Give that dog a job!

This is my version of this technique.

Many dogs need jobs. And, as owners, we do not want to have our dogs invent their own jobs, since dog-defined jobs like car or bike chasing, fence running, cat herding, barking or other problem behaviors can hinder the human-canine bond. Some of these dog-defined jobs can be quite dangerous for the dog, too!

So, we need to give our dog a job. Or, in some cases, we give them more than one. One way to give a dog a job is to feed him each meal out of interactive toys, such as Kong products, Premier products or Buster Cubes, to name a few. This is an easy way for owners to slow down eating and to give their dog a mental job.

Another way to give a dog a job is to work on obedience behaviors. This includes behaviors such as sit, down, stand, stay and heeling (or loose leash walking), but should also include fun tricks. Even 5 minutes a day of training will improve a dog’s confidence, improve the human-canine relationship and mentally stimulate the dog.

A third way to give a dog a job is to institute a Nothing in Life is Free Program (or Work to Earn). Now, many people think that asking a dog to sit before giving a cookie is NILIF. Well, NILIF is more than that and requires a bit more from both the dog and the owner than sitting for a cookie. It is a way to establish rules around the house (house manners). It is a way to establish benign leadership without the use of force, pain or fear. It is also a great way to give a dog a job.

So, what does NILIF look like?

You are sitting in your chair watching TV. Your dog comes up to you and wants some attention. You could just reach out and pat him. Or, you could make him earn the attention by asking for a sit first. That is working (sitting) to earn attention.

You are preparing all the dogs' dinners. They are racing and running around. You could just feed them. Or, you could wait until they are quiet and in their crates before you feed them. That is working (quiet, calm behavior) to earn food.

You are throwing the frisbee. The dogs are very excited. You could just throw the frisbee again. Or, you could make them sit and lie down before you throw the frisbee again. That is working (sit and lie down) to earn play.

You are getting ready for bed. Your dog wants to sleep on the bed. You could just allow him up there. Or, you could ask him to sit before he jumps up. And, if he misbehaves on the bed (growl/snark at the other dog or the cat or the spouse) then you could not allow him on the bed at all. Good behavior earns a place on the bed. Bad behavior means you sleep on the floor. The same goes for the couch.

You are getting ready to go for a walk. The dogs start barking and getting excited. You could just clip the leash on and go. Or, you could make them sit and stay (while being quiet) before you clip the leash on. This is working (sit and stay while being quiet) to earn walks.

You are getting ready to let them go outside. You could just let them go outside. Or, you could ask them to sit and stay while you open the door and then release each one to go outside. Release each one at a different time. This is working to earn being outside.

You decide to give them a treat. You could just open the treat container and ask them to sit for a treat. Or, you could ask them to sit and stay BEFORE you get the treat out and then give them a treat. This is working to earn treats.

Do you see how Nothing in Life is Free (Work to Earn) is MUCH different than holding a treat in your hand and asking for a sit? It fundamentally changes the way your dog sees you - you control all resources and you decide what the dog needs to do to get them. You can not allow herding breeds to be in control or they will control everything - so, we have to be in control and this is how we do it without pain or fear.

When a dog is showing behavioral issues, then I immediately start a ?Nothing In Life is Free/Work to Earn program, obedience training, and physical and mental exercise. Once those steps are implemented, I work on the problem behavior itself, if extra training is still needed.

Barking - Part 3

Alert Barking Review: The dog barks because of something. Typical examples of this type of barking are: Barking at the UPS driver, barking at activity happening in the neighborhood, and leash reactivity—barking at things while on leash.

Alert barking tends to be an environmentally reinforced behavior. In other words, it is reinforced by something that happens when the dog is barking.

Examples of Alert Barking

The mailman approaches the door. The dog barks at the mailman. The mailman leaves, which is rewarding, so the dog thinks that the barking made the mailman go away.

A car approaches while you are walking your dog. Your dog barks as the car approaches, continues as the car passes and barks until the car is out of sight. The car goes away and so your dog thinks that the barking made the car go away. This behavior is also a component of fence running.

