How funny!
Dec 1
Toots
This is Toots after she got attacked at Wychwood Barns the other day when her owner took her there for an evening romp. Severe bite, several stitches, one requiring drainage. Not exactly an ideal puppy play session! According to the owner, Toots was playing with another pup when an older dog approached, she turned on her back and then he attacked her. The owner was in shock after it happened and just grabbed Toots and took her straight to emerg without getting any information from the owner of the offending dog. Wow – I’ve been walking dogs for a long time and thankfully I’ve never seen a dog attacked with so much damage. An attack without warning (or so it seems) and a bite without inhibition – what was this dog doing in a tiny OLA? According to the owner of the offending dog, this was the first time his dog attacked. Sounds suspicious… And what will happen to the aggressive dog? Most likely he will be harshly punished for his aggression and will become a repeat offender. And Toots? My guess is that she will be fine. We have built up positive socialization experiences and luckily she’s a confident pup. Scary stuff though for an average dog owner at a popular OLA… not knowing what dogs are coming in to play or BITE!
Holy Coyote
Billie!
Last month I visited a park by the Humber river where I heard a strange ‘dog’ barking at my group as we all played off leash. This dog had a high pitch bark, mixed in with some howling. While he wouldn’t get that close to us, he also wouldn’t let up. He sounded distressed. We put all the dogs on leash and I held them while Emma went to find this dog. I also called Toronto Animal Services (TAS) to report a lost dog or to find out if anyone reported a dog missing at this park. Emma was never able to get close to him. Today I was back there with my group and we were having fun, when I heard this yip yip yip followed by a howl. This time I was able to get a closer look. He was not a lost dog but in fact a young coyote. I have no idea what his intentions were -whether he wanted to play with my dogs, protect his territory or draw one of them to his den. As soon as I leashed my dogs I took a moment to stand and stare at him in awe. Face to face with this amazing animal. He really looked like he could of been part of my pack. After I left I called TAS again but was disappointed to hear that no one else has had interaction with him meanwhile I’ve now seen him twice! Then I called another dog walker, who I’d seen frequent the park occasionally and warned her. She confirmed that sighting and told me that 3 weeks ago she also had an interaction with this ballsy little guy. He approaches the dogs, barks at them, entices them and then retreats. Amazing, exhilarating and frightening all in the same breath. Dog walking…certainly not just an average day job.
Aug 13
The best video for teaching ‘Wave’
This is the best video demonstrating wave. This trainer makes it look easy but here’s a little behind the scenes review:
• Notice the dog is not moving forward while they are working. Clearly the dog has been reinforced for working on a mat and knows the he will get his reward for maintaining that sit position (his default position). Even when she sets him up farther from her, he maintains that sit position. He’s also not trying to touch his paw or his nose to the target.
• Notice how she’s working in a corner. If you work a dog in a corner there’s less opportunity for him to move anywhere. Distractions are minimized.
• Notice the trainer also ‘clicks’ the dog just for sitting. The trainer explains “this is to reinforce the default behaviour. If the dog is not reinforced for “doing nothing” when there is no cue, then they cannot learn to discriminate when the cue is present, and when it is not.”
• Notice when he offers a wave that’s not high enough, she uses the target to get the better version and then clicks. She doesn’t click a less than perfect wave.
• Notice the verbal cue ‘Wave’ comes before the target comes out. If you put them together the more salient stimulus (the target), would block the verbal cue and the dog wouldn’t learn it. You need to present the verbal cue before the target.
By the way if you want to know who this excellent trainer is, her name is Sachiko Eubanks, and she’s a graduate of www.learningaboutdogs.com
Happy training.
Paw Tricks
I’m working on my next freestyle routine with Tys and we are doing lots of paw work. So I thought I would post the best videos for teaching Paw. Andre (whenhoundsfly.com) introduced me to the above technique recently and I love it because the dog is thinking for himself and there’s no luring involved. BUT, when I actually tried the technique out with my students, I was surprised how few dogs would use their paws to hit the target, they were committed to using their noses and it made this technique more challenging to teach especially in a class where people want quick results. If you watch the above video with Emily Larlham from dogmantics she shows how to teach paw using a target, she also suggests using a towel for troubleshooting. I tried the towel technique with a young puggle I was boarding and I had lots of success. With a little creativity there is always a way to make things easier for our dogs.
