Teresa Stanczak
Forum Replies Created
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Keep us posted on his progress!
Glad you are finding Foundation training successful and enjoyable with your own dog 🙂
Best,
Teresa -
@ddpowell 741 wrote:
[COLOR=”rgb(0, 0, 0)”]She’s fine with a muzzle, we got a basket muzzle similar to the one in the video straight away and she wears that all the time when we go to the park although i still don’t let her off the leash.[/COLOR]
Great Work!With de-sensitizing her, the difficulty is finding dogs who aren’t walking. I’ll keep working on phase 2 obedience but what is the best strategy to decondition her to small dogs? My in-laws have two Maltese X shitzu, should i work with them and ask that they simply use their dogs as a distraction? How do you de-condition dog aggressive dogs when you rehab them? Otherwise i can’t think of a way that i can find a dog, get a distance away and do obedience without the dog either constantly moving away or closer to us.
If she is in the learning phase of a command, we cannot expect her to perform when she is reacting to a trigger. For example, don’t ask her to sit when she is reacting to a dog, if she doesn’t already understand Phase 2 corrections for the complete sits. In addition, any training scenario you set up should be set up for success. It would be ok to use one of your in-laws dogs as a distraction, but remember the formula for success with counterconditioning and desensitizing….work just below threshold for reaction. Distance is your friend when setting up these scenarios. Definitely have Manny muzzled and on leash, and keep the other dog at a distance where Manny notices it, but is still willing to work for you. As she becomes more comfortable, and focuses more attention on you and the obedience that you are doing with her, then GRADUALLY decrease the distance between her and the other dog. Your goal is not to get all the way up to the other dog in one session, but to make any progress from your starting point. You may not decrease the distance at all during a training session, but rather work for more focus and less reactivity by the end of the session.The other difficulty is she refuses food when we step outside the house, she loves sticks and balls but that doesn’t work with the muzzle. Or should i keep the muzzle of when she’s training on-leash?
If she is refusing food, you can try training before feeding her breakfast or dinner, when she is most hungry and make sure to use high value treats (hot dogs, chicken, etc) I would keep the muzzle on her when training around or having the possibility for encountering other dogs right now. As you get further into the training, and she is more reliable you can determine whether or not to muzzle her.Keep us posted on your progress!
Best,
Teresa -
Hi Rebecca,
When he is showing aggressive behavior, I would not step into his space and correct with the leash. This is likely to be viewed as confrontational by the dog and could result in aggression directed toward you out of fear or frustration. I do recommend using body blocks (ie stepping into a dogs space), but only for rude behavior, dogs who are constantly in your space, or shoving past you to get into the refrigerator for example. I would never recommend it in a charged situation, such as a dog showing aggression as it can result in more issues than you started with.
As for acting prematurely, the only concern you should have in this area would be in the instance of using a correction (leash or body block). In fact in the foundation method of training all gentle corrections are taught using the same pattern, that way there is no correcting a dog without warning, and always an opportunity for the dog to avoid the correction. There is no issue asking him to watch you, or perform any other command for that matter prior to his aggressive reaction. In fact this would be the goal, that he is willing to to work for you although he is aware of the trigger. When evaluating this situation and how to help him progress, you should be careful not to put him in a situation where he is likely to fail. You should be aware of all of his triggers and the distance by which he is affected by these things. Generally if there is more than one trigger present, they work together and lower the dog’s threshold for reactivity, beyond what it would normally be if the triggers were presented seperately. Example if Dublin will react when a man wearing a hat is 6 feet from him, or 10 feet for a man wearing sunglasses. If he encountered a man wearing a hat and sunglasses he may react at 10 or more feet. You should use this information when presenting a situation to Dublin. If he is consistently reacting and unable to focus on you then he is too close in proximity.
If your goal is to get a solid “watch me”, you will need to work below threshold and have good success, also rewarding him for automatically giving you eye contact in the presence of the trigger. When he seems more focused on you than on the trigger, you know you can decrease the working distance or increase the distraction from the same distance.
The video of the greeting drill, which I linked to my last post, is an exercise that is taught to dogs who are dog and people reactive to simulate real life situations and interactions. All of the dogs which you see in the video have all completed Obedience through Phase 3. This exercise is a compilation of skills learned through the various phases of training. Once Dublin is at this point in his training, you can set up the same type of scenario with a willing friend, it does not have to be in a class setting. For Dublin, his goal at first would be to start out sitting behind your left leg while you walk out 6 feet and shake someone’s hand. Do not attempt to have someone pet him. If he breaks this position, you can use gentle correction to place him back into the sit position.
I would recommend that you outline a plan with specific techniques and work on them. It is confusing to both owner, trainer and dog, to use many different methods at once.
