Also Called Pattern Training, is all about setting your everyday routine to include some basic cues and practical exercises so your dog learns that appropriate behavior should be on-going, not just during a training session.

Don’t get me wrong, the benefits of having a clear training session are huge. Not only can you plan out exactly what you want to work on in a focused environment but you can also see more clearly how learning is progressing. This can be very reinforcing for you, as the trainer!

These set sessions are also beneficial for the dog because things can be presented to him in a controlled way, with no distractions. Keeping these sessions short and fun is extremely important, but also they help the new information “sink in” and even if he didn’t do so well at “down” in that first session, the next he might get it so fast you thought he was practicing between sessions!

Of course there is also a huge benefit to pattern training or “real life” training. This is where you look at your everyday schedule and see where you could fit in the occasional (down, sit, wait, or any other trick) this helps the dog learn to focus around distractions and become more attentive.

The absolute best use of  pattern training is for creating calm. If there is a moment during the day where your dog can’t seem to focus or just easily gets over-excited, then that is a perfect time to practice calming skills and relaxation exercises, which can include simple basic obedience tricks, like sit and wait. Try cueing for a sit before your dog comes into the house, cue a sit before placing her dinner on the floor, cue for a sit then eye contact before starting a walk. If your dog seems inattentive then don’t repeat your verbal cue or hand signal, simply wait. As your dog gets bored she will sit, as soon as this happens open the door and start your walk!

Many people get frustrated when they want there dog to do something and the dog just doesn’t seem interested. It may be that they are stressed from over training or they really would rather be doing something else!

The Premack Principle is a concept that if used properly, will help your dog maintain focus on the behaviors YOU want, by convincing your dog that they ALSO want to be doing those behaviors. It sounds like mind control but it really is just phycology!

Premack Principle: What does she like besides food, what does she choose to do, instead of what you want her to do?

- use the action she chooses to do as a reward for the action you prefer.

1. Ask for a simple behavior that you want.

-Cue for: Jump over a hurdle

2. Release and send her away, walk in the opposite direction or sit down in a chair facing away from her.

When she finishes sniffing or chasing butterflies she will suddenly notice your back turned and  wonder why you are no longer desperately trying to get her attention. When she returns to you, ask for the simple behavior again, then again send her away. Do this until she seems to be “asking” to do the jump cue.

At this point add a second behavior (jump – tunnel) then again release her and send her away. Keep repeating this sequence adding on behaviors you want. Soon you will find that when you “send her away” she no longer wants to go! Instead she follows you to your chair and simply begs to be allowed to do more training!

Reinforcement is anything that continues a behavior, so if you never want to see a behavior again, you ultimately need to figure out how that behavior is being reinforced and stop the reinforcement.

If the behavior is a dog jumping up on people, usually it has been reinforced “by accident” when the person pushes, knees, or interacts with the dog in any way. Even making eye contact is enough to reinforce jumping.

If the people involved are all able to give consistent feedback to the dog through actively ignoring the behavior (turning away, crossing arms, looking at the ceiling) then the behavior will go extinct. The extinction process may be very fast or slow depending on the length the behavior has been going on for. If the dog has been reinforced for jumping for her entire life then when she suddenly stops getting reinforced for it she will probably go through a period of frustration known as an “Extinction Burst”. This is where the jumping behavior will get worse before it gets better. She will try harder to get the reinforcement by jumping higher, harder, or even grabbing clothing. If all of this fails to get reinforcement she will try something else. Like sitting, which will get her the reinforcement she desired. 

What if the behavior is more anxiety based. If the dog is growling or has bitten someone? The stress behaviors shown before a dog bites is still being reinforced. Usually this is because the owners are experiencing a high amount of stress (adrenaline) themselves and are also exhibiting stress behaviors such as; staring at the dog when she interacts with someone.  Or if the growling is being punished this can heighten a dog’s stress and lead to a bite without warning, since the dog has learned that it’s warnings get punished!  Interestingly this same dog will be perfectly happy at a dog kennel. Away from her owners she doesn’t see their stress and because the bite only happened under certain stressful conditions, as soon as those conditions are gone the dog no longer feels anxiety.

