A New Club

One of the nicest opportunities that presents itself in this job is to watch dogs 'blossom' behaviourally...

A lovely client of mine who lives in a very rural, remote area of Kent has offered her secure paddock to dogs who need somewhere safe to run and be free so I offered to help organise a small group of new friends for her and her dog.  Our first meeting was last week and it was wonderful to see 7 dogs all of different breeds and temperaments (a Lab x Collie, Lab x Dachshund, Lurcher, terriers x 2 and a Springer) simply enjoying the company of each other during sessions of play, rest, sniffing, running, drinking etc.  

They formed a wonderful, natural social group with fluently transient roles depending on who fancied a chase game or scenting exercise or simply chilling out in the sun or taking some shade.  

 There were no fights, no squabbles, no panics.  Once they all got acquainted and learned how to observe each other's personal rules (i.e. Indie the terrier was NOT prepared to tolerate rough play and enthusiastically enforced this, while Sticky the Lab x Dachshund made it quite clear he'd happily entertain anybody that wanted some ruff stuff!). 

I'm going to be blogging on these play sessions with photos, video footage and commentary.  It's going to be sheer joy for me to simply watch dogs being dogs...  I consider it an honour to be able to observe these wonderful animals demonstrate such beautifully simple and subtle ritualistic behaviours.  Yes, I may sound like I'm talking more about dolphins or some other rarely encountered animal, but to me, dogs are as fascinating and awe-inspiring as the most rare whale or tiger - we've just stopped realising it.

The Best Secondary Reinforcer of All...

I haven’t had a chance to blog for a while (Question of the Day:  When did ‘blog’ become a verb??) but I have been dying to talk about what trainers & behaviourists call ‘secondary reinforcers’.

(I’ll try and make this comment brief because if you’re like me, this is just one of a L-O-N-G list of training and behaviour blogs you want to read today!)

When I rescued my first deaf dog, the secondary reinforcer had to be something visual instead of my normal verbal one.  With deaf dogs it’s usually a hand signal such as a thumbs-up or some other obvious hand movement.  To cut a long story short, after a while I noticed that my dog was starting to show less and less interest in the secondary reinforcer, and even in the primary reinforcer (in this case, food).  I just couldn’t understand what was going on; my timing was good, I was being consistent.  Perhaps the withdrawal into an intermittent reward schedule was too quick?  So I upped the schedule and to my surprise my dog ignored me even MORE!  

What the hell was going on?

Then I noticed something… My dog had stopped looking at my face.  She had almost no interest in me whatsoever when there were distractions in the environment, no matter WHAT food I was offering as a reward.  Another thing I noticed was that if we were playing a game without offering any rewards, she was much more engaged and animated..  The penny dropped.  I had become so reliant on my thumbs-up as the secondary reinforcer I had stopped saying ‘Good Girl’.  

When I had stopped saying ‘Good Girl’, I had stopped smiling.

My deaf dog was denied a smile when I was rewarding her with food, simply because I'd fallen out of the habit.

Within a couple of days of reintroducing the bright and shiny ‘Good Girl!’ with a bright and shiny smile, she was as keen as mustard again.

I thought this was just a deaf dog problem… Oh if only.

Over the years since I’ve been watching the development of positive reinforcement training with joy; just so thankful that we have evolved beyond pain and coercion to shape behaviours (well, some of us anyway…)

Gradually I started picking out a pattern where secondary reinforcers such as clickers and verbal markers were not always motivating the dog; in fact with some dogs it looked as if they were thoroughly fed up of them.   

Then I spotted it; or rather couldn’t spot it…  It hit me like a waft of wiffy kippers!

Where was the EMOTION?  Where was the smiling eye contact?  The bright shiny voice?  The physical animation from the handler?!

The clicker / verbal marker / hand signal had somehow suppressed the emotional response from the handler!!  Suddenly I was seeing this all over the place – dogs switching off because their handlers had become emotional vacuums when in ‘training mode’.  The trainers were on automatic pilot and weren’t even aware that their faces, voices and bodies had become devoid of emotion and more importantly, joy.

It made so much sense to me;  we expect our dogs to be happy to work with us, to show enjoyment, to have wagging tails when we’re training, especially now we’re on the positive reinforcement train (yes, pun intended), but where was OUR joy?  But how on earth were our dogs supposed to be joyful when their role models (us) had become as emotional as your average yard broom??!

So I’ve been testing this theory, ‘geeing’ up handlers that haven’t even noticed that their faces, voices and bodies have become emotionless, making them skip, jump, hop, smile, laugh as well as give their normal markers.  I’ve been working on them injecting the joy back into their training and BOY is it making a difference!!  We’ve got dogs GALLOPING back to their skipping owners!  We’ve got owners finding the children in themselves again and rediscovering the JOY in being with their dogs!  It’s simply awe-inspiring to see the happiness flooding back into people’s faces, voices and body language and this being mirrored in the responses of their dogs.

So, I’m hoping the take-home message here is that the best secondary reinforcer of all is Joy.  Don’t let a clicker or a ‘Good Dog’ ever replace it.

Teddy's Blog - Day 5

Another horrible rainy, cold day so lots of short walks instead of a nice long one where I can really let Teddy run about a bit!  

The barking at external stimuli is developing now that he's getting a bit more confident.  Where it was initially more nervy it's becoming more bold now. I've found this can be a pretty common development after the first few days in a new home!

