In our latest article Working Dogs we went into detail on why you should give your dog a job and gave some examples of jobs for dogs. Here Id like to go further in our examples of dogs with jobs, perhaps some of these videos will give you some great ideas!
Check out Jesse and his owner & trainer heather! You bet they used clicker training to teach all of these useful tricks!
Get started with your dog teaching useful tricks with Clicking With Your Dog
Heres Kaine the German Shepherd, Heather and Ashley work with him too.
Here they are together!
If your looking for something other than just around the house, Ive also seen dogs helping construction workers or eve mechanics who teach their dog to bring them tools. I wish I could find the video, one dog helps his owner who does roofing. He climbs up and down the ladder bringing his owner needed tools.
You can do water rescue work with your dogs as well as search and rescue work. Ive seen some people teach their dogs how help them clean up along side roads and such. Having their dog retrieve the trash and put it in the bag. There are so many things you can teach your dog to do, I hope Ive given you some ideas. Dogs love doing jobs, so give them something to do! Try out: Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs
On another note, yesterday I said I would continue with going into more detail on winter activities with dogs. I will be continuing those over on Squidoo. I will add a link over to your right with those as I make them! Enjoy :)
HAPPY Valentines Day!
Giving dogs Jobs
My Four Dogs Todays Featured Blog
My Four Dogs is a fun and informative blog. Read stories about her four dogs, along with reviews and other things youll find helpful such as; How To Get Rid of Fleas.
I really enjoyed their latest post about her German Shepherd Lizzie on their canoe trip.
Definitely a blog worth checking out, so dont miss out!
*Maya, if you would like a picture of one of your dogs on here instead of a random pic, please email me one along with who to credit for it.
Image Credit: *-mika-* @ Flickr
Amy @ Talented K9
talentedk9@yahoo.com
www.talentedk9.com
Arthritis Skin and Heart Supplements For Dogs
Selasa, 24 Mei 2016
0 komentar Label: and, arthritis, Dog Training, dogs, for, heart, skin, supplements
With the guidance and recommendation of our veterinary food therapist, we use Vetoquinol AllerG-3 Supplement in the pump form (they also make capsules). We use our omega-3s to keep Dexters skin & coat healthy & shiny. AllerG-3 is made of fish oil in the triglyceride (TG), or natural form. According to their website, "AllerG-3 products contain the only fish oil to achieve USP ingredient verification. USP uses rigorous standards to evaluate manufacturing and quality control systems and test ingredient samples for compliance with identity, strength, quality and purity claims as well as acceptable contaminant limits."
Since Vetoquinol AllerG-3 Supplement is safe for most dogs, my veterinarian & I felt it was a safe & healthy way to work on preventing dry skin, inflammation, arthritis & help keep a healthy heart.
If you have a dog breed who is prone to arthritis or heart issues, Labrador retrievers, German shepherd dogs, golden retrievers &, of course, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels come to mind, you might what to ask your veterinarian about Vetoquinol AllerG-3 Supplement.
Preventing Thunder Phobia In Dogs
BANG! For many years when I heard the crack of thunder I knew I was going to be in for a long night (or day). My golden retriever, Theo had developed thunder phobia in 2001. I dont mean he was a little nervous when he heard the rumbles of a storm, I mean Theo wanted to dig to China, crawl inside me, eat his way out of the house & at times I thought he was just going to explode! It was awful. Awful on him, me, the entire family.
Theo has since passed (2009), and to this day my fingers still start to tingle with a bit of anxiety when I hear that first boom. But then I look down at Dexter snoozing away, oblivious to it all & I can go back to sleep.
In last months blog post-No Worries, I touched on preventing behavioral problems in your puppy. This post will focus on preventing thunder phobia in your puppy, or newly adopted adult dog. This is not to address issues for a dog who already has anxiety associated with storms.
