WHEN TRAINING MAY NOT BE ENOUGH

   
    While doing an internship at a psychiatric hospital out in Texas as part of my graduate degree, I was offered a part-time job as a unit psychologist on one of the units.  (While the term "unit psychologist" today would be reserved only for a person with a PhD in psychology, years ago that wasn't the case, at least not out in Texas).  A patient was admitted to our unit who had been driving his way across the country when he ran out of gas in his van and was found wandering around the highway,  acting erratically.  Police were called, and since he wasn't making a lot of sense, it was determined that he needed psychiatric care and he ended up on my unit.

His first few days on the unit were loads of fun--for him.  He liked to pry the fire extinguisher off the wall and spray staff and patients with it.  If the aides got it away from him, he would run to another one, and if he couldn't find one, he would run in a patient's room and grab clothes out of the closet to throw, or run into the day room and find chairs  or whatever else he could to throw at people, all the while yelling and laughing hysterically .  It resulted in a lot of drama, and he loved it.  After a few days, he became more rational, and  quit trying to throw things, although he still liked to yell at odd times to get a reaction.  Life on the unit became more "normal," or what passed as normal for a unit of acute psychotics.

What happened?  Did I save the day by devising a behavioral plan to teach him more appropriate responses?  I wish..., What happened was medication.  The man was bipolar and had been in the midst of a manic episode.  For a listing of behavioral criteria necessary to be diagnosed with a manic episode, click here .   As the man's medication kicked in, his thoughts stopped racing, he started sleeping regularly, and his disruptive behaviors diminished, except for the occasional yell to get a reaction.

So what does this have to do with dogs and dog behavior? Dogs may not have manic episodes (although sometimes I wonder), but  I get a lot of calls about dogs  who are fearful or aggressive.  Most of them are helped by basic training,  counterconditioning, redirection, and differential reinforcement of other/and or alternate behaviors.  However, some dogs are so fearful or agitated  that they have gone beyond the ability to be helped by training alone.  In those instances, medication can help to "take the edge off" long enough for learning to take place.

Feeling fearful or agitated all the time is not good physiologically, for dogs or humans. It was after  Hans Selye published his book, " The Stress of Life" in 1956, outlining his research on the physiological effect of stress that we became aware of how much stress can affect the body. Psychotropic drugs were developed in the mid-20th century, helped by the  research of Julius Axelrod on  the release and uptake of neurotransmitters in the brain. There is still a lot of social stigma regarding these medications in general for people, and the thought that dogs might benefit from them, even more so.  Some people even find the idea  humorous, that a dog would need medication to help behavior.  Not if you live with a fearful or anxious dog, though. In that case you know only too well how disruptive it can be to live with any creature who's always on edge.



Obviously, your veterinarian is the one who will prescribe the medication.  There are also veterinary behavior specialists. Though small in number, they are increasing.  I work with several local veterinarians in the area and with a veterinary behaviorist at the UT vet school.  Keep in mind that when you start using a medication, it may take up to 4 weeks before you see a response.  Medication works best in conjunction with a behavior plan.  For a good article on fear/anxiety medications, and whether or not to use them, click here.  Keep in mind that medication alone won't turn a dog into Lassie, but it can help make the dog more receptive to training.


One of the dogs I'm working with now, we'll call him Buzz, is a prime candidate for medication.  I first met Buzz, a medium sized,  powerful looking dog of indeterminate ancestry, when his owner signed up for my basic class.  She had adopted him from the shelter and had no information regarding his history.  She is a vet tech who has worked with animals, and thought a class would help him with his behavior.  If you've ever taken your dog to an obedience class for the first time, you know it can be a bit chaotic.  Dogs dragging their owners into class, barking, excited, owners not knowing how to handle the dog, leash, treats, and then feeling embarrassed at their dogs' misbehavior, as if only a perfect dog should come to class.  Buzz came in late (which didn't help) and immediately started twirling around on his leash, screaming at the top of his lungs.  It was all his petite owner could do to hang on.    I had just gotten the rest of the dogs calmed down and  focused while  working on an impulse control exercise, but this went totally out the window when Buzz stormed in.  I immediately got him situated in an isolated corner behind the counter where we put dogs who need barriers, and demonstrated to his owner and the rest of the class (as well as I could given the counter in the way)  how to work on getting him quiet, focused and under control.