It's not aggression, actually more of a sign that he's beginning to trust us by raising the alarm that he can hear something he wants us to know about.  Really frightened dogs don't dare do that in case they have to deal with the situation themselves.  

I'm dealing with it by acknowledging this 'job' he's taken on and telling him calmly 'that'll do' and sending him back to his bed.  If the stimulus has gone (i.e. people walking outside the house or sounds next door) then he's happy to do this because he's done his job and got my attention. The important bit is not making a big fuss of it so there's no point in him continuing to bark unless the 'problem' is still there, in which case I'll remain with him until it's gone.  Ignoring it or merely telling him to 'be quiet' would only tell him that nobody else can hear the sounds so he has to continue barking! 

Oh, and he discovered the delights of stuffed Kongs and carrots today too!

Teddy's Blog - Day 4

Houston we have a problem...

This dog is the worst sock /slipper stealer I've ever known!!!  (and I've known a few, believe me.)

And you thought I was going to say our Teddy had turned into some snarling monster... Have some faith, people!

Yes, like a lot of dogs he LOVES cheesy socks, shoes and slippers.  There's a very good reason for his; these items are intensely saturated with our scent more than just about anything else, other than underwear (let's not go there, eh?).

The fantastic thing about Ted though is that he learned in about two instances that if he picked something up and brought it to me, I would exchange it for a small piece of food.  By the end of the day he was picking up random items, bringing them to me with a 'Sit' and releasing them on command.  No conflict, no chasing him to retrieve the odd sock or dropped piece of paper out of his mouth, no pulling jaws open or holding him down.  I've never fostered a gundog before and it's honestly been a joy to live with a dog that has such an intelligence about his mouth; working with mastiffs is a WHOLE different ballgame!

Last night some idiot was talking right outside our gate and Teddy became quite anxious and barked for a while until said idiot moved away.  He has barked a few times at outside stimuli and the odd knocking from next door.  The easiest thing to do with this 'There's-someone-outside-come-quick!' barking is to simply appear in their presence completely unperturbed and do something banal such as fetch a glass of water to show the dog that you aren't bothered by the stimuli, they don't need to be either.  Ignoring the dog completely isn't the best thing to do as it makes them more anxious, but giving their anxiety attention in the form of talking to them or telling them to shut up isn't a good move either as they soon realise that's a button they can push to summon you if they're bored...

The weather has been utterly pants all day so we haven't had a chance to get out for a long walk but I then just split the walks into 10 minute excursions and he's been out for about 4 of those today and one more to go before bed.  

We've been playing fetch with a toy indoors but somewhere along the line Teddy's been taught to tug for competition.  Such a shame because he'd have so much more fun retrieving and releasing but he hasn't learned that yet.  We'll work on this a bit more but the best thing to do with a dog that refuses to give it up is drop your end of the toy.  Repeatedly and immediately he pulls on it.  Poor Ted was a bit confused as he is used to the human end of the toy being a bit more obstinate and competitive!  

He's had another very quiet day chilling in his bed while I work a few feet away in the office but he's equally as happy to chill even when I'm not in sight, which is perhaps the most important thing to teach a dog within the first 48 hours - to be happy on their own.

More tomorrow, Teddy fans...

Teddy's Blog - Day 3

Was woken up by Mr Ted at 7:30 this morning with him whining.  I knew there was something wrong - the sounds he was making weren't just attention-seeking.  When I came down to him he'd been a little sick in his bed so it was cleaned up and bed changed without fuss.

So then a very frosty early morning 10 minute walk and toilet.  A couple of hours rest and then breakfast.  2min toilet break and then straight to bed for a couple of hours sleep.

In the afternoon we had another lovely 40min walk around the village.  Teddy is a lovely dog to share a walk with.  Just SO happy to be out and about, scenting, seeing, listening. He's bright as a button.  We've encountered all sorts of stimuli including bird scarer bangs, heavy traffic, noisy motorbikes, kids playing football, other dogs running about etc. His obedience in the form of 'Sit' and 'Heel' commands excellent for an 11mth pet dog.

He's VERY keen on cats... Don't actually know what he'd do if he caught one but he's not so gamey that I don't think he could be trained to accept them.  Birds on the other hand... Well, let's just say it's a good thing my little family of hedge sparrows have a quick take-off speed...  Well he IS a gundog!

We spent the rest of the afternoon working on getting him enjoying being handled with more TTouch.  As he's quite mouthy I've been working on relaxing his muzzle area and he is LOVING this.  I now have absolutely no qualms about bending down over him, next to him, putting my face next to his etc.  He was even nibbling my ear this afternoon!   He's actually got a very soft, sensitive mouth with excellent bite inhibition... When he is CALM.

That's such a critical point with this dog.  If you wind him up with lots of fast movement, noise, activity, then he loses impulse control.  He's a working breed - it isn't rocket science.

He's a wee bit jittery on night walks but confident, calm handling and a 'Walk On' command, that's all he needs

Hoping that he will give me a bit more of a lie-in tomorrow...

Oh, and I promised ya'll some pics, didn't I?

 


Simply beautiful, isn't he?

Teddy's Blog - Day 2

I had forgotten how tiring having a foster dog around can be!  Especially a young, lively pup!

Shall I cut this short?  Teddy is a wonderful dog and someone is going to be very lucky.