The key to this kind of behavior is to condition the dog, keeping her under threshold, until she becomes relaxed around the previously stressful situation. This can certainly take time, but as the owners’ stress levels decrease they will more easily be able to see the beginnings of anxiety in their dog and through conditioning help the dog feel more relaxed and even enjoy the previously stressful situations.

The reason why dogs don’t respond to a cue quickly is usually because the behavior has not been well generalized. You have introduced the behavior by teaching it in the home, but as soon as you add duration, distance, or distractions, the behavior seems to go straight out the window.

Unfortunately many people will wrongly assume their dog is “ignoring” them, “trying to get away with something” or “being stubborn”. When in reality the dog simple has not had enough practice or you have introduced too many changes too quickly for the dog to realize you are asking for the same behavior.

The way to solve this problem is to introduce changes slowly.  If you are working on ‘Stay’, then work on duration first. Work up from 3 seconds to 30 seconds. If you can count to 30 seconds and your dog still hasn’t moved, start adding distance. The same technique can be used for recall cues. But in this case, work on distance first. Ask for a recall from only 1 meter away, easy! then work up to 20 meters!  This will probably take multiple sessions and each session you may need to start from an easier level than the one you ended the last session with.

Once the behavior you are working on is good at duration and distance start adding distractions! That means change your environment, if you have only been working inside, take the training to the yard, or a quiet park. Start over again from the easy level, then work back up in the new environment!

The process of generalizing a behavior can take awhile if you wan the behavior to be extremely reliable so keep practicing and don’t ask your dog to do a behavior that he hasn’t practiced! That means don’t ask for a recall cue at 10 meters in a busy dog park. If you need your dog to come back ask for a ‘sit-stay’ (if you have practiced this) or simply walk up and ask for a recall from next to your dog. Always set your dog up to win, this makes training easy and fun for both of you!

A very well known international dog trainer (actor) says it is “Calm Submissive”, another trainer suggests on her website  that her training will make your dog “Calm and Obedient” . Is this what we really want?

Calm, well sure! Calm is good! Calm is relaxed, happy, and comfortable. I like to be calm, I like my dogs to be calm, I have no issues with helping dogs achieve calmness.

But what about submissive… or obedient. Ok well, submissive is handy, if not a little master/servant oriented. It is similar to obedient in that the connotation is that the dog will do whatever you ask whenever you ask it no matter what. You know what that also describes? Pretty much any machine in my house. My computer (most of the time), my TV, my dishwasher. They all do whatever I tell them to, no questions, no argument, no offering of better suggestions- Excuse me ma’am but I think you wanted to use HOT water on that lode of towels.

Submissive /Obedient does NOT describe; children, anyone I have ever worked with, lions, bears or dogs.

“Dogs?!”you say! that’s right, dogs are NOT naturally submissive,  obedient animals anymore than your Mother–in-Law is. They are living, thinking (sometimes not so much), changing, beings with OPINIONS and with QUESTIONS. You know when your dog sees something interesting… like another dog. The first thing he does is look at that dog, then flash back to look at you, to look you right in the eye, then back to the other dog again, then back to you. In fact he may keep this up until the other dog is completely out of site. This is an example of your dog having an opinion and asking you a question. “ I want to go see that other dog, would you let me off this leash so I can see that other dog…why aren’t you letting me off… PLEEEEEEAAASE I want to sniff that dog over there, don’t you see it?! are you blind? there’s a dog right THERE!”  I am sure there are a few of you out there that can relate.

My point is, in order to MAKE a dog be truly submissive and obedient, you would have to be on top of them day in and day out, micro-manage every facet of their lives. That sounds exhausting. Is it worth it?

