Category: Human-Canine Bond

Helping a Fearful Dog

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC

(from All Things Dog blog)

Dear Michael:

My wife and I have a very sweet, intelligent, food-loving, 2 year old female Rough Collie.  She is great on a leash, eager to please, and generally very good in public.  I grew up with Collies and am familiar with the common tendencies of the Herding Breeds, but am having trouble succeeding with some of her training.

Lady gets very nervous when guests come to the house, especially strangers.  She does the typical barking and herding, but also has trouble relaxing for hours when other people are in the home.  She will nip at our guest incessantly when they walk around the house.  I know that she has watchdog qualities, but I worry that she will snap when we have guests (especially children) over to the home.

We have had her since she was 12 weeks old, and we have always had visitors.  She does not seem to be adapting at all.  How can we exorcise this nervous energy and enjoy having people over again.  Thank you for your help!
Bill H.

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Dear Bill:

First, I commend you for asking good and thoughtful questions on Lady’s behalf.  I work with a lot of fearful dogs here in Texas.  I also know a lot of my training colleagues work similar cases around the world.  You are not alone; and yes there is hope for Lady.

Despite our best efforts socializing our dogs and familiarizing them with the quirky ins and outs of the human world, sometimes it’s just not enough.  As our dogs grow up, we begin to notice their developing sensitivities and phobias.  It’s important that we address these fears intelligently and immediately, but also gently.  You are correct to be concerned that fearful behavior can sometimes develop into offensive (aggressive) behavior.  That doesn’t always happen.  Nevertheless, the time to act is now.

I often recommend hiring a qualified behavior consultant at the end of my blog posts.  This time, I’m recommending it up front.  You don’t have to do this alone, and you probably shouldn’t.  Use the link above to find a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant in your area.  I also recommend you visit fearfuldogs.com and download the e-book, Guide to Living with and Training a Fearful Dog.

Certainly, my response here will not take the place of working with a qualified dog trainer / behavior consultant in person.  Still, I want to offer my thoughts and input.  Your goals with Lady when it comes to interacting with visitors are twofold.  1) Teach her how to behave when people come over.  Which skills you teach are up to you.  Sit, coming when called and stay all play a role in proper greetings.  I exclusively recommend reward-based training, and with good reason.  I’ll expand on that below.  2) Teach Lady that new people in general, especially in her home, are good news for her.  Something amazingly good should happen for Lady every time a person comes to your home.  The way to a dog’s heart really is through her stomach.  I often suggest visitors give my clients’ dogs “welcome gifts” when they arrive (New person = cheese or chicken).  Giving her a delicious stuffed Kong Toy when visitors are in the house is a nice approach as well.  Here is where your reward-based training comes in as well.  If you are using food to teach your dog basic manners when people come over, then she is also learning that it’s good news for her when people come over.  Training starts and the treat bar opens.  Win – Win!  The dog knows how to behave and loves every second of it.

(click here to read the rest of this column)

 

 

Children and Dogs

Guest Blogger, Curtiss Lanham CPDT-KA

Children and dogs: what a beautiful image that our minds immediately race to. The ‘Timmy and Lassie’ portrait is quickly conjured up…and they lived happily ever after. Not so fast…

The interesting thing is that kids don’t come pre-progrmmed to know how to interact properly with dogs, any more than dogs come pre-programmed to interact properly with kids. Read: adults now have to step-in and do something positive to ensure they do live happily ever after. So what can we adults do to ensure that our kids and our dogs will get along safely and happily? Here are three areas that we can concentrate on in this effort: Training-Socialization-Supervision

Training our Children

  • To respect the dog’s space, food and toys
  • To not treat the dog as a toy: don’t pull ears/tail/paws/nose, don’t ride the dog, don’t pull the dog around by it’s collar
  • To refrain from hugging dogs around the neck or put their face into the dog’s face
  • To refrain from screeching, screaming and squealing at the dog
  • To play ball, fetch, etc., but ONLY under adult supervision.

Training our Dogs

  • To know that children bring happy, fun things and are pleasant to engage with.
  • To trust that only good things happen with children
  • To respond to requests (sit, down, come, etc.) when asked by children so that they can communicate effectively together and strengthen their relationships
  • To understand the expectations of the household they live in

Socialize our Children

  • To dogs at an early age and expose them to a variety of breeds often and safely, but ONLY under adult supervision.

