Tag: dog training

scent work challenge

May 2020 Training Challenge: Play “Find It” 3 Times a Week

Posted on by Allie Bender

For those of you who have been doing training challenges with us for a while, you’ll recognize this one. It’s so beneficial to our pets that I had to bring it back!

Play Find it 3x per week

I’m a big fan of “lazy person’s” find it: scatter a bunch of treats or food on the floor and let your pet search for them. I play this with Oso while I’m watching TV at night. He has a great time and I get to relax. Win-win! 

I recommend playing for just 10-15 minutes to start with, 3x/week and see how that impacts your pet’s behavior. For many pets I see that this relatively small amount of scent work is sufficient to decrease attention-seeking behaviors and increase periods of rest. You may decide to increase or decrease how frequently and how long you play for depending on what you see from your pet! And keep in mind that this isn’t just for dogs; there are many species who would love to play this game, too. I’ve known many cats who love this!

Why Find It?

There are several reasons why we love this game and it’s one that we recommend to almost all of our clients. Here are some of our favorite reasons:

  • Great for relationship-building, especially for kids.
  • Ticks the box for several categories of enrichment: foraging, mental exercise, and for some individuals the calming category.
  • Fantastic for animals with anxiety, fear, and compulsive behaviors.
  • Can be built upon for behavior modification techniques later.

Now What?

  • Grab some treats and start playing!
  • If your pet doesn’t already have a cue to search for food on the ground, teach them a word or phrase (the video above tells you how).
  • If your pet is already a pro, you can increase the difficulty by playing outside in the grass or by hiding treats under furniture or items. 
  • Make sure you’re only hiding food in places where your pet is allowed to search. For instance, don’t place food on a table or counter if you don’t want your dog to search there normally!

Happy training!

Allie

A dog wearing a black harness (freedom harness) sitting on some playground equipment.

Walking Equipment I Love for Pullers and Harness Houdinis

Posted on by Allie Bender (she/her)
A dog wearing a black harness (freedom harness) sitting on some playground equipment.

Walking Equipment I Love for Pullers and Harness Houdinis

Estimated reading time: 4 mins

Has your dog ever slipped out or almost slipped out of their harness? It’s a scary experience, and one you’re not likely to repeat! I get a lot of questions about harnesses:

  • Which are my favorite?
  • What helps with pulling?
  • What can my dog not slip out of?

Let’s talk about all of these!

What’s my favorite harness and what helps with pulling?

Hands down, the answer to both questions is the 2 Hounds Freedom Harness. 

A great-fitting harness

This harness has more places for adjustment, which means that it fits more canine body types better. The only types of dogs that I haven’t been able to fit well in a Freedom Harness are really little dogs. 

There are two places to clip the leash on this harness, so two points of contact for the leash(es).  Clip the leash to the chest, the back, or both the chest and back. I like that for two reasons: 

  • One harness can serve multiple purposes. Puller? Clip to the chest. Really big puller? Clip to both the chest and the back. Sensitive throat and otherwise great on leash? Clip to the back. This is a harness that can grow with your dog, so to speak, from their days mimicking a sled dog into their golden years.
  • Many trainers talk about using multiple points of contact to increase communication. While I haven’t seen research on this (yet!), I do find that clients feel like they have more control with multiple points of contact.

A functional harness

My largest point of contention with most no-pull harnesses is that they’re not effective because they don’t fit well. The premise of a front-clip harness is that when the dog pulls the harness and leash will turn their shoulders, thus losing their forward momentum. But if a front clip-harness doesn’t fit well then the harness moves and the dog doesn’t and he keeps pulling forward.

Because the Freedom Harness fits better I find that it works better. Plus, when you attach the leash to both the chest and back it helps the harness work even better than just clipping to the front alone. 

Side note: clipping the leash to the back of the harness allows a dog to put more of their weight into pulling forward, which usually means a sore arm for you. That’s why sled dogs use back-clip harnesses. 

A harness my clients love

I can count the clients who haven’t loved this harness on probably two hands, and more than one had Great Danes (so now I usually recommend head halters for them, even though I don’t love those as much in general). After helping my clients properly fit the harness and showing them how to use it, I’ve had very few who haven’t loved it. And at the end of the day what works best for me is what works best for the people I’m helping! 

The only thing that I don’t love about this harness is the leash that it comes with, which is a leash that has one handle and two clips. Oso is a long dog and the leash was too short for him; I would trip over him when I used it. The simple solution was to just use two regular leashes.

What harness can my dog not slip out of?

That’s a harder question because the answer is: none of them. I haven’t seen a single harness that has been escape-proof. If there is one out there then the industry is keeping it a well-hidden secret! 