Prevention, prevention, prevention! I say it all the time to my dog training students. When you are blessed with a dog or puppy who does not have an issue with a common behavior problem, reward that response & build on that. Students often say, "but hes fine in a storm." Im thrilled, I really am, but we need to keep that behavior strong. We are building habits and emotional responses to things (storms in this lesson), so it takes a lot of repetition to get our famous Pavlov response working.
- Always work below your dogs anxiety levels. Meaning if you see any signs of anxiety (darting eyes, panting, restlessness, clingingness etc), its too much. You need to make it less stressful (usually quieter).
- Get some high value treat rewards. High value is something your dog goes crazy over. I usually start with looking for meat products. I tend to do cooked chicken, salmon, steak....we need to make a real impact here. Not just, a regular dog biscuit.
- Find various recorded storm sounds. You can purchase thunderstorm CDs or my favorite these days is Youtube. One important aspect here is to make sure you use different tracks, so its different at each lesson.
- Be normal. Dont let your dog see you grab the high value dog treats, prepare your thunderstorm recording....try to not make it a big deal about your setup. You want it to feel real.
- Turn your recording on very low, very low. I dont want you to scare your dog! Be ready. As soon as you hear a little rumble, toss your dog a tiny piece of treat (high value dont forget). Repeat with the next rumble. Dont worry if now your dog is at your feet. You can smile at him, but just keep tossing the treats when you hear that rumble, or boom! Even if he starts to offer other behaviors, barking, sitting, shaking, you are just going to ignore those.
- Repeat this process as often as you can think about it. Try changing locations/rooms & dont forget to change that track! You dont always have to be sitting down either to do it. Remember we want your dog to think this is normal.
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| Photo By M. Lewinski |
Please feel free to contact me for details.
Kids Dogs Part One Walking The Dog
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| Primary Focus On Her Dog |
At what age should a child be allowed to take the family dog for a walk without an adult? As you can imagine there is not a gold standard in age. But I wouldnt even consider a child under 12 to take a dog for a walk without an adult. There needs to be some social maturity holding that leash. Then I would look at a few key factors before making a decision. You should be able to answer YES to all the questions below without any hesitation.
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| Photos Courtesy of Kelly Chalfant |
Let Them Be Dogs
Head to a great park, and be ready for an adventure. You can even attach a nice, long 20-50 dog leash for extra fun. Start with your regular polite walking. Then, get your dogs attention, the Name Game, or a watch cue works well, then tell him to "go sniffy-sniff." Now its time for your dog to take the lead. You may need to encourage your dog at first by pointing to some good smells, and just follow him. Allow him to go wherever he wants, sniff whatever, stay as long as he wishes on a smell, you get the idea. Keep the leash loose, and be prepared to do a slight jog! On a side note, I actually do slightly control his activity by re-directing him to areas, to keep him safe, or out of something I really dont want him in, but I keep that to a minimum.
Digging-Oh, I know. But truly, dogs really do love to dig things up. Some of my favorite things to do to allow dogs to engage in this natural, and fun behavior is to install a dog sand pit! Tuck a few of your dogs favorite food-filled toys part way in and part way out of the sand and encourage him to dig them up. What fun! What could be more fun than that? Well, Dexter loves to dig out the voles. Oh, ya. We have a real good time doing that. Hes been a master at finding their mounds, and tunnels. Together (I like to encourage him), we have a blast. And no worries, the ground is so loose, its easy to cover back up when were done.
Dogs Can Sign Too
The other day while looking through books on amazon, I came across this book; Dogs Can Sign Too. I had to do a double look, wait.. what?
Thats right, they have figured out how to teach dogs sign language so you can communicate with them. How cool is that!?
I am honestly thinking about ordering Dogs Can Sign Too myself once I have some extra money to do so. It looks really cool and I am very interested to see what it has to say. I already put it on my wish list.
I just found this really neat, and I wanted to share it with you guys. If youd like to read more, click the link at the top or on the picture and it will take you to its own page.
