Ask Professor Boo Archives • Page 2 of 2 • Three Dogs Training

Slow your dog’s Speed Eating!

Slow your dog’s speed eating with enrichment and training.

Snuffle mat for enrichment and to slow her speed eating

A question came to my attention the other day.

Our puppy’s been with us for two weeks now and the speed at which she eats is starting to get out of control. She’s a breed that’s prone to bloat so we know we need to slow our dog’s speed eating. But we tried putting half of her food in her bowl at first and then the second half later but she just wolfs it down just as fast no matter how much we give her. Help!

It is a problem if a dog eats too quickly because swallowed air can lead to bloat and gastric torsion which can be huge medical emergencies.

On the other hand, your puppy is telling us that she’s extremely food-motivated – which will make training her as she grows up that much easier once we slow down her speed eating.

First, some of your pup’s kibble should be wetted with water and allowed to absorb some of that water before it is given to her. This should slow her down a bit.

But then…

There’s a two-word answer to this problem: Puzzle Toys to slow her speed eating.

By delivering some of your puppy’s meantime kibble in a puzzle toy you’ll not only slow down your dog’s speed eating but you’ll also be providing her significant amounts of cognitive stimulation as she has to figure out (and work at) getting her food out of the toy. ENRICHMENT!

There are puzzles toys that deliver food as the dog manipulates them like the Twist ‘n Treat, Atomic Treat Ball, Tricky Treat Ball, Tornado, Snuffle Ball, and others.

We used a few of these to slow our speed eating goofy black LabMix, Porthos. After two bouts of bloat, he spent the rest of his life eating at least 50% of all his meals from on of these puzzle toys.

There are also other great products like snuffle mats, lick mats, the old fashioned Kong, snuffle balls, and snuffle bowls. Some snuffle mats can get pretty elaborate. I choose the simple snuffle bowl for my current dog, but you can go nuts with the variety of puzzle products.

I have one client who puts her dog’s snuffle mat into a box and lets the dog rip the box open to get to the snuffle mat.

In addition to puzzle toys, a good way to slow down the speed of your puppy’s eating is to set aside a portion of her kibble and use it as training treats. She’ll not only eat as slowly as you’d like by you setting the pace of the training session, but you’ll also get a head start on using solid positive reinforcement training techniques to help her become a great dog.

Bottom line… Make it Fun!!!

The Anxious Greyhound, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Leash

Leash anxiety can be a common behavioral problem in dogs. Here are some great positive reinforcement tips on how to overcome it.

Ask Professor Boo is our recurring, positive reinforcement dog training and behavior question and answer column. If you have a question that you would like to ask Professor Boo, please feel free to contact him.

Question: We have two Italian Greyhounds, a seven year old male and a four year old female. The female has not allowed us to leash or harness her since she was about six months old. She is extremely nervous and skittish and generally difficult to deal with. She can run in circles for hours. As you can imagine, getting her to the vet or anywhere in general is a nightmare. Have you ever heard of this, and can this be corrected? We have had no problems like this with the older dog. Thanks.

Answer: While it might seem as if you’ve got one single issue with your younger greyhound, from what you’re saying it seems as if there are smaller, individual problems that are snowballing together.

On the one hand, she seems as if she’s leash-phobic, which isn’t entirely uncommon, and on the other she seems to be exhibiting the signs of a more general type of anxiety.

Let’s address the leash sensitivity first since it presents a pressing safety concern for her.

Almost no dog is born liking their leash. It’s something they eventually learn to love, tolerate, or even hate depending on the rewards associated with them putting it on. Going for walks, play, and general fun will make the leash much more attractive for a dog who likes those things.

Stepping back for a moment and putting it in human terms, in many ways on a behavioral level a leash to a dog is the same as a tie is for a man.

No man, young or old, likes wearing a tie the first couple times, but if they’re consistently told they look handsome in it – or if they get paid a million dollars to wear it – they’re going to learn to really like it.

Alternatively, if someone has to wear a tie to a job that they only kind of like but they get paid pretty well to do it, then they’ll tolerate the tie but – more often than not – will look forward to pulling it off the second they’re out of the office.

Finally, if the only time someone wears a tie is to go to funerals then the powerful negative associations they’ve made to the tie will essentially guarantee they’ll hate every second of wearing one.

Bringing it back to your anxious greyhound, for whatever reason she’s put herself in the “funeral” associative camp and your job is to get her from there to tolerating and then loving her leashes or harnesses.

