Dog Behavior Blog

Basics of Dog Adoption 101

According to the ASPCA, around 3 to 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year in the United States,  about  60 percent of the dogs and 70 percent of the cats that end up in shelters. Often these were animals who were part of a family, and because of some kind of change in circumstances, such as moving or financial troubles, they were turned over to a shelter.

Many of these animals would have loved to start a new life in another home. Few of them get that chance.

Adopting an animal saves a life.

But there are some challenges involved in adoption.  In my consulting practice I have often seen the kind of difficulties that can arise. Someone falls in love with an adorable dog in a shelter, and brings her home to live a happy life. For a while, things are great. The dog is very respectful, meek, and polite. This period lasts anywhere from a few days to a month or two.

Gradually the dog gains more confidence, and that is when potential problems can surface. Perhaps the dog is somewhat aggressive, guarding her food dish, or maybe pees and poops on the carpet, or maybe tugs hard on the leash while walking. Sometimes, problems arise that were the cause of the dog being put into the shelter in the first place. This is the time that people can start questioning whether they made the right decision to adopt a dog.  This is often the time that people seek advice from dog behavior professionals.

The best time to get advice about adoption, however, is before a dog is adopted. There are a lot of issues that have to be considered, such as dogproofing a house, getting the right food, finding a good vet, figuring out how to introduce the new dog to the resident animals and people, deciding whether to buy a crate for the dog, and planning a routine for the new animal to follow.  Without prior planning, chaos can ensue.

Now there is an excellent source of advice on adopting a dog, both for the planning stages and for the potential problems that can arise.

A new book by Drs. Patricia McConnell and Karen London addresses the entire adoption process. The book is called Love Has No Age Limit: Welcoming An Adopted Dog Into Your Home,  published by McConnell Publishing Limited, and available for $ 9.95 at Dr. McConnell’s website: http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/.  In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that Dr. Karen London, a coauthor of the book and a cowriter of this blog, provided me with a free copy for review. I should also say that if I did not like the book, I would have thanked Karen politely and simply would not have written a review.

The book reads very well and very quickly. It has 95 pages, so the amount of reading material is not overwhelming. But the contents go through all of the steps of adoption, from the planning stages, to the stages of building a relationship with your new dog, to a consideration of the possible behavioral problems that might arise.  It is a very enjoyable read,  and  the information is invaluable to anyone who is thinking about adopting a dog. In the future, when I am asked about dog adoptions by my clients, I am certainly going to recommend that they buy this book first.  For people who want to distribute this book more widely, there are quantity discounts offered on Dr. McConnell’s website.

And in the meanwhile, let’s not forget about the 70 percent of cats who are euthanized each year. Cats need good homes too.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Dogs Playing Together: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She writes periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

One of first things adopters from our shelter, Berkeley East Bay Humane Society, want to do is take their dogs to a dog park.  It’s easy to assume that all dogs both want to play with other dogs and have the right temperament and social skills to do so. However, everyone will benefit by considering a few things before beginning this particular adventure.   

Until puppies reach maturity, between the ages of eighteen  months and two years, most of them enjoy playing with other dogs.  Good dog play can teach young dogs valuable lessons.  Play enhances bite inhibition, develops communication skills, and maintains friendly responses to other dogs.  As they mature, most dogs become less universal in their desire to play.

Even though some parts of each puppy’s play style are inherited, each of them goes through distinct developmental periods during the first two years of life in which social and play styles are formed. Puppies (under four months) can be very rude but are generally tolerated by adult dogs as well as their human parents.  Between the ages of about five and eighteen months, almost all puppies start to push their boundaries with both people and their own kind.  In addition, puppies experience distinct “fear periods” during this time of their lives. Unsupervised play as well as harsh corrections can cause pups to develop fear as well as the inappropriate play styles of chasing, body slamming and persistent wrestling; styles that can lead to aggression problems.  

Most dogs reach full maturity at about two years. After that, they are less likely to engage in play with dogs they don’t already know and may become more reserved with people as well. Most are content, at this point, to play with previously established dog friends. Sometimes, they lose their desire to play with dogs entirely.  Dogs adopted as adults have often had limited social exposure and may never enjoy playing with other dogs.

