I wanted to talk about something a little bit different today and not completely on the nose for predation but aids in a strong foundation for any dog depending on their needs. I recently have had a veterinarian (DVM) come out to do acupuncture on my youngest dog Káosz for these mysterious bumps on his head and eye discharge and to do chiropractic work on my other two, Lucas and Csili. I had acupuncture done on Lucas many years ago to help with his allergies by a different DVM who unfortunately has passed away. Holistic veterinarians are already difficult to find so losing the one I did trust was difficult not just professionally but also personally as we got on very well. Fast forward to this year, at the prompt of a good friend @Katie Schobel, I looked into finding another veterinarian that has this skill set for my middle dog’s, Csili, social/life skill issues. Her biggest obstacle for life skills is being anxious in relation to a vehicle and/or kenneling. I have made a lot of progress with her but we are at a plateau currently so I decided to try chiropractic adjustment for her. She has only had one session so far, and this is by no means the only method of approach I am taking for her, but it is an important piece of the puzzle. I do also have her on some supplements to help relax the overactive part of her brain associated with anxieties. I do try and avoid pharmaceuticals as much as I can which means that the more natural approaches can take longer to go in effect, but, in my opinion, is healthier and therefore worth it in the long run. I can update in a few months on her progress. My oldest dog Lucas is also getting chiropractic work done as well and as he is older he gets them a little more often than Csili does. He so far has had two and I am very glad I had his most recent one done because apparently his ribs were slightly out of place! I suspect this is from slipping on the stairs going up into my RV. I do not use the stairs that come with the RV itself but some wooden ones that @Paul Bunker helped me put together (or rather I helped him). They may just be a little too steep for the old boy so that will need to be upgraded soon. In the meantime, I do help him up the stairs as a guide/catch in case he needs it. I still want him to use his muscles as much as he can and also have the confidence to do stuff. This apparently works because after his last chiropractic appointment I was helping the DVM load up her vehicle and Lucas tried jumping in the back of her SUV! I thankfully caught him and he was not hurt. His attempt was with gusto but I think the vehicle was too tall for him to actually make it in his old age.

When it comes to training your dog whether it is for detection, social skills or predation substitution there may come a time where training just seems to stagnate. Depending on what you are working on and what your goal is this may not be a bad thing per se but generally speaking we want our dogs to be their best and that means challenging them. Challenging our dogs, so they have the chance to improve and learn new skills, must be done strategically. It is important to have a strong foundation for what you need as well, that way, if the challenge is too difficult, your dog has a practiced and approved skill to fall back on. If this occurs just reevaluate and adjust in a way to ensure your dog is successful. Often times this includes setting up the problem different entirely or breaking it down into smaller steps. The other benefit of a strong foundation is that if your dog were to “fail” at the challenge then they are less likely to “fall apart” when the intended end goal is not met. Some suggestions for getting out of the plateau and on to progress would be to try a new area, different time of day, different reward, change the distance or even take some time off and, within reason, allow your dog and yourself to just go somewhere and exist. While dogs are constantly learning, this is true, they also need time to enjoy being outside, going out and just going on a sniffari. Obviously if your dog has a trigger that really gets them I would suggest avoiding areas that contain that trigger as best you can that way you and your dog can enjoy being outside together with very little pressure to perform. If this needs to be done in multiple short sessions throughout the day/week that is ok. What are some things that you have done when you notice training starting to plateau? Feel free to share so we may learn from each other!