Here’s my advice for how to deal with the leash issue:

Since her anxiety levels likely spike if she even sees the leash or harness, in the very beginning just bring it out so she can see it and give her jackpot handfuls of her favorite dog treats (or a tidbit of something super-yummy like cheese, hotdogs, etc.).
Do this once or twice a day for the first couple days to allow her to begin to associate the presence of the leash or harness with something really, really good.
- Please remember that if you are using the jackpot method, you will need to cut down on her regular meals – she does not need extra weight.

When she begins to display excitement as you bring the leash out – even if it’s just excitement for the treats – bring the leash or harness over to her, put it on the ground next to her, and give her the same jackpots or cheesy tidbits as before.
At this point we’re trying to build comfort with proximity to the leash or harness and repeat this process once or twice a day for a couple of days.

Now that she’s displaying excitement with having the leash next to her on the ground, hold the leash in one hand while feeding her the jackpot or other yummy goodies with the other.
- Like before, this is about building comfort with both proximity and having the leash or harness near her head and face so you’ll want to do this for a couple days as well.

Finally it’s time to move on to putting the leash on her collar or harness on her body – and like before it’s going to be jackpots or other super-yummy snacks while you clip her up and walk her around wearing the leash.
- Like the man in the example above learning to love his tie because he gets paid a million dollars to do it, your jackpots are her million dollars.

Once you’ve gotten to the point where she’s happy to wear her leash or harness, you are going to go very slowly as she builds up her confidence while she’s wearing it.

Dogs feel at a disadvantage when they’re leashed so you must be very careful so you do not undo all the work you’ve done.

(As an aside, I’ve written before on the topic of how best to handle leashes – Leashes, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Mad About Leashes, or How to Manage Leash Aggressio n.)

My advice for the anxiety is…

Check with your veterinarian to be sure that she is healthy and find a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant who has experience with anxiety in dogs. That person will need to help you set up a protocol for desensitizing and counterconditioning your dog so you can change how she feels about the the scary things in her life.

There are a number of over-the-counter approaches that are worth exploring:

D.A.P. – Dog Appeasing Pheromone – is something that I’ve used with both my private and shelter clients. I’ve seen encouraging anecdotal evidence that suggests it does help the dog to reduce their anxiety levels. D.A.P. is nice because it comes in a wide variety of forms from house diffusers to collars to pocket-sized sprays, and I’ve noted no negative side effects from its use. (I’ve written about D.A.P. A Little DAP’ll Do Ya, which you might find useful to read.)
Thundershirts – like D.A.P., the Thundershirt is something used to address dog anxiety. Essentially, the Thundershirt is a body wrap that cinches snugly around the dog and functions in very much the same way that similar deep touch pressure calms patients with autism or ADHD. In short, the pressure exerted on the body causes the wearer to relax. Some dogs to not take to the Thundershirt if they are not the kind of dog happy wearing ‘clothes.”
ProQuiet help the dog produce more serotonin and is very useful for moderate anxiety re: car rides, some thunder or firework issues, mild stranger anxiety, etc. It is great for right-before an anxiety producing situation.
Rescue Remedy is for very mild anxiety situations, but it is worth a try to see if it supports your work.

Ideally you will need to address both the leash sensitivity and anxiety in parallel because the confidence she builds from the leash training might lessen the anxiety while the lessened anxiety from the over-the-counter approaches might allow her to better focus on the training.

All of this will take time and patience on your part, but desensitization and counterconditioning through positive reinforcement does – and can – work wonders.

And don’t forget while you are working on these items please seek out professional help to assist you with the root cause of your greyhound’s anxiety.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! Stay positive!

Mad About Leashes, or How to Manage Leash Aggression

Helping a dog to overcome leash aggression can be difficult, but here’s a proven training plan that uses positive reinforcement techniques.

