Correct Use of Positive Reinforcement

There is a misconception that positive reinforcement is simply using food in training. “My dog isn’t food motivated” or “What if he isn’t hungry” are common remarks to hear when discussing positive training. Some people believe that a dog cannot be trained to recall off chasing a squirrel through positive only methods because chasing that squirrel is the most reinforcing thing for the dog, thus he will ignore the chance to simply earn a food reward. When dogs fail to heed a command in order to receive a food reward, often punishment such as shock collars, choke collars or other methods are resorted to. Many trainers feel moving to punishment tools is justified since the positive method has ‘failed’.

I pride myself on being a ‘positive trainer’ in that I will not use shocks, prong collars, chokes or physical force in my training. There is a myth that positive training does not get reliable results or that some dogs cannot be trained with it. Positive methods are sound and will work with any dog, but you must deploy them skillfully.

Full dog approach

Knowing what behavior change you want in a dog isn’t enough. A full history and detail of the dog’s living conditions and history is required so you can understand what is influencing the behavior. A dog that is jumping or barking needs to be trained to be calm and quiet. However if the dog lacks exercise, is isolated, or excessively confined, or perhaps subjected to inconsistent training (maybe a doggie daycare he goes to encourages jumping and barking!) then the picture starts to get clearer as to why this dog is always hyperactive. All private training should start with a full profile on the dog’s routine.

Rather than force, shock or punish the dog for jumping, I’ll look at ways to improve his living conditions so hyper behavior decreases. Stuffing food in a chew toy for example reinforces calm behavior. While punishment may reduce the behavior, the underlying cause of the behavior is still there. Without addressing the influences, the animal may manifest those emotions in other undesirable behaviors later on. Now we are ready to train.

Classical Conditioning is on your side

Classical conditioning is happening all the time. By pairing positive reinforcement with learning, the dog will enjoy training instead of simply tolerating it to avoid punishments. When you are consistently pairing training with reward, the dog starts to see you, the environment and training as enjoyable. Training is then always viewed as a fun and positive experience. By using positive reinforcement you can use classical conditioning to make things your dog may fear or dislike into predictors of reward. This will change the dog’s emotional state and have an impact on his behavior. Punishment training can classically condition your dog in the opposite direction, to dislike whatever was around him at the time of the punishment – and prompt further aggressive or fearful behavior later.

It’s not all about food

Positive reinforcement is not just about feeding. It’s critical to vary your rewards and use what is reinforcing for that dog in that moment. An open door, a ball toss, a sniff of a pole - Positive training is about putting what the dog wants under your control. A dog that is being rewarded with liver treats every-time will blow that reward off should they favor something else. Positive trainers know the overall message that needs to be clear is “I control what you want, listen to me first”. When the dog understands this message, he is happy to perform behavior, provided he has actually been ‘trained’ to a high enough level.

Positive training involves keeping the environment under temporary control until we build a strong habit so the dog will listen to our cue because he has been conditioned to do so in order to access environmental reinforcement.

Training for success

Learning follows 4 distinct periods:

Acquisition: During this phase, dogs are given continuous reinforcement in order to build a new behavior. We also control the environment by starting training in a no distraction environment so the dog will focus on training. It’s also important the dog has been trained for basic things such as attention before moving onto training a difficult behavior like heeling.

Fluency: The duration of a behavior is increased, slowly small distractions are added. The distractions remain under our control. Trainer Jean Donaldson popularized a method called “push, drop, stick”. Five repetitions of a behavior are performed with a certain level of distraction and difficulty. If the dog performs the behavior 5 times correctly, difficulty is increased. If the dog performs the behavior only 3-4 times, the exercise is repeated. If the dog fails to perform the behavior 3 times, you drop the difficulty to a level that he will succeed at. The behavior to reward ratio should also be increased to 2:1 and is slowly increased until the dog is performing the behavior several times for 1 reward.

Generalization: The behavior is practiced in different areas with increasing levels of distraction. Build the behavior slowly and with only one increase in difficulty at a time. You would not build a 2 minute stay in a house, than expect a 5 minute stay at a dog park. This is just as unreasonable as expecting your son to make a professional sports league after a couple practices at the local arena. During this phase rewards are greatly reduced since the behavior is lasting longer and with increased difficulty. Variable schedules of reinforcement are introduced so the dog is randomly rewarded for correct behaviors, and thus will repeat them since he doesn’t know when the reward will come. Habits are now being formed.

Maintenance: In the final phase you have trained in a number of areas, built up a strong behavior, and now just need to ensure the dog has a chance to practice occasionally. Differential reinforcement is critical at this stage, so the dog only receives a reward for the best and quickest manifestations of the behavior and thus it continues to improve.

Premack Exercises

It’s critical the dog learns that ignoring reinforcement and listening to instruction first is the path to reinforcement. Premack's Principle suggests that if a person wants to perform a given activity, the person will perform a less desirable activity to get at the more desirable activity. You must change a dog’s perception about how to obtain environmental reinforcement.

Setup a partner who tempts the dog with food in a closed hand. Have the handler recall the dog away from the food. Once the dog listens, the partner runs over and gives the reward. Increasing difficulty with an exercise like this can get a dog running passed open food to run to the foodless handler time and time again. If you’re on a walk with your dog, stop and ask for a sit. He will learn once he sits, the walk resumes, thus reinforcing the sit. Over time the dog will sit immediately on the first cue after just one or two walks.

My method of teaching ‘leave it’ involves leashing the dog and tossing food out of his reach while saying ‘leave it’. Once the dog stops straining on leash at the food and looks at me, he is rewarded – sometimes by me, or sometimes by being allowed to reach the food. This teaches a loose leash towards reward, focus on me, and a “Leave it” behavior that brings his focus back on me and away from what he just saw being thrown. After a while you can remove the leash because the behavior has now become a habit. This method is much more pleasant for a dog than the old traditional style of snapping the leash when a dog went for the forbidden item.

Repetitive re-instruction with negative reinforcement

This is an idea that Ian Dunbar has used for many years. If a dog has had a high level of training yet fails to heed a command, the command is given again and the dog is restricted from gaining any reinforcement until he listens. It’s critical that a dog obey a command once it is given, but this is something that is trained and practiced, not forced through painful or scary punishment.

