Posts filed under ‘Social stuff’
Reading CLICK TO CALM: Healing the Aggressive Dog
I finished Ali Brown’s “Scaredy Dog”. I was going to continue with my book summary on this blog but to be honest, I found the information in the later chapters too complex to take notes for . There are lots of detailed exercises that require the repetitive and patient participation of other people and their balanced dogs – which would be a LOT of work to set up. Also, these are scenarios that Boogie and I are way NOT ready for.
Just this morning, Boogie was calmly sniffing the grass outside. The minute that he looked up and saw an old man pass by in front of us, he LUNGED up at the man. It was so fast and so extreme. It was a good thing that I had him on a short leash as I always do and he couldn’t reach the man (who didn’t even notice).
I corrected Boogie. It was instinctual. Made him sit. Stay. When he was calm and looking at me, I said “Good Boy” and gave him a treat. This was probably not what I should have done according to the book, but the thing is… everything happened so fast. I did not have time to think nor had I predicted that he would lunge at THIS man… or I would’ve led him away before the man came close.
There is no predicting WHO Boogie will lunge at, and this is pretty stressful when we walk in areas where there are lots of people.
Old people who walk slowly, hunched over (same gait as most homeless people) are a common target. The lunges are more extreme when they happen from a standing or sitting position. Which is why I do my best to keep Boogie walking, in HEEL position, focused on me.
According to most dog training literature including Cesar Millan, dogs pick up on our tension. So if we are tense or uncertain, dogs pick up on this energy and act accordingly. If I tighten the leash, I am transferring MY stress to my dog. Check out this awesome slo-mo video with leash-tightening –
Cesar Millan and dog trainers say that we should remain CALM at all times. Or act HAPPY, as this book advises. Cesar Millan also said that if we pretend to be calm or happy on the surface, our dog would know that we are pretending… and that we are not really calm on the inside.
All this makes sense in theory but in reality, we can’t all be calm all the time. And certainly NOT when our dog is behaving like a sociopath. I don’t meditate everyday, I don’t “zen out” in the instant that a strange person or dog appears. On the contrary, I go into “Alert and Control” mode.
I have started reading Emma Parson’s “Click To Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog”.
I am only just into chapter one and already I feel that this is going to be a goodie because I like the way she writes. Very down-to-earth. Already I sense more realistic and practical information in this book than in all the others that I have read so far on Dog Behavior and Training. Like Karen Pryor and Ali Brown, Emma Parsons belongs to the “Positive/Clicker-training” camp…
Clicker Training puts the focus on what the animal is doing right instead of what the animal is doing wrong…
You can mark or capture behavior that will be gone in an instant. Only the clicker gives you the ability to pinpoint a millisecond of calm behavior in a stream of aggressive behavior….
The clicker’s clarity soon comes to signify confidence to a dog, regardless of whether the handler feels confident or not. Clicker-Training your dog tells him that you are in total control of the situation, even when you don’t feel in control at all.
Like other Positive/Clicker Trainers, she is anti-punishment.
The most serious danger with punishment, however, is that it very often feels good to the punisher. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. It mistakenly leads us to believe that we have “fixed” the behavior. The next time we will be tempted to punish harder and faster.
I don’t like the Sprenger collar, but until I can learn new methods of working with Boogie to prevent leash-pulling and aggressive behavior, this is our “quick fix”.
Will continue reading this book and report back with further thoughts!
Boogie and FEET.
Today while I was practicing “eye contact” with Boogie using the clicker, I made an interesting discovery.
The purpose of this exercise was to positively-reinforce eye contact. Each time he sat and gave me eye-contact I clicked and threw down a treat. I took steps backwards, sideways etc. and he followed me around and looked at me – he was doing very well! So I kept clicking and dropping treats. HOT DOG treats mind you. His favorite.
We did this many times. Everything was going well, then…
Suddenly a hot dog treat fell about 1 inch in front of my foot. Boogie looked at it, took a step back and sat down and looked up at me. I had to call him over to my foot (pointed my finger at the hot dog) and even so he hesitated… then he slowly came over and took the treat.
So I tried this a few more times. I purposely put the treat near my foot. Same thing. Wouldn’t pick it up. Instead he went into a Down position and just stayed there, looking at the hot dog. When I shifted the treat closer to him, he took it. And sat further away from me (still with eye-contact).