== End of blog ==

Okay, okay I’ll elaborate a little with our day today:

Day Two:

Ted went into his crate after a final short walk and toilet break at about 11pm the night before.  He was snoring so loudly by midnight I could hear him upstairs!

Not a peep out of him until 8am when he heard some people outside and gave a few woofs.  He went out for a short walk and toilet break.  Great dog for this – he toilets on the grass immediately he gets out.

Breakfast at 9am and he ate well (loves his soaked Burns Chicken & Rice!).

Allowed a short toilet break in yard and then straight to crate for a couple of hours rest – this breed like many others are at risk of bloat so I take NO chances.  A good, long sleep after a meal!

I went out but my daughter was in the house working upstairs so could monitor him while on his crate rest.  Not a peep out of him for over 2 hours.

When I got back we went for a really nice 40 min onlead walk.  Now this is where I saw some magic…  He picked up ‘Heel’ and ‘Wait’ within 10 minutes.  He has obviously had some obedience training because he wouldn’t walk on the right (in rural areas where there are single track roads and no safe pedestrian areas, it’s sometimes necessary to put a dog on the right for safety) so I worked with what he knew and he picked it up with lots of positive reinforcement and smiles.  We had a lovely walk together, exploring things, showing each other interesting possible scents (what a great tracking dog he’d be… what a nose!).  I gave him a 3m line to have a bit of freedom on the village green and we played for a little while, playing fetch and ‘seek the stick’.  This is where I saw the boisterous adolescent come out with a bit of excitable mouthing but absolutely no aggression and he soon learned to stop on command.

That same excitability and lack of impulse control is evident around other dogs as he has met mine and he displayed some typical adolescent behaviours – jumping, landing paws on them etc.  However again there is absolutely no aggression and he responded to my guidance when I blocked him with my leg.  He has obviously got away with some pretty boisterous play and if I didn’t know better I’d say he’d been living with another dog of the same age, possibly a littermate, all his life with little supervision.  It’s just that full-on!

He had his first massage session with me this evening where I applied some TTouch to his body and he l-o-v-e-d it.  It had possibly the biggest calming effect I’ve seen on any dog.  He literally melted into my hands.  It was obvious he’s never experienced any handling like this before and it was a really nice bonding session.  He allowed me to touch him all over and even to lean over him and hug him (which was apparently the situation in which he bit someone and was given to rescue and I have to assess while he's with me).  

A very positive day with massive progress made in that the nervous, twitchy little guy I saw hiding a couple of days ago is now a confident, boisterous adolescent simply after a break in quiet, calm environment with some sensitive one-on-one handling.  If only rescues had more help so that dogs like Ted could get out of kennel environments and have the chance to simply chill out and get their bearings.  Volunteer to help your local rescue now!!!

More on Ted, with hopefully some pics, tomorrow.

Foster Dog Blog - Teddy

When I got up this morning, I didn’t think that at 9pm this evening I’d be fostering a skittish, nervous, hyper-aroused 11mth Viszla boy whose future is at risk because he had bitten the face of a child.

Long story short, I work as a behaviour assessor for a local rescue and when I was in there yesterday, they mentioned this little lad who nobody could get near.  Cut it even shorter, I realised that what he needed was a peaceful, quiet, uneventful environment without any foot-traffic, children, phones ringing, dogs barking etc.  I realised that’s what I could offer for a short while.  The rescue is so keen to save this dog, even though it’s bitten, that I offered my help.  Just how could I refuse?

Does this look comfortable and peaceful enough?  (This is my quilt off my own bed in there… it should be).

So I’m going to run a mini-blog on Teddy (as I have named him).  I always rename rescues that are relinquished for anxiety or fear just in case their existing name has negative associations.

Here’s the first blog:

17:00 – 18:00

Journey with Ted very uneventful once he was in the car.  Was extremely reluctant to get in but allowed himself to be picked up and placed in.  He didn’t whine or pace in the car and simply sat there.  I left a front window open so that cold, fresh air was flowing back to him (always helps dogs).

18:00

Got him back in the house, unclipped his lead and allowed him to simply pace about in the kitchen and office (we divide the house in half with a tall dog-gate and this is the ‘foster dog’ area).  He was very aroused, with dilated pupils, stiff, jerky body movements, tight tail & ear carriage and ‘skull skin’.  He gave a couple of slight ‘freezes’ at me, usually if I moved a hand a bit too quickly.  So I simply stood in the kitchen pretending to read the paper for 10 minutes, ignoring him totally.  He then started to slow down so I left him in this area and went to the other half of the house.

He whined for a few minutes.  When he stopped I came back into the kitchen, got myself something out of the fridge and then walked straight out again.

This procedure was copied for the next couple of hours with me merely popping in and out but not in response to any whining.  I didn’t pay him any attention, give him any eye contact or talk to him.  Gradually he got so bored at me coming through the gate and ignoring him that he didn’t even get up out of his bed to see what I was doing.

20:00

17yr daughter Rachael came home from being out with friends.  We met up with her outside.  Teddy behaved as if he’d seen a long-lost friend and jumped up to her.  Very sociable, excited and happy – lots of loose tail-wagging.   Rachael remained very calm with him and we all went for a short walk on the green where he toileted without prompt.  Rachael entered the house first so Ted could see she lives there too and we stood in the kitchen calmly to chat for a while.  Ted reverted back to his aroused state for a while so we hung out in the kitchen until Ted got bored with us and we went through to the other half of the house without talking to  him or looking back at him.

