It's been awhile...

I know it's been awhile since I've posted - we've been very busy, both at work and at home. We bought a house, and we had our grand Re-opening at Petland under new ownership. The store looks great! Lots of remodeling, and lots of new products.

Our lesson today will be on Chewing.

My dachshund chews constantly. The good thing, is she doesn't chew on my furniture, shoes, or anything else. This is because I always have things for Greta to chew on! Her favorites are Cow kneecaps, pig ears, bully sticks, sheep trachea, and cow hooves. Notice a theme? Yup - they're all natural. No beefhide or rawhide for my puppy!

I stay away from rawhide because it can be dangerous. It is possible for your puppy to chew off a piece and swallow it. One of the problems with rawhide is that it doesn't soften when your puppy chews on it - that little piece she swallowed stays hard and sharp and can damage her throat, stomach, and intestines, leading to mucho expensive vet bills and pain for your puppy. Not every puppy will experience this, but I prefer to play it safe.

Most dogs will love chewing on the pig ears, and kneecaps because they are smoked and they smell like food. If your puppy doesn't show any interest in the trachea or hooves, you can smear or fill it with some peanut butter or cream cheese to generate interest. Then your puppy will find out that it is very satisfying to chew on.

Make sure at least one of these items are always available to your puppy - I always leave a cow hoof laying around. They don't get sticky or gross when the puppy chews, unlike the others. Then, every so often I give one of the other chews.

If your puppy insists on chewing on items that are forbidden, you can spray them with bitter spray available at most pet stores or, for furniture or woodwork, you can wrap it in tin foil...have you ever accidentally bitten down on your fork? Same idea...it's icky to chew on metal. Incidentally, this also works if you have a cat that likes to scratch your furniture.

Biting and Chewing on hands...

This is a super common complaint - especially with a puppy. Your hands are always moving and they smell like you so they are very stimulating to a puppy. I have found that the best way to handle this is to just ignore it. You don't want to reward the puppy for chewing - examples of unknowingly rewarding your puppy for this behavior include: pushing the puppy away, pulling or tugging your hand away, swatting at the puppy, telling the puppy to stop or yelling at the puppy. All of these make it seem like a game!

Just let your hands go limp. The puppy will try to keep chewing on your hands for a few seconds, but if you just let your hands be limp and boring your puppy will stop. Once he stops, you can continue the activity your were doing. If he starts chewing or biting again, your hands go limp again. After a few repetitions of this your puppy will realize that everytime he tries to mouth or bite your hands, you stop playing. Your puppy will phase out this behavior.

The theory behind this method is that you are rewarding your puppy by playing and interacting with him when he isn't biting or chewing. When he bites, all of that positive interaction goes away when you make your hands be limp and boring. This is positive reinforcement at a very basic level.

New Puppy?

Bringing home a new puppy can be exciting, but it is also alot of work. Where do you start?

You should let your puppy get used to it's new surroundings for the first 24 hours. In that time, you should observe your puppy, play if your puppy seems to want to, and make sure he's eating, drinking and eliminating. After your puppy is settled, you can start training!

Sit, down and roll over are basics and most people jump right in to training these. I suggest starting with some training that will help later on. These are the first things I train my new puppy:

1: Crate Training
2: Potty Training (I'm writing a post exclusively for all the different ways to potty train)
3: Their name

Crate training is important - it sets the stage for potty training. You want to make the crate an AWESOME place to be. If your puppy is happy in his crate, it will be easier to leave him alone.

*Sit in front of the open crate with your puppy and some awesome treats.
*Toss a treat into the kennel. When the puppy goes into the kennel to get the treat, click.
*Another way, is to lure them with a piece of treat. Remember to only use the actual food for 3-5 repititions, then use only your hand. You can turn this into a hand signal very easily (I can point at my puppy's kennel and she hops right in).
*Click and treat for your puppy choosing to stay in the kennel
*Release your puppy, more often at first then after longer and longer periods in the kennel. Remember to ALWAYS release your puppy. I use the release word 'OK!' while relaxing my body language as a visual signal.
*After your puppy chooses to stay in the kennel reliably, you can start closing the door a little bit and clicking and treating.
*When you can close the door and latch it completely, you start making small movements away from the kennel and also clicking and treating. Continue this until you are walking out of sight of your puppy, then clicking and coming back to treat.
*Your puppy should not be whining or jumping or barking - if they are, you've moved too fast and need to go back to a step that your puppy is ok with.
*Work on this occasionally to reinforce it. Also, work on this in different situations - like at other people's homes, at the vet, in the car, etc.

Teaching your puppy their name, or an interrupter noise (like the kissy-kissy sound) is very convenient. You can use their name, but only if you promise not to devalue it by over using it. An interrupter noise is very usefull for calling your dog away from things it shouldn't be in.