All is not lost, though! There is a setup that can help with escape artists: safety clips and martingale collars. Martingale collars are notoriously the most difficult piece of equipment for dogs to escape from when they’re fit properly. I routinely recommend them because of this. 

What is a safety clip?

A safety clip is just something that attaches the harness (or head collar) to the collar, or the leash to both the collar and harness.

Oso’s safety clip is just a bit of leash that was cut and tied to the harness and clips to his collar. Double ended clips work well, too! 

The premise is that if the dog slips out of the harness or a buckle breaks (which can happen with any plastic buckle) that the dog is still connected to the leash. You still get to use a harness while you’re training your dog to walk on a loose leash and you get the peace of mind that they can’t escape the setup. Win-win!

Close up of a brindle dog's neck with a safety clip attached to the front of his harness and his collar.

Oso’s safety clip: a section of leash tied to the front of his harness and clipped to his collar.

A close up of a brindle dog looking away from the camera.

Handsome Oso and his setup.

A scruffy white and dark grey dog in a harness and leash. There is a safety clip running from the base of the leash to his collar.

Petey’s safety clip: A double-ended clip goes from the leash (the metal loop where the leash’s clasp is affixed to the leash) to his collar.

Here’s to harmony,

Allie

Now What?

Be honest. Do you and your dog love your dog’s walking equipment? Why or why not? If not, double check that you’re following the manufacturer guidelines for fit and use. When I hear of people who don’t love the Freedom Harness it’s usually because they’re just attaching the leash to the back instead of attaching to both the chest and back. 

If you don’t love your dog’s walking equipment, is there something out there that would work better? Make sure that any equipment does not rely on pain, force, fear, or intimidation. 

If your dog doesn’t love their walking equipment, is there something that would work just as well that they’d like more? Have you worked on training with the equipment to alleviate their discomfort?

Is the equipment still necessary? Many people choose to use a no-pull harness while they’re working on loose leash walking training with the goal of being able to eventually walk their dog on their flat collar alone. Others choose to use a harness throughout their dog’s life to keep strain off of the neck. Either way, consider if your equipment is still serving the intended purpose and, if not, look into something else. 

Looking for help with loose leash walking? Book a free discovery call!

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Results are not guaranteed because behavior, human, canine, or otherwise, are not guaranteeable.

Nuisance Behaviors? Try the Water Principle.

Posted on by Allie Bender

Warning: does not contain actual water.

Last week we revealed our April 2020 Training Challenge: Explore DIY Destructible [Trash] Toys. Check out our blog post with more info on that challenge here. In that post, I mentioned that this can be a great option for dogs who shred inappropriate items, like tissues, paper towels, bedding, etc. This week, I want to talk more about that concept– working with your pet’s natural behaviors– by first talking about martial arts.

The martial arts style of Hapkido follows three principles, one of them being the “Water Principle”. While that principle can have multiple meanings, one of them is that of water flowing down a hill. When the water reaches a rock, it flows around it. It’s easier to simply flow around the rock than to push against it

One of the things that we seem to forget when we bring animals into our homes is recognizing that they’re a different species with different needs. What’s natural and normal for them is not natural and normal for us, and vice versa. Many of the behaviors that we label as “nuisance behaviors” are really just a difference in what different species think of as “normal”. 

We ask a lot of our pets. We ask them to essentially abandon what is normal to them in order to live in our society in a way that we deem appropriate. Perhaps it’s time that we start to loosen the reins and allow some room for their natural behaviors, too. 

That can sound scary. It doesn’t have to be! We can work with our animals’ natural behaviors instead of asking them to change them: the Water Principle. It’s easier to give our pets items that they’re allowed to destroy instead of expecting them to never destroy things. It’s easier to provide chewies than to expect them to never chew. It’s easier to provide a digging pit than to tell them they’re never allowed to dig again. We can work with our pets’ natural behaviors instead of against them. We already do that by providing cats with scratching posts, so why can’t we do that with all the other natural behaviors as well?

One of my favorite ways to do this is by letting dogs jump to teach them not to jump on visitors. You had to read that sentence over a few times, right? It doesn’t seem like it could make sense. But it can! For young, high-energy dogs it’s often unrealistic to expect them to remain in a sit-stay or even just keep all four feet on the floor when guests come over. Even after quite a bit of training I see these dogs need to get in just that one jump, and then they can sit-stay like a pro. 

In these cases, I say, “let ‘em!” Let’s teach them to jump up to a hand target, away from the person, to get those couple of jumps in before asking them to remain on the floor. 

It looks like this:

Oso demonstrating a “jump to hand target” behavior.

The dog gets to jump, like they want, and the person doesn’t get jumped on, which is what we want. Win-wins like this happen when we work with our animal’s natural behaviors, instead of against them. Flowing around the proverbial rock just makes sense.  

Now what?