Amy @ Talented K9
talentedk9@yahoo.com
www.talentedk9.com
4th of July With Dogs
Need a little help with your dog this 4th of July season. It can be quite scary. Contact us today for assistance in helping your dog over come his anxiety about noises. In the meantime, here are some helpful tips to keep your dog safe this fireworks season. For a great prevention plan, visit our post on how to prevent thunder phobia in dogs. This will be similar in how to prevent noise phobias in dog.
Overcoming fears in Fearful Dogs
Dogs have fears for several reasons, that is a whole article to itself and weve covered it in the article link to the right called Fearful Dogs we also made a Lens at Squidoo for more general tips on Confidence Building for Fearful Dogs. Be sure to check them out too.
Here I hope to talk about ways to overcome those fears youll find in fearful dogs. There are several ways to do so. I think the most popular method is by using the clicker and treats. So I am going to cover some basics on using a clicker and some treats to help your dog overcome some fears.
The first thing you need to do, is make sure to charge the clicker. Be sure your dog knows what that click means. If your completely new to clicker training, be sure to check out Clicking With Your Dog
If you dont yet have a clicker, their are many out there to choose from. My favorite to use is the StarMark Clicker
Now that you should have the needed equipment, lets continue. Once your dog knows what the clicker means, you will want to teach them to target. Targeting is simply touching their nose to a certain thing. You can use your hand, finger, a lid off a container, a pen or even a stick to teach this. If your not sure how to teach target, I again recommend Clicking With Your Dog
Once your dog knows how to target, you will be able to use it for several different things! Targeting is used in so many different training instances, its a must teach! Now you can start getting things your dog is fearful of and at first just start in the same room with the object or person, or what ever he is afraid of. If its another dog, then have somebody hold the other dog. Now you can practice targeting on the other side of the room, gradually targeting closer and closer to the feared object. You want to make this varied, sometimes be closer, other times move back. In doing so, your dog will pay less attention to moving closer to the object.
You might not get up to the object in the same lesson or the same day. If your dog is truly terrified, take a few days of just working in the same room with that object. Eventually youll be able to work right up next to the feared object, getting your dog touching all around it. Your end goal is to teach the dog to touch his nose to the feared object. Rewarding heavily when he does! The first feared object will be the hardest to get your dog close to and to touching, but every object after that will get easier and easier. Before long your dog will be running over to previously feared object, touching his nose to it then looking at you going... Now wheres my treat?. You can use this procedure with just about everything your dog is afraid of, if its a person, have them touch the persons hand.
If its a dog they are fearful of, youll take a different approach to teaching them how to overcome that fear. You still want to get them used to working in the same room as the other dog and working closer and closer, but not necessarily touching the other dog. Be sure the other dog is gentle and kind. You dont want to use an overly hyper dog the first time you do this. One that can ignore the fearful dog would be best. You want to get your dog up where he can feel safe sniffing the other dog with out the other dog scaring him off. Once your dog is able to meet several nice dogs, you can gradually start adding in a little more dogs who would like to play. Your goal here is to be able to let other dog go and both can play together. Dont use an overly playful dog on the first time either, if its too much for the fearful dog, they will run and hide. Fearful dogs dont always know how to play at first and need time to learn how.
There are several more ways to go about overcoming fears in fearful dogs, I recommend checking into Help for Your Fearful Dog: A Step-by-Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer His Fears
Those two books can help owners of fearful dogs tremendously! Some other books you can look into would be The Cautious Canine
and Help for Your Shy Dog: Turning Your Terrified Dog into a Terrific Pet
Any one of those books will get you headed in the right direction with your dog. Pick on and read it, get started on your dog!
Bad dogs to Good dogs
Do you have a dog who is always getting into some sort of mischief? Always finding something chewed up, a new hole dug out in the yard, your neighbor calling you saying your dog is running down the road. How about getting in the trash, or barking at everyone who walks by the window? Here are a few tips that will help give your dog something better to do.
