Teaching Manners, Behaviors, and Relationships
Oakley the English Shepherd takes social distancing to new extremes.
Oakley lives in Garrison, New York and like so many shepherd dogs, Oakley is a literal guy and he takes his social distancing very seriously.
Alone on his hill, Oakley waits (more than six feet away from everyone). He is ever vigilant and asks,
Really! No Sheep here, either!
“All right, where is everyone?
How can a herding dog work like this?“
As a New York dog practicing social distancing, Oakley would make Governor Cuomo proud…
Ollie stalks the unsuspecting stuffed animals and pretends to be a meerkat.
Ollie works in NYC and weekends upstate.
Hiding in plain sight, Ollie stalks the unsuspecting stuffed animals.
Or perhaps because he is now working from home as a result of Covid-quarantine, he is sleeping in…
When Ollie is awake, he pursues his life long dream of becoming a meerkat.
He cares not for the fact that the Hudson Valley is nothing like the Kalahari Desert, the natural habitat of the Meerkat.
Ollie will make it work!
How are the Distract-O-Doggie dogs keeping busy cooped up with their humans during the Covid-19 crisis?
Many teams have been taking this class for almost all of those years – with different dogs of course. And they are all family.
I wanted to keep everyone connected at this time. In the coming weeks the teams will be sending me pictures, videos, and tricks they and their dogs are doing to keep busy.
The first in this series will be, of course, my dog Pax’e in her new editorial position here at Three Dogs.
Stay tuned…
Sometimes our dogs chain behaviors in ways we didn’t plan, so here’s a way to help your dog from becoming confused about what your commands really mean.
If so, you are not alone!
All too often we teach sit easily — it is a calming signal dogs tend to throw our way in the early stages. When our dog sits, we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding the dog and – voila! – we have a sit command!
Sometimes we have to work a little harder at getting that sit by either luring or shaping it, but again once the dog complies we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding the dog and – voila! – we have a sit command.
No matter how we get to it, we have established a basic skill that is used as a stepping-stone to so many other commands: sit/stay, sit/wait, sit/paw, sit/down.
The sit/down (and sit/paw) are the two combo-commands most commonly chained together by our dogs.
All too often folks start training the down command with the dog in a sit position and for some dogs it comes easily and for others it can take a while. Again no matter how we get there once the dog does his/her down, we get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding and soon we have a down command.
Here is where it gets tricky: if we only ask for a down from a sit position our dogs can begin to chain the two together. They begin to be conditioned that down always comes after sit and it is not long before they believe sit always comes before the down and voila — we have a dog who believes sit is just the beginning of down.
Okay — how do we break or avoid this? Easy.
Begin teaching the down cue from a standing position. The lure is the same: a stinky treat in a closed hand at the dog’s nose, slowly bring treat straight down to the floor (slowly enough so the dog’s nose follows the treat), wait for the dog to begin to lie down and then completely lie down — then get very happy and excited, praising and rewarding.
There are a few dogs who will not go all the way down — no problem, just pay for half a down, then three-quarters of a down, then nine-tenths of a down (you get the idea). You can also shape down from a standing position by simply rewarding it each time your dog does it (more on that in another blog). And if your dog already knows down from a sit, the same procedure applies as above. But you may not ask them for a down from a sit for a complete month (or more if they already think sit is just the beginning of down) because we need the dog who believes sit is just the beginning of down to let that notion extinguish from their behavior pattern.
Remember the biggest pitfall here is when we are not committed to the requested behavior. So often we are just happy the dog is stationary that we just take the down when in fact we asked for a sit. We have to commit to the behavior we have asked for.
There is however no need to punish — no need to vex. Just walk away if you ask for a sit and your dog slides into a down or ask the dog to stand and try again.
Remember we just want our dog to stop something and ask for a sit but when the dog slides into that down we have to get the dog back up into the sit or stand and try again—but do yourself and your dog a favor—remember to ask for the behavior they are most likely to offer reliably until you have fixed that sit-is-just-the-beginning-of-down issue. That puts fix for the lack of reliability back on us.
In the end so much of dog training is, “mean what you say, say what you mean, but don’t be mean about it.”
Teaching our dogs how to be happy on the other side of a gate or in their crate is pretty easy but will take a bit of attention and training.
In a crate or behind a baby gate is a lovely and secure place for dogs to spend time when you’re not at home or you can’t be watching them because you’re in the shower, taking care of a baby, or busy making dinner, just to name a few.
The techniques in the excerpt below will apply to crate and gate training equally. Whether you are crating for puppy potty and house manners, or gating so you dog can see your baby having floor time, the process will be the same.
Behind the gate or in the crate should be a safe place where your dog is not disturbed and where they can have fun with wonderful safe things like – toys, food, treats, a kong, a bone, and more. Remember if crating for puppy potty training, the size of the crate should be large enough for your pup to turn around, lie down, and stand up without crouching. More on puppy potty and manners in the Puppy 101 series.
Pinball getting sleepy in his crate.
If your dog hurts himself in the crate you will want to try to build happy crate time following the steps above but at a much slower pace and only for occasional use. While you may not envision putting your dog in a crate regularly, there are situations in addition to management that will call for your dog to have crate time, such as: the dog is lost and taken in by Animal Control, or the dog is injured or must undergo surgery that requires them to be crate-rested for a period of time. If your dog finds himself in either of these situations and is unhappy in the crate, he will be extremely stressed and may hurt himself while crated and his crate fears will only increase. If your dog simply cannot adjust to a crate, do not force the issue.
