August 26th, 2008
By Eric Letendre
In my previous post I said that I would discuss the behavior program that I put together to help Tyler the destructive border collie.
Tyler was a really good dog, he was just bored out of his mind. He was loaded with pent up energy. The owner agreed that her dog did not have a behavior problem, her dog had an exercise problem.
The first step was to get Tyler in a dog daycare. It was not fair for him to be left alone for over ten hours at a time. I made it very clear that Tyler had to go to dog daycare. At the dog daycare he would be able to spend his day playing with other dogs, chasing balls, and getting some fresh air. I am a big fan of dog daycare and highly recommend finding one in your area.
The second step was to start building up Tyler’s tolerance to being alone. A lot of dogs that have seperation problems can’t handle being alone. We had to start leaving Tyler for short periods. Tyler’s mom would walk out the door and come back in a few minutes later. She would gradually increase the time until she could leave and Tyler would not destroy anything. We also had to work on the cues that signal to Tyler that she is getting ready to leave.
Dogs that have seperation problems start to get anxoius before the owner even leaves the house. You see, your dog spends his time with you studying everything that you do. You give little signals that you’re not even aware of but your dog is tuned in to. When you walk towards the kitchen, it’s a signal to your dog that food may be available real soon.
Most of us have little rituals that we go through as we get ready to leave for work. We get the "to go" coffee cup ready, we put our jacket on the chair, we get the keys for our car, etc. Your dog knows what is about to happen – you’re going to leave.
A dog with seperation problems needs a little conditioning with these cues. With Tyler we would go through her rituals, walk through the door like we were leaving and then come back in. I had Tyler’s mom repeat this over and over. Homecoming and departures were kept very low-key. I informed her that I did not want her getting her dog too excited when she left or came home.
The last step was using some toys to keep her dog occupied. We used a Kong toy, a Buster Cube, and a Citronella collar to help with the barking. Check back in the next few days because I will be reviewing toys and dog training equipment that will help you with your dog. You’ll find it informitive and maybe even a little shocking.
The good news is that Tyler did really well on the program. The combination of the daycare, the conditioning exercises, and the toys that we used greatly helped him adjust to being home alone, and the last time I saw Tyler he was doing great.
All the best,
Eric
Dog Training Inner Circle
August 25th, 2008
By Eric Letendre
Imagine coming home and finding a dog in your house that did not belong to you.
Not only does the dog not belong to you, but the dog has also chewed your chews, destroyed your couch, and peed on your floor.
This happened once with a dog that I was hired to work with. Let me back up a little and explain the situation.
More than a few years back I got a call from a very exasperated women who sounded very frazzled. As she was talking, I could tell she was on the verge of tears. She began telling me all the problems that she was having with her dog, that she loved her dog but after what had happened today she was not sure she would be able to keep him. I agreed to meet her the next day and added that I would do everything I could to help her keep her dog.
When I arrived the next day I met Tyler, a great looking ten month border collie. Tyler was a litle aloof, like a lot of border collies, but did warm up to me and came over to say "Hi". As I sat there petting Tyler, I knew that I had my hands full and I keep thinking that maybe she would have to find Tyler a new home. Not the kind of advice I like to give but if it’s in the best interest of the dog I will recommend it.
You see, Tyler lived in a very small apartment and his owner worked ten, sometimes twelve-hour days. If you know anything about border collies, you’ll agree with me that they are extremely active dogs – mentally and physically. Border collies love to work long hours. They live to round up and herd anything that moves, even if it takes them all day to do it.
A bored border collie can wreak havoc and this one did.
The problem started months ago and became progressively worse. Tyler started chewing and digging up her carpet. She tried to crate him, but could not do that when she was gone for ten hours at a time. Her house looked like someone had walked in, dropped a hand grenade, and walked out – it was a disaster. Most of her furniture was wrecked, the linoleom and carpet were gone and she had nothing on the counters or tables. She said that she had been living like this for a while and would continue to. She loved Tyler and did not want to get rid of him but… What he had recently done was the last straw.
With tears in her eyes she took me into her bedroom. Her bedroom looked like every other room in the house, but there was also a large blanket nailed to the wall. She walked up to the blanket and pulled it back. What I saw even made me blink twice.
Tyler had chewed a hole through the wall into her neighbor’s apartment.