A dog who is always finding trouble is a bored dog. Next time your dog does something bad, ask yourself what have you done to let your dog get out some energy, or to give your dog some mind stimulation? If your answer is nothing, you just expect the dog to be good, you need to think again. If I had as much energy as some of the dogs in this world, with a mind that lives in the now and absolutely nothing to keep me occupied or burn that energy, you bet Id be causing trouble too!
Lets start with energy. Dogs have a lot of built up energy and need ways to burn this energy. Walking your dog is not usually enough, though it certainly helps! Try finding a place where your dog can RUN! Be sure its a safe place and let your dog have at it. If your dog doesnt have a good recall, you might work on that first. An excellent DVD is the Really Reliable Recall - Train Your Dog to Come When Called... No Matter What!
If its a large, safe, fenced in area, for the first time doing this you might set aside a couple of hours to go down and just let your dog run around, sniff and have a good time. Dont worry about calling your dog to you. Bring a good book or something to do, wait for your dog to return to you. If your dog returns to you periodically give them praise and a favorite treat or toss a toy for them if they like to fetch and bring it back.
When your dog is tired, they will eventually come back to you. The first time doing this, you will probably have to wait the longest. This is new for your dog and they love it, let them enjoy it! If youre having fun, you dont want to go home after only an hour do you? Remember, this needs to be done off leash. Anything that you can do to get your dog running is GREAT for your dog! This goes for small and big dogs.
Not only does your dog need this off leash time to run, but also some interactive play time too. Some things you can do with your dog include, but are not limited to; swimming, running, hiking, biking, four wheeling, and playing fetch. Some other activities you can try out and take classes for are; Agility, Flyball, Hunting, Herding, Schutzhund, Tracking, Search and Rescue, or even training your dog to do service dog tasks.
An excellent toy for dogs who LOVE to play fetch is the Chuckit! Ball Launcher
If your looking to get started in some Agility or just want to have fun with your dog in the back yard, heres a great Kyjen Dog-Agility Starter Kit
Next, we need to stimulate that mind! Try working in some obedience training or teaching them some fun Tricks
If you can give your dog the physical and mental exercise they need, behavior problems will start going away on their own. If you want to take this further, sign up for some agility classes and find jobs for your dog to do! Youll have that dream dog in no time!
A great book to help you further in this topic is:
Have fun with this and enjoy the company of your dog! You got them for a reason right? Show them you appreciate them by giving them what they NEED! Exercise, physically AND Mentally!
Thursdays Game of the week is: Find it!
A great game to play with your dog, you can play inside or outside and even get your kids involved if you have any! Play with a favorite toy, dog food, treats, or even kongs filled with some food. Make it easy at first, have your dog stay, put them in a room or crate, or have somebody hold them. Hide their toy, treat or whatever you are using somewhere they can find it, starting out you could hide it in the middle of a room. Let them go and tell them to Find it! Help them if they need it at first. Keep working on this and making it harder and harder to find it. They will soon be a pro at finding it! After they are great at finding different things, you can put names on them or even teach them to find your keys or slippers! Have fun with this! A very useful thing for your dog to know! A Twist on this is to have them find a person, such as Go find Susie! Then reward them for doing so! Enjoy!
Dental Care For Dogs
Your dogs first line of defense to prevent periodontal disease is you. You can develop a home oral hygiene regimen for your dog to help combat this disease. You should start this preventative routine as soon as you bring your new puppy or dog home. So let us now take a look at some of your options.
- Brushing Your Dogs Teeth-Brushing your dogs teeth daily with a dog toothbrush / finger pet toothbrush & dog toothpaste / oral cleansing gel is one of the most effective ways to help prevent periodontal disease in your dog. Out of all the recommendations, this is a must do! Brushing your dogs teeth daily helps break up dog tarter & keep your dogs teeth pearly white. It is important to use a tooth paste specifically designed for dogs. Human toothpaste typically has high foaming action which should not be swallowed.
- With the guidance of Dexters veterinarian, we do a rotating schedule using Biotene Maintenance Gel & tooth brushing & MaxiGuard Oral Cleansing Gel. Dexter prefers the finger pet toothbrush over the regular dog toothbrush, plus I can feel exactly where Im cleaning.