We have always known that Boogie has a thing about feet. From the first day we adopted him two years ago, he has displayed this reaction many times: If someone LIFTS THEIR FOOT near him (not even touching him), he yelps and leaps backwards in fright. This happens at home, on the street, anywhere. With people he knows and trusts. Boogie jumps backwards and cowers. We assume that in the past, he must have been kicked. 😦
On the other hand, he is perfectly happy to burrow under the covers and rest his head on my foot or lick my feet, so it’s not like he is scared of FEET per se.
The thing that stunned me today is that he would even refuse HOT DOGS (his favorite treat!!!) when it is near my foot. Is he afraid that I would kick him?
Readers – if you have any suggestions on how I can help Boogie overcome this fear, I am all ears!
A typical morning walk
I walk Boogie for 20-30 minutes every morning. Today we went for an extra long walk around our neighborhood (45 minutes). I brought along the clicker and a pocketful of treats. In Ali Brown’s book “Scaredy Dog!”, she suggests making a list of all the things that your dog reacts to and keeping some sort of training log. So this morning I paid extra careful attention to Boogie’s body language and reactions more than I normally would and prepared myself to call him, and click-and-treat when I got his attention.
As far as I know are the common and perfectly normal reactions of a fearful animal (or person, for that matter):
- FIGHT – bark, growl, lunge, attack.
- FLIGHT – move backwards, run away
- FREEZE – become very still, stiff and tense.
- ASK FOR HELP – look to someone else to know what to do
Ideally, we want to train Boogie to choose Reaction #4 over the others. We want him to LOOK TO ME when he is scared or unsure. And my responsibility as his “benevolent pack leader” is to either get him away from the scary situation or do something to make him feel better. According to the book, a leash correction could effectively STOP the reaction (yes, it works) but would do nothing to alleviate the fear.
I didn’t want to rely on the sprenger collar so I didn’t put it on Boogie this morning.
On our walk I made a mental list of all the people/things that Boogie reacted to, which were moments that prompted me to call him “Boogie!” (putting on my best HAPPY tone of voice), and to click and treat him when he came to me and looked at me.
1. Old homeless woman walking past us (FIGHT) This is the old homeless woman who hangs out in Los Feliz. One evening 2 years ago when I opened my front door, this woman was camped out on my porch right outside my front door. This was the very first time we saw Boogie try to bite someone. He lunged at her, snapped, and she ran off. Now whenever he sees this woman on the street, he goes ballistic. He pulls towards her and barks and growls. *This is the same behavior he has towards the mailman. Actually, I don’t think it’s fear in this case. It’s territorial aggression. He HATES that homeless woman.
2. Tall old man on sidewalk (FIGHT). I have no idea what it was about this person that set him off pulling on the leash, ears up, hackles up. Maybe because he was tall? Big? I don’t know. I read that reactive dogs are affected by “silhouttes” of people, so if they carry objects, wear masks or hats, or look really big, this can freak them out. I called Boogie to me (there was some resistance) and when he sat, I clicked and treated.
3. Big bus turning around the corner (FLIGHT). Boogie and I were waiting at the traffic light when a big bus turned around the corner which sent Boogie leaping back 5 feet! I called him but he wouldn’t come. Ears back, crouched low. When the bus drove away, I called him again, he came and sat. Click-and-treat. I felt a bit bad about this. I guess I should have seen the bus coming and led him away, knowing that he is scared of buses.
4. Friendly man approaching us with camera. A guy approached us and wanted to take a photo of Boogie because he has a boston pup himself. I told him not to come close (“my dog is nervous and may bite”) and he was really cool and stayed where he was. He said his pup bites all the time. (haha, mister. If only you knew) I asked Boogie to sit and gave him lots of praise and treats while the guy took photos. I could tell that Boogie wanted to go sniff the guy but I didn’t let him, just kept praising him for sitting and staying. Boogie is never really comfortable getting his picture taken (he turns his head a lot) but what can ya do when you are so cute.
5. Squirrel! No hope for this one. Boogie would NOT come away from the tree when called, no matter what. I had to stick the treat right in front of his nose to get him to move on.
