Heel is good day-to-day when:

• In a crowded environment
• Crossing the street
• Around unfamiliar children
• Passing other dogs

How to Teach a Dog to Heel

When teaching your dog to heel, start indoors with little to no distractions. Grab some very small but very yummy snacks.

1. Ask your dog to sit on your chosen side. Try luring him into position from behind you so he’s facing forward. Use a high rate of reinforcement here: treat handsomely when he reaches the desired position.
2. Put the treats behind your back. When your dog isn’t looking at the treat or you, but still sitting beside you, mark and reward.
3. Encourage him to follow at your chosen side as you walk around the room (make kissy noises, tap your thigh, etc.). When your dog is at your chosen side, mark and reward.
4. When you stop, ask your dog for a sit. Hand signals are helpful here. Mark and reward.
5. Once your dog is able to follow along at your side, introduce the verbal cue “heel” or “close” and repeat steps 1 through 4.
6. When your dog is responding to the verbal cue, begin to fade the lure, meaning reward intermittently, then randomly.
7. Now that your dog is following alongside you, change it up: vary your speed and change direction, all while encouraging your dog to be at your side.
8. Finally, practice on-leash inside, then take it to the streets. Start with low-level distractions then work up to busier, noisier environments.

Tips for Teaching a Dog to Heel

• Because heading out into the world presents a challenge, go back to using treats here at first. Fade shortly after.
• If your dog isn’t doing well on one of the steps, don’t keep moving on: hang out there until you’re both ready to proceed.
• Learning takes time: be patient.
• This is a very unnatural ]behavior for dogs (much like leash walking), so cut him some slack and shape the behavior if necessary.

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Know your dog’s behavior

If your well-behaved very social dog loves company and the commotion that can go along with holiday get-togethers, your task is easier. Your primary concern is monitoring their comings and goings so she doesn’t slip out the door as guests arrive and depart. Most dogs, however, are likely to require more management than that. Here are additional things to watch out for:

Counter surfing: Many a dog has enjoyed an unexpected holiday ham that was left unguarded on a counter or table. If your dog has any tendency to help himself to unattended yummies, you need to increase your management mega-fold. If guests are likely to leave surfing-prevention baby gates or doors open, consider parking your dog in a safe room until the chaos subsides.

Stress: Even dogs who are reasonably comfortable with people can be stressed by all the extra activity. Assign one responsible family member to keep a close eye on your dog. If she’s getting stressed, give her a break in a quiet room away from the action, especially if lots of grandkids and/or young nieces and nephews are bouncing about. Unless your dog absolutely adores children, this can be very stressful for her – and stress causes aggression… Enough said.

Holiday Hazards: Some of the things we love about the holidays are deadly to our canine friends, including chocolate, cooked turkey bones, poinsettias, and tinsel. Be extra vigilant about preventing your dog from ingesting items that can harm him – the emergency clinic is not where you want spend your holiday. An excited dog can knock over a menorah or holiday candle and start a fire… also not the way to spend your holiday! 

If you want to share any treats with your dog this holiday, here is a list of “human food” safe for dogs.

Know your guests and hosts

You love your dog, but (surprise!) not everyone does. If your visitors aren’t going to be thrilled by your Jack Russell’s paws shredding their nylons, or your Bloodhound’s drool decorating their Gucci trousers, be considerate and put Jumping Jack and Drooling Debbie in a bedroom for the evening. If you’re going to be a guest at someone else’s dinner party, be sure your dog will be welcome at your host’s home before plopping Travelling Tess in her canine seat belt and showing up at their door.

If you expect long-term guests – perhaps family staying for a week – and dogs and/or humans will be uncomfortable with repeated close encounters, consider boarding your dog at a well-run facility that you have thoroughly checked out. It could be a lot less stressful for all concerned if no one has to worry about management failures and unhappy results.

Pups as presents

Animal professionals generally frown on acquiring new dogs during the holidays – puppies or otherwise, not to mention the ill-advised practice of surprising someone with a pet as a gift. There are exceptions and ways you can make it work. 

