Pattern Games

by Positive Dog | Dec 30, 2021 | General Training, Reactive, Aggressive, or Overexcited Dogs

Pattern Games

This class is ideal for distractible, excitable, or reactive dogs.

We will learn and practice pattern games to create predictable scenarios with a goal of walking past distractions in public such as other dogs, kids on scooters, bunnies, etc.

The pattern games are based on those popularized by Leslie McDevitt in her Control Unleashed program.

Emailed Weekly Lessons, Weekly Zoom Lesson, Facebook Group for questions!

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Offered January 2022

Schedule for January Session

Video Lessons

You will receive your first lesson on January 11th, and a next lesson every Tuesday for 6 weeks.

Zoom Meetings

6:30PM Tuesdays for 6 weeks, beginning January 18th. If you cannot make these 45 minute sessions, they will be recorded and sent to you to watch when you have time.

In-Person Lesson

3:30PM Thursdays at Maffeo Sutton Park for 45 minutes to practice the games around real-world distractions.

Reactive or Aggressive Dog?

These Pattern Games are great tools to help your reactive or aggressive dog, whether reactive due to fear, frustration, or over-enthusiasm.

If your dog can focus and train comfortably within 15′ of other dogs and handlers, then the In-Person option might be appropriate. If your dog isn’t ready for that, it’s ok. The On-Line Learning option or private lessons are made just for you!

On-Line Learning $249 CDN

COVID Safe!

This option is ideal for remote learners, people with busy schedules, or if you our your dog struggle in group settings:

Weekly Video Lessons
Weekly Zoom Meetings
Facebook Group for Support & Community

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On-Line + In-Person $349 CDN

All of the On-Line Learning benefits, plus a weekly lesson to practice and refine our skills around real -world distractions:

Weekly In-Person Group Lesson
Weekly Video Lessons
Weekly Zoom Meetings
Facebook Group for Support & Community

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Potty Training Your Puppy

by Positive Dog | Nov 26, 2021 | General Training

Potty Training Your Puppy

Training your puppy to eliminate outdoors can be a very quick process, or can take weeks and even months. Each puppy develops and learns at their own pace. Be patient while they learn.

When your puppy eliminates, it feels good. If your puppy is eliminating inside frequently, they are learning that peeing inside feels good!

Designate a potty area. Choose a location free of fun distractions such as sticks and other dogs. You will need a quiet, boring space to help your puppy relax enough to eliminate.
At designated potty times (this will vary according to puppy), take your puppy ON LEASH to the potty location and wait 2 minutes. Be very boring during this time and resist the urge to play with your puppy or walk around with them. Stand still in the potty area.
Result:
1. If your puppy peed: tell them how good they are and either go for a walk or back inside where they can have freedom to run around and play for a while. Peeing earned the freedom in the house.
2. If your puppy did not pee: Back in the house in their confinement area. Wait 5 minute to 30 minutes, depending on how excited or tired your puppy is and try again

If we set them up for success so they are eliminating outside, they are learning that peeing and pooping outside feels good.

When potty training, we set enough boundaries that no accidents (or very few) are occurring inside.

Tips

Take your puppy out after eating, playing, drinking, and after anything exciting happen such as a visitor, a good play session, a plate is dropped on the floor.
Keep records. How often is your puppy peeing? Pooping?
If you think your puppy needs to poop, take them for a walk first or play a game to get them moving. Many puppies won’t poop until they have had some exercise. Keeping records will help with this piece.

Once you have a pattern of success, your puppy should want to go outside and will begin asking to go out. At first, this might look like a pause at the door, or jumping on you for attention.

If we punish a puppy for eliminating inside, even mildly with a big sigh and a sad demeanor, we risk creating ‘Owner Absent Behaviours’. Puppies who have peed inside already got a little shot of dopamine reinforcing them for peeing. Getting upset with them often creates puppies who still pee inside, because that feels good, but who hide from their people to do it.

Sample Schedule

Go to bed at 10PM and set an alarm for 2AM

2AM – Take puppy out for a pee and put them back in their area with a new chew.

6AM – Wake up, potty puppy. Short walk, some training, play time at home.

7AM – Puppy goes back into their containment area with a stuffed Kong for breakfast while you shower, have a coffee, etc.

8AM – Potty Puppy, free time in the house. Every 15 minutes, potty puppy.

10AM – Puppy Nap time with a Kong or chew

12PM – Potty Puppy, short walk & training time, play with toys at home.

Every 15 minutes, potty puppy.

2PM – Puppy Nap time with a Kong or chew

4PM – Potty Puppy, free time in the house. Every 15 minutes, potty puppy.

6PM – Puppy Nap time with a Kong or chew

8PM – Potty Puppy, short walk & training time, play with toys at home.

10PM – Puppy Bed Time.

Use a containment system when you are not directly supervising your puppy. If you have to go to the kitchen or to the washroom, either take your puppy with you or place them in a small space where they are unlikely to eliminate. Most puppies do not want to eliminate where they eat and sleep so use a crate or an ex-pen, even a laundry room can work. The correct size for this space depends on your puppy. Some puppies will not want to eliminate within 5’ of their food area whereas other find 1’ away acceptable.What about nighttime?

