Video- Dog Training Reader Question

Dog Training Reader Question:

The following is a question from one of our clients:

I am looking for some personalized advice from Ty about one of my dogs. Overall, everything is going great, and I am making great strides with the basic obedience using Ty’s methods in the DVDs. I have a 4 year old Am-Staff mix named Lucy who is obedient about 65-70% of the time. When she’s not is when she gets into trouble with other dogs. I’ve done a lot of reading and research on aggressive behavior, and I stumbled across Ty by accident while reading a rescue blog. I am so glad that I did because the way he teaches is exactly what I was looking for. I have some experience training, as I trained my now 14 year old yellow lab to do some competitive obedience when I was a teenager. He was a breeze to train because he was willing to learn and eager to please. Lucy is absolutely the love of my life, but she is stubborn and has a mind of her own. She isn’t a terrible aggression case, but she gets snippy from time to time when around new dogs, especially if those dogs are acting out (for example, when another dog excitedly tries to get to us while passing by on a walk). I’m tired of being embarrassed by her occasional outbursts, so I’ve been scouring the internet and books for a solution. Already, things in the videos are working to get her much more consistently listening to me. We have a long road of practice ahead, but her heel command has already come a long way.

What I wanted to ask Ty about is more specific to Lucy’s personality. I rescued her at about a year old. She came from an inner city shelter and was clearly not taken care of before I got her. She seems to me to have been beaten at some point. She’s naturally fearful, and is specifically very fearful of objects touching her. If you approach her with anything in your hands she jumps away or cowers. I have never, in the 3 years I’ve owned her, hit her with any object. She came to me with this behavior already engrained in her. She’s also suspicious of unknown things. For example, it was my husband’s birthday recently, and I brought in a bunch of helium balloons, and she’s terrified of them. She’ll co-exist with them when they’re up by the ceiling standing still, but if I move them, she runs away and hides. I can coax her out and make her lay near me while I hold them near her, but she is clearly terrified the whole time. In the past, I’ve tried to work on this issue, but the training methods I came across were very treat based, and it frankly just hasn’t worked at all. For example, she is very afraid of being touched by a frisbee, and the manuals I was using say bring the frisbee close to her and give her a million treats while slowly moving it closer. It does little to nothing for her. She remains just as afraid no matter how many treats I give her in the presence of a frisbee. I did this exercise many times with little improvement. She will pick up the frisbee and play with it on her own, but if I hold it and bring it near her, she’s very afraid.

This suspicious attitude also comes across when we’re training. I have done lots and lots of the crazy man method with her, and overall, it has tremendously improved her heel command. When there are little or minimal distractions, she’s basically 100% at my side now, and when there are distractions, she’s about 60-70% obedient. This is a big step up for us, and it’s improving every time. What I’m still struggling with is how hard it is to get her to be eager about listening. My other dog, who I’m also using Ty’s methods on, is naturally EXTREMELY eager to please. Crazy man has worked wonders on him, and he heels like a champion no matter what now. It’s really fun to walk with him because he is so absolutely in sync with what I want from him. He would also sit or lay down on hot coals if I asked him to. He has that trainability factor. Lucy on the other hand, is reluctant and stubborn. When doing the crazy man, she tends to hang back a little bit, and isn’t snappy about changing directions. She does it, but it isn’t eagerly. She’s the kind of dog that when I ask her to sit, and the ground is wet or cold, she half sits and hovers above it. She’s very stubborn.

Basically, my two questions are 1. What is your suggested approach to her fear behaviors? and 2. How do I make her more eager to learn without treating her to death?

I really, really appreciate any personalized advice. I love my dogs more than life, and I respect Ty’s methods wholeheartedly.

Thank you again,

Erin

Dog Training Video Response

Press play below to watch my response to her question:

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Dog Training Response Summarized

1- You are correct about treat training, it doesn’t inspire change because it doesn’t challenge a dog to challenge it’s boundaries. It only challenges the dog as far as he or she likes a treat.

2- I always think in terms of mindset meaning; what is the dog’s mindset or state of mind when it encounters that distraction. If I don’t like the mindset how can I change it? I often find that a dog’s mind follows the body so we need to train the body to just be and to relax. A down stay or a place command while you have balloons around does not allow the dog to go into the flight response. A dog, when stressed, has only three options; fight, flight, and avoidance. Flight is like mental atrophy and if we can get rid of that response through a down stay then the dog must stay around the object that caused the fear and learn to adapt.

3- It may sound contradictory at first but I also like to introduce stress while moving. If you had her focused and on a walk and just started holding the frisbee and then graduated to getting it closer, etc. you could see some results. The point I want to get at is that a dog is not a multi-tasker. She can’t be thinking of many things at once. So if you oblige her to walk properly it doesn’t give her room to be thinking hard about other things which allows her mind to then accept those things.

4- As far as more eager a few ideas I have are: 1- Over exaggerated with praise. For example, when she’s lagging a bit while walking pat your leg and really ‘up’ the praise. 2- Continue focusing on obedience overall. The adage that dogs want to please their masters is true, but only if they see you as the master. The better your obedience becomes overall the more bonded you’ll become and the more her desire to please you will increase. 3- Watch your timing. Make it very clear that a correction is a corrrection and praise is praise. A lot of dogs are hesitant and that can be confused for stubborn. When you make the boundaries incredibly clear for them it allows them to trust you and trust the system much easier and you’ll see a dog ‘lighten up’ as a result.

