Awareness

by lennearbNo Comments
The way you see the world changes when you have a dog. Suddenly, you are aware of the movement of squirrels, the presence of rabbits, and deposits of trash and litter in a way you haven't been before. Many people find this startling the first time they get a dog. Of course, even experienced dog owners can be surprised by how interested their new hound is in scents or their new greyhound in quick-moving animals. Getting a new pet is not the only time we can have to make these types of adjustments. Changes in the family situation can require similar adjustments. Introducing a new cat or small animal into the family? You will need to be aware of it's location relative to your dogs. Having a baby or have a small child visiting? You need to arrange for constant supervision. Changes in your pet's health can also require adjustments. Currently, we are learning to be aware of potential dangers we've always...
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Selecting Quality Cues

by lennearbNo Comments
When I am teaching new behaviors, the first cue we work on usually derives from movements related to the behavior being taught. Most families will want to go on to teach at least one additional cue (often a verbal cue, which I will use for examples in this post) for many behaviors. Personally, I prefer for my dogs to have a verbal cue and hand signal for most behaviors. However, the most obvious verbal cue may not always be the best one. Humans tend to prefer cues that "make sense." Since dogs don't share our language, they are not concerned about these elements. Here are a few elements of good cues: Clarity "Supercalifragilistic" might be a lot of fun to say, but it doesn't make a very good cue. It's so long that it's hard to say consistently, and it's likely to be hard for your dog to distinguish as a cue rather than a collection of syllables. One or two syllable...
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Something Unseen

Something Unseen

by lennearbNo Comments
Sorry that I haven't written in a while. It has been a bit of a rough period. As you're about to read. I have discussed before what happens when we change the rules for our dogs, but the truth is, we don't have to change anything: life is always changing. A few months ago, we started noticing some changes in Sirius Black’s behavior. He was no longer reacting to, or even seeming to notice, wildlife along our walks, unless it crossed directly in front of us. He also showed some hesitancy on walks, above what could be expected from the hot weather. He also had accidents in the house at times when he never would have normally. We had no reason to particularly link these behavior changes, and, at first, we didn't. Then, about two weeks ago, he started walking into things. This wasn't just an enthusiastic dog who wasn't watching where he was going. He was walking straight into trees. He...
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Take a Break

by lennearbNo Comments
We all have daily routines that we can go through practically in our sleep. I don't need to be really awake to leash the dog up for his early morning bathroom break, or even to brush the cat’s teeth and feed her breakfast. These are all part of my routine. I frequently see clients whose dogs could basically walk their normal walk route without any guidance, because there is never any variation. And sometimes this is a good thing. Following the same routines can be soothing and can save our energy for other moments or decisions. But life is not predictable, and following the same routine too closely can leave us unprepared for the unexpected. If we always take the same walk, what do we do when construction on that street makes it unpleasant or unpassable? If we always do the exact same tasks in the exact same order, what happens when a new baby, or dog, or job requires a change...
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Origin of a Bad Habit

by lennearbNo Comments
This is a story about a pizza. Fortunately, given the fate of the pizza, it was not mine. But that's not really the point of the story. Once upon a time, let's say in June, someone left a pizza on the counter in my house and walked away from it. At this point, we had had Sirius Black for six years and eleven months, and he had no history of going after things on the counter. In fact, I had a somewhat problematic habit of forgetting things on the counter, and he never went after them. On the other hand, before this, they weren't ever hot delivery pizza. This time, they were. When the owner of the pizza returned, some period of time later, the pizza box was on the floor and the pizza was almost completely gone. Before pizza, Sirius had no history of reward for grabbing things off the counter. Frankly, the counter wasn't all that interesting to him. After the pizza, there...
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Recognizing Our Limitations

Recognizing Our Limitations

by lennearbNo Comments
This article came to my attention today via a couple of animal professionals I really admire. One of them asked for other professionals’ opinions. I thought about responding via Twitter, but I decided this topic deserves a more extended and thoughtful response. First, let me say that despite my background in both psychology and animal behavior, I am far from an expert in emotional support animals. I am a believer in the ability of animals to help us feel better, including by providing comfort during emotional upheaval and on-going mental crises. In fact my own professional career with animals had its modest beginnings when I sought out volunteer opportunities with animal rescues while in college because I felt sad. All that is to establish that while I don't know a lot about emotional support animals, I am open to the belief that in some circumstances, they may be just what the doctor—or therapist—ordered. What concern me about the article cited above, and...
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Happy Independence Day!

by lennearbNo Comments
Happy Independence Day! I hope this long weekend is spectacular—for you and your pets. Of course it will be, I can almost hear you thinking, friends, families, barbecues, fireworks... What else could we want? Of course, I agree that all these things are fantastic, but do your pets? As I have mentioned before, Fourth of July can be one of the most dangerous holidays for pets. Many pets get spooked by the sound of fireworks and end up getting lost. Any home firecrackers or sparklers can also pose a threat to any pets that are around while they are being used. And, of course, having guests in your home that are not used to being around your pet may result in things such as poisonous foods left at pet-level, open doors, and so on. So, make sure your Independence Day stays wonderful by following a few simple guidelines: If you're having people over, consider preparing a quiet, safe area for your pet out of...
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Back to Basics: Butts in Seats

by lennearbNo Comments
After starting this Back to Basics topic a few weeks ago with Attention and Find It/Name Game, I have allowed my own attention to wander a bit, but now it seems like a good time to refocus on basics, starting with the first behavior most people think about training a dog to do: sit. The ubiquity of the "sit" cue and the ease with which most dogs learn this behavior is both a blessing and a curse for dog training. Of course, it's a blessing to have a dog who will sit when you want him or her to do so. However, although many new students tell me that their dog knows a cue for "sit," a little investigation often reveals that the dogs do not know this cue out of it's usual context. One truth of dog training is that our dogs often do not focus on the same things we focus on. Humans are highly verbal, and we tend...
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A Quiet Walk in the Park

by lennearbNo Comments
When I left the house Saturday morning and spotted the sun, I admit I did a bit of a doubletake. What was that? After so many straight days of rain, it was easy to forget that the sun would be coming back again eventually. Since we did get lucky with some beautiful weather this past weekend, we decided to take advantage of it by going to the National Arboretum on Sunday for a walk. If you live in the DC area and haven't been to the Arboretum, it's well worth the trip. It's very family- and dog-friendly, but still has plenty of wide open places if you want to avoid getting too close to other people. Usually. That was less true than normal on Sunday, as the combination of sunny weather and Mother's Day had the Arboretum more full than I think I have ever seen it. If you are working on the basics of training your dog to be comfortable around...
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Who Needs a Hug?

by lennearbNo Comments
Should we hug our dogs? This is a hot topic around the internet today, so I thought it was worth a few thoughts. Dogs are typically not big into hugging (and often not big into petting, especially the short "pat pat" variety). These behaviors that are reinforcing to humans, which often leads us to believe (hope? wish?) that they are reinforcing to our dog as well. Such a belief is unfair to our dogs, since, after all, we appreciate their dog-like qualities in so many other ways. Who else will like our face when we're having a bad day or be so excited to see us, even when we have massive bedhead? I can almost hear you right now saying, "I hug my dog all the time and he's fine." Most of our dogs will tolerate some of these behaviors, at least from people they know. The level of tolerance will vary greatly from dog to dog. For each dog, it will...
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