Thursday, July 06, 2006
Garbage-Raiding Dogs: One Simple Solution to the Problem
Got a mischievous mutt on your hands? Then you may know thisscenario. You walk in the door and your pal greets you withelated tail wagging, wiggling and sloppy doggy kisses. Thensuddenly, he's overcome with a guilty look and it's off to cowerbehind the couch. Uh-oh. You know what this means. Sure enough, atelltale trail of eggshells, coffee grinds, grease stains andtattered wrappers leads you to the scene of the crime: thekitchen. Your dog's done it again, raided the garbage.You've tried whacking him, you've tried gating him, you've puthim in dog house solitary for a few hours as punishment. Still,no matter how much you holler and scold, your dog's still up tohis no-good hijinks with that darned kitchen trash pail everytime you leave the house. What's a frustrated dog owner to do?First of all, let's think about who we're dealing with here. It'sa DOG. He might be your lovable pal, and at times he seemssmarter than your husband, but the truth is, here's an animalthat's at least two steps down on the food chain. Justremembering that fact alone may help you realize that your dogdoes not have advanced reasoning capacity.Okay: now that we have the pooch perspective on higher learning,we can reason out the situation in a way that your dog will neverbe able.If your dog is home alone, bored out of his doggy mind, he'seventually going to find his way into the kitchen. Sniffingaround for a dropped crumb under the table, maybe doing a littlecounter-surfing on the sly. Then, he follows his nose to thefermenting dog buffet that you call garbage... and, half crazedfrom having to beg for his every meal, he immediately beginsharfing down every delicious morsel. He can't help himself!When you come home hours later and push your dog's nose into themess while spanking his fanny, his limited brain is not evergoing to master the long-term cause-and-effect of whygarbage-raiding is bad and leads to a beating. In this immediatesituation: he knows three variables: him, you, and the garbage.>From that simple vantage point, your pushing his nose into thegarbage equals a scolding.However, when you're NOT there, that's only TWO variables: him,and the garbage. To him, that means "Let's chow down!" Later,when you come home, he's well-forgotten the garbage-raiding spreeand only knows that 1. he's happy to see you, 2. there's garbagearound, and 3. you're yelling at him. But he doesn't ask "Why?"because he has no ability to reason.How are beatings and scoldings going to keep him from going onhis trash rampages? They're not!You can use simple Pavlov-style behavior conditioning to makeyour dog behave through positive reinforcement. The trick to thisis repetition of a single stimuli: Command, execute, reward. Allof this is immediate. It's also the reason dogs bark every timethey hear a doorbell on the TV. But we'll never be able toexplain to the dog that the doorbell on the TV is not the realdoorbell. And you'll never convince him that if he stays awayfrom the garbage he won't get a walloping. If you can, then Isuggest you have him join MENSA, because that is one genius dog!So, the real solution to the garbage raiding predicament is this:you're going to have to move the garbage out of your dog's reach.It's a simple fix for an annoying problem, and probably the onlyreason why you haven't done it already is because you don't wantto change your stuff around for a dog. Well, you're not doing itfor the dog! You're doing it for your own peace of mind.Now, where can you move the garbage to? You can pick it up andplace it on top of the washing machine, if that's behind a nearbydoor you can close. You can rearrange the cleaning products underyour kitchen sink and fit it under there, and then buy or fashiona lock for the cabinet door. You can shut it in the garage onyour way out. You can hoist it up on a countertop that your dogcan't jump up on. You can stow it away in the bathroom.There now, was that so hard? You didn't have to spend tons ofmoney on dog obedience classes. You didn't have to go through theheartbreak of laying into your little pup when he's giving youthose big, sad eyes. And best of all, you didn't have to comehome and Febreeze the living heck out of your living room rug.Move the garbage. For the love of dog!
Why Won't My Dog Listen to Me?