6. Big truck passing us on the street. (FREEZE) I was walking in between him and the street, and when two big trucks drove by, Boogie just stopped and froze. I called his name and said “Sit”. It took him a few moments before he sat and looked up at me. Click-and-treat. Lots of praise.
7. Barking dog behind a fenced yard (FIGHT) We pass this house almost every morning. Sometimes the dog is there in the yard running around and barking. I immediately crossed the street, calling “Boogie!” in a happy voice but Boogie’s head was still turned towards the dog, teeth bared. When we finally crossed the street and he looked at me, “Click!” and treat. Then suddenly, WHOA! There was another dog and owner right there in front of us! (oh shit)
8. Calm dog with owner. (FIGHT) Boogie’s hackles were still up and he pulled towards this dog that looked like a labradoodle. OH SHIT. I was running out of treats. Thankfully this dog-owner was really cool and he restrained his dog. “Are you training your dog? I heard the clicker”. We started a conversation and he made his dog sit, and I made Boogie sit, and Boogie was fine just sitting there while this guy and I chatted. During this time I gave Boogie the final 2-3 treats and patted him a lot. Boogie’s hackles were no longer raised though he continued to stare at the other dog. When the guy and his dog walked off, I called Boogie back to heel and we headed home.
There you go. A typical morning walk with Boogie. So much drama!
Tips for working with a reactive dog. (Part 1)
Following on from my previous blog post, I am now up to the part in Ali Brown’s book “Scaredy Dog!” where there is some immensely interesting and possibly helpful information! I am going to take notes here on this blog so that Boogie’s dad and extended family (and Boogie’s blog readers) can have access to this info. Here are some tips:
1. STUFF-A-DOG
The purpose of this exercise – which is to be carried out repeatedly many many times in different locations at different times of the day for many many days – is to associate GOOD THINGS with your dog’s name. The idea is to teach Boogie that when we call his name “Boogie” this is always a positive thing.
What we do is hand-feed treats to our dog and when he is chewing on the treat we say his name. Yeah, we stuff his face with treats and while he is relishing the yumminess of the food in his mouth, we say his name over and over. We should vary the intonation of our voice… sometimes use a happy tone of voice, a sad tone, an angry tone, loud, quiet, silly… we vary the tones as much as we can so that regardless of what tone of voice we say his name with, it will always have a positive vibe.
Here is the tricky part. In order for Stuff-A-Dog to work to “build the power of our dog’s name”, we have to refrain from using his name in casual conversation when we are talking about him in his presence. We should only use his name when we are talking TO him. In fact, to make things easier for us humans, Ali Brown suggests that we either pick a “nickname” to use when feeding him treats and always use this same nickname… OR… when we are talking about him while he is present, we refer to him with a code word or say “the dog” instead. If we mistakenly say “Boogie” while not addressing him, and if Boogie turns to look at us, we should immediately smile and praise him.
Man, this one is going to be a challenge because we talk about Boogie ALL THE FRIGGIN’ TIME while he is in the same room hearing “Blah blah blah blah Boogie…. blah blah … Boogie… Blah blah blah…” This explains why Boogie rarely comes to us when we call him!!!!
“The goal of Stuff-A-Dog” is not just for you to get your dog’s attention but to classically condition your dog to come to you when he hears his name. You really want this response to be a knee-jerk response..”
We are to do this repeatedly in the house, on walks, in the car, EVERYWHERE. When we have reached 5000 Stuff-A-Dogs over a 6-8 week period (!!!) we can do fewer repetitions.
2. HAND-TARGETING
I am pleasantly surprised that she brings up this training activity because Boogie and I are already doing this! 🙂 See my blog post on Clicker Training Boogie.
Ali Brown suggests doing hand-targeting as often as possible in different locations and we should aim for an 80% success rate. Any more than 80% means our dog will get bored. You want to keep it mildly challenging and stimulating. If he doesn’t respond to the “Touch” (or “here”) cue, give him up to 30 seconds to figure it out. Wait. If he still doesn’t respond, take him back to the last location where he responded. The goal is to do this in increasingly distracting environments (eg, add TV, add music, add people etc) so that eventually when he is out on the street with “scary stuff” around him he will still respond.
“The more distracting the environment, the more exciting the praise and reward must be.” This could be a tennis ball not necessarily treats.