When I was young, my family did a lot of things wrong with our animal caretaking, but one thing my parents did totally right was surprised me with a puppy for Christmas by wrapping up a collar, leash and dog bowl and putting that package under the tree (best present ever!). After the holiday chaos was over, we had plenty of time to look for a dog. We brought my first Collie puppy home when things were calm and we had time to give him proper care and attention.

If you want to give someone an animal companion as a gift, don’t make it a surprise. Talk to them first to be sure they want to complicate their life by taking on the responsibility for another living being and then let them be part of the process of finding and adopting their new family member. As for the caveat that the holidays are a horrible time to bring home a new dog – that is true much of the time. But if you are home alone for the holidays – no traveling, no family or friends visiting, no parties – it could be the perfect time to add a new canine companion to your family.

Bottom line is – use good judgment. The holidays can be a happy time for you and your dogs if you are careful to make it so.

Featured Image: AleksandarNakic/Getty Images

Read Next: Acorns Can Pose a Danger to Dogs

The post Hounds for the Holidays: Holiday Pet Safety appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Start teaching your dog to be a good dining companion at home

The first step is to get your canine pal to lie quietly at your feet while you eat in the comfort of your own home. Mat training is great for this. Start by reinforcing your dog for lying on a portable mat, rug or dog bed when you’re not eating. 

Related: Mat Training Tips, December 2019.

When she is solid with this behavior, generalize it by moving the mat to your eating area. When she can do at least 10-15 minutes of duration on her mat while you sit nearby at the table reading a book or typing on your computer, add the eating part – short snacks at first, gradually increasing your food consumption to full meals. Ideally, your dog will just take a snooze while she waits. If not, it may help to give her a long-lasting chew of some type to keep her happy while you eat.

You do want to remember to occasionally reinforce your dog for staying on her mat, but you don’t want to feed her from your place at the table, as this may encourage begging or demand behaviors. Instead, have her stay on her mat while you get up, walk away from her, get a treat from a counter or shelf (or even from your pocket), and feed it to her as you approach from her non-table side. This way she won’t have expectations of getting treats from you while you are seated and eating.

How to dine al fresco with your dog

Now it’s time to take the show on the road. For purposes of this article, we are assuming that your dog is already comfortable and reasonably well-behaved in public. If not, you’ll need to back up and start there. You do not want to try to eat at a restaurant with an ill-behaved dog! (Please note: It is never a good idea to take dogs who are reactive or have aggressive behaviors to public eating places.) 

Start by making several trips to the outdoor restaurant(s) of your choice, and do some good manners training practice outside the eating area. Take your dog’s mat along, and practice her mat behavior there as well. 

When she can do well with “Mat” outside the eating zone, you’re ready for the real thing. Visit your restaurant of choice, enter with your dog and her mat (and a long-lasting chew, if needed). Select an out-of-the-way table so you’re not smack in the middle of the traffic pattern, invite your dog to lie down on her mat, and take your seat. 

It should go without saying that you never let your dog approach, bother or otherwise interfere with the dining experience of other customers. If they ask if they can pet your dog, that’s up to you. If your dog might not handle it well, or you don’t want to disrupt her mat tranquility, just say sorry, but no. 

Be ready to leave at any time if your dog tells you she can’t handle it. (Let your waitress know in advance that this might happen and you’re not running out on the bill, you’ll be right back to pay. Then stash your dog in the car –running, with the air conditioning on, while you dash back to pay.) 

Dine alone at first, so you aren’t distracted by companions and can give your full attention to your dog and her training program. Start again with light snacks so you can keep your eating time short, and as she demonstrates to you over several visits that she’s ready for more, work your way up to a full-course meal with your friends. 

Happy doggie dining!

Top photograph: FluxFactory/Getty Images

Read Next: How to Train Your Dog to Calmly Walk on Leash

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In my dogs’ world, “Stay” means “Stay in the exact position I left you in until I release you,” while “Wait” means “Pause for a bit.” I do still sometimes give a release with Wait, but it’s far less formal than a Stay. 

