “we need to cut down on her treats.” I was flabbergasted. The training treats had made her walkable in just a couple of weeks! It was dangerous to walk her before, and it was not dangerous to walk her with the treats. Fat phobia is so strong that we have this shelter manager more worried about the dog being fat than the way the dog’s life was positively impacted through the use of positive training with food. This shelter manager was more concerned about having a fat dog than she was for the of the safety of the volunteers that were walking this dog.  

It is downright dangerous; as a society, we’re willing to sacrifice safety to avoid fatness. I hope to do better from within my company. 

 
 
So when we are working with the general public, who believe that food and fat are scary, we may need to reassure them that things will be okay. We will need to teach our clients that we can use the dog’s regular calories, and we don’t necessarily need to add extra calories to their diet. We will probably have to change how the dog receives their calories. Smaller dogs may have to get all or most of their calories from training. Larger dogs may be able to receive smaller meals so we can use the rest for training.  Some dogs will happily work for their regular kibble (I have one such dog, and I sure do feel lucky). Of course, we need to use food that is reinforcing to the dog in front of us, so if that dog will not work for their kibble, then maybe we can find a wet dog food and deliver it from a squeezable food tube. This way, the dog is getting something delicious and a complete, nutritious meal. This should help the general public feel better about using food to train their dogs.

I’ll end with a mantra I love: “there are worse things to be than fat.” It’s not the worst thing if your dog is chubby, and it’s not the worst thing if you’re fat, either. There’s lots of lots and lots of things that go into weight. There are tons of people that can eat and eat and eat and eat and eat without gaining any weight. And there are lots and lots and lots of people that eat a small amount of food and are just large. It’s the same with dogs! Weight is complicated. It’s not the most important thing, and we can focus on creating joyful, functional lives without worrying about weight.

About the author:  
I’m a fat person. I don’t eat very much. I really don’t consume many calories. I’ve also never owned a fat dog. I feed my dogs training treats all day, and they are not fat. I give them two meals each day plus training treats throughout the day. And they’re not fat. We can let go of some this fear; it’s not helpful. Genetics are a Whole Thing, and I personally will choose to live a functional, joyful life over a thin life.

Living with a Dog Includes Management

There is a difference between responding to something your dog is doing in everyday life and training them. 
 
I think a lot of dog trainers focus on the training aspect of dog ownership, at least when we’re talking to our clients. We do a ton of everyday life management and we don’t even realize all of the management tools and exercises that we are using. And sometimes we think that we can just attribute the dog’s everyday behavior to our training, when in reality it’s the training, it’s the dog’s genetics, and it is the management. Most trainers instinctively use management. It’s woven into our daily life without much thought. We instinctively know that we need to kennel some dogs. We instinctively know we need to feed some dogs in their kennels so they can’t bite the other dogs. We instinctively know that we might need to throw a drag line onto certain dogs in the house or in the yard so that we can just go collect them when we’re not in the mood to be in training mode and the dog isn’t fully trained yet.  
 
So when we show our clients the training exercises, but neglect to include the management strategies we use in conjunction with the training, our clients are missing a huge part of the program. They may also be receiving an unrealistic picture of what dog ownership looks like. Dog ownership includes management for the life of the dog, and many folks, especially first-time dog owners, don’t know this. 
 
Let’s look at an example. Recall training is an essential part of dog ownership. Everyone wants a dog that comes in from the yard when they’re called.  When a dog owner is struggling with this, they will call a trainer. We show up and teach the recall exercises, and we’ll present it as “this is your solution.” But we could also roll into that the management pieces. We can say “there’s a layered approach here. We can put a drag line on the dog so that when it’s time to come in you can just go grab the long line and just bring them in without having a power struggle, without bribing, without pleading and begging and getting frustrated.” And then when the human and the dog are in the right frame of mind, they can practice the recall training exercises.  
 
I find so much of my job is explaining to clients that there is living with a dog and then there’s training a dog, and those feel very different. We can do the training when we are in the headspace to do training, and we can lean on management when we’re not in the mood to be actively training. If we try to do the training when we’re rushed, when we’re angry, when we’re frustrated, or when we’re tired, we are not going to be good trainers.  If we’re not in the right headspace, we can accidentally poison our cues (especially recall cues) and the training can backfire! 

