Arthur Lopatin
Forum Replies Created
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Most people most of the time don’t know what they don’t know because acknowledging that one doesn’t know is very threatening. Easier to take refuge in fairy tales than it is to cop to the fact that one is ignorant, uncertain and then take it as a challenge. But it is what mature adults do.
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i am putting together a list of possible causes & remedies. might take me a while, but as soon as i finish the writeup, i’ll post it on this forum
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Just rode home in owners care w/Diego in back. Barking frantically, ‘running’ frantically, nails sliding along plastic crate floor. Terrible stuff. In addition to your suggestions re licking sticker and out of car crate training, i also suggested bite proof crate mat, soothing music, dog-appeasing pheremones, good chew bones, etc. Diego stopped barking when I shoveled treats, but so what? That doesnt solve the problem. My take is that (a) owners rewarding frantic behavior since dog was a puppy (b) this particularl aussie=poodle”s temperament (c) maybe something about this particular old subaru’s engine sound/bad shocks, etc really sets him off. He jumpe right in to crated,started barking as soon a we exited the driveway and continued to bark frantically until we got to my house. Only times he stopped is when I shovelled treats. Stopped barking & ‘running’ in opposite direction from car (like he wanted OUT of the car asap) as soon as car parked outside my house and engine was turned off. Owner went inside w/me so I could give him some greenies to experiment w/on trip home. I suspect several factors contribute to this problem. I joked to the owner that he should get a new car, but that particular car might be one problem (engine sound/bad shocks?). Regardless of the immediate causes, however, the owners’ — w/best of intentions — rewarding frantic behavior has likely been like throwing kerosene on a fire. Will continue chipping away at this one. Chuck (one of the owners) sez he will follow up on all the suggestions offered to him. Will keep y’all posted
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Thx, Allie. I’m gonna suggest they do outside-the-car crate trng + lick sticker. I’ve got a crate-training protocol on this site and will show them how to do it
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They don’t use a crate in the house. He sleeps on a mat in their bedroom. They tried covering the crate in the car. It made no difference. He jumps right into the crate in the car. No problem at all. No hesitation. What’s a ‘lick sticker?’
He barks on the way to, but forgot what owner said re: barking on way back.
Regarding Leadership, as noted, they’ve done 0 formal obedience training but from nearly 2 hrs of fone conversation, I’m pretty sure Diego’s a cooperative pooch and will do what he’s asked to do, as long as he understands what’s required.
0 resource guarding. Loves to play hide and seek in house. Ditto Come games in house and backyard. Ditto fetch games in backyard. It’s pretty clear that the owners have worked with him informally, but they’ve done no obedience training, is full of energy and big and strong. So their main problem is stuff like pulling on leash, barking at other dogs on walks, mouthiness (no biting, just mouthiness) to get attention from people coming thru door, etc, no resource guarding. He jogs several miles a day with one owner and takes long walks with the other owner, so I’m pretty sure it’s lack of leadership when he’s out on walks w/owners. They just don’t know what to do re: obedience training and being the leader on walks. (He minds them in house, they tell me; e.g., goes to his place and waits ’til he’s called at mealtimes; no problems w/counter-surfing/garbage eating, etc, doesn’t demand attention, gets off couch when told, no separation anxiety, etc. Unless the owners don’t know what they’re talking about — I’ll soon know — Diego’s a sound pooch + owners have done a lot right w/him, but he needs obedience training in order to know what he can/cannot do, when/where when out on walks and re manners w/guests.
Unless I’m badly mistaken, the only problem that’s got me flummoxed is the car-barking/anxiety.
Maybe this is related to the barking in crate in car: He howls beautifully when he hears sirens. (Heard it over the phone.) No reaction to thunder/lightening/gunshots. I’m thinking he might be acutely sensitive to some kinds of sound.-Some dogs are. I’ve heard at least one trainer say they’ve had dogs who bark hyterically at the sound of one kind of truck bouncing up the street, but not at another type of truck. So maybe the sound of car engines, or maybe this particular car engine, triggers him. Some frequencies can be stressful/painful to some dogs, ya know. Gotta remember to ask whether he barks coming as well as going. If he barks both coming and going, it would be evidence in favor of sound sensitivity. But if not, then that’s probably not the reason.
Thanks for the feedback, Allie. Will keep you posted.
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Yes. Thx 4 asking. Combination of software updates Mike had installed and my browser. Mike did some stuff and — thx to Ken Lebowitz’s advice — I cleared my browser cookies and the problem was solved.
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I have been following this thread and just read Mike’s comment re: this being something above and beyond resource guarding. Mike’s comment makes me wonder whether — assuming the owners are committed to continuing to help this dog — consulting a veterinary behaviorist might not be worthwhile re: diagnosis/prognosis/meds. Just a thought. Sad situation. I wish you, the owners, and the dog well.
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Freaking beautiful! I really admire your clients for not giving up on their dogs. Now they will have good lives, thx to your FSDT knowledge and teaching skills. Normally,, I’m an obsessive nit-picker, but what’s the point. I predict a bright future for your clients and their dogs. Once they get past ph. 3, how about some PP??? 🙂
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FWIW, here’s how I would respond:
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Thanks 4 the Penrith vid. I am gonna watch it.
Things are probably just as political here in the USA. That’s a generalization, since we have 50 states, each of which can legislate matters like this.