If a dog fails to sit at the door, repeat the instruction. Since the door will not open unless the dog listens, he will eventually comply to get what he wants. There is nothing wrong with repeating the cue if you feel the dog does in fact know the cue (based on previously sound training) and he is choosing to ignore it because he is focused on the reinforcement (open the door already!). Once he learns the door will not open until there is compliance, he will obey. Thus there is negative reinforcement through the relief of stress and frustration by the door opening (oh, I have to listen to YOU when I want things!). Similar exercises can be setup with chasing prey and playing with dogs.

Using this principle consistently the dog will learn to simply obey the command the first time to cut down on the delay of reinforcement.

Ian Dunbar says about this method:

“The secret to success is to never give up. The dog learns that she has to sit following a single command before being allowed to play once more. This technique is extremely effective, works surprisingly quickly, and prevents the need for physical restraint or aversive punishment. “


When a dog doesn’t listen

Before simply doling out punishment, review the above. Is the dog’s lifestyle a problem? Did you follow 4 phases of learning correctly or are you asking a dog that just learned stay in the house to now do the behavior on a busy street? Does the dog have a good history of Premack training and handler attention? Have you insisted on commands in the past or gave up and let the dog run off? Did you control the environment and build a habit before allowing the dog more freedom of choice?
Positive training will work for all dogs, but it depends on the skill of that trainer. A successful positive trainer does simply more than toss out cookies!

Professional athletes train every-day and for many years to reach a high level. Your dog is your best friend. Take the time and effort to train him how you would like to be trained if he was holding the leash.

Letter to Cape Breton Mayor regarding current shelter situation

Mayor Morgan,

My name is Tristan Flynn and I’m a dog trainer and behaviorist located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. I have been following the Cape Breton SPCA story for several days now and wanted to write you to express my concern for an issue that got no oversight from the recent veterinary review – the mental health and well-being of the animals in the CB Shelter.

I have read that you expressed a desire to see all recommendations from the recent independent veterinary analysis of the shelter implemented which I applaud. However in the report it’s noted that this review was done quickly, that the vets themselves did not have exact expertise in many aspects of shelter management, and that critical aspects of the operation were not evaluated. Quote:

“Due to time constraints, there were a number of areas that we could not assess. These include but are not limited to: vaccination and de-worming protocols, visitor protocols,inspection of outdoor runs and outdoor play areas, staff training, how cleaning products were being mixed and used, behavioral health and mental well-being of animals, temperament testing prior to adoption.”

Clearly this report does not go far enough to evaluate the operations of this shelter. A full and complete evaluation of the mental and behavioral health would likely have brought you another 27+ recommendations.

It is critical that dogs (and cats) be provided with toys, positive training, and a chance to interact with other dogs while in a shelter environment. Dogs should also be receiving several walks per day in addition to outside playtime. A dog that is left in a kennel for long period of time with no activity will become frustrated, bored and their mental health will deteriorate rapidly. Frustration and boredom are directly linked to dog aggression.

The oversights by this facility are a recipe for creating aggressive and hyperactive dogs in your community.

It is also concerning that there is no mention of temperament testing of dogs at this facility. Shelter staff should have continuous training on how to evaluate a dog for things such as aggression around the food bowl, handling issues, aggression towards children / other animals and what special training or considerations an animal may need. Failure to identify and make the public aware of these issues when adopting out a dog is putting your community at risk.

Based on my conversations with people visiting and adopting from this shelter, none of these mental health protocols are in place.

These recommendations regarding mental health cost little money and have been a shelter standard for decades. It’s clear the current management at this shelter are not providing a standard of physical or mental care for their animals.

I urge you to support the provincial SPCA in removing this shelter manager and board of directors. Either through complacency or lack of knowledge, Its clear their leadership is not in the best interests of the animals or people in your community. It’s truly shocking that a quick evaluation report can produce so many deficiencies when the manager has over 30 years of experience.

I understand you are in a tough position since this is the only facility that can meet the needs of your animal control contract however I would urge a more complete report on the activities happening in this shelter in regards to mental health and behavior immediately.



--
Best Regards,

Tristan Flynn
www.goldenruletraining.ca
(902)-469-GRDT (4738)

Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/goldenruletraining

Oh, My dog already knows "Sit"

The title of this blog is one of the things I hear most in my obedience classes - "My dog already knows Sit"

Do they now? What does "Sit" really mean to you, or to your dog? Most dogs when given a Sit command when close to their owners will Sit in front of their owner.

Since the most common place dogs are rewarded is in front of their handler, it's very often the dog will orientate himself to the front, even if the command was given when the dog was beside the owner.

This is where context and reinforcement come into play. Often the dog is only reinforced while sitting in front of their owner, this is the position they automatically assume when the command "Sit" is given. So already our definition for most dogs knowing Sit has changed from "Sit" to "go in front of my owner and Sit".

If you reinforce the Sit from other positions, this will start to fade away and its likely you dog will start to sit on command rather than re-orientating himself then sitting. You can do this by simply moving yourself beside your dog and delivering the reward. The key is that the dog sees a reward can come from you even if your directly beside him. This is a critical thing to train when starting to learn heeling, since often when stopping and asking the dog to sit, he will start to creep in front of you. It's important he know its OK and also reinforcing to sit BESIDE you.

Distance is another big throw off for dogs. Again, since the reward comes from you, naturally the dog assumes he needs to be close to you when the command is given. More importantly, the dog may not understand the command if he isn't beside you. Training your dog to respond, at a distance, to a simple Sit is a very challenging thing to train. It's almost impossible without the use of a marker word or clicker since you need to reinforce at a distance.

Doing this exercise is a great way to show people that dogs are not 'stubborn' or 'dominate' when they refuse to listen. I can hold a ton of treats in my hand in an empty room with my dog, block her off from getting to me, and ask for a "Sit" and it's ignored.

Why? Clearly she wants the treats I have, clearly there's nothing else better to do in the room, so why not listen to me and get the reward?

Many owners would assume she knows Sit, since she will often Sit when asked - but because I'm standing far away from her, the context has changed, and thus she needs to be TRAINED to understand that Sit, still means Sit from a distance.

What about distractions? Is your dog being stubborn or dominant or disobedient when it ignores a command while playing with other dogs or walking in the park? Unless you have done training in those areas, its likely you'll be ignored too. While the reinforcement of playing with dogs may be greater than what your offering, if you have practiced this enough times under gradually increasing distractions, chances are they will listen - specially if they know they can resume playing or sniffing after!

