YOUR DOG CAN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG; as in the title of Patti's book!

Your Dog Can't Do Anything Wrong (just consider it a training opportunity)

What kind of feelings come up when you hear that your dog cannot do anything wrong? Does your primate kick in and defend its position in your relationship? If our dogs aren’t listening it must be because THEY are wrong! Right?

From my years in responding to requests for behavior modification, most people misunderstand (and therefore label) a lack of compliance from their dog as being ‘stubborn’ or ‘willful’.  We are assuming in that statement that the dogs brain is sophisticated to the degree that those labels are fair.  For the sake of conversation here, I have seen dogs hesitate complying with a command, (which may be more common in certain breeds, you know who you are) though by and large many more times they are simply not understanding what we are attempting to communicate.

What is apparent to me as a teacher is that in order to recognize a training opportunity, it will be helpful to recognize when you are feeling they are being stubborn or willful.  Let that be your information, not your frustration!  Take a step back to ask if you have trained them to the level you are asking.  Taking responsibility, as their humans, to help them learn what you are communicating IS the training opportunity.

In the simplest of terms, if our dogs don’t know what it is we are communicating, it falls on us.

Let’s look at the human experience of communication, for example. The way we communicate is if we do not get a response, or the one we’re expecting, we tend to repeat the same thing over and over, possibly louder and louder.  Whether we know they are hearing us or not, it’s apparent they aren’t listening.  Therefore, this is the way we tend to communicate with our dogs, and it is as ineffective, if not more so.  They can hear a potato chip drop in the next room, significant to ‘hearing’ not being the problem.  Since English is not their first language, I suggest slowing down a bit, training them to hear our first request, and not repeating as though we were in a burning building.  Sit, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT!  This is a most INeffective way of communicating with a species that is adept at reading energy.

Here’s a training opportunity story:

Your dog, Pearl, slides out the front door and is on an all out, ears-flapping-in-the-wind run for a passer-by and their dog. You call out to her to come back, then again louder, all the while chasing after her full speed, in panic.  Game-On!  So, aside from feeling embarrassed, angry or frustrated, how are you going to react in this scenario?

According to Pearl, she’s not being stubborn to not come to you.  Rather she is in an exciting, low threshold environment for her.  So where is the training opportunity in this, and how is it she isn’t doing anything wrong? Simply put, you may have worked with Pearl’s recall in your home, or in the fenced yard, but have not taught her to come to you in a highly distractive environment.  She has likely not generalized that coming to you in the house is the same as when she is excitedly running after something. The training opportunity is training her when she’s running away from you, and this requires hours of practice with her on long line running after things, and coming back to you when called.  It requires that it works for her to whip around and run to you when called, and practicing the recall when she’s running toward different yummy things will accomplish this for you.

I will add that no amount of frustration or anger for not coming will teach your dog a thing, except possibly that if it wasn’t fun to come when called before, it certainly isn’t now.

Consider the association she has with how it feels to come to you. Have the times she has come to you ever been aversive? Have you called her out of the back yard (where she was having a blast) and then locked her in the house for 8 hours while you rushed off to work?  Have you called her numerous times (missing the training opportunity) and so frustrated when she finally got to you that you exhibited anger? That would explain the next time you call her to you and she hesitates, or that she possibly does NOT come at all.  Instead, in this scenario, make a game of running into the house with you, or having her wait while you leash her up and she walks nicely into the house with you. This will help you achieve your goal, with no breakdown to the recall command.

THESE are ideas of how you design the recall to ‘work for her’.

In order to fully train your dog to your communication, it is important for you to generalize the communication with her. There are ways to incrementally introduce levels of training to your dog that will help build confidence and levels of compliance, showing that taking advantage of a training opportunity is rich in rewards for you both.  In this series, we will explore many more training opportunities and how to recognize when they’re presenting themselves.

In conclusion, if your dog ‘blows off’ a command, pack your frustration and anger away, and look for your training opportunity, because they aren’t doing it wrong, they just don’t yet know how to do it RIGHT! 