Trainers should be offering personal stories about how we live our lives with our dogs, and the management strategies we use. Our dogs aren’t usually obedient robots. Sometimes we put drag lines on our dogs so that we can collect them because they sometimes refuse to come in from the yard, and sometimes we’re tired.  
 
Management happens throughout the life of the dog.  

It’s Not Cheating, It’s Management

I was chatting with a client about working on manners when the owners are cooking dinner.  
 
Right now, they’re putting him in a kennel when they’re cooking because they want to focus on cooking without dealing with unwanted behavior from their dog. They looked ashamed and expressed to me that they felt like they were “cheating”; like they’re not they’re not taking the time to train him. By golly, I felt just the opposite! I was so proud of them for knowing what they needed and when they needed it. I was so proud of them for putting their dog somewhere safe, so he could practice those wanted behaviors of lying down, chewing on his bone, entertaining himself without getting underfoot, etc. I was so dang proud of them for being proactive. It is so much easier to prevent a problem than to fix one.  
 
Is using a leash to walk your dog cheating? You’re managing him with the leash; preventing him from running away by having him attached to you. Most of us don’t think of leashes as cheating. So why do we think of other management strategies as cheating? Management is a wonderful tool. It is immediately effective. If we go back to the cooking scenario, you get your needs met and your need is to make yourself food without tripping over your dog or having it stolen by a greedy canine.  
 
You are also preventing icky behavior from ever starting. Your dog isn't practicing jumping up on the counter and slobbering on your food and stealing it. Your dog is not getting the opportunity to practice that behavior. We know that behaviors that get practiced are more likely to be repeated in the future. With management like this, you’re preventing that whole cycle from happening!  
 
You’re also engaging in a long-term training plan. There is a learning mechanism called habituation. Habituation is the type of learning that happens implicitly. The learner is absorbing the information - no one is actively teaching the learner. Over time, your dog might just learn that humans cooking = dogs chilling in kennels. Your dog may very well learn to put himself in his kennel all on his own (and you may not even need to shut the door at some point) when you start cooking, because that’s just what we do when humans are cooking.  
 
Overall, management is the most important part of dog training, and it is most of dog ownership. All pet dogs need to be managed to some capacity for their entire lives. It isn’t cheating, it’s living. 

Retractable Leashes (Are Flexi’s Evil?)

Retractable leashes, also known as Flexi leads, are the kind of leashes that retract in and out of a bulky plastic handle.

I'm going to come out of the gate to say that I differ from a lot of dog enthusiasts and professionals, because I don't hate retractable leashes. This tool would not exist if it didn't fill a need. When used appropriately, it is a lovely tool!

Personally, I bought my first retractable leash when we amputated my 11 year old dog's front leg. He was tripping on the long line, and I found the retractable leash to be a much better solution for him. When a dog loses a leg, it is actually easier for them to move faster because the hopping takes more energy than running, and especially for front-amputees, there is a lot of pressure that can be painful that gets put on that front leg when hopping around. Cooper runs up a ways, stops and rests and waits for me to catch up. For me, the combination of not wanting him to trip on a leash, and the constant forward motion. This is a pretty specific, personal reason, but if it is a reason that I have, there are no doubt others that make this decision for the same reason I am extra careful about keeping him away from potential dangers. I walk him more often in a field and less on the sidewalks. When we are on the sidewalks, I don't let him get as close to the street as I may have with the long line because I know I won't be able to reel him in quickly if danger presents itself. 

There are, however, some very real and serious safety risks that come with the retractable lead. Let's explore the retractable lead together.

What kind of dogs do WELL on a flexi? 

These are the kind of dogs that the owners never feel like they need the help of a professional. They don't startle easily. They don't lunge when they see other dogs or people while out walking. Dogs that have never ever ever ever ever EVER put their teeth on another dog, domestic animal or a human's flesh. And I mean never. Dogs that have REALLY REALLY REALLY solid recall. I'm talking about the kind of recall when something wild and crazy and super-exciting is happening, and your dog will still come running when you call. These are the kind of dogs that do well on a flexi. No startle, no teeth usage, excellent recall, no lunging or big reactions to anything - cars, people, dogs, squirrels, etc.