Now I have had dogs in that situation who have gone on after a couple of classes to being fully integrated with the other  dogs. Not so with Buzz.  In talking with his owner after that first class, it was apparent that Buzz needed private lessons and more.  Buzz seemed to live in a state of constant arousal. His owner lived in a apartment with a roommate and another dog.  Buzz screeched at other dogs when she walked him, he spent a good part of his day running from one window to another barking at the dogs and people he saw walking by, and to top it off--her roommate had a rabbit in a cage in the living room. Every day when Buzz saw that rabbit, it was like he'd never seen it before and he'd go ballistic barking at it.  After a while he'd stop, but later on it would be like he discovered it anew, and the barking and screeching would start up again.

I met with her for private lessons. We discussed better management of his living environment so he wasn't constantly being stimulated, relaxation protocols, impulse control, basic training (he had very little) and techniques to change his behavior when he encountered other people or dogs.  His owner is a runner so we also discussed how to start increasing mileage for him as he became easier to walk on a leash.

All the above-mentioned procedures helped, but the problems persisted. I had Buzz in for a week of training and he did get better.  However, he still was a bundle of nerves and had a hard time relaxing. I talked with his owner about medication and she agreed to give it a try.  I can now say after Buzz has been on medication for 3 months now, he is calmer.  NOT totally, but better.  He's at least calm enough to the point where his attention span is better and while he still gets revved up very quickly, it's a bit slower than it used to be, and he is able to calm down quicker.  His owner has worked diligently with him, and he's running more with her as well, which has been good. Not only does he get out (and she plans her routes and times as best she can to avoid over stimulation), he gets out some of that energy.  However, exercise is NOT a panacea, and exercise alone may just give you a fit dog who can just bounce off the walls for a longer period of time.  I've got him back for a week and I'm looking forward to seeing how much more progress we can make.  I'll keep you posted...

6 THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY FIRST BITE

   My first job after undergraduate school was with moderately to profoundly mentally disabled adults.  I loved working with that population, and what I learned from them was at least equal to what I taught them.    I was a new instructor at the time and didn't know the clients very well.  During my first month there one of the clients, we'll call her Bea , who was known to act out aggressively, had gone to the bathroom and not returned after a lengthy period of time.   I was told to check on her.   Bea had spent much of her life in an institution she was non-verbal, and somewhat suspicious of people.  I knew her history and being  insecure in my position and skills, it was with some trepidation that I went to see what was going on.  I found her sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth,in an attempt to self-soothe herself.  Taking the "dominance approach" I  told her to get up and go back to the classroom.  At first she ignored me so I stepped closer to her and said something similar, at which point she jumped up, and rushed into me full throttle, biting and hitting.   Almost before I knew what happened, I was on the ground, bleeding from various bite marks.  At that point some other staff members heard what was going on and came in to rescue me and take care of Bea, since I had failed miserably at my first test of handling difficult clients.

 I don't mean to equate mentally handicapped people with dogs, but the reasons I was bitten that day are much the same as why people are bitten by dogs in general,  Yes, I've had a few dog bites, too, but so far none as bad as the bites that Bea gave me that day.

About the only thing I did * right* was that I didn't fight back.  Besides the legality of fighting a client, it would have made things much worse.  Same thing with dogs.  The old idea of the "alpha roll" has been discredited for the most part and there is data to show that you're more likely to get bit if you try to do that maneuver. Even the Monks of New Skete, who originally coined that term have backed off from that advice.  If you do that to a dog and you don't get bit, it's because the dog is showing some restraint, it's NOT because the dog snapped and "missed," although I have had a few owners tell me that.  Dogs have much quicker reflexes, if they want to bite you, they will.

WHAT I DID WRONG

#1.  I didn't take time to assess the situation. Here was someone who was emotionally upset, had a history of biting and attacking, and I immediately pushed my panic button and hers, too. I ignored body language that was saying "I'm uncomfortable, STAY AWAY," and instead came on swaggering like some sort of bad-sheriff imitation from an old "B" cowboy movie.  It didn't work for me then, and it wouldn't work for me now.

   Dogs give lots of warnings that they are uncomfortable with a situation. Being a non-verbal species, they have to.  Besides growling (which often gets punished, thereby taking one way of warning you out of their arsenal), they may give a hard stare, stiffen, show the white of their eye (called "whale-eye"),  or a number of other, subtle signals.


#2.  I  invaded  personal space by getting too close and I was hovering.    Aggression and fear are often two sides of the same coin, and a dog who's feeling trapped only has "fight or flight" as an option, and if you take flight away, fight is  all you have left. Often, people get bit reaching for a collar. In puppy class we do exercises to get the puppies used to us grabbing the collar, but if you don't know a dog, and it is giving you signs it's uncomfortable, don't reach towards its face. ( For an animated PSA on avoiding dog bites  click here .