This was too much for her and she really started to cry, she told me that she could not bear the thought of giving him away, that even though he had this terrible problem, she wanted to keep him and would do what ever she had to do.I told her that this was not an easy case. She had a young active dog that was left alone for long hours. I added that she did not have a behavior problem she had an exercise problem. We were going to have to develop a mental and physical workout. She assured me that she would do what ever it took. I looked her straight in the eye and said I hope so because her poor dog really was suffering and it was not fair to him to continue living like this.
Stay tuned for the program that I came up with and how we helped Tyler.
Best,
Eric
Dog Training Inner Circle
July 31st, 2008
By Eric Letendre
Chewing
Once you understand the training process you’ll see that dog training is all about consequences. There are two types of consequences – Positive and Negative.
When you are training your dog you need to understand when to apply a positive consequence and when to apply a negative consequence. The big problem that a lot of dog owners make with behavior problems is that they apply a negative consequence long after the behavior has occurred.
A typical behavior problem that I see a lot is chewing and destructive behavior. Chewing often happens when the dog is left alone while the owner is at work. The dog chews an item that is important to the owner. A shoe, the sofa, the TV remote etc.
The owner comes home and finds the item that has been chewed. Out of anger and frustration, the owner punishes the dog. A negative consequence is applied but the problem is the timing.
You see, a consequence needs to be applied within a second or two of the behavior. If you gave your dog the command “Sit,” walked away and came back ten minutes later to give your dog a treat do you think your dog would understand that they were getting the treat for the sit command that they did ten minutes ago?
No.
The same happens when you punish a dog. If you are going to apply a negative consequence it is extremely important that your timing is excellent. If your timing is not that good when you are applying a positive consequence like giving a treat it is no big deal. There are no major side effects when you are using positive consequences.
With a negative consequence your dog can become very confused and the behavior you’re are trying to fix may become much worse. If your dog chewed your shoes at 1:00PM and you come home at 3:00PM the behavior occurred long ago.
If you punish your dog long after the behavior occurred, your dog will get confused and here’s the rub…
Your dog will start to associate getting punished with you coming home. You see where the side effects of
punishment can backfire. Your dog associates the punishment with homecomings, not with chewing the shoes.
AND…
The behavior can get worse because every time you leave the house your dog will think that when you come home she is going to get punished. So every time you leave the house your dog gets stressed.
Guess how dogs deal with stress?
You guessed it – CHEWING!
See how our mistakes can make the behavior worse.
May 1st, 2008
By Eric Letendre
Once you understand the training process you’ll see that dog training is all about consequences. There are two types of consequences – Positive and Negative.
When you are training your dog you need to understand when to apply a positive consequence and when to apply a negative consequence. The big problem that a lot of dog owners make with behavior problems is that they apply a negative consequence long after the behavior has occurred
A typical behavior problem that I see a lot is chewing and destructive behavior. Chewing often happens when the dog is left alone while the owner is at work. The dog chews an item that is important to the owner. A shoe, the sofa, the TV remote etc.
The owner comes home and finds the item that has been chewed. Out of anger and frustration, the owner punishes the dog. A negative consequence is applied but the problem is the timing.
You see, a consequence needs to be applied within a second or two of the behavior. If you gave your dog the command “Sit,” walked away and came back ten minutes later to give your dog a treat do you think your dog would understand that they were getting the treat for the sit command that they did ten minutes ago?
No.
The same happens when you punish a dog. If you are going to apply a negative consequence it is extremely important that your timing is excellent. If your timing is not that good when you are applying a positive consequence like giving a treat it is no big deal. There are no major side effects when you are using positive consequences.
With a negative consequence your dog can become very confused and the behavior you’re are trying to fix may become much worse. If your dog chewed your shoes at 1:00PM and you come home at 3:00PM the behavior occurred long ago.
If you punish your dog long after the behavior occurred, your dog will get confused and here’s the rub…
Your dog will start to associate getting punished with you coming home. You see where the side effects of punishment can backfire. Your dog associates the punishment with homecomings, not with chewing the shoes.
AND…
The behavior can get worse because every time you leave the house your dog will think that when you come home she is going to get punished. So every time you leave the house your dog gets stressed.
Guess how dogs deal with stress?
You guessed it – CHEWING!
See how our mistakes can make the behavior worse.