Unfortunately, reactive dogs don't fit this description. If you have a dog that lunges at things (cars, people, other dogs, bicycles, baby strollers, etc.), the flexi gives you very little physical control over your dog's body. Some people may keep it on lock to combat this issue, but this defeats the purpose of using a flexi lead, and a solid leash is still much safer. 

The Good 

1.) Many people want to give their dog more freedom than a standard 4-6 foot leash. I fall into this camp as well! I desperately want dogs to have the opportunity to move more freely. There is just more ROOM, physically for the dog to move, and more room to make correct choices. When we give dogs more choices that are acceptable to us, they can make more choices that are acceptable to us. Fewer of the dog's choices are seen as bad or wrong in the human's eyes. This leads to a stronger relationship because the human isn't angry with their dog as often, and the dog retains some autonomy, and those are all things that help maintain a stable healthy dog and healthy stable relationship between species. I fall into that give my dog more freedom camp. That is why flexis have a good checkmark in my list of pros and cons.

2.) People like the flexi is there is less tangling. Some folks are concerned about the leash getting under their dog's legs. Luckily, unless your dog has some really sensitive skin or leash sensitivity or phobias, most dogs do not care about the leash getting under their legs. Interestingly, many people will use aversive methods to control their dogs (shock, pinch, choke collars, etc.), but they'll get deeply concerned about the dog's discomfort if the leash gets under the dog's legs, which is very interesting to me. People like the flexi because it doesn't get under the dog's legs very often. I think this is an education thing; the dogs don't really care, so we shouldn't care. While it goes in the pro column for flexi users, this is a non-issue in my book.

3.) Some people find the handle easier to hold onto. I do think that if people knew how to hold a solid leash appropriately, this would be a non-issue. I think if people learn to hold a leash (particularly a long line) and get over the leash-under-dog panic, this would fall away as an issue. So while this goes in the pro column for some folks, it is a non-issue to me.

The Bad

Let's just get it out in the open. There are valid reasons why retractable leashes have a bad rap.

1.) In my opinion, the most serious issue is how difficult it is to "reel in" a dog that's connected to the end of a retractable leash. The mechanism in the retractable lead is built to let line out when there is pressure; as long as there is pressure, the line doesn't come back in. There is no button or motor that physically reels the dog in. If you get into a pickle when your dog is 15 feet away from you, there is no fast way to physically pull your dog in towards your body. You can lock the leash, which prevents the dog from continuing to move away from you, but shortening that leash without the dog's cooperation is just really difficult, and can actually leave the handler with an injury. These leashes can cut into flesh like butter and even sever fingers.

2.) If you drop the handle of a retractable leash, it will make a loud noise. The noise alone can scare many dogs, but if the leash was unlocked when it fell, it will immediately start to retract. Without the tension provided by a human hand, the handle will start to "chase" the dog. Many dogs find this disturbing, and will run away from the handle, which of course doesn't work, and only adds more chaos to the calamity. Depending on your dog's resilience, this could be a traumatic event, and could cause leash reactivity or other leash walking problems. These handles are bulky and easy to drop, so adding a wrist strap to the handle (and attaching that to your wrist every time) increases safety.

3.) Retractable leads allow dogs with less observant handlers to wander unescorted into other people’s and dog's space. The owner isn't paying attention to their dog, doesn't have the leash on lock, doesn't realize that their dog is moving toward another dog or a human. And that human or dog may not want to be interacted with. They may be sick, or have an allergy to dogs. It may even be dangerous. Many people have dogs that are just fine with appropriate distance, but when their space is invaded, they dislike that. And SOME dogs do use their teeth to express their displeasure (and those dogs are not appropriate for flexi leashes). Those dogs SHOULD be wearing muzzles too, but it's also the owner of the dog that is encroaching on another's dog's space to ensure their dog isn't doing things that it shouldn't. It seems like a lot of folks that use flexi leads just aren't paying attention to what their dog is doing. Part of this may be because flexi users tend to have really sweet, easy, gentle dogs, and if you've only every had dogs like this, you may believe that all dogs are like this. If you’ve only ever been exposed to easy, docile dogs, you may not realize that not every dog is sweet and gentle, and you may think that it is fine for their dog to go up to other dogs. But this is rude and dangerous! As responsible handlers, it is always our duty to keep our dog at a respectful distance from others. If your dog is getting into trouble before you're even aware, something bad can happen long before you could ever react.