Q: I have a 4 year old miniature schnauzer named Ozzie who has lived with me since last June. He is a rescue dog and he’s practically PERFECT in every way. However…..he almost always freaks out (barking, pulling, snapping) when we see another dog on-leash. I can never tell which dogs Ozzie will react to, and it’s only when on-leash. It’s much worse in the apartment complex where we live but it happens elsewhere too. We went to a trainer and she gave suggestions but they don’t work. When Ozzie is that upset, he couldn’t care less about treats! Nothing will distract him. When I tried to get between Ozzie and the offending dog, he actually bit me once! I try to avoid other dogs as much as possible, but I ‘want’ to go on long walks with my dog! What can we do, Boo?????
Woof,
Marian and Ozzie

This is a very common issue for a lot of dogs. I personally get a little pushy when I meet a cute lady dog and they often snip at me for getting a little randy if you know what I mean, but I digress…
Boo Answers…

Leash aggression can have several components:

Fear is probably the most common one and it usually builds over time. This can be a result of a lack of early socialization and/or have a personality component. It can also have grown out of generalized fear after bad encounters with other dogs.
Frustration is second in terms of creating ongoing arousal at the end of the leash. This can actually come from a great desire to go see that other dog for fun and games or be a combination of fear and excitement. Then, when the arousal is unfulfilled and hampered by a tight leash on a neck or head collar, it makes the frustration go from “I wanna, I wanna,” to “Aarrggg!” resulting in high levels of aroused behaviors.

The great news is that the fix is the same no matter what the underlying cause is so we don’t have to get Ozzie on a couch and ask him how he feels about his mother, etc.

What we do need to do however, is have a real good understanding of how desensitization and counter-conditioning (DS/CC) work.

But first, a word on equipment: Dogs have what is called an oppositional reflex – so when you pull tightly on a neck collar they will actually crank up more. This is used by K-9 officers to crank up their dogs before letting them go after a bad-guy and it’s also used in dog fighting to increase the “game-ness” and arousal of a dog – nasty business that dog fighting! So, your job is to completely take that out of the mix so the humans are not adding anything to Ozzie’s excitement – only removing levels of arousal.

Front-clip harnesses are lovely for this: The Easy Walk Harness, the Sensation, or The Freedom harness will all work well. This takes the oppositional reflex out of the equation and if you absolutely have to move Ozzie by putting pressure on the leash it will be a more easy pressure on him via the harness. Head-halters can add to a dog’s frustration and are not good for physically moving a dog out of Dodge if we get stuck, so we prefer the harness. I wear a front-clip harness whenever I’m out walking ‘cause it’s just easier on me overall – and I do tend to get stuck on smells – again I digress…

Desensitization and counter-conditioning (DS/CC) in short (and I do mean very short – this is the life’s work of many behaviorists and others and I am condensing their hard labors into a couple paragraphs): we need to change how Ozzie feels about the approach of another dog and change the default (conditioned) behavior he has adopted when they approach. This means that we take a primary reinforcer (treats) and we pair them up with the appearance of the other dog – in the world of neurology the phrase is “neurons that fire together wire together.” It has to be a primary reinforcer of Super High Value (SHV) because when we are trying to organize neurons to fire together for one thing – i.e. the behavior we want – the thing that is greater in value (either for good or evil) will win the firing supremacy. In other words the primary reinforcer needs to more valuable than the trigger is scary.

For example: if you have a dog who is afraid of cars and you just keep putting them into the car thinking they will just get over it, they may if they are going somewhere that is bigger in the positive sense than their fear of the car is in the negative sense. However, if the place they are going or the treat they get for the ride is not bigger than their fear of the car the dog will simply learn to hide from you when they know you are going to put them into the car because you have not changed how they feel about the car for the better but you have increased their fear to include you picking them up to put them into the car.

Here’s what may have been missed in previous attempts.

**Desensitize/counter-condition for every dog** –

DS/CC needs to be done for each and every dog you guys see because we don’t know which one will set him off and if we aren’t proactively working our DS/CC program on each and every dog Ozzie could have an outburst which would be self-reinforcing and the reactivity would continue. Another reason this needs to be done for each and every dog is because although Ozzie may not be having an outburst he may still be cranking himself up inside. This is not unlike my human when she drives over a bridge: she doesn’t scream anymore, but her knuckles are white on the steering wheel so I know she’s not in a good state of mind and over-threshold.

Stay sub-threshold –

Another thing that may have gone wrong with the other DS/CC attempts is that your timing has to catch him where he is what we call sub-threshold. This means that he is not over-the-top reacting and can actually focus on the treats and a simple command to do nothing when approached by other dogs. My human uses either “look at that,” “who’s that” or “oh boy,” for her simple “do nothing” command since these are non-offensive to anyone passing by and are pretty easy things for most humans to say in a bit of a panic. Remember: all Ozzie has to do here is NOTHING and eat his treat in the presence of his trigger. So how do you stay sub-threshold?

