Training Tips

Pre- puppy school/going outside training

Our general approach to training a dog.

 "nearly there...he! he! and they thought they would get me to swim!"

 Sian Powell's "Blod" from pup class - showing us yet another of her many talents!

There are many brilliant web sites and books out there talking about many different training methods and ideas for training your puppy and older dog.

What I have decided to do here is concentrate on where the mistakes usually start -

When we first get our puppy...I hope you will read on and this extra knowlege will help make you think a little bit deeper into training your dog

That you will learn from it the same as I did, when I to listened to others and started to think about not just my needs, but that of another living, loving   and valuable life.

WHEN DOGS RAISE PUPPIES THEY DO IT GREAT, WHEN WE DO THINGS START TO GO WRONG - WHY??

Three major causes are …we expect a dog to know and respect human rules – meaningless to them, in fact in most cases, against their natural instincts.   We fail to take into consideration the dogs type of breed and the behaviours that come with it, age and development stages and finally when a dog fails to reach our high expectations, frustration sets in and we tend to blame the dog.

As there are many different views of training dogs’, sometimes we tend to get things very wrong, making our lives very unhappy, but trained well, dogs are remarkable, intelligent animals and are achieving things that we trust our lives with day after day.       For these things and the years of companionship and unconditional love they can give us, they deserve our respect and our valuable time to learn more about them, how they learn and their perception of things before we even thinking of owning one.

THE WAY DOGS LEARN

Dogs learn in similar ways to us, they will learn from immediate results of there actions, through trial and error. They are social animals and need to learn how to communicate properly with the rest of the world, to be polite and learn there self control.   Like us this can only happen by being taught little by little and setbacks from time to time are a normal thing.   This learning will also be affected by the different stages which will they go through, including “fear” periods, suddenly scared of things they once were fine with and “flight” periods – the urge to disappear into the horizon!   It is here where the bond and trust we spend forming with our dogs and the kind of training methods we use, will be always the way to success.

Most of us have worked out that praise is a far better motivator than punishment. Pain, yelling, anger and unreasonable force only cause stress, fear, aggression, confusion and unhappiness.     When punishment is used the trust and bond will change, how it changes will be deterred by the amount and severity of the punishment.   Being patient with a young dog and teaching them to except that we can touch and handle them and it is a nice experience will be one of the major things we do. We must spend a lot of time teaching the dog to enjoy grooming, playing one to one with us, teaching “our rules” and being rewarded for these things and in return this will teach them to be a calm, well-behaved member of our community.

Non-confrontational methods are the best way to encourage trust and leadership by us. This is quite easy to do by simply controlling the things they need, touch/grooming, food, resting places, access to and possession of things and control of movement around their environment.

Dogs’ have an incredible sense of smell and hearing ability and can discriminate fine differences in their environment; they also do this through watching us. Because they are very emotional and sociable animals, we tend to compare them to ourselves and mistakes here often happen, as dogs’ similarities to us are more like that of a child.

They are amoral, just like children they are innocently selfish. They also cannot think back and forth – they only think about the moment in time they are with. Therefore the dog who is looking guilty and “knows they have done wrong” is showing no more than fear, confusion and apprehension to our anger towards them.   If a dog knew they had done wrong and could place it, they would NOT do it again! Telling them off after they have done something may make your problems multiply.

The first task in training anything is finding out what they WANT! The motivation! Most dogs have a favourite toy and a favourite treat – this is now yours and is only given to the dog for good behaviour and play with you. Watch your dog like he watches you - that is the difference between a good trainer and a bad one. It is up to us to look for the good behaviour and reward it. As dogs do what it best for them they will soon learn which is the best option this way much quicker and it will be more reliable. They have been rewarded for doing something of there own free will, no stress has occurred and so learning can take place.

PUNISHMENT

Why do we resort to punishing our dogs? Most of us have or will resort to using punishment somewhere in a relationship whether animal or human. In most cases we punish to soothe OUR own emotions…mainly embarrassment. It tends to be our own feelings like this, anger, fear and frustration that push us to use physical or verbal punishment.   Those who use this, may think they are getting a result through this type of training but in fact all they are getting is passive resistance, with a chance of a choice, one day the dog may take one look at them and say no which ever way they can.

It is the most unstable way to get any animal to learn something.

