Interactive or distracted?

Trainers frequently hear stories about dogs that perform great in training class but then don't seem able to transfer the skills they learn to the home setting, or dog reactive dogs that are fine in class but reactive in all other settings. Aside from the fact that folks should always make sure to "proof" the trained behaviors in a variety of different settings (different rooms at home, the backyard, the front yard etc.) there are also a few other things that potentially contribute to this scenario:

The owner is "present": at training class owners tend to be a lot more "present" with their dogs - not surprising as they've paid for classes so have a motivation to be there, plus they have the eyes of the instructor on them. Out and about on neighborhood walks this sometimes isn't the case - you might be distracted by that "FOR SALE" sign that's just gone up in front of your neighbor's house, or your friend has just texted you about dinner plans, or you're just plain exhausted after a long day's work. All kinds of things can conspire on a day to day basis to make us less "present" when we're out with our dogs than we ideally should be. Training and working with our dogs is a team activity and if one or both parties are a bit "checked out" then the results are not likely to be gold medal worthy!

Predictability: in the case of reactive dogs, the predictability of the training class setting could be what contributes to their lack of reaction when there. It's a place where by and large the other dogs on site are engaged with their owners and not (hopefully!) charging up towards them invading their personal space - it's a controlled setting. The combination of their owner being "present" and fully engaged with them plus environmental predictability likely go a long way towards helping some (not all!) reactive dogs be able to not react to the presence of the other dogs at class.

Rate of Reinforcement: this means how often we reinforce reinforceable behaviors. In other words how often we pay up when our dogs do stuff we like. One of the differences between trainers and the general dog owning public tends to be that trainers pay more often, notice more reinforceable behaviors and in the process keep the dog attentive and engaged with them. Certainly in a class setting, where the instructor and assistants are actively coaching the attendees, some owners may indeed be "paying" their dog more often, and in that setting reaping the benefits of a focused and responsive dog. Possibly that's not always the case in the home or out in the world with their critter, hence the phenomenon of the dog who'll be attentive in class but not at home.

On the subject of being "present" when we interact with our dogs, I recall reading something that Patricia McConnell wrote once (I have a feeling it was in her book "For The Love of A Dog") about how she felt it was important that we try to get out of the habit of absentmindedly petting our dogs while we're busy on the laptop etc., and instead get into the habit of breaking our gaze from whatever is fascinating us online and spend some brief quality time with our critters when they approach us in those circumstances. She feels that our dogs are capable of distinguishing the difference between "distracted mom petting me.." and "attentive mom petting me.." I think she makes a good point - yes, we lead busy lives and when we come home from work we're all trying to cram in whatever "me" time we can in our limited free time, but it only takes but a minute to pause and have a proper cuddle and wee chat with your critter. The internet isn't going anywhere after all, it'll still be there when you log on in the morning, but our critter's time with us is finite. Take home message? Put down whatever you're doing right now and go tell your critters how awesome they are!

Another interesting bit of information, kind of connected to our topic concerns a study that was published in Applied Animal Behavior Journal - it was looking at the connection between perceived behavioral problems in dogs and whether actively training your dog and engaging in shared activities (playtime, belly rubs, walks, car journeys etc) had any effect on that perception. What they found, not surprisingly, is that folks who are "interactive" with their critters experience less problems and when/if problems do crop up, those same owners are inclined to work with the problem rather than perceive it as a deal breaker and surrender or rehome their dogs. The study found that folks who did the bare minimum with their dogs were far more inclined to perceive any problems that cropped up as deal breakers, and had less acceptance or tolerance for normal dog behavior. Also there was a difference in what less involved owners perceived to be problems vs. what the interactive owners considered to be problems.

It reminds me of an incident that happened with my corgi mix, Stella, a few years back. She's a wee devil when it comes to chewing on hard cover books, so I had a tall bookcase where I kept the bottom three shelves empty, so that no books were within her reach. This worked out beautifully for awhile, and then one day I came home from work to discover that she'd somehow managed to get her paws (and jaws!) on this very old, out of print, rare and collectable book that a friend had given me for my birthday one year (a biography of an early 20th century English tattoo artist). She'd removed the book jacket and chewed up half of the cover, and nibbled on a few pages while she was at it. I was stunned mainly because I couldn't get over how she'd managed to reach it - it was on the top shelf of a 6 ft. tall bookcase! About a month earlier I had bought a little ramp to put beside the sofa so that she could get up onto it without jumping, out of concern for her back. Well, the wee rascal had somehow managed to move it (most likely inadvertantly while playing with my other dog) right up alongside the bookcase, then walked up it and my rare hardcover book was within easy reach for her. When I tell folks this story they usually assume that I must've got really mad at Stella, scolded her etc, and they're usually surprised to hear that I didn't, not at all in fact. Actually I was impressed with her ingenuity, the book jacket wasn't damaged so I was able to put it back on over the chewed up cover, I had a bit of a laugh about it, and that was that. Why on earth would I get mad at her? I was well aware that she finds hardcover books irresistible, and that I needed to keep them out of her reach. I thought I had done that, but hadn't accounted for the problem solving abilities of a determined corgi mix! But you know what? I'll bet if I was one of those folks who aren't interactive with their dogs, who do the bare minimum with them, then I reckon I would've perceived that whole episode as disastrous and possibly even deal breaking. I also would've likely perceived the incident as 100% the dog's "fault" - that was another thing the above mentioned study found, namely that folks who do very little with their critters tend to see problems that crop up as all being the fault of the dog vs. interactive owners who tend to recognize how they've played a part in setting up an environment where a problem might surface. Don't even ask me about the time I thought I'd use some rather pricey textbooks to elevate my laptop when I had it on the coffee table - suffice to say, laptop survived, textbooks are still useable albeit a wee bit rough around the edges, and dopey human (me) knows better now than to assume that Stella wouldn't notice two hardcover books sitting underneath the laptop!

