Category: How Dogs Learn

Crate Complications

Michael Baugh CPDT-KA, CDBC
To: Ask the dog trainer column
My little heinz 57 rescue dog is almost perfect. She is quite well crate trained but has 2 odd quirks. When I got her a new crate that has a solid lid we started having trouble with it. She does not have visibility through her roof; now it is solid. Everything is higher than her, when her crate is on the floor. She will whine until I take her out. If I put her in her old crate she is fine. How can I get her used to her new crate? I like this one better for our travels since it collapses easier. I thought she would like the side door that opens like a garage door but instead she fusses about the roof. She has always liked to be within sight of me, and this roof is an obstacle. 

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Dear reader:
Change is always tricky business isn’t it?  My Dad, for instance, loves his Grand Marquis.  He’s had several over the past 20 some odd years.  He won’t look at anything else.  I, on the other hand, love change.  Let’s mix things up a bit to keep life interesting; that’s my motto.  Regardless of where you fall on this spectrum (or more importantly, where you dog falls) change can be a little stressful.   Fortunately, you can help smooth out the transition.
First, make the new crate awesome for your dog.  Assuming Skittles is willing to go in the crate, leave her in there for short visits of 10-15 minutes.  (If she won’t even go in, watch this video to learn more about teaching her the ins and outs of crate training). Include a delicious stuffed Kong Toy to make the deal even better.  I like to stuff Kong Toys with a full doggie meal, not just some peanut butter and a few treats.  Let her out before the Kong is finished and when she’s not whining.

The Truth About Canine Aggression

 

Michael Baugh KPA-CTP CPDT-KSA CDBC

“Your dog isn’t dominant; he’s frightened.”  I say that to clients who have dogs with aggressive behavior more often than you might think.  People are surprised, and many are relieved.  The dog isn’t being mean to take control.  He’s just trying to make something frightening go away or stop.

Understanding that leads to a fundamental shift in how we approach dogs who are behaving offensively.  If a dog is afraid, it doesn’t help to assert our own authority (often with some aggressive behavior of our own).   It helps much more when we teach the dog how to behave calmly under pressure.  Better yet, let’s teach our dog that the thing he’s afraid of isn’t so scary after all.  Now, there’s the challenge.

I see a lot of dogs who are afraid of people they don’t know, men in particular.  Sometimes this fear is a result of trauma or abuse.  More often, there was a lack of socialization with people in the dog’s early development.   Whatever the cause, dogs will try to create distance between themselves and the thing they perceive as frightening.  Some dogs increase that distance by running away or hiding.  Others, the ones we call “aggressive,” try to increase distance by making the scary thing go away.  They bark, growl, snarl and lunge.  Some bite.  Regardless, the goal is the same:  Make the scary thing stop. (A person reaching for a dog will pull back when a dog growls).  Or, make the scary thing leave (dog growls – person retreats – dog is relieved).

In most cases, like the example above, dogs who are behaving aggressively are trying to avoid something.  Specifically they are avoiding close contact or interaction with something that scares them.  Cases in which the dogs are aggressive to attain something are rarer.  Most of those situations involve predatory behavior, in which a dog is chasing an animal or a person who is running away. Dogs who guard their food bowls and toys are somewhere in the middle.  They are trying to keep a resource.   Though some would say they are afraid of losing that resource, which brings us back to fear.

In the end, teaching your dog that the world is a safe place is your responsibility.  So is training your dog to behave attentively and calmly in the presence of frightening things.  Calm resolve and a focus on upbeat reward-based training is the key to success.  Of course, there is help available.  And, finding the right kind of help is absolutely essential.

Dog Behaviorists and Dog Behavior Consultants are qualified to assist people with dogs who exhibit aggression.  The person you choose should be very familiar with applied behavior analysis and desensitization / counter conditioning techniques.  Avoid trainers who use force to suppress behavior, or who insist you assert yourself as your dog’s “alpha.”  That could just lead to more fear and unwanted behavior.  Remember, he’s not trying to take over.  He just wants to feel safe, and to know that you’re there to help show him the way.

Houston Dog Trainer Michael Baugh CPDT-KSA, CDBC specializes in cases of canine fear and aggression.

Helping a Dog Meet Baby

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC

Dear Michael:

My daughter has a 4 month old baby. Since his birth, my tiny dog has been nothing short of a nightmare around him. He wants to get close and lick him and play with him. The more we restrain him the more he cries, pants, and barks. We dare not let him anywhere near the baby unless we have him by the collar. He doesn’t bite, just licks and prods. He is fine with toddlers we meet in the street. How can we have the baby in the house without our little dog causing such exasperation?
Recently things have improved very slightly.  Whilst he is still uber uber interested in him, he now lies beside him, suffering all the involuntary arm and leg prods and jerks from the baby and rests his head on baby’s legs (when he is still, which isn’t often!).  He seems to have been wanting to be very close to him all this time and of course we were prohibiting that.  He is, it goes without saying, always supervised.
Cathy
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Dear Cathy:
Babies are unusual creatures to many of our dogs (and to many of us for that matter).  They move differently than adult humans.  They sound different and smell different.  From our dogs’ point of view they are new and unusual, weird even.  It sounds like your daughter’s dog is a bit nervous about the baby, or at the very least excited.  We need to help him out.

You have two goals here.  First, teach the dog that babies are cool.  Try very hard to never yell at or hurt the dog when the baby is around.  That’s only going to make things worse.  In fact, only delightful things should happen when the baby is on the scene.  If the baby does something weird, like scream and wiggle like a fish, you might even slip the dog a special treat.  That’s called respondent conditioning (classical conditioning).  Baby = good things for doggie.  The idea here is to make sure the dog doesn’t start disliking the child because being around him is so awful.