I use Wait multiple times a day. It’s literally a life-saver. “Wait” when I open the car door so you don’t jump out into traffic. “Wait” at the door while I walk out – you’re not coming this time. “Wait” at the top of the stairs while I go first so you don’t trip me, causing me to fall. “Wait” while we’re hiking and you spot a deer or rabbit, so you pause and I can call you back to me and you don’t get lost chasing prey off into the woods.

Related: The 10 Most Important Things to Teach A Puppy

It’s easy to teach your dog to wait. Here’s how:

How to Teach Your Dog to Wait for the Food Bowl

1. With your dog sitting, facing you, hold her bowl at chest level (with food in it, topped with tasty treats!) and say “Wait.” 
2. Lower the food bowl toward the floor two inches. If your dog stays sitting, click your clicker (or use a verbal marker) raise the bowl back up again, and feed her a treat from the bowl. If she gets up, say “Oops” and ask her to sit again. If she remains in place, lower the bowl two inches again, mark (click), raise the bowl, and treat. 
3. Repeat this step several times until she consistently remains sitting as you lower the bowl. Mark and treat each time.
4. Gradually move the bowl closer to the floor with succeeding repetitions until you can place it on the floor two feet away from her and pick it back up without her getting up or trying to eat it.
5.  Finally, place the bowl on the floor and say a release cue like “Free!” to tell her to eat. 

A really helpful thing about teaching this behavior is that you have at least one built-in daily training session (possibly two, since many of us feed our dogs twice a day).

How to Teach Your Dog to Wait at the Door

When your dog is solid with Wait at her bowl, you’re ready to generalize the behavior. The next easy place to practice Wait is at the door. Start with your dog sitting or standing – whichever you prefer. (I prefer Sit.)

1. Say “Wait” in a cheerful tone of voice. Begin to open the door just slightly. If your dog starts to go out, say, “Oops!” and close the door (be sure she won’t get caught by the door!). Say “Wait” and try opening the door again. If she stays in place, close the door mark and release. Repeat several times.
2. When your dog consistently doesn’t move for a tiny crack-in-the-door opening, gradually open it wider with each trial, a little bit at a time. Mark and treat each time, but sometimes repeat another Wait without releasing. 
3. Practice cueing your dog to Wait, and opening the door until you can open it completely and she stays in place. Once she’s able to Wait consistently with the door wide open, take one step out. Return, close the door, mark and release.
4. Gradually increase the time the door is open while your dog is still waiting. Sometimes step out and return, sometimes walk out and invite her to come with you, sometimes walk out and close the door leaving her inside (this will be an auto-release cue).
5. Practice Wait every time you head out, even if she’s going to come with you. Consistency is the key to helping your dog learn quickly!

How to Teach Your Dog to Wait on a Walk

To generalize further, practice with your dog on leash. As you’re walking, say, “Wait,” take a few more slow steps and stop. If your dog stops, mark and treat, and continue walking. If your dog continues moving after you stop, let her walk on. When she stops at the end of the leash, mark and treat, and walk on. She should quickly learn to stop when you say “Wait.”

Now, don’t wait – go train your dog!

Read Next: How to Train a Dog to Stay

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Our first, very important piece of advice is – remember to not reinforce your dog’s demand behavior. Try to anticipate her need for attention and spend time with her before she gets pushy. Tire her out in the morning before you sit down in front of your computer so she’ll be happy to lie quietly at your feet when you’re ready to work. Then, if she’s nudgy or barky for attention, ignore her until she is calm and quiet. Of course no hitting or yelling. Remember to reinforce her appropriate behaviors!

Related: Ask (Nicely) and You Shall Receive, August 2017

Here is a survival guide for dog owners working from home:

Exercise: A tired dog is a happy owner. While there may be some restrictions on going for walks, that doesn’t stop you from doing other things. (A walk on leash isn’t really much exercise for your dog anyway!) If your dog will fetch a ball or a toy, throw one in the yard (or down the hall, or down the stairs – carpeted for safety) until she’s ready to collapse at your feet. Some dogs learn to love a treadmill (this one will take some training!). Put brooms across chairs in your living room and encourage your dog to jump over them. Other indoor exercise games include On-the-Bed, Off-the-Bed; back-and-forth recalls with family members on different levels and at different ends of the house… get creative!!