Your puppy should sleep in an area where they won’t potty, or in a bathroom with a newspaper or pee pad if you are pee pad training. At first, set an alarm and take puppy out BEFORE they wake up crying. We don’t want them to learn that making a fuss gets us out of bet. I personally love to sleep in on occasion

Safety Gear for Large Reactive Dogs

by Positive Dog | May 11, 2021 | General Training, Reactive, Aggressive, or Overexcited Dogs

Gear for Powerful Dogs

If you have a dog who is prone to reactivity or aggression, you must be able to hold your dog back and pull them away if things go sideways adn you have a big reaction. The gear we choose can make all the difference.

Moderate Pullers can use a front clip harness such as a Balance harness or a RuffWear Web Master.

Very powerful dogs though almost always require a head halter such as a Halti or Gentle Leader. They even fit under a muzzle.

But what if the dog gets out of the head halter? Always use a safety strap from the head halter to an escape proof options such as a properly fitted martingale or a body harness. Only use the harness option if you can still hold the dog back. For powerful dogs or high risk dogs, I prefer the martingale. The martingale should fit snugly when no pressure is applied. If the unthinkable happens and the head halter comes off during a reaction, you are still connected to the martingale which will now tighten and give you more control. You can either use a double ended leash, one end to each, or use a strong safety strap connecting the head halter to the martingale or harness.

You can use a leash that attaches to your waist if you are worried about holding on with your hands or if you want your hands free. Please weigh the risks though as I have heard of more than one person being dragged down the street by their dog.

Click here for a link to a blog post with images of the gear

Grieving The Dog You Wanted

by Positive Dog | May 6, 2021 | Reactive, Aggressive, or Overexcited Dogs

Grieving The Dog You Wanted

Most people adopt or purchase a dog with a lifestyle in mind, maybe a hiking buddy, a family pet for current or future children, an agility superstar, or maybe even as a therapy dog. Sometimes we get a dog who can’t participate in those activities, possibly for a while while we train, or possibly forever if our goal is not a realistic one for this dog.

When this happens, it is normal to feel sad, to be angry, and to feel lost or overwhelmed by the needs of your dog. When we enter a relationship looking for a particular thing and our partner is unable to do those activities, it takes time to come to grips with the new reality and to make a new plan. And that is ok – be kind to yourself and give yourself time.

Social Pressure, Unsolicited Advice, & Judgement

Not only are you required to adjust your activities or how you live, train, or walk your dog, but maybe even worse, people judge. The judgement or disapproval we feel from others can be imagined or it can be very real. Every person you meet has either had a dog or knows someone who has, so there will be no shortage of people you know and complete strangers happy to offer unsolicited advice. The vast majority of these people mean well, but it still hurts.

People see a dog misbehaving and they tend to think:

The dog is bad.
The human is bad
The dog is receiving the wrong kind of training
The human doesn’t know what they are doing and needs their advice.

The truth is that dogs are reactive for many reasons, including but not limited to: trauma, genetics, health issues, chronic pain, poor skills for dealing with frustration, and basic needs of appropriate exercise and mental stimulation not being met.

Learning to effectively communicate with or set boundaries for ourselves and our pooch takes time and practice.

Forgive Yourself and Your Dog

When things go wrong, we like to have someone to blame – we like to have a ‘why’. Many people blame themselves, or that one incident where a person scared the dog, or maybe the rescue or breeder they bought the dog from. Some dogs do go through trauma that creates issues, many however have had lovely lives and still end up with behaviour problems. Other dogs go through horrendous abuse and amazingly turn out just fine.

‘Why’ doesn’t matter. Move past the ‘why’ and the blame and find a path forward.

Evaluate

Take some time to evaluate why you have your dog, and if your expectations can be altered. For instance, if you had goals of agility or hanging out the dog park, do you have time, resources and energy to spend your days hiking instead? Will you enjoy other activities with your dog? Can you meet your dog’s needs? It is ok to consider rehoming or returning to the breeder if you and your dog are not a good match.

With training and time, is it realistic that your dog will be able to participate in the activities you would like to do?

Make A Plan

Work with a certified trainer to make a plan to help your dog. What are your dog’s needs? What are your needs? Make a plan to ensure everyone has their needs met. Once that foundation is in place, make a plan to help your dog be the best he can be. Your pup may not ever be the dog park socialite or agility superstar you had hoped for, but with training and time, most dogs can become a pleasure to walk and to live with.

Remember that there are no quick fixes for behaviour change, especially when it comes to over-arousal, fear, reactivity or aggression.

