Allie Dellosa
Forum Replies Created
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Beautiful dog! One thing that I would suggest is to pair the luring movement with the word heel.
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Hi David!
I will share a post with how I dealt with resource guarding but I also would consider nutrition if the dog is abnormally voracious in seeking out sticks and (specifically) cattle/horse manure. Nutrition has more implications than people often realize.
As far as growling or barking while in a command I always praise the dog as long as they are holding the command. I instruct clients to recognize that the dog is doing the behavior in spite of their feelings about it. As they mature in their training and relationships that usually goes away on its own. I have lots of video examples if you would like.
I have had several herding breeds recently with the same behaviors you describe, although these behaviors can be non genetic and usually a result of leadership or unpredictable communication. I have a few more questions: is the dogs food ever removed from him? Is he ever punished for aggression or barking? Is there a possibility that the ecollar training came too quickly? I have found that proofing p2 is super important and that generalizing the commands can be easily overlooked. Proofing and generalizing is the most time consuming portions in my experience. What ecollar are you using? How is the command structure is being used mechanically with p2 and p3. Does the dog understand the conditioned punisher? When exactly does the dog receive stim? Can you provide an example?
With a situation like this I wouldn’t feed in the kennel but I would always give high value rewards for going in. Is there water in the kennel? Is the kennel comfy? How big is it? Is it secluded? Has he ever been punished or received ecollar stim in kennel? If so why and how was it applied?
This is copied from my client facebook page so forgive the sing songy teacher voice.
Human behavior tip: trade your dog for an item rather than taking the item. Resource guarding is so easy to address, counter condition, and manage.
First rule: don’t bother your dog’s food items. There are so many YouTube videos (or incompetent ideologies) that talk about taking your dog food items or bones away, so that they know that you are the “boss”. This is not only ethologically incorrect, it teaches them that when you are around their food or chew, they may lose it. It reafirms and can turn simple resource guarding into food aggression (where the dog goes from a defensive strategy to an offensive strategy).
Dogs have the same family structures and values that we do. We do not take food from our children to show them that we are the boss, neither do canines.
Adult canines will often feed their young and subordinates first, and often the most fulfilling parts of the “meal”, just like we would. Adult canines do not view resource guarding from puppies or subordinates as a challenge or behavioral problem.
Second rule: go slowly. You can see Storm understands this process and is comfortable with it. At this point she looks at us when the bully gets down to the safety guard, waiting for her cookies. Brian asks her to sit with playful “command structure” so she moves into a more neutral position in a playful way, and then gently removes it as he treats her with high value rewards.
We started by offering her an item that required more attention, like a small Jerkey stick or almond butter smeared on the floor, to show her we will always add to her and to give us more time to take the bully guard (if she left the other item to come back to the bully we had treats in our pockets and would offer those as a lure away). Notice we let her see us take it, we DO NOT trick her, or hide that we are taking it.
Rule 3: add don’t subtract. Storm came to us growling over her food and so nervous about eating that she would vomit and resource guard the vomit (as a 4 week old pup). We practiced giving her smaller meals and added to her meal by tossing higher value food toward her, from a distance she was relatively comfortable with (counter conditioning). Eventually the behavior disappeared.
Rule 4: don’t punish growling!!!!!! Growling is beautiful communication. Respect it. Troubleshoot it. Do NOT punish it. Punishing communication will at best subdue your dog and damage your relationship, at worst it will cause your dog to skip steps in the bite sequence and lose that valuable warning.
We still don’t take anything from her or bother her when she is chewing or eating, however, her perception of what will happen to her when we are around her and food has totally changed. She went from gobbling down her bones in an unsafe and frantic manner to enjoying a nice long chew at my feet.
Understanding canine behavior is not a wild secret. If it makes sense for an familial animal (like a human) it probably makes sense for a dog.
Humans often expect our dogs to be whatever we want them to be, like us, obey us, tolerate our mistakes, and fill in the gaps in our lack of education, we expect them to want to work for us no matter how poorly we behave or how unpredictable we are. Often times dogs are punished for for human error. Let’s do our best as FSDT dog trainers to do better and extend the compassion and effort that we want when we are learning.
Temperament is definitely a factor. I love sharing my food, Brian doesn’t. If I want fries I better order some and that is OK. I respect his resource guard because I love him. Don’t our dogs deserve the same?