Why doesn’t it work??   It does not generalise, it can be taken as a reward by getting your attention, it causes relationship issues like trust/confusion/respect, it could lead both parties to the wrong conclusion, it is an incomplete programme it only teaches what is wrong not what to do, it can cause a substitute problem like chewing and it needs to be immediate as a direct result and very few people have the ability and timing to do that. This is why we use things like lure/clicker training.

Mistakes happen because when we learn something new, our muscles have to learn to achieve the balance to do this, the muscles will then send the correct messages to the brain telling them how to do it for next time. We have achieved what is known as “muscle memory.”   Dogs also need the chance to do this and the easiest way to do so, is without fear related stress caused by pushing and pulling etc. Clicker and lure training does exactly this for our dogs, a kind, fair and affective way to learn, that is also a sound one.

SOCIALIZATION

Puppies with minimal outside social interactions, lack in adequate learning and social adjustment, busy life styles and lack of proper interest in the dog cause this. Left alone dogs with an occasional trip off your property, seldom see other dogs and people and suffer from poor stimulation and socialization. The side effects are loneliness and boredom, resulting in chewing, barking and other hard to control behaviours.

It’s clear early socialization is good for your puppy. Puppies without this are unprepared for adult life. Attempts to re-socialize them when adults only produce small benefits. All the time our dogs are growing they are storing the information to be used later. This is why it is so important to really look into owning a dog – there is much more work involved than you think.

The first 16-20 weeks of a puppy’s life is like an open window where they are inquisitive and can take in vast amounts of new experiences without getting too upset and with a quick recovery, this enables them to learn what is safe and what is not. After this the window shuts down – for survival they are hard wired to sense fear and the need to get a distance from new things. Whether wild or domesticated, this is apparent in all animals, without it there life span could be very short.

Unfortunately most of this period they are not allowed on the floor due to vaccinations. Don’t let this stop you! Carry your puppy everywhere to get them used to sounds, smells, being touched and seeing different people, animals, transport and places. You can also do this safely by bringing some of these things to your home.   You can never over do this training the more the better.

Three absolute must’s - if we don’t have their attention, they don’t want to be with us and we fail to socialise them …we are basically shooting ourselves in the foot!

The socialization period starts around 3 weeks of age, which is why a good breeder – whether the puppy is a pedigree or not comes as a very good starter point for a sound dog. Breeders that accustom their puppies to handling, gentle grooming and examining, sights and sounds of the home and garden and all their friends and family are giving the pup a major head start.

Socialization can be split into six equally important categories:

v       ENVIRONMENT

v       OTHER DOGS AND ANIMALS                                                                                          

v       GIVE AND TAKE

v       GROOMING AND HANDLING

v       ADULTS AND TEENAGERS

v       CHILDREN AND BABIES

When socializing we must….

v       “REWARD ALL GOOD RESPONSES”   - all the time, you can never over do the rewards.

v       DON’T OVERREACT WHEN FEAR IS SHOWN. Fear is contagious and comforting a dog is a reward and will encourage the behavior.

v       DON’T PRESSURE A DOG INTO APPROACHING; IT WILL HIGHLIGHT ITS FEAR.   Let them make their own way and if something really frightens your dog, reduce the size, socialize from a distance and gradually get closer.

v       REWARD WHEN THEY RECOVER.   Distract them from the “scary” thing and then reward when you have their relaxed attention back on you.

When training a dog, people will often disregard and challenge your methods – this is YOUR dog for the next 10-15 years, be firm and polite and tell them how you want them to be with your dog it – the rules should be the same everywhere and for everyone.

Animals are not born “bad,” it’s the experiences they have during their life that affects them mentally and physically and changes their characters.   Genetics and instincts affects   “HOW” they react to life experiences and how strong this will be and this is then reinforced or diminished by the results of their actions.   Medical causes can also cause unsociable, unpredictable behaviour. But overall good, early, socialisation can prevent much unwanted behaviour.

I am not saying that if all this training and socialization isn’t carried out – you are going to have a dangerous and disobedient dog, I’m saying…. with this knowledge and using it, you can decrease the possibility of your dog having a lot of common obedience and behaviour problems and the possibility of them biting another person without warning - dramatically.

THE AFFECT OF THE HUMAN SYSTEM ON SOCIALIZATION

We are aware that dogs’ genetics/instincts alter their behaviour; to also help us understand them better we must fully understand the affect our “human system” has on them.

We tend to give mixed messages to our dogs when asking them to do something, like a nice voice but negative body language, the dog will have to choose one itself to follow, often choosing the wrong one. So our communication with them has a big input in their behaviour.