Scent Work: This activity is amazingly tiring for dogs, and wonderfully fun for dog and human. Start by letting your dog watch you hide a few treats, then release her to find them. Eventually put her in another room while you hide treats, then let her look for them. (Don’t help her!). You can even hide yourself (or your kids) and let her find you! (Related: Everyone Nose That, September 2019)

Enrichment: Rather than feeding your dog and then sitting down, put her meals in food-dispensing toys and let her work for her food while you work. Keeps her busy, and uses up energy canine energy. (Related:Play With Your Food, April 2019)

Training: You now have time to train your dog – no excuses. (If there is an upside to coronavirus, this might be it.) You can teach everything from basic manners training to tricks and more to help your dog learn to behave more appropriately in your home – and to tire her out. (Related Tricks for Clicks, April 2016). 

Especially useful behaviors to train for dog-bugging-you issues include “Settle,” (See Give It a Rest, September 2015,) and mat work (See Useful Matters, January 2020). It’s also very useful to teach an “All done” cue. When you’re finished throwing the ball or toy, say “All done!” in a cheerful tone of voice and put the ball away in a drawer and ignore any of her attempts to get you to engage. This cue can eventually generalize so that when you say “All done!” she’ll know you mean it and there’s no point in bugging you for more.

Management: Last, but not least… you can use a crate or exercise pen, or even a tether, to restrain your dog near you while you work but prevent her from physically bugging you. You are likely, at least at first, to have to provide her with those food dispensing toys mentioned about, or some other long-lasting chew, and she’ll do better if you’ve exercised her well in advance, but in time there’s a very good chance she’ll learn the routine and be able to settle for you. If she’s not already crate or ex-pen trained, now’s the perfect time! 

Now when your boss says quit playing with your dog and get back to work, you can.

The post How to Prevent Your Dog From Bugging You When You’re Working From Home appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

The good news: You don’t have to be a professional trainer to reap the advantages of trainers’ effective tactics!

A couple of factors are pivotal to the success of this approach. The first is to recognize that there are no “good” nor “bad” behaviors. Behavior is just information and communication. Once you understand this key element you can shift your goals from stopping “bad” behavior to looking for ways to encourage the behavior that you want to see again and again.

Second: Recognize that when your dog is doing something that you don’t like he may often not be giving you a hard time, but instead he might be having a hard time. If you support and guide your dog in learning the behaviors that will result in reinforcements, you won’t have to spend so much time contemplating punishment scenarios.

Dogs who already display unwanted behaviors (such as jumping up, barking when people come over, pulling on leash, etc.) may have you trying ways to stop or decrease the behavior – punishment-based reactions. But punishment can result in potentially dangerous side effects (including canine apathy, aggression, escape/avoidance, and generalized fear).

Worse – the punishment is frequently ineffective, because the dog has no clue what he should be doing instead!

Planning Ahead for Dog Training Success

The proactive approach is to know in advance about what you would like for your dog to be doing, and actively teach him to do these things – or to simply “catch him in the act” of doing these things and reinforce those behaviors!

For example, instead of focusing on your dog’s jumping and fretting about how to make him stop it, “mark” (with the click of a clicker or a verbal marker, such as the word “Yes!”) and reinforce him when he’s got four paws on the floor. Teach him to sit on cue, or train a “default sit” (where he is reinforced for sitting any time you are paying attention to him and haven’t given him any cue). Continue marking and reinforcing sitting and “four on the floor” and you’ll see more of it. And do it before he has an opportunity to jump!

In addition to reinforcing easy alternatives to the undesired behavior, think about your environment. Arranging antecedents – the things that occur right before the behavior you want or don’t want – allows you to set up your situation so that your dog will have the best chance at successfully doing the stuff you like, and not doing the stuff you don’t like.

