teaching

Basic canine manners


I put out chips, (my weakness) dip and a nice pinot noir.  Walking back and forth from the living room to the kitchen; it is there for the taking.  Elsa knows that she is not allowed to help herself.  She is so good about not touching the food and is rewarded for not scarfing it all back while I am out of sight.  Of course this takes a great deal of training; but well worth it.  


Responsibility fir basic canine manners fall solely on the humans in charge.  

Manners - ways of behaving with reference to polite standards.  

The level of manners from one household to another can vary vastly from one to the next.  I know people who live by the "no rules" way of life; both in their own interactions and their dog's.  There are those who have strict marine like rules to everything in between.  So what are manners and how the heck do you teach them to your dog?

Speaking for myself, manners are simple rules in life that distinguish one from knowing how to behave when around others.  Manners are manners; both for humans and our dogs.  Does your dog understand what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior?  Like I said, everyone has a different idea of what manners means so from one dog to another they can be tremendously distinct.

Some rules can be difficult to implement when you have visitors or you are out and about in the world.  Let's take Elsa as an example.  She is highly social and LOVES people.  This causes her to work harder on manners when people come over.  She has a difficult time trying to contain her enthusiasm; so when needed, I bring out the big guns.  Treats.  If I have a food item that is high enough value to tromp out the human value, she can be very mannerly.  Of course it depends on the human we are speaking about.  Plus, being overly social is not a huge and scary problem, just a physical one.  :)

Elsa knows very well that she is not suppose to leap up on people and rarely does.  Her excitement tends to stay on the ground; spinning and whirling around with excitement.  There are of course, those humans who don't abide by the "no jumping" rules; coaxing and rewarding her up on them, much to my disapproval.  When this does happen I will step in and correct the human and remind Elsa what the rules are.  Leaping up on people is not okay, at least not in my books.  

Humans who encourage dogs to behave badly, are not being the good leaders.  You may think that rules are mean and cruel.  You don't want to seem like the bad guy when a dog leaps on you.  So you encourage the bad behavior much to their owners displeasure.  Just because there is a dog or multiple dogs in the house; does not mean that chaos must ensue.  Chaos is chaos, adding dogs does not equate this unless you allow it to.  

Making sure our dogs are mannerly takes work.  That work should begin right from the start.  Implementing rules and regulations is easy; that is if you teach your dog what is and is not acceptable.  There must be consistency; which can be difficult when everyone is not on board.  

Having a mannerly dog is a joy to have around.  Your dog, your rules.  





Skateboarding



I was in the garage tidying up when Elsa came to the door.  She is not allowed to come in unless invited.  This is a safety precaution; in case someone happens to leave the outside garage door open.  It was safe so I told her "okay."  She came in and nosed around a bit before finding a skateboard.  I turned to see what she was doing and she was just standing looking at it.  Then I remembered teaching her about the skateboard when she was little.  She remembered and was hoping to get a click and treat for touching it.  So later in the afternoon I got it out and we picked up where we left off over two years ago.

Of course she already knew that we were going to work with the skateboard so she immediately gave it a push.  With a few clicks for a simple touch we moved onto the tougher stuff quickly.  I was only clicking when she left her foot on.  If she left it on while it was moving, she got a bonus load of treats. Often a new behavior has to be broken down into steps.  I couldn't expect her to just get on and go boarding.  We have to work up to that.  Once she was reliably giving me one foot on the board we moved to two feet.  This meant that she no longer got clicks for one foot and had to offer more.  What I want is for her to have her two front feet on it and walk around.

She is getting it for sure.  The training process with the skateboard is quite fascinating.  She is not only learning a new behavior but interacting a great deal with the board.  It rolls around and she has to go get it to continue; plus she is working with a moving object. She, like Luke is not a fan of things that move by themselves.  It is a good skateboard, so it moves easily and is constantly rolling away.  She goes to wherever it rolls; and steps out of the way when it is rolling her way.  This would be a wonderful exercise for any dog who may be afraid of a board.  Of course you would start with the board on the grass so it wouldn't move and very slowly work up to a smooth surface.

The biggest challenge was for me when I decided to video tape a bit of the process.  With a handful of treats and a clicker in the other hand; videoing seemed impossible.  Okay, Elsa understands "yes" as a substitute marker so I'd use that.  Sounds easy right?  Nope.  Every time she deserved a "yes" I shut the video off.  With marking the behavior on my mind I kept hitting the phone as my click and then saying "yes" after.  Timing is everything when using markers and having the phone in my clicker hand had me struggling for perfect time.  So the delivery of my "yes" is not perfect but we managed.   At least I got enough video for you to see what we were sort of doing.

Teaching is never a waste; even an activity like this is useful.  Watching Elsa think is the magic part. 

