This book will focus on and introduce many of the common mistakes volunteers make with dogs, while at the same time showing how to use positive reinforcement techniques to get the behaviors that will find shelter dogs their forever homes. It will also provide specific examples on the “how to’s” for redirecting dogs to choose appropriate behaviors. We are going to go from being “love blind” to a laser-like focus on the dog’s problem behaviors, what causes them, and how we can correct them. This has a huge impact on getting these dogs ready for the next stage of their lives…reintroduction as pets in someone’s home! We will send them on to the next chapter of their lives, only this time prepared to succeed rather than fail! So let’s start with the mistakes we make or as I like to call them the “LOVE BLIND” mistakes!
So how do volunteers choose to start down the wrong path? Honestly it’s very easy… They forget the first rule of training dogs…DOGS ONLY DO WHAT IS REWARDING! Put simply, if a dog has a particular unwanted behavior, then either something in the environment or something WE are doing is reinforcing that behavior. Trust me - if the behavior wasn’t rewarding, no self-respecting dog would waste time doing it! Folks, now it’s time to “THINK LIKE A DOG”. No matter how hard we try, dogs will never be able to think like humans, and this fact alone is the reason why all of us dog trainers have jobs (thank you by the way!) For the dog/human relationships to flourish, WE must think like dogs, rather than expect dogs to “Speak English!” This is the main reason I tell my clients that I don’t train dogs, I train owners. Think about it…the dogs already know how to do everything; they know how to bark, they know how to be quiet, they know how to sit, lay down, and they even know how to come back when called. The problem is some humans have yet to figure out how to ask for or reward these and other behaviors. Humans must put all that gray matter, opposable thumbs and emotion away when working with dogs, so we don’t get caught up in their plight, condition or what we think they are feeling. In reality, if we would just simply watch behavior, body language and even our own actions, we would find the solution staring right back at us. Yep, we are causing and creating the bad behaviors. Sure the “we” might have been a previous owner or the dog’s past experiences; but rest assured that in most cases, humans cause the problem behaviors we see in dogs.
Now that I have let the “cat out of the bag”, the job falls on me not only to convince you, but to show you how to teach dogs how to make choices that will get them adopted! Let’s take a look at some common problem behaviors you have undoubtedly seen at your local kennel or maybe even inside your own home. Then we can break down how they were taught and what we can do to fix them!
1 The dog barks uncontrollably every time a person walks into the kennel area or even when they see a person outside of the kennel area. In some cases, this might have bled off to barking when they see other dogs or even a paper cup blowing by their cage.
2 The dog jumps up on people. These dogs want to get their faces and sometimes their teeth as close to you and your face as possible! It’s no wonder prospective adopters’ visits with these dogs are incredibly short.
3 The dog pulls like crazy when on a leash. This dog is not only a danger to the walker but to other people, animals and even the cars driving by.
4 The dog mouths or play bites. This is the dog that will engulf your hand when you interact with him. Some might be so rough that it actually hurts, or it could be that the dog just slobbers all over you, pulls at your clothes and has perfected the perfect canine body slam against your legs or side.
5 Some of the dogs might even have touch sensitivity. These dogs start play biting as a response to being touched in areas where they are uncomfortable being handled. These ares include their feet, mouth, tail, ears and private areas. Many dogs will “chew” on you if you attempt to touch these areas, while others might very well bite for real if the aversion to human touch is strong enough!
6 Others might fall into the hyperactive dog category. These dogs are so keyed up that it appears (rightly so) that they never sleep, cannot relax and are unable to calm down. They pace, bark, jump, mouth and seem to have boundless energy. Some folks might argue that this kind of dog has all the problem behaviors wrapped up in one uncontrollable package!
Want to learn how to fix these problems? Turn the page and let’s get to a deeper understanding of these behaviors, why they happen and just how to begin fixing them.
Prove it…
OK, so you are thinking to yourself, all those behaviors exist not only in the dogs at the shelter but even a few of them might apply to your dog at home. But, there is no way that you as the volunteer, let alone as the dog’s owner, could be the cause of these issues, is there? Well, I hate to break it to you; but yes, you are the cause of these problems. If there is anything I know for sure, you have to accept that there is a problem before you can get down to fixing it. So before I say anything about fixing these problem behaviors, I am going to break down just how human behavior and our choices shape the behavior Fido chooses in the end. Remember, DOGS ONLY DO WHAT IS REWARDING!!!! I know it sounds simple, but I promise by the end of this chapter it will not only make sense, but it will have you excited to read the rest of the book, just so you can figure out how to train differently. Some of you might even figure out how to use these techniques on coworkers, bosses and spouses!!!
Dogs are all about associations. If we react the wrong way to a bad behavior, we may unintentionally give the dog what he wants, leading him to associate a reward with bad behavior. If we do it right, the dog ends up learning that doing what we want, gets him what he wants and both of us are happy. Let’s break this idea down a little further…dogs learn in a binary manner (fancy word for two way learning). In other words, if the experience is rewarding or positive, it is an iron clad guarantee that Fido is going to repeat said behavior. If, on the other hand the experience is not rewarding (did not work) no dog, including yours, will waste his time trying the behavior again!
So what do we take from this rule of behavior?
If you give the most common reward, your attention, to any behavior wanted or unwanted, you are not only teaching Fido that it is OK but that you love his behavior.
In other words, whether it is giving a treat, saying good boy, yelling at the dog to stop, or even resorting to touching the dog via violence or kindness, you are at some level giving your attention, which will drastically increase the likelihood that this behavior will be repeated.
That’s great if it is a behavior you like, but what in the world are you supposed to do if Fido is offering up behaviors you don’t like and certainly don’t want to continue?
Your only true weapon for eliminating unwanted behaviors is what you do with your attention. I know this sounds too simple to be true, but hopefully after reading the following examples of how we create certain behaviors (both bad and good) you will recognize that the choices you make have way more impact on Fido ’s behavior that you ever realized. We will also look at how this information can be used in the shelter environment to make homeless dogs more appealing to those prospective adopters coming in looking for a forever friend.
Let’s start with everyone’s favorite, barking. Dogs can bark for any number of reasons, but the one thing we can be sure of is that Fido’s barking is rewarding (at least to him) and you are making the barking fun! Now don’t get me wrong, you might not think or realize that your actions or reactions are telling Fido to bark, bark and bark some more, but let’s look at four different ways to deal with barking and you tell me if you have been reinforcing Fido’s barking! By the way, three of the following examples reinforce bad behaviors, and only one is