To use our jumping example again: Position a baby gate or exercise pen that separates your dog from visitors. Demonstrate how they can greet or pet your dog over the gate when all four of the dog’s feet are on the floor, but should take their hands away if the dog is jumping. Or, plan to greet visitors with your dog on-leash while working on your training. This way you are setting your dog up to be successful by preventing him from practicing jumping.

The post A Proactive Approach appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

As you might have guessed, we are perfectly comfortable with dogs on our furniture much of the time, as long as they play by our rules.

Downstairs, in dog territory, Kai and Sunny both have open invitations to get on the living room sofa and recliners, but are not allowed on dining room chairs or, of course, tables, desks, or counter tops. They pretty much have free range of the first floor, unless we are going to be away from the house for an extended period, in which case they are baby-gated in my office. At any given time, we might find a dog on a dog bed, in a crate, or on the sofa or a recliner. In a culture where we tend to give our dogs very few opportunities to make choices, it’s nice to be able to give them this one.

Should You Let Dogs on the Furniture?

Of course, if you don’t want your dog on the furniture, that’s perfectly okay too – it’s up to you – there’s no right or wrong here!

I personally love a dog on my lap or under my arm when I’m sitting on the sofa. Not only do I enjoy the cuddling, I also get cold easily and love the warmth of dog bodies next to me. In our home, we keep the furniture covered with blankets for easy removal when company comes (dog hair begone!) and both dogs are taught to get off and/or stay off when asked to do so.

If you prefer your dogs to stay on the floor, then just teach them that’s where they are supposed to be, using appropriate management and force-free training methods.

Manage Your Dog’s Furniture Access

In this case, “management” means preventing your dog from having any opportunity to do what you don’t want her to do. If you don’t want your dog to be on the sofa when you are not home, take steps to prevent her from being able to get on the sofa! It’s that simple!

To this end, some people remove the cushions from their sofa (or flip them up) when they leave their homes, until their dog has developed the habit of sleeping elsewhere. Others put boxes on the sofa to block the dog’s access, or use a baby gate to keep the dog out of the room.

Some dogs are simply seeking the most comfortable place to sleep that they have access to. If it’s comfort that she’s seeking, you could look for a much cushier dog bed and prevent her access to the sofa until she learns that her new bed is wonderful.

I have at least one client who actu-ally bought a second (small) sofa for the dog. This way she can cuddle with the dog when she wants on the dog sofa and keep her human sofa pristine.

Just like we don’t tell dogs they can never go to the bathroom (instead, we teach them that it’s okay to eliminate in this place, but not that one) we can easily teach our dogs that it’s okay to lie on this sofa but not that one.

Teach Your Dog Furniture Rules

If you are comfortable with allowing your dog to get on the furniture any time she likes, you probably have but to invite her up, and praise her when she obliges. If she’s been previously reprimanded for getting on the sofa it may take a little more encouragement to convince her that now it’s okay, but it shouldn’t be too difficult.

If, however, you want her to get on the furniture only when you have cued her to do so, and to get off the furniture also on cue, you will have to teach her those behaviors. This is called “putting the behavior under good stimulus control” (she does it only when asked).

Again, teaching a dog to get up on the furniture is usually pretty simple. Use a cue (such as “Up!”) when you invite her onto the bed. Lure her up if necessary. When she’s up, mark the behavior with the click of a clicker or verbal marker, such as the word “Yes!” and give her a treat. Then say “Off!” and toss a tasty treat on the floor. When she jumps off to get it, click again, and she can get the treat off the floor.

After several repetitions of this, start “fading” the lures, by giving the “Up” or “Off” cue and then waiting a few seconds to see if she does the requested behavior. If she doesn’t, motion suggestively but don’t toss the treat on the floor or actually lure her onto the bed. When she responds, click and treat. Gradually reduce the suggestive movement until she’s doing the “Up” and “Off” behaviors on verbal cue only.

Next, start alternating other forms of reinforcement. If you click you must feed the treat, but occasionally skip the click and treat, just praising instead, or giving her a scratch behind the ear, or inviting her outside for a game of fetch.

