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Happy Holidays. We have recently added items to our Ask the Trainer and Additional Resources pages of our website. They are as follows.

ASK THE TRAINER ARTICLES [click here to see a list of all articles]

Barking [Print This Article]

Published in the October 2007 Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs.

Question:

I recently adopted a greyhound. She is quite vocal when I go to the barn to tend my horses at 0400 in the morning. Separation anxiety? I also have an abundance of wild rabbits - this gets barking and rooing from her. Shushing her and telling her to be quiet have little effect. How do I train her to be quieter?

The Trainer Answers:

Barking is a natural behavior for dogs, so you should never expect to entirely eliminate barking. However, there are times when it is more appropriate than others, and there certainly can be a limit placed on barking when it does occur. 

First, you should consider why your dog is barking. When you go to the barn, you question if the barking is a sign of separation anxiety. Does your dog bark every time you leave the house? Does she express other signs of anxiety when you leave? If so, then we need to address the anxiety since the barking is only a symptom of the anxiety.

If she is barking only when you go to the barn, she could be expressing frustration at not being able to do what she wants. Surely, she is missing out on an exciting adventure! If this is the case, frustration intolerance and impulse control exercises would be very beneficial. An example of these exercises would include down-stays to earn meals, walks, and other things that interest her. She learns that sometimes she can earn the things she wants by being patient and waiting rather than barking and demanding to join you or get something. Barking is never successful in getting what she wants, so we need to teach her what will be successful. However, she also needs to learn that sometimes she will not get what she wants, and she will need to learn to deal with frustration and disappointment. That’s life!

In regard to the bunnies, is she frustrated about not being able to chase the bunnies? Is she barking out of the pure excitement and arousal in seeing the bunnies? Probably both. Bunnies are a huge distraction for most dogs. You can work toward training her to never bark at the bunnies, or you can limit the barking. Let’s say we decide she gets 2 seconds of barking and then she needs to stop.

Begin your training far away from the bunnies. Her arousal level is most likely far too high around the bunnies right now. If her arousal level is too high, she very likely might not even be able to hear you. Ever tried to get someone’s attention while they’re watching an exciting play during the Super Bowl? Begin your work in the house with no distractions. Very gradually work up in your degree of distractions. Most people try to move too quickly which leads to failure – that’s failure on our part. We’ve asked too much of our dog too soon.

The key to the bunny issue is teaching your dog to turn her focus away from whatever she is focused on, and give her a different job to do – such as focus on you. I break this into a couple of steps. First, I work on a “watch me” or “look” cue to teach the dog to focus on me. If I want her to take focus away from something else, I will need to give her something new to focus on. Once I have the dog’s focus on me, then I can give her a different job to do, such as walk away or lie down. The key is to keep her focused on something other than the bunnies. 

Secondly, when she does bark, give her your time limit and then say, “Enough” or some other cue. Have something REALLY tasty used only for this exercise, such as chicken or roast beef. Place it right up to her nose as you say your cue, and feed as soon as she stops barking. Work toward combining this with your focus exercise, so once she stops barking, you immediately give her something else to focus on and do to take her mind off the bunnies.

Counter Surfing  [Print This Article]

Published in the December 2007 Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter. Although this article was written for greyhounds, it applies equally to all breeds of dogs.

Question:

My dog steals items off the kitchen counter. How do I get him to stop, especially when I am not there?

The Trainer Answers:

Ah, the infamous counter surfer! As with many training issues, we first need to start by using some management to control the situation when we are not able to directly work on the issue. This means we need to make sure the dog does not have opportunities to practice the undesirable behavior and be rewarded for it. This might mean not allowing the dog in the kitchen by blocking it off with baby gates, keeping the dog crated, or other ways to prevent the dog from getting to the counter when we are not there.

One way to teach our dogs not to jump on the counter is to make sure the dog is never rewarded for the behavior. Rather than preventing access to the counter at all, the other option is to completely clear off your counter tops for now. If the dog does get a chance to put his feet, nose or other body parts on the counter top, he should find absolutely nothing there. Even if there is no food on the counter for him to eat, he might still enjoy pulling items of f the counter to play with or chew. We need to ensure he never finds any value in accessing the counter tops. This alone will eventually extinguish the behavior. Dogs will do what works to get what they want, so they will discontinue any behaviors that are not rewarding in some way. If your dog does continue the behavior, then he is being rewarded in some fashion, whether you think so or not!

In many cases, the dog is counter surfing out of boredom – he’s looking for something fun to do. We can help him to stay away from the counters by ensuring he has plenty of other appropriate activities to do – on the floor. Find ways to make the floor more interesting by placing toys, his meals, or interactive toys with his meals on the floor in the kitchen. If items on the floor keep his interest, he will soon lose interest in the counter tops - which at this point should still have nothing of value on them!

Now it’s time for the training. When you are ready to work with your dog, go to the kitchen armed with some tasty treats, fun toys or other items that you know will interest your dog. Any time he shows any interest in the counters, redirect his focus to something else. Ask him to perform some known behaviors, offer to play with him, or find other ways to engage his interest in something away from the counters. Do not give him the chance to jump on the counter. Once he is doing well with this exercise, you can start to make it more difficult by placing tempting items on the counter – just make sure you can redirect him before he gets to it. Make sure he is not allowed to reward himself by jumping on the counter and taking the items you’ve placed there. Initially, you might want to have him on leash to prevent him from getting to the counter before you. In this case, do not jerk on the leash, just make sure the leash stops him before he reaches the counter.

If you wish, you can add a cue to the behavior of redirecting away from the counters – “leave it” is one example. When you say “leave it” you need to immediately redirect your dog’s attention. Your dog will begin to understand that he should turn his focus away from whatever he was focused on and turn attention toward you instead. This can be used for other areas in addition to the counter – trash, litter boxes, etc. Do not wait for him to have his nose or feet on the counter before you say “leave it” – do so as soon as he shows any interest in the counters.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES [click here to see all items on our Resources webpage]

We recently visited Samantha’s Katz N Dogs, a locally-owned pet retailer that we recommend. They are located at 22978 E. Smoky Hill Rd., Centennial, CO 80015 (map it). 

Guidelines on the use of punishment for dealing with behavior problems in animals. The PDF article is about guidelines for the use of punishment, provided by the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior

OTHER

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Sue and Ed
720.279.4663
http://www.lovemydogtraining.com