This week I would like to talk about something that has become very much on the forefront of my mind especially as of late and that is setting up your yard to keep your dog from practicing unwanted behaviors. I will explain my living situation/set up with my dogs and what I plan to do to help with my specific concerns. As you may know I have 2 vizslas, Csili and Káosz, who are young and full of energy plus a pitbull named Lucas who is 12 years old. The vizslas each have their own thing that they “care” about the most. Káosz has a thing for lizards and Csili has a thing for birds (Káosz does as well but his is more for larger birds as we don’t see those ones as often so less practice to counter condition). We live in an RV where we are blessed to be able to have a little fenced yard and a dog door was able to be installed in the storage chute of my RV. Thanks to @Paul Bunker for his help with the dog door installation and the building of the platform so they can safely go in and out! My current fence started out as just 4ft tall livestock fencing supported with some posts and a gate but soon Káosz learned that lizards were ripe for being stalked just beyond the fence. This then turned into him hunting for them with no decompression available so his mind was not able to quiet. Even being out of the yard was no help since the lizards are everywhere on property and their existence consumed his mind. A solution was needed to block his view so now the whole fence is wrapped with garden fabric (double layer) to keep him from being able to look out and have his attention be expended on seeking lizards as this made even going on walks difficult let alone training. Unfortunately, an upgrade is needed due to Káosz learning that a 4ft tall fence is not tall enough to keep him in (thankfully this only happened about 3-4 times and I was on property for all but 2 of them. Both times he was quickly collected and returned home without having gone far). With this newfound information on his athletic skills Paul and I are going to upgrade the fence to a 6ft tall chain link fence with a proper privacy cover (it is from Alion Home if anyone needs some. If you have questions their customer service was very good and quick to respond. Will update on privacy cover once installed if anyone would like to know).

There is a reason the term “obedience” has a negative connotation to it. Typically, in the human to human world, when one says they “expect obedience” or “instilled obedience” from either their children or employees it is pictured that the individuals are waiting for their next “command” and there is no room for individual sovereignty to make the correct choice. This approach to “teaching” leaves little room for the possible intended learning therefore the individual does not understand why just that it is. For those of us who do not want to teach our dogs in an authoritarian manner may still use the word “obedience” by default. I know with me I may say it but the thought of not teaching my dog the why and how of a behavior I want just does not cross my mind. Sure, there are moments where, especially younger dogs or dogs that maybe never had training, our dogs are misbehaving in an embarrassing way and we just want them to stop! And yes allowing our dogs to jump on people or to bumrush another dog is definitely not what we want and allowing our dogs to complete that desire is self-rewarding to them. So some, especially those new to dog training, may resort to a punishment based approach to get their dogs to stop and it just might! Now that this instant gratification (to the human) has happened the human has now been self-rewarded to do that approach again. What actually happened here though? The human and the dog essentially learned nothing. The dog did not learn that the behavior they displayed was wrong and what to do instead and the human did not learn what went wrong and how to prevent and instill desired behavior instead. This approach also puts a negative spin on the relationship between human and dog. After some time, with this being the training method, the dog will no longer view going on walks as something positive but as something to be on edge for and anything is potentially something to receive punishment for. This paints the human in a negative light to the dog and will have a difficult time feeling relaxed around the human.

When people imagine what having a dog is like most times it is the glorified and romantic version that enters people’s heads. This can be due to meeting mostly well behaved dogs through friends and family and perhaps the only dog a person has had was their family dog growing up. Due to this they did not experience the full grasp of what being responsible for another living creature is like. Another big inspiration for wanting a dog is the movies: 101 Dalmatians, Homeward Bound, Turner and Hooch, Lassie, Benji or Rescued by Ruby just to name a few. Many times movies like these will get people interested in a certain breed without ever doing their research on whether or not this breed is right for them. If this happens to be the case the dog may end up displaying some behavioral issues that the family cannot handle anymore and off to the shelter they go. It is a sad and unfortunate reality for some very good dogs who are just misunderstood and not in the right environment. Do not fret this is not a doom and gloom post. As much as it is a sad reality it does also show the other side of people which are those who step up for these misunderstood and cast aside dogs (and other animals) which is a beautiful thing to see. There are also some working groups who rescue these “high energy” and “out of control” dogs and give them a purpose which is what they were bred for in the first place! I say all of this to mention that it is so vitally important to understand what type of dog you have that way you can approach them as understanding as possible. That way you can understand them for the individual that they are. Not every high energy dog likes to play fetch with a tennis ball and even some high energy dog will not do a gosh darn thing for you for a treat. This is where doing a reward selection, even once every month or as needed, especially for puppies, can really maximize the joy of playing the game of detection for your dog. A quick example would be that when Chiron K9 first acquired Csili her reward with the other party was either a KONG or ChuckIt ball and through reward selection I have found out that she actually really enjoys playing tug and in particular with a fuzzy tug (NOT a rope tug). Her long standing favorite at the minute are the tugs from OneFitK9 who I found on Etsy (great place for unique dog toys) but they do also have their own website.