3. PAYING ATTENTION. USING THE CAR AS A TRAINING TOOL
To reinforce our dog’s focus on US, we want our dog to pay attention to us the moment he steps out of a car (or house), instead of pulling forward and away from us. We need to teach our dog to “Wait” at the door. Actually, Boogie is pretty good at this one; when we tell him to Sit and Stay, he does. Or most of the time I say “Heel” and he steps backwards from the door and lets me go out first. Ali Brown suggests adding a treat for reinforcement. When we say “OK” (or “let’s go”) then this is the cue to jump out of the car or walk out of the house.
The moment that he is out of the car (or house), we say his name in a loud and happy tone. The moment he LOOKS AT US – click and treat! Then reinforce a few hand-targets and other cues.
Here’s something interesting. The next step is to put our dog BACK IN THE CAR (or house) and do some reinforcement cues again with lots of treats.
Then repeat the process. Lead our dog out of the car/house and call his name. Click and treat when he looks at us. Do some hand-targets. However… If he doesn’t look at us within 10 seconds (this is the goal), he goes back into the car/house and we WALK AWAY from the car/house. If the dog cries or barks (which I am pretty sure that Boogie will do), wait for calm and quiet for a minimum of five seconds before going back to the car/house.
Repeat the exercise a few times and aim for a 80% success rate. This training could take weeks or months to get down pat.
“The critical aspect to this exercise is that your dog learns that the expected behavior when coming out of the car is to look at you. In this manner, there is limited opportunity for your dog to look around and find things that are scary. It seems as if some of our reactive dogs are anxious enough to look around and find things to which to react.”
The goal is to teach our dog to stay calm and check back with us, to look at us and do what we ask.
“Even if he finds something that is nerve-wracking, he is much more likely to be able to disengage from looking at it and return his gaze to you”.
4. WHAT TO DO WHEN WE SEE A DOG ON THE STREET…
What Ali Brown refers to as the “oh shit” moment!!! OH YES, we know this one very well.
This is the moment that we can make a change. As soon as we see the person and dog, if we tense up, our dog will pick up on this. (Yes, Cesar Millan makes this point very clear. Dogs pick up on our energy).
What we need to do is ACT HAPPY THAT WE SEE THE OTHER PERSON AND DOG. We walk our dog 90 degree angle off path and keep walking and talking and praising our dog for coming with us and treating him all the way. After some distance we ask him to sit…. praise and treat him or play with him, as the other dog passes by. A few minutes after the dog passes we continue along our way. *I have sort of been doing this with Boogie… except that I probably don’t act HAPPY very convincingly 🙂
The idea here is to desensitize our dog to the presence of other dogs and to show him that nothing bad is happening to him. When a scary dog approaches, we are communicating to our dog that we are not going to allow that other bad dog to scare him or to get too close to him. We want our dog to internalize that it is a GOOD THING when another dog appears (treats, happy voice, praise, human is in charge etc) Of course, it could take a long time for him to learn to feel safe… after many many repeated experiences. After weeks and months.
If our dog reacts poorly (growls, lunges etc) as we walk away from the other dog, Ali Brown says to keep walking and continue to act HAPPY… keep going until our dog stops looking at the other dog. Then call his name and get his attention and click and treat profusely. Eventually our dog will TRUST us to protect him and to make decisions for him. He will learn that nothing bad is going to happen when there’s another dog around. Over time, the “safe/non-reactive” distance between our dog and the other dog will become smaller and smaller.
Bootcampers. Me & The Boogs at a "safe distance" away on the left.
(I noticed this change with Boogie at Bootcamp classes with other people and their dogs. Boogie became more tolerant of smaller distances between him and other dogs…. that is, so long as they don’t bark or look at him.)
When we eventually get to the point when Boogie is calm and shows signs of wanting to go and check out the other dog’s butt (this could be weeks or months later… we need to learn to read his body signals), and if we know that the other dog is calm and friendly, then we can allow him to “go sniff” BUT… we should count to three and then we should call Boogie away and back to us. Small steps at a time.
Or if we see tense body language in Boogie (hackles up, hard stare) then we should call him away immediately. No butt-sniffing allowed. It is important for our dog to feel safe near the other dog before he is allowed to move onto the next step. And over time we will be able to read Boogie and know how he feels about the other dog to know what is the best move to make.
This is as far as I’ve got in the book. TO BE CONTINUED….