That said, I’m pretty sure the mindset of the Purely + people in both the USA and Europe is the same: Sentiment/feelings/virtue signalling wrapped in ‘The Science.’ aka ‘scientism,’ which is a cult, nor real science.
I’ve read a lot of the anti-ecollar studies. Most I’ve looked at in any detail are shoddy re: sample group, the trainers who used the collars, how they used them, etc.
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I hope you are using Mike’s template or some other kind of record keeping system to keep track of where you are. It’s so easy to forget, even with a single dog, let alone several. I think Allie has posted look me vids somewhere on this sight. I.m not sure if I do it exactly like allie. (Lotsa ways to do stuff like this, as long as it makes sense and you do it systematically and consistently)
It’s pretty simple: lure the behavior, probably best to start (with dog calmly sitting or standing in front of you). OK to use kissy noises etc to get his attention. Treat treat in 1 hand right between your eyes. Alternatively, you can have treats in both hands and hold both hands between your eyes. As soon as he looks into your eyes, good boy and treat him. If you use the 1 hand bt eyes technique, treat him by using the other hand to get a treat out of your pouch (not hold it in your hand, because that makes it harder for him to focus on your eyes. if you hold both treat filled hands between you eyes, remember not to keep rewarding from one L or R hand. Be unpredictable. And try to hold his gaze with the treat. thats the way to began. then play around with your ‘presentation’; e/g,. don’t stand in the same place, hold one arm out and other between eyes. reward only if he looks between your eyes, from the other (the outstretched one). You can even move your outstretche arms to try to distract him, but only reward him when/as soon as he’s looking at you. the more presentations, the better, provided that your timing is right and you only reward The Look. then go back to the simplest way you taught it and buildl a little duration. then try one or two more complicated presentatins. Once you think he’s got it, put it the behavior on cue. (‘Fido. Look.), starting with the simplest presentation and moving on to more complex ones ….That’s a broad overview, off-the-cuff. I don’t think I included ‘Look’ in my phase 1 manual, just some simpler attention getting stuff, not on cue. Gotta remember to add it.
Anyway, I hope this helps. Might be easiest to take a look at Allie’s vid if u can find it. And don’t be afraid to experiment a bit, as long as your’e sure you understand the principle. For example, if you want to get fancy, you can try turning your back and saying look at me. See if you can get Fido to come around and look at you. Stuff likel this may sound trivial, but my strong feeling is that dogs are kind of programmed to wanna do stuff for people, provided people don’t trigger/threaten them and some kind of jleadership’s in place. So the more games you play, the more presentations for the same behavior, the better. The downside is that this takes time, and if you’re on a tight schedule then you have to restrict yourself to what experience has taught you works quickest and best.
i hope this helps.
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off the top of my head, flow of consciousness style, and (hint, hint) w/o seeing vids: (1) have u done enuf Phase 1 stuff off-leash (starting with an easy for owners and dog to do command, maybe Climb), so he knows his people are fun/rewarding/non threatening Leaders? (2) Is his ‘Good Boy.’ solidly conditioned, a la Pavlov; i.e. , does his mouth water whenever his people (appropriately, of course) say those words? Where are you practicing? W/this guy, the fewer the distractions, to start with, the better. That way he succeeds more and success will start to build on success. (4) i’m not sure what you mean by ‘fun phase 1 stuff?’ sounds like Leash Manners. I hope it’s in a very low distraction environment and that the owners have mastered the pattern. Sounds simple but it’s not. It might pay to play dog with the owners, do stuff a dog might do and show how they should respond, then reverse roles. I’d also give them a how-to/cheat sheet if they are reasonably literate. There’s also at least one FSDT Leash Manners vid w/Judy & Orfeo. There might be more. There are some subtleties w/Leash Manners walking and the more consistently its practiced and good behavior is reward, the better. (5) This might be a good time to teach ‘Fido. Look at Me.’ and seeing if you/tehy can use it in low-distraction environments as soon as he starts getting distracted. But, like everything else, ya gotta teach it first and be really sure the dog gets it. Then, when doing Leash Manners (in a very lo-distraction environment) try using it. (5) U said the owners are working on Leadership. I hope so, because getting it right — i.e. being boss w/o being bossy/ overbearing/ cruel / impatient. using psychology instead — is very important. assuming there are no lower-level issues (triangle wise) leadership and relationship are very important and most people don’t fully know how to do it. leadership (including owning scarce resources) is like fertiliser. the more your dog is ok w/you being leader the easier training becomes. (6) how is the owners timing, body language, etc:
This is a lot, I suppose, but if you chunk it up just right it’s manageable. my instinct, w/o seeing dog is to practice off leash stuff or just use leash for physical control/prompting but not to get dog to to anything. get him to do stuff using pure ph. 1. imo, slow and steady often wins the race. remember, leash manners walking is this dog’s first xperience of FSDT Positive Punishment (finger pumps) and even if he hadn’t had bad leash experience from the previous trainer, he doesn’t really understand that, for leash manners, the way to escape the pumps is for him to make the leash to go loose. done right, in the right (lo-distraction) environment, imo, succeeding at that, a little bit at a time, can be a big confidence builder.
Good Luck. Bottom Line: Chunk it up, in a systematic way. Set everyone up for success. Don’t try too much too soon but get some momentum and keep it up.
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I fixed the link. The article does mention Togo as well as Balto. Sez that Togo probably was more responsible than Balto for getting the serum to the infected community.