Once a dog on a flexi is going up to someone or another dog that isn't consenting to be interacting to this, and the owner notices and is like oh shoot, I need to get my dog out of there. Then we are back to that issue of not being able to pull your dog out of there physically, so you have to rely on recall. Which is why in my list of appropriate dogs, I said that dogs with the most solid recall are a good fit for flexi lead usage. You want the kind of dog that will come back even if their favorite thing is in front of them. And this is HARD. This is hard even for the best, most polite dogs. And it can feel impossible for dogs with Issues.

4.) Stopping to tie shoes is difficult with a flexi lead.  With the flexi, you can't really do it well. I end up letting out a bunch of leash, lock the mechanism, then step on the ribbon with my foot to keep it under control. I tried to step on the plastic handle part, but the bulk didn't feel safe. If the dog spooked or lunged, the handle could have shot out from under my foot.

5.) Many anti-flexi folks will say that these leashes teach your dog to pull. This just isn't true. It's not factual. Their logic is, “when your dog puts pressure on the leash, they get more line, so it teaches them to pull.” But the amount of pressure required to engage that mechanism is so small that dogs don't even notice. Most dogs that pull are putting way more pressure on the leash without ever even having been on a flexi leash. When you dive into this argument, it doesn't hold water.

6.) The more space your dog has between you and the end of their leash, the more speed they can rack up. This is just physics; it's why we take a running start when we need to jump over something. More speed means harder stopping force. And if you're holding a flexi lead handle, you might drop it when that force is acted upon your hand. But again, this is why dogs that lunge, startle and chase aren't good candidates for flexi leads. I prefer to use long lines, usually about 15 feet. The speed problem is real, but I don't find it to be as big of a deal when we hold the leash correctly. So while this is a valid concern, if we have the right dog using this leash, we should never (or rarely) encounter this issue.

7.) Retractable leashes are not safe for use with reactive dogs.

If you are walking, and a trigger appears, and you weren't prepared, now you've got a reactive, potentially dangerous dog running to the end of the line and lunging at a person (or a dog or trying to chase a car, etc.). You probably would rather have your dog closer to you rather than 15-20 feet out in front of you when they're having a reaction like that. At the very least, you will want to get your dog away from the "victim" so that the person is not afraid. But you have limited options to pull your dog back to you at this point. If you push the lock button, that prevents them from going out further, but that doesn't help if the dog is already at their maximum distance, and it is so hard to reel that in. This is where people often drop the handle, either because the handle pops out of your hand when the dog hits the end hard, or, because your adrenaline is up, your cortisol is up, you're not using your prefrontal cortex, you're using probably your amygdala, which is tasked with getting you out of danger quickly. You're not able to make the best, most rational decisions when the amygdala is in charge. The Amygdala's job is to keep you safe, so it does the fastest, easiest thing it can think of to get you out of danger. You're bypassing your critical thinking skills when you're in this elevated state. So this is when people's hands will fail them, and now the dog is free to run off, attack, chase a car, etc.

AND THEN, to add to this chaos, we have this big piece of plastic that looks like it is chasing the dog from the dog's point of view. Some dogs may not care, but for many dogs, this is the stuff of nightmares. If it is on lock, it stays the same distance from the dog, so they feel like they're never making progress on escaping. It is nearly impossible to catch a running dog because they have four legs and they're just faster than humans. And if it is not on lock... have you ever played with a tape measure? Maybe when you were a kid and you and a sibling were stretching it out and your sibling who had the big metal box part lets go, and you're still holding on, and this big Thing comes flying at you, and it can hurt you when it hits you because it has gained a bunch of speed, reeling itself in. The same thing happens with a dropped flexi handle. When it gets to your dog, it could hurt them because, well physics. It's moving fast, and when things move fast they HURT if they make contact. So then we can end up with a traumatized dog, making them even more reactive or difficult to walk in the future.