*Have your puppy in front of you. He should be interested in the treats you have.
*Say your puppy's name, or make the kissy sound, and then click and treat as he looks at you. He can look at any part of you, your leg, your shoe, your hand. You don't have to ask for eye contact at this point.
*Once he is looking at your body consistently, you can ask for direct eye contact, then click and treat.
*Practice this without any distractions at first, then slowly add in distractions. Once your puppy is consistent with each distraction you add you can move on to another.
*Make sure to practice this outside as well. This is a good foundation for off leash recall. If you can get your puppy to look up at you with all the sounds, sights and smells that surround him outside, you've done a great job.

You can teach these all at the same time. Use several short training sessions throughout the day, working on only one of these during a session.

Random Update

I've been trying to put together a 'case study' post - details about dogs that I've trained from start to finish, but it's so hard to remember exactly what I've done with certain dogs and what their problems were. I think I'm going to wait until I have a new client so I can follow their training from start to finish. This will give you guys a good idea of my training technique, as well as giving some real life scenarios and possible solutions.

I have a few people who are interested in having a professional trainer help them out - one is a cocker spaniel with an aversion to being crated. Another is a Lab mix with what sounds like a little bit of dog aggression and issues with being leashed around other dogs, along with your normal jumping up and barking problems.

An Introduction to My Animals!

Sven, Logan and Ptashka:
These are my birdies. They are a trio of cockatiels that my sister-in-law and I rescued from a woman who just had too many birds. She had 5 'tiels in one cage, so we took them and split them up. My birds don't really love people, rather I am tolerated in their cage as the bringer of noms and toys, but I love my birds and I have them in a HUGE cage with a rotating stock of toys and treats.



Scotch (aka Scotches, baby Scotch, Cat, Cat-face):
Baby Scotches is a kitty. I got him at the pet store I work at. He was dropped off with his two brothers at the backdoor during a bad snowstorm. The vet thought he was about 3 weeks old and he wasn't weaned. We fed them with syringes and spoons and got them weaned eventually. They came in with worms and fleas, so they were very tiny. His two brothers got adopted right away and he stuck around for a couple of weeks, so I would carry him around on my shoulder when I was at work because I felt bad for him. I ended up taking home my little 2 pound kitten and he grew into a 12 pound cat with a ridiculously long striped tail!



Greta (aka Gretzky):
Greta is my Mini Dachshund. We are in the process of moving so she lives with her Auntie Dar (my sister-in-law) and her pack of hounds (there are 5!). We probably weren't ready for a dog, but I fell in love with her. It wasn't that I particularly wanted a dachshund, or even a dog, at the time. I just wanted her. She has the sweetest personality and she is so naughty! She has developed a habit of peeing on Auntie Dar's stuff...just her stuff tho. I don't really know what to make of that but hopefully it will go away when we get her home. I have big plans for our little puppy: I'll start with basic obedience and do the Canine Good Citizen Test. I'm trying to decide where to go after that, though. I'd like to do either Rally Obedience or Canine Freestyle. We'll be doing both eventually though. I'd also like to have her take a therapy dog test as well. And of course she'll learn all kinds of useless tricks, like blowing bubbles and 'cop cop' just so we can show off.

'Default Leave-It' Training

I learned about this method of training the 'leave-it' command from a vlogger with a youtube channel, Kikopup. She's a trainer out of San Diego and she has some great training techniques that I've started to adopt. She calls this a 'default leave-it' because this should be the first thing you work on with your dog or puppy. It stops them from attacking the treats and also teaches them the process of clicker training.

The Process:

Sit down with a bowl of really great treats (keep them out of reach of the dog!). Have your dog or puppy in front of you.

Place a treat in one hand and your clicker in the other. Close your hand around the treat and hold it out to the dog. Your puppy will probably try to bite, lick or paw your hand. DO NOT LET THEM GET THE TREAT!!!

Wait them out. When your puppy makes a movement away from the treat, either to look at you or to sniff the ground, or to turn away, you will click and treat from your other hand. Don't give them the treat that they were trying to get.

Continue to do this until the dog looks at your hand or sniffs it, then looks back at you, waiting for the click and treat. You'll know when your dog has figured out the process... they will have no interest in the treat in your closed hand. Now up the ante - offer the treat in an open palm and do the same thing. When they've started leaving it alone consistently, add your verbal cue, either 'leave-it' or something else. I don't recommend using the word 'no'...it's too general and you'll end up over using it.

Continue this training for 5 minutes or so. Always quit when your dog has been successful, and before they get bored. If you can't hold your dog's attention, get a better reinforcer.

If your dog is just too interested in the treat in your closed hand, try using something more boring, like dog food, or a veggie, but still using meat as your reinforcer. Guaranteed he'll want the meat more!

You should also try doing this training in other environments and situations - the more you can do, the more reliable your dog will be.

I was originally going to post about a really great way to begin clicker training by teaching your dog to 'leave-it' - but I figured that you probably wouldn't understand what I was talking about until I gave you a glossary of terms I use when talking about clicker training. So here it is! I'll post later this evening about teaching your dog what has been called a 'default leave-it'.


Glossary of Terms used in Clicker Training

Clicker
This is the item that makes the noise that marks a behavior. Technically, it can be anything, like a word (“Yes”, or “Good”), however a click is even more precise.