I hope this gives you some good direction!
Teresa
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Sounds like you have been doing great work with Dublin. I would definitely recommend making your way through the different phases of obedience using the Foundation style to teach fair and gentle corrections even though he has already trained in obedience. He should make progress quickly through each phase since he has a solid background.
As you progress through the phases of obedience, you will be in a better position for desensitizing and counter-conditioning.Be careful using corrections gentle or otherwise to correct undesired behavior, rather I would recommend reinforcing a command for an alternate incompatible behavior. For example let’s say Dublin is lunging at a person or dog who is passing by. To correct this issue instead of giving a correction for lunging, I would ask him to sit, climb, heel etc and then reinforce him staying in that command. Giving a correction for lunging can further his anxiety and negative association with new people or dogs. Alternatively, once it is taught that there is a beginning and an end to every command, and correction is introduced independently of any trigger , gentle correction for remaining in a command is understood well by the dog, without furthering the negative association.
Using the “watch me” cue can be very helpful. I would definitely try practicing this at a distance from triggers where he is below threshold. You can definitely use a ball as a reward for this. I like using a ball on a rope when rewarding a dog who is leashed. This makes it less likely that the ball will get too far off from Dublin or you, and you can easily recover it for the next repetition. It also makes it possible to add in a quick game of tug (which can make the ball even more rewarding if he likes the game). Also reward for automatic check-in’s in the presence of a trigger. As you gain success from one distance, you can systematically decrease your working distance.
Also consider teaching him to wear a muzzle for safety during counter-conditioning and desensitizing at close proximity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbcJdThGG-A
A fair goal would be to practice a scenario like our Greeting Drill, which we use often in Aggression support group class
I hope this helps give you a better picture of how to approach this situation. keep us posted!
Teresa
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I forgot to mention in my last post that you can also opt to get blood drawn at later visits for vaccine titres. This means that they can actually test Coopers level of immunity. If the levels fall greater than a certain value he is considered protected and therefore will not need revaccination at that time. Your vet should be able to give you a price for this testing prior to it being done. While this is more costly than giving the vaccine and certainly more costly than not vaccinating, it takes the guesswork out of whether or not he is protected.
Good luck and see you soon!
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Firstly I am so sorry to hear about the recent incident.
I think you will find the following link about different drives to be helpful in determining why Manny is behaving as she does. Aggressive behavior in dogs.
Based on your previous information of being unsure in situations around other dogs (hackles up) , and having negative experiences as a young puppy, it is possible that she was in fight drive, which contains components of defensive drive and prey drive.The best approach is a multi-pronged approach. Continue working on getting solid obedience by working through Phase 2 trainining before moving onto Phase 3 with the Dogtra Remote. While learning obedience, avoid situations which she will react negatively. (ie don’t teach heel around other dogs, but first teach alone with no distractions and then as she is more reliable practice in varying degrees of distraction.) A solid heel command, recall and leave it will be infinitely helpful tools for both of you.
The other side of the equation is to address her emotional state. Obedience really helps with this as well. Counterconditioning and desensitizing her to the presence of other dogs will make her less reactive and more reliable as well. Desensitizing is done by keeping her at a distance which is far enough so that she is slightly reactive to the dog, but still able to refocus on you and obedience commands. The counterconditioning part is added by giving her a positive association with the presence of other dogs. At this same working distance where she is slightly reactive but able to refocus on you, reward her with high value treats when another dog appears. As she gets more focused on you, reward for progressively more relaxed body postures in the presence of the other dogs and for automatically looking at you whenever she sees one at a distance. As you gain success at each distance and she becomes non reactive then you move your working distance systematically closer.
The final part of this equation is management. Manny should not be off leash when there is any possibility of another dog showing up. Also teaching her to wear a muzzle will be an essential part of her rehab. A muzzle will significantly decrease the potential for her to cause any damage to another dog in the event that she does make a mistake during training or get out of your control. It will also make you more calm and confident in these situations which will reflect on her own feelings as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbcJdThGG-A
I hope this helps give you a better understanding of a proper plan. Please keep us posted to your progress.
Best,
Teresa -
Hi!
I would recommend to the owner, as you have that the place to begin is to establish a relationship, leadership exercises, and solid obedience (beginning with Phase 1). It seems like it will be helpful to both dogs in the household, and the owner 🙂 All of these steps are an integral part of any aggression rehab program. In the meantime Your voice is a very powerful tool and I would always suggest keeping a calm quiet voice when interacting with any dog, despite the inappropriate behavior being displayed. A loud voice can add to the tension in a situation, and may escalate the behavior.To get a better picture of what is going on, I have a few questions:
1)When does he display this behavior?
Before or After a run? Maybe play a quick game of tug ( not to long to tire him out) before a course to alleviate some anxiety or pent up excitement of running a course. After- What is his reward for completion?