What about releasing the dog? When does "Sit" actually end? Many dogs know to Sit on command, but the duration which they hold it, and the communication on that from the handler is usually lacking. Some trainers teach that Sit also means Stay, so a simple Sit actually means "Sit until I tell you something different" which can be another command or a release word. Owners will often get mad at their dog if they break a Sit that the owner is hoping they will hold (perhaps you told your dog to sit expecting them to remain that way while another dog passed by) but rarely will people teach this.

In summary - just because you THINK your teaching your dog something, doesn't mean your teaching the exact thing you hope your dog will understand when you give that command! Remember to practice variations, distance, distractions and duration!

What I learned from Dr Ian Dunbar

I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to travel to Toronto for a 3 day seminar with Dr Ian Dunbar, who is without a doubt, maybe one of if not the most important figure in modern dog training. He is credited with the mass use of lure reward training, the creation of puppy classes, and founder of the largest group of trainers in the world the APDT.

Here's a summary of what Dr Dunbar discussed over his 3 days:

Day One: Puppies

He said we are wasting puppyhood and many things that are old must become new - such as classical conditioning. As he put it : "we are not doing one tenth of the training, one hundredth of the socialization or one thousandth of the classical conditioning required to provide puppies with manners, confidence and social savvy"

He discussed that many issues such as guarding, chewing, housesoiling, barking and separation anxiety should be prevented at puppyhood to avoid these problems later in life.

Much of what he discussed during puppyhood can be found in his free books that I've provided on my webpage.

Day Two: Scienced based training

Much of day two was a discussion on learning theory. He discussed why its important not to focus too much on all the science and how easy trainers and people get confused by all the terms and that trainers can sometimes confuse clients with all the jargon. He explained why feedback using your voice is very important to dogs and that most learning theory doesn't discuss this, because the experiments were performed on rats in labs and mostly by computer. While he doesn't discount this science, he wanted us to look past it as well to the relationship with the dog.

He stressed that differential reinforcement is the way to train, always trying to improve the dog performance. Ian talked a lot about punishment and stressed that punishment doesn't need to be painful or scary. Here's something from the notes:

Punishment - Criteria to protect us from our inconsistencies:

1) effective - must actually be decreasing the behavior
2) Immediate -.5-1 second after behavior occurs
3) instructive
4) punishment fit the crime
5) must know appropriate behavior (previous training on what TO do)
6) Warn first
7) Consistent each and every time

He also stated that reward vs punishment should be a 10:1 ratio - you must reward 10 good behaviors before you can punish 1 bad one.

Day 3: Off leash lure reward

One thing Dr Dunbar really stresses is off leash control. He states that a dog isn't trained until he sits at a distance, under distractions under verbal command with no training aids of any kind.

He uses a method he calls 'repetitive reinstruction and negative reinforcement" in that he trains the dog by cuing over and over until the dog listens, then is allowed to return to what he was doing, or is rewarded. He states that trainers go crazy when he says its ok to repeat the cue - but if the dog isn't listening to the cue what use it is anyways. The dog will eventually learn that SIT means do it right now or else I'm going to keep coming.

Thats just a VERY brief set of notes from the seminar - it was 9-6pm each day so you can imagine the information.

I got to hangout and chat with Ian one-one on Saturday night at the bar and it was a great experience getting meet one of your training 'heros'.

The Emotions of dogs

I'm one of the first to say that if we treated dogs the same way we treated people, they would be a lot better off. We don't put prong collars or shock collars on children, and we certainly don't think they are trying to 'dominate' us. However many emotions and characteristics we do assign to dogs are very damaging and untrue. Dogs certainly feel things like happiness, pain, anxiety and other basic emotions, but certain, higher level human emotions are foreign to canines.

Guilt - Many people say their dogs are 'guilty' or 'know what they did wrong' however science tells a very different story. In one experiment a handler and his dog were left in a room with an experimenter - the dog was ordered to 'leave it' and a food treat was placed on the floor. The handler then left the room and in some instances the experimenter encouraged the dog to eat the food treat - in others he simply picked it up. The handlers were not informed which event happened, but were told in fact the dog ate it in all circumstances. Dogs displayed 'guilt' each time - however 'guilt' was described with positions such as low tail, looking away and other displacement behaviors. This showed the dogs weren't really 'feeling guilty' but were upset at the owners reaction. I've read stories of trainers proving this to people who were having troubles housebreaking and using punishment because they were convinced the dog 'knew he was doing something wrong' but yet when poop was placed on the floor in advanced by someone, the dog looked just as 'guilty' when the owner confronted the dog - even though he didn't do anything.

Stubborn- Many people say their dog is 'being stubborn' when failing to listen to a command they feel the dog knows. However most people do not realize how difficult it is for dogs to learn commands. Do you think your dog knows "Sit". Go in your bedroom, shut the door, and yell Sit and have someone else outside and see if the dog actually sits. Chances are he will not. If you then walk out and stand in front of the dog and repeat the cue - chances are he will sit. Was he being stubborn before? No, dogs just learn very differently than us and need practice in different circumstances and environments.

Failing to listen to a cue can also be an expression of an emotional state. A dog who is lunging and barking will likely also ignore a known command because they are too worked up to listen. A dog does not want to 'sit' if they feel threatened or scared by an approaching dog - they want to use a behavior that will make the dog go away, usually a bark or lunge. In fact the key to correcting aggression is giving the dog alternatives to these behaviors so they do them automatically.

Anyway, I wanted to write a quick post about these two issues I hear all the time and hopefully this will change your mind.

On a personal note, I got to spend the last 3 days last weekend in Toronto with my training hero Dr Ian Dunbar, I got to buy him a Canadian at the bar and we drank most of saturday night and he shared lots of stories including some about his meeting with Cesar milan for his last book. Great seminar and the true legend of dog training!

Also, I'll be on maritime morning on sunday at 10am discussing dog behavior and taking your questions on fm radio news 95.7 - you can also listen online at news957.com

The Pit-bull Debate

Here in Halifax there is a lot of talk about pit-bulls in all our local news media.

A number of high profile attacks in the Halifax area on dogs and people were reportedly done by dogs that were a 'pit-bull-type' dog, leading the media to muse over the idea of banning the breed. A similar event happened in Yarmouth earlier in the year.