Filed Under: Behavior Problems Tagged With: , , ,

Dog Fear- Where Does It Come From?

Dog Fear- Reader Question

The following question comes from a reader of our site:

Why are some dogs just flat out scared of men? I have a 2 year old husky and he’s scared of men. I don’t believe there’s any history of abuse. He’ll run away or refuses to come to men and paces back and forth frustrated.
Rachel, Utah.

Thanks for this question, Rachel. Dog fear is one of the biggest things I deal with in my company simply because it’s at the root of so many behavior problems. Issues like dog aggression, some destruction, anxiety behaviors, and others all find their root in fear. In order to solve these issues it’s important to understand where these issues come from.

Dog Fear- What Causes It?

The reality is that there are only two places that dog fear comes from:

  1. Genetics
  2. Upbringing

It’s the old Nature Vs. Nurture argument that has been waging in the halls of academia forever. In fact, I find it unfortunate that many people these days are ignoring the science when it comes to dog behavior.

These days you don’t have to go far to find certain ‘breed apologists’. Just log on to your Facebook account and you’ll see your dog loving friends posting graphics about how awesome Pit Bulls are and how any aggressive Pit Bull is simply that way because the owner trained it to be that way.

This type of thinking completely ignores basic tenets of dog behavior.

Nearly everyone will agree that both nature and nurture compose the makeup behind temperament, personality, and character. Yet in the case of Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, etc. people suspend this understanding in their attempts to protect their favorite breed.

Now, let me set the record straight first of all. I’m a big fan of Pit Bulls, Rottweilers (I own one), German Shepherds (I’ve owned a few) and Dobermans. And I’m not trying to tell you that ANY of these BREEDS are more prone to fear, aggression, or any other sort of behavior. But I will tell you that certain representatives of those breeds (and ALL breeds for that matter) can have larger propensities than others for fear, aggression, and other related behaviors.

I know I’m on my soapbox right now. You may be wondering why I’m off on a tangent about Pit Bulls and other powerful breeds when the question was about a Husky and fear. The reason is that people seem to be willing to accept that fear can cause bad behavior, and many of those same people are willing to accept that a Husky or a Beagle or a Labrador MAY have been born with a greater propensity for fear and that MAY be why they are acting inappropriately. But many of those same people are unwilling to accept that a Pit Bull was born with a fear issue and that is why she is acting aggressively…they seem bound and determined to blame aggression in these powerful breeds on bad owners.

This is a damaging style of thinking, though. Many of our clients own these breeds and we deal with a lot of aggression. Based on what these folks have heard many are convinced that they are awful owners and somehow ‘trained’ their Pit Bull or Rottweiler to be aggressive. The reality is, though, that they’ve been good dog owners (everyone can be better) and they did NOTHING to cause their dog’s fear or aggression. The dog was born with a greater tendency towards aggressive behavior.

The majority of the dog fear that I see for genetic reasons comes from poor breeding. Most breeders these days have no clue how to make pairings that will result in mentally sound puppies. It may be that they are breeding for looks and not temperament, it may be that they are pushing out puppies just to make a buck, or it may be that they are incompetent but these bad breeders have flooded the country with dogs who have weak nervous systems and low thresholds for dealing with stress. And, unfortunately, it is the public who is supporting their efforts by always looking for the best deal.

As I mentioned, though, genetics are just one piece of the puzzle.

Upbringing is also very important. When I’m referring to upbringing I’m typically talking about socialization.

Dogs have what I like to call a ‘socialization window’ between about 8 weeks and 6 months of age where it’s important that the dog receives the correct doses of the correct type of socialization. Errors that lead to the type of fear being described with this Husky typically fall into two categories:

  • Under-socializing. Dogs need to meet a LOT of people, places, and things. They need to meet lots of men, women, dogs, cats, children, bicycles, floor surfaces, sounds, textures, etc. Many dogs simply don’t get a lot of exposure. As they grow older they fall into the old adage of ‘we fear the unknown’. It’s possible that your Husky didn’t receive enough exposure to men and now finds the fact that they are bigger, deeper voices, etc. as off-putting and cause for fear.
  • Improper socialization. I can’t tell you how much dog fear I can trace directly to dog parks. Dog parks are the worst place to socialize a dog yet they are so often used and they often inject fear into a dog. Aside from dog parks bad socialization occurs when the owner doesn’t control encounters the young dog has with kids, strangers, etc. I have had numerous cases where a dog has ONE bad experience with a kid, person, dog, etc. during this socialization window and it taints their whole life experience from that day forward. In your dog’s case, it’s possible the dog simply was handled roughly by a man at a young age and that’s the experience that stuck.

Dog Fear- How To Solve It

Dog fear comes from what I call a ‘chaos mindset’. That means that the dog isn’t thinking when she’s reacting fearfully, she’s simply giving in to her surroundings.

The opposite of chaos in the natural world is structure, control, etc. With our clients we immediately start on a healthy diet of obedience training to overcome these fear issues. As the dog’s mind learns to focus on structure it can’t also be focusing on the subject of her fear.

Here’s the catch, though. Treat based obedience training or other such ineffective methods don’t get the job done. The only way to overcome big-time fear issues is through advanced obedience training and that simply doesn’t occur with treat training. You need a style of training that properly balances correction with motivation to show the dog that obedience is the rule but it’s also enjoyable.

Filed Under: Advanced Dog Training, Behavior Problems Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,