No, Uh uh, Tsch, Nah, and all those fun things

Lately I'm seeing an epidemic. It's dogs who are behaving badly because they have no clue what their owners are asking them for. It's the dogs who jump. It's the dogs who mouth. It's the dogs who run around like a spastic chicken while the owner stands there makes a noise that is supposed to mean no.

And here's the kicker....when did anyone EVER teach a dog what those things mean? I mean really, what is the purpose of all these weird things that you are raising your voice at your dog for? It makes you feel better, right? You feel by saying at the top of your lungs "UH UH" that Fido might possibly stop what he's doing because you are being firm. Here's a thought...maybe Fido stops what he's doing because he thinks you're out of your mind? Or you might be scaring the crap out of him with these odd things.

So, in the last few months, I've come up with a solution! And it's a fun one too. The conversation goes like this:

Me: Give me one word, a fun word that everyone in your family can remember.

Client (Well, it was their 4 year old actually): Pork Chop!

Me: Okay, here's the deal. Every single time you want to say "No" or make a sound like "Uh uh" you get to say that word. So, when Fido is doing something you don't want him to, take a deep breath and quietly say "pork chop".

Client: **baffled look"" We aren't supposed to yell at our dog is what you're telling us?

Me: BINGO! (Thank goodness the dog's name wasn't Bingo!)

It gets the point across though. Even yelling "pork chop" at the top of their lungs basically has the same effect as "No", "Uh huh", "Tsch", "No no no no". I'm just giving owners an opportunity to see the futile attempt at using the words to train a dog. In most cases the family sticks with the process of replacing the "no" word and they end up having fun with it. The family in my example actually used "Pork Chop" for the kids and everything. It's hard to be upset when you are giggling at the ridiculousness of it.

The best way to get your dog to stop doing something you don't want them to? Train incompatible behaviors. Dog jumps all over people when they come in? Train the dog to sit and get treats. Dog barks at the doorbell? Train the dog to go a room when the doorbell rings. (This one is especially handy if you teach them the doorbell means to kennel up.)

I recently assessed a dog who seemed very out of control. Within a few minutes I had him sitting at my feet calmly and taking treats as I clicked for good behavior. When I first got there, the person who was handling the dog would ask the dog to sit. "Can you sit?" and when the dog wouldn't sit she would "UH UH" really loudly and harshly. This sends very mixed signals to the dog. I like to keep all training very upbeat and even when I'm not training, I like to still use praise and rewards for capturing good behavior. Greyson laying down on the floor next to the couch still to this day can get a "Good boy! Good down!" even though he knows what "down" is and he knows he's a good boy, it's the playing of the lottery to get rewarded. Even if it's just a verbal praise!

Now, this is not to say I'm perfect. I lose my cool at times. I've been known to yell. There have been plenty of "What in the world are you doing?"s come out of my mouth. The idea is that you don't want to be constantly sending those mixed signals to your dog. Sooner or later, Fido isn't going to know if he's coming or going and that's normally when I get the phone call.

So always keep it upbeat, positive, and remember, you can't yell "NO" at your dog if you're giggling because you agreed to say "pork chop" instead.

Even I get it wrong

This past few weeks have been chaos. I have puppy classes running, private classes, planning on heading to Ohio in two weeks for a seminar. Even typing it makes me tired. Oh, and I'm setting up a new website AND planning basic obedience group classes. No rest for the wicked, I say! In the mix of all that, there is my personal dog, Greyson.

Grey greeted me every time I came home at the door with his tail wagging and seemed like a happy camper. I would lay down and he would curl up on the floor next to where ever I was. My first real afternoon and evening off, I curled up on the couch and encouraged Greyson to join me. Instead, he went into the other room and laid down. My first thought was that he was bothered by me being going so much.

I started to analyze how Greyson greets me. Tail up, wagging, loose body language, and typical good natured Greyson. There's never been a doubt in my mind that Grey didn't love me. I take good care of him, we've bonded through our training sessions, and he is happy go lucky with me at home. So why when I started not being home as much did I think he was changing his attitude towards me? Simple....I was feeling bad for what I was doing.

Greyson had adapted to my weird flip flopping schedule and while he still sniffs every inch of me when I come home to make sure I don't smell like a dog he knows, he never holds a grudge. And now that I look at it, dogs don't hold grudges! So how did I become convinced that he was upset? Well, I was feeling guilty.

So, after coming to this realization I started to look at other aspects of our lives with Greyson where I was wrong. Like the fact that he doesn't get to go to events with me. I always thought it was unfair to him to have to sit at home while I went to all these places, but I realize (and it was literally an AH HA moment) that Greyson doesn't care. Greyson is comfortable at home. He feels safe, no stress to make him panic (most days) and he is comfortable to be himself. Some dogs don't ever go out to events and be in the public all that much. I come home and love him, that's what makes his world tick. So once again, WHY am I stressing out about this?

I'm projecting my feelings onto Greyson. I see this a lot in dog training. "My dog is mad at me so he ate my shoes!" "I didn't come home when I was supposed to so my dog went potty in his crate!" "My dog didn't like that I wouldn't share my food with him so he dumped over the trash can!"

Now, let's look at each of these.

1)You dog ate your shoes? Did you leave them in his space? In other words, have you taught him what is his and what isn't his? Did you explain this to him in doggie language? Does the dog know that not everything in his domain (i.e. the floor) is his? Nine times out of ten the answer I get back is "Well, no." There you go! He isn't upset with you! He just simply doesn't know those aren't his to chew!

2) The dog went potty in his crate/bed/your bed/your floor? When was the last time he went potty? Did you feed him and then leave him to go in his crate or area of the house? Did you take him out to eliminate after he ate? How old is the dog and is he capable of holding his bladder for that long? If you depended on someone to take you out to potty and they didn't show up when you normally scheduled to go out, what do you think would happen? You would probably potty where you weren't supposed to.

3) Your dog knocked over the trash can? Does he normally do this after you throw something away? I prefer trash cans with lids or having the trash can where the dog can't get to it behind a gated area.

So we see that I'm not the only person who does this. We project how we think they feel onto our dogs when normally there is a simple answer for their behavior. In our case, Greyson is very happy being at home and not being taken places where he is going to be stressed out. He's happy to see me when I come home and he isn't pouting because I was gone. In fact he was probably pouting because during my nap I was snoring like a lumberjack! :)

And in the meantime Grey will continue to love life in a low stress environment!