Socialize our dogs

  • To children at an early age (3 weeks to 3 months of age, if possible). Expose them to a variety of children often and safely, but ONLY under adult supervision. These meetings must always have a ‘happy ending’ for the puppy and the child.

Supervise

  • All interactions between children and dogs
  • Be watchful to ensure the children do not mishandle/mistreat the dog
  • Be watchful to ensure the dog is not stressed during the encounter: Stress signals may include some/ all of the following: yawning, lip licking, turning head/eyes away, lowering head/ears/tail, slinking away, crouching/hiding. Distance increasing signals by the dog may include some/all of the following: lip lifting, low growl, snarling, showing teeth, air snapping, etc. If any of these are observed, end the session immediately, quietly and calmly exit the child from the dog. Refrain from punishing the dog.
  • Ensure proper meet/greet by child
  • If you cannot supervise then exit the child from the dog so there is no possibility of improper encounter by either the dog or child

By putting this plan into action with your children and dogs your family will be on the road to loving, safe relationships. Relationships that transcend even the ‘Lassie and Timmy’ connection!

Houston/Katy Dog Trainer Curtiss Lanham, CPDT-KA is the co-owner of dogsmart, a Fulshear based canine behavior counseling and training group.

Swim Stella, Swim!

Michael Baugh, CPDT-KA, CDBC

“This dog can’t swim.”  That’s what I thought as I watched her struggle, bob and tip in the pond.  I was about to jump in the murky water myself when I saw Stella briefly roll onto her back and then right herself.  She stepped gleefully to the shore, shook off, dropped her ball, and looked up at me.  She had no idea how pathetic she had looked.

Of course, I was concerned.  Stella had swum before, albeit briefly.  But, this last time was different.  Physics failed her.  She listed to one side, nearly sank, and then went keel up. She was wholly out of her element, and I’d so wished her element was water.  I wanted it badly; I wanted it with every memory of the retriever before her, with every hope of the retriever I dreamt she would become.  That was the problem.  This wasn’t about me.  It was about Stella; and Stella couldn’t swim.

I tried to get my brain around it.  Maybe it really was bad physics.  Stella’s chest is unusually deep and her waist is unusually small.  She’s narrow, very narrow.  She’s tall and long, unnaturally so.  Her face and coat say retriever, but the rest of her says whippet or Italian greyhound.   Okay if I’m going to be brutally honest, if you catch her at the wrong angle the whole package screams “cartoon dog.”  Maybe her body just wasn’t built for water; maybe she was too lean, too spindly.  Maybe she just couldn’t swim.

When my heart’s breaking, I write.  So, I wrote some veterinarian friends of mine.  No, they said.  There’s nothing wrong with Stella.  She is quirky beautiful and fully buoyant.  I wrote to a local dog swim coach (who knew?) and she said the same thing.  Some dogs are naturals, others are not.  Stella can learn.  She can swim.

I can’t explain what happened next.  Sometimes there’s no way to fix a thing set askew.  Then again, sometimes there’s no holding back a thing intent on setting itself right.  Stella’s new coach is an affable woman in the middle of life, with an easy smile and a gentle feel for a dog’s spirit. She welcomed us to a long glistening pool in the early light of day.  “Does Stella like toys?” she asked.  “Tennis balls” I answered.  The rest was unstoppable.  It was the simple magic of letting things happen, letting go, swimming with the current of the moment.

Stella waded into the pool for her ball, and brought it back.  On the second throw, she leapt across the shallow slope into the deep.  Stella’s head slipped under and then popped up high in the water, a bow splashing and awkward, and a stern dragging too low.  Her coach moved with deft purpose, the subtle speed of a woman who knows her craft.  She righted Stella’s hips, bringing them level to withers just below the water’s crest.  Stella sailed with ease back to the shallows and out.  She dropped the ball and looked back at what she’d swum.

courtesy: Rummy's Beach Club

I threw again.  Again she leapt and swam.  Again, and again Stella’s body stretched, and her head skimmed the break where water meets air.  Her legs tucked naturally, fronts propelling, backs adjusting for balance.  She used her thick retriever tail like a rudder.  Stella leapt and swam.  She moved with ease and grace, ball firmly in mouth, eyes gleaming in the morning sun, nowhere to be but here, nothing in mind but now.  Stella leapt again and then swam some more.  She panted and pushed hard against the water, a wake behind her.  The air was sweet with the smell of wet dog and abandon.  I moved up beside her and kissed her cheek.  I would have loved her the same no matter, but oh how I love my water dog.

We stayed on like that until we were both soaked through, swimming together.