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Showing posts with label positive reinforcement training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label positive reinforcement training. Show all posts

Preparing your dog for a new baby

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Expecting a new baby into your family can be very exciting and nerve wracking for a new Mommy, especially if you own a dog who hasn't been around babies very often. You're probably wondering, "Will my dog be good with the baby? What if he's not good with the baby? How should I introduce my dog to the baby? Etc..." All of these questions are very good concerns, but just remember, your dog is very attuned to your changing body, thoughts and stresses. By worrying about the "what ifs" you will just end up wearing your stresses all over your body language and your dog will pick up on your fears. By preparing yourself and your dog for the big new changes, you will feel better and more relieved that your dog will continue to be an important, well-behaved member of your growing family.

Months before the arrival of your baby, prepare your present fur baby by brushing up on all of his basic obedience commands. Does your dog know sit, down, stay, leave it, touch, look, come, go to your spot, off, back and heel? If you answered yes to all of these questions, you most likely have a very good Zen dog. Even if your dog does know all of these commands, practice them using training games such as, Go Find It, Hide and Go Seek, Constructive Tug, Active Fetch etc. Getting ready for a baby can be all consuming, and oftentimes, dogs end up getting less attention that they are used to and naughty behavior can pop up. Playing and doing training games will strengthen your bond with your dog and will sharpen up your dog's cues. If you answered no to the questions above you may want to call a professional positive reinforcement trainer to help you teach your dog all of these commands so that you feel more confident and in better control of your dog before you bring your baby home.

Down-stays, go to your spot, leave it, back and heel are the most important commands to focus on when getting your pup ready for baby. Down-stays and settle at your feet will be very important when feeding your baby on the couch and for telling your dog to settle when the baby is crying. To teach your dog to settle at your feet, tell Dino to lie down and stay right next to you. Click and treat your dog for laying peacefully at your feet. Place the treat on the ground in between his two front paws so that he is concentrated on the floor instead of what you have in your hands (a baby, bottle, etc.). Increase the amount of time between clicks and treats so that your dog will learn to settle at your feet for however long that you need him to. Always release your dog with a "Ok!" to tell him that he can get up. If your dog is allowed on the couch, practice the "off" command and click as soon as all four paws are on the ground. It's also important to teach your dog that he's only allowed on the couch when you invite him up. I like to say, "Up, up" and pat the couch twice to signal to my dogs that they're allowed on the couch or bed. Dogs that do not know the off command, shouldn't be allowed on the bed, especially if they show any territorial behavior. Also, if your dog has always been allowed on the couch and/or bed, but now you have decided to not let him because of the baby, make sure that you set these rules months before the baby arrives. Make sure that your dog as a comfy dog bed nearby the spots that you're dog used to lay on.

Teaching your dog to go to his spot or his bed, whichever you prefer to call it (just make sure it's the same thing all the time), is very helpful when you have a new baby. This way your dog will not be under foot all the time and your dog will be happy knowing that he's being a good boy waiting on his spot while you're busy with Baby. To teach your dog to go to his spot, lure your dog onto his spot with a treat and when all four paws are on the bed, click and treat. Do this two or three times and then phase out the lure, meaning, point to the spot without a treat in your hand. As soon as all four paws are on, click and treat. Be sure to toss the treat onto the spot so that the dog is associating the spot with the treat. As soon as your dog starts to "get it" and starts heading to his spot consistently, you can slowly increase the distance that you stand away from the spot. Turn this into a fun game by teaching your dog to go to his spot from wherever you are in the room, or even in the whole house. This will also help when you need to place your baby on a blanket on the floor. How cute is it that they'll both have their own spot?!

Speaking of blankets, teach your dog to stay off the blanket by leading your dog to the edge of the blanket. Click and treat your dog for staying off the blanket and say, "good leave it". If your dog goes to step onto the blanket, use on interrupter signal (kissy noise) to get his attention and then click and treat and say "good leave it" when your dog steps away from the blanket. Keep "proofing" this by leading him all around the blanket. Interrupt him and don't feed him a treat if he does step on it. Pretty soon you'll be able to say "leave it" to the blanket and to your baby, and your dog will know to step away and keep off of the blanket.