Making a purchase

If you have a dog that you think will do well on a flexi lead, and you’re ready to buy, shopping for the right flexi lead for your body is important.Another thing you need to look out for when using/choosing a flexi lead is how easy it is to hold the handle in your hand. I personally have pretty small hands. Some of these flexi handles have buttons that I can't reach easily. You don't want to need to adjust your grip in order to use the button because in an urgent situation, you need to act quickly, your body doesn't work as well especially under stress. I know I've said before, when your adrenaline and cortisol shoot up, your prefrontal cortex (the smart, rational part of your brain) isn't in charge, and you need to rely on habits to get through to safety. You need to choose a flexi lead that fits your hand in a way that your thumb can reach the button without adjusting your grip at all.

So what do you think? Is a flexi lead right for you?
 

Litter Box Issues?

Have you ever wondered why if your cat isn’t using their litter box everyone says to check for urinary tract infection? 
 
We should seek the advice of a vet to explain why that is the physiologic biological pieces, but there is a behavioral component as well. When we have infections in our waste-elimination parts, eliminating is painful. Some animals will associate that pain with the location, smell, or substrate of their bathroom. Because of this, some cats will still struggle to go back to their litter box even after successful treatment of the infection.  
 
For cats, stepping into their litter box is followed by urination, which is painful. These poor cats are experiencing an aversive stimulus immediately after stepping into their litter box! We know that punishment decreases the probability of a behavior, so if they’re experiencing something aversive when stepping into their litter box (and the aversive is working as a punishment), those cats will stop entering their litter box.  
 
But the bodies are funny little things, and they have to eliminate waste. They have to go to the bathroom somewhere, so they’ll often choose a new place with a totally different substrate. Perhaps your wood floors, your bed, or your bathroom rug.  
 
If, when the cat starts eliminating elsewhere, the infection is still present, the pain will still be there. Soon that new place may become poisoned as well. The cat may continue looking for a place, so it looks like your cat is just peeing indiscriminately. We get this idea that the cat just refuses to use the litter box. But what really could be happening is they’re trying to find a place to go to the bathroom that doesn’t hurt. They don’t have the view that we have. They may not know that they could be sick. If they do know, they don’t have the ability to take themselves to the vet to get checked out.  

This is why vets and trainers often need to team up to help an animal with the same issue. We each have an important role to play in the care of pets.  

MEALTIME ENRICHMENT

Most of us do a good job of providing our dogs with enough physical exercise, but we often don’t realize that our dog’s mind needs a workout too! The good news is, we don’t need to dedicate a whole lot of extra time to this; meal time is an excellent time to get some extra training and mental exercise in for your dog. You’ll find a mix of games and DIY puzzles to choose from below.

*If your family consists of multiple pets or children, prevent resource guarding and bites by making sure no children or other pets can interfere with these games and puzzles. You may want to put your dog in a room and close the door while you supervise.

*This is a good time to consider the stoppage of free-feeding if that is your current system. Training, overall, will be more effective if your dog learns that food isn’t free, it needs to be earned, and YOU are the keeper and giver of life-sustaining calories. Once your dog realizes that you hold the key to the things he wants, training will be much easier.

DIY Food Puzzles

Bottle Food Dispenser

Find an empty 2-liter soda bottle, clean and dry. Drill many holes into the bottle, just big enough for your dog’s kibble to fall through. Feed all or some of your dog’s meal from this. They will learn to bat the bottle around to make food fall out. You may need to show your dog how it works at first. If your dog seems frustrated, drill larger holes so the food falls out more easily.

Frozen Kong

Dice up some veggies and cooked meat, mix with some kibble (or just use regular kibble on its own) and stuff into a large Kong. Seal with peanut butter (ensure the peanut butter is dog-safe, no xylitol) and freeze. I will make a full week’s worth of frozen Kongs for my dogs so that I always have them on hand when I need them. Give this to your dog when you need him to quietly occupy some time on his own (during Baby’s naptime, when you’re on an important phone call, etc.). This will work without the freezer, but your dog will finish his treat quickly. Kongs can be cleaned by soaking in warm water with dish soap or on the top rack of your dishwasher. I especially like this exercise as a kennel reward.