  

Patti Howard BS, CCS is certified in Canine Behavior and Nutrition, and owner of Your Canine Resource in Olympia WA  www.yourcanineresource.com

A HEATLHY CANINE THANKSGIVING FEAST

Before we launch into holiday foods for our furries, a behavioral reminder: It takes a long time to reorient begging behavior if you feed from the table on this or any other day. Begging behavior results from reinforcement. In short, dogs beg if it works. And Thanksgiving is notorious for dogs receiving scraps at (or near) the table.

As we sit down with family and friends to our Thanksgiving feast, our dogs with eyes (and noses) are longingly engaged. There are seasonal foods our dogs can enjoy with us. What we may not be aware of is how the preparation of these good foods can affect their digestibility for dogs. The more we season, butter, spice and salt our food, the less digestible it becomes for them.

Speaking of digestibility, there are many who feed a daily ritual of kibble, and then one or two days a year, feel tempted to load their dogs up with rich food. Doing so is likely to upset your dog’s system and make for a miserable evening of gas, diarrhea and even vomiting, depending on how healthy your dog’s digestive tract is.

Let’s run down the short list of our typical holiday meal, with the taboo ingredients in RED.

TURKEY:  This protein, like all fresh proteins, is wonderfully good food for our pups, unless it’s too highly seasoned. Go ahead and treat your dogs to chunks of white meat in their bowl. And don’t forget bone broth, which is especially beneficial to dogs. Simply boil it up after removing the meat from the carcass.

If you can’t resist throwing your dog a turkey treat, make sure to remove both COOKED BONE and FATTY SKIN. They can create havoc in a sensitive system.

STUFFING:  This is in the RED for our dogs, who don’t tolerate wheat well.

GREEN BEANS:  Before the ONION is added, throw a few green beans in the blender, or offer as a treat whole.

POTATOES: …if you must. Potatoes aren’t bad for a dog, yet the BUTTER, SALT, SOUR CREAM added take this tuber over the top. Scoop out a little before adding all of the good stuff and add it to the blender with other goodies. Believe me, it will settle better.

GRAVY:  Nope. Nothing good can come from this.

CRANBERRIES:  Tart as they are, cranberries are fine. If you want to blend a few in with those green beans and potatoes, all will be healthier!  If you happen to add RAISINS AND GRAPES into anything, avoid sharing it with your dog. They are toxic.

PUMPKIN:  Canned pumpkin is an amazing ingredient for our dogs. If you feed your dog one extra thing all day, make it pumpkin! It is loaded with nutrients while also acting as anti-inflammatory and helping to prevent tummy upset. Note that this should be the 100% blended pumpkin, not CANNED PUMPKIN PIE FILLING, which is full of sugar. Your best bet is to scoop the unseasoned blended pumpkin into your dog’s bowl. Or, better yet, toss some into the blender (before it has turned into a pie filling) with the rest of the good stuff you’ve set aside.

PUMPKIN SEEDS are amazing source of nutrients as well…with the added benefit of preventing and removing worms.

ANY OTHER VEGGIES:  All good, throw into the blender too!  Especially the green leafy ones!

SWEET POTATOES AND YAMS:  These contain Vitamins A and C, which help regulate blood sugar, while acting as antioxidants and an element of soluble fiber.

HAM:  Nope. Packed with nitrates and nitrites, sodium, and other carcinogens, smoked meats aren’t a protein source you want to share with your dog.

APPLES:  Absolutely! Apple and its skin have many valuable nutrients. Don’t feed the core as it contains arsenic.

YOGURT:  Yogurt or any source of probiotics, which also includes Kombucha or fermented veggies, will create an easier digestion for us ALL!

NUTS:  All but MACADAMIA! ALL in moderation. If feeding a nut butter, make very sure it doesn’t contain Xylitol. Though it appears safe for us, Xylitol is deadly to our dogs.

GREEN JUJU KITCHENS offers a holiday blend with many of the organic ingredients I’ve mentioned in this article. Best of all, they already professionally prepared for your dog! Visit www.greenjujukitchens.com for a location near you for your holiday purchase!

Wishing you and all canines a delicious and digestible holiday! Happy Thanksgiving.

TREAT, DON'T TRICK, YOUR DOG THIS HALLOWEEN!