From the very first day, you should carefully monitor all your dog’s playtimes. By supervising, you can shape your dog’s play style for the rest of his life. The most important part of supervision is being able to recognize when play is appropriate and when it is not. The second most important part is being able to interrupt questionable or inappropriate play and call your dog away before it goes bad.

There are three kinds of dog play—good, questionable, and totally inappropriate. Here’s how to tell them apart: 

Good dog play. You don’t need to interrupt this play. The dogs are monitoring themselves.         

 •Play is balanced. There is a lot of give-and-take.  Both dogs are clearly having fun.

 •Dogs have loose, relaxed bodies, and their movements are silly and inefficient-looking.

 •Chase games exhibit a sense of sharing.  But, if one dog is being chased into hiding or is becoming defensive, interrupt the play.

 •Both dogs are making friendly play gestures.  These include play bows, turning and hitting with the hips and both dogs stopping when things get too rough.

Questionable dog play.  You should always interrupt this play before it goes too far.  Any of the following behaviors can lead to a fight.

• Wrestling can be appropriate but is questionable and should be interrupted if more than two dogs are involved, or if one dog is always on the bottom.

• Tug-of-war if one or both dogs become possessive.

 • Stalking postures: These postures  are not play behavior.  A stalking posture is significantly different from play bow and is often the first stage of a body slam.

Rude and totally inappropriate dog play.  This “play” is not play at all; it is aggressive behavior and must always be stopped.  After you intervene you have a good  opportunity to play one-on-one with your dog while he settles down. Rude behaviors are:

 • Neck biting and collar grabbing.

 •Excessive barking and harassing another dog. Rude puppies often do this relentlessly at adult dogs that do not want to play.

 • Body slamming.  This is only fun for the slammer.

 • Pinning.  Bull breeds do this routinely, but others do it, too. 

 • Mounting other dogs. Both males and females do this and it is almost guaranteed to start a fight.

 • Snapping.  A dog that is scared or aggravated may snap; so may a dog that is guarding a toy or a bone. 

 • Standing in a “T” position (head over another dog’s shoulders).  This is never play; it is always a challenge. Don’t let it happen at all.

 • Ganging up.  Two or more dogs ganging up on one.

 • General over arousal, resulting in a case of the crazies, growlies, or snappies. 

If you cannot call your dog away quickly and effectively as soon as play becomes questionable use a long line (20’-30’) and practice calling your dog with rewards every day.  Once you call your dog away from play, give him time to calm down before releasing him to play again. If your dog has gotten into a scuffle, stop all interactions with other dogs for the remainder of the outing.

It’s everyone’s responsibility to supervise their dogs to keep play friendly.

 

 

Should We Keep Our Dogs Outdoors?

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She writes periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

Our dogs have a rich history of surviving harsh landscapes and difficult conditions. They trekked across a vast wilderness with the pioneers, settling a wild land and serving as workmates, companions, and protectors on long, lonely, boring, and dangerous nights.

For centuries, they have accompanied mankind, sharing his space through thick and thin. With this history, and being biologically equipped to survive the vagaries of climate, why should we not keep our dogs outdoors? This might appear to solve a number of problems: guests can arrive without being jumped on and slurped.

People who are considering getting a dog for the first time often think it might be a good idea to keep their dog outdoors, Sometimes one family member doesn’t like the idea of getting a dog but agrees to it provided that the dog is not allowed in the house.

People can be unwilling to give a new dog or puppy enough time to learn the house rules, and when the dog messes up once too often (for instance, urinating on the carpet), he is banished to the backyard. Though his owners may give him a cushy doghouse and generous amounts of food and water, the result is usually a lonely dog that waits at the door day and night, trying with all his heart to get inside with the family.

Animal shelters and humane societies like Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society, generally avoid adopting dogs to people who want to keep them strictly outdoors. Responsible breeders are also wary of people with this idea.

Because today we know a lot more about the dog as a companion than we used to, and because our lifestyles have changed drastically, animal welfare organizations advocate for truly including dogs as family members.

Dogs are a highly social species. They thrive on the company of humans, as well as each other. They recognize the important groups in their lives and are constantly seeking their own place in those groups. Dogs left in isolation have little chance of becoming part of a group and often get into all kinds of trouble.

To understand why being outdoors alone is a problem for dogs, let’s look at what dogs do when left to themselves: They sleep, chew, bark, dig holes, chase anything that moves, and experiment with escape strategies.