Distance is critical –

You may not think Ozzie has spotted the other dog because he is not over-the-top, but canine senses are so acute that if you see the dog you can be certain that Ozzie knows full well there is another dog nearby. So always work at a greater distance where Ozzie is sub-threshold then slowly close up the distance over time.

Timing is crucial –

With a good enough distance for Ozzie to be able to focus on the treats you would say “who’s that” or “look at that” and IMMEDIATELY give Ozzie that piece of cheese or hot dog. (Oh yeah that’s the other thing – explore the world of SHVT [super high value treats] to see what will make Ozzie vibrate with joy and begin with that. Later you can work your way down to something less HV as he gets better and better around other dogs. Remember as the trigger gets less scary you can either close the distance or lower the value of the reinforcer.

Repetition –

This is what breaks most humans down. Remember, we dogs don’t generalize the same way humans do. And although we are working on a neurological level when we are changing the way Ozzie’s neurons fire together, i.e. meaning that SHVT = Dog, it does take a while for new pathways to be really well-formed in the brain. Also, please remember that we are also asking him to learn a new behavior in the face of his old trigger – the other dog – so this can take a lot of repetitions.

Avoidance –

As you are practicing your timing you will need to walk Ozzie in areas where you know you can control all potential doggie encounters so you can keep him sub-threshold. My human often tells people to plop their dog in the car (if they like cars) then drive to an empty parking lot or a strip mall where they know there won’t be too many other dogs and practice there. Then, when you are feeling good about your timing and awareness, you would start to shadow other dogs in a controlled environment. This is usually across the street from a vet’s office, or a down time at the local dog park where dogs will be going in and out, also pet stores can be a good location for this – so long as there are not too many other dogs and there is enough distance for Ozzie to be sub-threshold.

Set your dog up to succeed –

Once you and Ozzie have a good working understanding of your new command – your “look at that” or the “who’s that” command – and he is responding to you reliably on whichever of these you use when you see other dogs and you have decreased the distance on the shadowing adventures to equal the same distance you would encounter in your apartment complex then you are finally ready to “try this at home.” Remember to bring those SHVT out again in a heartbeat and be ready to retreat (get out of Dodge) if it goes badly and return to shadowing at a distance until he is ready to try again.

Have an escape plan –

This means that if Ozzie is reacting you would move him a bit away from the other dog using some tension on the leash, then take a handful of those SHVT, rest them for a moment right on his nose so he can smell them, and then gently toss the snacks from his nose into the opposite direction of the trigger dog. He will follow the snacks if he is not too far over threshold and you can then relax tension on the leash and follow Ozzie in that direction and, if need be, keep the go-sniff treat-tossing up as you “Hansel and Gretel” him out of Dodge. (We place the snacks right on his nose provided he wouldn’t redirect onto you – which it sounds like he might given that he once redirected to bite you. In which case you would move him farther away just using the leash before attempting the “go-sniff.” Once he gets better at all of it – you will be able to just “go-sniff” him away when disaster strikes. Remember, you will have to practice the “go-sniff” when there are no distractions – so he knows it when you ask him for it in times of trouble.) Keep in mind that it is not ideal to muscle a dog around using the leash, but it things go badly – you got to get out.

As you can see, there are way more components here than just having treats in the presence of another dog. There is still way more than I was able to put into this response before my poor paws got tired from the typing. Just try typing by paw-pecking.

There are a number of books out there that may help and you can find the best ones my human has found in the Boo-tique:

Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell, PhD and Bringing Shadow to Light, How to Right a Dog Gone Wrong by Pam Dennison, CBDC will offer you guys some great training tips.

Calming Signals, on Talking Terms with Dogs by Turid Rugaas will offer you a primer on canine body language.

For the Love of a Dog: Understanding the Emotion in You and Your Best Friend by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D will offer your human insight into the dog’s emotional world.

Hope this helps Ozzie and you, too!

The Thieving Puppy, or How to Teach the Rules of Tug

Teaching your dog the rules of tug and setting up boundaries helps control their natural tugging behavior and gives you both what you want.

Ask Professor Boo is our recurring, positive reinforcement dog training and behavior question and answer column. If there’s a question that you would like to ask Professor Boo, please feel free to contact him.

Q: We’ve just got a new puppy and while he’s got all the rough-around-the-edges things that go along with being a puppy he does one thing that’s driving us crazy: everything becomes a game of tug. If he grabs a pillow off the couch – tug. If he grabs a towel in the bathroom – tug. If he grabs our pants – tug. How can we stop him?