Will you Trick or Treat your dog this Halloween? Here are eight ideas to help understand Halloween from your dog's perspective:

1. Firstly, it matters less that your dog is well socialized to kids on Halloween than whether they are socialized to costumes. For those dog parents who say, "My dog loves kids," ask yourself, "Does my dog love costumes?" 
2. Dogs read body language, and opening our door to kids yelling anything, (yes, even trick-or-treat) can be very scary stuff. They cannot read anything on a mask's face!
3. There is an overwhelming possibility that your dog does NOT wish to meet 20 (or even 2) doorbells in one hour, with costumes on the other side of the door.  
4. This situation may actually be triggering a lunging response in your dogs, as they bark to say, "Get away, get away, get away." Those costumes, after all, must look an awful lot like a threat! 
5. It is asking a lot of our dogs that they greet these costumes calmly and quietly. Given how many dogs I am called to modify doorbell hysteria on any common day, Halloween for this type of dog (and human) must be a most stressful holiday. 
6. It gets dark much earlier this time of year, so when you open your door (or, conversely, go for your after-work walk), your dog may not be seeing things as clearly as he did earlier in the day.  The fact that he may be viewing costumes as shadows can increase reactive tendencies in your dog as well.
7. For many, we don’t have visitors on a regular basis, so our dogs don’t have a chance to learn door-greeting manners in a solid way that would prepare them for an event like Halloween.
8. If you are thinking this is a great opportunity to do a crash course on your dog’s poor door greeting manners, know that optimal training cannot be accomplished on Halloween night if the door and costumes are your dog’s triggers. Flooding is actually what is more likely, which creates an environment in your dog’s brain that prevents learning from occurring. Even if your dog seems reasonably calm soon after the costumes leave, her sympathetic nervous system may still be engaged for a reported 20 additional minutes, time for another 10 doorbells!

So what can we do for our dogs to make Halloween a less traumatic event? 

TREAT them with a bone in a quiet room of their own with music playing during Halloween visits this year. Tape your doorbell. Avoid the TRICKS of trying to keep her calm in an environment we can only imagine is some kind of scary for one who doesn’t understand the sweet ritual of Hallows Eve!

Patti Howard BS, CCS          
YOUR Canine Resource            
pattikono@gmail.com

HEAVY PETTING

When I have a meeting with clients on what motivates their dog’s behavior, heavy petting the dog in the family is fairly consistent. The time I spend with an initial consultation is in observation of body language, is in identifying anxiety- producing situations where communication with our dogs has possibly broken down, or has never been very strong.

As dog-loving humans, our tendency is to pet dogs that are in our vicinity. It feels good, while actually creating a physiological shift in most basic body function, regulation of blood pressure, production of feel-good hormones, and serotonin boost, to name a few. And we are aware of the importance of therapy dogs’ jobs! Monitors placed on dogs show there are times when our dogs are provided with calming physiological shifts as well, AND there are times when our dogs will exhibit quite an opposite more anxious result. This can be backing away, stretching, shaking, looking away from you. These are subtle signs to us but not to them.

 “Don’t pet me.” This doesn’t mean that they aren’t fond of us, or even that they would rather be someplace else. It simply means “I don’t wish to be pet right now” because:

“are you eating the rest of that sandwich” -or-
“just smelling who you were around today” -or-
“ready to go for that walk now” -or-
“I’m hungry” -or-
you fill in the blank…

The reason this becomes a “big deal” is that our dog’s anxiety has a tendency to expand when their body language voices are not heard. This can break down in small but significant ways their ability to trust their environment. To intrude on anthropomorphism for just a moment, if we are not being heard, we humans tend to speak louder to communicate our needs, or possibly abandon one form for another in attempt to get them met. I suggest that if a dog is consistently not being heard, there may be some form of conflict that develops as a result.

In observation mode with your dog, do an experiment. How much of the time that you reach out to your dog, does s(he) respond by backing away, turning away, stretching, shaking, or other signs of stress? Watch and you will hear! In another blog I will list stress signals to watch for with your dog, and how you can reorient this to a positive interaction. Now that you are becoming more aware of when your dog would like YOU to pet her/him, now it is time to watch for interactions with strangers. Since my dog is expert in telling me he doesn’t wish to be pet at any given time, I will follow up this blog with a video of his communication to me of such.

