Dog Training Tips by Nick Jones MA with ~Whittard of Chelsea~

A video has been made to accompany these notes. View it on Youtube here.

Puppies

1) Toilet training. 


Introduction:

In the early days puppies need to relieve themselves approximately every hour. Practicing the following procedure in a calm, structured manner is an excellent way to create a sound habit for the future.

Technique: 

Take your puppy on a lead to the door. Keep a treat in your back pocket, place your puppy into the sit position and give the ‘Wait’ command using a flat hand signal. Slowly open the door resetting your pup should he jump outside before being asked. Once the door is open, step outside turning to face your dog and then invite him to follow you after a brief pause.

Walk him to a designated place and then use your key phrase to encourage him to do his business. I like the term ‘Hurry up’ for example. Praise your dog in a calm way as he relieves himself and once he takes a pace away from that spot, lean in to give the treat and offer pleasant physical and verbal praise.

When re entering the home, again ask for a brief sit and wait before opening the door. Insert a brief pause before inviting the dog to return back inside with you. To complete this routine ask for the ‘Sit’ and then release him from the lead using a cheerful ‘Okay’ command.


2) Introducing the recall.


Introduction:

The most important aspect of any dog’s behaviour in a public space when off the lead is his readiness to return promptly when called. This means we have a dog that is safe and can enjoy his walks to the fullest. Starting recall training in the home is an excellent way to create the first steps to a reliable puppy, enabling the owner to develop the method as the dog matures.

Technique:

A method I favour and use frequently is to set aside about half of the pup’s daily food intake and place this into a jar or two to be used for short training sessions each day. This way the dog is working for his food creating a greater motivation in the process.
Working with a partner, take a small handful of food each and go to opposite ends of the room. One person, the holder, leads the puppy to their end of the room using the collar or lead. Both people sit on the floor facing each other. Then, the person not holding the dog, the caller, will need to give a bright recall command. The caller should open their arms and with a bright voice and lots of encouragement, call the dog using a simple phrase such as ‘Charlie come!’ Once the dog is wriggling to be released, the holder can let him go to run into the open arms of the caller. As he enters the space of the caller, they should ask for a sit holding a treat above the dog’s head to encourage that position and then feed him immediately, giving warm verbal and physical praise.

Turn the puppy to face the other person ready to repeat the process. The holder should remain quiet so as not to confuse or distract the dog, allowing the caller to be the encouragement and exciting place to run to.

Once your puppy is reliably running between two people when called, sitting on arrival and understands the rules to this fun game, you can begin to extend the distances by using a long hallway for example. As your pup improves, make each stage more challenging by continuing to extend these distances. Placing the caller out of sight just behind a door for example is a great way to introduce a more challenging recall. Start by using adjacent rooms and in the end this could be from in the garden back into the home. The variety is really down to your imagination!

Adolescent dogs.


1) No jumping up. 


Introduction:

Having confidence that your dog will sit politely when being greeted and made a fuss of is more enjoyable than owning a dog that leaps all over people in or out of the home. All family members should practice this simple technique in your own home each time you greet the dog to prevent the unwanted action of jumping up. Naturally, the bigger the dog the more serious this issue can be!

Technique: 

When any family member returns home or comes back into the room after a period that creates enthusiasm in your dog, it’s advisable to keep these returns calm and non-excitable. Dropping to your knees and making a huge fuss will only serve to reinforce over excitement and this will often lead to your dog jumping up on you. The behaviour we practice in the home will invariably become behaviour shown outside of the home. Prevention is much easier than a cure; so do keep the returns to your dog low key.

When returning to your dog after a short time apart ask him to sit whilst holding the treat back over the dog’s head to encourage the desired position. As soon as your dog sits lean in and offer the treat without delay. Then, with one hand place a thumb under the collar to gently hold the dog in that position, whilst your other hand gives calm affection to your dog. Depending on the size of the dog you may like to go into the kneeling position.

Should your dog attempt to jump up into your face whilst you are giving affection, use the collar holding hand to stop this upward action whilst issuing a brief ‘Ah-Ah!’ type sound to let him know this is unwanted behaviour. Once he is in a settled position you can finish your mini greeting session with a release word such as ‘Okay…’ as you then stand up and walk away.

If when returning to your dog he is showing excessive excitement, you should walk away and ignore him until he is calm enough to carry out the method as described above.