Along with practicing these instinctive behaviors, dogs experience constant stimulation from birds, squirrels, dogs on the other side of the fence, passersby coming and going, and even teasing and overt cruelty on the part of mischievous people and angry neighbors.

This combination can have disastrous behavioral consequences, the most frequent of which is barking constantly and the development of aggression, both of which can be the direct result of constant stimulation and frustration.

Indoors, we can control the environment much better and see to it that our dog is not overstimulated.

Dogs also face a number of health hazards when they are left outdoors. Extremes of temperature can cause heatstroke and hypothermia. Constant exposure to parasites, such as fleas, ticks, and fungi, can cause a variety of health problems.

In addition, dogs can get badly injured by hanging themselves on fences during escape attempts and once they succeed, getting hit by cars.

Overall, dogs are much harder to train and live with when they are left outdoors. It is the everyday routine of living together that turns our dogs into companions. Going back to our pioneer ancestors, we should note that even though their dogs lived outdoors, it was alongside the people.

Dogs should spend time outdoors with us as well as indoors. Spending time in your yard with your dog gives you opportunities to set boundaries on behavior and teach your dog to play games with you.

Overall, dogs that share both environments and are an active part of the family are better adjusted, they are pleasant to live with, and they stay in one home all their lives.

Toys That Dogs Like

My Standard Poodle Raja loves to play "ball." In his case, "ball" is anything that he can chase, catch, and bring back to the person throwing the "ball." Although he will do this with round balls that he can fit into his mouth, he really prefers plush toys that look like chipmunks or rabbits, that are small enough for him to fit into his mouth, and that squeak when he chews on them.

The downside of his playing "ball" is that he needs to convince some willing person to play this game with him.

What about dogs who don't have a person around? What sort of toys do they like to play with?

When I tried to find some scientific articles that have looked at this, I found that few had studied this problem.

However, a recent article in the scientific literature investigated what sorts of toys dogs in kennels like to play with (Pullen, A J et al. 2010. Preferences for toy types and presentations in kennel housed dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 125: 151-156).

The experimenters studied the kinds of toys that dogs liked to play with in two different types of kennels:

· Re-homing kennels (the equivalent of Humane shelters), where dogs are brought in off the street for adoption.

· Long-term kennels where dogs spend most of their lives in a kennel.

The circumstances of kennel life were very different between the two types of kennels. In the re-homing kennels, the environment was very new to most dogs and the dogs showed signs of stress at being in unfamiliar surroundings. In the long-term kennels, the dogs were used to being in the kennels and received a lot of enrichment in the form of off-leash walks and interactions with people in an enclosed environment.

The experimenters gave both groups of dogs two types of toys to play with, and recorded the amount of play on video:

· One type was robust toys, which were difficult for the dog to destroy. These included a large indestructible ball, a rope tug knotted at both ends, a nylon and rubber flexible tug toy, and a rubber frame toy.

· The other type was less robust and easier for the dogs to damage. These included a vinyl bone with a squeaker, a soft fabric toy with two squeakers, a plush toy with a squeaker, and a tennis ball.

The robust toys were presented to the dogs as either hanging toys, suspended by a metal chain into the middle of the kennel, or as floor toys, placed onto the floor of the kennel.

The less-robust toys were only placed on the kennel floor.

Although there were some differences between the responses of the dogs in the re-homing kennels and the dogs in the long-term kennels, there was a common thread:

· The dogs generally did not like to play with toys that were hanging.

· The dogs preferred the soft squeaky toys to the hard indestructible ones.

While the indestructible toys are more attractive to people because dogs can't shred them, the indestructible toys are less attractive to dogs.

However, dogs can destroy the soft squeaky toys and possibly swallow pieces of the toy or the squeaker.

That means that if you give soft squeaky toys to your dogs, you have to watch them to make sure that they don't swallow anything.

I'm sure that Raja would agree with the results of this experiment. The only thing that they left out, in his opinion I am sure, are the people who can throw the soft squeaky toys for him to retrieve.

--Con Slobodchikoff

 

Selecting Your Dog From a Shelter: A Life and Style decision

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She will write periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

What is it that makes us to want to get a dog?   Most people who get dogs when they are adults have had a beloved family dog as a child.  Friends or relatives with dogs might be an influence.  Perhaps the thought of a dog as a companion for hikes or as a running partner is appealing.  A visit to a dog show or shelter can spark the yearning for a canine friend.   For sure, volunteering or being a foster parent at a shelter such as ours, the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, will increase your desire to adopt a dog.  There is nothing like a dog to add joy and fun to your life. And searching for that special dog has its benefits, too. Getting to know dog enthusiasts is just one of them. They are a great community to join. 

