Category: Behavior

About Perception Modification and Desensitization

9/13/2020

In general, training a dog involves teaching a command that can be understood by your dog using a verbal cue or signal. Unless you also know how to teach your dog to be focused, calm, and confident in certain situations, you may be constantly struggling, because you have missed another important piece of the puzzle.

That piece is behavior modification, which does not just apply to dogs with behavioral problems. This can also be for active dogs to learn how to chill in environments that might be exciting in order to do their work or focus on training with you.

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Calming Exercises for your Puppy or Adult Canine

8/17/2020

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Lucy Black getting used to the benefits of relaxing. She is an anxious dog in general with separation anxiety.

Calming or relaxation exercises benefit all dogs, unless you have the rare very relaxed dog in any situation. In the majority of dog or puppies though, learning to relax is a very important skill. It helps those dogs of sound temperament, it helps dogs with behavioral problems, it helps young puppies, and it helps those older adults not exposed to the concept of self chilling.

I always hope to influence very young puppies with these exercises, but you don't always get that lucky. Many years ago, I myself had not discovered the very value benefit to my dogs of doing these. I discovered the value, when trying to figure out how to calm my dog, Jackie, before we got into the ring to do obedience and earn his Companion Dog title. This was the key to his success in that area, but this is also the key to a well rounded, confident dog, who has been exposed to many stimulus's that get most dogs all riled up, and cause dog owners many unneeded problems. These exercises are worth the time and the effort. Some may be very boring, but they are enormously valuable. I would not do them myself it they were not.

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Sit on The Dog Exercise

8/14/2020

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In addition to the following instructions, I have included a video of a dog that was really struggling with dog reactivity, especially when dogs were moving, playing, or barking. This was a mid week behavioral exercise with Lucy Black. If you watch the beginning parts where she gets anxious and reactive, and then scroll to the end, you will see how this exercise allows dogs to start to find their center and chill spot on their own. I always use this as part of a training plan that also includes nutrition, exercise, down time, and a more formal obedience training plan. This helps us especially get to the training in distractions.

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Building blocks of dog training

5/18/2020

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Most dog owners, especially first time dog owners, do not have a real understanding of what dog training is. How could they? This is not something taught to us in most schools, and dogs are a totally different species than we are. The building blocks of dog training are very important, and it is the understanding of these and why they are used that confuse most dog owners.

The first thing you should know is dog training is a process. There are many steps, and if you don't step off on the right foot in the first place, you will make your self a lot of unnecessary work later or just give up in frustration at a point where you could have excelled. This blog seeks to give you some insights to understand the bones of the process in hopes that when you start training you will continue on to a very enjoyable life for you and your dog with a fabulous working relationship.

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So you have found a great adult dog to add to your family, now what?

5/9/2020

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Harley the Great Dane and one of his many friends.

A decision has been made! You have decided to take in a new adult dog into your family. Before this action was taken:

You have already looked deep into whether you were ready for any dog.
Your lifestyle was analyzed so as to list the qualities in a dog that would fit well within your every day activities.
Breeders, Rescues, and ads to re-home adult dogs were looked at very carefully and vetted.

Now your new family member has arrived or will be arriving shortly. The next two or three weeks are for your new adult dog family member to learn they are in a safe and predictable environment. What are the immediate actions you can take to let that happen without the common pitfalls of many new dog owners or dog owners that have had no experience with a brand new adult dog. That is what we will be talking about in this blog.

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Sit on The Dog, an Important Self Chill and Behavioral Exercise

2/25/2020

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Exercise: Sit on The Dog (do not confuse with the down exercise later on)
Equipment needed: Metal Training Collar (for puppies a flat collar will due but be sure they can't slip their head out if it's too loose), 6' leather lead, chair for handler to sit on that they aren't too worried about (IE an antique chair would not be a good idea, especially for a dog that might try to chew something other than their toy while you aren't watching, but a good metal folding chair will do), silence which means no verbal commands, praise, or corrections. Also no conversations of any sort with your dog.

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Dog owner question: What do I do about my technology obsessed dog?

7/24/2017

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Question from a pet dog owner and training client: 
Since you asked for questions, here is one that may not be common. Sally is obsessed with animals she sees on tv. She will charge the screen and bark. I'm afraid she will knock it over! She wears the ecollar and I stim her and say, "No" or "Get Away".
She sits in place and stares at the screen. I stim her again and she either scooches backward toward me or comes and sits on my feet. I want her to learn to ignore the tv and to do something like "place" on the couch. We used to enjoy Animal Planet, Westerns, hunting shows, lol! Now it is the Dreaded Toyota Dog Days commercial! She has memorized the music and comes running after two notes!
Thanks,

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How do you stop your dog barking in unwanted situations?

7/10/2017

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When I am out and about a common question that comes up is "how do I stop my dog from barking?". As with just about any training question, this is not something that can be answered for their particular dog and situation in the line of a grocery store. I realize that even though many dog owners have been living with this problem (sometimes for years), they think I know a 10 second secret that I can share. There are no "magic wands" in any dog training (highlighted this because management and avoidance are different and separate issues) issue. This does not mean the solution is hard, but it is a situation in which training and communication are required. Therefore, you need to teach your dog when and how to stop barking, and what the cue is that communications the need to stop.

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Tips to avoid creating or encouraging fearful behavior in your pet dog

6/13/2017

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For the purposes of this article, I am talking about fear (not fear [with] aggression, which has both positive and negative definitions in dog training, behaviors OR aggression behaviors). Nor the fear that a resource is going to be taken away, and not dominant behaviors (which in my definition are not necessarily undesirable). A dog's personality or temperament, IMO, can not be described as simply "fearful", "dominant", "abused", or "aggressive". Dogs have rich lives (or should have) just as we do, and are not put into one simple box definition. They may have behaviors that fit that definition (and will have other behaviors and characteristics beyond those), but dogs (themselves) can not be IMO defined this way.

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Have dog aggression problems? Find help as soon as possible.

6/9/2017

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This article is not a manual for how YOU can train your dog out of aggression. This is informative as to how you can identify qualified help, and the suggestions that IMO you may hear that might be good or bad.

It is unacceptable to not to seek out professional help if you are having an aggression problem with your dog and you do not know how to deal with it. The Internet is not way that the proper advice can be given which will successfully train YOUR dog with behavioral issues. Neither will advice received through friends that are not dog training professionals, or strangers that have no measurable experience in dog training.

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<<Previous

About Perception Modification and Desensitization

Calming Exercises for your Puppy or Adult Canine

Sit on The Dog Exercise

Building blocks of dog training

So you have found a great adult dog to add to your family, now what?

Sit on The Dog, an Important Self Chill and Behavioral Exercise

Dog owner question: What do I do about my technology obsessed dog?

How do you stop your dog barking in unwanted situations?

Tips to avoid creating or encouraging fearful behavior in your pet dog

Have dog aggression problems? Find help as soon as possible.

Author, Robin Rubin

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