My dogs are calm (about 90% of the time), they are submissive, in that they don’t try to steal my dinner and they wait politely for theirs’ in their crates. Obedient… well sure, if I ask them to do something that they have practiced doing, they do it.  My dogs are allowed to pretty much do as they please (within reason), and my dogs are generally well behaved, I am not saying they never do anything I would rather they didn’t, they do. So does my Mother-in-Law, my friends, and people I work with.

My dogs don’t have to wait for me to go out the door before them. Most of the time their dinner time is before mine, and sometimes they sleep on the bed. So why aren’t they trying to take over the family (and then the world)? Well I’ll never truly know, because they can’t speak English. But if I were to hazard a guess it is because I offer them a stable, safe, and calm environment. I work with them regularly on manners and reinforce the behavior I like with lots of praise, treats and life rewards!

I have never wanted a submissive, obedient dog. I want dogs that come when called, play fetch, and cuddle, because they want to and I want to enjoy living with them too.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all talk to animals? It would make life so much easier. Recently I have had a serious issue with one of my cats. In the last 3 months he started pacing the house, meowing worriedly and ugh.. spraying. Something is bothering him, we have visited the vet, and even tried some anti anxiety medications with little or no results. We even tried putting him in a cattery for two weeks while we were on vacation just to see if he would “reset” and still no luck. He was peaches at the cattery but as soon as he got home the spraying and stressing ensued. It would be great to just ask him, “Hey Indi, whats up?”

Many of my clients have similar communication issues with their dogs. And just about everyone in the world has trouble communicating with other humans even though we DO speak the same languages. So maybe talking is over-rated. Maybe we should all try to listen a little bit more.

In the book Horse Sense for People, Monty Roberts “The Horse Whisperer” takes his lifelong relationship and understanding of horses and expands his ideas to show how through listening, and creating a safe learning environment, you can have strong and trusting relationships with humans too! This was a really exciting book for me to read because although I had heard of Mr Roberts before, I had never though to take his work and ascribe is to canine communication. So as I read this book I tried to shift his methodology and philosophy of non violence to my work with the family dog.

I am not the first to use Roberts as a springboard, Jan Fennel writes that her dog training is based on much of what she witnessed and has learned from Roberts. However I would like to take his work in a slightly different direction than Fennel. Fennel states that dogs are pack animals and are looking for a pack leader to lay down the law, and bring them under control.

But what if dogs are not pack animals, as stated by Debbie McMullen. What if they are a lot more like us than we have previously supposed? Could that be why dogs do just as well in a “pack” of two as they do in a pack of five… maybe they even do better in smaller packs rather than larger.. or could we change our thinking of dogs as “pack” animals and start to think of them more as “family” animals. What are we really other than surrogate parents to neotenized race of canines?

Teaching your dog (especially your big dog) to walk on leash can be one of the hardest things you will ever do.

Walking is hard, because it is a lengthy behavior. “Sit” or “Down” is easy, your dog either does it, or doesn’t do it.

Walking can be a relaxing and energising experience, or it can be a drawn out conflict, leaving you frustrated and your dog stressed. The good news is that there are a lot of ways to teach walking and there is bound to be the right solution for you.

Head Harnesses or Dog Halters are a great way to start. There are a number of different brands but the most well known are the Halti (pictured above) or the Gentle Leader (Pictured Below). My preference is the Gentle Leader, I like how adjustable it is, and I have a much easier time with the style clip they use, (I always struggle opening and closing the Halti brand)!

Either one you choose, they both work in the same way. Your leash clips to the ring under the dog’s chin, and the halter snaps up snugly behind your dog’s ears. If your dog tries to pull ahead, there is nothing for her to push against. With any collar, choke chain, (ugh) prong collar, or harness, your dog can push her chest or neck against the equipment, giving her a lot of leverage to pull you around. Even worse, the squeezing and straining around your dog’s neck can cause tracheal damage, blood vessel damage, and has even been reported to be the cause of damage to the blood vessels behind a dog’s eyes which can cause blindness. This is not good for those dogs on chokers even just for training!