Here is a blog post that I wrote a year ago when Boogie first started lunging. In this post I wrote about some doggie interactions that started badly but turned out positively. At the time I had no understanding of what was really going on but now things are so much clearer, thanks to this book.
On Boogie’s “Dog aggression”
Here are two videos of the Boogs trying to play with Butch taken last week. Butch is totally not interested in playing with him.
This is what we always say: Boogie is friendly only towards dogs that he knows.
I can count about six or eight dogs… including Butch and Emma who stay with us from time to time, Mighty and Stinky, and our neighbors’ dogs. Everyone else, he lunges, snarls, snaps, bites.
Dogs that Boogie “knows” are either:
1. Dogs that he met over a year ago when we first adopted him back in the day when he was still “dog-friendly”.
2. Dogs that he met more recently, barked or lunged at, then accepted as a buddy after an elaborate human-controlled buttsniffing introduction. Once he accepts another dog, he will always remember this dog and he will be cool when he meets him/her again. So yes, he CAN be friendly but it is a huge risk to introduce him to other dogs. Especially big ones.
This is really awkward to explain to some people.
I remember one time when I was walking Boogie , a guy passed us with his very large, slow-paced and fumbling English bulldog. He was very taken by Boogie and wanted our dogs to meet and become friends. I did my usual spiel: “Sorry, Boogie isn’t dog-friendly. He might bite”.
As I was saying this, Boogie was hanging out with Sky (neighbor’s placid lab) right before our eyes, behaving in a perfectly friendly and chilled-out fashion. This was a total contradiction to what I just said.
The guy seemed hurt: He’s ok with the other dog. How come he is ok with the other dog?
Me: He already knows that dog. He is aggressive towards dogs that he doesn’t know.
Guy: My dog is really calm and friendly. We could try introducing your dog to her? She is so calm, she doesn’t fight at all. She really doesn’t care.
Me: I’m sorry… I can’t guarantee that he won’t attack if he gets close. He is unpredictable… and it will take a lot of effort to introduce them nicely.
I have this sort of conversation more often than I would like, and it’s awkward. Especially when I am walking Boogie and Butch together …people don’t believe me when I say that my dog is “not friendly”. They take a look at the two bostons walking nicely side by side and they think I’m crazy.
Some photos from Boogie’s “Dog-Friendly” days.
At Silverlake Dog Park. (2008)
Playing with neighbors’ dogs (2008)
Boston Tea Party (2008)... He was happy to meet all the dogs and he got along fine with everyone. (In contrast to this year’s Boston Tea Party where he lunged at every dog that got close.)
So what changed?
Last year on three separate occasions, Boogie was attacked by another dog when he was on leash. In all cases, the other dogs were not under their owner’s control (one was off-leash, the other one on a loose-leash) when they charged at Boogie. And in all cases, Boogie was just happily minding his own business when they bit him.
It makes sense that when Boogie now sees a dog, his first move is to ATTACK. He was always very sensitive to begin with, and now he bears new emotional scars…
Keeping Boogie away from other dogs is not easy.
At the vet’s office, there are usually lots of dogs in the small cramped waiting room. I keep Boogie on my lap and I get the feeling that he is totally content to stay there, away from the other dogs. But occasionally another dog will come close due to the smallness of the room and we have a situation. It’s awkward.
At Thankdog Bootcamp, it’s great that all dogs are leashed and in an “obedient” frame of mind. Boogie is fine if the other dogs don’t come close or make any sounds. If another dog approaches him or so much as let out a small bark (friendly or not), this sets him off. UPDATE: Knowing what I know now, I would NEVER recommend taking a sensitive/aggressive dog to a bootcamp full of dogs and “correcting” him whenever he reacts. This was what I was taught to do – the bootcamp was incredibly unfair to Boogie. I regret that experience with all my heart.
Boogie also has nervousness around PEOPLE THAT HE DOESN’T KNOW and he lunges if they freak him out…
Personally, I hate putting my dog in quarantine from any sort of social activity. I miss the old Boogie. I want to help him overcome his fear-aggression and reactive-ness. Boogie LOVES to play and I bet he misses having buddies to play with.
Obedience training is awesome but doesn’t address the social issue. I have started reading Ali Brown’s Scaredy Dog! Understanding and Rehabilitating your reactive dog.
