can you hear me now?

Something I see all the time that continues to perplex me is this: Folks who are quite obviously using reward based training methods with their dogs yet who for some reason still feel compelled to deliver all verbal cues in stern/harsh tones of voice. The whole misconception folks have about needing to "use a firm tone of voice" so that the dog knows that you "mean it" is just mind boggling. It plays into the whole myth of dogs somehow being our "adversaries" and us needing to keep them in line. Here's something to consider: dogs are quite adept at noticing all kinds of nuances and components that make up a scenario, so it's easy to see how the vicious circle of "firm tone of voice" starts - the handler uses a "firm tone of voice" to deliver verbal cues hence that tone of voice becomes part of the whole training picture to the dog. Every so often the handler delivers a cue in a normal, non firm tone and the dog either doesn't respond, or responds more slowly. The handler assumes this is because they didn't use a "commanding" enough voice, whereas the more likely explanation is that the dog recognizes the cue when it's delivered in the "stern" voice and when it's said in normal tones the dog is unsure if it's the same cue because part of the picture has changed. Usually in this case the handler will then adopt "stern voice" and deliver the cue again and the dog has a lightbulb moment "Ah, I recognize that cue now!" and responds, thus perpetuating the handler's belief that they have to "sound like they mean business" all the time. Personally, given the choice of a lifetime of delivering cues in "stern voice" or one spent giving cues in "pleasant voice", I'm going to opt for the latter option. My dogs have learned all their cues delivered in a conversational tone of voice, and respond beautifully to it. If one of my dogs doesn't respond to a cue, then I'm going to make it easier for them to understand by following the verbal cue with a hand signal/lure. Or maybe I need to make the task easier, or find a location to work in with less distractions. When we're working with our dogs we're teachers, so what kind of teacher do you prefer to be - one who finds a way to communicate their message clearly, guided by patience and understanding? Or one who gets exasperated and resorts to anger and threatening tones?

Notice that I choose to use the term "training cues" vs. "training commands" - again, it may seem like much of a muchness to some, but there's a big difference to me - I'm not ordering my dogs around, or being the boss of them - we're in a partnership, and it's a pretty awesome one if I do say so myself. In a good partnership you work together and help each other out. In a bad partnership you bully, threaten and intimidate, which doesn't really sound like much of a "partnership" now, does it?

Summer is winding down here (not that you'd know it with the late heatwave we've been having!)and we've had a lot of great adoptions. Here's looking forward to the Fall, cooler weather, and more critters finding great new homes!

Through A Dog's Eye's - don't miss this show coming up on PBS!

Just wanted to let everyone know about a program that's going to air on PBS in the next few weeks - it's called "Through a Dog's Eye's" and is about service dogs. If you go to the PBS website they've got some sneak preview clips up and it looks like it's going to be awesome! The thing I really love, from what I've seen of the sneak previews, is that the group the program follows, Canine Assistants, advocates the use of positive, reward based, pain and fear free training methods! At every opportunity they are promoting how effective these methods are, how dogs learn, and debunking myths like dominance theory etc. One of the trainers in one clip makes a particularly astute point when he mentions that many of the folks who'll be getting a service dog from them have limited mobility and need to be able to ask their service dogs for behaviors without having to use force or the threat of force. All the Canine Assistant dogs are clearly and quite visibly working for their handlers because it is a rewarding task for them, and not because they're afraid of being punished. I'm really looking forward to seeing the entire program when it airs - we need more shows like this on television, ones that encourage teamwork and building relationships with our critters based on trust, not intimidation. Our dogs aren't our adversaries, and this program is a great example of that fact. Here's a link to the program, tell all your critter loving friends about it!

Through a Dog's Eyes

UPDATE: Got a chance to see the above program last night (it aired earlier this week but you can still view it in it's entirety online). It was pretty cool to see all the stuff the service dogs can do, and all of it trained via positive training methods, and pretty inspiring to hear that the gal who is the founder of Canine Assistants herself suffers from MS. It was also interesting to see that even with 18 months worth of training, a few of the dogs were not able to handle the stressors involved in assisting someone with disabilities. I think it was important for that to be shown to the viewing audience so that folks could see that there isn't some "Lassie Saving Timmy from the Well" gene that makes service dogs superhuman (or more correctly "superdog") and therefore unaffected by stress.