I wanted to write down my thoughts on breed banning, pit-bulls and dog attacks:

Are Pit-bulls more aggressive than other dogs? My answer would be towards people - no, towards other dogs - likely. A pit-bull is a terrier - and terriers are a feisty bunch when it comes to other dogs. This isn't a pit-bull thing, but more a terrier thing in general. I get slightly annoyed at the 'every dog is the same' crowd because clearly breeding gives dogs predisposed traits to certain things, and you most certainly can breed for aggression either knowingly or unknowingly.

Chocolate labs will chase a ball with much more vigor than a Pug and a Bernese will have a lot more fun pulling a cart than a Sheltie will. (In general)

Breed matters and does create genetic behavioral predispositions.

Breeding line is also very important. We have no control on our breeders - there's no stopping anyone from breeding a line of aggressive dogs either intentionally or unintentionally. This could obviously be done for any breed of dog, but the point I'm trying to make is that breeding and genetics play a role in the formation of aggression - this is a fact.

If you are going to own a pit-bull dog - or any terrier - be aware that you should be socializing and training the dog much more so than other dog owners. This goes for 'guard dogs' as well since they are also predisposed to be not so welcoming. Your Rottie is going to take much more of an issue with a stranger at the door than your St Bernard is. (In general)

If your dog is large enough to inflict serious damage on a person, my option is we should be requiring people to take training - even if its only a day course that gives information on positive training methods and socialization and proper acceptable and non-acceptable punishment. I'm sure myself and many trainers I know could put together a solid full day of material that would be very helpful for all dog owners.

In terms of breed ban -I've always been against this however one event this summer did rattle my thinking quite a bit. I attended the Halifax 'Bully-Expo' which featured a large number of pit-bull owners and breeders. I got to see some Pit-Bull type dogs that I've never really seen out in public before. These dogs were pure muscle and had huge heads. I chatted with breeders who prided themselves on breeding for 'muscle' in their dogs.

I'm really not sure that making dogs of this size and power is really a good idea. With all the unregulated and unsupervised things that happen in the dog world (remember there's no formal certification to be a dog owner, trainer or breeder!) I don't feel that breeding dogs for 'muscle and power' is really appropriate. Being near some of the dogs at the expo made me very nervous just looking at how powerful they were - and I don't scare that easy, especially around dogs.

However many normal sized, regular run of the mill amstaff mixes are no bigger or stronger than my own bernese mountain dog - so I certainly don't see a need to ban these dogs, but these pure power-machine dogs aren't really something I think is needed or safe.

I don't want to see hand-guns banned, but I'm glad people can't own a machine gun.

Many pit-bull advocates have said that higher fines are the answer, but I disagree. While higher fines are good, I would argue that controls are also needed.

We have stiff fines for firearm offenses, yet you still need to be trained to possess a gun. We don't just give them to anyone and allow the high fines and penalties to prevent the crimes.

My proposed solution would be to see an educational component come with dog licensing. I'm not sure if this would be forced obedience classes, or simply educational seminars for dog owners - perhaps that you only need to take once in your life, not with each dog you own. There is a lot of possibilities. One thing I'm sure of though, there is a lot of misinformation, bad advice, and arm-chair dog trainers out there and the real information on proper dog husbandry needs to be addressed for the safety of dogs and the public alike.

The Whole Picture

I often shudder when I see trainers offering to "Board and Train". This means you give up your dog to someone who then "trains" the dog and returns it to the client. Normally this is offered by trainers who use punishment methods and would prefer a client not see them punishing or hurting the dog, for fear the client would object and then take their business elsewhere. Punishment trainers want you to see the finished product, and never the process at which this is arrived.

As I've said in other posts, you can train with punishment, but its no fun for the dog, and it comes with a large number of risks. Why use this method when we have a perfectly good alternative that provides no risk and equal results? Positive reinforcement is the best way to train. (and my dog agrees!)

The biggest issue however is training is a very subjective word. Most Pet owners want a dog that "behaves" - meaning they can walk nice on leash, not aggressive with other dogs or people, and has no anxiety that would lead to them destroying the house when left alone. While a board and train might teach your dog 'commands' like stay, come, sit, down, etc - its very unlikely the above mentioned issues would be corrected.

Complex behavior like aggression and anxiety cannot simply be fixed by a training session. The whole life of the animal must be looked at, this isn't something you can 'board and train' away. Whenever I do a consultation I ask a large number of questions usually along the lines of:

1) What does your dog eat (food is very important for both overall health but low nutritional intake can actually promote aggression and low-tolerance thresholds)

2) Where does your dog sleep and spend most of this time (social exclusion and boredom can drive stress and promote aggression or anxiety)

3) How do you treat your dogs issues now? What methods have you tried in the past (More often than not owners can do a lot of damage or make situations worse, snatching items away for example can lead to guarding aggression)

These are just some examples of the questions that are important to me on a consultation. I generally have 2 goals for a dogs life to promote a healthy mental state:

Goal 1: dogs energy level is met with an acceptable amount of physical OR mental exercise for that dog.

Goal 2: Dogs social time (and freedom) with both family and other dogs / people is increased as much as possible.

Trainers who do not look at the whole picture of a dog do a large dis-service to not only the dog but to the clients. Learning fancy commands is nothing if your dog is living a miserable life and will display other very unwanted behaviors.

Dogs are very much like humans in that our quality of life effects our overall mood - we need to look at the whole picture of a dogs well being if we truly hope to help them live in our world.

Mother dog punishment justification

I recently had a debate among some other trainers that are members of our national association here in Canada. I was unaware that so many of them were punishment based trainers and sadly have had to reconsider my membership in the group. I do not want my membership dollars going towards the promotion of using ecollars, prong collars or other such punishment based devices.

One interesting point of argument that many trainers use who employ punishment in their training is that mother dogs use correction and thus punishment and correction are natural and should be part of any training program. Often other dogs are referenced as well, not just the mother, since adult dogs correct other dogs as well.

Let's look at this a little closer:

1) Dog-Dog correction is always expertly timed exactly when the behavior is happening, and it is usually very mild. Mother dogs do not bite their puppies, they often only growl, stare or snap. A physical touch would only happen if these other methods failed, and again it would be very fast and only last fractions of a second. Most other dogs operate in the same manner, a quick growl or snap to get the message across

2) Dog correction is often related to their own well being. Mother dogs will correct a puppy if he bites her too hard while milking, or if fighting with litter-mates. Other dogs usually will correct for things like being humped, continued harassment (to play or otherwise), to guard a resource or to create space and say 'get away from me'.