- Chews & Bones-Your dogs chewing action on safe & healthy dog chews and bones can assist in removing plaque build up. However, please read the ingredients listed to ensure they are healthy & NOT sourced in China. My personal favorite for Dexter are odor free bully sticks. Personally, I do not allow unsupervised chewing.
- Dog Chew Toys-When I think of dog chew toys, I think of Kong, Nylabone, Rita Toy & Kong Quest Bones. These chew toys can be filled with your favorite healthy dog treat, organic dog food, or just played alone. Ive been known to squirt a little dog toothpaste on a dog chew for a bit more cleaning action. Again, this is another way to help loosen tarter build up.
- Veterinarian Dentistry-Sometimes even with the best preventative dental care, dogs still must have a dental cleaning from their veterinarian. But dont feel bad, this is a nice way to get back those pearly whites.
- You never want to scare your dog, so if he really moves away when you try to touch his mouth, start by reaching towards his face (off to the side) and say, "Yes!" and give him a treat. At first dont have the goal of touching his mouth, you just want him to get comfortable with the reach. If he moves away & tries to avoid the reach, dont reach as fast, as close. You want to find that sweet spot, where he is unconcerned & build from there. This may take days, or even weeks. So have patience & dont rush it. If you are having difficulty please seek the guidance of a professional dog behavior consultant.
- If you are building up your dogs confidence in touching his mouth, this is an exceptional time to use the MaxiGuard Oral Cleansing Gel, since scrubbing is not required.
- Once you are able to touch your dogs mouth without him flinching or being worried, it is time to add the dog toothpaste. First, put a squeeze of the paste on your finger & slip it into one side of his mouth. No rubbing, no scrubbing. Do the same for the other side. Thats it, end of lesson. Practice this for a few days. When he is easily accepting of this, the next time put your finger pet toothbrush on & the dog toothpaste, and once again slip into both sides of his mouth.
- As you both get more comfortable start to increase the scrubbing action inside your dogs mouth. Gentle, dont get too rough or hard. Your goal will be to hit all those canine teeth with a little scrub.
- If you decide you would rather use a dog toothbrush instead of the finger pet toothbrush do the same steps in getting your dog accustomed to the brush inside his mouth that you did for the finger brush.
Hunting Dogs
Todays article was on Hunting Dogs where I went over the different breeds of hunting dogs there are to choose from. Here Id like to offer you some great training material that will help you get started training your hunting dog.
George Hickox
This guy is an amazing bird dog trainer and has some excellent products to offer. I have a few of his videos and havent been let down by them in any way. I will recommend him to anyone. His training is effective, fast, makes sense and works very well! George Hickox has his own training program and has trained several hunting champions over the years.
My favorite of his DVDs is The Pointing Dog DVD Collection of Volumes 1 through 4 
Those videos cover how to train any breed of bird dog weather they point or flush. Just be sure to get the set that fits your dog! You wont be let down, Ive thoroughly enjoyed his videos and will buy many more of his products.
Once your dog is out in the field, you might need a way of keeping track of him! Take a look at some of these great tracking devices.
Garmin Astro 220 Dog Tracking GPS Bundle with DC40 Wireless Transmitter Collar
The Garmin Astro is in my opinion the best on the market right now. Just like an actual GPS, you can really see where your dog is at and even mark where birds have been found. That way on your next trip, you can remember exactly where you found the birds last time. Has a lot of benefits to it, click the link above to read more.
GARMIN 010-11049-00 Astro DC 30 Wirelesss Collar Transmitter
This one isnt as great as the GPS above, but it is a lot cheaper. So if your on a budget check out that one.
Youll also want to check into some remote collars, heres one to get you started: Dogtra 1900NCP Field Star 1/2 mile Training Collar Single Dog
The great thing about George Hickox is he also incorporates clicker training into his training, though you dont have to use it, if it interests you then its there. George Hickox has great ideas, is clear and easy to follow. His training is simple and you get a great hunting dog out of it. Be sure to at least check out his videos, youll be happy you did.