This year's Business of Saving Lives conference here at ARF has come and gone and the consensus is that it was a roaring success. There were lots of great speakers on offer, great attendance and general excitement and enthusiasm about all of the information being shared. Jean Donaldson was the first keynote speaker on the opening day of the conference and she was brilliant - she spoke about some of the commonly bandied about myths regarding dogs and their origins and behavior. Presenting her information in engaging style, full of insights and humour, she was hands down my favourite speaker. In a world where media created celebrities try to outshine real facts and science we are lucky to have someone like Jean Donaldson flying the flag for facts, not fiction. Dr. Tess Kommedal's sessions appealed to both cat and dog folk and proved to be very popular. There were some great practical presentations, such as Bay Area dog trainer Kim Moeller, formerly of the Behavior Dept. at the SF SPCA, speaking about evaluating dog-dog skills in the shelter/rescue environment. For cat folk, there was Mikel Delgado and Dilara Goksel Parry, owners of Feline Minds, cat behavior consulting, talking about behavior modification for cats in a shelter setting. They too have a sheltering background, having both worked in the cat behavior department at the SF SPCA for many years. They were definitely another weekend highlight for me. Other presenters during the weekend covered topics such as volunteerism, internet marketing, nutrition and alternative medicine. This year's conference has certainly set the bar high for next year's one, so here's looking forward to BOSL 2011, and another stimulating and informative weekend!

We've had some notable adoptions this past few weeks - wee Caboose, the unofficial Behavior Dept. supervisor went home finally. It's been brilliant to watch her morph from an overwhelmed wee thing to the sassy and brassy Caboose that we all know and love. We're delighted that she finally got the happy ending that she so richly deserved! I miss watching her gallop around the office playing with her foster brother, Lincoln. Denver our big goofy boxer guy went home as well, as did little Tim Tam - hurrah!

Flirt Poles and The Terrier

We have a great dog here at the shelter named Shelby. She is an awesome dog with a load of energy. Because she is a bit of a steamroller with other dogs, we were looking for a way to bust her energy and work on manners training with her. Intro the flirt pole and we have our answer!

Essentially it's a PVC pipe, with a rope inside and a pom-pom on the end... but to Shelby, it's the most fun ever! Many dogs love this activity and will expend multitudes of energy chasing and pouncing. It's also a great opportunity for impulse control.

Here is a video of Shelby from last week playing with the flirt pole. Fast forward to this week, she has learned to "leave it" until instructed to "take it" and her sits and downs are cleaner than ever! By the end of our flirt pole session, she is ready to take a power nap in her condo! Energy busted!






The flirt pole is easily constructed and can be used for dogs big and small- you just need to adjust the size of the pole and pom-pom to the size of the dog.

rambling thoughts about dog training in the new decade, with a tip of the hat to the internet....

So we're only a few weeks into the new year and there has been all kinds of activity here at Intake and Behavior: Shelter trainer Lindsey is back from maternity leave and we're delighted to have her around the office again, as are all the dogs I'm sure. We've also expanded the department, adding a third Intake and Behavior Specialist position and this week have welcomed Alicia P. to the team! She's moved over from Animal Care and it's going to be awesome having an extra person on board! Hopefully now that we're fully staffed again, and the hectic holiday season is past, we can get back to posting here more frequently!