The key point here is the correction is not designed to compel the other dog into forced action. You do not see other dogs forcing other dogs into heel position, down-stays or loose leash walks. They are not concerned with the other dogs behavior outside of how it relates to them.

This is a key central theme that all people would do well to take note of: Dogs seek to control their own lives, while humans seek to control the dogs.

Another key point of 'correction' is a dog wouldn't correct for natural behaviors. A dog would never 'naturally' be expecting to be corrected for 'normal' behaviors like digging, jumping or chewing objects.

Humans live in a complex world, which dogs do not naturally understand. We need to use our big brains to show them how to live in a modern world, how to not chew our nike shoes and how to cope with being alone for 8 hours. There is nothing natural about the things we ask of the modern dog, so the idea that we can train dogs the same way they train either other is just foolish.

People have been researching dog training for the last 100 years, imagine the strides that have been made in the last 30 years alone. The internet didn't exist 15 years ago, imagine how different the world is in just that brief time. The idea that we haven't found a better way to train our dogs other than watching their mother is pretty insulting to human intelligence.

Management vs Training

I often get asked the question, when my dog is lunging or growling at another dog on a walk - what should I do? My answer is usually the same - get outta there, go home, and call a trainer.

Whenever a dog is in an aroused state of mind, its very difficult to train him or do any proper behavioral correction. A lunging, snarling dog at the end of a leash is not going to be susceptible to any type of behavioral correction that will cure his problem.

Many people will try snapping the leash, grabbing their dog, or even pinning their dog when they get leash reactions like this. None of these things train your dog not to react in that way. Why? Because the behavior is usually being driven by emotion, and you can't punish away emotion.

Imagine I took you up to the top of your home and dangled you off the roof. You are in a huge panic because you feel your life might be in danger. What if I then pull out a gun, point it at you, and demand that you stop panicking and being afraid. Will that work? What will your emotion state be after that happens? If I then take you up to the roof and dangle you off without the gun - will your fear of heights be gone?

This is very similar in dog training. A dog that is being punished via leash corrections, pinning or even shouting isn't having his emotions changed, and thus the behavior will likely not change - or even worse - it might change to something else.

Many dogs that are punished for growling will stop growling - however instead they next time go straight to biting without the warning growl. A leash reactive dog punished in this way, while his behavior may change, could never be trusted off leash as his emotions would still be the same, and out of fear or aggression he may attack.

All proper behavior corrections in dogs take place "sub-threshold". That means when I correct behavior - I never actually want to see the negative behavior again. If your dog growls at other dogs, I want to work with him so that I never see him growl again. This means I always keep him at a level just below his 'threshold' of growling. As we work through behavior modification, we move the dog closer and closer to thing he had the problem with - other dogs etc, all while keeping him under his reactive threshold. The general goal is to usually show and teach the dog other acceptable behaviors he can display, or to relax his fear and show him there is no reason to be afraid.

Using the roof example - a professional therapist would gradually expose you to higher and higher surfaces, ensuring you were OK with one height before moving higher. A professional human therapist would not pull you up to a roof and hold a gun to your head - however in dog training this type of thing seems to happen all the time (Think choke collars and shock collars).

Dogs can learn when they are afraid - but usually not the things we want! Fear is a huge teacher for dogs, but the lesson is usually to 1) Avoid the thing of fear or 2) use aggression to make it go away - neither of which is usually a desirable outcome.

Trying to train when your dog is afraid or in a frenzy just doesn't work.

If you find your dog is reactive on leash, call a (good)trainer and don't keep trying to micromanage the situations - you'll likely make it worse and certainly won't make it better.

Yikes time for an update

Sorry for the lack of updates to my precious 5 followers :) Hopefully there are more people checking out the blog, since I know my site is at least fairly busy.

I've been training full time since June and its been a busy time. I'm changing my store over to provide kong and premier pet products instead of the tuffy / vip toys. Nothing against those toys but they were too expensive to bring in from the USA and my new supplier is in Canada. I hope to have all my products listed in the near future.

I've been taking a few dogs into my home from the SPCA to give them a break from being at the shelter, and to help assess behaviour in the home. I've been lucky to have 2 great dogs come spend some time with me, one of whom went to an excellent home and another who hopefully will soon.

I wanted to share with you all 2 excellent resources regarding punishment, dominance and Cesar Millan. In my travels and classes I actually haven't met that many people that mention him or dominance, however I SEE a lot if it around dog shows, parks etc, so I can only assume the big time Cesar fans out there are not calling positive trainers for help....

Here are two articles that every Cesar Millan fan or hater should read - Thanks to Jean Donaldson for posting them on her facebook

http://www.4pawsu.com/dogpsychology.htm

http://www.4pawsu.com/cesarfans.htm

Cheers,
Tristan

Email to Kijiji

Hello,

I am a dog trainer in the Halifax area. I'm writing to you concerning a disturbing trend I've seen on your site. There are a large number of ads of peopling seeking to breed their dogs. These ads take the form of either female dog owners looking for studs, or stud dogs looking for females.

I know kijiji is taking steps to try to clean up the ads in the pet section - as noted by your recent change displaying that puppies should not be adopted out until I believe 8 weeks.

I'd ask that you consider adding to your policy to make these types of breeding ads a violation of your policy. The last thing the dog community needs is more backyard breeders and pseudo puppy mills - your site makes it easy for unregulated and unlicensed owners to attempt to become breeders.

I'm curious if this has been considered in anyway and if you have made a decision, or if the decision process is ongoing. I'm sure many others feel this same way and I'd be willing to start a petition or campaign, whatever is required to end this practice.

Breed Specific Law in Yarmouth looking less likely

A Public meeting was held last night to discuss how to change the town of Yarmouths Dog Bylaw in light of a recent Pit bull attack in the area. It looks likely that the "BSL" part of the bylaw that would punish dogs based on breed alone will not go through. There seems to be a very strong, united message from people in and outside the town that this isn't a good solution. I also wrote to the mayor and Council as noted in my below post - and happily all this feedback (including my email) were posted on the Town's website for all to see.