When a stranger or friend asks if they may pet your dog, assume that your dog is not going to enjoy a stranger touching them. Watch first what your dog’s body language is saying about that, and respond with that information. Stranger attention isn’t necessary for the wellbeing of your pup. Your dog may be just gathering information from this person you’re talking to. If you offend someone in the process by saying no to their request to pet your dog, then so be it. You may very well, as a result, have a confident, more trusting dog by your side. We don’t accept strangers touching us, and I can say with some certainty from a study of dog body language that dogs don’t always take kindly to it either.

If your dog has profound stranger anxiety, then by all means contact a modification specialist to work with your pup; however, recognize that even with modification of this anxiety, the end goal may not be that you ask your dog to accept stranger’s greetings. It is not the end-all and be-all of having a dog that other people get to pet them, particularly if it makes them nervous.

Consider what makes you nervous, and imagine someone forcing you to perform anything in this state of mind, and thinking anything is going to change. Now you get it. I know you do.

We may have to figure what to do to help ourselves feel better instead of heavy petting, and the payoff is deeper understanding of your relationship with your dog. Your dog’s “thank you” for listening may come to you in the form of a less anxious and more comfortable dog!

For more information, visit Your Canine Resource and call by Patti Howard, BS CCS.

“Behavioral and cardiac responses by dogs to physical human–dog contact,” Franziska Kuhner, Johanna C. Hoessler, Rainer Struwe, Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, May-June, 2014, Volume 9, Issue 3, pages 93-97.

“Physiological Effects of Human/Companion Animal Bonding,” Mara M. Baun, Nancy Bergstrom, Nancy F. Langston, Linda Thoma, Nursing Research, May/June 1984 - Volume 33 - Issue 3.

Handbook on Animal-Assisted Therapy: Theoretical Foundations and Guidelines, edited by Aubrey H. Fine.

PEOPLE FOOD

I am fascinated with language, both its power as a trainer of dogs with their humans, and how we tend to repeat words/phrases/jingles. One of the most common refrains I hear is “My dog doesn’t eat people food,” which begs the question: Are we denying our dogs real nutrition if all real food in the world belongs to the human species?

If not people food, then what are we serving up? As their stewards, we have a responsibility to provide for our dogs’ optimal health. And that’s accomplished in part through the power of nourishment.

Does this lament sound familiar: “My dog won’t eat kibble unless I add something real to enhance the flavor.” Folks who say this often assume the refusal means their dog is “spoiled.” I suggest that, in any language, a dog’s refusal to eat equates to “I’d rather not eat this food.” Dogs balk at eating certain foods either because they don’t recognize them as food, or they’ve learned that, when they eat it, they don’t feel so hot.

When our dogs suffer from tummy upset, a veterinarian, or other credible nutrition expert, recommends a diet of chicken, rice and pumpkin “until your dog feels better.” Dogs happily devour this concoction and get digestive relief, only to be switched back to highly processed food (the very food that may have caused the original complaint). Common sense says that the more nutritive diet is exactly what the dog needed to heal. So why not continue the diet and thereby continue the path of wellness?

When assessing problem behaviors in dogs, I always factor in the role of nutrition. Anyone who has seen Supersize Me understands how poorly the brain functions on highly processed food. Neurologic processes suffer over time because essential vitamins and minerals are missing. Organs break down from such malnourishment, as do the immune system and the exchange of oxygen in cells.

“Dog food” advertisements – including those for highly processed foods – portray dog food as nutritious and healthful, convenient and cost effective. With their kibble and canned food, they say, our dogs’ appetites are satisfied, and we can get on with our busy lives. Slick marketing, yet so misleading.

Daily I take joy in seeing Yogi’s excitement over eating the simple culinary delights I offer him. Food, by the way, that cost me only pennies more than highly processed kibble. And that’s before factoring in what a healthy he is – physically, mentally and emotionally.

As complicated as language can be, the next time someone utters the words “people food,” may they be redefined as ALL real food available to ALL living beings, as their birthright.

Patti Howard BS, CCS is certified in Canine Behavior and Nutrition. She also holds Bachelors of Science in Human Nutrition. Find nutrition help at www.yourcanineresource.com