Happy Life Dogs

IS YOUR DOG HAPPY OR HYPER?
A dog that’s spinning in circles, jumping up and down, or barking and yipping is not a happy dog. These are all signs of over-excitement. The dog has excess energy and the only way her brain knows how to deal with it is to work it off physically.
Unfortunately, people often interpret these signs as happiness. Many also tend to think that it’s cute when a dog acts like this and wind up unknowingly encouraging the behavior. Curb your dog’s excitement and you’ll be preventing misbehavior in the future.
An overexcited dog is not happy. A calm dog is. Here are a few steps to keep your dog from being constantly over-excited and to be calm, submissive and happy.
Don’t Encourage Excitement. The most important thing to remember when your dog approaches you with excitement is that what you do will determine whether such behavior becomes more or less frequent. The worst thing you can do is give affection or attention to an excited dog. This is just telling him that you like what he is doing. He’ll learn that being excited gets a reward, so he’ll keep doing it. The best way to react to an excited dog is to ignore him. Use no touch, no talk, no eye contact. If he tries to jump on you, correct that behavior as well.
Reward calm behavior. This is the flip side of the first tip. When your dog is in a calm, submissive state, then you can give affection and attention, which will reinforce that state. If your dog is treat motivated, then reward his behavior when he is calm. Through a combination of ignoring excited behavior and rewarding calm behavior, you will help your dog to naturally and instinctively move into the calmer state.
Wear your dog out. A tired dog is a calm dog. More exercise is better.
Engage the nose. Scents like lavender and vanilla can help calm your dog down, especially if you associate them with times when the dog is calm — like having a scented air freshener near her bed. Be sure that your dog doesn’t have any allergies to particular scents and ask your vet for recommendations on the scents that work best at calming dogs down. Don’t overdo the scents. Dog’s noses are 200 times more sensitive than humans. A little scent goes a long way.
Most importantly, your dog cannot be calm if you aren’t, so you need to check your own energy. When you have to correct your dog, how do you do it? Can you stop the unwanted behavior with just a nudge or a quiet word, or do you tend to shout “No” at him over and over? If you’re in the second category, then you’re contributing to your dog’s excitement. Here’s an image to keep in mind: two soldiers in the woods. They’ve come to a clearing and see the enemy ahead. One of them starts to move forward. How does the other soldier stop this? Not by yelling. You’ve probably already pictured the move in your mind — an arm across the chest or a hand on the shoulder, without saying a word. Dogs are hunters, so they have an instinctive understanding of this kind of correction. If the group came up on a deer in a clearing and the Pack Leader barked to tell them to stop, the deer would be long gone and none of them would eat. The leaders stop the pack with nothing but their energy and body language.
If your dog is naturally high-energy and excitable, it can take a while to see results with these techniques. The important part is that you remain consistent in using them and don’t give up. Chances are that your dog didn’t become a hyperactive wild child overnight, so you’re not going to undo it overnight. But you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll start to see a change once you commit. Consistency is the key to success.

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NOISES ON THE 4TH OF JULY

Just a quick tip to help your friend(s) on the 4th of July. All that noise is often an unwanted part of the festivities and your pet can become fearful or unsure. The best way to deal with this is NOT to comfort a scared dog. The mind you pet is the mind you get. Soothing a fearful dog gives them permission to be scared and says you approve of the behavior. Better to put on some background noise that is familiar and fairly loud - TV, fan, A/C or music and then behave as if everything is normal. If a loud "boom" causes your friend distress, distract with a small treat or toy. Remain calm and do not let your stress become theirs. The more YOU are distressed for them, the more stressed they will become. You KNOW everything is OK - and you can convince them this is true if you relax. If you're easily startled or scared, try earplugs. You can also try sitting on a chair or couch with your dog sitting beside you. Put your arm around your dog with your palm flat on the dog's chest and squeeze slowly and rather tightly (not to cause discomfort) You are mimicking a product called a "thundershirt" which also works well for some dogs .
We can all do what's best for our pets. They rely on us.

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I promised I would not get on a soap box, but this past week I have seen/heard SO many people creating the same problem for their dogs, I feel I have to address the issue. How many of you just yell your dog's name when they're misbehaving? This week I heard over a dozen people screaming/yelling their dog's name to stop them from barking, charging their fence or another dog or committing some other household infraction. This is unsuccessful for two main reasons. First, it puts a bad association with the dog's name (FLUFFY!!!!! Obviously my owner is displeased - I should make myself invisible OR my owner is excited - surely he/she wants me to continue my current behavior OR my owner is calling me but I'm too wrapped up in my current behavior to pay any attention) and second, it provides no clear instruction for the dog. A better plan includes remaining calm (no yelling) and going to your dog to correct the unwanted behavior. If your pup is barking at strangers, slip on a leash or grab the collar for a quick correction while giving a command such as "Quiet" or "No Bark". Distract with a smelly treat, but don't actually let the dog have the treat until you get eye contact and 10-15 seconds of silence. If the dog is lunging, a leash snap correction followed by a clear command "Leave it", "No, Sit" or similar. Don't yell, remain confidant, repeat the command ONCE before applying other methods. This is a bit more complicated training activity so feel free to contact me if you have questions. The important message is - Yelling your dog's name will NEVER solve the problem and only succeeds in confusing your friend and weakening your position as leader. Good luck and if you want to learn to speak canine, call me at 206-546-3443.

