Archive for January, 2009
New Puppy: Chewing everything in sight!
January 3rd, 2009
New puppies have one problem, teething 
It makes them uncomfortable. When babies teeth, they cry, when puppies teeth, they chew. Its part of mother nature, the more they chew, the more comfort they feel. So when you notice your new puppy chewing on your favorite shoes, remember,he is trying to help his pain.
Does that mean you should let him chew your $50 shoes? No! But be mindful of what he is chewing on. If he is going for soft things, find some soft toys for him. Dogs are just like kids and they too get bored with their toys. Try rotating them out or offering one or two at a time rather than having 50 on the floor at all times.
When he chews on something try not to say no and take it away, instead encourage him to bring it to you, and trade it for something better. This will encourage retrieving as well as your puppy will be less likely to run and hide when he gets something. Just today my lab got a hold of my shoe. He looked everywhere for me and eagerly ran to me knowing I would praise him. He probably doesn’t realize he could lay down and chew on it without me noticing.
Enjoy your new puppy training!
Stumble Upon
Del.icio.us
Buzz
Posted in 
Tags: 
Keep your puppy busy!
January 2nd, 2009
Here are a few quick ideas to keep your puppy busy when you are just plain tired of trying to wear him or her out
1. Stuff a kong – my personal favorite is some banana and a milkbone. If you want to make it extra hard, freeze it. You can also do some peanut butter mixed with a few treats, and some banana. Putting in a plain ice cube is fun for some dogs, make sure you wedge it in there so they have to work at it! Of course my old stand by is to seal the bottom with peanut butter, fill it up with kibble, pour some water in it, and stick a treat out the top (so they have some where to start). This can take up to 2 hours to clean out.
2. Buster cube – simple, fun, loud – but tiring. They have to roll it around to get all the pieces out. I used this with my active pup every morning of his life for quite a while.
3. Deer Antlers – the greatest thing ever! They are hard, tasty to most dogs and won’t splinter. They are bit pricy ($10 per) but they last quite a while.
4. Training – spend 15 minutes on a behavior, your pup will tire out
5. Playing with other dogs – best thing ever, and its free!
Things to avoid:
1. Running your puppy – he can run when he feels like it on the grass, but running him with you to wear him out just isn’t good for their bones.
2. Walking to exhaustion – another bad thing for their bones.
3. Raw Hides – these can get stuck in their throats, and are just not healthy. I never give my dogs these! There are plenty of all natural chews out there. Never buy chews from over seas – only from the USA to ensure they do not have chemicals on them.
Good luck and happy training!
Timeouts in dog training
January 1st, 2009
How to Use Timeouts Effectively
by
Renee Premaza, Dip., CB,CCBT
Dog Obedience Trainer www.jerseydogtrainer.com
TIMEOUTS SHOULD NEVER BE USED ON DOGS THAT SHOW SHYNESS OR FEAR-RELATED AGGRESSIVENESS!
A timeout is considered negative punishment, in which something is withdrawn from the dog that he considers as reinforcing. Timeouts are used to manage common behavioral problems, like attention-seeking or excessive and competitive behaviors.
There are 2 types of timeouts. Simply put, (1) you can either withdraw your attention from the dog by turning your back on him or going into a closed room and leaving the dog alone; or (2) you can bring the dog into an isolated area and then leave him there alone. Personally, I prefer choice #1 because there is no physical handling of the dog, and it avoids any confrontation with him. Timeouts should last for no more than 30-60 seconds. If the dog is isolated for too much time, he’ll merely go to sleep and will not have learned anything from it.
Keep in mind when doing a timeout, your timing is critically important. The timeout has to occur no later than 1/2 second of the behavior. Because you want your dog to associate *that* behavior with being totally alone, you’ve got to be quick about it. Behaviors happen quickly, so if your timing is poor, you could be issuing a punishment for something the dog did that was *good*, like sitting. When doing timeouts, use a “bridge” word, like “timeout” or “too bad.”
For timeouts to be effective, you need to be consistent. If, for example, your dog is barking in your face demanding your attention, you need to disappear everytime he barks at you. You can’t withdraw your attention one time and the next time you don’t. Be consistent. Also, it’s critically important that no emotion be used during this process! No hollering, no physical pushing or pulling should be used. You want the dog to associate being isolated *with his behavior* and not with your emotions.
If you find that after doing timeouts over and over, that this isn’t working to improve the situation, you’ve got to do find an alternative method to teach the dog a more appropriate response. Seek the help of a professional trainer! Don’t try to work it out yourself unless you are knowledgeable about the psychology of learning theory.