 

When you set out to add a dog to your life for the first time, where do you begin?   One of the first things you need to do is create a couple of lists.  First, list the pros and cons of including a dog in your life then add a list of characteristics you think the dog should possess in order to be compatible with you. Try to create a vision of what your life with a dog will look like.

 

Your list of pros and cons might include activities you would like to add to your life as well as some you will have to give up. For instance, do you do well with a strict rule structure or do you like things to be loose and spontaneous?  Which of your habits and activities are you willing to change for the right dog?  How much room do you have in your house and life? Will your dog meet many people by going places with you or spend long hours alone with you? Factors such as these can not only affect your choice of a dog but are important since you can expect this relationship to last 10 years or more.

 

Whether you are meeting prospective dogs in shelters or through rescue organizations ask the adoption counselors what information they have collected about the dog.  They might not have a lot of history but should have done some level of health and behavior screening. Many shelters offer extensive adoption counseling and will want you and your family members to meet with the dog more than once.  

 

When you meet prospective dogs there are a few observable behaviors that are red flags. Among them are:

 

· The dog seems to be only tolerating you instead of liking you.

· The dog appears to freeze up when touched in some areas of his or her body. (The most common of these are the neck, shoulders, head and the flank area.)

· The dog shows stiffness in the body as though he or she is walking on tiptoe.

· The dog is openly afraid of or hostile to any member of your family.

 

Any of these behaviors can predict that the dog may have aggressive tendencies. A dog exhibiting any of those characteristics might be right for someone but will be a major project to take on with no guarantee of success.  A relaxed, friendly dog will have a loose, relaxed body most of the time and will usually have an open mouth with the tongue hanging loosely out the side when greeting you. The dog’s overall appearance will be soft, pliable and inviting.

 

Review the dog’s health records and ask questions. Some dogs need extensive and expensive health care. It is wonderful if you can take on one of these special needs dogs but you must be sure you have the resources to fulfill those needs. Both young and old dogs can be in good overall health which will show up in their shiny full coats, clear eyes, clean teeth and energy level. 

 

You probably will not be able to find a dog that meets every criterion on your lists. You might even choose one that differs significantly from your original vision. It is incredibly important to have defined what you want in a dog as well as being realistic about what you can handle. Nevertheless, the final choice is more often than not a result of that magical chemistry called love.  Having that “falling in love” feeling about a dog is the glue that will keep the dog in your home and give you the energy to work through any problems that come up.

 

There are millions of dogs seeking homes these days.  There is a right dog for everyone.  Dogs that have failed in one home can be outrageously successful in another. Making a choice can be challenging but well worth the effort.

 

 

What Makes A Good Kennel?

A couple of weeks ago I was picking up my Standard Poodle, Raja, from a boarding kennel where I left him for a week while I was traveling on a business trip. As I was picking him up, a man and his wife were dropping off their dog. As we all walked into the parking lot toward our cars, they started telling me how much they liked this particular kennel and how much their dog enjoyed staying there. This mirrored my experience. While Raja is never pleased to be left for an extended period, he is always happy to go to this kennel, with his head up and tail wagging. 

So I started to think, what is it about this kennel that makes Raja like it? To try to answer this question, I interviewed the kennel owner,  Joel Oestmann, who together with his wife Jana has owned Bark N Purr Kennels in Sedona, Arizona since 1976.

Here is the gist of the interview:

Con: First of all, can you describe your facilities?

Joel:  We have 47 indoor-outdoor runs for dogs and 11 indoor-outdoor runs for cats.  The indoor part of each run has radiant heat underneath the floor so that each dog or cat can stay warm. If the owner doesn’t provide it, we provide bedding and blankets.  Each run has a door that opens to the outside, so the animals can go out whenever they want during the daytime. At night, we close the doors.

Con: How many people work here?

Joel: Jana and I work here 7-8 hours a day. We also have two full-time people and two part-time people. In addition to the boarding, we also do grooming. Some customers want their dogs to have a bath before they go home, or want their animals to be groomed during their stay.