Teaching your dog to "back" up is also a helpful command because your dog will be very interested in getting his big wet nose into the action when you're giving your baby a bottle or changing him. "Back" is really easy to teach your dog and can also be turned into a fun game. Simply take a treat and move your hand towards your dogs chest, as soon as he takes a step back, click and give him the treat. Keep doing this until he is taking a couple of steps back. Then reward your dog by tossing the treat behind him onto the floor. Your dog will be backing away like a champ and will have a ton of fun chasing the treats that are raining down on him. He'll learn to stay out of baby business without being confused and upset by being yelled for just being interested in all of the new baby action.

Before bringing home your new real baby, teach your fur baby how to walk next to a stroller without pulling. You may look funny walking around the neighborhood with a babyless stroller, but it's all for a good cause. Most strollers have a water bottle holder on it, which is perfect for placing a cup full of training treats. Click and treat your dog for staying by your side and for staying behind the stroller. Every time your dog pulls, simply stop and "be a tree" until your dog takes the tension off the leash by himself and gives you attention. As soon as he slacks off the lead, say, "good, ok" and then continue walking. Do not just stop and have your dog sit because he will not learn to drop back by your side. Also, do not lure your dog into a heel and treat him otherwise your dog will learn to pull then stop then get a treat. A hands free leash that snaps around your waist will teach your dog to walk nicely without pulling and will keep your two hands free for holding the baby or keeping a grip on the stroller. This hands free leash by Jac Trac is perfect because you can adjust the length to keep your pup by your side. For big time pullers, a Gentle Leader by Premier will allow you to control your dog better while using a stroller and will help teach your dog not to pull. Put in the time and energy to train your dog to walk nicely by your stroller and the three of you will love going out for family outings. If you have any anxiety about whether or not your dog will like the baby, just remember that babies and toddlers usually mean lots of fun walks with the stroller and lots of food to clean up on the ground around highchairs. What dog doesn't love those two things?!

Another good thing to ease the transition for your existing fur baby is to purchase a real looking baby doll. Wrap it up in a blanket and carry it as though it were a real baby. Do your training sessions with one arm holding on to the pretend baby and one hand giving out toy or treat rewards for good calm behavior. This is a good exercise for young puppies who have a tendency to jump up and grab at toys. Teach your dog to automatically sit-for-pets and to sit and wait if they want a toy in your hand. Once your dog sits and waits, say "Ok get it!" and then toss the toy away from you. Always tell your dog when he can have something to prevent "grabby" behavior. Last thing that you want is for your dog to jump up to grab a poopy diaper! You can also practice putting the doll down on the couch or on a blanket on the floor and tell Dino to leave it. Leave it just means, "Don't touch it and look at me instead." Practice this "game" with all kinds of baby items and your dog will learn to not touch things that are baby related (diapers, bottles, toys, etc.).

Babies make all kinds of noises that may make your pup nervous if he's never heard them before. Get your dog ready for these sounds by playing videos of babies crying, laughing and screaming on Youtube, while you're doing your training games. Your dog will have a positive association with these sounds before Baby comes home and will not be confused and worried by all of the new commotion in your home.

There is so much more to baby and dog training that I'm going to have to write a novel about it instead of just a blog post! Check back often for more baby and dog training tips. I'll post another one soon about how to introduce your baby and dog for the first time! How exciting!!

Happy training!


Body Language is the Key to Successful Communication

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"A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker." ~ Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C

Actions speak much louder than words, especially for dogs. Just remember, you can say more to your dog by using clear body language and being consistent than you can by using a lot of words over and over again with no actions. Train your dog to be a good Zen dog by learning how to use your own body language clearly and by being consistent with your intentions. One study shows that 90% of human communication is made up entirely of body language, with the rest being oral language. For dogs, 99% of communication is through body language and a mere 1% is oral.


Before people start training their dogs, they need to learn how to convey the messages that they want their dogs to learn in the first place. A dear friend of mine who was a key part of our DogZenergy team, followed her heart and decided to go teach English to children in China. A lot of her friends were shocked to learn that she was going to go do this without knowing any Mandarin. Right before her trip, Lisa and I were having a conversation and arrived at the conclusion that working with dogs for the last year prepared her so much for traveling and working in a country where she will not know the language. Even though our dogs that we take care of don't "speak" English, we "talk" to them all day long and a massive amount of communication, understanding and information is shared between ourselves and the dogs. Through body language, gestures, hand signals, nods, looks, smiles, shakes of the head and knowledge about cultures other than our own, we can all share so much with one another without even speaking the same "language". It's such a beautiful thing. Relationships can be created without words. Love, respect and understanding can all be created by conveying the thoughts that we have in our head through our body as vehicles for interpretation.