You are walking your dog and another person approaches with a dog of their own. Your dog starts barking and continues barking as the dog and owner walk by. Sometimes, your dog will nip the owner or the other dog once they are past you.

Basic Training for Barking

As with any barking or other behavioral problem, we start with a few basics:

Don’t yell, speak, or in any way shush the dog. Most alert barkers will consider to this to be rewarding (you are barking along with the dog), so the behavior will increase.

Don’t use a spray bottle to punish the barking, especially of you use a spray bottle to groom your dogs.

Do practice a Nothing in Life is Free Program (also called Work to Earn) with any type of barker. NILIF gives the dog a job and is easy for owners to implement.

Do have clear rules for the dog and a steady schedule.

Don’t use a shock collar, citronella collar or other physical punishment. While these methods can reduce the barking, there is often behavioral fallout from them.

Behavioral Modification of Alert Barking: Case Studies

Prim, the leash reactive dog

Prim is a young adult sheltie who tends to be a little fearful and quiet, until she is walking on leash with her owner and spots another dog. At this point, Prim becomes a completely different dog – she now pulls hard on the leash, barks quite loudly and does not respond to her owner. Prim will sometimes try to nip the other dog when passing them on the sidewalk. Off leash, Prim does OK with greetings, but does stress out at them and can nip when her rear end is sniffed. When this problem first started, Prim only barked at larger dogs, but now barks at every dog she sees, so Prim’s owner, Kate, contacted me for help.

When working with a leash reactive dog, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. One is that a high value treat should be used (chicken, cheese, etc). Another is that the distance between your dog and the thing they are barking at is important. Start with a large distance and slowly decrease the distance over time. And, finally, it is important to be fast with your treats (don’t be stingy).

Session 1 (1 hour): In every session with a client, I discuss the importance of appropriate mental and physical activity. In Prim’s case, we also discussed how to build Prim’s confidence. After discussing this, Kate and I spent some time walking Prim with no distractions at all. Prim was given a small, pea sized bit of chicken each time she looked at Kate (basic loose leash walking practice).

Then, it was time to bring out a neutral dog. In my case, this is Ella.

Kate had her treats ready. As I brought Ella out of her crate, Kate treated Prim just for looking at Ella. I brought Ella out of her crate and had her sit, so that Kate has a few minutes to treat Prim while Ella was stationary. The distance between Ella and Prim was around 30 feet and Prim was given a treat every few seconds, regardless of whether or not she made any noise (she didn’t bark). Then Ella went back into her crate and we let Prim have a bathroom break outside.

Once Prim has had a break, she and Kate got ready for the next part of our training. This time, I brought Ella out of her crate and asked her to heel next to me. Again, Kate gave Prim treats for watching Ella. Ella and I were still 30 feet from Prim, but we were moving, so this was a different lesson than before.

After a few minutes, I started to walk with Ella closer to Prim. Kate gave Prim treats as Ella and I came closer and then walked away. After a few minutes, I put Ella back in her crate and Prim got to take a break.

The final part of our session involved Prim and Kate heeling on one side of the room while Ella and I heeled on the other (about 30 feet apart). Sometimes, we walked in the same direction (parallel walking) and sometimes we walked towards each other, but we were still 30 feet apart. During the entire time, Kate rewarded Prim for walking with a loose leash and for looking at Ella.

Prim’s homework: Find a couple of places where Prim usually reacts and practice rewarding for quiet behavior.

Session 2 (1 hour): The beginning of session 2 mimicked session 1, except we spent less time with Ella stationary. Once Prim was focused, Ella and I started heeling across the room. This time, Ella and I were able to shorten the distance between us to about 10 feet.

At that point, we let Prim take a break and started heeling again, with Kate and Prim heeling on one side of the room and Ella and I on the other. Slowly, over the rest of the session, Ella and I decreased the distance between us until we were five feet from Prim.

At this point, we ended the session.

Kate was able to take the skills that she learned during the sessions and apply them to her walks with Prim. This is what she did:

When approaching a strange dog, Kate would cross the street with Prim to increase distance. At the same time, she would reward Prim for walking next to her and also for looking at the other dog. The treats would start long before they reached the strange dog, as they passed the strange dog and after the strange dog passed. Note: This same technique can be used for dogs that bark at cars while on walks.