Ted went straight back to his bed without a murmur.

21:00

Seems very hungry (hadn’t been given afternoon feed so that he wouldn’t be travel sick and also to motivate him with food if necessary) so gave him some soaked Burns.  Left him alone completely to eat and then rest (concern about bloat).

Will blog about his first night here tomorrow – watch this space…  May be able to write more about his history too if I can get it.

This is the only pic I dared take of Mr Skittish tonight

.

 

Dog Adoption and Follow Up Support

I was in the office working today when I received a call from someone who had a problem with their dog that they had adopted from a local rescue a few months ago.

Whenever I am told that the dog has come from a rescue organisation my first question is always “Have you contacted the rescue to see if they can offer some support from their behaviourist?”. 

When I asked this question today, I was told that the rescue was a very ‘ramshackle’ place and it was extremely unlikely they would have a consultant behaviourist.

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this and I know it won’t be the last.  I find it deeply disturbing that rescues are still not signing up a behaviourist or trainer to assist with post-adoption support and advice, leaving adopters having to find third-party support, sometimes from very dubious people calling themselves behaviourists or trainers but who have actually only watched a couple of TV shows or read a few books, or who are vets with no behavioural qualifications…

I have the very unusual perspective of being the coordinator of a breed rescue as well as having a professional behaviour consultancy which, amongst other activities, assists with the assessment of rescue dogs from other organisations.  I just can’t imagine not being able to provide advice to adopters when they run into trouble after the honeymoon period of a couple of weeks.  It’s so important for owners to realise that the rescue is there to help them KEEP their dog, not just offer to take it back and rehome it yet again.

Most small rescues will not be able to afford a good in-house behaviourist but surely it is then in a rescue organisation’s best interests to source an external behaviourist to refer their adopters onto if there are problems rather than just leave the owner (and the rescue dog they have placed) in trouble?

There are many, many qualified, experienced behaviourists and trainers out there who would be more than willing to assist rescue organisations by taking on post-adoption referrals.  

Take us up on this, rescues! 

Go out and look up some behaviourists, get them in for a chat and see how they work, check out their qualifications and experience, look up if they are a member of a professional organisation and if they are used to working with rescue dogs.  Ask if they would be willing to offer a reduced rate to the owners to work with your post-adoptive dogs; I do!

Times are changing and it’s no longer acceptable for rescues to simply do the homecheck and release the dog.  Aftercare is so, so important and by simply providing a resource where owners can go to if they are having problems might just reduce the ‘bounce’ rate of returned dogs to rescue…

 

MY take on Milan & Shadow...

0-15 secs: 

Shadow is actually facing away from the Border Collie.  The Border Collie turns and directly FACES Shadow which is challenging for ANY dog, let alone one we already know is reactive.  Also, the Border Collie is FAR too close.

18 secs:

Shadow merely raises his nose in response to the Border Collie’s close proximity and body position (head on, direct eye contact).

19 secs:

Cesar taps the dog’s rear quarters with his foot.  As the dog is already aroused, he is startled more than normal by this unexpected tap and re-directs his agitation towards CM.

22 secs:

CM’s reaction is to tighten the leash and string Shadow up by the throat onto his hind legs.  As this is a slip-leash it tightens around the dog’s neck, instantly cutting off it’s oxygen supply.

26 secs:

Instead of releasing the pressure on the dog’s neck, CM has sustained it so Shadow, now in an instinctive state of anxiety, tries to free himself by jumping up again at CM.

26-35 secs:

CM STILL retains the pressure around Shadow’s throat so he feels he has to fight against it.  Most enlightened handlers here would realise that this dog has now gone into a state where it’s in ‘survival mode’ and not actually learning anything other than ‘humans mean pain’ so would have released the pressure on the dog and ended the session there and then.  There is NO POINT in continuing on after this.

35 secs onwards:

CM has now turned this into a fight.

As Shadow becomes more and more panicked due to asphyxiation (as any living being would) and more desperate to free himself, sensing his depleting oxygen levels are soon to render him helpless, he continues to lunge at CM, who continues to strangle the dog.  The situation is on a rapid downward spiral.

1:14 mins

CM knows that Shadow’s depleted oxygen levels are rendering him physically weak so he pins him to the ground.

1.18mins

Note the discolouration of Shadow’s tongue along with his open-mouth as he tries to get oxygen into his lungs after a whole minute of having his airway closed.

1:24mins

The dog tries to adjust his rear body position, possibly to roll over and expose his stomach as an appeasement gesture, but CM still pins him.

CM states that the Border Collie was showing anxiety because he doesn’t like Shadow’s ‘energy’.  However at the beginning of the session, the Border Collie wasn’t at all anxious.  CM then hypothesises that the Border Collie’s anxiety could have been Shadow’s trigger.  The video clearly shows that it was CM’s tap behind with his foot that was Shadow’s trigger in this case.   CM labels this dog ‘dominant’.  The body language and circumstances clearly say ‘panic’.  We are not allowed to watch the rest of this session and observe Shadow’s behaviour when allowed to get up.

Words fail me sometimes (believe me, that’s rare) and this is almost one of those times.  CM is a good talker and talks himself out of many of the disastrous situations he creates on camera.  Take away his ‘narration’ and all you see is cruelty that would be a criminal offence anywhere else…

Dog Breeding - Again

Ah it seems my last blog entry ruffled a few feathers, solely (as expected), from breeders and show people feeling the need to ‘have their say’.