Setting these foundations in place will enable you to cope with visitors to the home much more easily and combining the above method with placing your dog on a lead before people enter the home is an ideal way to retain calm, controlled behaviour. In summary, the consistent rule for your dog is that calm behaviour whilst sitting equals the desired greeting.

2) Go to bed.


Introduction:

Teaching a young dog to go to his bed and stay there for a determined period of time can make life a great deal more relaxed when for example you eat your own meal or to place your dog out of your way when you have a guest in your home who may not love dogs as much as you do.

Technique:

With your dog next to you and a few feet away from his bed, throw a treat into the bed and encourage him to go there and eat it. Once in his bed give verbal praise and reward him there with another treat.

Call him to you to bring him out of the bed and repeat this routine a few times so that he associates his bed as being a great place to be where he is treated with food. Once you are happy that he is willingly going into his bed for the food, you can then introduce the verbal command ‘On your bed’ whilst he is doing so. This way you place a label on his actions ready for future use.

The next stage will be to point to his bed without throwing the treat whilst issuing the ‘On your bed’ command at the same time. Once he is sitting or standing in the bed you can reward him with the treat immediately.

Once this is consistent, you can begin to insert short ‘Stay’ commands by using stuffed food toys to encourage a longer stay in the bed. Use the ‘Okay’ release word to let him know he can move out of the bed. As always, build up the duration of the ‘Stay’ command in keeping with his progress.


Adult dogs.


1) The ‘Find it’ game.


Introduction:

The ultimate simple game that can be adapted for dogs of virtually all ages and breeds in virtually any location. Watching your dog furiously beat his tail with excitement whilst searching out an item you have hidden from him is a real thrill.
As with all new training methods or games, start off with small and easy steps making it harder in keeping with your dog’s sense of increased skill and enthusiasm as you progress together.

Technique:

With the help of a partner (or use the ‘Sit and Stay’ command if your dog knows it) they should hold the dog by the collar as you place a favourite treat or toy under an item such as a light flower pot on the floor or a cushion on the sofa. Allow the dog to see you placing the item there from a few feet away. When you’re ready release him and use the ‘Find it!’ command in an encouraging tone and allow him to move to the hidden item. Praise him warmly once he has found it and if it’s a toy use the ‘Give’ command after a brief play with that item.

To develop this game you can begin to carry out the same method above but from greater distances whereby in the end you could place the item in a room upstairs and you release him from a downstairs starting position. Hearing your dog thunder up the stairs and along the landing is a really fun way to keep any dog busy and to hone his senses at the same time!


Nick Jones MA. MCFBA
0775 909 3394
01299 402484
www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk
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nickjones@alphadogbehaviour.co.uk

Agression and small dogs.

I seem to be going through a run of helping people that have small dogs with aggression. From a practitioners point of view there is less risk than dealing with a large dog such as a Labrador or German Shepherd say, but the behaviour remains as serious none the less.

Aggression to people invokes the Dangerous Dogs Act, and many people are either blissfully unaware or (often both) have not been reported for their dog's behaviour...yet.

Small dogs 'get away' with such behaviour for far longer as people may even see it as amusing at first until a child is involved, or the risk has become so great the owner is compelled to act.

People are often surprised at my fees for dealing with such behaviour as it can run into the hundreds. What needs to be considered however is the sheer amount of time that we will need to spend together to get to the bottom of the issue/s and to set up new practices to calmly guide the dog away from its previous unwanted behaviour. I also offer life time support via phone, email or face to face if the client chooses to pay for such ongoing support.

It's fair to say that changing aggressive behaviour is a long term commitment that needs management as much as behavioural modification. Management (or a lack of it) can often be the catalyst for such behaviours becoming installed and then practiced by a dog. My dogs are free from behavioural problems, but this is in the main due to my management, rather than many hours spent training them.

Small dogs share many more privileges with the owner than many big dogs simply as a result of their size. Smaller dogs can slip onto your lap no problem. Many are perfectly agile and can take up a small space on the owners bed or pillow. Nothing wrong with dogs on beds per se, but as with all things rules and expectations need to be set for a balanced life together. Some owners allow smaller dogs to get away with behaviour that would not be allowed in a bigger dog. This may be issue like jumping up, not recalling smartly or begging for food to offer a few examples.