The Head Halter works exactly like a horse’s halter, it leads from the chin, doesn’t choke, or compress anything. Can you imagine trying to lead a horse around with a choker chain… yeah right. It is important to note that the nose loop on the halter is not  a muzzle. It won’t keep your dog from barking, eating, drinking or even biting if he is so inclined.

If you decide to buy one of these head harnesses, I recommend getting it properly fitted by a professional trainer. I also tend to introduce the dog to the equipment before ever putting it on. To do this, start with having your dog target the halter with his nose, each time he touches it, he should get a treat. Then open the nose loop and feed treats through the loop. This way your dog gets the feeling of the loop around his nose while positive things are happening! Eventually work your way up to clipping it behind the ears and going for a VERY short walk.

Some dogs really don’t like the sensation of the head halter at first so you may have to persevere, but the practice is worth the relaxing walks you will get when he is comfortable wearing the halter.  If you decide to do the “trial by fire” method of introducing him to the halter, be prepared for a tantrum. The new sensation of the nose loop can be quite surprising and upsetting if introduced quickly (although sometimes this is necessary if your dog is dangerously pulling you into traffic). It is important to NOT take off the halter until he has calmed down or he will learn to throw a fit whenever you put it on! I have used both methods and I much prefer introduction over many days before actually going for a walk with it.

But are biting dogs really as big a problem as we think they are? The book, Dogs Bite but balloons and slippers are more dangerous, by Janis Bradley, discusses the statistics and research involved in dog bites as well as many other significantly more dangerous causes of injury.

Reading this book will really give you a clear idea of the the real danger in this world, the hyped media reports, and misunderstanding  of how much research in this area is extrapolated data based on such a small amount of information as to make much of the results sheer guess work!

I think that one of the most interesting issues in the area of dog bites is the humans fear reaction. Given that there are so many more and worse ways to be injured, why is it that being bitten by a dog gets so much attention. I believe that my neighbor said it best when he  described the feeling as one of betrayal.

For a species that has been living closely with humans for at least 12 thousand years and possibly as much as 100 thousand years, it feels like a betrayal when that animal turns on you.This feeling of betrayal really is a primal emotion for us because people show so much outrage even when the animal that bit them was a complete stranger. Would we feel as betrayed if it had been a cat? Probably not.

The idea that dogs are “Disney” animals, bubbling over with love, loyalty, and heroism, makes it easy for us to feel a huge injustice when that animal seems to break that imaginary rule of  “man’s best friend”. In reality, dogs are fallible just like humans, maybe even because of humans! They don’t always know right from wrong, and in a moment of panic, fear, or perceived need to defend, they might indeed bite.

Should we really take so much offense, suffer a feeling of betrayal, and hold that dog responsible for not knowing a humans sense of right and wrong? Certainly a dog that has shown a low bite threshold, needs to be managed and rehabilitated if possible, but how many people are there available to put that much time and effort into the retraining? And how much of a responsibility do we have as a society to rehabilitate dogs?

Darwinistically we have a responsibility to our own species before any other,but I believe that we, as a species, have gone above and beyond the “species first” mentality that characterizes natural selection. We have loyalty, honour, heroism, and compassion. All of those traits we so look for in our canine companions, lets first find them in ourselves before expecting them from our dog.

Putting an unwanted  behavior on cue is a method of training that has been used for at least the last 30 years. However it is still debated among trainers as to its effectiveness. I have used it myself with moderate affect based on the circumstances.

The idea is that if your dog is barking, or jumping up on the couch, you actually teach them to bark, or jump on the couch, the same way you would teach them a sit or a down. You show them the behavior you want … jumping on the couch, then you add a verbal cue for this behavior. The same goes for barking.