Points made in response to my last blog included:

1. Reminding me that I own / have owned pedigree breeds myself so therefore must agree with selective breeding and accept that all dogs would be mongrels without breeders.
2. Saying they are confused by my statement that I do not support selective breeding, but then say that work needs to be done on improving the behaviour of dogs.
3. Individual breeders taking great pains to inform me of the careful selections they make when putting dogs together, suggesting that these actions are the only way to improve the health of dogs…

Point 1: 

I own dogs, not distinctions.  I don’t give a damn whether they are a specific breed or a Heinz 57 as long as they are physically and behaviourally healthy.  If you go to my website I’m the recent proud adoptee of a delightfully odd and vigorously healthy ‘mixed-breed’.  I’m also the owner of the result of obscenely irresponsible breeding, leaving my dog partially blind and profoundly deaf.  I love and respect both of them equally and if the cost of all dogs being healthy is for all dogs to look the same, I’d GLADLY make that sacrifice.

Point 2:

I’m not confused at all.  If I had my way, all selective breeding and aesthetic dog showing would be banned.  However as that’s unlikely to happen, I at least like to point out what ALL breeders should be doing to put the health of dogs first, instead of just some of them.

Point 3:

I really don’t see the point in informing me about people’s specific breeding practices as if it’s something to be proud of.  It really won’t convince me that it’s doing the dog as a species any good at all.  If people want to practice aesthetic manipulation I wish they’d do it on orchids and bonsai trees and leave wonderful, amazing, beautiful, intelligent and sentient beings alone.

Dog Breeding in the UK

Independent Dog Breeding Inquiry

I've just spend the day burrowing into the report on the Independent Inquiry into Dog Breeding by Professor Sir Patrick Bateson FRS, published at 10am this morning.

The report can be downloaded and read by clicking the link above so I won't discuss the whole 64 page report.  I do however want to say things about some of the findings presented as many of them I recognise as laments of those of us working 'at the sharp end' of breeders' mistakes!

Firstly, I'm happy to see behavioural welfare being a topic fairly well represented.  Those of us that work with puppies see first-hand the kind of socially unbalanced examples from breeders who either don't bother with socialisation and habituation programmes or, as the report describes... 

"...reckon that they have nothing to learn and resent bureaucratic interference"

I am no fan of selective breeding or showing for very definite reasons;  the minute either ego or money enters the equation, the worst possible side of humanity shows through.  If animals are involved, they are the innocent victims and I'm really pleased that this report is quite strongly-worded in places regarding the lack of integrity they have noted in breeders, albeit accompanied by the disclaimer that this is a generalisation and does not apply to all, of course.

I fully expect to be reading and hearing the all-too-familiar complaints regarding the feasibility of implementing the recommendations etc but for me, the whole process of the Kennel Club and breeders finally taking responsibility for their past (and present) actions has to start somewhere.  

Yes it's going to be tough-going.  

Yes it's going to involve us dog professionals keeping this ball rolling and getting passionate about it.  

Yes, it's going to take time.

Complaining about it is merely taking up more of that time!  We have got to get the Kennel Club, Breed Clubs and individual breeders to listen and learn without prejudice.  We need a common motivator such as that provided by Cesar Millan in the recent coalition of major European canine health & welfare charities and organisations to pull together and condemn aversive techniques (link below)

Welfare in Dog Training

That common motivator should be animal welfare, but unfortunately as previously said, ego and money are often the primary motivators in dog breeding and showing and I believe that these are mutually exclusive to canine welfare.  

As said earlier, the Inquiry has discovered things that many of us have known for ages.  I've been trying to change breeder attitudes for many years; here's a link to an article I wrote back in 2006.

The Breeder's Legacy - Laying the Foundation 

I'm still astounded at the sheer volume of the general public who have NO IDEA about choosing the right dog for them.  I was speaking to someone today who has bought a historic fighting breed for the first time and when I asked why they bought it, they replied that 'they just like the look of the breed'.  Yes, I'm taking them under my wing and will be helping them as much as possible, especially as this is the 20wk pup's THIRD home...

Bottom Line:  (In this the Inquiry agrees with what I've believed for years) if the public are better informed and educated, they will ask the right questions and hopefully stop buying from the breeders and other outlets that are not complying with the rules and regs which are there for the welfare of the dog.  Let's pull together as dog-lovers, professionals and enthusiasts to help the general public help the welfare of the dog.

We can't do it without them.

They can't do it without us.

The Sense of Loss...

Some really lovely friends of mine have just lost one of their dogs to old age.  They emailed me to ask whether dogs miss their doggy companions when they die.  This is what I said to them:

“I know exactly how you’re feeling right now as it’s nearly a year since I lost Gus and the pain has never lessened. 

I think that dogs do miss someone they’ve lived with for a long time, but show it in different ways.  It also depends on how much time they spent together and how close they were, i.e. whether they shared the same bed all the time, whether they followed each other around and whether they spent regular time apart and alone in the house quite happily. 

I’ve found though that the owners’ inevitable sadness at the loss of the other dog far and away is the biggest cause of different behaviour from the dog left behind.  I have absolutely no doubt that K.. is picking up on your sadness because no matter how good we think we’re hiding it – they know us much better than we think they do.  They spend their lives watching us and learning about us.  It stands to reason that when we are going through something traumatic, they will be wondering what the hell is wrong.  We can then make the mistake of thinking they are mourning as painfully as we are and trying to comfort them, which in turn will make them more anxious because our normal behaviours have changed again.