The vanguard newspaper in the area published an article and used some of my comments:

http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2011-05-09/article-2492483/No-breed-specific-legislation,-council-told/1

Open Letter to Mayor and Council of Yarmouth and Premier Dexter and MLA Zack Churchill

from Golden Rule Training
reply-to goldenruletraining@gmail.com
to Mayor.Mooney@townofyarmouth.ca,
DeputyMayor.Boudreau@townofyarmouth.ca,
Councillor.Dares@townofyarmouth.ca,
Councillor.Langille@townofyarmouth.ca,
Councillor.MacIsaac@townofyarmouth.ca,
Councillor.MacKenzie@townofyarmouth.ca,
Councillor.Pink@townofyarmouth.ca
cc ddexter.mla@gmail.com,
churchzj@gov.ns.ca
date Mon, Apr 18, 2011 at 12:31 PM

Good Day Mayor and Councillors, Premier Dexter and MLA Churchill,

I am writing to you regarding the vicious dog attack in the town of Yarmouth. I am a dog trainer based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia working with many private clients and I also volunteer with the SPCA in dog care and training. I have worked with many pit bull dogs over my years of experience.

I know you are likely receiving a large amount of feedback over this issue so I will try to be brief.

I urge you to reject any legislative change that focus solely on the breed of dog in your by-law. I believe strongly in public safety and certainly in light of the vicious attack that happened in your town, the public expects action to prevent future attacks, but the draft by-law I have seen would not address that issue.

Aggressive dogs are for the most part, are created. Lack of socialization, poor living conditions, cruelty and punishment are what truly cause dog attacks.

In all vicious dog attacks you can usually find one common factor, and its not breed. It's that the dog did not have a high standard of care in the home.

I believe the best solution to this issue is to improve our level of animal education and animal care through-out Yarmouth, but also in all of Nova Scotia.

One of the best groups to deliver this message is the Nova Scotia SPCA, who are mandated to investigate cruelty to animals.

However the provincial government gives only a paltry sum of $3000 dollars to fund their entire cruelty and care organization - an organization whose total costs add up to close to a million dollars.

How can we hope to educate owners and prevent cruelty to animals that result in dog attacks - when the organization mandated for these things isn't funded by our government? In my option, relying on public donations to fund these important initiatives is not responsible governance.

I would ask that the town of Yarmouth, as part of its strategy in dealing with the aftermath of this attack - formally ask the provincial government to significantly increase the SPCA funding for investigating animal cruelty - and to provide education to the general public on the proper care of animals.

Preventing cruelty is the step towards preventing attacks on people. Requiring muzzles and legislating breeds are a piece-meal solution that will not get to the heart of the issue. Imagine how foolish this legislation will look if the next vicious attack comes at the hands of a german shepard, or mastiff, or even a golden retriever. Will we simply add to the breed list as attacks occur?

I would also suggest that instead of requiring breed specific dogs to wear a muzzle - instead order them to take a dog obedience course. I would suggest looking at a dogs ability to cause harm via its size (50lbs + perhaps) for these courses, not breed. Educating people one on one how to control their dog, get attention and obedience, and general animal care would go a long way to improving the living conditions of these dogs and preventing attacks.

I hope you will consider these suggestions in hopes of improving the safety of our citizens, and improving the lives of our canine companions.

Respectfully -

--
Tristan Flynn
www.goldenruletraining.ca
(902)-469-GRDT (4738)

One of the most disturbing things I have seen

I came across this story today while browsing - I was surprised I hadn't heard of it before - its about a pitbull dog named Patrick who was thrown down a garbage chute and left to die - he was found as a maintenance man who was about to throw all the garbage in a compacter saw movement in a bag.

WARNING - these images are extremely disturbing and graphic:

http://www.ahscares.org/showarchive.asp?id=772


Amazingly he is still recovering and is inspiring a lot of noise to create new laws and even build new animal care facilities in the state of NJ. If you google Patrick you'll see just how much media attention this is getting. Hopefully he pulls through and finds a nice home, and that his ordeal will create better conditions for thousands of dogs.

All the details and photos of him are available through the above link.

Pitbull in the News

Here's a story from the Chronicle Herald here in Halifax:


'Oh my God, he’s ripping her apart'
911 phone call described brutal attack on woman by large dog
By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Tue, Mar 29 - 4:54 AM

YARMOUTH — Friends and family members of a Yarmouth woman viciously mauled by a dog on the weekend waited Monday for any word from Halifax doctors about her condition.

Noella Ann McIntosh, 45, was savagely attacked by what people said was a large pit bull terrier-type of dog in a gravel parking lot behind a tobacco shop on south Main Street.

Police would not reveal the identity of the victim, but close friends said McIntosh was attacked late Saturday afternoon.

The dog appeared to be out of control and put up a fierce fight as two RCMP officers tried to pull the animal from the bleeding woman, said a witness.

Police shot the dog.

The witness, who asked not to be named, said she saw the dog jump up on McIntosh and thought the animal may have been doing what dogs sometimes do — jump up to be patted.

It was soon apparent this was no ordinary confrontation.

McIntosh was not patting the dog. She was being savagely attacked and the witness called 911.

"Oh my God, he’s ripping her apart," the witness told the 911 operator.

"There (are) a lot of people who saw it. People driving by saw it.

"When it was first happening, she was conscious because I heard her holler ‘Help me.’ "

The witness called 911 and begged the operator to send help to Hueston Street, which intersects Main.

The witness drove her car over to the parking lot and blew the horn, trying to distract the dog. It didn’t work. The dog appeared to be in a frenzied state.

Two Yarmouth RCMP officers were in the area and arrived within seconds.

The dog did not even look up when the officers rushed up, said the woman.

The dog put up a ferocious fight as officers tried to pull it away from the bleeding victim.

"They had no choice. They had to shoot the dog," said the witness.

She heard a loud pop and the 35-kilogram animal crashed to the ground.

RCMP Cpl. Paul Pittman said police would like more witnesses to contact them as they continue their investigation.

Investigators have not yet been able to talk with the victim, Pittman said.

The woman sustained head and upper torso wounds and was rushed to Yarmouth Regional Hospital, where she was stabilized and prepared for transfer to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.

On Monday, a Capital district health authority spokesman said McIntosh remains in serious condition.

Arnold Evans, McIntosh’s boyfriend, does not have a telephone and relies on other family members and McIntosh’s children to keep him informed.