How kids should greet dogs
- No running. Walk up to the dogs owner & stop about 5 away & ask if you can pet their dog. Look at the owner when you ask & wait for the answer. Sometimes the answer is no. Not all dogs like to be pet & some dogs even have injuries where petting hurts.
- If the owner says, "yes" ask what the dogs name is before petting. Calmly say the dogs name & quietly tap your outside leg & say "hi Dexter (insert the dogs name)." You want the dog to come up to you, dont rush up to the dog.
- If the dog comes up to you, gently pet under the dogs chin, chest, & side area. If the dog moves away at anytime, do not follow him, ask him to come back for more petting. If he doesnt come back, he no longer wishes to be pet.
- When you are finished petting thank the dog owner & quietly walk away (dont run).
- Great Job! You made one dog very happy today for being such a gentleman or young lady.
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Dogs and Jumping Up
Book of the Day:
Todays book is Click For Joy!
This book is amazing. If you have ANY questions about Clicker Training, this book is for you! I own this book myself and enjoyed reading through it. Click for Joy will answer all of your questions plus more about Clicker Training. Pair this up with the book I posted yesterday and youll be set! Click for Joy has a lot of great ideas, Highly recommended by me!
Advice of the day:
Does your dog Jump up on you? Maybe they jump up on people when they come to your house. If this behavior bothers you, it most certainly bothers your visitors! Not many people, if anybody, enjoys a dog jumping up on them unless theyve asked for them to do so. Especially if they are getting them dirty. Here are a few different training methods you can try to help your dog no longer jump on people. Use which ever works for you and your dog.
1. The clicker way-
If youre familiar with clicker training and use it with your dog, then get some treats handy and your clicker. Dont forget the dog! You can do this at times when your dog is full of energy and most likely going to jump up on you or even when your dog is being calm and not jumping on you. You want to click and reward your dog for having all four feet on the ground or even sitting. If your dog jumps up on you, ignore them or turn your back on them. When they return to the ground, click and reward them with a yummy treat! Always reward them when all four feet are on the ground or if youd rather they sit, then reward them when they sit. You dont have to say anything, just wait for them to offer the behavior you are looking for, click and treat! Dont be greedy with those treats! You can even divide up your dogs regular meals and use their regular food during training sessions. Be sure to practice this with other people and when others come to your door. Be ready to reward good behavior!
2. The Balanced Way -
Perhaps clicker training isnt for you. You use rewards and/or treats in training but you also correct your dog perhaps with a pop of the collar. If this is you, then youd try this method. You want to start out the same as you would with the clicker and treats. You want to reward your dog for being good weather it be with a toy, treat, or regular food every time all four feet are on the ground. You want to be sure your dog knows what you want before they are being corrected for what you dont want. Be sure youve rewarded your dog several times in different training sessions before adding in a correction. Once youre sure your dog knows what is wanted of them, then if they jump up, you can add in your correction (a pop of the collar with a leash) & tell them OFF! Once they have all four feet back on the ground give them their reward. Practice this a lot and with visitors. Before long youll have a dog who keeps all fours on the ground.
3. Praise & Discipline -
If youre against using treats during training and have the mind set of a dog should listen and want to please me, not just because I have food, then this method would be for you. When dog jumps up, you can do a correction with leash & collar, or a bump in the chest with the knee. You start off easy with your corrections, then build up from there, each time they do it you do it a little harder. When they are being good and keep all four feet on the ground be sure to praise them with lots of petting and maybe a favorite toy. Play a game with them, make it rewarding to not jump up and uncomfortable to jump up.
All three methods are effective, it just depends on what type you want to use with your dog. Go ahead, try it out today and have a dog that no longer jumps up!
Recipe of the Week:
I hope have each day be themed with a once a week kind of a thing. Tuesday is Recipe day! Recipes will either be for treats or for homemade dog food.
