How to Reward Your Dog’s (Good) Behavior

Is the best reward for a dog’s good behavior a tidbit?  A pat?  A kiss on top of his head?  A sincere, “Good dog”?  A sigh?  Going out for a hike with you? The chance to sleep in your bed?  The fun of doing something whether it pleases you or not?  Yes.

If this all seems confusing, if you’d prefer one definitive answer, well, there is none.  Not on this blog.  Not in real life.  Dogs are complex, intuitive, thinking beings and they will all happily accept the rewards you offer and also invent and intuit some of their own.  So keep some things in mind as you work with and live with and love your dog.

Your dog’s mother gave him the absolutely most powerful rewards any dog was ever given.  Her teaching, much of it aimed at his safety, was precise, thoughtful, effective and humane and was almost always a done deal in one shot.  Your dog’s mother never gave or withheld food as a learning tool.  Instead, she rewarded him with a lick, a sound, her pleasure.  Translating the lick to a pat, these tools are available for teachers of another species to use.  Still, tidbits have a use – in animating a dog during trick training, to encourage a dog who is fearful out of doors, for teaching a dog to play catch and other games.  For the basics, I prefer to work as my dog’s mother did, with posture, voice, changes in breathing patterns, petting.  This keeps my dog’s focus on our relationship rather than on a disposable reward anyone could give her.

If your dog is doing something you don’t want her to do, say, barking on and on at the door, and you choose to extinguish that behavior by ignoring it, as is sometimes advised, please keep in mind that some of the behaviors we find annoying dogs find pleasurable.  And when that’s true, when the behavior you dislike is self rewarding, you can ignore it until the cows come home without extinguishing it.  Better to offer a replacement behavior and reinforce that with praise, a favorite game, a pat on the head.  Allowing behavior approves of behavior – so if you want to stop a bad habit, replace it with a good one.

Training in a way that leans on the bond you and your dog form with each other increases that bond.  So you can not only reward your dog with a long hike, you can train your dog on a long hike.  What better way to teach than to integrate the work with your daily life – practice the sit when ready to put down the food bowl, practice on, over, under, off using the benches in your local park.  Teach your dog to be attentive by signaling him with a hand or a nod of your head which way you wish to go when there’s a fork in the road.  Offer a great variety of venues for your adventures together and to make sure your dog will pay attention when you need him to, practice what he knows and teach new things in all those venues.

A reward is anything your dog enjoys – a word to the wise: even barking at the door.  By watching your dog and seeing what animates her, what pleases her, what she understands, and what keeps her mind on the job at hand, you can add variety not only to your training venues but to your rewards, telling her “Good dog,” when she’s some distance away, petting when she is close by, sighing with pleasure when she’s really close.

Pretty is as Pretty Does

When I was leaving the High Line the other day after a cold but lovely walk with my service dog, Sky, someone called out to me, “Pretty dog!”  I hear this all the time, maybe because in places where pet dogs are not allowed, Sky is the only dog there.  Maybe it happens because when the bright, winter sun hits her coat, you can see how thick and shiny it is.  Maybe it’s because she’s so attentive, so present in the moment.  And maybe it’s just because she’s a really pretty little dog.

As a trainer, my favorite moment was always the moment when the dog got it, when he understood, for the first time in his life, that words had meaning, that they had consequences, that understanding words was a reward unto itself.  At that moment, the dog’s face would change, and if you were looking, and if you were training that dog you were surely looking, you couldn’t miss it.  Nothing was taken away – ever.  The trained dog does not lose the desire to play, the urge to be silly, his love of a good joke, his energy, his spirit.  What happens is that the trained dog gains something, something beautiful.  The new knowledge, the sudden understanding, the key to being a good and happy companion, those are all visible in the dog’s face.  There’s the aha moment.  There’s attentiveness.  There’s curiosity.  There’s the desire to learn more.  And there’s serenity, the “I got it!” kind.  To me, that was the moment, the reason that dog training was endlessly fascinating and totally rewarding.  And at that very moment, that dog, any dog “getting it,” becomes more beautiful.  No matter what he looked like before, the aha moment makes the dog pretty.  And the more he learns, the prettier he gets.