We can have more of a talk about it when I see you if you like, but you’re doing all the right things keeping up with the normal routine for her.  It’s not going to be possible to simply forget about F……. just to keep K..from seeing your pain, so don’t beat yourself up if you do need to give her a hug to help you through a bad moment.  If she starts to behave oddly, like the howling the other night, ask yourself how you would have handled it if F......... was still here and handle it the same, i.e. don’t go to her assuming she’s missing him; it’ll make your behaviour alter in her eyes and that will unsettle her all the more. 

Also, as cruel as it sounds, don’t feel sorry for her.  She may have been close to F……., but she feels closer to you and now she has you all to herself.  That’s actually what most human-orientated dogs actually want more than anything else in the world so if you think about it, this could be a good time for her!   Crazy I know but that’s just because it seems wrong to us humans not to grieve for the loss of our loved ones. Animals are far more transitory in their relationships so don’t grieve for her too and she’ll be fine.  You will all be fine – in time”

Denial isn't just a river in Africa....

I was out with Sticky & Bailey yesterday afternoon in our village fields enjoying a lovely, quiet, uneventful walk with my four-legged friends when, a long-haired GSD flew out of the bushes and lunged at Sticky’s back.  I was about 10m away which isn’t normally a problem in this normally blissfully peaceful environment, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get there for a few seconds.  I was therefore very proud of little Sticky (Lab x Dachshund) who managed a neat trick of combining just enough appeasement with just enough warning behaviour to keep things from escalating into a fight (I believe this is due to the time spent in an Irish pound having to learn these life skills…)

 

I don’t tend to panic in these situations because, well, to be honest I’ve seen some horrendous dog fights and it does a marvellous job of desensitising you to the normal ‘handbags-at-dawn’ type squabble that domestic pet dogs tend to have; it’s actually dealing with the humans involved afterwards that normally gets my blood pressure to nuclear levels. 

 

I did a couple of deep yells and then I heard the owner (previously hidden on the path behind the bushes) yelling at his dog and come crashing through waving a stick at it.  He grabbed his poor dog who by this time was beside itself with panic and literally throttled it.  I called Sticks to me and found that although he had a few tooth-scrapes in his fur and a bit of slobber on him, was otherwise physically okay.

 

“Sorry about that – I didn’t see you were there” the owner replied, holding his petrified dog so tightly I thought it was going to pass out.

“What was that about?” I asked the owner calmly as I examined Sticky. 

“Dunno” he replied blandly with a shrug.

“Has it done that before?” I said, knowing full-well that this was an established behaviour.

“Nope – never” he said, not that convincingly.

“Look, I do this for a living and work with dogs like this almost every day; that was quite an established display.”

“Are you calling me a liar?” said the owner in an all-too-familiar kneejerk reaction.

“I don’t have to – your dog has just told me all I need to know.”

 

To save his poor dog any further pain I started to walk away but as calmly as possible asked the owner to get some help for his dog before it was too late and advised him that now his dog had now ‘attacked’ another once – not to let it happen again.  We both knew this wasn’t the first time the dog had done this but I thought it might be worth pretending to be in denial as deeply he was just to get a serious message across…

 

The owner said nothing more and dragged his dog off in the opposite direction.

 

What struck me hardest about this incident was how ineffectual this owner was with his dog and how easily this kind of problem can be resolved.  Luckily the dog has good ‘ABI’ (Acquired Bite Inhibition) or we’d have had to stitch poor Sticky up like a patchwork quilt, but it seemed obvious to me that this dog is crying out for his owner to write the Rulebook and be his Referee, not let him wander around feeling anxious and lost enough to just launch himself at passing dogs.

 

As an example, once I’d released Sticky after examining him he went to trot back up to the GSD, who had by now shut down completely and was just sitting there with a glazed look in his eyes, still held far too tightly by the collar.  I merely said ‘No’ in a calm, firm voice, called Sticks back and he stopped and came back immediately, which he was praised for with a smile and a wink and a ‘Good Lad’.  Our rulebook says when I say ‘No’, Sticky stops.  Our rulebook says when I say ‘Sticks Come’, Sticky comes back.  Our rulebook says he gets a wink and a smile and even – sometimes – a treat for following the rules.  He knows I’ll enforce it if I have to.  He knows where he stands.  It’s a nicer place to be for a dog.  And an owner. 

 

I hope the GSD gets the help he needs and the incident yesterday proves to be a turning point in his life.

 

Sticky, by the way, is physically okay but a bit unsettled today.  After a bit of a shock like this and the subsequent adrenalin rush, it can take a dog a couple of days to get back to a normal maintenance state.  At least he’s in the right place for the help he needs to recover.  I find myself wondering if the poor GSD will get the same or whether his owner still thinks denial is just a river in Africa…

Nature v Nurture

I’ve been watching an interesting thread on a dog forum with pro-bull breeds and anti-bull breeds ‘discussing’ whether these dogs make good family pets.  This has been my response today…

 

Its the age-old question of nature v nurture. BOTH should be considered in the temperament of a dog (or any animal). Breeds historically (and currently, tragically) bred for fighting will have had the most 'gamey' specimens used for selected breeding and this will be a factor in their temperament down the line unless those characteristics have been specifically bred out.