2) Is there a pattern associated with a particular obstacle? Perhaps its avoidance of the next obstacle. If so create a better association with particular obstacle, and heavily reward for completion.3)You mentioned that it likely has to do with level of anxiety, is he normally an anxious dog? Is he anxious around other dogs/ people?
4) You mentioned that he hardly ever does this in practice anymore. How was this corrected there?
All of this information will be helpful when addressing this issue.
If you build a strong foundation (ie relationship/ pack structure/ obedience) and determine the cause of his anxiety you can help to extinguish this behavior.
Best,
Teresa -
Hi Alison!
Whew! I understand your frustration and your confusion by all of this. Let me start in the order that your asked:
Weight: I always judge a puppy or dog by body condition, this means how he looks and feels. You were right to look for the tuck behind the rib cage, when looking down at his topline, he should also tuck up bit behind his ribcage when looking at him from the side. Next step would be to feel over his ribs. Running your fingers over his ribs pressing lightly you should be able to feel his ribs (as if their was a quilt over them), If you can see his ribs he is too thin, or if it is difficult to feel his ribs (the equivalent of a down comforter over his ribs 🙂 he is too heavy. If is spine is very prominent in addition to these other factors he is too thin. If he feels heavy but has a boney spine then he may just need more muscular development which does not necessarily equal more food.
Most labs will eat everything that they can, so I would not free feed him. In fact overfeeding can cause growth issues for him. If he is not overweight nor too skinny then you are feeding the correct amount. The guidelines on the food bag is just that…. a guideline. Take into context his body condition score when calculating his treat/ bone intake . The majority of calories should come from his food but it is definitely not a problem to feed him treats when training. Instead of cutting his food back by 1 cup total per day maybe you can evaluate his treat situation and bones. Treats should be given only when training and should be small pieces of mainly protein. If you feel that you still need to cut back his food you may want to try a more subtle change like 1/4 less at each meal. 1/2 per day is still a lot of calories to be cut from his diet. You may find you will need to add this back in soon as he will start looking too lean when he hits another growth spurt.
Neutering: I agree with the recommendation of at Least a year. You definitely want to give Cooper a chance to develop complete musculature before neutering him as it will help protect his joints from injury, (especially that cruciate which is so commonly injured in labs).
Vaccinations: First I must say that you have to do your research when you choose a vet, and that may mean calling around and visiting a few local places. It is really important that you have a trusting relationship with your veterinarian so that if the time comes when Cooper is ill, you won’t have to second guess the situation at hand. All this starts with well visits and vaccinations.
Vaccinations ARE important for your dog. They DO protect him from disease that is deadly and very dangerous. I have seen puppies die from Parvo. I have seen animals with Rabies. It is real. Having said that, Over vaccinating is NOT good for your dog either. Your veterinarian’s job is to provide you with the most up to date information on vaccines, and OFFER you services, and advise you what best suits your dogs needs. At this point I do believe that it is still standard care for dogs to get core vaccines ie distemper/parvo every 3-4 weeks until 16 weeks old and then a booster at a year old, then every 3 years. Rabies should be given at 16 weeks and then at a year then every 3 years. Core Vaccines include Distemper (which is distemper/adenovirus/parainfluenza/parvo) and Rabies . Vaccination for Lyme, Lepto and Bordetella should be weighed on risk factor etc.
I don’t believe the veterinarians are trying to push vaccines even though they believe they are harmful. I just think that some are not keeping up with continuing education and current protocols. Sometimes, (and such is the case with human medicine as well), we have to be our own advocate for what is right.
As for the ear wax- did they do a cytology to test for yeast or bacteria? Some dogs have wax but no real organisms and others have a small amount of wax and are loaded with yeast and other little buggers.What it really comes down to is that you may need to find a vet that you are more comfortable with. Again it is super important that you can have a back and forth dialogue about what YOU want for you dog. Another thing to look into if you are not happy with traditional veterinary medicine is a holistic Vet. A good holistic vet, knows how to combine the best of natural therapies and traditional veterinary medicine.
I hope I have addressed all of your concerns..
Oh and if Cooper got a Lyme booster, it is not uncommon for them to be sore. They usually get that vaccine over the Left hip area. See if he will let you warm compress it. I can help make him more comfortable.
Best,
Teresa
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Hi!
You can practice the climb command on any raised surface (bed, folded up blankets etc) as long as it is distinctly different from the surface of the floor. It should not be too confusing to use the bed as a climb unless the “bed” command is also a fairly new command. In this case to avoid confusion you could teach climb on a neutral object , like folded up blanket. Once the climb command has been taught on one object you can help your dog generalize the command by practicing on new objects. Keep in mind, since you have taught your dog climb on the divider (and you will be asking climb on a completely different surface for the first time) you may have to go back to step one of the climb command (leading on with treat) for a few repetitions if your dog seems confused by the new object.