Our social organization is a vast subject that has a major affect, for instance: -

v       No lead role in house causing dominant status or controlling behaviours

v       A strict/harsh system, meaning lack of reward based training giving an increased risk of anxiety, nervous aggression type behaviours

v       A loose system, which is a lack of structure and routine, resulting in problem behaviours such as destructiveness, through lack of focused development.

v       A house of equal levels could cause competitive behaviours like aggression when told what to do and territorial aggression through lack of organization of restricted areas.

v       Normal family life events like holidays, change of partners, births, illness and deaths causing anxiety, due to lack of stimulation and change of routine.

v       Undisclosed human problems like mourning of lost pet, depression, human sudden mood swings due to drugs/drinks and family disagreements.

v       Animal behaviour as a family problem symptom, meaning conflict in the way to cure/handle the dog and one or more persons being negative towards the dog.

A routine with a regular human figure is very important in a dog’s life just like us. They need to know when all the vital stuff is coming food, water, play, training, walks and sleep and also have a main person to turn to – someone they can form a close relationship with – in turn this bond and training will work with everyone.

TRUST/BONDING

Our expectations of our dogs are very high, the standard we set for them is actually extremely hard for even us to achieve. On top of this we expect NO aggressive behaviour towards a human/dog/animal, but at the same time to SHOW aggression in defence of our family/possessions and what’s more we expect them to know the difference and learn all this stuff, basically, with minimal in put by ourselves!

We all need to be taught many things through out our lives and we ALL rely on a good “teacher” to see us through.   Teaching a person is hard enough with an animal we also have a language barrier and a good teacher/trainer keeps working through the difficult spots and understanding that the problem doesn’t just lie with the animal, but also with themselves it is up to us to find a way of explaining and showing what we want.   A good trainer works at training.     The more sessions they do, the better they become.

In order to become better at it we must stop being so negative about it. It isn't about how many failures you’ve made, it being really hard, you’re not good at it, comparing yourself with someone who is better or "I" can't do this because…..   It is about DOING IT, and keeping focus on your goal in training and looking for something good!

I often push the point we have to be a patient and consistent with the dog, it is also about being patient and consistent with ourselves.     Instead of mentally recording your failures, record the successes and look at the failures as part of the learning process.   It doesn't matter how long it takes you to teach your dog something, the most important part to understand is to make the steps small enough so that you and your dog can continue moving forward.   This might be slow for some, but the foundations you lie in the beginning are the most important, get them right, take you time or else anything else you build on top can just come tumbling down.

TRUST…one of the most important words in every living relationship. It is also one of the most vulnerable. So what has it got to do with training a dog?

In order to understand the reactions of a dog, all we have to do is look at ourselves. The way we react when our trust is broken feeling fear, defensive, insecure, lack of confidence, anger and depression. These feelings become more evident when this event happens at a difficult period of your life i.e. puberty, loss of loved ones, change of job/home and for dogs fear/flight periods and different stages of growing into an adult dog.

In a lot of cases the break down of trust in a relationship, changes an individuals whole character and in extreme cases this is not possible to reverse. This works in the same way in a dog/human partnership.

Who ever we look to, to teach us new things and share our life, whether it is for just a few weeks, years or rest of our lives, we put our trust and faith in them. We believe what they do is because they know what they are doing and have our best interests at heart.

When a young dog comes to us they put their total trust in us, when an older comes to us they need to learn that trust and that we will be there for them. We are their teacher and guide, their provider of love, food, water and a warm bed. We are their whole world. Although they do not think like us in general, they do feel all the above feelings when their life is not as it should be and can act as you and I can.

As their teacher and companion, we must be totally fair with them and understand their needs to. The more you try to control a behaviour in the wrong way, the more defensive they will get. If your dog is behaving naughty, rather than getting frustrated, blaming it on them and deciding THAT dog is not for you, look at WHY the dog may be doing it. Look what they have been through and receiving mentally and physically past and present, their health and how YOU are reacting to the problems.

Sometimes to help a “behaviour problem” it is not about training, but how we treat each other.

Things to start as soon as you get your puppy

ü         Letting a puppy know they have gone to far is easy – you stop and ignore them and/or leave the room/area. Punishing the puppy in anyway will make your problems worse, they do not know what you are saying or want from them – we must show them and guide them, just like we do our children.