Click and Treat
First you click, then you treat – in that order. Try not to make a movement towards your treats or the dog until you’ve clicked otherwise the dog may associate your movement with the treat instead of the sound of the click.

Lure
A lure is a bit of food you use to guide or entice your dog to do something or move in a certain way.

Lure (a behavior)
To lure a behavior, you use a food lure to get your dog to move a certain way or move into a certain position.

Shape (a behavior)
You use shaping to create an end result that is somewhat complex. You reward small movements or milestones toward the final goal. An example is going in a crate: Treat for looking at the crate, then moving towards the crate, then their head in the crate, then one paw in the crate, then two, then their whole body in the crate, then sitting in the crate, then laying in the crate, they staying in the crate, then closing the door, then you moving away from the crate. All this to get a dog that lays calmly in the crate.

Capture (a behavior)
You can capture a behavior that a dog already does, like sitting, or cocking its head. You click and treat whenever the dog does this behavior throughout the day.

Reinforcer
A reinforcer doesn’t necessarily need to be a treat, though it most commonly is. It can also be a game of tug, a thrown ball or Frisbee, or a game of chase. Whatever motivates your dog the most is going to be your reinforcer. It is a good idea to change up your reinforcers, using those that motivate the dog the most.

Positive Interrupter
This is a sound, either the dog’s name, a kissy sound, or a whistle, that captures the dog's attention away from whatever it is doing and focuses it on you. When trained early and well, this can result in a dog that will leave almost anything when you call it.

Give Value
You can give people and objects value by pairing it with great reinforcers. This makes the object or person something interesting and positive for the dog. This is useful when training dogs with props and training to eliminate fears. During training, you end up giving yourself very high value with your dog.

High Value/Low Value
Reinforcers with a high value are great – your dog will work and do anything for them. If your dog seems uninterested or distracts easily during training, your reinforcers are low value and you need to get better ones.

Eye Contact
Asking for eye contact while training ensures that your dog is paying attention to you and only you. It also reinforces that you’re in charge.

Fading a Lure
When luring dogs during training, it is important to fade the lure within the first 5 repetitions, otherwise you end up with a dog that is dependant on food lures. This makes other behaviors very difficult to train.

Adding a Cue
Once your dog has consistently done a behavior, you can add either a verbal or visual cue to ask for it. It is important not to do this too early, as you don’t want to name a poorly executed behavior, rather only the perfect behavior that you want your dog to do over and over again.

My very first post, and the history of clicker training.

Well, this is my very first blog post, ever. I was a little slow getting on the band wagon. I suppose I needed to wait until there was something I felt strongly enough about to blog, and clicker training is it! I discovered clicker training while working at the Petland in my hometown. I originally started using it to train my birds, but have since started using it with my dog, and my cat (less so with my cat...he's just so cute, that I don't want to interrupt the cuteness with training sessions!).

The purpose of this blog is to bring more information on clicker training, and other positive reinforcement techniques, to the internet. It is my personal opinion that EVERYONE can train their dog...they just need some information and a little confidence. Not everyone needs to be the dog whisperer or a trainer with decades of experience - YOU can give your dog a more fulfilling life with clicker training and end up with a very well behaved dog that listens to you and stays out of trouble.

The History of Clicker Training:

Clicker training was first used to train pigeons, believe it or not. It began with Marian and Keller Breland and their flying pigeon show - the first in the world to use free ranging birds in their show. After Keller's death, Marian married a dolphin scientist in the US Navy. Together they trained dolphins and other species of birds to locate swimmers and take photos through windows.

Moving from there, clicker training has been widely used and is most recognizable as the method used to teach dolphins, whales and seals at SeaWorld. It took a very long time for the public to recognize the potential for this method in the home with dogs and cats.

The Advantages of Clicker Training:

Overall, clicker training is a very precise and effective method of training dogs. The clicker marks the exact moment your dog is doing something you want. Clicker training is used to shape, lure or capture behaviors. In a later post, I'll give you a complete glossary of terms commonly used in clicker training that will explain these three things.

The best thing about clicker training is that it creates a dog that THINKS! Once your dog understands the process, you'll find him trying different things to get you to click. His thought process will be something like this:

"Is it sit? No...down? No...beg? Nope...lets try shake...not that either. Maybe I need to roll over? YES!!! TREATS!!!!! LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!!!"

Your dog will become so inventive and creative that you'll have to laugh at the crazy things he thinks you want him to do.

So your first step to begin clicker training? Get a clicker. Go to a petstore - most of them have cheap little clicker boxes and that's all you really need. Next step is to get some high value reinforcers, also known as treats. Most of the time a store bought treat will not be enough, especially when you start training more difficult behaviors. I prefer using tiny pieces of hot dog, cheese, and chicken. If I want to make it an even more awesome reinforcer, I zap it in the microwave to warm it up and it becomes SOLID GOLD! I can get a dog to do anything for a piece of warmed up hot dog or chicken. We'll talk more about reinforcers later, too.

Up next tomorrow....'Introducing your dog (and you) to clicker training. Your first lesson.'