News

I am very proud to announce the formation of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Professional Positive Pet Trainers (MAAPPPT). I, along with four other local positive reinforcement pet trainers founded the organization on May 30.

The organization and it's members are dedicated to force-free training. They have all pledged against using shock collars and choke chains, and eschew aversive punishment methods.

I am committed to the science of behavior – and the science supports a humane training approach, and want to be able to network, brainstorm, and refer to other like-minded trainers. If my schedule or location can't accommodate a client, it's very important that I'm able to refer that client to a trusted trainer.

Almost every trainer in the newly formed organization has attained certification by the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. While certification isn't required to be a member of the MAAPT, all trainers are dedicated to continuing education and humane training methods. 

Stay tuned, there will be more news about the MAAPPPT group in the near future!

 A franchise dog training business has recently opened in this area. I took a look at one of their newsletters and was pretty shocked to read their take on dominance in dogs. It's scary how little the company knows about dominance in dogs – especially since they're charging a pretty penny to help dog owners!

What they describe as dominance — dog doesn't listen, dog runs through doorways first, dog goes up or down the stairs first, dog eats first — has absolutely nothing to do with dominance.

If you don't teach your dog that you'd like to go first in and out of the house or up and down stairs, the dog isn't being dominant — you haven't taught the dog what you expect. It's not a dog problem, it's a person problem.

If you haven't taught your dog to come when called, you can't call him dominant because he doesn't listen. The label "dominant" is a crutch. It's a buzz word that lots of "trainers" use to help sell a product or service.

Look at the picture above – that's our Labrador, Lily, <gasp> on the sofa. Yes, on the sofa. Our dogs are allowed on the furniture. Even in the bed! Yikes – am I creating monsters? Everyone knows dogs should be relegated to the floor, lest they get the idea that they are better than the people, right?

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Furniture privileges, who eats first, who goes in and out the door first… none of this has anything to do with your dog being dominant. What if it's easier for your dog to go out the door before you? Or if it's time for the dog to eat dinner, but you're not hungry? Do these "trainers" expect that you'll make your life inconvenient simply to "keep the dog in his place"? That you should eat dinner even though you're not really hungry? What if you had dinner at a restaurant and you now need to feed your dog. Your dog didn't see you eat dinner before him – do you have to eat a second dinner now, just so the dog knows you rank higher?

Silly and inaccurate – that's what their advice is.

Our dogs eat before we do (for convenience), they go in and out the door before us (they're faster than we are), they sleep in the bed and on the furniture (they're invited) and we don't have one problem with dominance in our house. So how can the "trainers" explain that? Shouldn't I be overrun by dominant dogs in my house – I'm clearly doing everything wrong.

Yet I don't have any problem whatsoever with dominant dogs. Could it be that I teach my dogs what is expected of them? That if I ask them to wait while I exit first, they do. That if I ask them to get off the sofa, they do? I teach them what they need to know, reinforce their correct behaviors, and live a happy life together with my dogs. Without ever once mentioning dominance.

Your life with your dog should be based on cooperation, not dominance. On teaching, not dominating. On being a good leader, not on throwing your weight around. For more on dominance, take a look at a Smart Dog University newsletter dedicated to this topic.

We managed to dodge the raindrops for about 45 minutes in downtown Frederick last night. Because of the threat of thunderstorms, we didn't see too many people with dogs. Which was good, actually, because just being in a new place was plenty distracting all by itself!

Lily's on a restricted diet because of allergies, so all I brought as reinforcements was her kibble. (I didn't feed her dinner, she earned her dinner last night during our training.) At first, she turned her nose up at it. I'd click and offer the treat, at which point she'd sniff it, turn away, and keep walking!

After she got settled and had sniffed for a few minutes, she was able to take the treats. We worked on loose leash walking and attention. We also worked on "easy" behaviors like sit, down, watch, touch, and speak. Because the environment was completely new, those easy behaviors weren't so easy! It's important to remember that — if you're working with your dog in a new environment, cut them some slack and reinforce even the "easy" stuff.

Once she got comfortable in her new surroundings, I notched up the difficulty on those easy behaviors a little bit. There's a bridge over Carroll Creek with steps that lead up to it. We were halfway up the steps and I asked her to sit. This is an unusual request for a few reasons:

1. I don't normally ask her to sit unless we've stopped moving
2. I don't normally ask her to sit on a stair
3. She's not used to being on stairs over the water in a strange place

She managed that task just fine. I tried to have some fun with her too – she loves to jump up onto ledges, and there are plenty of low walls with wide ledges at Carroll Creek. She enjoyed being cued to jump up onto the walls. Once there, I asked her for those easy behaviors again: sit, down, touch, and speak.

We'll continue our training, as she needs a lot more of it. I hope to get her out at least once a week, more if possible. Progress will be really slow if I only get her out once a week, but it's better than not getting her out at all.