ü         Just like our children, they will challenge our authority/demands, forget them time and time again or simply not remember, we must stay calm, patient   and consistent to show them what we are doing is for the best… for both of us and in doing so teach them exactly what we are asking from them.

ü         Many minor problems can be stopped before they come major, by simply ignoring the behaviour and giving and alternative positive one e.g. replacing you shoe with a chew or by simply preventing them – but your shoes out of reach!

ü         Only ask your puppy to respond with one call and only when they will do it e.g you have a treat in your hand as a lure! Reward ALL positive behaviours and add the command e.g they sit in front of you =“sit” treat!   As simple as that. Start teaching the sit and down like this and also luring them with a treat into that position.

ü         The quickest and easiest way how to house train your puppy is regular supervised walks to go toilet in the garden/yard/outside. Take them out at set times and when they wake up, drink, eat and play. You reward them when ever they go toilet with a command like “be quick” “be clean”   “wee wee” what ever you feel comfortable with. Your dog can and will learn to go toilet on command …this way.   Telling off only highlights their fear/anxiety/apprehension and may make them wee when they see you. If there is an accident place them outside and clean up.

ü         The first things we do with our puppies is play with them and touch them – they are so cuddly and lovely we cant help it and we let them get away with many things we shouldn’t…but this is one of the major things we do wrong and can help us to prevent a lot of future behaviour problems.

ü         Play….when you play with your pup THINK of when they are fully grown – would you like this behaviour to continue e.g. jumping on you, chasing you, playfully biting you, running off with your socks. Lets put play in to perspective…play should be acceptable behaviour under controlled conditions – you should start and finish clearly all games and stop where any get out of hand and so both puppy and people stay in their safety boundaries – just like we do with each other.

ü         Touch …..puppies are born hard wired to chew, as they needed it to do all things dogs naturally do – bite, chew, crack bones and tear into meat. But they also can bite as hard or as soft as they want and we can teach them that.   From the moment you get them teach them to except you gently touching them all over with key words like eyes, ears, feet – so they learn which part you are going to touch. When they bite and struggle to much a loud “ouch” and walk away. Lots of people say this don’t work they do it again, so do children when you say “no don’t do that!” Just like children they have to learn it by us repeating it time and time again positively. When they stop the action reward them and carry on.

ü         Grooming and examining your dog is an important part of the dog/human relationship. It helps to teach them self-control, being touched and a bond with you. Spend time doing this each day.   Whatever animal it is, unless we gently, consistently and positively handle it from an infant stage WE CANNOT expect them to enjoy and except this from us. Failing to make it a pleasant regular part of their lives or rectifying damage done that scared/hurt the dog while being handled/groomed means, we cannot expect them to act without fear or defence when faced with it.

The most common handling problems you see within training, grooming and veterinary visits are

• Dislike of restraint/containing to body, head jaws or limbs
• Collar grabbing
• Someone reaching to touch the dog's head
• Mouth, ear, feet examinations
• Nail clipping
• Dicomfort even with slight hair/skin pulling
• Touching the back end/tail of the dog

All these problems can be easily solved or prevented by teaching your dog to be contained, restrained, groomed and examined, all which can be taught by simply spending several 5 minutes sessions a day grooming and handling your dog.

Coats with any length need to be brushed regular, taking special care around the areas that a prone to mats – ears, armpits, underneath and bottom area. You will need to learn patience yourself for that and how to handle your dog correctly. If the dog’s coat becomes matted the grooming experience becomes long and tedious, often causing them discomfort – this will only build up their dislike to it. Gently hold on to them, moving with them if they pull back and forth, don’t hold tighter as this causes panic, wait till they subside and then reward – this is called containing.

Teaching a dog to except grooming and handling is one of the best favours you can do for them, it provides a gentle and enjoyable way of showing your dog that it is good and acceptable to be touched by everyone. It helps to teach them self-control, settle down and to prevent a lot of stress that might occur during periods when they need to be handled closely.

It also has another very important function; it keeps your dog looking and smelling good, maintains skin and coat in good condition and gives you the opportunity to detect any medical problems at an early stage.

please see MY GROOMING page for more details on grooming

ü         Barking – some of us are lucky and get a real quiet easy puppy …but most of us are not! Try to ignore your puppy when they bark in the wrong places and reward an alternate behaviour, like distract them away and give a toy and tell them they are a good puppy when they are playing with that.  