If you have read this book and tried the techniques (I haven’t gotten to that part of the book yet)… please share your thoughts!
I also have Emma Parson’s Click To Calm on my reading list.
Boogie vs The Mailman
I think we are experiencing a turning point in mailman relations. I think Mr. Mailman has lost all tolerance and patience and he officially hates me.
It hasn’t always been this way.
The mailman and I used to be on good terms. He used to be a really nice to me and extremely tolerant of my snarling, barking, territorially-aggressive Boogie; and he even agreed to help out with our video submission to The Dog Whisperer Show should we ever decide to make one. Not that Mr. Mailman would have to DO anything or even smile at camera, He would only have to make an appearance in front of a growling lunging Boogie and act calm …
Many times, the mailman had said to me: “I don’t know what I have done to this dog. What have I done? Why does he feel this way about me?” And he continued to smile at Boogie from a distance, try to talk “nicely” to him, which made absolutely no difference whatsoever.
And many times I struggled to explain to him that it is nothing personal.
“Boogie doesn’t hate YOU personally. It’s just that you are a mailman. He is territorial. He behaves the same way towards UPS, Fed Ex, Yosemite Waters and the landlord.” (I didn’t tell him the bit about fat people, tall people, homeless people, and old asian people carrying bags…)
I have also assured Mr Mailman that he has nothing to worry about; he will be safe. My dog is always leashed when he is outdoors and I have him under control. Mr. Mailman shrugs. He continues to smile and say hi when he sees me even when my dog is embarrassingly unfriendly.
This week I am babysitting Butch and Emma, and when the mailman appears outside my apartment, all hell breaks loose.
ALL THREE DOGS run to the window and bark very loudly. Butch barks at anyone who passes by anyway (not aggressively, just being a dog) and Emma barks because Butch barks. But to the mailman it looks like three of them are ganging up against him and my dog is the bad seed that started it all. I look out the window and I see the Mr Mailman shaking his head, grumpy look on his face as he walks away.
This morning I was out walking the three dogs. The mailman appeared before us (came out of a building) and Boogie growled. I corrected him but it was too late because Butch had barked at Boogie and Boogie had lunged at Butch and Butch was fighting back and even though it was tricky situation with three leashes in my hands, within 3-5 seconds, I managed to separate the boys and have them both seated calmly next to me.
Unfortunately, the mailman saw all this happen right before his eyes and his mind was made up.
Mailman: “You should keep that dog away from everyone including the other dog.”
Me: “These dogs are fine together at home. What happened was my dog saw you, reacted to you and then this set off the fight. They are fine now”.
Mailman: “Oh really? (sarcasm) That dog is a problem. I don’t know why you keep a dog like that”.
I apologized and tried to reassure him (again) that he doesn’t have to feel unsafe. Everything is under control. Butch and Boogie were still seated calmly at my feet as I was saying this, but the mailman did not even look at me while he was talking.
Me: “I am sorry you had to see that. Don’t worry I have them under control”.
Mailman: (still not looking at me in a sarcastic tone) “Thank you, maam”.
Me (getting upset and defensive): “I mean, if you adopted a kid and that kid had problems and reacted badly to things, would you get rid of him? No. I keep my dog even though he has problems because I love him and care about him and I am working with him.”
Mailman: (still sarcastic) “Thank you, maam”.
I would probably feel the same way about Boogie if I were the mailperson, being barked at 5 days a week while I am just calmly doin’ my job, but I thought it was out of line for him to make that comment – “That dog is a problem. I don’t know why you keep a dog like that”.
I don’t know if I am being unreasonably sensitive about all this but obviously I am upset enough to write this blog post. I get upset whenever strangers make sarcastic comments, mean comments or roll their eyes when my dog reacts.
Can anyone else relate?
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Some bookmarked dog-related blogs/sites:
THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH blog
I am also about to start reading Karen Pryor’s Reaching The Animal Mind.
Boogie at Bootcamp!
DISCLAIMER: This blog post was written in 2009. We no longer do Obedience Training using “dominance”-based methods. We no longer use collar corrections. These methods made Boogie MORE TENSE, MORE TRIGGERED and more prone to aggressive behaviors. We switched over to reward-based methods in February 2010 and saw improvements.