Todays Recipe is: Cinnabone
Needed:
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 cup brewers yeast (can be found in health food stores)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together honey, molasses, oil, milk and cinnamon. Gradually add flour, yeast, and wheat germ. Roll dough to 1/4" thickness and cut into bone shapes or another shape you might like. Bake at 350 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet for 20 minutes or until bottoms are brown. Makes 1 1/2 dozen.
This Recipe comes from the book: The Doggy Bone Cook Book
Adolescent Dogs The Teenage Years
An adolescent dog is more often than not rowdier, mouthier, jumpier, and more obnoxious than at any other time in his life. They tend to have short fuses, test you, and downright ignore you when given the opportunity. Our shelters consist of a lot of adolescent dogs, dog parents just feel like they dont know what to do, and cant control their behavior. I use "parent" lightly, because a good parent would not give up. So why even bother? Because it is a temporary time in their lives, and they are so worth the effort.
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Why Do Dogs Mount or Hump
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| Photo-Malingering |
- Play-A dog will often mount during play, or even as an invitation to play. When dogs are aroused (not sexual, just excited), they often can be seen redirecting that excitement onto something else. Puppies are often seen mounting or clasping during play. I know from experience, this is one of the biggest times I see my own dog, Dexter humping. Dexter is notorious for doing this in the middle of a big game of tug, chase, almost any game he finds really fun. His favorites are the cat bed and a pillow.
- Anxiety or Stress-When a dog is stressed, anxious, or unsure, they often perform what we call displacement gestures. A simple way to think of a displacement gesture is when a dog doesnt know what to do because of conflicting emotions, so they do something out of place. Mounting, sniffing, walking away, lip licking, these are all common displacement gestures. Once again, I can recall my golden retriever, Theo doing this in times of stress. He had separation anxiety, and when he would see me getting my things together, he would often air hump. Like Dexter, he also did this when over aroused during play, except he air humped, and did not use an object.
- Dominance or Control-I think these two can be lumped together for this purpose. There are those times when a dog may mount to control a situation. This can be seen on both sides of a coin, to dominate, or just to get control, or stop a behavior.
- Sexual or Mating-Obviously this is one of the reasons a dog may mount, or attempt to hump.
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Dogs Dogs Socialization
I always teach proper socialization in any training course because I find socialization to be one of the key elements in maintaining a problem-free dog. Keeping your dogs socialized can prevent aggressive issues towards other dogs and humans but I would like to go into a more in depth look at the dog/dog social spectrum. This same concept can be applied for interactions between dogs and humans as well however your main training goal with humans is to keep them non-reactive, you will understand this better after reading.
Dogs can react in a few different way towards other dogs so Im just going to put them into three categories. Accepting, Non-Reactive and Reactive.
Accepting & Playful- Dogs that accept other dogs are willing to play and have a fun time just running around and being rambunctious together, chasing and having a good time. It is ok to have a dog that is playful and loves being around other dogs however you are going to want to make sure your dog knows when to back off and not invade the other dogs space. Dogs are pretty good at letting other dogs know when they are uncomfortable in a situation, its usually when humans intervene that dog-fights break out (Ill get back to this in a little bit).
Non-reactive- A dog that is "non-reactive" pertains to a dog that can be around other dogs without getting overly excited or reactive as in barking/lunging at other dogs. They may show a little interest in the other dog however it is more of an acknowledgement to the fact they know the other dog is present.
Reactive/Aggressive- It is a fact that some dogs just dont like or get a long with other dogs, it is not as uncommon as you may think to see two dogs greet each other and it break out into a fight, especially when they are both on a leash ( or even just one on a leash this usually has to do with the energy the owner is sending to their dog ). Sometimes your dog may be perfectly fine with some dogs and completely reactive or aggressive towards others, in the same sense that some people simply dont get along with others, dogs may not get along with certain dogs, however they of course react differently and are more clear with their emotions. I am not saying this is an acceptable behavior by any means but if your dog does not get a long with other dogs then it would be best to train them to be non-reactive & how to back out of situations. Instead of giving other dogs the negative attention they should be giving you positive attention. Reactive can also be with less aggressive tendencies such as your dog barking or lunging towards the other dog, another obnoxious behavior.