It's no secret that Lily's got some issues. She didn't make it as a service dog because she has a tendency to be reactive, she doesn't particularly care to be the center of attention, and she hated to wear her service dog vest while she was in training.

It's been easy to put her training on the back burner– all the medical problems with Lucky and Nemo have occupied a lot of my time since September are one good reason.

It's also been easy to let her training slip because she's really good around the house. She's no trouble at all, and in fact, is really fun to work with. She learns things with lightning speed. In fact, sometimes I think she impatient with me because I'm too slow!

For a number of reasons, I've decided to start trying to work through some of her issues. At the top of my list is her reactivity to other dogs. After witnessing her reaction to the dogs on the trail last weekend (she did really well, surprisingly!)

I usually take a dog or two with me to Smart Dog University orientations to demonstrate clicker training. I had an orientation last night and decided to take Lily with me because (1) she's really clicker-savvy and (2) I want to start getting her out a little more. The Orientations are after-hours in veterinary hospitals, so the chances of running into another dog are low. It's the perfect training opportunity… and an opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with her – something we almost never get the chance to do.

She did really well. She did see one dog and just gave him a quick woof and then settled down. I'm taking her to downtown Frederick tonight for an hour or so for some more practice. We'll see a few dogs, but there's ample room in the downtown area – I can keep Lily below her threshold for craziness and hopefully teach her a new skill (how to focus on me!) to cope with her reactivity.

And if it's a nice dog, and a willing owner, maybe I'll even be brave enough to let her meet and greet face to face (like my husband did). If I can control my nerves, I think she'll be fine. Both ends of the leash need some skill building!

WHAT IS IT?

The Kong (TM) is a versatile toy that every doggie-house should have. Great for puppies, dogs, and even senior dogs, the Kong can be used as a chew toy, in retrieve games, and when stuffed with food (the most common use), a great way to occupy a dog and keep him out of trouble. If you're gone for a large part of the day, there's even a machine called a Kong-Time that will deliver the Kongs to your dog on a variable schedule throughout the course of the day!

We have about 25 Kongs – and I stuff them all about once a week. I put them in a plastic bag in the freezer and then I've got them at the ready whenever I need them during the week. When all our pups were little, we helped them learn to love their crate by using Kongs. The pups would only get the Kong in their crate, never any other time. Within a week or two, as soon as the pup would see the Kong, he'd trot off into his crate and wait for the Kong to be delivered.

Now, whenever I leave the dogs (only one of which still needs to be crated – the oldest Labrador, Lily), they all get Kongs as I walk out the door.

HOW + WHAT TO STUFF

You can put just about anything edible into a Kong. It's usually best to use something that's a little sticky to "glue" the treats, biscuits, or kibble inside. For instance, I use a bit of peanut butter and then drop in some of my dog's kibble. Then a little more peanut butter to "glue" the treats inside, then I pop them into the freezer (it's more challenging and takes the dogs longer to eat the frozen peanut butter). You can use non-fat plain yogurt, bananas, mashed potatoes, cream cheese, pasta — whatever your dog likes.

If your dog is inexperienced with the Kong, make it easy for him to get the goodies out. You can put a few pieces of his dog food inside without anything else in the Kong so it's easy to get the food out. Or smear some peanut butter on the outside edge, as well as on the inside of the Kong to capture his interest quickly.

As your dog figures out how to unstuff the Kong, you can gradually make it more challenging for your dog. The Kong site has lots of cool recipes you can try.

The Kong is also a great resource if your dog is on crate rest due to an injury or surgery — instead of feeding your dog out of his bowl, you can stuff Kongs with your dog's dinner. Working to get the dinner out of the Kong gives your dog something to do and can help combat the stir-craziness of crate rest.

It's also helpful if you can't get enough exercise for your dog – feed all his meals out of the Kongs!

The benefits of Kongs are many. And they're also fun for the dog. If you haven't introduced your dog to a Kong, go out and buy one today – your dog will love it!

Never toss your camera to someone. Cameras tend to break when the hit the ceiling. And the floor. Yeah, I'm not the best tosser-of-cameras.

I try to look on the bright side of things so a broken camera, to me, was an opportunity to take advantage of new technology. (At least that's the spin I put on it in talking to my husband. Who was none too happy about the broken LCD in the camera).

But now the new camera has arrived and the picure at the left of Lily is one of the first pictures I've taken.

Technology advances rapidly. Our old camera – about 7 years old – had 5 megapixels and 3x zoom. The new camera has 10 megapixels and 5x zoom. And lots of new features – I have no idea what they do. I'll spend the weekend (and then some!) trying out all the cool stuff.

So there will probably be lots of new pictures – good ones if I can figure out how to operate the camera. Or not so good if I can't!