[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Ryan I absolutely love your “why” before the introduction. Great presentation.

Although, I do recommend teaching the dog that the name simply means that they are being addressed and teach a “look” command separately you are free to make any instruction that makes sense to you and will flow nicely into future lessons. That is the beauty of understanding dog training vs mimicking.

Everything you explained in your post made sense to me.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Ryan thank you for posting! Love your editing! I feel like I am watching Animal Planet!

I like how you explain things very slowly and in simple terms. Nothing is overly drawn out.

I always ask myself if a 10 year old could follow along and perform what is asked in an instructional video and in this case I would definitely say yes!

Things I would suggest going forward:

– For the sake of time you may want to throw a text version only into the forums first in case there is an excellent critique thrown at you, that would have you consider editing the instruction.

– be careful with putting too much extra info that may not be necessary or repetitive if it will be covered in another video that the clients will definitely watch. What is “too much” can be a matter of opinion, but for instructional videos it is definitely good to find a format of “what, why, how, and when (goal is met)” that is in a predictable order with “extra info” thrown in as you feel fit for your style.

Really looking forward to your next videos!

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I am not able to replicate the issue at the moment. If anyone else is having the issue please let me know while I troubleshoot.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Thank you for officially breaking the ice for the peer-reviewed instruction. Collaboration is where the magic happens.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I agree, she is a beauty!! I will keep my mouth shut for now, but I will chime in a couple of days to see what the other members say 🙂

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Is that Rudolph Schenkel with them lol. This can be easily relatable to dog-on-dog aggression triggers in the human household.

I want to train them “leave it” commands and provide each with their own affection.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I love that you are doing this! Stormy loves learning new things lol! I am motivated now to do more retrieving with Eury 🙂

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

His face says it all! Such a great presentation!

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I am not currently able to replicate the problem. It may have been resolved with a software update, but if someone is still having the problem, please post the link (that will not post in chat) here so I can test it and troubleshoot. Thank you!

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I love this session! My favorite part was actually when she made a mistake and instead of using punishment you recognized that she must have misunderstood and you repeated the command structure.

It’s awesome when you realize that the dog hits a point where they almost never have any real motivation to truly disobey.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Hi Sybl,

I am adding what you wrote in the PM to this thread to keep all the info in one place:

” Let the owner pass him fine then bolted clear across one room, around a wall, and into the other to go after him. This is after the pup had his normal morning snack treat and it was all eaten up already. I don’t feel this is normal aggression, at least I’ve not encountered this before. “

I agree with you, that the combination of situations that you are describing, definitely does not fall into the category of “NORMAL” aggression no matter what the pup’s background may be, and I always feel that it is ethical to communicate that to the client for many reasons.

With that being said, you never know to what degree the pup can be “rehabilitated” “managed” and “trained” which are all completely different concepts until you try, but I strongly believe that decision is mostly to be made by the person who owns the dog. Our job is to be honest and give options along with best and worst case scenarios.

For me the biggest factor has always been, can the owners reasonably avoid getting injured by the dog. If this was a large dog this would be a very scary situation for anyone and for sure NO ONE ever knowingly agrees to adopt or buy a dog like that and it is the responsibility of the breeder or rescue to know how to give somewhat accurate behavioral assessments before they put people at risk.

I know you have been in the trenches for quite some time and your gut can recognize when something isn’t quite your typical resource-guarding case and definitely escalating beyond “normal”.

I discuss dogs like these in the resource guarding blueprint and also dog aggression triage: https://dogtraining.world/knowledge-base/dog-shelter-triage/

I would strongly recommend watching the triage video to get some clarity and to reduce frustration and confusion. It is definitely OK to tell the owners that this is not typical aggression, and normally rescues with any standards would not adopt a dog out like this.

Therefore the owners or you should never feel like terrible people if another dog’s life is saved in return vs one that is much more likely to injure someone.