However, what most people forget is that it is just as easily achieved to 'breed in' aggression with dogs that were never used for fighting, simply by naive breeders selecting for aesthetics rather than soundness of temperament. I have temperament assessed and worked with many dogs of differing breeds over the years and believe me, there are some breeds and lines of dogs previously known for their docility that are becoming more prone to display aggression, yet it's only the stereotyped breeds that make the headlines...

A game of Chicken or Dare...

I had an interesting run in today with a dog in our village that is well known for being out of it’s yard and out of control with no owners in sight.

It’s a little beagle / basset cross female who has, in the past hurtled across one of the village green areas from outside it’s house and aggressed at dogs passing by.

I’ve already had a ‘run-in’ with the owner in the past; a delightful woman who behaved much like her dog except the effect was much muted by the fact she was dressed in her pyjamas and dressing gown at 1pm in the afternoon…

Well this poor little dog was again out this afternoon as I took my two for their run up in the fields.  We spotted each other from a distance and, predictable as clockwork, she came hurtling around the corner, hackles upright and ready for action.

What she hadn’t expected was that I was standing there waiting for her.

With my (onlead) dogs BEHIND me (so they understood that I was dealing with this, not them,) I stood full square, pointed at her, glared and calmly growled “DON’T”…

I wish I’d had a video because she skidded to a halt, her tail went so far under her legs that it could have tickled her chin and she immediately dropped to the floor, turned quietly away and skulked back off around the corner.

Round one to me…

 

About an hour later I wondered if we would have a repeat performance on our way back from the fields.

As I approached ‘her’ territory I looked across and saw her sitting outside her gate, I presume still waiting for someone to let her into her yard (it was by now raining… poor soul). 

She looked at me.

I looked at her.

I raised one finger and glared at her.

She looked away calmly and stayed where she was.

 

Round two and the match to me…  

Just for owners of Dachsies & Terriers...

I was studying today (psychopharmacology) and came across this pearl of wisdom that is SO obvious it made me laugh…

“Digging may be a nuisance but it is an innate trait for many dogs.  Terriers and Dachshunds were bred to flush out prey or to locate rodents in underground areas where digging is required.”

 

No kidding!!!  Anybody that has a terrier or a Dachsie or crosses thereof will laugh as I did…  Unless they’re exhibiting their digging skills in your prize-winning begonia beds of course!

 

Dog / Dog Greetings

I was up in the woods today walking with Bailey & Sticky.  It was lovely – we almost had the place to ourselves for a couple of hours! 

We met up with a few owner dog partnerships though; some who had their dogs on lead, so I of course got mine back and held them to me quietly as they passed by, and some with offlead dogs who I assumed were offlead because they don’t present a problem in public areas.

We were walking towards a pair of Weimaraners who were offlead with their owner.  As we approached one of them came forward to approach us.  Sticky did the same thing but then hesitated.  He had sensed something not right.  He paused, gave some very clear ‘cut off’ signalling to the other dog/s and looked back at me.  I smiled at him and said ‘Good boy Sticks’ to reinforce his peaceful actions instead of flying upto them out of control. 

As we got closer he approached the Weimaraner pair and everything seemed pretty okay; lots of mutual bottom sniffing and wheeling around each other.  Sticks then pottered off peacefully.  By this time Bailey and I had caught up.  I always hold her collar quietly and accompany her up to other dogs just so that she approaches gently and doesn’t alarm them by running upto them.

I then became aware of why Sticky had paused.  The male Weimaraner was in an extreme state of arousal.  His pupils were almost fully dilated, his hackles were up all the way along his neck to the base of his tail, his movements were stiff and deliberate and his general behaviour was far from relaxed and friendly.

Instead of calmly scenting Bailey, he immediately launched himself onto her shoulders, pushing her down.  She responded by playbowing and jumping to appease him as she could obviously sense his ‘tone’ too.  Far from appeasing and encouraging to play, he became even more agitated, trying to stand over her, shoulder-barge her and pounding on her shoulders and neck again and again.  I then realised that the owner was not going to step in so calmly stood between them, helping poor Bailey out and providing a barrier for her as she had become stressed by this wildly inappropriate behaviour.  The owner then said ‘oh he does this – I have to be careful with him’, grabbed him and pulled him away. 

I said nothing more and simply trotted on with Bailey, wanting to help her recover quickly from this ‘thug-mugging’, which she did within a few minutes.

I have no doubt that that the Weimaraner was ‘spoiling for a fight’ and if Bailey hadn’t behaved in such an overtly appeasing manner, he would have picked one.  I know many dogs who would have objected to his thuggish behaviour with a growl or stiffness, and this Weimaraner would have over-reacted because he was already in a state of hyper-arousal.  Who knows why?  Maybe he was never socialised properly as a pup, maybe he was attacked by another thug when he was younger, maybe he is fed a high-protein ‘working dog’ food… Who knows?

The owner knows… that’s who.

She KNOWS there was a problem with this dog’s reaction to other dogs but instead of dealing with this situation promptly, calmly and with some authority, she allowed him to continue his mugging uninterrupted until I stepped in.  She KNOWS there is a problem with this dog but allows him offlead around others.

It’s this kind of owner that gives the rest of us a bad name; someone that KNOWS deep down there is a problem but is in denial, allowing their dog to practice their behaviour unchecked and without getting any kind of help.  It is the dog I feel sorry for.  One day it is going to mug the wrong dog, end up seriously hurt and it will be his owner, the one who should be guiding him and leading him through life, who must carry the blame – but she won’t.  She will blame the owner of the other dog.  Scary, isn’t it?