 Con: What is the daily routine?

Joel:  First thing in the morning, starting around 5 a.m., the kennel doors are opened, and our staff picks up anything that has accumulated in the runs overnight, as well as cleans and washes the bedding.  The dogs are then taken individually to a grassy exercise area for 15 minutes of walking or running while their kennels are washed with disinfectant and then rinsed thoroughly with water so that no disinfectant remains to irritate anyone.  The dogs are rotated through the exercise area. Meanwhile, the dogs in their runs are fed a diet of premium food, or are given the food that their owners have provided.

Con: How do you keep track of special needs?

Joel: We have whiteboards everywhere, and we write down what every animal needs in multiple places, to make sure that no animal’s needs get neglected. Some animals need medications, and we want to make sure that everyone of our staff knows what to do with each animal.

Con: So we got through the morning activities. What happens next?

Joel: Once we open in the morning, animals start to be dropped off and other animals are picked up. So we have to allocate time for these activities, which last throughout the day. However, by 3 p.m. we start to do the evening feedings. Throughout the day, we do spot cleanups in case accidents happen inside the runs. We try to match the food that the animal is fed at home. Sometimes we add WD to the diet if the stool is runny. We have found that premium foods work best for both us and the animals. In the evening, the run doors are closed for the night.

Con:  My dog enjoys staying here. What do you do to make that happen?

Joel: One of the things that is necessary for someone to work here is a willingness to accept that different animals have different needs. We try very hard to make each animal feel comfortable, and recognize that different things will matter to different animals. It might involve just sitting with an animal for a while until they settle down, but we individually tailor our environment to each animal to get them comfortable. Another important thing is for all of our staff to like animals, and to care about them as individuals.

Con: Well, I think that that caring attitude shows up in how the dogs respond to their stay here.  Thank you, Joel, for the information you have provided.

In summary, I think that over and above the facilities, the clean conditions, and the premium foods, the thing that resonated the most with me was that the staff really cared about the animals and really liked them.  I have left Raja at Bark N Purr Kennels many times. Each time, the staff tell me how he did, ask about how he is doing in general, and clearly see him as an individual rather than as a generic cog in a kennel machine.  Maybe all of these things are what contribute to making a good kennel.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Dog Saves Person and Animals In Shelter Fire

Early in the morning, shortly after midnight on March 20, 2010, a dryer caught on fire at the Berkeley-East Bay-Humane Society (in the San Francisco area).  The flames spread quickly. In an apartment above the shelter, a woman was sleeping with her Pitbull-Boxer mix, Baby.  She did not hear the smoke alarms. No one knew that the fire had started and was rapidly expanding. Baby, however, knew that something was wrong, and jumped on the sleeping woman, waking her and allowing her to escape with Baby.

Ultimately, 15 cats died at the shelter.  They had been put in a wing that was close the dryer because they were ready for adoption, and they suffered the initial brunt of the fire. But because of Baby’s quick response, shelter employees and volunteers flooded to the area along with the fire department and managed to save 25 dogs and cats. The animals that were saved were behind a closed door away from the flames, and the door retarded the smoke and the fire long enough for the animals to be rescued.

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Both the shelter and the apartment were completely gutted. All of the animals were rushed to other shelters, to the offices of nearby vets, and to foster homes.  The Bay-Area community pitched in, providing volunteers and donations. Now the shelter is looking for a temporary home while its gutted offices and facilities are being rebuilt. This is not an easy task.  They are continuing their efforts to save some 800 animals a year from being euthanized, and at the same time are trying to raise around $1 million to repair the shelter.

But the hero of the day was Baby. Without Baby’s quick response, both Baby and Baby’s person would have died, along with all of the other dogs and cats.

For those of you who have been reading these blog posts regularly, you will remember that a regular commentator on this blog is Nancy Frensley, who is in charge of the training programs at the East Bay-Berkeley Humane Society.  Fortunately, the training facility was not affected by the fire, and the shelter continues its service of helping people work with their animals.

If you would like to help the shelter, please see their website at http://www.berkeleyhumane.org.

--Con Slobodchikoff

Can The Shape Of A Dog’s Head Tell Us Anything About Trainability?