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Yes! This group is so valuable! Command structure is amazing and the dogs thrive when owners practice it consistently. I really think the command structure is one of the things that sets FSDT apart!
I am not saying that the attention to name exercise is wrong. I have just found that teaching the dog through normal phase 1 command structure from the jump, simplifies things and makes it go faster.
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Thanks for clarifying. I don’t do the association with the name drill, I just start phase 1 command structure. I find it easier for clients and it reduces the dog’s inclination to break a command on their name to seek a reward or look for the owner. I don’t want a dog to do anything on the name except expect a command. Instead of fading off of the response to the name by adding a command later, I just implement it in p1 command structure.
Charge the mark I do use with dogs that have negative associations with training, taking food, or to create a very easy learning relationship when needed. Otherwise I just allow the association to be made organically during phase 1 training.
The charge the mark and attention to name are the same in that a neutral word or stimulus is being paired with a positive reinforcer.
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Hello! I have a couple thoughts: first the separation of the name causing added steps and a need to “undo” training. I don’t teach a separate “attention to name” as I don’t want the dog to “do” anything on the name other than assume a command is coming. If the dog learns that the name may act as a marker (notice the training is exactly the same as the “charge the marker” drill) it can cause them to break commands on their name or assume a reward is coming. It may cause added corrections and make phase one take longer. I just start phase one command structure and the dogs learn the importance of the name automatically and it prevents confusion for the handler. I have some videos of teams practicing this if you like.
The second thought is on the “charge the mark” completion description: “when the dog is visibly satisfied” is a bit confusing. What does this mean? I usually mention that when the dog hears the mark and automatically looks for a reward the association has been made.
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I am excited to see your work and learn from you. I hope you’ll consider posting videos on the Q&A. 💜💜💜💜💜
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Thank you for posting this. I really like how simple your instruction is.
My thought about the name game is that it might cause side effects in association with the name that will need to be undone. <div>
Since we want the name to mean that the dog is going to receive a command wouldn’t it flow with the rest of your instruction to do the game with the full recall command structure intact for phase 1? IE: Name come. Giving the name, two different meanings can poison it. I find that the less nuance there is during the teaching phase the better. If sometimes the dogs name means to come then it builds some thing that we have to unteach and may ultimately cause the dog to receive more corrections down the road.
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Thank you for your feedback about how many steps I had I agree it was too much so I was able to shorten that.
The art of luring video is not for everyone.
I agree that it is something that the average dog, who has not had a negative experience with training, or with their handler learn, can just learn through regular phase 1 repetition.
However, I get some dogs that have had negative experiences with training, are hand shy, or have not had any experience with taking food from a human in exchange for doing a behavior. Many will either give obtrusive behavior when there is food in the owners hand or they can shut down and don’t really understand what they are supposed to do.
I have also had a few clients that didn’t grasp the idea of a productive lure….something I take for granted. So I have sent to help them learn how to effectively present and release food. Thank you for checking it out!!! Love getting super nerdy!
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Hi! I saw your request in pack howl I have a couple questions.
I usually make the name association in phase 1 command structure just by the dog hearing it before a command. Otherwise I find it can cause a similar reaction to the marker. Its not a big deal but I find it is a step that sometimes makes things take longer, and can cause unwanted responses when the dog hears their name. I don’t always want the dogs to turn towards me when they hear their name I just want them to mentally say “yes ma’am”. If the dog becomes conditioned to receiving a reward or for looking for a reward when they hear their name we then have to fade off the reward. I think it is adding things we don’t need. How do you incorporate this with phase 1?
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Hey! This doesn’t open on my phone or desktop. Do you also have them on the template Mike made? That might be easier to open and review 💜🐾
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That lesson is about fading off the physical prompt, not the verbal command. The idea is place more emphasis on the verbal command rather than the physical prompt. This is why repetition of the verbal with less of a physical prompt is what I suggested.
Here is an example of a phase drill with some of the body language etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9StONbr2YiI
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I think it depends on the dog and the handlers. The only thing I expect is that the process will reflect the handlers efforts and dedication to their homework between sessions. I usually do not set goals for people and I never make guarantees about progress, the only thing I guarantee is that if they embrace the process, they will see results and to what extent depends on them entirely. I actually have a portion of my website dedicated to setting expectations and my contract says something similar. My virtual clients are required to be nerdier than in person because they have to learn things in a more comprehensive way because we are not able to use the same avenues of instruction as an in person client.