I recently saw a book by a very famous dog trainer on television and she is posing on the front of her book in stiletto high heels and a very cute blouse and scarf. She looked fabulous! But, apparently, she had never had a dog of her own until she finally got a Labrador! Now, I must say, I am not a book cover type of dog trainer/instructor.
I have been using the clicker in my dog training for almost 30 years now. I learned from some of the original group of people that brought operant conditioning from training whales and dolphins to dog training – Morgan Spector (author of CLICKER TRAINING FOR OBEDIENCE), and Virginia Broitman (TAKE A BOW WOW famous video). Morgan was one of the founding fathers of clicker training for dogs with the Baileys and he remains a very good friend of mine.
This is an incredibly tough topic to cover in a short article, although, what is imperative to understand is that choosing a dog that will fit for you and your lifestyle takes some time. The choice should be accompanied by a sincere effort to research breed traits and be honest with yourself what will actually fit with who you are.
Recently, I was told a story by someone that their 5 month old puppy was going to a class and barking through the entire class. The instructor told the owner the dog has to decide when it is safe and then she will stop barking and not to correct the dog. So….what if the dog ENJOYS the barking? Will she stop? Dogs are not capable of making human socially acceptable decisions. Constant barking is not an acceptable behavior. We have to provide guidance for them to be comfortable.
By now, most of the locals here in Sun Valley, Idaho, know my recent expedition over Mount Heart Attack. Let me say that the journey there is far beyond any Everest climb! I am here today to tell you this story for several reasons. The first is to pay overwhelming tribute to St. Luke’s ER Doctor Torres and his forthright, honest and hard line that he took with me, someone in total denial of my health condition! The second is that extraordinarily compassionate and capable Life Flight crew that raced me to the Twin Falls Cath Lab to the expert hands of cardiologist, Dr. Hymas. Without all of them and their support teams, I wouldn’t be here to tell you this story.
This is an incredibly difficult topic to discuss, because there are such intense feelings about saving a dog. Every dog has a wonderful side to them. Even more so, there is a huge amount of deception and false information floating around about rehabilitating the aggressive dog. And, of course, there are varying opinions that always come into play.
Dogs display so many behaviors that are simply enchanting to watch. I spend every day watching dog behavior because it is so fascinating to me. I see their feelings, their hierarchy, and their distinct personalities. As an instructor and trainer, this is critical to helping dog owners to understand their own dogs. I also spend a lot of time photographing these behaviors.
I can hear it now, “You have got to be kidding!” I am hard serious! I talk at end about leadership and how critical it is to dog mental health. Very few dogs these days do not have some sort of anxiety, whether it is separation anxiety, approval anxiety, inability to calm themselves in the house, re-directed aggression, even reactivity to events or other dogs. What is even more unfortunate is that so many people do not recognize the signs of anxiety and continue to let their dogs live in quiet misery. Our dogs cannot tell us or even talk about how they feel.
Somehow in the past couple of years I ended up on an email list for veterinarians. I have no idea how that happened, because I sure am not a doctor, but I get some really wonderful news about what’s new in veterinary medicine. One thing that keeps popping up over and over is new devices, supplies and medications to help calm dogs. Everywhere on the internet and through any animal retailers are devices, hormones, homeopathics, essential oils, flower essences, medications, and behavior modification techniques to help dogs cope with their anxiety and anxiety producing aggression.
There are many reasons dogs get nervous arising from a bad emotional or physical experience, genetic temperament, and age of the dog. For some dogs with physical issues such as blindness or deafness, even an abnormal thyroid can increase fearful or nervous behavior. Some nervous or fearful behaviors we can decrease through leadership and a very slow process of desensitization.
AFTER AN EXTENDED MEDICAL LEAVE, I WILL BE RETURNING TO WORK MARCH 1st!