You would be surprised at the number of people that do decide to stick it through anyway and try. I noticed that when owners understand that their dog is not acting “normally” and it is presented in a way that it is not the dog’s fault or anyone’s really, they are less likely to develop a bad attitude toward the dog, YOU as their trainer, or themselves.

How to work with a dog like that is covered mostly in the dominance aggression and resource guarding streams. But the only thing that would make the case more difficult would be if the dog was physically larger. Difficult case, and the support is here if they want to try with you.

Dog Shelter Triage 4.0

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Tail chasing, if you rule out a health issue, I’d say, for sure has a genetic component. You will see it in bull terriers and German Shepherds in particular. Dobermans are also notorious for flank-sucking.

I did a quick google search and found this study, that you might find interesting: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3406045/

I have dealt with a few tail chasers, and the first thing I always asked myself was: Is it overall causing a problem? Injury? etc..

Or is it causing a problem only in certain situations?

It is much easier to address the behavior if it is a problem in certain predictable situations vs if trying to “fix” an overall genetic tendency, since it will be near impossible to be consistent with addressing it unless there was a serious management and training plan that micromanaged every moment. Even then, I still don’t know for how long it could be “permanently suppressed”. Sort of like a dog that spins or barks when generally excited.

I would make a “habitation chart” and keep track of exactly the times of the day and the activity that triggers it. Also, add any play activities on the chart to see if it is more or less likely to occur after a lot of play activity vs no activity vs just enough where she may want more after it ends. This can give insight to any potential drive balance issues.

German Shepherds have obsessive personalities for sure, it may help to try to create another competing obsession, such as a particular toy or perhaps a high-value treat that the dog may get or expect after doing alternative behaviors in those situations instead.

So, you are standing online at the store. Have the dog “sit” “heel” or “down”. Dog can get the normal correction for breaking, but also add something high value in that particular situation for complying, so it becomes more about the alternative behavior and creating the new habit, instead of just what not to do, which doesn’t work as well.

Or, after the dog poops, immediately call the dog to you and give a treat or even a lot of affection.

As Allie, stated.. “leave it” command will be much better to stop the behavior if the process has already started, but try to find those alternative behaviors that will work best before it happens in the first place.

Steven Lindsay would refer to this as the “dead dog rule”. Things that we can teach a dead dog to do (which is to do nothing), do not work as well as teaching the dog what to do instead.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

What a great discussion! I am overall in agreement with all of you. In regards to the high tail, like Allie mentioned, it is all relative to a dog’s natural anatomy.
For instance, some dogs carry their tails higher or lower, even when not communicating to any other beings and otherwise in a neutral state. Think of huskies compared to greyhounds. Free-ranging mixed breed dogs are known to morph into a similar square shape with higher-held curled tails after so many generations worldwide.

So when reading body language, everything is going to be relative to the “neutral” of that dog.

As you can see in the photos, center of gravity, facial expression, and ears, etc.. also add to the context.

Video adds an additional layer since you can also see tail movement, blinks, etc..

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

I love seeing the native hounds! My nose work training has consistent mainly of specific odor detection and mantrailing. I have no experience training search and rescue, but have always been `fascinated by it.

[Michael D'Abruzzo]

Something else to consider in regards to detail searching, is that sometimes handlers are in large room areas and they have very specific items to search in the room.

For instance, when i was handling an explosive detection dog in Empire State Buiding I may have gotten a call to specifically check all the vending machines on a certain floor or just the garbage cans for various reasons.

Or just certain boxes that were delivered

So conserving the energy of a dog on a long shift becomes factor along with efficiency.

I made the mistake of debating on facebook with a trainer (why, why, why….) that had experience training detection dogs but never actually handled one and ended up wanting to bang my head against the wall trying to explain that detailing is not a bad thing and doesn’t mean that the dog cant find things themselves.

But sometimes we know things the dogs do not, such as we only need to search certain things and we know where the opening to the garbage is among other things.

Definitely a team effort. Especially when you need to officially and ethically “clear” something that needs to be searched.