As part of Boogie’s Obedience Training package I get 2 weeks (10 classes) FREE Bootcamp. If you haven’t visited the ThankDog Bootcamp website & seen the video, go and check them out!!! Here’s another video on YouTube:
Basically it’s a workout bootcamp for humans, combined with doggie obedience practice. It’s such a cool and brilliant idea. I have been wanting to do this since I first read about it online and am glad I finally started! The human part of the bootcamp includes cardio stuff like running, jumps etc. and there are also exercises for arms, legs, abs involving weights. The doggie part is obedience practice for commands like Heel, Sit, Down, Stay, etc.
A few friends have asked me if it’s really tough and if it helps Boogie. It’s actually not as hardcore as it sounds. It’s very doable.
The hardest parts are:
1. Going to bed early and getting up at 5am (the bootcamp starts at 6am)
2. Wet grass!!!
I will admitthat at first I was really nervous that Boogie might misbehave or display aggression towards other (new) dogs… which is why I held off on doing the bootcamp for so long. But time and obedience training has proven that even though the Boogs is still a “problem child”, wow – he CAN be obedient. He CAN move at my pace, by my side for a whole hour (well, maybe he could run a little bit faster, but that’s ok…) I CAN control him in the presence of new dogs and people. This is such a confidence boost. And good discipline for the Boogs.
Yep, it would be more fun if Boogie didn’t have such a problem with wet grass. He HATES getting his feet and butt wet so he sits with his butt lifted off the ground! He won’t lie down on the grass at all. I bring treats in my pocket and these help make the experience a bit more “positive”. Here are photos taken after Day 5 of Bootcamp.
In his “place”.
“Look to camera, Boogie!”
Boogie is so weird. We always think that he is part “cat” or maybe it’s a Boston Terrier thing? Every morning on the drive home from the park – he meticulously grooms his entire body… licks each of his wet paws thoroughly, between every toe, back of his legs…
When at home he joyously plays with EVERY SINGLE TOY, eats breakfast, and goes to sleep for the rest of the day.
My question to the Good Dog Blog – a response!
I submitted this question months ago and was pleasantly surprised to find a response!
My Dog Is Unpredictable and Has Aggression Problems » Good Dog Blog.
The part that I find immensely interesting and helpful is this:
The idea is to associate the Scary Monster (people, dogs, etc.) with something good, so that your dog’s emotions change.
I hesitate to tell you too much here, because the devil is in the details. It’s really important to get the order of events and timing right with counter-conditioning. But it looks like this: Dog sees the Scary Monster (usually far away), dog gets treats, Scary Monster leaves (or dog does), treats stop. The treats should be extremely special, not regular dog food but cheesy, meaty, peanut-buttery excellence.
I did in fact try this ‘technique’ on several of our walks. Whenever another dog appeared in our field of vision, I would give Boogie a treat. Boogie was so focused on the treat that the other dog/Scary Monster became a non-issue. After several days, I noticed that he stopped reacting to other dogs.
Perhaps I should ALWAYS give Boogie a treat when introducing him to other dogs? Or when meeting strangers? There’s also the “no eye contact” rule…
I know that Dr. Yin does CLASSICAL COUNTER-CONDITIONING:
The part that bothers me is the advice about throwing out the ‘prong collar’ … Honestly I hate the collar and would prefer not to use it, but it works for the leash-pulling business. It works to get the “NO” message across to a very stubborn Boogie. Sure, it may be a short-term superficial solution but without it, we have mayhem.
Slumber Party
Who gets the corn?
Christa’s Butch and Emma are staying over this weekend. This is the first time since Boogie’s “training” ( I use inverted commas because I have been slackening off on the rules… ) that the Boogs has been in the presence of other dogs in this home. The boys still insist on playing with the same toys at the same time… there is much barking and whining and pouting but sigh, what can ya do.
We put the Sprenger prong collar back on Boogie because the Martingale collar was losing its effectiveness and Boogie had started pulling on the leash again. And the last thing I want to deal with is walk two/three dogs at the same time with one of them pulling us all off course.
Well, I had an amazing experience today.
I asked both Boogie and Butch to SIT before our walk this morning. Both boys sat and STAYED (with treat reward) while I opened the front door and stepped out first. Then I said “Ok! Let’s go!” and led them both out the door. Boogie walked on my left, Butch walked on my right and yes, there was some pulling on occasion (to sniff and mark) but a light tug of the leash on either side was all it took to get them both walking calmly in a straight line.