We've had some awesome adoption weeks recently and it's been great to see so many of our critters here move on to the next phase in their lives! Summer time is usually quite busy for us adoption wise, so here's hoping that the pace keeps up and more dogs, cats, puppies and kittens find folks to call their own!

dogs aren't wolves, humans aren't apes, and the earth is round, not flat....

I recently stumbled across a great blog post from a UK dog trainer on the topic of why dogs aren't wolves and why we shouldn't be looking to "wolf pack theory" as a means to interact with our dogs. The blog was posted on the website of The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, a UK organisation who try to promote professionalism in the field of dog training/behaviour counselling, as well as the use of science based training techniques vs. pop mythology and outdated, outmoded, strongarm methods that rely on the use of force and pain. Here's a link to the blog post: David Ryan blog

It's amazing just how pervasive the whole "dogs were wolves once so we need to replicate pack structure in the home blahblahblah..." fallacy still is. I know people who've never even had a dog, yet they will spout off at length about "dogs needing to know who's the alpha etc etc etc.." and who'll bandy about the term "dominant" with wild abandon - mind boggling really. Entire careers have been made based on perpetuating this myth, by self styled "gurus" who want to instill a sense of unease amongst the dog owning public, making them think that their dogs are some kind of sly adversary, waiting for the right moment to stage a coup. Interestingly, none of these gurus have actually lived amongst and studied wolves in the wild. They also don't tend to have any background at all in animal behavior or learning theory. But hey, who needs all that academic guff when you've got marketing and celebrity culture on your side, right?

One fella who HAS lived with and studied wolves in the wild for 20+ years is biologist David Mech. Way back in the day, as a postgrad student, he too thought that wolves were governed by strict dominance hierarchies. He was studying captive wolves at the time, where he observed a lot of conflict going on. It was only when he went to study wolves in their natural environment that he realized that real wolf packs were actually family units, ma wolf, da wolf, the young 'uns, some adolescents who were still hanging around helping out but sometimes went off to start their own families. It also became apparent that the "man made" packs that he'd observed amongst captive wolves were just that - man made, not a natural family unit. It was just a bunch of non related wolves thrown together and expected to live with each other whether they liked it or not, in other words a completely unnatural situation, yet it's been used as the basis for "dominance theory" advocates ever since. David Mech pretty much hit the nail on the head when he made a statement to the effect that humans may be descended from apes but that doesn't mean that we look to Silverback Gorillas for tips on raising our kids - similarly dog owners shouldn't look to wolves for tips on raising their dogs. So after that rather long winded rant, what's the take home message? Simple really - your dog isn't your adversary: if your dog goes out the door ahead of you, he's not trying to exert his "dominance", he's just excited about wanting to go on a walk. If you don't like him barging out the door like that, ask yourself this - did you ever actually teach him to politely wait at the door instead? You can't expect him to do what he doesn't know.

The culture of blaming the dog for his perceived short comings really needs to stop. We're the ones who've asked another species to come live in our homes, so it's up to us to develop relationships based on trust and partnership, not fear or the threat of force. The last time I checked dogs were unable to do a Google search for "waiting at the door 101", and similarly they aren't able to grab the laptop and go to Amazon to order "Living Harmoniously with Humans for Dummies". Someone actually has to step up to the plate and take the time to teach them the skills they'll need to live with humans, and that someone is us. All of this bogus dominance "you gotta be the alpha", threats of force or pain stuff is just too "caveman"-ish if you ask me. So three cheers for the 21st century and let's have a big round of applause for patience, trust, clear communication, partnership and most importantly, viewing dogs as our companions, not our adversaries.

Lots and lots of great adoptions recently - it was particularly great to see Bookworm, Tim Tam, Deeley and Happy go home in recent weeks. Here's looking forward to more of our critters finding their forever homes, and in the meantime all of us at ARF will keep on doing our best to keep them all happy and healthy with plenty of time for play, training, power naps and snacks while they're here with us!