So what should you do if she hops up on the furniture when you have not asked her to do so? In order for this to work, you also will need to train and reinforce her generously for a behavior that is incompatible with being on the furniture, such as lying on a comfortable mat nearby. Cue her to do that whenever she looks like she might jump up on the furniture without invitation – and make sure she gets reinforced for getting on the sofa only when she does it “on cue” (when she has been invited).

If you don’t want your dog to be on the furniture at all, teach and reinforce the incompatible behavior, and never invite her up or reinforce her for getting up on the furniture. Of course, the whole family has to be on board with this; if one family member invites/allows/reinforces her for getting on the sofa, you can’t expect her to stay off!

And to repeat myself, whether you want her to have no access to the furniture or access by invitation only, you will need to manage the environment to prevent her from getting up uninvited when unsupervised, until you are confident that she is fully trained.

But “She Knows Better!”

If your dog “knows” she’s not supposed to get on the sofa, and she never gets on it while you’re home, but you come home from work to find dog hair on the cushions, it’s not because she’s being “sneaky” or disobedient.

You think you taught her not to get on the sofa. But what you really taught her was that it’s not safe or at least “not okay” to get on the sofa while you are home because you will yell at her, or otherwise “correct” her in some manner. She has discovered that it’s perfectly okay to get on the sofa when you’re not home because no one tells her to get off, nothing bad happens, and by the way, the sofa is way more comfortable than the floor or the thin blanket you gave her to lie on in her crate!

Rather than being annoyed or angry with her for being “sneaky,” you might, instead, admire her intelligence and problem-solving ability – and take steps to prevent her access to the sofa when you are not home.

Aggressive About Furniture?

What if your dog displays aggressive behavior when she’s on the bed or sofa? Often I hear from owners who allow their dogs on the furniture, but who become understandably upset when their dogs “act out” when they are comfortably ensconced – perhaps the dog growls or snaps at the husband when he attempts to join his wife in bed, or when a human tries to remove her dog from the couch.

This is the rare situation where I do recommend revoking the dog’s bed privileges unless and until the behavior is successfully modified. Again, it’s up to you: You don’t necessarily have to prohibit her from ever getting on the bed (or other furniture), but you should have a way to peacefully remove her from furniture when you need her to get off, and ultimately it only makes sense for her to learn to peacefully accept people approaching the furniture.

To accomplish these basic achievements, I recommend the following tactics (in addition to teaching your dog the “Up!” and “Off!” cues):

■ Institute a “Say Please” Program.

“Say Please” simply means teaching your dog to ask for all good things by sitting first. When your dog learns to sit for good stuff, she learns to be more deferent. “Want a cookie?” She needs to sit first. “Want to go outside?” Then sit first. “Want your dinner bowl?” Sit first. “Want me to throw the ball?” Sit first. You get the idea.

If status is part of what’s motivating your dog’s aggression on the furniture, convincing him to be voluntarily more deferent to you by sitting for good stuff can help modify the guarding behavior. However, you’ll still need to do some modification work.

■ Counter-Conditioning Protocol.

Dogs who growl at someone approaching them when they are on the furniture do so because something about that approach is stressful for them. If you can change the dog’s association with, and her emotional response to, the person approaching, she will change her behavior.

If she growls at you when she’s on the bed, arm yourself with a pouchful of very tasty treats. (These days, my preferred treat for counter-conditioning is chicken strips; I buy them in the freezer section of the grocery store and thaw them as needed.) With your dog on the bed, walk casually past and toss a few bits of chicken to her on the bed. (You’re not asking her to get off the furniture in this exercise.)

If she growls at you anyway, walk past at a greater distance, and toss chicken. Don’t make eye contact with her. Continue to walk by the bed, back and forth, tossing treats each time you pass, until your dog happily anticipates your approach.

Then gradually decrease distance, and, assuming you still see your dog look happy when you pass by, start making your approaches more direct, until you can walk right up to her and get a happy “Where’s my chicken!” expression. This replaces her negative stress association to your approach and her aggression with eager anticipation, as she realizes that your approach means she’s about to receive some treats.