Working on Cues from Behind
This is a fun and challenging exercise. I was able to see how my verbal cues faired when Tyson couldn’t see any body language. Now I can see that we could use some work on ‘Sit Pretty’ because he really relies on my hand signals. It’s also interesting how subtle my hand signal could be for him to understand what I wanted since he could barely see it when he was behind me -dogs read our body cues so well – think Clever Hans! His struggle with ‘Sit Pretty’ could also be an indication of a weakness in my verbal cue. It’s probably not clear. I imagine saying ‘Sit ‘with ‘Pretty ‘ would be confusing, kind of like saying ‘Sit Down’ which I hear a lot of people saying to their dog. Putting Sit and Down together as one cue, when they are two separate cues would certainly result in some confusion on the dog’s part.
Jul 27
Cody – Muzzled for life….
Cody
Are you bringing out the best in your dog? No tagline better defines our role as pet-care providers than that one. So when I hear that a dog I used to walk is now wearing a muzzle because he is hurting other dogs, I get so disheartened. Someone has failed him. Back in the day when I used to walk Cody he was not the easiest dog but with proper management, Cody was a decent canine citizen. Then his owner moved to the east end of the city and I lost track of him. Last week a friend spotted Cody with a muzzle on. Apparently he’s been causing lots of trouble. I’m not trying to judge anyone because I don’t know the whole story, but I don’t think that a dog that grew up well-socialized and learned bite inhibition should be on a muzzle. But what happens when a challenging dog gets in the wrong hands? Lack of knowledge breeds frustration and frustration is the catalyst for punishment-based techniques. Punish a problem behaviour, and it will spread and manifest into other problem behaviours. Muzzled at the park, no chance to play ball anymore -I’m sorry Cody. If a dog is not doing well in your care, you owe it to him to seek professional services. Whether you are a dog walker, or an owner, we should all be committed to brining out the best the dogs we care for. Muzzling a dog with potential to improve, is the equivalent of giving up on him. I know Cody can do better than this.
Door Manners – Clicker training
This is a great video outlining the steps to improve your dog’s door manners. I have to admit my dogs are weak in this department. If the doorbell would ring right now…there would be chaos. Because we have a side door entrance we don’t get a lot of unplanned visitors. But the other day street pavers knocked on my door to ask me to move my car. It was early in the morning and I wasn’t thrilled with the mayhem that followed. Delilah needs the most work. She definitely has doorbell anxiety and a piercing bark that goes well with surprise visits. The good news is we are partway there -I have done a lot of work teaching her to go to her crate from a distance. Now I need to work on pairing the sound (doorbell) with the action of going to her crate. The best part is that with the Manners Minder, she can be rewarded right in her crate without me having to walk over there.
Resource Guarding between Dogs
Toby Beagle freezes, he shifts his eyes back and forth while hovering over his prize. Right now it’s a water bowl. Later it may be a discovered half eaten tennis ball. Toby Beagle does not like to share. I want Emma (my new employee) to see these signs. They are subtle to an untrained eye. First I must clarify that Toby beagle does not guard from humans. He relinquishes objects easily when I place my hand near him. But he makes it clear that he’s not sharing with his furry playmates, especially puppies – his prime target. So when Toby beagle is out for a walk I’m on puppy patrol – the last thing I want for is for Toby to teach any puppy a lesson. Prevention and management are your best friends when dealing with this type of problem behaviour. I’m never going to teach Toby to feel comfortable giving up his toy to puppies, but I can manage the situation so he doesn’t feel threatened that it’s going to get stolen. For some dogs, toy objects have the same value as a food object. We wouldn’t expect dogs to happily share their cookies so we shouldn’t be surprised when dogs guard objects as well.
At a recent holiday in a boarding facility Toby gave a puppy a puncture wound. It didn’t require vet attention. Situations like these put me in a bad spot. It didn’t happen in my care, but it did happen. Should Toby beagle be walked in a group if he is capable of injuring a puppy? I have to trust in my handling skills that I can prevent this. And for those cases when a 100 lb toy-stealing lab comes by, I will have a muzzle ready. I wish I could say one strike and he’s out, but in matters of dog walking giving chances isn’t something you can afford to do. So if at any point I feel like management is too hard, I will find him a walker that keeps his crew on leash and steers clear of the park.
Scadding Court Community Centre
This community centre opened its doors to dogs for 3 days this week. The pool had been turned into a place for kids to learn about fishing (they put salmon in it) and before they emptied it they decided to give dogs a chance to swim. My friend Christine brought Utah and I brought Delilah and we decided to test it out. Fun! It took a while but D figured out how to jump in and use the ramp. As expected, Utah, the golden retriever had no trouble!