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FOOD GUARDING
STEP ONE: Thoughtfully and specifically writing down what objects your dog guards, what your dog does to cause you to say she is guarding and how close you need to be to see any sign of guarding. Here’s an example:
Objects: Chew bone, stuffed Kong, favorite stuffed toy in the shape of a deranged dinosaur.
Behavior & Distance: My dog first stops chewing or eating and stands motionless if I get within 4-5 feet of her while she is chewing on her Kong. If I move to within 2-3 feet, her body tenses and her mouth closes. If I walk right up to her and reach toward the object, she will growl.
STEP TWO: Find something your dog likes even better than what she guards. Usually it will be some form of meat, but every dog is different. Be sure to experiment–every trainer or behaviorist has seen X,000 numbers of people who swear their dog “doesn’t care about food” until we get out our super stash of cooked chicken, cheese or freeze-dried liver and get their dog turning somersaults for it. Food is ideal because you can have it on hand and chop it up into pieces that allow you to create lots of reinforcement.
STEP THREE: Stocked with lots of treats, set up a situation in which your dog would guard. In the example above, give your dog a stuffed Kong, leave the room and re-enter with a handful of cooked chicken. Stop WELL BEFORE you would predict a reaction (any reaction) from your dog. In the example above, that would be at about 7-8 feet away. Toss a piece of chicken so that it lands right beside your dog’s mouth. (If you are like me, and flunked softball in school, just toss another one if you miss.). Wait for your dog to eat it up and toss another piece. Repeat once or twice, then leave the room. If your dog leaves the Kong and comes over to you for more, look up at the ceiling and ignore her. You want her to learn that food only comes out of the sky if she is eating and you are standing nearby.
STEP FOUR: After a few sessions of this, start where you began in the last session, but don’t toss any food until you walk forward one step closer, no more. Toss chicken and withdraw one step. Walk forward one step again, toss a treat and then WALK AWAY. You want your dog to think “NO! Don’t walk away!!” If, however, your dog reacts by stiffening, make a mental note to start farther back or to only approach in half steps. You can either stop there or leave the room and re-enter it, repeating Step Four one or two times.
STEP FIVE: Gradually, ever so gradually, decrease the distance between you and your dog. Walk to within 5 feet in one session, then 4 in the next. Go back to just 5 feet for 2 sessions, then go to 4 and possibly 3 IF the dog is responding well. “Responding well” means that your dog is switching from “Oh No! She’s going to take my bone away” to “Goody! Here she comes! Whenever I have a chew bone and she comes close to it I get something better! How cool is that????” That means your dog’s body is loose, not stiff. She does not start chewing frantically as you approach. Her mouth is open and she looks as if she is happily anticipating your approach.
What if she leaves the bone and come to me? Well, good girl! That means she’s stopped guarding the bone in search of something better. Again, simply ignore her and wait for her to return to her bone. It might take awhile for some dogs, but if you look away (this part is important) she will eventually give up and go back to her Kong or dinner bowl.
STEP SIX: Once you can approach your dog and stand right beside her, begin skipping the food toss until you are a few strides away, and start classically conditioning a reach toward the object. Keep in mind that you are working on re-wiring her brain so that she forms a new association between your actions and how she feels about them. Walking toward her is a different action than reaching toward her, so you need to think of it as a different category. (Understanding the distinction between each action you make is perhaps the most important aspect of being able to use classical conditioning to turn around a behavior and it is not something we do naturally without training ourselves to be expert observers and thoughtful analysts of behavior.) First, bend toward the food or toy, drop a treat and then straighten up. Do this several times or as often as necessary for your dog to remain relaxed. Remember: your dog drives the system here, not an idea you have in your head for how long this should take. Gradually move your arm and hand closer and closer to the food or object, eventually taking it away and giving your dog something wonderful in return. I once convinced a head-strong dog to give me the dead bird she had in her mouth and when she did, I gave it back to her. The people watching were appalled, but that’s what she wanted more than anything in the world and she trusted me ever after.
STEP SEVEN: Keep it up. Forever. Not every day, or even every week, but at least every month or so you should remind your dog why it is in his or her best interests to let you take anything away.
PREVENTION: That’s easy–just follow the step above, but you don’t have to go as slowly as you would if you were trying to turn around an established behavior. Dogs love it when I pick up their bowls, because it means they are getting something even better. This is exactly why I continue to remind them how fun it is to let me take things away from them!
OPERANT CONDITIONING?: One last comment–there is a role for operant conditioning here, which is to teach dogs to “Leave It” or “Drop It” (those are different in the mind of a dog I suspect: in one case the dog is focused on something, in another he or she has it in his or her mouth and possession is the law in canid society.)

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