If she’s growling at someone else approaching you in the bed, again, arm yourself with chicken and ask the person to stand at a distance where the dog sees him but isn’t growling. That may mean totally out of the bedroom! Have the person take one step toward you, and immediately start feeding chicken to your dog; don’t wait for a growl. After several treats, have the person step back, and stop feeding.

Repeat this process until your dog looks happy – and looks to you for chicken – as the person takes one step forward. Then, with the person at the same starting spot, have him take two steps forward. Repeat until the person can approach the bed without any sign of tension from your dog. Then have him do the walk-by chicken-tossing procedure described above.

■ Consider Operant Conditioning.

As an alternative to classical counter-conditioning, you could teach your dog a new behavior when someone approaches the bed, with the goal of changing her emotional response and behavior at the same time. This procedure is called “Constructional Aggression Treatment,” or C.A.T. If you decide you want to try this approach, I urge you to work with someone who is skilled at reading dog body language and understands the C.A.T. procedure, since its success depends on the observer’s ability to identify very small changes in your dog’s body language.

In this process, you would move toward your dog on the bed. As soon as you see any small sign of tension, you would stop and just stand still. Wait there until you see a small sign of relaxation, then move away. As you repeat the procedure, your dog learns that being relaxed makes you go away, so she becomes more and more relaxed. As her behavior changes and she becomes deliberately relaxed, the change in her emotional response follows.

It can work, but it can be a little tricky to see the body language changes. You definitely need an experienced helper for this one.

If Your Dog Growls When She’s on the Furniture

I commend any dog owner who commits herself to improving her dog’s behavior, but recognize that it might take a little time for the improvement to “stick.” Until your dog’s new behavior is reliable, here’s what to do if your dog growls at you or your partner when she is on the couch or bed: Calmly stop whatever you were doing, be still, and wait a few moments until the dog relaxes a little. Then invite her off the bed with her “Off!” cue (or a tossed treat as a lure, if she hasn’t yet learned the cue) to defuse the current situation. Then start or increase your efforts at a management and modification plan.

Here’s what not to do: Don’t physically punish or attempt to verbally intimidate your dog. There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by aggressing back when she growls at you.

That’s so important I’ll say it again. Do not punish your dog for growling. Punishment is likely to make her behavior worse, because your aggression will add to the stress that’s making her behave aggressively. It’s your job, as a member of the supposedly more-intelligent species, to figure out how to remove stress from the situation for your dog.

A Note of Caution

If your dog’s growling or other furniture-related aggression is intense, if you are trying to work with it and not making progress, or if someone has been bitten, please seek the assistance of a qualified positive behavior professional. If you’re afraid of your dog’s behavior, don’t attempt any of the tactics below without professional assistance.

Author Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT‑KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor.

The post How to Keep Dogs Off Furniture – If You Want To appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Undermining Your Dog’s Success in Greeting

When our dog jumps on someone, we all tend to roll our eyes and apologize. A well-behaved dog shouldn’t do this! Why is learning to greet people without jumping on them such a challenge for so many of our dogs?

The answer is intermittent reinforcement – which means that the behavior is sometimes reinforced. “But wait!” you say. “I don’t reward my dog for jumping on people!” Perhaps not. But perhaps you aren’t aware of all the other times or ways your dog is being reinforced for the behavior. Every time your dog jumps on someone and they say, “Oh, it’s okay, I don’t mind!” and then pet and fuss over her, your dog is being reinforced for jumping up.

It’s also likely to be reinforcing for your dog every time she jumps on someone and he physically pushes her away – “Yay, he touched me!”

Intermittent reinforcement makes a behavior more resistant to extinction – harder to stop. It is the same force at work when a human finds it difficult to stop playing a slot machine; as long as you get rewarded occasionally (enough so that you don’t run out of money!), you may just keep playing and playing. Similarly, your dog may just keep playing the jump-up game, thinking, “Eventually I will win. Maybe this time it will pay off and I will get petted… Jackpot!!”

I’m going to describe three important elements to successfully teaching your dog to greet humans politely; the first and most important one is aimed at putting an end to that intermittent reinforcement.