To make something right you sometimes must paya price. It doesn't matter if it's money or time.In the end you must pay a price. With your dog youare heading for many frustrating days and or nights.When you first signed up for this newsletter and Ibecame aware of you I assumed you needed helpand you needed it fast. Well I am an expert ondog training and behavior modification. You have to let me help you. I promise not to fail you.It is ever so difficult to help you if you aren'twilling to make the effort to modify your dog's behavior.Please don't become offended when I say somethingto you. Sometimes when one reads a sentence theyfeel is being directed at them, it causes them to getupset. I would never offend you. I will howevertell you the truth.I ask you in the last special issue to change your wayof thinking. You have to treat our contact together asif you're visiting my academy for dog training. Thisisn't the type of newsletter that shows up in your inboxfilled with jokes or love quotes. The content in thesenewsletters would cost several hundred dollars tolearn from top pros.
respect and more respect is the initial goal.
You must get the point across to your dog that he must
respect you at all times or suffer the consequences. Theconsequences are of course the correction. Onceyou've successfully become the alpha you'll findit extremely easy to train your dog.Many of you are trying to do to much to fast. This first goal is being promoted to alpha status.The newsletters will accomplish this. The second goal is successful dog obedience. The final goal is to remain in charge at all times.Many of you are saying your dog is to hyperto train. He's hyper and won't listen to youbecause he doesn't respect you. You have to give your dog a firm reason to believe hemust comply with your commands. So many ask what is a correctionand how do you do it.It doesn't matter that you have a prong collar.You must know how to correctly use it. Beingable to issue motivational corrections is thefastest way to get the point across. Your dogwill learn to do what ever it must to avoid acorrection.
respect and more respect is the initial goal.
You must get the point across to your dog that he must
respect you at all times or suffer the consequences. Theconsequences are of course the correction. Onceyou've successfully become the alpha you'll findit extremely easy to train your dog.Many of you are trying to do to much to fast. This first goal is being promoted to alpha status.The newsletters will accomplish this. The second goal is successful dog obedience. The final goal is to remain in charge at all times.Many of you are saying your dog is to hyperto train. He's hyper and won't listen to youbecause he doesn't respect you. You have to give your dog a firm reason to believe hemust comply with your commands. So many ask what is a correctionand how do you do it.It doesn't matter that you have a prong collar.You must know how to correctly use it. Beingable to issue motivational corrections is thefastest way to get the point across. Your dogwill learn to do what ever it must to avoid acorrection.
How To Deal With A Dominant Dog
First and foremost, you must show your dog that hemust give you total respect. The easiest way to accomplishthis is to take away all privileges. That means confinement.Until you have completed training, and establishedyourself as the Alpha, your dog's life must be changed.In the beginning stages, your dog should be in acrate, kennel run or chained. He should have absolutely nofreedom. He must learn that you control his life.This is how it happens. When I put my dogs throughthis type of training, they began to look forward to it. AsI pulled up in my driveway, I could hear them acknowledgingthat I was home. When I looked outside, I found themstanding up, and alert as ever.They showed me they were ready to work. They knew Iwas in control of them and they weren't in control of me.My male is very dominant, so I knew I had to win him over inorder to win my female too. She had always looked to him forprotection.Please, don't feel bad about having to confine yourdog. It will last only as long as this type of training is inprocess. If your dog is a barker, then you should considerinvesting in an Innotek No Bark Collar. Some dogs will displaythis behavior (increased barking) when you change theirlifestyle.Now you can also issue corrections when your dog isbarking during late hours. It will fix the problem, but do youwant to get up at 3:00 AM to go outside and correct your dog?I don't think so. Get a no bark collar.Another strong point is to say what you mean and meanwhat you say. If you tell your dog to go into a down/stayposition, you had better make sure he does it. He should complywith anything you say. I can mow my grass with the lawnmower and my dogs will remain in a down/stay right near thearea where I'm mowing.They know they had better stay right there until Iissue a release command. This shows them they can trust me. Italso reinforces the fact that they can't do anything unlessI allow it. Mowing the grass in their immediate presencewas a strong distraction that I implemented for proofing.
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog More dog tips
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog More dog tips
Electric Collar Conditioning
One of the simplest and most humane training aids I have found for working with dogs is the electronic collar. This is a device which, when placed on a dog's neck, allows a trainer to deliver small electric shocks of varying strength by remote control.
It is also unquestionably the most controversial subject I'm ever likely to bring up in this training column. Many people quiver at the thought of administering a tiny jolt of electricity as a correction to their beloved pet, while not thinking twice about giving Fido a much more painful whack on the muzzle for stepping out of line, or hauling him, gasping, off his feet with a "choke" collar when training him to heel.