  • Think about the behaviors your pet does that you don’t like. Is there a way to let them perform those behaviors more appropriately? (Hint: almost always there is!)
  • Set up the environment to allow them to perform those behaviors in a more appropriate way (aka: management). Encourage them to choose the appropriate option by making it easy for them to do so and reinforce the heck out of that decision. 
  • Start training! Oso didn’t immediately jump up to the hand target when I first got him; he had to learn how. Ask your trainer or behavior consultant for help with this if needed!
  • How do you already apply the Water Principle to your pet’s behaviors? Tell us in the comments!

Happy training!

Allie

Dog enrichment ideas

April 2020 Training Challenge: Explore DIY Destructible Toys

Posted on by Allie Bender

We hope you’re all doing well and staying safe in this crazy time! I’m personally really excited about this month’s training challenge as it’s something that I recommend to clients all the time:

Explore DIY Destructible [Trash] Toys

Not only is this a simple and cheap activity, but it’s often great enrichment, too! Dogs were made to destroy and gut things. But, unfortunately for them, we humans don’t love that natural doggy behavior. We get upset when they destroy their toys. We get upset when they steal tissues and paper towels and shred them to pieces. We get even more upset when they destroy our furniture. 

Toys that we purposefully give to dogs to destroy serve a wonderful purpose. Our pets get to do what they were made to do and we don’t get upset with them for it. It’s a win-win! An even larger bonus is that when we allow our pets to express their natural behaviors in appropriate ways, they are less likely to express them in ways that we’ve deemed inappropriate. Yep, that means that you can curb that annoying stealing-tissues-and-playing-keep-away-before-your-dog-inevitably-shreds-it behavior by providing these sort of toys. 

I’m always looking for a cheaper way to provide enrichment for Oso (who LOVES shredding things), so while I’ll occasionally get him stuffed toys to de-stuff from clearance bins, our go-to’s are DIY trash toys. As the name suggests, I make them out of literal trash. Supplies include:

  • Newspaper
  • Toilet paper rolls
  • Paper towel rolls
  • Empty tissue boxes
  • Granola bar, cereal, and similar boxes
  • Take out beverage holders
  • Treats

Check out our video on how to put it all together here:

 

And here’s a video of Oso enjoying one of those creations:

 

 

It’s truly as simple as it sounds!

Now what?

  • Make some of your own destructible trash toys! Watch the above video for tips on how to make them. 
  • Give one to your dog and let them go to town! Watch your pup the first few times you’re giving them new items. While the majority of dogs will not ingest inedible items (especially if you’re not actively trying to get the item away from them), we want to double check to make sure they’re not ingesting them. A little bit of paper swallowed along with the treat isn’t a big deal but we don’t want them eating the whole thing!
  • Routinely provide your dog with these items for a couple of weeks. Do you notice any changes in their behavior? Tag us on Instagram @petharmonytraining with your findings, pics, and videos!
  • We frequently recommend these toys for dogs who have behavior issues- everything from demand barking and playful mouthing to anxiety and stress-related behaviors. Click here to work with one of our behavior consultants to learn how to use these toys to help your dog de-stress and incorporate them into your dog’s behavior modification plan! 

Happy training!

Allie

What I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Studying Animal Body Language

Posted on by Allie Bender

Last week I wrote a post about the “freeze” option our pets have while over threshold and mentioned that it often gets written off as “fine”. You can read that article here if you haven’t yet. This week, I want to focus on a reaction that I often see when people first learn about this: the prelearning dip. 

Waaay at the beginning of the Pet Harmony blog, I talked about “prelearning dips.” You can read the full article here, but the Cliffs Notes version is that a “prelearning dip” happens when we receive new information that competes with information we previously had, so we reject the new stuff. It’s one of the reasons why providing facts, stats, and scientific studies in an internet argument doesn’t usually work in persuading the other person. We all go through these dips and sometimes we hang out in that dip for a while instead of reconciling the new information and updating our knowledge base. I know that I have!

Often, when I talk about the “freeze” option to clients I see them having a bit of a prelearning dip as this new information – that their pet is uncomfortable, stressed, and/or anxious – is incompatible with what they thought was happening– their pet being “fine.” That’s a really difficult piece of new information to reconcile. In a session, I’ll let my client work through that and ask me as many questions as they need to to reconcile instead of pushing them, but I wanted to take the time to talk to y’all about this particular situation more in-depth. And, more importantly, let you know that this is a normal part of the learning process. 

Prelearning Dips & Learning Body Language

I regularly give presentations about animal body language. After every presentation, there is at least one person – without fail – who is concerned about their pet displaying many of the stress signals that we discussed in the seminar. This happened so frequently that I included an entire slide in my updated presentation saying that, “not all stress is bad stress” to allay some of those fears and questions I was routinely getting. 