Pretty is herding sheep, fetching a downed duck, finding a lost child.  Pretty is understanding a partnership and keeping a loving, attentive eye on your person.  Pretty is being gentle with a child, coming when called, understanding the meaning of wait, down, good dog.  Pretty is as pretty does.  What have you taught your dog lately?

 

 

What’s the Best Dog for Me?? Part One

Friends of mine are thinking dog, trying to decide how to choose the best one for them. At our starting point, Mister had his eye on a Newfoundland.  Missus likes cats because they are interesting, beautiful, intelligent, cuddly and don’t have to be walked.  We needed, as the political pundits like to say, to come more toward the middle.

Starting by choosing a breed or two isn’t a bad idea.  It doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a rescue.  What it does do is refine their list of what’s a good idea and what isn’t.  As first time dog owners, they should pick a fairly easy-going breed and since they have been members of AARP for over a decade, they’d be best to choose a dog that wouldn’t be too big or strong or stubborn to manage.  Now we are ready for the list, or the talk.  How do they imagine life with their dog?  Do they see him running along the beach, free as the seagulls, leaping into an oncoming wave to fetch a ball?  Or would they prefer someone small enough to get part of his exercise indoors, chasing and being chased by the cat, dashing up and down the long hallway, playing fetch from one room to another?  Do they want a snuggler?  Most assuredly yes.  Do they want smart?  Yes on that as well.  Do they mind a coated dog, one they have to brush or have groomed professionally?  No.  Do they want a highly active dog, one that will need a two mile walk day in and day out, rain or shine?  Not so much.

Luckily, we are at the cusp of Westminster where the dogs are benched and once they have been in the ring, their owners and/or handlers have some time to answer questions.  So next Monday and Tuesday, we will begin to narrow the field.  We will try to pass by the handsome but too big dogs and also the adorable but too small dogs.  Then we will talk to people, asking what’s best about a certain breed and what might be a problem for first time owners.  We will take the praise with a grain of salt.  This can be a blinding passion for some.  And we will take the possible problems seriously, but not overly so.  Having been a trainer for umpteen years, and having worked successfully with many breeds considered too dumb, too stubborn, too whatever to be trained, I know that training success is, in part, a matter of patience.  But we will listen to everyone as part of our research.

In the end, Mister and Missus might end up with a breed they fall for next week, for all the right reasons: predictability, size “guarantee,” temperament, health history of parents.  Or, instead, they might decide on a rescue who is part of the breed they like, or seems to be so.  Much more on pure-bred vs rescue and selecting a breed to come.

But first, Westminster, a great place to begin our education.

What the Dog Can Teach You

Of course you pay attention to your dog.  You give her the best food you can afford.  You take her for walks.  You teach her the basic commands and you play games with her, sometimes games that she initiates, sometimes games that you begin.  You may even share your bed with her.

But what might you learn if you pay attention not only to your dog but like your dog?

Dogs know they can learn from observing others, particularly their elders.  They know that experience counts.

Dogs don’t multi-task.  They give their full attention to whatever they are doing.

Dogs live in the moment.  You will never find a dog worrying about what he forgot to do last week or fretting over what might happen the day after tomorrow.

Dogs take advantage of every opportunity.  When there’s a chance to play, take a long walk, be with like-minded creatures, have a nice meal, they do so with great enthusiasm.  When opportunity knocks, the dog never says, Wait a sec.  I’m texting.

Dogs are life-long learners.  By observing their world and the creatures in it, by listening carefully, by quietly paying attention with great intensity, by creative experimentation, they keep learning things that will make their lives richer, safer, more enjoyable.

And when there’s nothing to do and not much to see, while they are waiting for things to improve or for the game to be afoot, they know that a little nap can a wonderful way to pass the time, leaving them refreshed and ready for the adventures to come.

What is a Trained Dog?