The flaw most people see right away is that if you encourage the inappropriate behavior, the dog learns that it is now a behavior that “might” get them reinforcement, so they attempt to elicit a reward by continuing the behavior you didn’t really want in the first place! The is termed “offering” a behavior, you have probably all experienced this when you say your dog’s name and she immediately sits. That is your dog “offering” a sit because in the past she has been rewarded for sitting.

So the question is, how do you put the behavior on cue, without encouraging the behavior in other situations?! My answer is this…

You must also teach the OPPOSITE behavior. If you teach barking then you must also teach “Quiet” or “Shush” (as Ian Dunbar likes to call it). If you teach Jumping up on the couch, then you must also teach jumping OFF the couch.

Then when your dog has learned both cues, you then only reinforce the unwanted behavior with praise, and immediately reinforce the desired behavior with a HUGE amount of treats. See the difference? Your dog certainly will!

This method allows your dog to CHOOSE between the OK behavior and the FANTASTICTREATSINMYMOUTHTHANKYOUPARTYTIMEEXCITING!!!!! behavior.

This method has been extremely effective for me in certain situations. For instance I had a client that I could barely talk to or hear over their Fox Terrier’s incessant, piercing, shrieks for the first 10 minutes of our session. So I stopped talking and focused on the dog. Ten minutes later the dog was CHOOSING to be quiet for long stretches (minutes at a time), so that I could continue my explanations to her caretaker. I have also used putting barking on cue for an SPCA dog who was driving the SPCA’s staff and neighbors insane.

Putting barking on cue, then making Quiet the preferred behavior is only the first step. It doesn’t mean your dog will never choose to bark again. But if you follow this training up with foundation behaviors, and alter your own habits on when you reinforce (yes, yelling at your dog when they bark IS reinforcing them), then your dogs inappropriate behaviors will come under control.

I have just finished teaching the foundation agility class (8 weeks) for Dog Agility Wellington Group (DAWG) for this term.  So I thought I would comment on canine sports.

Most dogs love it. They love it because it gives them a way to burn energy and its fun for their owners as well. Let’s be honest, many people don’t actually like walking their dog. They want a dog for companionship but don’t always want to walk him in the rain, even when he desperately needs the exercise!

Agility is also fun for the dog because they have to think about what they are doing! Dogs don’t have to think on a walk, but in agility they actually have to put their mind to use, this burns even more energy than just physical exercise alone and it stimulates their minds making them a dog who thinks, not just reacts.

Agility is also promotes the human-canine bond, they learn to watch you for cues, and trust what you tell them, the connection between an agility handler and their dog is truly an amazing thing.

If you have been thinking about starting agility there are some things you will need to think about first.

1. Is your dog suited to agility? If your dog is very young (under a year),  elderly, has arthritis, or hip dysplasia, agility is probably not such a good idea, maybe look into Rally-Obedience!

2. Do you already have some voice control of your dog? Although a beginners class is 99% on lead, the next levels up require a lot more off lead work, it is good for your dog to already have a basic ability to follow voice control, so you don’t end up tugging them around by the collar, which is really no fun for anyone.

3. Is your dog highly reactive? If your dog barks and lunges at other dogs, you should address this issue before bringing them to any group class. It is not a good idea to put a dog in a situation that is well beyond their capability, you will only stress your dog out and cause yourself frustration. Seek a private behavior consultant first.

Many of those who start agility, start for the fun, and stay because of the competition. Agility is a lot of fun for both dog and handler, and there are plenty of competitions run by local clubs to join and test yourself on. And  don’t be worried if your dog doesn’t do really well at first, agility is so different from what most dogs  do that it takes some time to show them all the rules and help them understand what’s going on. Feel free to practice at your own pace and not get too caught up in the competition side of things, sure its exciting to win, but what’s really important is that you and your dog are having fun!