Good stress vs. bad stress is a topic for another day; the point of this anecdote is that there are a whole lot of feelings that come up when people first start studying animal body language. Guilt, anxiety, confusion, wonder, excitement: I’ve seen it all! And a very common occurrence is that of the prelearning dip. This happens because, for some people, I’ve inadvertently shattered their beliefs about their pet. They might think that their pet loves belly rubs but I challenged that by describing a “tap out” (pictured below).

This dog’s ears are held low and back against the head, mouth is tight, and body looks stiff. All signs that this is a tap out instead of a belly rub invitation!

They might think that their dog loves getting kissed on the top of the head, but I challenged that by putting all of the signals they see from their dog in that situation into the “distance-increasing” category. 

Dog kiss
This dog’s ears are super far back and low against the head, body stiff, mouth closed tightly, head turned away, and it looks like the tail might be tucked as well.

They might think that “freeze” is a sign of “fine”, but I challenged that by stepping on a mini soap box about how not-okay it is for animals to be shut down. 

Scared puppy
This dog’s ears are low and back against the head, tail down, body stiff, and slightly crouched. The weight distribution on the hind legs (leaning back) may be for balance instead of a stress signal.

The list goes on. 

The biggest thing that I want to tell folks who I see struggling to reconcile this new information with the information they previously had is: it’s okay. It’s okay to go through a pre-learning dip! We’ve all been there before and will be there again. It’s okay to take some time to sift through new information and noodle it over. It’s okay to reframe how we think about our pets based on this new information; they’re still the same individual they were before and we won’t love them any less. It’s okay. 

If you’re one of the majority of people who has or is struggling with a prelearning dip as you learn more about your pet’s body language, know that you’re not alone. It’s okay to learn new things and even learn that you were wrong about a certain aspect of your pet. We all do the best that we can with the information that we have in the moment; and when we learn better, we do better. The most important thing is to keep learning.

Now What?

  • Have you started studying your pet’s body language? If not, get on it! If everyone knew how their animal communicated we would live in a very different [and I think better] world. Here are some resources to help you (these are Amazon affiliate links. We receive a small commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. This helps us continue to put out free content to help you and your pets live more harmoniously!)
  • Think through your learning journey in regards to animal body language. What’s something that you’ve learned from multiple reputable sources that you’re still hung up on? Why do you think you’re having a prelearning dip about that particular thing? What ideas do you currently have that have to change in order to reconcile the new information?
  • Talk to an expert about your prelearning dip. Tell them about the hangup you’re having and why you think you’re having it. Many times hangups happen because there are kernels of truth in mostly untrue ideas or statements; it’s hard to piece together what is and is not factual in those situations. An expert can help you do that more proficiently! 
  • If your prelearning dip is happening as a way to keep guilt at bay, you’re not alone. All of us at some point have been told to do something or train in a way that wasn’t LIMA-friendly towards our animals. And oftentimes, prelearning dips are a way for us to not have to deal with the emotions that come along with that. Remember, we all do the best that we can with the information that we have at hand. Let yourself feel those difficult things and then move on, knowing that you’re on the path to knowing better and doing better. 

Happy training!

Allie

When Should We Be Concerned About “Fine”?

Posted on by Allie Bender

I’ll admit, I’ve had an issue with the word “fine” for longer than I’ve been involved in animal behavior. The reason for that is fairly perfectly summed up in this meme:

But I digress. Onto how this relates to animal behavior!

Something I hear frequently is:

“I don’t get it. He tries to bite people normally but is totally fine when they take him in the back at the vet clinic!”

When I hear this, I ask my client more questions about that scenario: what sort of body language do you see at the vet? Does your pet seem fearful or is he totally happy and excited to be there? It’s almost always the former. In that case, I have to break some bad news to my clients: their pet is not actually fine. 

A bit about thresholds

We’ve talked about thresholds before in our “Does Your Pet Have Mountain Lion Brain?” post. Essentially, it’s that line in the sand where under threshold your pet is okay and above threshold they’re in fight-or-flight mode (this is an overly simplified version; I recommend Eileen Anderson’s blog post to learn the nuances). However, our pets have more options than just fight or flight when they’re over threshold. Freeze is a third option. 

What does “Freeze” look like?

A quick note before we continue: there’s also a body language signal that we refer to as “freeze”. That type can be a bit different than the “freeze” option over threshold that we’re currently talking about. 

Over threshold, “freeze” looks like when a rabbit spots you crossing their path. They get very still, as if they’re saying, “If I don’t move then you can’t see me and won’t eat me!” This is true for our pets, too. Freeze looks like a stiff stillness. One of my favorite resources to help my clients understand this important distinction between “fine” and “freeze” is this video from Eileen Anderson (note: while shut down and freeze are technically different, the concepts are similar enough for our purposes at the pet parent level):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CyH0RHWYsU&t
Thank you Eileen for letting me link to your video here!