All the best,
Eric
P.S. Have you checked out the “Dog Training Inner Circle” membership? It’s better than ever and gives you the tools you need to train your dog. With over 80 videos, loads of articles and personal one-on-one help from me. It’s almost like having me in your house with you helping you train yourdog. Check it out now by going to: Dog Training Inner Circle
March 2nd, 2008
By Eric Letendre
“Revenge is like serving cold cuts”
– Tony Soprano
That saying was the first thought to pop into my head as I hung up the phone.
I mentioned before that I am a big Soprano’s fan. I thought the show was very funny and had me rolling on the ground laughing sometimes. Especially when they would mess up common quotes like, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
Anyway, let me explain why I was thinking about the classic Tony Soprano misquote.
I had just spent about 20 minutes trying to explain dog behavior to a very angry person. This person was upset with his dog because every time he leaves his house his dog destroys something.
Today he was especially angry because his dog ate the TV remote. Add to this that his dog already destroyed his shoes, the corners of his coffee table and his couch cushions.
And guess what?
The behavior was getting worse.
He was convinced that his dog was mad at him and doing it out of spite. I asked him how he handled the situation when he came home and found that his dog had chewed up something.
He was honest with me and told me that he would yell and sometimes smack his dog.
It was at this point that I tried explaining that dogs do have emotions. I don’t care what anyone tells you, dogs are capable of experiencing fear, happiness, anger, etc. I strongly believe that dogs do have emotions BUT I also believe that dogs operate on a much more basic level than we do.
When you look up the definition for spite it states:
1. a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person; bitter ill will; malice.
2. a particular instance of such an attitude or action; grudge.
3. to annoy or thwart, out of spite.
Spite, revenge, gratitude, etc. are much more complex emotions. Dogs truly live in the moment.
Are dogs capable of revenge, spite, etc? None of us really know. But from my observations we often project our feelings and emotions on our dogs. It reminds me of another favorite quote from J. Allen Boone:
“There’s opinions about dogs and there’s facts about dogs. We have all the opinions and the dogs have all the facts.”
When you leave your house your dog does not sit there and think about how mad they are that you left. What happens is that your dog is an extremely social animal that is hard wired to be with other dogs or humans.
Because they are wired that way they become stressed when left alone. To relieve the stress they chew, usually on something with your scent on it.
The dog owner comes home and finds some item has been chewed. It’s not much fun to come home after a tough day and find your favorite pair of shoes destroyed. Out of anger and frustration the dog gets punished.
But here’s the rub – and it’s really ironic.
Your dog does not associate the punishment with chewing your shoes your dog associates the punishment with your homecoming. If this happens enough times your dog will learn that homecomings are associated with punishment.
Much the same way your dog can learn when it’s time to eat if you feed the same time every day. Much the same way as your dog can learn when your spouse is coming home, if they come home at the same time every day.
Your dog can learn that when you come home they are going to get punished. Now destructive behavior can become a real problem because…
Dogs relieve stress by…
You guessed it.
Chewing.
See how the whole problem can spiral out of control.
But…
I couldn’t get the guy I was talking to, to believe me. He wanted to think that his dog was getting revenge. Too bad, I really feel bad for the dog. Unfortunately it’s hard for some people to think like a dog which is the real secret to dealing with behavior problems.
Don’t think like a human, learn to think like a dog.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe our dogs do walk around thinking:
“How can I get back at him for leaving me here. What can I do? I got it, I’ll chew his shoes and then to get him really, really mad I’ll chew the TV remote, ha ha, that will make him mad. I’ll show him for leaving me here.”
The great trainer Jean Donaldson states it perfectly when she said:
“Expect your dog to act like a dog. Don’t take it personally when he exhibits typical canine behavior. He’s not being “bad,” he’s just being a dog.”
Peace,
Eric
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Eric Letendre is a professional dog trainer from the United States. For more than 20 years, he has been developing dog training "hacks" that have worked for dog owners all over the world. Eric operates from a home office or a laptop while traveling and draws on his experience and passion for dog training to show others how to develop a dog that is truly “Man’s Best Friend”.
Eric is the author of numerous reports, the E-Book “101 Ways to Hack Your Dog’s Behavior,” “The Amazing Dog Training Man Book,” and produced and stars in his DVD “Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer.”