In 1994 Dr. Stanley Coren wrote a landmark book, The Intelligence of Dogs, where he sampled the opinions of a large number of obedience judges on the trainability of different breeds of dogs (see Dr. Coren’s blog post from June 10, 2009 on our blog here).  Dr. Coren identified the breeds that were most and those that were least trainable, and related this to the relative intelligence of the different dog breeds, at least as far as their general trainability went.

A recent article (Helton, W. F. 2009. Cephalic Index and Perceived Dog Trainability. Behavioural Processes 82:355-358) attempts to connect the shape of dogs’ heads to their trainability. By looking at the ratio of the width to the length of the skull (a cephalic index), dogs can be categorized as dolichocephalic (having a short skull width with respect to the length, as in Greyhounds), mesocephalic (having a medium width of the skull with respect to the length, as in Poodles), and brachycephalic (having a large skull width with respect to the length, as in Staffordshire Bull Terriers).

These groups of dogs differ in their morphological specializations. Dolichocephalic dogs are specialized for running, while brachycephalic dogs are more specialized for fighting.

Interestingly, the eye morphology of the two types of dogs differs. Brachycephalic dogs like the Staffordshire Bull Terrier have a lot of the retinal ganglions concentrated in a central area, like the human fovea, allowing them to focus better on single objects, such as other dogs they might need to fight. Dolichocephalic dogs like the Greyhound are like wolves in their retinal morphology. They have a visual streak of retinal ganglia, distributed like a line across the retina, allowing them to best see moving objects such as prey on the horizon rather than focus in detail on single objects. (for details, see McGreevy, P. et al. 2004. A strong correlation exists between the distribution of retinal ganglion cells and nose length in the dog. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 63: 13-22; DOI: 10.1159/000073756).

Curiously enough, the Helton article in Behavioural Processes finds that the breeds that are the most trainable are those that fit into the mesocephalic category, with neither a very long or a very short nose, and a skull width that is intermediate between narrow and wide. This includes breeds such as the Border Collie, Poodle, Labrador Retriever, and Golden Retriever.

What isn’t clear to me is why this should be so. The author of the article speculates that the mesocephalic brain shape represents a compromise between a brain adapted for running and a brain adapted for fighting. So, if this is true, then maybe the breeds in the other categories are so specialized that they don’t need to learn to do new things. They either run or they fight. But the dogs in the middle can’t run as fast and can’t fight as hard, so maybe they have to be more flexible in learning how to get by in the world.

And as long as I am speculating, let me take this a little bit further. If there really is a relationship between the shape of the skull and trainability, maybe we can use this as a way of predicting the trainability of mixed breeds.  When we look at shelter dogs of mixed parentage where it isn’t obvious which breed contributed the most to the genetic makeup of the dog, maybe we can get an idea of how easy the dog is going to be to train from the shape of the skull.

In my book, all dogs are wonderful. Some just require more work than others. If we can predict how much work might have to go into training a mixed-breed dog, maybe there won’t be as many dogs returned at shelters.

--Con Slobodchikoff

 

Training Homework: How to Get It Done

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She will write periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

Most people who have dogs participate in a dog training class at one time or another. At the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society’s K-9 College, we teach close to 700 students every year (mostly dogs from shelters and rescues), who are moving on to new lives with new families or partners. In our classes, we find that people are often stumped by one thing: the homework.

Dogs cannot learn by practicing only once a week during class. This is the same logic behind kids going to school several days a week and bringing home their work. Learning, in any species, takes practice.  It is one thing to work in class with a trainer coaching every step of the way and quite another to attempt the exercises at home – even if they are written out. Moreover, training a dog requires a bit of timing, mechanical skill, and consistency, as well as the ability to see what the dog is communicating to the human. In the daily struggle to get everything done training the dog can fall through the cracks.

In order to make the most of a dog-training class or to home school a dog, it helps to write out a plan. Note the activities for each day and keep it in a spot where it can be easily viewed.  By keeping an accurate activity log, it will be easier to build on it the next day. (Tip: A magnetic whiteboard (with or without calendar blocks) is easy to use and see. It can hold a week’s worth of documentation.  At the end of the week, it’s ready to be erased to start over with new activities.)

Advance planning might consist of writing down everything to accomplish during the week. For instance, “Priorities for this week are: Sit, Down and Leash Walking”. Do three, 3-minute sessions per day, one for each activity.” This notation creates a simple, clear directive for each day’s work. 