A: First things first: tug is an innate behavior but you can shape and give it rules.

Just what is it tug? In short, you’re seeing a social manifestation of millions of years of their evolution.

As canids evolved and their hunting techniques developed to allow the hunting of larger prey. As a result, tug offered a solution to new issues:

Bigger prey require a collective effort to take them down
And, larger prey need to be divided up by the group

At some point one canine grabbed one end of a kill and another canine grabbed the other end and tug was born. What started as a solution to communal hunting and eating became what we see today in dogs as the game of tug.

Teaching your puppy how to tug appropriately is a great foundation skill that addresses:

Drop-it and leave-it skills
Self control skills
Trust and focus
Practice following rules and boundaries

Pax’e puppy practices tug and self control

The Rules of Tug

Ask your dog for a sit or down
Engage the game with a cue like “tug” or “take it”.
Use a toy large enough so that your hands will be clear of the dog’s mouth. I just love the Tennis Tug!
- I like to use only one or two designated tug toys because this reduces confusion and focuses their tug energies on their Super Special Tug Toy.
When the dog pulls or shakes side-to-side,
- You can relax your resistance or drop the toy completely.
- You can continue the game this way if your back and arm joints are strong enough but – if you’re like me – stick with the straight-on tug.
When the dog pulls front-to-back or straight-on
- Keep your resistance on the toy and play the game.
If the dog’s teeth hit your hand or clothing at any point
- Drop the toy, fold your arms, and look or even walk away from the dog.
If the dog’s paws briefly land on you
- You can choose to do the same look or walk away. If they are using you as a lever with the paws up against your body, drop the toy and look or walk away.
- The dog will probably come back to you with the toy after something like this.
- When they do, ask for a sit and restart the game using the cue you’ve chosen.
If the dog begins tugging any article of clothing
- Disengage from the dog and give them a time-out from you and the game.

If your dog is a tugger, you will be shocked to see how quickly he/she will learn the rules. Tug is of such high value to most dogs that the game itself becomes a reward for other great behaviors.

Good luck, let me know how it goes, and stay positive!

Sprayed by Skunks in Montana

To help your dog avoid being sprayed by skunks, have a handful of distance commands to keep your dog from getting into skunk trouble.

I recently received a question about a dog who keeps getting sprayed by skunks in Montana.

Our dog keeps getting sprayed by skunks. She’s a terrier mix and loves looking in culvert pipes and exploring. We live in the country in Montana and there is so much a curious dog can get into trouble with. She used to not come when we called her. But we’ve been training her with treats and she’s gotten much better at coming when we call. We hate to have to keep her on a leash when we go for walks. Can you make any suggestions?

Thank you, Jennifer

If you enjoy walking your dogs off leash, it’s important to have a handful of distance commands.

The recall or “come” command is at the top of this list. It is the most common in terms of getting your dog back to you and out of harms way.

A “leave-it” at a distance is almost as important. Start by teaching “leave-it” close enough to you so you can reinforce it with praise and rewards. The command is solid when your dog turns away from whatever they have found to get their reward from you.

All of the commands listed here will have to be rewarded with food in the learning stages, and then intermittently forever depending on the dog and the surroundings.

“Sit” or “down” at a distance will allow you to freeze your dog in place for a second or two while you figure things out, or the danger (i.e. skunk, etc.) passes. These could be used anywhere or anytime you need to simply put your dog into a holding position. You will need to be able to reliably request these commands when your dog is close to you. Then you can start to request them at distances farther away from you until you can lock your dog down matter how far away they are.

Some dogs do better with a “stop” command at a distance rather than “sit” or “down.” If they can “stop” their action, but can’t follow other commands in the heat of the moment, that’s fine. Essentially the “stop” command like the “sit” and “down” halt all actions until you tell your dog to do something else.

“Sit,” “down,” and “stop” all have to be trained when you are near your dog so you can easily reward them. Then you can start using a long leash, ten feet, fifteen feet, etc. With this, you can begin to increase the distance you ask your dog to preform these commands. Once your dog is reliable at longer distances, they are ready for off leash work.

Hopefully these ideas will allow you to help your dog avoid getting sprayed by skunks in or out of Montana.

As for Dante – well…

He loved skunks!

Hope that helps and remember, there is just something that dogs LOVE about skunks so keep that skunk wash handy.