So this time in the interest of letting you know all about your training options, we're going to take the bull by the horns and give you an introduction to electronic collars. Let the bouquets and brickbats fall where they may!
The benefits of working with this type of collar should be obvious - the trainer can immediately correct a dog's mistakes at a distance far greater than leash training allows. This is a virtual necessity in training field dogs.
But the potential for abuse and misuse of these devices is also great. They should be used only by professional dog trainers, or after you have had proper training in how to use them. I even suggest that you visit a gun dog or field trial trainer to see current training practices and how dogs behave on the collars. If you are considering using an electronic collar, you need to be able to evaluate your own dog's "tenderness" to this training method. It could be that a remote control collar that delivers "noise only" stimulation is enough for your dog.
Basic collars and their costs vary. There are "bark collars" and "bark diminishes" that emit stimulation every time a dog barks. Some can be programmed to let a dog bark for up to thirty seconds before automatically firing off a small shock, so that your dog learns its okay to warn you about intruders, but not to bay at the moon all night.
The "training collars," however, are controlled by the dog handler and vary in working range from 200 yards to a mile. In some of the newer, more sophisticated collars, the transmitter allows you to vary the intensity of the shock without having to adjust the collar by hand.
To give your dog a fair shake, you must begin with conventional (line) training. An electronic collar is not an "easy out" or a magic time-saving device to speed up training. It is simply another correction tool, albeit a very powerful one.
As in line training, your being "on the ball" in terms of giving commands forcefully, rewarding good behavior enthusiastically, and making corrections immediately, means everything. The same No. 1 Rule applies in line training and electronic collar conditioning - do not use commands that you cannot enforce! If you want to call your dog to you and have no way to get him there if he refuses, then DON'T CALL HIM!
Initially, basic obedience skills reworked with the line and the collar on. The lowest effective shock strength should be used, just enough to see the dog twitch his ears. If he barks or howls, you've got the stimulation set too strong. To be effective, the electronic collar must be on very snugly so that the metal contacts connect with the dog's neck. It is very important not to shock the dog before the command is given! At Taproot Kennel, we introduce dogs to the electronic collar on the recall command, working several minutes a day on recall for four or five consecutive days.
If you are doing this at home, being in a quiet place, and then gradually increase your distractions. The premise is simple. Call the dog, and then administer the stimulation until he arrives at your side. The dog quickly learns that his safest place is with you, and that this extra irritation disappears when he is at your side. If training has gone well, you should be able to take your dog off the long lead line for recall training in about a week, and just work the dog with the electronic collar.
A dog that lives in your house often has the distinct advantage of knowing you all too well, and will capitalize on your faults as a trainer during sessions. Develop a way of giving commands authoritatively, without pleading or wheedling. An important part of these sessions is also to motivate your dog both before and after, with praise, enthusiasm, even treat rewards.
The electronic collar is most effective on behavior problems that have been resistant to other techniques, with the exception of unprovoked aggression. Excessive barking, car chasing, deer chasing, are all problems easily trained with electronic collars, if properly used. Other widely known successes include boundary training for dogs who must live in unfenced yards.
My own opinion is that once you've worked a dog on an electronic collar, you'll never be without one. An obedient dog will enjoy and share more of your life. I make no apologies for loving my dogs so much that I will use every modern training device to make their lives happier and safer
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog
It is also unquestionably the most controversial subject I'm ever likely to bring up in this training column. Many people quiver at the thought of administering a tiny jolt of electricity as a correction to their beloved pet, while not thinking twice about giving Fido a much more painful whack on the muzzle for stepping out of line, or hauling him, gasping, off his feet with a "choke" collar when training him to heel.
So this time in the interest of letting you know all about your training options, we're going to take the bull by the horns and give you an introduction to electronic collars. Let the bouquets and brickbats fall where they may!
The benefits of working with this type of collar should be obvious - the trainer can immediately correct a dog's mistakes at a distance far greater than leash training allows. This is a virtual necessity in training field dogs.
