Captain's First Down

A few years ago I took a dog in for training. This is something I rarely do anymore due to my hectic schedule. Captain was an 11 month old Whippet and a cousin to my Whippet, Jazzy. When they started to run around the house, all you could do was flatten yourself against the wall or jump for a piece of furniture so you wouldn’t get run over.

I feel it is always a good idea for the owners to train their own dogs. It strengthens the bond and should be a lot of fun. In this case, he was a young teenage dog with a busy owner who I knew quite well. So, in he came for his sixty days of training. Of course, operant conditioning behaviour analysis (clicker training) was the only method of choice. That should be of no surprise to anyone who knows me even a little bit.

I started with conditioning the clicker (pairing the sound with something he loved – his kibble). The next step was to teach him to offer behaviour on his own. I almost always go with a head turn because you can never just tell them what to do, you have to be patient and wait for them to turn their head. As that happens, you click and treat. We got that in one short session. Target training went off without a hitch as well.

I was thrilled to have such a motivated dog to work with. My only concern was his down. I tried a variety of ways to get him to offer the down but the light bulb just never went off in his brain. By day five, I still didn’t have him offering a down. That may not sound like a big deal unless you only have sixty days to get all the desired behaviours fluent, on cue and can occur in any situation regardless of the distractions. Remember this is also a sight hound. They can get distracted by a piece of fluff flying in air and if they see a small, fur bearing animal in the shape of a rabbit…well…good luck!

I took him to the basement so I could video myself. I wanted to see if and what I was doing wrong as the trainer that he was not picking up this behaviour. As I was setting up the camera, I decided to try pure shaping. I was just going to stand there and wait for him to start offering anything that even remotely could be tied to the down.

As you will see, it only took four minutes to get the desired behaviour, there was a minute and a half of celebration then he had the down behaviour on lock down! When he comes to visit, that is always one of the first behaviours he offers just in case he can get me to click and treat him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_3bh0NgPBs&feature=player_profilepage

This weekend I did a presentation for the Foothills Humane Society. The topic I was given was “Canine Aggression, Fears and Phobias: Treatment and Prevention”. A slightly daunting task to talk about for only 1 ½ hours. To a captive audience I could talk forever about behaviour. To keep it interesting, I added as many pictures and videos as I could. What I hadn’t expected was the effect of talking about a certain case.

This summer I took in one of my behaviour patients. Coal was an American Cocker Spaniel who had impulse control aggression and fear aggression. I had worked with his dedicated owners for almost two years but when their son first began to crawl, it was evident he would bite their son, given the right situation.

After saying I would never do it again about 13 years ago, I took Coal into my home. We needed to see if he would respond to more training in a safe place. As I do not have 2 legged children and have been training for so long, I decided to take him in. One of my thoughts at the time was that if it worked better for Coal, I could keep him and they could visit whenever they wanted.

When he was in training mode, I could not ask for a more motivated dog. He loved to make me click him. The problems occurred at random times and twice I was bitten. It was crushing to know that we would not be able to get the control we needed. Liability wise, I could not keep him as I could not guarantee he wouldn’t be put in a situation where he felt he needed to bite. I couldn’t stop the tears the day we sent Coal to Rainbow Bridge.

Coming back to the presentation, there I stood in front of a room full of people. One of the pictures I had taken of him was up and the tears started. I wanted the group to know how hard we tried but there are some cases that no matter what we do, we will not be successful. In the future I will share more of Coal’s legacy.

Animal Behaviour

One of my greatest passions in veterinary medicine (other than smelling sweet puppy breath and watching playful kittens) is animal behaviour. I have always been intrigued by why animals do what they do, how they use their body language to talk to one another, and how can I help the animals who have difficulties such as anxiety and aggression. In the future, I plan to become board certified in animal behaviour so I can be a behaviour specialist.

As my blogging continues, I will introduce you to some of my “special needs cases”. I will start with Max (yes, I have changed his name to protect his identity), who is now a 5 year old, male neutered, Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier. His folks brought him to me because he had multiple aggression issues. The first consultation was an interesting one, to say the least. When I entered the room, he barked, growled, and snarled while showing other signals (lip licking, yawning, paw up) to say he was very nervous and wanted to leave. During the two hour appointment, he was not happy when I moved at any time. Any of you who know me know that I tend to use my hands a lot, especially to reach for my Tim Horton’s coffee. Max was not a happy camper. We went over the behaviour modifying exercises we could use to help him relax.

In most cases, and this one especially, using any form of punishment will make the behaviour worse. Unfortunately, many dog owners do not know that the punishment and “dominance” based methods used on popular TV were scientifically disproven over 15 years ago! Using only positive behaviour-modifying exercises, Max’s dedicated owners now have him under excellent control It is not reasonable or possible to “cure” behaviour problems – the goal is good management. Two years later, Max has been able to attend obedience classes and was the happiest and most relaxed dog there. Max also thinks I am a treat dispenser and will do almost anything, including hitting the Staples easy button, to make me click and treat him. Max can now ignore the types of people who used to make him very anxious, which allows him and his owners to have much more pleasant walks around Calgary.

Positive training methods and behaviour modification can be successfully used with most pets with behaviour issues, along with obedience classes and adequate exercise. Please let us know any issues you may be having with your pet, either at your annual check-ups, or call us at any time. We will be pleased to work with you to develop the best possible relationship with your best friend.