One exercise to try with your dog, is to run your dog through all of his commands without uttering a single word. You will be pleasantly surprised to find that your dog will know exactly what you're "talking" about. Take your dog for a silent walk with the intention to observe his body language with you and with other dogs, then make the conscious effort to "watch" your own. Do you shift your weight, tilt your head, use your hands, rest on your hip, crouch down or step towards your dog when you ask him to do different things? What works and what doesn't? Are you smiling, nodding, making eye contact, petting, or acting happy? Does your dog look at you more when you are happy? Your dog is an expert in reading your body language, therefore it is extremely important that you are conscious of the way that you are using it.

Oftentimes, in training sessions, I have to remind the dog's human to watch my body language rather than just staring at their dog. It's not that I have a big ego and I want people to stare at me (awkward!), but if the owner is not watching to see what I am doing to get his or her dog to respond the way that I want them to, they will be missing out on the key component of the training process. Little kids are much easier to teach when it comes to dog training, because they are much more used to watching and mimicking adults' body language.


Be mindful of the information that your body language is portraying and change it if you are not getting the results that you want. Be mindful of the thoughts that you have because they will be read all over your body language. For example, if you are trying to work on your dog's negative reaction to other dogs while on leash, be very careful about how you think about seeing other dogs, otherwise your body language will follow- sucking in your breath, clutching the leash, pulling your dog back- which all contribute to an increased stress response for your dog.

In the words of Buddha, "The wise have mastered the Body, words and mind. They are the true masters."

Understanding Leash Aggression- Part I

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Are you stressed out about taking your dog out for a walk? Do you dread seeing other dogs on the sidewalk? Does your sweet dog turn into a crazy, maniacal, barking, lunging, snarling dog when he catches wind of another dog in the distance? Do you feel nervous, anxious, scared and frustrated on the other end of the leash? You are not alone. Your dog is feeling this way too.

Most leash "aggression" is your dog's response to his natural animal instincts. Animals have a fight or flight response to stressful situations. If a dog is in his natural state of mind- off-leash in a wide open space with the freedom to run and play to his heart's content- he will have the freedom to escape from something that makes him nervous. When dogs are on-leash, they no longer have the freedom to "flee" from a stressful stimulus so instead they have to "fight" and become defensive. Most people say that their dog is a different dog off leash and is well behaved around other dogs. Most likely, your dog is not mean and aggressive, your dog is stressed because he has no way to avoid a confrontation with another dog or person because he is stuck on a leash. For this reason, it's important that you do not label your dog as "aggressive". Instead, think of your dog as being "leash reactive", meaning your dog is reacting to an unnatural stressful situation.

Leashes and sidewalks force dogs to approach each other straight on, which can be read as a challenging, aggressive approach. In a natural setting, if two dogs do not want to interact with one another, they would give each other lots of space by passing each other in a wide arc. Off leash, watch your dog interacting with other dogs and be aware of the distance that dogs give each other in passing. You'll notice that when dogs want to engage, challenge or play with another dog they will hold eye contact and approach each other head on in a straight line. In a park this is normal behavior, but on a sidewalk with leashes, dogs can not continue their interaction normally and they may become stressed. Stressed by not being able to run away, stressed by being choked as they lunge toward the other dog, stressed by your displeasure on the other end of the leash, and stressed by the inevitable tangle of leashes that can make dogs panic. For this reason, it's important to give dogs space and be very aware of body language.

Follow these 10 steps to start walking your dog with happiness and ease:

1) Start at home with limited distractions and make sure that your dog knows all of the basic communication commands- sit, down, stay, touch, and heel

2) Teach your dog the command, "look" so that your dog is comfortable with giving you a lot of eye contact. "Look" should be used to break your dog's fixation and to teach him to look to you as his protector when he is feeling distressed.