It's much more than obedience training



Having a harmonious relationship with your dog is about more than just obedience training.  I've seen many amazingly trained dogs who act like crazy dogs at home when they aren't in "training" mode.  The problem with training is that owners often think that there is a training time and a non training time; when in fact training time starts from the moment you add a new dog to your home until everything runs smooth.  This can be anywhere from a year, year and a half or more.  Even then you still need to be there for day to day guidance.  Rules and regulations to live by need to be instilled in your dog.  Not only those obedience commands; sit, stay, come and down.  Our dogs need to learn how to behave everyday; what is and is not acceptable behavior.

Do we dive all over visitors when they come to see us?   Well, that all depends who the visitor is (just kidding).   If our dogs have not been taught that this is not okay, they probably will.  Dogs will counter surf, sniff crotches and basically act like cave dogs if you don't teach them not to.  That means on a moment to moment basis.  You must always be in "training/educating" mode.  Seems like an arduous task? Maybe, but it is more than worth the effort in the long run.  I have seen five year old dogs who know nothing, driving their owners crazy, daily.  Had anyone ever taught the dog anything?  I'm thinking no.

I've met people standing in the park while their dog runs everywhere but back to them when called.  The owner shrugs and says "she never comes."  The dog is off doing everything but what the owner is asking.  By letting things slide the owner is teaching the dog that they can basically do whatever they want.  Just because running off leash is wonderful does not mean that all dogs should be partaking in the activity.  A owner who allows a dog to run free when they have no control over that dog is making many big mistakes.  First, it is dangerous for the dog itself.  Second, other people don't want to deal with a dog off leash.  Third, the owner is teaching the dog that they don't have to listen at all; they can do whatever they like without consequence.

I don't enjoy rude people and I certainly don't enjoy rude dogs.  Rude dogs are rude because their owner allows them to be.  I hate hearing "he doesn't come when called," as we watch a dog running all around the park and skirting the owner.  Much like when an owner complains about a dog counter surfing as they stand and watch it happen, while doing nothing.  The dog may do a mean "leave it" exercise while in training but forget about the real life situation.  The owner has dropped the ball in that department; but then complains that their dog ate their dinner off of the coffee table.

Guidance is a constant thing when you have a dog; especially when you have a new dog that has no sense of life in a human world.   They don't know that $2,000 beautiful piece of driftwood in the living room isn't just a stick like any other.  Dogs don't understand that they shouldn't dig in the house plants when they are allowed to dig in them outside.  Or that they are not allowed to dive and run all over the couch when visitors come over.  That is not unless someone has educated them on all of these life rules. 

Dogs are crazy smart; that is a fact.  If you don't educate them on living in your human world; they will live by their rules; because you have given them nothing else to go by.  This is when things go very wrong.  The human fails to teach the dog but blames the dog for being a dog.  Hmmmmmm......   Dogs need information, they need it on a day to day basis.  Just imagine, they come to us with a clan slate; most only know how to be a dog, the rest is up to us.    You need to teach them, they do not come uploaded with this information.

What are you teaching?



It's going to be another scorcher today.  Thankfully I spent much of yesterday in San Diego where it was at least 8-10 degrees cooler.  Still hot but not scorching hot.  When it is as hot as it's going to be today we spend much of our time indoors.  We will head out nice and early before the searing heat hits for a bit of exercise but then we'll be in the AC.  Because today will be another "inside" day I've decided to teach Elsa to go through my legs.  She already knows how to go through; but it is sort of willy nilly style.  She runs through getting all excited but now I want to fine tune the act. 

The other day as I was putting both Luke and Elsa's harnesses on when I thought about the lesson.  Hmmmmmm, I'd like Elsa to come through my legs from the back and slip into her harness.  She already does the very cute and adorable 'latch on' exercise before we leave; which is much like a seeing eye dog does for their owner.  I go to the place where the open button for the garage door is;  she pushes under my hand until I grab her harness.  Then the button is pushed and we can leave, but not until then.  I love it, she is so cute pushing under my hand trying to get me to grab a hold of her harness. 

So now I'm going to teach her to go through my legs and into her harness.  Luke and Elsa both where the Easy Walk Harness by Premier.  This harness is perfect for the exercise because the action required to get it on is exactly what is needed.  She will have to come from behind me; go through my legs, putting her head into the harness.  From that point she will be asked to continue moving forward while I do it up under her chest. 

Elsa gets very silly and overly excited when we are learning new behaviors.  She wants to cut to the chase and get the treat.  Being treat motivated is wonderful for learning new stuff.  Dealing with her over zealous behavior takes calm and cool behavior on my part.  I need to create a black and white scenario, no gray tones for this girl.  If she is on the wrong path I will mark that with a vocal error marker and stop.  Then we start again.  (More detailed instructions on working with over enthusiasm on my website soon).

So while the sun is at it's fullest and the heat is on; we'll be working hard on learning a new behavior.  It doesn't matter what you teach your dog; any new behavior or exercise is a good one.  Many dogs who have never been given the chance to learn have a difficult time with the concept.  Once a dog understands the premise behind learning; they are typically on board for more.  What are you teaching today?