It was like a miracle… The three of us walked for about 2o minutes NON-STOP – Boogie on my left, Butch on the right and it was the BEST dog-walking experience I’ve ever had! We walked and walked – no pulling, no stopping, no dramas. Boogs was well-behaved and even Butch was moving along without his usual compulsion to pee on every single tree.
It was as if the three of us were walking to the same rhythm, totally in sync. Both boys sat at the traffic lights. Both boys moved at the same pace. Every 5 minutes or so, I’d let them both go off to the grass/bushes/trees and both boys would pee or mark at the same time. Then off we’d go again, back on track, back in sync.
I think having another dog like Butch around is a really good influence on Boogie. Maybe it’s part of the “Pack experience”, I don’t know. Boogs is also a lot more affectionate towards Wes and I (or clingy?) with B&E around
Well, I am going to break the training rules again. I was going to crate Boogie tonight and have B & E in my bed but that doesn’t seem fair, does it? What the heck, Boogie, for two nights only, YES, you may sleep under the covers with all of us. Two nights only while Butch and Emma are sleeping over.
I love having Boogie in bed!
Socializing Boogie, and Calming Signals.
As part of Boogie’s training (and for everyone’s safety), we are not supposed to introduce him to other dogs or people. So I tell Boogie to “SIT” whenever another dog passes by on our walks. He sits and I say “Good Boy!” and give him a treat. This way, I have Boogie’s full attention. He is completely focused on whether my hand will go inside my pocket to pull out another treat. We stay like this until the coast is clear (other dog is out of sight) and then we move on together. I have been doing this exercise with him everyday… Everything has been fine. No pulling, no lunging, no drama.
Today being Saturday, there were LOTS of dogs on the street. Sometimes people tie their dogs outside on the narrow sidewalk while they are dining or shopping indoors, and I am proud to report that Boogie stayed next to me, HEELING nicely the whole time. No pulling, no lunging. Most times he would see the other dogs and simply ignore them.
Towards the end of our walk, we ran into a neighbor with a dog I hadn’t met before (sweet Charlotte), and we both stopped to chat. Boogie was of course intrigued by the other dog and vice versa but I made him sit, gave him a treat. When he was calm and relaxed, I did something I should not have done. Ay – here I am breaking the rules again. I let Boogie move towards Charlotte and made sure he greeted her by going AROUND to her BUTT. NOT front on. (“Front on” greeting is bad manners, and could be considered a sign of dominance) I also turned Boogie’s head to one side (with my hand) when he got close to Charlotte. This signals “Peace”.
I have been checking out several websites on “Calming Signals” and Dog Body Language, and I am learning to be more attentive about these things.
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It was awesome when Boogie got down into a “Playbow” position with Charlotte, rolled on his back in front of her, bounced up and down around her, and the two started playing on the grass. (Bit tricky with leashed dogs) It was so much fun to watch … it has been MONTHS since Boogie has played with another dog, and I know that he LOVES to play. He was so happy. I wish I had my camera… I would’ve taken a picture of Boogie and Charlotte playing together.
While this was going on, another neighbor walked by with a german shepherd that we hadn’t met before. Boogie went on alert, of course. I pulled him back and asked him to “sit”. He ignored me…. pulled, lunged, growled, snarled at the the other dog. I noticed too that the other dog was “not friendly”. He had approached Boogie front on, stared him in the eye and barked at him. This isn’t something I would’ve been aware of before had I not paid extra attention to the other dogs’ body language. (Usually I am too busy focusing on Boogie’s behavior alone) You could say it was ‘natural’ for the Boogs to go ballistic, that he had a right to react the way he did but it was still worrying that he totally did not listen to me when I told him to “sit”. He was pulling and growling like a nutcase. Eventually the guy with german shepherd walked off and Boogie went straight into sitting position in front of me. “OK. Drama over. Treat, please”.
I wonder if dogs recognize “breeds” the way we do. I wonder if Boogs is mistrustful of german shepherds in general, after having being attacked by one…
Anyway, that small drama aside, Boogie has been a good boy. I am glad that he made a new friend today.
Boogie's blog 