Here are a few suggestions regarding behaviors where timeouts would be indicated: (1) dog barks demandingly for attention; (2) dog play bites; (3) dog jumps on people; (4) dog licks people excessively; (5) dog constantly paws people for attention; (6) dog behaves inappropriately with other resident dogs (for this, take the dog to a spot well-away from the other dogs and remove his ability to play for 30-60 seconds); (7) dog repeatedly ignores obedience cues and has been well-trained and you are sure he understands what he’s being asked to do; (8) dog bites angrily (calmly remove the dog to a bathroom without causing confrontation. Return to the dog after both he and you have chilled out. If your dog is biting or threatening to bite, please seek the help of a professional trainer or behaviorist!).
Copyright 2004 by Renee Premaza
Fearful Dogs
January 1st, 2009
Introducing Fearful Dogs to Visitors at your Home
This article addresses fearful dogs but not dogs who will automatically go into attack mode at the sight of a stranger!! If you live with a dog who displays that behavior, please contact a professional in-home behaviorist/trainer to work on this issue!
The dogs I will be describing below are dogs who choose a flight response when faced with fearful stimuli.
Since I’ve been training dogs professionally, I’ve come to realize that we humans often exacerbate our dogs’s behavior problems. One thing that most of us do is allow our fearful dogs to run wildly to the front door when the doorbell rings. By the time we arrive at the door to answer it, our dogs are already in such a lather that they can’t think straight! We’ve actually taught our dogs to behave this way because we wind up rushing to the door in an excited state, and our dogs have picked up on this.
Then we compound the problem by opening the door and holding the dog back by grabbing his collar to avoid having the dog either jump on, lunge or attack whoever is standing on the other side. We’re now causing our dogs to feel completely frustrated because we’re preventing them from investigating what’s on the other side of that door. Doesn’t this sound like a situation out-of-control? Well… it is
During one occasion, I was to train a fearful Shih Tzu who was always spooked when anyone arrived at the house he didn’t know. When I rang the doorbell, the owners opened the door, picked up their dog and attempted to hand him to me! Yikes! The dog was already scared out of his little mind, and now his humans were trying to push him into the arms of a person he thought might want to harm him.
So, let me offer some suggestions on how you can create a less stressful way of introducing your shy or fearful dog to a visitor at your home.
Most fearful dogs react strongly to the sound of the doorbell. The doorbell has become such a negative stimulus to the dog because it always represents something scary is about to come through the door! What has worked well with my own clients is (1) putting an "out of order" sign on the doorbell; (2) asking an expected visitor to call right before they arrive at the driveway. This way people have time to put the dog in a nice quiet room with a filled Kong toy or a healthy chew toy (e.g., bully stick or veggie nylabone). Train your dog beforehand to go into this room a couple times/day. First put him in there and stay with him for about 15 minutes. Each time you put him in there, stay less and less, and get him used to being in the room and feeling good about being in there. Also, put a TV or radio on for company. Then, when you know someone is coming, he’ll be very willing to go into this safe room without an "argument."
Now you can go and let your visitor enter your home without having the doorbell ring or someone knocking on the door. Have this person sit down and get comfortable and ask them if they’d be willing to help you socialize your dog. I find the best place to seat myself is right at the kitchen table. I get lots of treats ready and place them on the table. When the dog enters the room, I already smell like a human supermarket of doggy treats. I sit there like a statue! Give your visitor the following instructions:
1. Do not make eye contact with the dog.
2. Do not speak to the dog.
3. Do not reach a hand toward the dog.
4. Do not try to pet the dog.
5. IGNORE THE DOG!
Bring your dog into the kitchen onleash and keep him under your control. Try to keep the leash as loose as possible. Avoid holding the leash with a death-grip, or your dog will sense that you’re feeling nervous and he’ll respond in kind! Have a seat yourself at the kitchen table, but at a distance from your visitor. Have your dog sit right beside you while you continue to hold his leash. When you sense that he’s calming down and not feeling anxious about the visitor, allow him to approach this person if he so wishes. Avoid forcing your dog to get close to a stranger if he’s feeling fearful and unsure. He must do this when he feels comfortable! So, if the dog then wants to sniff and investigate this person, here are additional instructions to give your visitor:
1. Begin slowly and quietly dropping treats on the floor for the dog to eat (provide soft and very tasty food treats; e.g., cheese, bits of lunch meat, freeze-dried liver, bits of garlic chicken, bits of hot dogs, etc.). If the dog does eat the treats, you can be relatively certain that his stress levels are lowered. If he chooses not to eat, he is still quite nervous.
2. If the dog is eating, after a few minutes, tell the visitor to put a treat in an open palm and slowly put that hand down by their side. If the dog eats the treat from this person’s hand, you’re probably on your way to a good introduction.