#3.  I didn't have a good relationship with her, so just telling her to do something wasn't going to work.  If you're working a dog you don't know, and you have no learning history with that dog, the dog may ignore anything you have to say.  A dog who is anxious might inhibit biting someone she knows, but strangers are fair game.  When working with fearful and/or aggressive dogs, you have to take time to let them get to know you. This has to be done gently, quietly, and with no sudden movements.  Avert your gaze, don't look at them head-on.  Move slowly and deliberately, if you must move at all.  Fast movements incite a chase reflex and turn on prey drive, not something you want if you may end up being the prey.

#4.  I gave her no incentive to work with me (this goes back to #3).  We tend to take the approach that the dog should "just do it," and if she doesn't, it's some sort of statement about *us*.  Take the personal aspect out of it, you wouldn't necessarily do something a stranger on the street asked you to do, especially if it's something you didn't want to do anyway, why should a dog?

#5.  I didn't take into account her emotional state.  My major professor in graduate school, a radical behaviorist, talked about the "internal state" of the organism.  She was obviously in a state of arousal  and it didn't take much to induce her to act out. Also, when dogs are aroused--for whatever reason--and they are thwarted from doing what they want to do, they may then turn on whoever is close to them instead. Redirected aggression is fairly common.

#6.  I didn't ask for help.  If you're in a situation where what you are doing isn't working and you are in a position to do so, consult with someone more experienced.  There's nothing wrong with admitting you're over your head, and you owe it to the dog or client for that matter.  Last year I was involved in a couple of complicated aggression cases where there were multiple dogs and multiple family dynamics involved. I assessed the situation and wrote up a behavior plan, and as it went along, even though we were making progress, as things often happen when you have multiple personalities involved, another issue popped up that I should have seen coming but didn't.  I consulted with Dr. Patricia McConnell's group (I did NOT pass the charge on to my client, BTW), and they were very helpful not only in telling me what I was doing right, but pointing out other things to look for as well.  Besides Dr. McConnell's group, I have attended numerous workshops on dog aggression and reactivity, besides doing extensive research on the subject and also have one client referred to me by a veterinary behaviorist at UT.  I also take continuing education courses as part as my clinical psych license. You can never stop learning and overconfidence will come back to haunt you every time.

EPILOGUE

For what it's worth, I continued to work with Bea and other students in Charlotte NC for several years.  It was a demanding but rewarding experience, and one I thoroughly enjoyed.  If you don't know anyone with mental disabilities, you are missing out on a valuable opportunity and if you do, I wish you all the best.







 

WEDNESDAY'S WORD OF THE DAY

Wednesday's word is" Behavior."  

Behavior can be defined as the way a person or animal behaves.

This sounds obvious, but when training your dog, one of the most important aspects of training is to focus on what the dog is actually doing without putting a spin on it. Viewing a dog’s actions as “blowing you off,” “dominant,” “acting stubborn,” even being “fearful” or “aggressive” without first objectively viewing the behavior can be counterproductive, since the label we put on it can affect what we do to change or encourage it. 

When analyzing behavior, it helps to remember your ABC’s.  A = Antecedent, what happens before the behavior occurs; B = Behavior, what actually is the dog doing; and

C = Consequence, what happens after the behavior occurs.  Looking at behavior this way objectively can give you insight at what might be going on.  It also helps to keep in mind that what might be triggering the behavior and what might be maintaining it are not always the same.  Only then can you begin to change the behavior. 

But what about feelings the dog may be having? Don’t those matter?  Those are internal states that are hard to quantify.  We know that dogs’ brains *do* show that dogs have emotions, and yes those things are important. But, since we can only infer what the dog might be feeling, the behavior itself is what we mainly have to work with.  Humans aren’t always good at interpreting what other humans feel, let alone another species.  Its behavior change that we are interested in—often if you change the behavior, the emotions will follow. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try to engage in techniques such as counter-conditioning, etc. It just means that we need to be careful when we put a label on the dog's feelings, the dog can't verbalize what he's feeling. 

Just one more thing:  When teaching a behavior, the word cue is the least important.  Remember that ad campaign, “The quality goes in before the name goes on.”  Since dogs don’t know English, the word is the least important, they focus more on our body language.  I’ll save a discussion on reinforcement schedules, cueing, shaping, and other things to consider when changing behavior for another day.