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| Rusty hanging out at the dog park |
Do you have time/enjoy taking your dog to the dog park on a regular and want them to play and interact with other dogs to get their energy out? If you do thats perfect, you can maintain your dogs socialization by taking them to the park on a regular and letting them get the opportunity to play with other dogs. As dogs gets older they can naturally lose interest in playing with other dogs, it is just part of maturing, I recommend still taking them to the park so they remain non-reactive towards other dogs. If you never take your dog outside or around other dogs then your dog may end up in the reactive or aggressive category so to prevent this and keep your dog in the "non-reactive" category, which is ideal, you are going to have to start taking your dog out daily and make yourself seem more rewarding than barking or lunging at other dogs.
What are your training goals?
To make the answer to this question much simpler, if you have high standards for any sort of training then your are going to want your dog be disinterested and non-reactive towards other dogs. When they can focus their attention on you instead of other dogs then you will have a better chance of keeping your dog interested in working with you around all these distractions.
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| working with rusty outside of the dogpark |
To be blunt, this is where a lot of owners go wrong with socializing. Dogs can feed off your stress/fearfulness much easier when you are holding onto their leash. Most dog fights that happen do so when the dogs owner is hovering over them making sure their dog is engaging in an appropriate social interaction. Your dog is going to feed off of your every movement and any fear you may be harboring while wondering how well your dog is going to react to this strange new dog. As an example, I know some people at our dog park are guilty when it comes to yelling at other people to take their leash off their dog as soon as they enter the park, so, if you are one of these people then please stop. Yelling causes more commotion than necessary and all the dogs running up to this new on-leash-dog may look at him as a bad thing (in other words, youre the one that wouldve caused the fight if they reacted negatively to your yelling) if the person who has their dog on leash is cool, calm and collected then their is a high chance their dog will not react negatively and neither will the dogs greeting them. Do not stress the situation, remain calm and positive in new social interactions to help your dog make a positive association towards other dogs. Dogs understand other dogs better than we do and will be able to read and react accordingly to other dogs body compositions and behaviors.
Changing the unwanted behavior
If your dog is overly excited or aggressive/reactive towards other dogs then you are probably wanting to modify your dogs behavior into a more non-reactive state. I mentioned that making yourself become more rewarding than the other dog is a good start earlier, a quick way to accomplish this is by giving your dog some sort of enticing treat or food every time another dog walks by or is in your dogs presence. Either behavior can take a bit of training time in order to see any sort of change so be consistent and work with your dog daily. When first training to modify this behavior start small, like walking past your neighbors home where their dog is probably barking at the fence (we all have those neighbors) give your dog a treat the entire time you are walking by the other dog until you have passed them. Rewarding your dog for giving you attention and not the other dog will make your dog start looking to you every time you pass another dog, you will have to be sure to do this for every dog you walk past so bring lots of treats. Gradually build up to working around more dogs, working with your dog outside of your local dog park is a great area where you can be sure there might be multiple dogs there. Again, be consistent and work on this daily! You will gradually see change in your dog.
Punishment?
Do not give any leash correction if your dog isnt following your food lure/reward, when they arent "getting it" it can be very frustrating but if you give your dog a correction they can in turn look at the other dog as more of a negative which will take a step back in the direction you are wanting to go with training. Instead, simply turn around and walk in the other direction, go back home, by doing this you are removing an opportunity for your dog to go on a walk which is a rewarding experience in itself. Also, this goes for any training experience, try only feeding your dog at night and not freely eating throughout the day which will make food more of a reward, dogs cannot live without food which makes food an unconditioned reinforcer, taking away the opportunity for your dog to eat food freely will make food more rewarding. The golden rule is to not feed your dog for 6 hours before training.