Car Safety For Your Pet

Car Safety For Your Pet

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News on Bailey...

Just to update everybody that has been following Bailey’s story…

She is starting to work through her anxiety and we’re seeing definite progress now.  She will now get up on her normal places to have a sleep as she slowly learns that  strangers are no longer going to appear in her home.  We’ve been very careful not to move too much furniture about or create too many changes (despite the place being very dusty now and us needing to change all the furniture covers and throws etc!) because re-establishing her behavioural stability is the most important thing at the moment (and it gives me an excuse to put off the massive early spring cleaning job!).  She is still showing some signs of cognitive impairment such as confusion and not recognising people terribly quickly but this could just be her being EXTRA careful about her environment in general so I’m putting off investigating pharmacological intervention for this problem for the time being.  It’s like caring for a beloved grandparent who needs a bit of extra help with everyday tasks, bless.  And it’s the least we can do for a member of our family that has given us so much love and devotion over the years.

We’ve also been noticing a very subtle shift in the relationship between her and Sticky…  He’s been with us about 6 months now and as all people in rescue know, it usually takes about this long for an adopted adult dog to finally get their paws under the table and understand this is where they are staying now.  We’ve been noticing some very subtle bed-hopping going on; this is a common way of very peacefully and passively establishing hierarchy in family dogs.  For example, as soon as Bailey vacates a bed space, Sticks will hop up and take the space for himself.  Bailey will come back, see she has lost her space but instead of standing there for a while to see if he’ll move, or getting up on the sofa beside him, she will now immediately look for somewhere else.

It may be because Sticks has sensed the shift in Bailey in being a senior dog now, especially with the behavioural ‘weakness’ she has shown lately and is doing the very natural thing of taking over the top dog spot.  It could be Sticky now realising he is here to stay and as a very confident little guy, deciding he would like to be top dog, or it could simply be because it’s getting colder in the house now and he wants the warmest spot!

It’s all been done in a very passive, peaceful way though and this, for me, is the correct interpretation of dominant behaviour in dogs; calm and gentle, without any aggression or angst.

Poor Bailey...

Poor Bailey…

Since my last blog Bailey has been through the mill a bit.

We had to have plumbers in the house for a few days last week and this disturbed Bailey greatly.  We dealt with it the best way we could, making sure that she could always see us but trying to keep our behaviour as ‘normal’ as possible while chaos ensued all around us.

The day after the plumbers left, there was an incident in the evening where we think Bailey accidently nudged or sat on Sticky while he was sleeping in the living room.  It was fairly dark in the room as I was working in the office next door so I can only assume that Bailey didn’t see him and he snapped at her.  For the next day or two after that Bailey found it impossible to rest.  She was continually anxious and couldn’t sleep properly anywhere.  She displayed extreme Hypervigilance (a known condition where dogs are so stressed that they are examining everything and looking everywhere) and was obviously very distressed.  I determined that this was probably due to the combination of the upheaval of the past few days and then when Sticky snapped at her, she probably didn’t even realise it was him and her anxiety had generalised to the point where she couldn’t relax at all.  Anywhere.

I decided to supplement her diet with an amino acid which helps to increase production of a certain neurotransmitter in the brain that induces a more relaxed state.  Within 12 hours of beginning this, she had her first deep sleep for days.  This could have been simple exhaustion taking over or the dietary assistance, but when she found the supplement in her food one morning and I found it spat out on the floor, I noticed that she didn’t rest much that day.

Unfortunately for Bailey, just as she was beginning to show signs of relaxing in her home again, the supervisor called today to ‘inspect the work’ (which incidentally hasn’t been undertaken properly and the plumbers need to return at some point).  I observed quite an extreme reaction of stress; panting, shivering, extreme fur shedding, paw and ear sweating.  This time as our visitor was wandering all over the house instead of sitting in the same room and reading or watching TV in an effort to ‘appear normal’, I tried a different approach…

I decided to act as Bailey’s ‘Guardian’ and stood at the doorway of the living room where she spends most of her time.  I made it very clear to Bailey by ‘blocking’ the doorway with my arms and legs that nobody was going to be getting in past me.  I didn’t move from this spot for the entire 40 minutes that the visitor was in the home and only allowed him past for a few seconds when he had to examine the radiator in the living room and even then put myself between him and Bailey calmly.

Within 10 minutes of me standing in the doorway, she lay down on her bed and relaxed a little.  This was a much better state for her than standing very stiffly in the middle of the living room panting.  She was still a little stressed but it was obvious to me that by taking obvious and clear action to ‘protect’ her space, she felt able to relax a little more than before, when we were simply behaving as normal.  I realised that, for Bailey at least, behaving normally when we have strangers in the house is not the right thing to do; she needs us to step up and convince her that she is safe by NOT reacting as if nothing is happening.  We need to acknowledge her fear and anxiety and show her that we will protect her.

This has introduced me to a different perspective that I’m going to investigate in the treatment of anxiety in dogs.  The standard advice is to ‘behave normally’ but there is now reason for me to think that there are dogs for whom this is not an appropriate response.  I will certainly be giving this more thought and exploring the possibility that there needs to be a change in the way that behaviourists deal with anxiety or fear in the home…