WEDNESDAY'S WORD OF THE DAY

Wednesday’s word is “Management.”

  Management is defined as " the process of dealing with or controlling things or people..”  When you have multiple dogs, you need to engage in some form of management.  I’ve had a lot of calls recently from homes

 with 3 or more dogs who aren’t getting along.  One of the first things I do in such cases is to look at the living situation and determine what triggers are provoking the conflict,and how those triggers  can be minimized or avoided.  As I have been known to tell people, when families get together there can be conflict, why should it be any different for dogs?  Management is NOT a substitute for training, but is an important adjunct to it.  The first rule is to keep everyone safe and under threshold.  Just like people, some dogs can have an extreme dislike of another. Occasionally this can  never be resolved completely, but even then, the situation can be improved.  Patricia McConnell recently wrote about how she introduced a new dog into her home, for her blog, click here:

  http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/introducing-a-new-dog-maggie-and-willie-as-a-case-study

WEDNESDAY'S WORD OF THE DAY

Wednesday's word of the day is Attention.

  Attention is defined as"... notice taken of someone or something; the regarding of someone or something as interesting or important."    If your dog's not paying attention, it's hard to get her to do what you're asking her to do.  When you're getting a dog ready to show, you work a lot on attention and focus.  In the "old days" of training, we used to do this by setting the dog up to be inattentive--or rather, fail--and then correcting the dog.  A better method is to reward attention and gradually increase the amount of time you are asking the dog to be attentive, then work the dog in  more and more distracting environments. The point of adding distractions is to teach the dog how to work through the distraction, not as a "Gotcha!"  By gradually working through it in this manner, the dog gains confidence and learns to look at you as a way to avoid the distraction but in a way that keeps trust in your relationship.  Even if you don't show, it's hard to teach your dog anything if you don't have her attention.  By systematically rewarding attention and keeping it interesting, you'll develop a dog into a partner who's willing to work with you

 It's a lot more fun for the two of you that way.

Missy and I at a trial in Louisville KY

WEDNESDAY'S WORD OF THE DAY

Wednesday’s words are Keep Away, as in the childhood game. Dogs love to play this game.

 

Hops playing Keep Away with Missy

It's ok for them to play Keep Away with other dogs, but when they play it with us, that can create problems.  For safety's sake, we need to be able to take things away from them, and they need to learn to give items up to us, even high value ones that they don't want to give up

   

 When dogs are playing Keep Away with us,  it’s usually in the context of  “I've got this and you can’t have it,” and it often involves grabbing something and holding it in their mouth, just out of your reach or in conjunction with the "Catch-me-if-you-can" game.  You can’t win this game and it’s not one you want to play, at least by their rules.  If your dog finds something you don’t want him to have, a good technique is to play the" Trade Ya" game, where you offer the dog something he’d like better, such as a really tasty treat, or another toy of greater value.    Too often the dog grabs something, we either lose our cool or try to grab it back, and they’re much quicker than us. Dog also learn it’s a good way to get our attention.  Some dogs learn that by using their teeth or showing aggression, they’ll get to keep whatever it is. Confrontational techniques (no matter what you may have seen on TV) will make the situation worse in the long run, so a trade is much better. If you always use certain words, such as "Trade Ya," when you make the trade, eventually this phrase becomes a cue for your dog to give you the item, whether or not you've got something in return.   And if your dog—as Missy did—begins to offer you stuff in the hopes of getting a treat?  Hey, no problem, you don’t need to always give a treat in exchange and at least he understands the game. I consider that a Win-Win for you both!

Hops giving up the bird at a retriever Working Certificate Test

WHAT DOES GOOD DOG TRAINING AND CANDY CRUSH HAVE IN COMMON?

Like a lot of people, I play computer games, and          
 the one I play the most right now  is Candy Crush.

I understand the theory of variable reinforcement
 and why gambling can become so addicting,
Behavior nerd and doggy fanatic that I am, I started wondering, what is it about Candy Crush that makes it more addicting than so many other games and how can this help us in relation to dogs?
  So, I did some research on the matter.
 According to designers and psychologists,
 the game has some unique factors that make it compelling http://business.time.com/2013/11/15/candy-crush-saga-the-science-behind-our-addiction/ .
 
The following is taken from this article (I admit to picking and choosing these depending on what I feel is the relevance to dog training and dogs).

1.  We get praised when we make a good move.  Even though the automated voice overs are contrived and machine generated, they may still subliminally affect us.  We all like praise, even computer generated praise, apparently.  According to experts in gaming, people play the games to feel good about themselves, and in general,praise increases motivation.  Feedback is even better than praise at influencing behavior change.