If the dog was loose, then Kate was prepared to do an about turn and go the other way. If the dog followed, then Kate was prepared to drop pieces of dog biscuit to distract the other dog until she and Prim could walk out of sight.

After a little practice and also working on this same technique in classes with other dogs, Prim and Kate are able to go on a daily walk without spending the entire time reacting to other dogs.

Scout: VISITORS!

Scout is a middle aged mixed breed who needs a lot of exercise. Scout’s owner, Ruth, takes Scout for a long run every day. She and Scout really enjoy agility classes and make a great team.

However, Scout barks at everyone who comes to Ruth’s house. And, he often does not stop once visitors have been there awhile.

Ruth and I set up a time when we could meet to help Scout. Since his problem happened only at home, we made arrangements to meet there. I gave Ruth instructions to crate Scout in a bedroom about 5 to 10 minutes before I arrived. She has a stuffed Kong ready for this.

Once I arrived and Ruth and I chatted about Scout, I asked Ruth to bring Scout out to see me on leash. Ruth has treats ready and as she and Scout approached me, she gave Scout treats for being quiet. I ignored Scout (no eye contact) and sat quietly. After a minute or so, Ruth put Scout back in his crate.

I left the house and then came back in. Once I was seated, Ruth again brought Scout out on leash and treated him for being quiet. Since Scout is not afraid of people, Ruth allowed him to greet me and I gave him a few treats after asking him to sit.

At this point, Scout was behaving very well. He was not trying to get attention from me and was happy to lie quietly on the floor eating another stuffed Kong.

If Scout had continued to bark or would not lie quietly, then Ruth would have put him back in his crate with a Kong and we would have repeated the greeting.

If Scout was afraid of people, we would have added additional steps and I would not have given Scout any treats until her was completely comfortable around me.

In Scout’s case, Ruth needed to manage Scout’s behavior when people arrived and reward good behavior once they were settled. This is fundamental in changing how alert barkers behave towards guests.

Additionally, Scout barks at delivery people. One or two alert barks are OK, but more than that was not. So, Ruth and I worked with Scout on this issue. We did this by rewarding Scout for watching the delivery person approach (this was a person we recruited for the job – a friend). After a few sessions, Scout was able to watch the delivery person approach and then leave with only a couple of barks.

Barking - Part 2

Demand Barking Review: The dog barks at a person in order to get something. This type of barking is very easy to fix. Typical examples of this type of barking are: When playing, the sheltie will bark at the owner to throw the ball or Frisbee again. The barking stops when the play resumes. Some shelties will bark at other shelties to try to initiate play. Some shelties will demand bark when they want attention, food or to go outside.

Dealing with Demand Barking – Do’s and Don’t’s

Do ignore the behavior by turning away from the dog while it is barking and then immediately reward for quiet (treats, praise, throwing the ball, etc).

Don’t yell, speak, or in any way shush the dog. Most demand barkers will consider to this to be rewarding, so the behavior will increase.

Do use appropriate time outs to calm a particularly enthusiastic barker. Times outs are a few minutes in a quiet room or a crate, if the dog is comfortable in a crate. The time out ends when the dog calms down and stops barking.

Don’t use a spray bottle to punish the barking, especially of you use a spray bottle to groom your dogs.

Do practice a Nothing in Life is Free Program (also called Work to Earn) with this type of barker. NILIF gives the dog a job and is easy for owners to implement. A short article on NILIF is included in the newsletter.

Do have clear rules for the dog and a steady schedule.

Don’t use a shock collar, citronella collar or other physical punishment. While these methods can reduce the barking, there is often behavioral fallout from them.

Case Study 1: Bruce, the demand barker

Bruce is a middle aged sheltie who tends to be a calm sheltie, until he becomes excited by something. Bruce does not tend to show much alert barking, but is quite a demand barker, especially for attention, when practicing obedience behaviors and when playing. Bruce’s owner, Chris, contacted me for help.