So, like many trainers, I subscribe to all kinds of training and behavior related online mailing lists, message boards and forums. It's kind of mind boggling how the internet has opened up so many avenues to the dog training community - there are online groups for folks who own/work with: shy dogs, dogs with separation anxiety, dogs who resource guard, reactive dogs. There are groups and message boards for clicker training enthusiasts, agility aficionados, shelter trainers etc etc. I recently got the online newsletter that British trainer Kay Laurence sends out - she is, to quote Karen Pryor, "one of the world's top clicker trainers....". There was one particular sentence in it that jumped out at me: Training is a process, not an event. Kay was writing about how people sometimes have the misconception that training is an event, something that begins when you enter training class and ends when you walk out the door. Or that it begins when you pick up the clicker, and ends when you put it down. So not true. Kay's goal is to get her students to shed that mindset, so as to better train their dogs. Humans continue to learn for their entire lives - we learn the best routes around town to avoid traffic, we learn new skills via new jobs/new hobbies & interests, we gain new knowledge from reading about topics that interest us. Learning didn't stop just because we left school. Similarly our dogs continue to learn for their entire lives. Therefore training, which is learning, is something that should be seen as ongoing, part and parcel of sharing our lives with dogs. If we fail to recognize that then I don't think we'll be able to get the most from our relationships with these amazing critters. It also got me thinking about something we say a lot as regards working with dogs with behavior problems - that when you're working with, for example, a resource guarder, you should be either training or managing at all times - you're actively doing behavior modification training with your dog, or when you can't, you are managing your dog so that they can't continue to rehearse the undesired behavior. Kay's quote reminded me that ideally we're doing this (training or managing) with all dogs, whether they exhibit problem behaviors or not, because training is a process, not an event. When we can't train, because let's face it, there are times when life happens, then we need to manage the environment and our dogs, to set them up to succeed, by not giving them opportunities to learn or enact the wrong behavior.

So how does this rather rambling post relate to shelter dogs? Simple: many dogs end up in shelters because their original owners never took the time to train or socialize them properly. On top of that, it's likely that their owners didn't know how to manage their dog's behavior either, to prevent it from escalating. As Dr. Ian Dunbar said when he spoke at the Business of Saving Lives conference here last year "Shelter dogs are created..."

Speaking of Dr. Dunbar, if you haven't yet checked out his DogStarDaily website, you really, really should - there is new content added all the time: blogs, photos & video clips submitted by members, downloadable training manuals (Before You Get Your Puppy & After You Get Your Puppy are both available for download), all kinds of training tips and advice, and "DogStar TV". An interesting and enjoyable way to while away some time online and a must for new dog owners - I have a friend who lives with his family in the rural Irish countryside. They've been wanting to get a puppy, but live literally hundreds of miles away from the nearest trainer. I love the fact that I'll be able to send them to DogStarDaily to learn everything they'll need to know about raising their new critter! See how I've cycled this post back to my opening paragraph about the mind boggling possibilities the internet has opened up for the dog training and owning community?

So as we embark on a new decade it's pretty clear that there's never been more access to information and support for the average dog owner. Here's hoping that folks take advantage of the wealth of information out there and utilize it. In the sheltering world we commonly set ourselves the goal of wanting to rescue more animals each year. Well I'll let you in on my secret wish - it's that as the decade progresses I'd like to see shelters like ourselves save less animals, because if more dogs get the socialization and training that they need as puppies, and ongoing throughout there lives, then there will be less animals needing to be saved. Combine that with continuing to spread the message about spaying and neutering and the possibilities are mind boggling to say the least.

Here's to the new decade!

puppy + foster family + socialization x 100 = great start in life!

What could be cuter than a basket full of sleeping wee puppies?

Every few weeks the intake team brings back several litters of underage puppies, some still with their ma, and some without. That we're even able to do this is down to a great and coordinated team effort between the source shelter and ourselves, our foster coordinator and our volunteers. Generally we'll find out beforehand from staff/foster volunteers at the source shelter that they've got some underage pups for us. When it's only one or two litters we'll usually have them travel back in crates in the cab of the rescue truck with us - this is a sometimes noisy, and sometimes odoriferous experience! But many times we'll have too many litters to be able to fit up front with us, so we'll rustle up a volunteer to wagon train down to the Central Valley with us in a smaller van. Their generous donation of time and driving prowess allows us to save multiple litters at one time and get them transported back to the shelter completely separately from the adult dogs that we pull, hence lowering the risk of the pups being exposed to disease.