3. Once the dog is accepting hand-fed treats, your visitor can start to speak softly to the dog. Your visitor can begin looking at the dog, but not directly in the eyes. *You* be the judge as to whether your dog should continue staying in the room with this person for the duration of the visit. If your dog seems to be relaxing and gaining trust in this person, that’s a very good thing. If your dog starts to back away from this person, it would probably be best to give him a break in that safe room you’ve created for him. He can always come back out in a little while for a re-introduction.
4. For first-time visits with anyone, I would suggest that you not encourage petting. Sometimes I don’t pet a dog until I’ve worked with him 3 or 4 times. Petting is not always seen by every dog as rewarding! When dogs are fearful, they may resort to biting a person for trying to touch them. You always want to avoid having your dog practice any inappropriate behavior with anyone. Each time he’s allowed to practice inappropriate behaviors with people, he’s learning to strengthen those bad habits. Both you and your visitor should praise him to the skies for showing friendly behaviors.
5. Instruct your visitor to not get up without first telling you that they’re going to get up. If someone wants to get up or leave the house, *first* call your dog over to you, and take him into another room. Keep him facing *you* and get his attention focused on you! Get his attention by feeding him those delicious treats continuously until the person is gone. Nervous dogs generally get nervous again as soon as the stranger stands up and moves around. That’s probably because the dog doesn’t know what this person is going to do. If you make a practice of feeding your dog when people leave, he’ll again begin to change his association of that behavior from negative to positive because of the prediction of food happening.
The more visitors you introduce your dog to (on a one-to-one basis), the better he’ll get at accepting strangers to the house. What you’re doing here is changing your dog’s associations with strangers. At first it looks like: STRANGERS = SCARY STIMULUS-BAD FEELINGS. After you work on this for awhile, it will look like: STRANGERS = GOOD FOOD-GOOD FEELINGS. He’ll begin to look forward to meeting people at home because they will predict "good things happen."
Be patient! This will not happen overnight! Depending on your dog’s age, his past learning experiences, and his overall temperament, this could take a couple of months or it could take a year or more.
Copyright 2004 by Renee Premaza
Renee Premaza
Dog Obedience Trainer
Berlin, New Jersey
Dip., C.B., C.C.B.T.
Professional Member APDT #63137
Clinical Member IADBC
CGC Evaluator #10606
www.jerseydogtrainer.com
TRAIN WITHOUT PAIN
Doorbell barking
January 1st, 2009
Doorbell Barking, Teaching a dog not to bark
Article written by Renee Premaza, Dip., CB,CCBT Dog Obedience Trainer www.jerseydogtrainer.com
Begin training your dog when things are quiet at your house. Don’t even try to train him not to bark when someone unexpectedly rings your doorbell or your phone rings. Set up your training session when you have plenty of time, and don’t expect miracles to happen with one training session.
I have found clicker training to be the most effective way to get dogs to calm down when they hear the doorbell ring. So, if you’re clicker training, put your clicker in one hand and have treats in your pocket or in your other hand behind your back. If you’re not clicker training, use a special word, like "YES!" or "GOOD" when your dog quiets.
Never have your treats right out in front of you or those treats will become a cue for the behavior. Treats are for rewards and so they should come from a hidden area.
First thing you might want to do is enlist the help of a friend, family member or neighbor. If your dog barks like a nut when someone rings the doorbell, have someone ring the doorbell just ONCE. Now your dog is going to bark his head off, right? You just stand or kneel down near your dog by the door and remain quiet yourself. Don’t say a single word to your dog – SAY NOTHING. Eventually your dog is going to stop barking. Wait for the dog to be quiet and then count in your mind for 5 full seconds. Count:
1 1,000 – 2 1,000 – 3 1,000 and so on up until 5 1,000. Your dog might begin to bark again after only 2 or 3 seconds. Don’t get discouraged! Just be patient and wait. Once he’s quiet for those 5 full seconds, be prepared with a very delicious food treat, like string cheese, hot dog bits, or liver treats, and immediately click/or say "YES! and deliver that treat. Have your assistant ring the doorbell again, and repeat this whole process all over again. You might be surprised to notice that he stops barking in slightly less time than it took him to quiet the first time the doorbell rang. As you continue working on this, wait until you see that your dog is barking about 3 times before putting a cue on this behavior. Your cue could be saying the words, THANK YOU, or QUIET, and then click/or say "YES!" and deliver the reward to the dog. Don’t be in a rush to put this cue on the behavior – wait until you’re pretty sure your dog fully understands that you want him to bark about 3 times. THEN add the cue.
Dogs get nutsy when they hear someone knock on the door too! So, along with the doorbell, you’ll need to teach him the same behavior when someone knocks on the door. If you can’t find someone to assist you with this training, you can do the knocking or the doorbell ringing.
Copyright 2004 by Renee Premaza