But the potential for abuse and misuse of these devices is also great. They should be used only by professional dog trainers, or after you have had proper training in how to use them. I even suggest that you visit a gun dog or field trial trainer to see current training practices and how dogs behave on the collars. If you are considering using an electronic collar, you need to be able to evaluate your own dog's "tenderness" to this training method. It could be that a remote control collar that delivers "noise only" stimulation is enough for your dog.
Basic collars and their costs vary. There are "bark collars" and "bark diminishes" that emit stimulation every time a dog barks. Some can be programmed to let a dog bark for up to thirty seconds before automatically firing off a small shock, so that your dog learns its okay to warn you about intruders, but not to bay at the moon all night.
The "training collars," however, are controlled by the dog handler and vary in working range from 200 yards to a mile. In some of the newer, more sophisticated collars, the transmitter allows you to vary the intensity of the shock without having to adjust the collar by hand.
To give your dog a fair shake, you must begin with conventional (line) training. An electronic collar is not an "easy out" or a magic time-saving device to speed up training. It is simply another correction tool, albeit a very powerful one.
As in line training, your being "on the ball" in terms of giving commands forcefully, rewarding good behavior enthusiastically, and making corrections immediately, means everything. The same No. 1 Rule applies in line training and electronic collar conditioning - do not use commands that you cannot enforce! If you want to call your dog to you and have no way to get him there if he refuses, then DON'T CALL HIM!
Initially, basic obedience skills reworked with the line and the collar on. The lowest effective shock strength should be used, just enough to see the dog twitch his ears. If he barks or howls, you've got the stimulation set too strong. To be effective, the electronic collar must be on very snugly so that the metal contacts connect with the dog's neck. It is very important not to shock the dog before the command is given! At Taproot Kennel, we introduce dogs to the electronic collar on the recall command, working several minutes a day on recall for four or five consecutive days.
If you are doing this at home, being in a quiet place, and then gradually increase your distractions. The premise is simple. Call the dog, and then administer the stimulation until he arrives at your side. The dog quickly learns that his safest place is with you, and that this extra irritation disappears when he is at your side. If training has gone well, you should be able to take your dog off the long lead line for recall training in about a week, and just work the dog with the electronic collar.
A dog that lives in your house often has the distinct advantage of knowing you all too well, and will capitalize on your faults as a trainer during sessions. Develop a way of giving commands authoritatively, without pleading or wheedling. An important part of these sessions is also to motivate your dog both before and after, with praise, enthusiasm, even treat rewards.
The electronic collar is most effective on behavior problems that have been resistant to other techniques, with the exception of unprovoked aggression. Excessive barking, car chasing, deer chasing, are all problems easily trained with electronic collars, if properly used. Other widely known successes include boundary training for dogs who must live in unfenced yards.
My own opinion is that once you've worked a dog on an electronic collar, you'll never be without one. An obedient dog will enjoy and share more of your life. I make no apologies for loving my dogs so much that I will use every modern training device to make their lives happier and safer
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog
DO’S AND DON’TS OF RECALL TRAINING
There are two basic parts to the "recall rule". The first is to always treat your dog or puppy nicely every time he comes to you – kind words or a pat on the head are a must because little treats reinforce the good feelings. The second rule is to have a line, from six to twenty feet long, on the dog so that every time you want him, you can get him back by simply reeling in the line if he doesn’t come on his own steam. With this method, the dog is held responsible for his behavior, but you have to make sure you do your part too. Repetition is a must, and you must be careful that the dog doesn’t get a chance to bolt from you while you’re reeling him in.
Even if the dog is standing still when you’ve called and the dog does not move, that still means that he’s not coming. If you have a line on him, reel him in. If you don’t, then go get him and bring him back to where you wanted him. When this happens, give no rewards, and also no punishment. He did neither what you wanted him to do, nor something bad by leaving, so you just want to downplay the situation and try again some other time.
Remember to enforce the behavior that you want immediately. Don't keep repeating a command over and over...the dog should respond to the first command. This process can be long. A month is certainly not enough, even a year may not be, but you’ll reap rewards for your diligence. But if it’s that simple, why do we have so much trouble getting our dogs to come? Probably because we didn’t do the above every time we wanted the dog to come to us. By not insisting Fido come every time we called him and on the first command to come when we started our training, we taught him he didn’t really have to do it.