Best,
Teresa -
Hi and Welcome!
It sounds like Dolly has been making good progress in your home. To answer your question about what you should do when Dolly wants to run away and hide the answer is this:
right now the best choice may be to let her hide.Attempting to keep her from hiding depends on your relationship with her and her ability to be distracted in the situation. You definitely do NOT want to force her to stay in a room, if she would be panicked or coddle her (as you mentioned this makes things worse by sending the message that you worried too , since they are focused on tone of voice not words) . If you would be able to distract her with high value treats to do some obedience (not sure if you were using treats when you tried distracting her with obedience), a high value chew (like a bully stick, stuffed kong) or her favorite toy, or keep her on a leash with you without her panicking, these might be options to work with now.
If not allow her to hide for now, and as you progress working on the layers of the pyramid and the phases of training you should eventually be able to do one of the above mentioned options. And eventually send her to a “Place” command in this type of situation. Don’t rush things if she is not comfortable enough/ far along enough in her obedience to accomplish this.As for spitting in a dog’s water bowl or food- I’m not sure it would help you accomplish much in the leadership department. We have always had great success here at K9-1 without the need to spit into a dog’s dish. Follow the steps outlined in layer 5 of the Triangle and your dog will have a clear picture of where leadership lies, ( no loogies necessary 🙂 )
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Hi Dave,
Welcome to then forums! How great that you are taking in Kayle, especially since you already had a bond with each other.
The starting point would be at the first layer of the Triangle working your way from the bottom up.
To answer your questions:
1. Kayle can definitely still respond to training, she is not too old. I would start from the beginning building a strong bond with her. There is a section on establishing a relationship in the aggression rehab section of this website Also begin training at Phase 1. Even if she knows some basic obedience it never hurts. You want to be certain that she knows all of Phase 1 before moving on to Phase 2 and same for Phase 3.
2. She is not too old to re-socialize with other dogs. I would start by teaching her to wear a muzzle comfortably. (see video in aggression rehab section)
3. Have you read through the Pack Structure layer of the Triangle? Are you following the rules closely? Following the rules in Pack structure can help increase motivation in dogs who are otherwise lacking. You didn’t mention if she is motivated by toys (ball/ tug etc) These can also be great motivators for dogs.
Remember to start in Phase 1 in the video section and the first layer of the Triangle and work your way up.
Keep posting your questions as you have them!Best,
Teresa -
DAP also comes in a spray (which can be sprayed on a bandana and tied around a dogs neck, but needs to be applied every few hours) as well as a room diffuser 🙂
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This is a great game and seems like using for mental stimulation may be the best application for him. Using this “find it” command around other triggers may increase the likelihood of aggressive response from him since he has food aggression.
Mental stimulation is also a way to relieve restless spirit in dogs, so you are indirectly helping his issues by giving him an activity that challenges him and that he likes to do.
Perhaps you can go a step further and teach him to find objects for you (like you keys etc,) with food as a reward. (also mental stimulation)
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This is a tricky situation considering your dog’s aggression issues and the proximity that your hands will need to be in relation to his mouth in order to brush.
Things to consider:1. Giving a dental chew such as a CET Chew (rawhide flat chips enzymatically treated to prevent tartar) or other chew like a bully stick. Since he is a resource guarder give this to him when he is seperated out in a crate or confined area. Chews and bully sticks are usually consumed so once gone there is nothing left to guard.
If you would still like to try brushing:
2.If there is any chance of a bite I would recommend using protective gloves.
Below is a link demonstrating various protective gloves, that are helpful when desensitizing dogs in these type of situations.
Protective Gloves and Extinction in Dog Aggression Rehab | Self Help Dog Training – Blog
NOTE** Even very good gloves may not indefinitely protect you from injury and you should use this advice at your own risk. You seem to have a good feel for his body language, so keep an eye out for signals and don’t push the issue. **I would not brush with toothpaste initially or maybe never depending on how he does. The use of the toothbrush will really depend on the dog. I find most dogs (even without aggression issues) are more likely to bite down on toothbrushes than fingerbrushes (not likely to fit over protective glove) or a plain piece of gauze wrapped around a gloved finger may work better. Downfall is that a toothbrush does provide more protection from bites than your hand. If he already allows you to handle his mouth, then touching his teeth with a gauze covered ( and gloved) may not be far off.
You should start gradually, NOT aiming to brush every tooth in his mouth initially until he seems completely comfortable with it over a period of time.
Use your knowledge of your dog to decide whether either of these options will work for you.
Best,
Teresa