3) Really work on heel and loose leash walking so that your dog walks nicely on leash without any pulling or lunging to minimize tension. Choking caused by the collar and leash exacerbates the frustration and distress.

4) Outfit your dog in the appropriate apparatus, either a Gentle Leader or Easy Walk harness depending on the severity of your dog's pulling and barking.

5) Make sure that you have a hands free leash that snaps around your waist. This small change can make all of the difference because you won't be able to give your dog any cues by tightening up the leash when you see a dog.

6) Load up a treat pouch with two types of high reward treats like soft dog treats like dried liver, chopped chicken or string cheese that can be fed to your dog quickly and in tiny pieces.

7) Be very aware of your surroundings, your dog's body language and the distance that your dog can tolerate other dogs before a freak out.

8) Practice sit/stays and "look" with your dog on all of your walks together. It's important for your dog to be in tune with you and mentally stimulated. The sit/stays will increase your dog's focus on you and will teach him to stay calm even with distractions around. You want to be able to tell your dog what you want him to do instead of leaving it up to him to react in the way that he naturally wants to.

9) Train your own brain to stay positive and happy whenever you see another dog. Lose all of the negative, frustrated, embarrassed, stressful feelings because your dog will read it all over your body. Force yourself to smile and use a happy voice with your dog. Shower your dog with praise and rewards whenever your dog is around another dog and behaves really nicely.

10) Be your dog's protector and build up your dog's confidence around other dogs. If you react negatively to the situation, you will only fuel the fire because your dog will think that the sight of another dog makes you angry with him. Your job is to create a very positive association for your dog with other dogs. Instead of thinking, "Oh no a dog!", you and your dog want to start thinking, "Oh good a dog!". By rewarding your dog for good calm behavior and keeping his focus on you, he will start to associate other dogs with goodies. Your goal is for your dog to look at another dog and to look at you with a wag of his tail. Wouldn't that be nice?!

Stay tuned for Part II of "Understanding Leash Aggression". We've just gotten started!


Dog of the Month - Ziggy!

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It's a plane, it's a bird, it's a lightening bolt- it's Ziggy! Ziggy is such a fast mover at the park that all you see is a black streak running across the park. Ziggy loves, loves, loves to run and is happiest when he's in motion. He has been chosen as our Dog of the Month because of his much improved behavior. He has been such a good boy and is one of the best listeners in the pack now. We are so proud of his improvement and we are so in love with his awesome personality!

About two years ago, I received a call from Ziggy's owner, Leslie about her impossible six month old flat-coated retriever rescue. Leslie fell in love with Ziggy's bright brown eyes and agreed to take him home. At home, Ziggy was a maniac. Ziggy was wound up like a spinning top and would literally spin and chase his tail like a crazy pup. He was constantly barking at everything, jumping on people, lunging and pulling on the leash, terrorizing her other two dogs, and only knew how to sit. Leslie was in tears the first time that we met because she loved Ziggy so much, but had no idea how to control the dizzying energy of Ziggy.

Our first few sessions we worked on introducing Ziggy to several self-control impulse exercises. We worked on leave it, sit/stay, down/stay, and wait. We also worked on attention and focus commands, like "Look!" and "Touch!". Ziggy was very distracted by anything that moved- people, squirrels, skateboards, birds etc., so teaching him "Look!" really helped Leslie and Ziggy with making eye contact and breaking his fixation with certain distractions. We also worked on loose leash walking to make the walks more relaxed and to prevent leash reactivity. We fitted Ziggy with a Gentle Leader and a leash that snapped around Leslie's waist, and then we worked on 'heel' and 'wait'.

Leslie has always been extremely dedicated and consistent with working with Ziggy and he began to improve because of lots of patience and love. Leslie is also very diligent about giving Ziggy a lot of exercise and making sure that they practice all of the tools and techniques that they were taught. Ziggy also joins the midday play group once a week for socialization and fun while she is at work. Ziggy has improved tremendously with Leslie and in our play group in the last year and we are so proud of them!