Look-At-That Game

by Positive Dog | May 2, 2021 | Reactive, Aggressive, or Overexcited Dogs

Look At That Game

The Look-At-That game was popularized by Leslie McDevitt in her Control Unleashed program. The basics of the game:

Mark (say ‘yes’ or click) when your dog looks at a stimulus such as a dog, person, car, skateboard, or whatever gets your dog excited.
Feed your dog a tasty treat.
Play the game far enough away from the stimulus (car, dog, man in a hat, etc), that the dog finds the promise of food more exciting than the dog, gremlin, or whatever. When you say yes or click, your dog should look back to you for the treat. If they don’t, you are likely too close to the exciting thing to play this game.

Using this game, we can lower the dog’s overall arousal or anxiety about the stimulus and create a pattern where the dog learns that when they see something in the world, they can tell you about it to earn food. By marking when our dog looks at the thing, this game teaches your dog to focus back on you, avoiding the negative emotions and reactions that they might have otherwise.

This LAT game is just one piece of the training puzzle for anxious, over-excited, aggressive, and frustrated dogs and can only be played while a dog is well under threshold, i.e. far enough away from the exciting/scary/frustrating thing.

This game is not going to teach your dog how to meet people or other dogs. It is a game to help you walk your dog past things in the world.

I personally think the game should be called the ‘Notice That’ game, as sometimes we don’t want to wait until the dog looks at the other dog, man in a hat, squirrel, or whatever it is that is causing us stress. As soon as your dog glances at, flicks an ear at, or sniffs at the thing, mark (say ‘yes’ or click) and reinforce your dog with a cookie. Play this enough and your dog will hear you mark and OFFER to look to you for the food.

I play this game in it’s pure form for some dogs, and I mix it up a little for others. The exact flavour of LAT to play depends on many variables that are unique to you and your dog.

Having Trouble with LAT?

Dog Doesn’t OFFER to Look Back?

Don’t try to convince your dog to look at you. Remember, this is the Look At THAT game, not the look at you game. If your dog isn’t looking back to you for the cookie, you are likely too close to the trigger. Another common reason for this problem is that the dog doesn’t understand what the mark (‘yes’ or click) means. If you often have treats in your hand while you train or have unclean reinforcement mechanics, clean the process up and try again.

Dog Isn’t Eating Treats?

As above, you may just be too close to the trigger. Remember that this game is only meant to be played well under threshold. If your dog is generally not that food motivated, there are a lot of games you can play at home to help.

Dogs Who Bite – Rehoming and Behavioural Euthanasia

by Positive Dog | Mar 2, 2021 | Reactive, Aggressive, or Overexcited Dogs

Rehoming or Euthanizing Dogs with Serious Bite Histories

ehavioural Euthanasia is a difficult topic. The topic evokes strong emotional responses in many of us, and rightly so. Choosing to end an animal’s life when they are ‘perfectly healthy’ is never an easy decision, or rather it shouldn’t be.

There are four ideas I consider when discussing behavioural euthanasia.

1 – If management/training fails, what risk does this dog pose?

If the dog ends up loose on the street is a person or another dog likely to get bit for simply existing on the street? Only if the person/dog approaches? How serious is the bite likely to be? Is a person or dog likely to be nipped at or actually killed?

2 – While training, how much management is needed to prevent the dog from biting?

Does the dog live in a single person home in the middle of nowhere with a secure 6′ fenced run? Does the dog live in an apartment with a family with children, many people coming and going throughout the day? Does the dog have to navigate apartment hallways and elevators to potty several times a day?

3 – Is the owner physically, financially, and emotionally able to care for, manage, and train this dog?

The dog’s wellbeing and quality of life matter, but sometimes we forget that the owner matters as well. An owner should not face financial instability or have to choose between their family and the dog.

4 – What is the dog’s quality of life?

It is important to remember that a dog may be physically healthy, but in mental anguish. Is the dog able to have their needs of basic exercise, mental stimulation, and social contact met? For anxious dogs, are they generally anxious about life or just in certain scenarios? How much of the dog’s life is spent in a state of high anxiety?

Rehoming?

Unfortunately, homes willing to take on dogs with bite histories are few and far between. There aren’t a lot of people on acreages in the middle of nowhere with secure fencing, no children, no other dogs, and no delivery people coming by.

Unless it is a very specific case of a mismatched home, I don’t usually recommend rehoming dogs with serious human directed aggression. Even with full disclosure to avoid liability, there is an ethical dilemma. Quite often, a person who would take on a dog as described likely does not have the experience to understand the full ramifications of owning a human-aggressive dog. People who have lived with dogs who bite people, typically never want to be in that boat again. Unfortunately, I have seen it far too often where a new owner does not understand the risk their new dog poses, doesn’t take the appropriate precautions, and another person or dog is injured by a dog with a known history.

Resources

Below are two helpful podcasts, a Facebook support group, and a blog post. These are the typical resources I share with clients considering behavioural euthanasia.

https://drinkingfromthetoilet.libsyn.com/125-behavioral-euthanasia-with-dr-chris-pachel-0

https://caabpodcasts.com/index.php/2020/05/01/behavioral-euthanasia/

Losing Lulu Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/losinglulu

Blog – The Perils of Placing Marginal Dogs: https://summer2016.iaabcjournal.org/the-perils-of-placing-marginal-dogs/