As you can see, there are very subtle differences between “fine” and “freeze”. It’s easy to see why many people don’t spot what’s happening! 

Why is “Freeze” Not Fine?

At this point when I’m talking to my clients, they often ask me if this is really a big deal. Their pet is not actively aggressing, nor running away, and the clinic staff is able to do what they need to do for the health of their pet. Why is that not okay? The answer is dependent on who you ask. 

From the human point of view, everything is okay. We’re able to perform the tasks we needed to to keep the pet physically healthy and we were able to do so safely. It’s a win-win for the humans! From the pet point of view, however, it’s definitely not a win-win. They’re still scared and over threshold, which can feed into other aspects of life. For instance, a client recently told me that her dog had major regressions in all of her anxiety-related behaviors, including light/shadow chasing, reactivity, and aggression, after she came back from a tooth extraction, even though there were no negative reports from the clinic. Behavior doesn’t happen in a vacuum; many seemingly unrelated things do impact one another. 

Experiencing these traumatic (again, from the point of view of the pet and not the human) and unavoidable events can lead to learned helplessness. This is a state where an individual has learned that nothing they do affects their outcome so they choose not to do anything when put into stressful situations. I mentioned the vet clinic, but I also see this happening at groomers and even at dog parks and doggy daycares. 

There’s a whole host of negative mental and physical side effects from learned helplessness, from disrupted sleeping patterns to increased anxiety-related behaviors. We talk a ton about this in our book in the Agency chapter if you’re interested in this topic. In short, “freeze” is definitely not okay from the point of view of the pet’s mental and behavioral health. 

What can I do?

The good news is that your pet will tell you when they’re uncomfortable and, in most situations, we can advocate for them! The above video excellently showcases different dogs in this shut down state but it’s up to us to learn our own pet’s body language to know what it looks like for them. 

When you see your pet entering that zone, take a moment to assess the environment and situation. What is your pet responding to? I’ve been using a vet visit as an example but this can happen in other situations, too. For instance, when I first adopted Oso he would choose “freeze” during thunderstorms. How can you manage the environment in that moment to alleviate your pet’s stress? 

And, of course this wouldn’t be a training and behavior blog without recommending training! When you know what is making your pet uncomfortable you can work on helping your pet feel more comfortable in those situations. Above I stated that when I first adopted Oso he would freeze during thunderstorms; that’s because we worked through that fear using counterconditioning and he is no longer as frightened of them. There’s no reason for him to freeze because it’s not that scary. That is the true win-win. 

Now what?

  • Continue learning your dog’s body language and stress signals. Here are a couple books to help you with that (these are Amazon affiliate links. We receive a small commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you. This helps us continue to put out free content to help you and your pets live more harmoniously!)
  • When you see your pet choosing “freeze”, assess the environment and situation to determine what the triggers are. Make a note of those. 
  • Work with your behavior consultant to determine the best course of action for working through your pet’s fears. While it’s possible to do this on your own, your behavior consultant should help you do this in a way that is effective, ethical, efficient, and empowering so that you don’t have unintended consequences down the road. 
  • Work through your pet’s behavior modification plan and see those true win-wins roll in!

Happy training!

Allie

Conversations with My Dog

Posted on by Allie Bender

A lot of people talk to their pets. I’m one of them. I ask Oso questions he’ll never be able to answer, I sing him songs that he doesn’t understand, and I occasionally throw in something that he does know like, “Do you want to go outside?” Humans are talkative beings. Sorry, Oso. But what if I told you that Oso can hold his own in some of our conversations? I sound crazy, right? Let me explain. 

This may just look like a super cute picture of Oso, but it’s actually the beginning of a conversation. Here’s what he’s saying:

Oso: *puts head on couch* I’d like to come up on the couch. 

Me: Okay, come up then.

At this point, one of two scenarios play out:

Scenario 1: 

Oso: *comes up on couch and snuggles* Hooray snuggle time!

Intense snuggling: the result of missing yesterday’s snuggles.

Scenario 2: 

Oso: *looks at me without moving his head* There’s stuff in my way.

Me: Is something in your way? You’re ridiculous. *Continues chattering while clearing space for him on the couch* Come up then. 

Oso: *looks at me without moving his head* There’s still not enough room.

The subtle eye movement here is impressive.