These additional privileges can lead to a sense of over protection towards the owner (I saw this only last week and had a bitten shoe from a Dachshund as a result!). This element of over protection is in my view the most common. The owner may fail to understand how important it is to lead every dog regardless of size to allow the dog to relax and be at ease in its own skin. We should parent dogs, and make efforts to let the dog know it is the 'child' and we are the 'parent'. I am keen to point out that this can be done in a subtle, calm manner free from aggressive handling, shouting, eating before the dog (you may be pleased to stop that?) or relating to your dog as if it were a wolf.

There is no profound punch line to this article, other than to consider the way you relate to your own small (or not so small) dog and to think about the way you conduct your relationship.

I'm just leaving the office to see a small aggressive dog that hates visitors to the house. Wish me luck.

Nick Jones MCFBA
Dog behaviourist

The Ignore...Learning to know when.

The above picture was taken recently in a consultation with a German Shepherd cross hound.

What you're seeing is the husband of a couple ignoring the best efforts of his dog to get his attention! Isn't he doing well?!

Notice a few things:
1) The toy near the dog that was used as an early effort to get people's attention.
2) The lead on the dog to aid a quick control if needed (and it was a number of times in the first hour or more!)
3) The perfect ignore by a determined client!

Is this really necessary with most dogs? Well, the short answer is no. The work and dogs I'm involved with is at the more complicated end of dog behaviour. This dog had worked itself into a stressful state based on a cycle of attention seeking that was being rewarded by attention from the owner. By use of the ignore the dog shown had settled from being somewhat 'mad' to becoming settled and more focused in a relatively short time.

I cannot emphasise enough that the behaviour you mark with attention (even negative attention can mark it) will reinforce the behaviour and you're likely to see more of it. Simple.
The difficulty comes with the fact that we as humans do not ignore, and dogs understand and respond to it far better than we can. You won't hurt your dog's feeling if you ignore it :)
I'm talking about selective ignoring of unwanted behaviours. Some of course cannot be ignored, and we may need to intervene in a calm way free from aggressive intent.

I also advocate the ignore upon homecomings. This is nothing to do with wolf behaviour (I know little about wolves...I work with dogs and humans) as I know it; it's just a simple case of waiting for the behaviour we do want, and to mark that behaviour in a calm way.

There you are. A few thoughts on what I felt was super picture that says more words than I can write here.

Sincere thanks to the gent in the picture.

Nick Jones MCFBA

Alpha Dog Behaviour

The use of food for training...

I am constantly surprised at how people are concerned when using food to reward a dog for desirable behaviour. I hear terms such as 'Bribery' and 'Corruption'. It's neither!
We all do things for a reward. You wouldn't go to work for free would you?

Not all dogs are food motivated of course, so we may need to find another motivator such as a toy or a simple praise-worthy voice and a chest rub (we all like one of those).

So many people struggle needlessly with trying to get a dog to walk to heel, or to recall when asked, and avoid food for whatever reason. If it works, use it!

It doesn't need to be rubbish food either. Many a dog would be motivated for a slice of carrot, or a slither of dried fruit (avoid grapes). Up the ante maybe and look to use small chicken cubes, ham, or sausages. Keep them as small as you can. Some treats are very well suited for pinching and holding by you between your thumb and forefinger. This can make a treat last anything up to 30 seconds as the dog works it out of your fingers as you squeeze and release it gradually. This may not be possible for a greedy dog!

I have a few clients at present going the whole hog with the use of food, and they are actually offering the dog's meal (dried kibble is most common, but a switch to Nature Diet will often turn a picky eater on) when out for the recall or even reforming a habitual and serious lead puller!
Satisfying the basic drive of hunger can transform how a dog sees you if you are having leadership issues in general, and coming back to you, or staying close with heel work can be made so much easier when the dog is getting some very serious rewarding.

So, use food by all means, but as the behaviour is looking sound then seek to reduce it by alternate rewards, then reward the very best position or fastest of recalls, then drop the food with an occasional reward to keep the interest there. I will use food throughout the whole life of a dog on a periodic basis to ensure adequate interest and reward....can't go making a dog redundant can we? ;)

Should you wish to talk to me regarding your dog's behaviour, you can contact me here: http://www.alphadogbehaviour.co.uk/