"They came and got me," Evans said Monday, referring to the minutes after Saturday’s attack.

He was allowed to see McIntosh for a few minutes at Yarmouth Regional Hospital before she was transferred to Halifax.

Evans said she was heavily sedated and he could not talk to her.

The dog attacked her throat and face, he said.

"They got one of them," Evans said about the dog that officers shot.

But the owner has other vicious dogs, he said.

One of those dogs bit someone else within the last two years, said Pittman.


___________________________________________________________________________

From the Herald article there is no mention of the circumstances of where and why this attack happened, but CBC.ca provides more details:


"The owner of the dog, Gary Woods, said he wasn't home at the time, but nine-year-old Zeke and a second pit bull were inside.

Woods said he didn't know why the woman, a former tenant, walked into the apartment. He said she knew about the dogs.

There are two doors to get into the apartment. A sign on the lower one warns visitors to knock.

RCMP said police were called on an earlier occasion about a dog attacking someone in the building, but no charges were laid, and it's not known if it was the same dog."

__________________________________________________________________________

First I'd like to say shame on the herald for not including these details in their report. While I don't condone a woman being attacked, there is a marked difference between "A dog attacked someone" and "a dog attacked someone who was entering his home uninvited and behind several doors and warning signs"

Another question is the previous attack and why nothing was done to remove these dogs if they did attack a person. Haven't we seen dogs in Halifax impounded for months just for attacking another dog?

Pitbulls are some of the friendliest, nicest dogs you'll ever meet, but like all dogs and creatures, if they are abused or mistreated these types of things can sadly happen. The only problem with pitbulls is they are attractive to these nefarious types of individuals who put spiked collars on them and do harsh training with them, (if any training).

Its nice to see the majority of comments and "agree/disagree" on the cbc site seem against any calls for breed banning or other such laws, and it seems the general public understand that its about care and treatment, not genetics. While genetics can play a part and you can in fact breed aggression, this is rarely done outside of illegal fighting rings. In my opinion the majority of pitbulls have the same risk of human aggression as any other dog. The problem of course with pitbulls is they are very powerful and an aggressive pitbull is going to cause a lot more damage than an aggressive pomeranian.

So please don't get turned off the breed - sadly theres a lot of these dogs in shelters that need good homes and many will make excellent pets.

Update: I had a chance through an online chat at our local newspaper to ask scientists Jane Goodall what she thought about BSL and pitbulls, here's her response:

Dr. Goodall: Unfortunately, many dogs like this are actually trained to be aggressive.

Leash Dog-Dog Reactions

I'm not sure if its TV shows or just natural human reaction but it seems that whenever a dog reacts/lunges/barks at another dog while on leash, the reaction of the owner is to always jerk the leash and yell at the dog.

Even dogs that are simply tugging to investigate or greet another dog while on leash are routinely jerked back into walking position by many owners.

Many people I believe are at a loss for what to do when your dog is reacting either aggressively or curiously to another stimulus while on leash, and both require very different methods of treatment - however one thing in common is that jerking your dogs leash doesn't help.

If your dog is reacting aggressively to another dog/person/stimulus jerking the leash and yelling at the dog will start to classically condition your dog. The dog is going to start to form this picture in his mind:

Dogs show up = my neck hurts and I get jerked around thus = dogs are bad news.

Now many people will observe that if your jerk a dog enough he may stop to react (yup we see this on TV shows) - this is true, but that doesn't mean his reaction is cured, but rather suppressed. Likely that same dog, once free of his leash, would react on his building emotional state that dogs = bad and an attack is very likely. This is not a dog you could trust off leash when he is "safe" from his punishers.

So jerking your dogs leash does nothing to cure or fix the emotional state of WHY he is reacting that way, but simply temporarily suppresses it. If your an addicted smoker, I can tie your hands up and take away your cigarette package and then stand back and say "Look he's not smoking" and thus claim my solution has cured you.

The problem of course is soon as you have your free will and mobility back, you'd head right out to buy another pack.

The key is to cure the emotional state of why the dog is reacting, and the only true way to do this is through that same pattern of classical conditioning.

Instead of dogs = my leash jerked = dogs are bad, you change the equation in your dogs mind to:

dogs = I get lots of treats thus = dogs are awesome!

I won't go into all the finer detail of how this is done, these types of corrections are best done with the help of a qualified trainer. If you'd like to learn more however there's plenty of books in my online store that cover this topic, FIGHT! by jean donaldson is a good one.

The key point to note here is that your not creating an expectation that your dog will get a treat every time another dog shows up. What your doing is changing the emotional state, so that even if he doesn't get a treat when a dog shows up, the past history of that happening will give him a positive view of the approaching dog, instead of a negative one. Phasing out the treats will still leave your dog with a positive mindset, even when the treats are no longer flowing freely. You can also train operant behaviors around other dogs if you need to, like sitting or coming to you if off leash.

If your dog is simply trying to investigate something, say he wants to sniff that pile of poop on the sidewalk, is jerking him away going form an equation of:

poop = my leash getting jerked = poop is bad?

Not likely (but it could), but it will certainly lead to other issues.

First, it will damage your relationship with your dog. Whenever you inflict pain on your dog, your not going to be his most favorite person, that's just universal for all species.

Second, Your dog isn't going to have any clear expectations on how to get what he wants. Unless you've trained him to "leave it" jerking him away from things doesn't teach him why he shouldn't be going after that object, or how to avoid the punishment. What else can't I sniff at along this walk? How do I stop from getting jerked around so much? If you don't answer these questions for you dog, he's going to be hopelessly confused and upset.

So in short - if your dog does something you don't like on leash, please don't make your first reaction to jerk him around. Certainly if your dog is lunging or about to attack you need to manage the situation, but once everyone is safe, please don't be the person that stands there yelling "NO" and jerking up on the leash well after the encounter has passed, your not doing your dog, or yourself, any favors.

Golden Rule Training Store

Finally, after several months the golden rule training store is online. I will be selling items from a company called VIP products, most famously known for their "Tuffy" line of products.

So why is a dog trainer selling toys, trying to make extra income? Not really, I've kept my prices really low that I don't really see myself making that much money off this - but rather one of the things I noticed on a number of consultations is the lack of dog toys.