Your dog learns a negative lesson if, after you’ve called him and he just sits there or trots off, you start chasing him around the yard. Wanting to throttle him when you finally catch him is a perfectly understandable human reaction. FIGHT IT OFF! Unfortunately, acting on these impulses will set you back even farther – your dog will start to fear you, particularly when you’re angry, and will try to put even more distance between you and him in the future.
A dog will be a dog, and he learns much from your actions. Picture yourself at 10 p.m. in your robe and slippers, letting him out before going to bed. If he doesn’t come right back in when you think he should, you stand at the screen door, unwilling to go outside in your pajamas, and start screaming his name. At this point, the dog doesn’t care that you feel foolish, frustrated, embarrassed and are in no position to chase him. He’s probably afraid of you by now, and will come in later when he darn well pleases. In a nutshell, you’ve unintentionally sent the dog away by not being prepared to reinforce your command RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW! Next time, resist the urge to put on your pajamas until the dog has been let out for the last time. Then, if he doesn’t come back in the first time you call him, go out in the yard and calmly, matter-of-factly, retrieve him immediately. The dog has to believe you will enforce your commands.
If, despite your best intentions and efforts, your situation has gotten out of hand and you’ve had some close calls, then seek professional help. Electronic collar conditioning may be your only or last resort, but you must have professional help for this process. Electronic collars, when used properly, can be a wonderful training device.
This sounds drastic, but remember that running away, or not coming when called, can result in serious injury or death to your pet. Untrained dogs are an endangered species. Just ask your humane society how many dogs are euthanized for behavior problems or are strays with no one to adopt them. If we are to hold our dogs responsible for their actions, we must be aware of what part we play in influencing their behavior as well.
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog
Even if the dog is standing still when you’ve called and the dog does not move, that still means that he’s not coming. If you have a line on him, reel him in. If you don’t, then go get him and bring him back to where you wanted him. When this happens, give no rewards, and also no punishment. He did neither what you wanted him to do, nor something bad by leaving, so you just want to downplay the situation and try again some other time.
Remember to enforce the behavior that you want immediately. Don't keep repeating a command over and over...the dog should respond to the first command. This process can be long. A month is certainly not enough, even a year may not be, but you’ll reap rewards for your diligence. But if it’s that simple, why do we have so much trouble getting our dogs to come? Probably because we didn’t do the above every time we wanted the dog to come to us. By not insisting Fido come every time we called him and on the first command to come when we started our training, we taught him he didn’t really have to do it.
Your dog learns a negative lesson if, after you’ve called him and he just sits there or trots off, you start chasing him around the yard. Wanting to throttle him when you finally catch him is a perfectly understandable human reaction. FIGHT IT OFF! Unfortunately, acting on these impulses will set you back even farther – your dog will start to fear you, particularly when you’re angry, and will try to put even more distance between you and him in the future.
A dog will be a dog, and he learns much from your actions. Picture yourself at 10 p.m. in your robe and slippers, letting him out before going to bed. If he doesn’t come right back in when you think he should, you stand at the screen door, unwilling to go outside in your pajamas, and start screaming his name. At this point, the dog doesn’t care that you feel foolish, frustrated, embarrassed and are in no position to chase him. He’s probably afraid of you by now, and will come in later when he darn well pleases. In a nutshell, you’ve unintentionally sent the dog away by not being prepared to reinforce your command RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW! Next time, resist the urge to put on your pajamas until the dog has been let out for the last time. Then, if he doesn’t come back in the first time you call him, go out in the yard and calmly, matter-of-factly, retrieve him immediately. The dog has to believe you will enforce your commands.
If, despite your best intentions and efforts, your situation has gotten out of hand and you’ve had some close calls, then seek professional help. Electronic collar conditioning may be your only or last resort, but you must have professional help for this process. Electronic collars, when used properly, can be a wonderful training device.
This sounds drastic, but remember that running away, or not coming when called, can result in serious injury or death to your pet. Untrained dogs are an endangered species. Just ask your humane society how many dogs are euthanized for behavior problems or are strays with no one to adopt them. If we are to hold our dogs responsible for their actions, we must be aware of what part we play in influencing their behavior as well.
www.dimensionservices.co.uk/dog
Monday, July 03, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)