Me: *Sigh* You’re the worst. *Moves my legs to give him even more space*

Oso: *comes up on couch, sprawls out, and falls asleep*

Now, I’ve clearly anthropomorphized some of this. I don’t *really* know his side of the story. But, what I do know is that we very consistently have this interaction. We have both learned this way of communication from one another. His head-on-couch behavior prompts me to create space for him and he comes up after I do so. He continues to put his head on the couch because he gets the space he’s looking for and I get snuggles so I continue giving him space. It may look unconventional but it definitely qualifies as a conversation. Communication is so much more than talking.

Expanding the picture

Oso learned how to use a “head down” behavior as a conversation starter not through this couch behavior, but during our training sessions. We often start our training sessions with his nail file board. However, after he scratched for a varied length of time, he consistently would become disinterested in continuing. In the beginning I took that to mean that he wasn’t interested in continuing our training session in general and would move on to my own thing. He would continue putzing around the room, though, as if to say that he wasn’t done with the interaction. Maybe I had gotten it wrong?

Around this same time, I was teaching him a “head down” behavior as a new trick. While I don’t remember the actual interaction, my assumption is that during a training session he decided to do a “head down” behavior instead of continuing to use his nail file board and I started reinforcing him for that. We continued the session but switched to a new activity. It only took a few of these interactions for us to finally be on the same wavelength (humans are slow, aren’t we?): he wanted to continue training but didn’t want to do his nail file board anymore. 

The “head down” behavior took off after we learned how to communicate together in this way. He started doing it during training sessions any time that he wanted to switch to a new activity. I learned that he likes switching up what we’re working on far more than I was doing previously. He started doing it whenever he got frustrated because I wasn’t clear in what I wanted. He started doing it to ask to get up on the bed or when he wanted me to create space for him on the couch. He started doing it to ask for most things that he wanted (the only different one is when he wants to go outside). He learned that that behavior works for getting him things he wants.

The Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) term for this type of behavior is called, “manding”. Essentially, it means requesting something that you want. Oso learned “head down” as a manding behavior because I treated the behavior as a form of communication instead of a random or coincidental occurrence. Not only is his “head down” behavior cute and unobtrusive, it is so much less annoying than many of the behaviors he could have chosen: barking, pawing, nudging my hand. 

Here’s my challenge for you: start treating your pet’s behavior as a form of communication instead of a random occurrence. Look around and assess the situation. What could they potentially be saying to you? What has your pet “gotten” for doing this behavior in the past (attention, petting, treats, play time starts, etc.)? 

What conversations will you have with your pet?

Now what?

  • Observe your pet’s behavior free from judgment. Take away the morals– good behavior and bad behavior– and simply watch. Is there something that they do fairly regularly? 
  • After observing their behavior, start noticing the situation around that behavior. What happened before? What happens after? Again, this step should be free from judgment. 
  • Are there conversations that you and your pet already have? Your observations may uncover some form of communication that you weren’t cognizant of!
  • Is there a way that you’d like your pet to communicate with you? One of the easiest ways is to choose a behavior that your pet is already performing and reinforcing it. You can also choose to teach a new behavior and use that instead! 
  • Start training! I chose to reinforce Oso’s manding behavior not with food, but with “real life” reinforcers like access to furniture and fun training exercises. 
  • Post pics and videos of the conversations you have with your pet on our Facebook page! We’d love to see them. 

Happy training!

Allie

Does Your Pet Have Mountain Lion Brain?

Posted on by Allie Bender

Have you ever said something like:

  • Treats won’t work if he’s barking.
  • Nothing works when he sees another dog!
  • She won’t pay attention to me when she’s like that. 
  • If you have, then this post is for you!

A Little Bit of Body Language

Before we get started and I explain what the heck “mountain lion brain” means, we first need to define one term: threshold. Threshold refers to that line in the sand where underneath the line your animal is “okay” and over the line they go into fight-or-flight mode. This is an overly simplistic view (for a more in-depth discussion as to types of thresholds check out this article) and there are more options over threshold than just fight or flight, but for our purposes in this post this definition will suffice. Essentially, under threshold can look like this:

Close up of copper colored spaniel with floppy ears and pink panting tongue with blurred background of vegetation
Photo by Jamie Street

While over threshold can look like this:

A black dog with pointed ears, slightly turned to the sides, round eyes, tense facial features, open mouth with lips pulled back to show teeth. Dog is wearing a red collar and is in front of a fall woodland background.
Photo by Nick Bolton

Or this:

A brown puppy chases a ball, running through the grass. Their hair is blown back as they run. Mouth is open, ears are back.

Or even this! (I mentioned there are more options than fight or flight; freeze is another option.) 