Towel Roll

Find an old towel you no longer care about, clean and dry. Lay the towel out flat and sprinkle some kibble all over. Fold in half, lengthwise, sandwiching the kibble inside. Sprinkle some more kibble on top of the folded towel and roll it up tightly. Let your dog unroll and enjoy! You may need to unroll slightly to show your dog for the first time. Here a few videos –  Pepper, Simple Feeding, Towel and Laundry basket.

Snuffle Mat

The snuffle mat works much like the towel roll, but it is easier and doesn’t move around. This is the perfect solution for dogs that startle easily or give up quickly. This is just a mat made of fabric scraps. It hides food pieces slightly. This is what they look like.

Food Games

Find It

Hide small piles of food under/inside cardboard boxes. Your dog will have to learn to remove the boxes to get his meal. When your dog gets really good at this game, you can incorporate some empty boxes. This will make the hunt more difficult and heighten the excitement of finding a box that does contain food.

Hunting

Simply hide small piles of food around the room or throughout the house. If your dog is a heavy resource-guarder, stick to one room and close the door to keep children and other pets from interfering. Your dog will quickly learn to hunt for his food, using up mental energy throughout the day.

Choose the Correct Hand

Place some food in one hand, leave the other empty. Make both hands into a fist. Present your fists to your dog. When he touches the correct hand with his nose, reward him by opening your fist and allowing him to eat the contents.  When he gets good at this game, you can require your dog to sit before he is rewarded.

Training

You can also use your dog’s mealtime to double as your training time. It’s a great way to train fun party tricks like this – Would you rather… It doesn’t take a ton of time; 30 seconds up to 10 minutes each  day are perfect for optimal learning and retention.

For more ideas, visit the Facebook group Canine Enrichment.

Cats on the Counters

If your cat jumps up on the counters, you probably don’t like the thought of those litter-kickers all over your food prep surfaces. So you peruse the internet and find a brilliant solution. Maybe you spray the cat with water or you shake a can of pennies in an attempt to scare your cat away from the counter.

There are several possible outcomes:

1.) It Works

If, after 1-5 repetitions, you notice a shift in your cat’s behavior around the counters (they stop jumping up there), you’re golden! And you’re in the lucky minority of cat owners. You’re done! You probably don’t need to keep reading this article. Go celebrate with an ice cream cone; life is good!

2.) It sort of works.

The cat may jump off, which may make you think it works. But the cat may come right back, or come back when you’re not looking. If this is happening, then your training plan isn’t really working. It may seem like it’s working, because the cat jumps off, but your cat probably isn’t learning what you want him to learn. Your cat might be learning that it’s not okay to jump on the counter while you’re looking, or while you’re in the room, but it’s okay at other times. If our goal is to train the cat not to jump up on the counters at all, we need to rethink our plan.

This scenario is one that can lead to the most frustration and animosity between cat and owner. If the human really wants their cat to stop, and the human is convinced that this should be working, but the cat is just stubborn, this may lead the owner to dislike their cat, or even think their cat doesn’t love them because the cat refuses to listen or follow the rules. This can even lead some owners to consider even more extreme measures, getting caught up in an escalating cycle that never ends. I don’t have real data to support my opinion, but I think this is what happens in most cases.


3.) It Doesn't Work At All

Maybe your cat likes to be sprayed with water. Or maybe the sound of the penny-filled can just doesn’t bother him. Most of us living organisms have genes that tell us to persist in the face of adversity. That means that we’ll tolerate pain and discomfort in order to keep existing, eating and reproducing. If you’ve ever heard a trainer say “Reinforcement drives behavior,” this is what we mean. For these reasons and more, punishment just isn’t as helpful as reinforcement, when it comes to molding or modifying an animal’s behavior.