Not all my clients shared my training goal.  Many were happy when their dogs stopped peeing in the house.  Some wanted more, a fairly good sit, a pretty reliable come when called, even a dog who wouldn’t bite the hand that fed him.  For me, there’s one goal.  I want a dog who will obey the command “Down,” when I am lying on my back on the living room rug and the dog is wearing nothing, not even a collar.  After all, when you think about it, isn’t the weight of the collar a little reminder of who’s who and what’s what?

When I lived and trained dogs in mid-town Manhattan, my goal was to graduate my clients’ dogs in the B. Altman department store, now, alas, wherever the dodo is.  I figured any dog who could be blasé enough to obey commands in a NYC department store was A OK in my book.  Some of these dogs had also learned off leash work on city streets.  They were pretty cool customers.  Still, a person wants what a person wants and today I had proof that my dogs had passed my own peculiar test.

After riding the ex bike, I lay on the rug to stretch and do a few strength building exercises.  When I tried some deep breathing, I got the muzzle of a small Border collie inserted into my mouth.  Her cohort was busy licking my feet and then the toys started coming, being lobbed at me from who knew where.  When I stopped laughing (yeah, yeah, I know), I said “Down.”  Sky plopped down where she’d been standing, the ball she was ready to toss at me still in her mouth.  Monk lay down at my side, pinning my right arm to the ground.

Done!  Good doggies!

 

 

 

How Work Shapes the Dog

 

If you have an invisible disability and want to learn about the help a service dog can give you, if you want to learn more about dogs, if you want to know what a great breeder does before you get to bring your puppy home, if you want to laugh – or cry, if you want to see some really really good photos of dogs, if you want to see some telling, funny drawings of dogs, if you want to read about how one dog taught a complex job to another dog, if you want to understand how your dog’s genetic predisposition to do a job informs his life, if you have an iPad or a Kindle or a Nook, for $6.99 you can read DO BORDER COLLIES DREAM OF SHEEP? and never look at dogs the same way again.

Should a Dog Make (gulp) Decisions?

Yesterday, when Sky wanted to play, I sent her to find a toy.  When she had searched the room and came up empty, she spied something she thought I could throw for her to retrieve.  But when she got there, ready to fetch it and bring it to me, she saw it was a pair of socks I had dropped onto the floor.  (So, you’re perfect?)  She hesitated and came back to me empty-handed, as it were, deciding that it wasn’t appropriate to make the sock into a toy.  I told her she was a good girl and off we went together to find one of her toys.

Of course, because she’s a service dog, Sky makes decisions all the time.  Service dogs for invisible disabilities such as diabetes, epilepsy, coronary artery disease, fibromyalgia and Crohn’s disease, to name a few, often help on their own, figuring out first what the issue is and then subsequently when their help is needed.

But what about the pet dog?  Surely she shouldn’t make decisions when you say Come or Down, unless, of course, the decision she makes is to do what’s asked of her quickly and cheerfully.  After all, quick obedience to either of those commands could save her life.  But are there times a pet can make decisions?  Are there times when she should she do so?  And if so, how would you teach her to make good ones?

Every creature needs to use her mind and part of using one’s mind is making decisions.  So, yes, decision making can be a good thing and, moreover, it can help your dog to grow up.  A dog who can make appropriate decisions when it is appropriate for her to do so will be a more interesting companion, more reliable, smarter, possibly even more helpful, even is she is a pet.  After all, pet owners get colds, flus, the occasional headache and it’s lovely when a dog can decide that today is a day to lie quietly on the bed and be comforting, not a day to lob toys and my person.

The best way to teach a dog how to make sound, appropriate decisions is really, really simple.  It is easiest to start this with a young puppy.  Walk around your house with the pup, initially on leash, then off leash, and monitor the puppy’s behavior.  When the pup picks up a toy, softly say “Good dog.”  When the pup picks up a shoe – or a sock – softly say, “No,” and replace the shoe or sock with one of the puppy’s toys.  Don’t leave the pup with a blank slate – saying no but not telling the pup what will get her praise.  Teaching not that but this will help your dog view the world in a better way, teaching her that some things are yours and other things are hers, teaching her that making good decisions is a very good thing.  Be clever.  Be subtle.  Be persistent.  Take your little walks many times a day.  Take them until your puppy becomes trustworthy, knowing that some things are for chewing and others aren’t.    But don’t stop there.  Also praise your pup for exploring, for being friendly to other animals and to humans, for curiosity but not for theft, for playing with you gently, for waiting for her food bowl to be put down.  The list is long, but time with your puppy is precious and whatever you teach when she is young will pay you back one hundredfold.