A typical notation might read:

            Monday morning: 

Planned:  Sit - 12 repetitions (with treats)

                                Done:      Sit - 12 repetitions (gave extra treats for the three best sits)       

Monday afternoon: 

Planned:  Down stay - 4 repetitions of 6 seconds each

Done:      Down stay - 3 repetitions for 10 seconds each. Success!

Monday evening: 

Planned:  3 minutes of loose leash during walk

Done:      1.5 minutes attained

These notes help keep the human student on track and thinking clearly, which pays off in communicating better with the dog. 

 There are a few principles of teaching that will make it easier for a dog to get better for each training session.

•             The combination of repetition and reward is important.

•             Be consistent by practicing the same way every time. This includes saying things the same way and using the same gestures and movements for each repetition.  

•             Deliver food rewards so that the dog gets them while in the correct position. 

•             Keep the training sessions short and give the dog lots of fun games and activities in between. 

•             Do training sessions in a lot of different locations. Most dogs learn rapidly if situations are varied.

We give all our students what we call the Three Golden Rules of Training:

1. Start your training on a happy note with an easy exercise your dog can do well. Reward and praise generously. This will build both the human’s confidence as a teacher and the dog’s confidence as a pupil.

2. Train for 10 minutes a day, breaking it up into one or two-minute sessions. End each session with the easiest exercise. This closes the session on a successful note.

3. No matter what happens during the training session, take time to engage in a pleasant activity afterwards for about five minutes.

Training a dog to a very good level of reliability is possible in only 10 minutes of practice a day.  Start with a lot of rewards and reduce the number of rewards as the dog gets better at each behavior. It won’t be long before the dog magically responds correctly to each cue and command and you will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

What Dog Sports Do For Dogs

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She will write periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

For centuries the dog has been considered to be mankind’s working partner. From ranchers whose shepherd dogs beat them to the pickup truck to work the livestock every morning; to the soldiers who depend upon military working dogs to help detect dangerous explosives – people still work in partnerships with canines. But today, in many countries dogs are more likely to be family members than working partners.

 

Through centuries of selective breeding for work, dogs are still equipped to be

working partners. They can always do some things better than us humans. They take up where we leave off in speed, movement, scent detection and the ability to cover distances. Moreover, within just about all of them lies some instinctive urge to do the work for which they were bred. Even Poodles, with their dressy haircuts and smart looks, were originally developed to hunt birds in water. Recognition of the canine’s inherent need to work has given rise to dog sports as a solution. As a result, many pet parents have discovered the sheer joy of having a working partnership with their dog by participating in dog sports. 

 

As a dog behavior consultant at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society and an avid dog agility competitor with my own dogs, I am in an ideal position to advise people who are adopting a dog about the value of getting their dog into a sport.   

 

Sports for dogs include much more than agility and obedience competitions (though these are the most common and plentiful). Most of the sports offer both competitive and non-competitive venues. Tracking and other forms of nose-work challenge a hound’s scenting ability while giving the human partner a hike. Field trials and Dock Diving channel a dog’s drive for hunting and water work. Lure coursing and Earth Dog contests give sight hounds and terriers a way to work off their mutual need to chase (and all a handler needs is a chair and umbrella!). Dogs bred to pull can enjoy sledding and its relatives, ski-joring and bike-joring. Bully breed types are awesome at weight pulling (the most famous of these appears in Jack London’s, White Fang.) Stock dog types can engage in competitive herding if their human partners are willing. Any and all of these are great fun to try whether a dog is a mixed breed or purebred. And, on a personal note, if you haven’t been knocked down by a small herd of sheep your dog just drove up, you haven’t lived!

 

Besides being exhilarating to try, dog sports do a lot for dogs and their people. 

Participation builds a solid and trusting relationship, enhances communication and builds courtesy, understanding and common goals among the dog-lovers’ community. They develop the dog’s intelligence and problem solving abilities while channeling natural instincts into structured activities. Both dogs and people stay fit and out of trouble when active in dog sports. Whole families that compete seem to have special bonds around the sports. Channeling instincts into a sport helps to prevent aggression and builds confidence in shy dogs. And lastly, people increase their skills at training and handling their dogs.

 

To find a sport that suits a dog it takes no more effort than internet searches for the various dog sports mentioned above. Dog sport enthusiasts have clubs, classes and lessons available that allow anyone interested to try that particular sport.