(Photo by Mia Anderson) A small, soaking wet yellowish dog with a somewhat curly coat with large floppy ears standing on top of a small surf board on water. The dog's weight is shifted back and spine is slightly arched and body appears stiff.
Photo by Mia Anderson

Understanding thresholds and what your particular animal’s body language looks like below and above threshold is imperative to successfully working with them, especially for those working on fear, anxiety, reactivity, and aggression. One of the reasons for this is that learning– or at least the type of learning that we typically think of with training– does not happen over threshold. This is another overly simplistic and inaccurate statement for the true science pros in the audience, but it’s true from the eyes of the average pet owner. This is why your dog won’t take treats or sit when he’s reactive. It’s why nothing works at that moment. 

I call this over-threshold state, “Mountain Lion Brain”. You have willingly come to this webpage and are hopefully comfortable and able to absorb the material. However, if you were being chased by a mountain lion and I ran up alongside you and asked if you’d like to learn about your pet’s behavior, the answer is no! You couldn’t possibly learn while you’re being chased by a mountain lion. You have “Mountain Lion Brain”.

That over-threshold state is not conducive to learning for you or your pet. Your pet is not stubborn, or stupid, or has selective hearing when they’re over threshold. When they’re experiencing “Mountain Lion Brain”, the fear/strong emotions center of their brain takes over and essentially shuts down the learning and reasoning parts of their brain (overly simplistic but you get the picture). They’re not learning because they can’t. 

Sometimes when I explain this, a client will ask me, “But he’s not actually in danger. Why does he still have “Mountain Lion Brain”?” A good question! Threats are not always physical and they’re not always “real” from an outsider’s perspective. For example, public speaking is one of the top fears of people across the world. There is no actual, physical threat in public speaking (unless maybe you’re a prominent and controversial figure). The threat is not “real” from an outsider’s perspective, however, can feel very real to the person who fears public speaking. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone else perceives the threat as “real” or valid; it only matters if the individual experiencing it perceives it as such. Fear doesn’t always make sense. 

 

What Should I do if my Pet is Experiencing “Mountain Lion Brain”?

The best answer is to remove the threat and/or your pet from that situation. A note: many pets will “redirect” their frustration or fear onto the closest being when they have “Mountain Lion Brain”. This is why many dogs bite their owners for grabbing their collars when they’re reactive. It’s safer to remove the threat instead of your pet. If that’s not possible, please do so with caution and by physically handling them the least amount possible. 

There’s no sense in trying to train if your pet is not going to be able to learn. Make a mental note of your pet’s body language leading up to threshold, what the involved triggers were, and anything else of consequence so that you can avoid those situations in the future. Your behavior consultant will be able to help you make a plan to work on behavior concerns under threshold, where both you and your pet will be safer and more successful. 

Now What?

  • Learn your pet’s body language approaching threshold. This step is so important that we give it to almost every client as one of their first homework tasks. This helps to make your pet’s behavior more predictable to you. 
  • Identify triggers based on your pet’s body language. Additionally, identify if your pet is able to learn, respond to you, and eat when you see certain signals. That lets you know how close they are to “Mountain Lion Brain” and gives you information as to whether this is a training moment or a management moment. 
  • Find management solutions to keep your pet under threshold. Get creative!
  • Work with a behavior consultant to help you with any of the above and to come up with a solution to working on your pet’s behavior concerns under threshold. Contact us at info@petharmonytraining.com to work with someone from our team!

Happy training!

Allie

February 2020 Training Challenge: Explore New Indoor Physical Activity Options for Your Pet

Posted on by Allie Bender

I can’t believe it’s already February! That means it’s time for this month’s training challenge:

Experiment with, and incorporate 1 new indoor physical activity into your pet’s repertoire. 

I’ve been talking quite a bit about “Winter Oso”: how Oso’s behavior changes in the winter when his physical activity decreases. I know many other dogs start getting “cabin fever” around this time of year so this challenge seemed fitting for February. It’s always great to have more activities that both you and your pet enjoy up your sleeve when the weather gets bad! 

Here are 10 examples of indoor physical activities that you can experiment with:

  1. Jump to target: if your pet already knows a cue to touch their nose to something (ie: your hand, tennis ball on a stick, etc.), then gradually raise the target up so they have to jump to reach it!
  2. Jump up/off furniture: if your pet is allowed on the furniture, ask them to jump up and back off several times in a row. 
  3. Recalls throughout the house: wait until your pet is farther away from you (I toss treats down the hall to get this!) then ask them to “come”. The faster they come the more treats they get!
  4. Running up and down the stairs: run with your pet or stand at the top of the stairs and have them run down and back up by tossing treats or toys down (like fetch!) Be sure to put a mat at the bottom of the stairs so they don’t slide. 
  5. Fetch (down a hallway or up/down stairs): all you need is a long hallway or set of stairs and you can play fetch inside!
  6. Tug: a great strength-building game! It’s an old wives tale that this increases aggression so tug away! 
  7. Flirt pole: these are like giant cat wand toys made for dogs. They are great for exercise and can still be done inside if you have a large enough space or small enough dog!
  8. Long-distance “place”: similar to recalls throughout the house, wait until your pet is farther away and then ask them to sit or lie on their place/mat/bed.
  9. Balance activities & other physical therapy-type activities: get out the balance boards and exercise balls! These activities require extra training and can benefit from the recommendations of a professional, but are wonderful for senior pets. 
  10. Tricks that use extra muscle (I.E. sit pretty, army crawl, etc.): another that requires training but these can be a great way to get both mental and physical exercise in in one fell swoop!