Upon arrival of the puppy transport back at ARF, they're met by our foster coordinator Erika, and a bevy of expectant foster volunteers, not to mention some of our animal care staff who help Erika clean up some of the pups who've had a bit of a, shall we say, messy journey!

You might think that these puppies "start" their new life once they're adopted, but in actual fact their new life begins the moment they're handed over to their new foster family. Every pup we bring back is a "blank slate" as it were, everything they experience is a learning experience. Fosters don't just serve to provide a warm, safe place in their home for the pups to develop and grow - they also play a huge role in introducing these wee critters to the sights, sounds and experiences they'll encounter in life. Puppies need to meet folks of all shapes and sizes, and kids of all ages. They need to be handled all over and regularly, in a manner that is positive and enjoyable, so that they grow up to be comfortable being handled and take it all in their stride. We ask our pets to accept all kinds of invasive handling by people they hardly know - being restrained at the vets office, getting their nails clipped by the groomer, but there isn't a "handling rocks" gene, so it's the job of us humans to set our pups up to succeed by teaching them that handling rocks!

When the pups are old enough to go up for adoption they'll return to the shelter and we'll conduct their puppy evaluations - definitely a fun part of the job, as it's always fascinating to see all the different personalities in each litter. Then they're ready to embark on the next leg of their journey, and hopefully well prepared for it thanks to the effort put in by their foster family!

Raider Nation Cat Celebration

ARF's second annual Raider's Nation Cat Celebration is off to a great start sending home some wonderful older and overlooked cats. From September 24th-October 25th ARF waives the adoption fees on all cats over one year courtesy of the Oakland Raiders. 8 year old Lela and 5 year old Waffles have found new, loving homes. 3 year old calico sisters Touchdown and Coach went home together. 3 year old Quarterback and snuggly staff favorite Slim have also left the building for their forever homes. But the highlight of the Celebration is shy and gentle Helen who lived at ARF for a year and a half and is now in a home of her own. So at the end of the first quarter that's a total of 14 adult cats who have scored loving homes thanks to the Raiders!

Rural Dog Syndrome

The majority of the dogs at ARF come from shelters in rural central California. Most adapt quickly to life in their new suburban or urban Bay Area homes. Others may take a bit longer because of what we have been calling "rural dog syndrome." I'll explain using my foster pup Jethro as an example.

We came across little Jethro in a kennel on the adoption floor of Madera County Animal Services. He was the first pit bull we had seen in their new adoption building so we figured he must have caught staff's attention to be lucky enough to make it up there. Turns out he came in as a stray covered in hundreds of ticks. While the patient shelter staff carefully pulled off all of the vile bloodsuckers little Jethro fell asleep on the table. When I met him in his kennel he showed me what a softie he was when he climbed into my lap to give kisses. Needless to say, he won himself a space on the truck.

Fast forward to Jethro in foster in Oakland. Whatever socialization he received in the rural town of Madera during his first seven months did not adequately prepare him for the change of scene he now finds himself in. He's quite noise sensitive, leaping up from a deep sleep to run to a window at the sound of a shopping cart full of cans and bottles rolling by. Everyday things can send him skittering away. This morning on our walk a gull the size of an adolescent pterodactyl swooped low over our heads and Jethro hit the deck. Walking up the stairs and over the pedestrian walkway spanning the train tracks is a trial that I've never given a thought to before now with Wilma, my well socialized dog who grew up in Berkeley.

It's not that Jethro has "bad" or "negative" associations about all the new sights and sounds he's encountering, more likely he has no associations or experience of them, so has no ability to process all the new stuff in his world. Finding ways to make Jethro think that all this new stuff rocks is ultimately what will enable him to thrive in more urban surroundings.

My job now is to help Jethro go from "country mouse" to "city mouse"- he absolutely loves people and that, and having a relaxed and easygoing sister dog helps him realize that things aren't really as scary as he he once thought. With patience, treats, and lots of positive experiences with the things he's never seen before, Jethro will be a happy boy, comfortable living in the busy Bay Area.