When playing ball, Bruce would bark constantly at Chris. He had learned that if he barked enough, Chris would throw the ball again, just to get Bruce to be quiet. So, to change this behavior, we needed to change how Bruce would be rewarded. I warned Chris that there would be an extinction burst of barking before Bruce stopped, but that we needed to make sure that we worked through the issue all the way. An extinction burst is when the unwanted behavior increases right before a decrease. It is important not to reward during that increase!

Session 1: First, Chris and I discussed the amount of exercise that Bruce got each day. Exercise is important, but the trick is to find the right amount of exercise. Too little and you get behavioral problems and too much can also cause issues, too. Then we discussed mental exercise. With smart herding breeds like the sheltie, daily mental exercise is important. So, feeding meals out of Kongs, the Kong Wobble, Buster Cubes or other interactive toys can be one way to meet a dog’s mental needs. Practicing obedience behaviors for at least 5 minutes daily is another way to exercise a dog mentally.

Then, Chris and I started playing ball with Bruce. We waited and waited until he stopped barking. The second he stopped barking, we threw the ball. We played ball with Bruce for 30 minutes or so until he would bring the ball back and not bark at all.

We also worked on obedience behaviors that day, since Bruce liked to bark a few times before lying down or paw shaking. So, we gave the cue, waited until Bruce stopped barking and then rewarded the behavior.

Finally, we worked on Bruce’s attention demand barking. This is where Bruce barks at Chris in order to be touched. In this case, Chris had to ignore the barking, just like with the ball, and then immediately reward the quiet with praise and touching.

Between sessions, I asked Chris to practice what we had worked on that day.

Session 2: Chris and I started to play ball with Bruce again. This time, we did not need to wait long at all for Bruce to stop barking. Instead of 5 minutes of barking, he barked once or twice and then stopped. Great! We also reviewed the obedience and attention aspects and Bruce has greatly improved.

Session 3: Bruce now barks about once per throw. Chris is OK with this, so we will allow Bruce one bark. If we did not want that bark, then we would repeat session 1. Instead, we decided to add in a NILIF component to the ball game. This time, we asked Bruce to sit before we threw the ball. We waited until he sat (this can be very hard for some dogs, since ball chasing is very fun) and then immediately threw the ball. Asking for a sit, down, sit-stay or down-stay gives Bruce a job to do besides just chasing the ball. It also teaches impulse control, since he must think about what he is doing.

Now, Chris is happy that Bruce is not constantly barking at her. Their relationship has improved and Chris feels like she can take Bruce to class and actually work with him.

Please note that the names, ages, and breeds of the dogs featured in the case studies have been changed.

Barking - Part 1

Types of Barking

Barking is one of the most common complaints that owners have about their shelties, whether it is a rescue sheltie or not. There are a lot of different types of barking, but I group them into 4 major categories. Any dog can exhibit any of these types of barking—sometimes at the same time. The first part of reducing barking is to identify the type of barking.

Demand barking - The dog barks at a person in order to get something. This type of barking is very easy to fix. Typical examples of this type of barking are: When playing, the sheltie will bark at the owner to throw the ball or Frisbee again. The barking stops when the play resumes. Some shelties will bark at other shelties to try to initiate play.

Some shelties will demand bark when they want attention, food or to go outside.

Alert barking - The dog barks because of something. Typical examples of this type of barking are: Barking at the UPS driver, barking at activity happening in the neighborhood, leash reactivity—barking at things while on leash

Boredom based barking - The dog barks at everything. These dogs do not tend to be fearful, but are very smart and very active.

Fear based barking - The dog barks at a person or thing, but it is fear based. This type of barking often includes the other categories, but also has a fear element. In this case, we train a bit differently than for non-fear based barking issues.

When working with a problem barker, we first need to evaluate the dog, its environment, its health and activity levels and its overall outlook. Then, we need to set up a well-rounded training program, since problem barking is solved through a combination of training and often minor changes in the dog’s household and how its owners interact with the dog.

Next time: Case Study 1: Bruce, the demand barker!