I mostly see big dogs in my consultations, I'd say pit bulls, mastiffs and shepards are likely my top dogs I see. I don't believe its anything to do with the breed but rather when a large powerful dog has issues, theres a lot more reason to act than if a tiny teacup dog has them. I know many people who just 'deal' with aggression from their tiny dog, but pick up the phone quick if their 150 lbs mastiff growls.

One of the main things I hear from all these owners is how their dog 'shreds' their toys. Many of these owners struggle to give their dog enough exercise on a regular basis, so toys become a great outlet for the dogs....except they don't have any!

The "Tuffy" toys are built just for these dogs. The rating system allows for people to choose how strong a toy they need for their particular dog - not every dog needs a 10 level toy!

There is also a lot of fun toys for any dog, not just the toy gobblers! The iballs, squeakers and animals are really fun for any dog, so I hope you'll check out the toys and if your happy with them, pass on to your friends!

Shelters are another reason I got into this product line. Many shelter dogs shred their toys because theres nothing else for them to do, and because of the risk of choking sometimes dogs that shred will lose their toys completely and be left with nothing to do. I'd really like to see the mega tuffy line in shelters all over the province to ensure that even the most stressed out mega chewer can have a toy to play with and relieve stress - I will be putting aside money from all sales to purchase toys for the SPCA here in NS.

Dominance Theory

Well it's been a long time coming but I've finally added my dominance essay to my main website - it can be found at www.goldenruletraining.ca

This has taken me a while to complete, mostly doing research and reading on the subject. I hope you will all find it an interesting read and I've tried to cover the subject in as much detail as I can, with as much reference as possible.

One of the things I've noted is that the dog training industry is high unregulated and anyone can claim to be an expert. I've tried to ensure all my opinions in this document are backed up by scientific experiments and expert researchers. I hope you will find it interesting.

On a personal note - my general obedience classes in Woodside start tonight, these are my first classes away from Petcetera since I've decided to "go it alone". 6 Dogs signed up for the general class so I hope its a fun and educational 6 weeks!

I'm considering getting another dog soon and I seem to be gravitating towards a senior rescue dog. There's something about older dogs without a home that seems to draw me in, so we'll see.

The Misuse of Crates in Training

One of the things most dog owners will talk about and throw around is 'crate training'.

Crate training is one of those things in dog training, a lot like dominance, that different people talk about a lot, but most of the time they all have very different definitions and meanings.

I'm going to focus this post on what good crate training is, and when crate training turns into doggie prison. I wrote this post because one of the things I'm seeing in my classes and mostly in private consultations is misuse of crates in training. If there's any other trainers reading this I'd be interested to hear if you notice the same trends.

"Crate training" and the use of a crate should have a very limited use in housebreaking your new puppy. First let me say that housebreaking is all about 2 things :
1) A good schedule and
2) good reinforcement

You should know when your puppy needs to go pee - which is first thing in the morning, after any meal or drink, after any play, and after waking up. Puppies generally cannot hold their pee any longer than 1 hour for each month of age. Puppies are pee machines, so every-time you go outside and give puppy a chance, usually they will take it.

When however they don't go after one of the above mentioned times - thats when a crate comes in. You temporarily confine the puppy for a few minutes to ensure he doesn't use the bathroom inside - then after maybe 5 minutes you go outside and try again. Lots of reinforcement going pee in the correct place outside is what makes these confinements less and less necessary.

The crate is also used for when you just don't have the time to watch the new puppy, and your concerned he may get into something, or may go pee in the house. These periods should be brief. Crates can also be used at night when the puppy is sleeping to avoid him choosing any late night pees. Again you will have to get up early because a young puppy cannot hold it for 7 hours a night. This will come later.

If you have to leave puppy for a full day while your at work - don't confine him to a crate. Instead put him in a puppy area - a room in the house where his water bowl, stuffed kongs and food and toys are. Make sure this area also contains a doggie toilet. I recommend using paper with some grass and turf over it to simulate the outside. Remember a young puppy simply cannot hold it for a long time and if your not going to be home, its only fair to give him a toilet. You can also choose to do this at night if you have to, but I prefer waking up early in those first few weeks.

A lot of people will tell you that dogs are 'den' animals and enjoy being in a crate, and that may be true, but if so just leave the crate open. If you dog wants to go in there to chill out - great, but let it be his choice.

The problem I see more and more is the crate becomes a prison - a place where the dog goes whenever there are visitors because he jumps up, or barks, or gets aggressive.

Crates also become a place where the is confined all day because he destroys the house, or barks, or does any other list of unwanted behaviors. Crates become a 'quick fix' for any behavioral issue from separation issues to destructive chewing. While this may 'fix' the problem, your dogs emotional state remains unchanged.

Negative behavior as outlined above is the result of anxiety and other emotional distress. Confinement in a crate will simply make those conditions worse, and likely the dog harder and harder to live with. Your best solution is to contact a qualified trainer to address those issues.

Its my opinion that once your dog is housebroken, there is really no reason for a crate anymore - just be certain to not be asking too much of your dog. If you have to be away from your dog for long periods of time, consider a dog walker, dog daycare, or go home on lunch to ensure your dog gets a chance to get out. No one wants to hold their pee beyond what is comfortable and dogs are no different!

Remember, human babies get to wear diapers and just go bathroom whenever the hell they want - why are dogs just expected to hold it until its convenient for us?

Yikes its been a while

Ok so I'm not dead! Its been a busy few months and it just seems blogging didn't really factor into my time - but I'm going to try to recommit to keep this up to date.

For all of November and most of December I was recovering from surgery - this prevented me from doing any work with dogs and I just spent most of my time reading. Now I'm back into the swing of things, however I'm never really into the swing of things when it comes to winter. I am very "Bearlike" and wish I could just crawl into a cave and wake up in April :)

Lot of changes for Golden Rule Training. The business was officially registered this month, I've ended my relationship with Petcetera and will be holding classes at a local community centre going forward - and I'll be opening an online store selling quality dog toys from the VIP product line, or "Tuffy" line.

The online store is taking most of my time so I hope to have that online soon - also the Dog Expo is in Halifax next month and I'll be attending that so watch for me there.

In my new post I'm going to talk about housebreaking and crate training. More and more I'm finding more dogs confined to crates during the day. I don't call this 'crate training' I call this doggie prison - and I'll be explaining that more in the next post.

As always email me with any questions!