Oso and I demo several of these activities in our February 2020 Training Challenge FB Live video (find our FB videos here). 

Now what?

  1. Pick an activity that sounds fun for you and your pet. 
  2. Try it out! Whatever you pick may require some time, patience, and training. Troubleshoot if necessary!
  3. Does that activity actually wear your pet out? If yes, then it’s an appropriate form of physical exercise for them. If not, go back to step 1. 
  4. Post pics and videos of your pet enjoying their new exercise on our Facebook page. 
  5. Need extra help? We offer enrichment consultations for things just like this! Email Emily at emily@petharmonytraining.com to schedule yours. 

Happy training!

Allie

5 Reasons Why Your Dog Isn’t Listening to You

Posted on by Allie Bender

A common group of grievances I hear from pet parents is:

“My dog doesn’t listen to me.”

“I want my dog to listen better.”

“My dog is stubborn.”

“He doesn’t do something unless he wants to.”

Let’s explore why that might be! Below is a list of 5 common reasons why your dog isn’t listening to you. 

  1. You haven’t trained the behavior well enough. The learning process is more involved than many of us know; check out our blog post on “Why You Should Care about the Stages of Learning” for more info. Oftentimes the dog doesn’t actually know the behavior in question in that particular situation and simply needs more repetition or breaking the training down into smaller pieces to be more successful. 
  2. Your dog doesn’t know what you’re asking for. There’s a lot of overlap between this one and the one above. I’ve seen many people lament that their dog isn’t coming when called anymore but it turns out that they aren’t using the cue they taught! Dogs don’t understand synonyms like we do. If you taught “come” but are now saying “c’mere” or “c’mon” your dog won’t know what you’re asking for. Additionally, if you reinforce multiple behaviors for the same cue, you’ll keep getting multiple behaviors (i.e.: saying “sit”, dog lies down, giving them the treat anyway). This is why some dogs consistently lie down when asked to sit! You get what you reinforce. To combat this make sure that you’re being consistent with both your cue and what you’re reinforcing. 
  3. There isn’t a strong enough reinforcement history. There is absolute truth in the last statement in the above list: “He doesn’t do something unless he wants to.” Yep– that’s true for all of us! Behavior serves a function to the individual performing it. If it doesn’t serve a function then we stop doing it. For instance, if your boss stopped paying you you would stop going to work. If a light bulb burnt out you would either replace it or eventually stop flipping that switch. Building strong, solid behaviors should rely on strong, solid reinforcement histories (e.g.: how much you’ve been reinforced for that behavior in the past [there’s a bit more to it than that but that’s beyond the scope of this post]). This means that we need to practice, practice, practice, and reinforce, reinforce, reinforce. 
  4. There are competing reinforcers. The environment provides a lot of reinforcers for our dogs that compete with whatever we want to offer them: chasing squirrels, sniffing the grass, protecting oneself from harm, etc. If we’re offering them the equivalent of $5 and chasing squirrels is worth $100 then we’re going to lose out to the squirrel. This is why you’ll often hear trainers talking about “high-value treats” and “being more exciting than the environment”. It’s not enough to have a reinforcement history of shelling out $5; we need a reinforcement history of paying $100. 
  5. The dog is experiencing fear or anxiety at that moment. When any individual is in fight-or-flight mode their brain cannot respond to other stimuli around them. They’re essentially in their own world. The best thing to do in this situation is to remove the trigger (preferable) or remove the dog (careful! This can be dangerous.)

Now what?

  • The next time your dog doesn’t respond to you, pause and assess the situation. Ask yourself:
    • What does my dog’s body language say? Are they comfortable or stressed?
    • Am I asking for something that I have taught?
    • Has my dog been successful with this behavior in this situation before?
    • Have I recently practiced this behavior in a variety of situations? How did my dog do?
    • What’s my reinforcement history like for this behavior in this situation?
    • Are they doing something else that they like better? 
  • Use the above questions to figure out where your dog’s lapse in training is. Once you know then you can work on it!
  • If you’re experiencing number 5– the dog is experiencing fear or anxiety at that moment– email us at info@petharmonytraining.com to set up a consultation so we can help you work on it. Working with fear/anxiety is very different than working on basic manners. 

Happy training!

Allie