Some owners might resort to using pain or other more powerfully aversive stimuli in an attempt to get their cat to stop jumping on the counter. That might work. Or it still might not work. It might push this cat into category 2 (it sort of works). Or, it could push this cat into our 4th category.


4.) It Works Too Well

I’ve been invited into many homes where a spray bottle or a penny-filled can was used, and now the cat is fearful all the time. The cat might never enter the kitchen again. The cat may isolate himself in the basement, or only come out of hiding at night.

This is not the most common outcome, but it is a possible outcome, and it’s impossible to know for sure which cats will have a reaction like this. Are you ready to deal with this level of fallout?

So what’s the solution?

Let’s look at biology and ethology.

Cats like to be up high. Their DNA tells their brain to be up high. Just like our human brain tells us to cook our food (most of it, anyway). Being up high has kept generations upon generations of cats safe and fed and alive. We can’t remove that part of our cat’s brain, so why not use it to our advantage? Here are three strategies that can help make life with your cat better:

* Think about providing a station, or several stations to serve as appropriate up-high places for your cat. Make those places extra-special. Tall dressers, sturdy and wide shelving stacked like steps up a wall, or perhaps one specific part of a kitchen counter is acceptable? Consider feeding you cat’s meals in these places, hiding special treats like real tuna, chicken, cheese, or whatever your cat really loves, there for your cat to discover. Instead of pestering you while you prepare your human meals, your cat may sit on his/her station to receive periodic reinforcers. This will keep your cat out of the way without the need for high-conflict interactions. If you cat is able to get all the good things from these appropriate places, and we keep other temptations off of the kitchen counters, we will see our cats spending more and more time in the appropriate places, because it pays to be there. Over time, the brain learns to enjoy being there, because good things happen there. So you don’t always need to be using as much food. But it is important to keep the rate of the reinforcement at a reasonable level; reinforcement drives behavior, after all.

* Consider providing your cat’s daily meals (or at least one) through some sort of puzzle. If your cat needs to work or hunt to eat, she will get to use parts of her brain that are often neglected when living in the lap of luxury as a pet. She may become more content, reducing the amount of time she spends getting into trouble on your countertops.

* Give your cat a long lasting treat or toy when you really need them to stay out of your way. For me, that means Francis gets a sprig of the wild catnip growing in our yard when I am cooking things that he normally likes to try and steal. For others, a small Kong filled with their kibble and frozen with pureed tuna or chicken might be helpful. Anything that will keep your cat’s attention long enough for you to accomplish your goals uninterrupted will do!

Next time you find yourself irritated with your cat (or any other pet), take a step back and think about how you might help them meet the need that they are trying to fulfill, only in a more appropriate manner.

Hand Target

This is an extraordinarily simple task, yet it provides seemingly infinite benefits:

1) You’ll teach your dog that human hands are something to get excited about, minimizing the risk of a bite.

2) You’ll have a way to “call” your dog if he ever goes deaf.

3) You can use it to call your dog away from literally anything!

    a) Use it to redirect your dog’s attention when he’s barking his head off at the mail carrier.

    b) Use it to distract your dog from a stressor.

    c) Get your dog away from another dog that seems “iffy.”

4) You can use it to combat boredom. Once your dog understands the task, you can make it really fun! You can use this to teach new and more difficult

5) Use it to get your dog into the “heel” position (or any position).

6) Use it to move your dog out of the way, instead of “manhandling.”

Supplies:
– Clicker

– Treats + treat bag

– A dog

– Your hand

Instructions:

Have your clicker ready in one hand. Present your other hand as a very flat palm. Simply wait until your dog touches your hand with his nose. You do not need to say anything. You do not need to prompt your dog in any way. Just wait. The instant your dog touches your hand, click! and treat. Repeat until your dog seems to understand the game.

Maintain the behavior by “surprising” your dog randomly when you’re not in training mode. Hold out your hand while you’re watching TV, taking a walk, doing yardwork, etc. After successfully training “touch,” perform the maintenance training 3-5 times per day for several weeks or months. When you feel like your dog is racing to touch your hand with enthusiasm every single time, you can bring the maintenance training down to 3-5 times per week if you like, but you might find yourself using the hand target as part of your daily life!