Continue when you go outside.  Encourage your puppy’s appropriate choices and discourage bad choices, replacing a bad decision with a good one when that’s possible.  As your pup grows, and her confidence grows, if you put your mind to it, you will continue to see that she makes decisions all the time and you will be able to quietly, softly encourage the good ones and quietly softly replace the bad ones, helping her to become a thinking adult and a fine, appropriate companion.  Remember, praise should not interrupt what a pup is doing.  Think of it as something in the background.  On the other hand, your disapproval, because what the pup is doing is potentially dangerous or inappropriate in some other way, that should disrupt.  That should stop your dog and give you a chance to show her a better decision, something as she grows that she will become better and better able to do on her own. Don’t be afraid to say “No,” because it’s not a four letter word.  It’s merely a tool to teach your dog how to think.

 

 

I Want to be More Like My Dog

For my dog, the time is always now.  Living in the present, not obsessing about yesterday or worrying about tomorrow, makes Sky a happy, healthy dog.  She eats well, exercises as much as she can, naps when she is tired, loves her very important job, enjoys playing with humans and dogs, is excited about going to new places and learning new things, and she never worries about her looks or her weight but has a natural beauty that makes her absolutely glow.  She’s a loyal friend and has no time for fools.  She’s great company.  She never ever repeats any of the many secrets I tell her.  Sky’s life is in balance, time to work, time to play, time to rest and think her own thoughts.  Time to be productive and time to just be.

I’d like to be more like that.  I’d like to be more like my dog.

Raising a Thinking Dog

I have always been fascinated by canine intelligence, seeing time and again that it is far superior to what most people think.  And because of this, I have always been very interested in smart dogs and have always tried, with any dog I have lived with, to do things to encourage my dog to think.  I love to see how dogs figure out problems and find solutions that work well for themselves and those with whom they live.  I also find it intriguing that different dogs have different kinds of smarts.  Obviously, the hunting dog can flush, point and retrieve game in a more enthusiastic and efficient way than a terrier, say.  On the other hand, if you had a mouse problem, you might prefer a Border terrier to a Labrador retriever.  The job a dog was bred to do will color everything, the way he works, the way he plays, the way he thinks, and while any dog might do anything well, if you are trying to choose a dog for a specific task, you are best off choosing one bred for that task.

But there are other ways our dogs show off their intelligence.  In our last apartment, we had a window in the wall between my office and the living room.  It is a given when your husband is an architect that he will not only make the earth move, he will also make walls move.  One day, when the window was open, I tossed a ball from the living room into my office for Dexter, a pit bull mix, to retrieve.  Dexter’s way was to climb over the sill, to use his powerful muscles to hell him go directly to where he knew the ball was.  Later, when Flash, my second service dog, was a puppy, I did the same thing.  As my arm rose up to toss the ball, Flash tore down the hall that led to my office and was there to catch the ball on one bounce.  Different strokes for different folks.

What about your dog?  Do you play games that let him use his sense of smell, gradually moving the object farther away, then off the ground, then behind an obstacle?  Do you give him choices so that he gets to make decisions?  Do you continue to teach new things, to challenge him, to make him think?  Do you name objects for your dog?  Do you ask him to get the ball, the duck, the Frisbee?  Do you require that he do his best once he knows what doing his best means?  Do you respond to his appropriate requests so that he continues to try to communicate with you?

Some dogs are born brilliant.  Other dogs become smarter and smarter as you work with them.  Every dog deserves the chance to use his mind and shine.  What have you taught your dog lately?  What has she taught you?

New Year’s Resolution

Pay attention to what’s important.  Ignore everything else.