Ziggy responds to me so well at the park and he is one of the first to come running when I call of the dogs. He happily sits and does 'down' when I ask him to even if there are a lot of other dogs around and he no longer gets leash reactive on the leash when he walks with the other dogs. He also used to panic and mouth me when I grabbed his collar, but now he nicely accepts a collar grab. He walks very nicely on the leash now without a Gentle Leader and he makes a lot of eye contact. When I used to walk in to the house to pick up Ziggy for the play group, he used to jump all over me, but now I've redirected his energy into doing "spins" on command instead of putting his paws on me. No dog is perfect and Ziggy is still working on a few things, but overall, we are so very proud of the leaps and bounds that Leslie and Ziggy have made together! Keep up the great work!

Jumpy Puppy = Unhappy House Guest

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The first step to teaching your dog to greet guests nicely at the door is to teach your dog not only how to 'sit', but how to automatically sit whenever he approaches you or anyone else. If you ask your dog to sit every time he comes to you, you can start to phase out the verbal command and only use a hand signal. Dogs learn hand signals way before they learn verbal signals so this will be easy for him to learn. As soon as your dog sits without you saying anything, click and treat. Pretty soon your dog will be automatically sitting every time he comes to you. 

Next step is to move by the door and designate a 'spot' where your dog should go and sit whenever you open the door to leave or to let people in. This exercise is also good for dogs that bolt out of doors and don't recognize boundaries. It's best if this spot can be an actual mat or dog bed. Lead your dog over to the mat and ask him to sit. Click and treat when all four paws are on the mat and he's sitting on it. Start to add the cue, 'Go to spot' with an emphasis on 'spot', when your dog is eagerly going over and sitting on his spot. This exercise is also much more effective if your dog already knows the 'stay' command. Once your dog is on his spot, ask him to 'stay' and very slowly open the door. If his bottom lifts up from the mat, quickly shut the door. Ask your dog to sit and stay again, and then open the door slowly again. Once you are able to completely open the door, click and treat. Repeat the exercise until your dog can calmly sit and stay with the door wide open (safety tip- keep a loose 6 ft. leash on your dog and hold on to it, especially if you don't have an enclosed front yard). 

Once your dog can sit and stay calmly on his mat with the door open. You can start to bring a person into the mix. It's best to have someone in the family help out who the dog has seen a million times so that he doesn't get too excited. Have your accomplice ring the doorbell or knock. When you hear it, ask your dog to go to his spot. If your dog is especially crazy when people come into your house, make sure to have a leash on him. Ask him to stay and then very slowly open the door. If he gets up, slam the door in your accomplice's face! So that your actual guests don't think you are super rude you can explain to them that your dog is in training or you can put a note on the door. Once your dog is sitting and staying with the door open, you can click and treat and then say 'Ok!'. This will signal your dog that he may get up and say hi to the person in a calm way. If he does not calmly greet your guest, put yourself between your dog and the other person and ask him to sit. Once his energy level visibly goes down, calmly say 'ok'. 

You can also give your dog lover guest a treat and have them ask your dog to sit. Once he's seated nicely, ask him to go down to your dog's level to say hi. If your dog tries to jump on your guest, ask him to turn around and ignore him until he's seated nicely again. It's always best to practice all of this a million times with a family member or person that the dog knows really well like your neighbor. Then make sure that you ask your dog loving house guests to get in on the action. If you have someone coming over who isn't too thrilled about dogs in general it's best to keep your dog safely behind a baby gate or in a room. Then there's the people who say, "Oh, it's ok!'" when your dog is jumping all over them. These people usually let the dog continue to jump and give them lots of pets and positive feedback. This reinforces your dogs jumping behavior more than anything. Nicely tell the person that your dog is in training and that you want him to be the best dog he can be. Your guest will be happy to join into the training fun! 

Especially with jumpy behavior, you have to be very consistent. This means that your dog can't jump on anyone. Otherwise it's just too difficult to differentiate. It's not fair to let your dog jump on you, but then get upset if he jumps on your house guests. Also remember to keep calm. We have a tendency to get really excited when a friend comes over and it's hard not to, but dogs can hear the excitement in your voice and they can't help but get energetic too. Dogs don't jump up on people because they are 'dominant' or completely out of control, it's usually because they are just so happy to see a new person and they want to be able to smell the person's face to find out who they are and where they've been. So it's up to us as humans to show them how we want them to greet new people, rather yelling at them and punishing them. You and your dog can do it!