 In training,  it helps to have a mental picture of what you want and the feedback needs to be immediate. Candy Crush doesn't say "Sweet!"  5 moves after you've done a good one.  It also has different terms for  more difficult combinations.  For dogs, jackpotting is one method of letting the dog know they've REALLY done something hard or special, as is saving special rewards for certain behaviors. My Lacy had a hard time learning Utility signals and performing them in the ring.  This isn't unusual, many dogs flunk the signal exercise, especially in Utility A, where it's the first exercise the dog does.  I used to use a really high-value treat for that exercise, and the only time she got the treat was when we did signals.  Likewise, with dogs in class who have difficulty with the "down," besides different ways to work on the exercise I'll recommend that the owners have a special "down cookie" *just* for doing downs, and to let the dog know this is their "special down cookie."  Almost without fail, people who do this will have a dog willingly going down when asked  the next week in class.

2.  It's time limited and makes you wait for more. The game only gives you 5 lives, than you have to wait.   One of the things that we tend to do when working with our dogs, is that we'll do the same thing over and over.  Dogs DO need repetition to learn, but most get bored after a while (except perhaps for some over-the-top OCD border collies, but that's a subject for another day).

  My second golden,  Bleys, taught me this well. He was way too smart to be a dog and was easily bored. Not only that, but he wasn't  very food or toy motivated.  If he did something the way I wanted once, it was best if I moved on. I could come back to it later, but even doing the same thing 3 times in a row was enough to cause him to start putting in variations or want to quit. Owners who just can't help drilling their dog over and over need to establish some stimulus control over their own behavior, by either taking out only so many treats or marking down so many reps to be crossed off, and then stop when they're done.  This often tends to happen to obedience competitors right before a show. Both the anxiety of the upcoming deadline and an exercise that the dog may be having problems with will cause the owner to do it over and over, thus almost guaranteeing that the exercise will deteriorate even further, which leads to more anxiety, etc....you get the idea.  (And yes, most of us have all been there at some point).

3.  This is related to point #2--it leaves you wanting more.  Given that it is time limited (and I know there are ways around this), it makes you quit before you're ready.  Again, dogs have limited attention spans, and it's a good rule to quit while you're ahead and resist that temptation to do it "just one more time."  Once you do that, you'll often find yourself on that slippery slope where the dog isn't mentally capable of continuing and by insisting on it, what you're teaching will deteriorate, which then causes you to want to keep going until you get back to the point where you were at. By the time you do stop, you and the dog are both discouraged and sick of the whole thing, and when you go back to it later, the dog is already mentally "checking out" before you've even started.  Especially if you're doing something that involves either a lot of energy (mental or physical), it's best to do it in short sessions.

 I've had many dogs with various  training problems related to anxiety and/or fear.  Once the dog has gotten up her courage to do whatever it is (which hopefully you've gradually worked on) don't make the mistake of asking her to do it over and over. Charm had a big fear of the teeter in agility. Again, this isn't an unusual fear, and I probably contributed to it in my training, but once it was there, I had to work on it (which I actually had to do twice because she regressed after slipping off of it at an outdoor show one morning when there was some frost on it that the host club hadn't removed).  Since your dog only has to do the action ONE TIME in the ring, don't make her do it over and over--do it ONCE, and quit and have a party.  If you were terrified of heights and I got you to climb up on the roof and you did, how would you feel if I told you to do it again? And again?

4.  It taps into our inner child. Dogs are notoriously good at giving "unconditional regard" and it can be fun to act silly without feeling like we're being judged.  Training should be a lot like play, the dog doesn't know the difference.

5.  It's social.  If you're taking a class, you're meeting with people once a week and chances are you all are having similar issues.  People in puppy class love commiserating about their puppy's chewing, swap stories about housebreaking, and have a good time watching the other puppies.  They also see progress if they work with their pups even a little bit during the week.  If you show and compete, you soon find yourself going to shows and seeing the same people regularly.Since you spend a lot of tine just sitting around and waiting, soon you'll get to know each other.   Some people even join dog clubs, which in the days before computers, was one of the few ways we had to connect with other similarly dog-obsessed.

6.  It's an escape. Training your dog helps you live in the present. You need to forget about everything else and just concentrate on you and your dog. If you've had  a bad day leave it at the door and do something fun with your dog.  Sometimes just doing that can put you in a better mood.  Not only that, the activity can help you both. Sweet!