It is a very easy mistake to do, which makes a puppy into a yappy dog very easily by simply finding the little barking puppy funny and rewarding that behaviour. At nights try to give them something to eat before they go to sleep and take them outside to go to toilet for the last time, before you go to bed. Once the lights go out, don’t come to return to them when crying and barking. Returning will only reward that behaviour. The barking and crying will die out the more you work on this. Also try leaving the radio on low; a hot water bottle covered in something safe and a cuddly toy.

ü         Learning their name, your puppy must learn their name so use it regular when they come towards you. Practise between family members and friends each calling the name out and rewarding the puppy with a treat and fuss when they look or come over to each of you.

ü         Collar and lead. All dogs are required by the law to wear a collar with a nametag with your name and address on it – REGARDLESS of any other identification/microchip or tattoo.   Start with a soft puppy collar and build up the time left on the puppy. They will scratch at it – but they will soon get used to it. Then start clipping the lead on and letting them feel the weight dragging behind them. The next step will be to lead them gently around the house and garden with it – using treats to make it a positive experience. NOTE – pulling and dragging will not get the puppy used to it – take you time and build up their confidence – use lots of treats when ever you use it.

ü         Coming when called. By teaching the puppy its name as described you are also teaching coming to you is a rewarding experience – this is the start of coming when called. Don’t call the puppy to you for anything other than a reward. Use the lead and long lines all the time till they come on first call100% of the time – this way they wont learn to not come on call.

ü         Boundaries and access. This is one of the things a lot of people find difficult to take on as most people wish for their dogs to just have a free run of the home and garden. Believe it or not most roots of behaviour problems come from this. We all have boundaries and rules – where ever we are, we have rules in a car, in the home, in our work and even walking down a street, they keep us safe and tell us what is expectable and what is not. So why not our dogs?

Have a nice set den area for your dog – whether it is an indoor kennel or behind a baby gate…it gives them a time out place that is theirs to rest. Teach them to be apart from you in their area..not just when you go out – but when you are there…so if you ever have guests that do not like your dog as much as you do – they will quietly rest in their area till you say “ok come out now”

ü         Food. Lots of people struggle on this topic, but the main thing you have to remember is pick a good quality food and stick to a nice routine. If you put the food down and the dog turns its nose up – don’t be tempted to add anything other than a bit of warm water to draw the smell out.

Place it down and leave it for 10 minutes if they don’t eat it pick it up and try to feed again at next food time. If your dog is hungry they will eat. It is important to stick to a feeding routine as it can also show you if your dog is ill. If you turn your dog into a picky eater that eats when they want – it will be very hard to notice a change in their feeding.

Also from a young age add food to the puppies bowl as they are eating..this will help prevent food guarding as they will associate you coming up to the bowl as a rewarding experience.

Food can have a big impact on your dog inside and out; it is not a subject to over look. Dogs suffer in the same way as us through lack of good quality food and the added ingredients.

They could suffer with internal, bone, ear, teeth, skin and behaviour problems and by simply changing the food and adding a training programme your dog can benefit a great deal.

YOUR TRAINING APPROACH

The difference between an OK trainer and a great dog trainer is the ability to get a dog to pay attention and respond willingly.   Part of which achieves this is the trainers personality, but many things can be learnt to make you become a better trainer.

People who produce quicker, better responses are those who are paying total attention to their dog – this allows them to give more positive feedback to the dog when it does something right and also quick to let the dog know when they having done something incorrect.

An OK trainer often misses the first correct and incorrect responses the dog makes, which in return confuse the dog and makes it take longer to learn something.

If given the chance your dog WILL learn to make decisions for itself, it’s the best way to get a reliable dog, to do this you must learn to watch and communicate correctly with your dog.

When your dog is not responding correctly check the following things:-

·               Are you in control of your dog?

·               Is there a break down of communication between you and your dog or is it missing all together?

·               Has your training been sufficient to expect the correct response – this means being trained in many different situations?

·               Have you placed your dog in a place with too much distraction with out a build up to it?

·               Have you accidentally conditioned your dog to more than one command and you are not using the vital one?

·               Is your dog guessing wrong? What can you do to help them?

·               Has your dog no control over his actions? Teach them self control.

Too many of us expect our dogs to obtain perfection much quicker than possible; in fact perfection is near impossible. Mistakes and correction are a vital part of the learning process and you must never take these personal, you will both learn from them.

A lot of us forget that a dog cannot generalise, they have to practice everything many times in many different places, this is the only way we can get as close to the perfection we hope for.