Best Place to Start: Basic Good Manners Training Classes

Most things in life with our dogs are easier if they’ve had some basic good manners training. A well-run force-free group class is my first choice for working on this; it gives your dog the opportunity to generalize her good manners to new environments and distractions, especially other dogs and humans. Your class instructor and assistants will also be able to give you feedback on your own skills – something you miss if you do all your training on your own.

A common goal for basic good manners training is for your dog to learn that her highly reinforced “sit” is a good “default” behavior (the best behavior to offer when she’s not sure what to do), which comes in very handy when teaching polite greetings. In addition, most good manners classes formally teach polite greetings to humans and provide coaching on how to help your dog behave appropriately in close proximity to other dogs.

3 Steps to Greeting Humans Politely

1. Manage the situation.

In this context, “management” means controlling your dog’s environment so she isn’t intermittently reinforced for jumping up. This mainly entails always keeping her on a leash when she greets people, and providing very clear, simple instructions to everyone who wants to greet her – family, guests, and random humans on the street – regarding how they should interact with her to reinforce polite greeting behavior.

Sometimes, this may mean sacrificing politeness for firmness when you encounter one of those “Oh, it’s okay!” dog lovers. Be ready to tell him no, it’s not okay, and you’d love to have him pet your dog if he will follow instructions. If he scoffs or gives you the sense that he’s going to do what he wants to do anyway, be prepared to say, “Whoops! Sorry!” and do a quick U-turn with your dog away from the would-be management underminer.

When visitors come to your home, consider using a tether to keep your dog away from the door, or park her behind a baby gate, so you can greet your guests without worrying about dog-jumping. Once the initial excitement of your guests’ arrival is over, it’s easier to instruct them on how to greet your dog properly.

Another alternative, if you want your guests to be interactive with your dog at the door, is to set them up to succeed with treats, toys, and a few basic instructions on how to use these to help your dog practice good greetings. This is a fun way to enlist the help of visitors to teach your dog to sit to greet people at the door.

Place a basket of toys by your door – toys your dog really likes. Tape a sign next to it instructing visitors: “Take a toy before you come in. When Bouncy runs up to you, hold the toy at your chest. When she sits, throw the toy for her to chase. If she brings it back, you can do it again.”

For a dog who doesn’t get excited about toys, you can use high-value non-perishable treats instead. (Real Meat Treats are my favorites for this; see realmeatpet.com.) Break the treats into small pieces in advance, hang a reusable, resealable bag of treats by the door, and tape up a sign that instructs your visitor to take a handful, wait for Bouncy to sit, and then fling some treats behind the dog.

Both of these methods reinforce Bouncy for sitting to greet your guests and directs her energy away from them as she chases after the toy or treats. Plus, it’s fun for your dog and your guests!

2. Reinforce her for sitting a lot – every chance you get!

In what I call a “Say Please Program,” your dog’s sit makes everything good happen. A sit makes her dinner arrive. A sit gets her leash clipped on and another one gets the door to open for your walk together. Sits also elicit a toy or a treat. This will help make sit her default behavior and increase the odds that she will offer a sit when she is approached by someone.

3. Practice polite greetings.

You can do this yourself by tethering your dog to a solid object and repeatedly approaching and feeding her a treat when she sits. Have everyone in the family try it, too!

If she tries to jump up on you when she isn’t tethered, say “Oops!” in a cheerful tone of voice, turn your back and step away from her.

You can also practice this with friends or anyone else who would like to greet your dog. Hold your dog’s leash firmly, not allowing your dog to stretch your arm toward the greeter. As your acquaintance approaches, tell him not to interact with or give your dog a treat until she sits.

No Non-Consensual Dog-Dog Greetings

Just last week I was sitting with my new dog Sunny in our vet’s waiting room, and a man walked in with his 8-month-old, 120-pound Great Dane, who immediately began straining to come see my 16-pound dog. To my amazement and consternation, the man walked forward, allowing his dog to approach. I held up my hand and said firmly, “Please, no!”

“No? He likes little dogs,” the man responded. “He lives with a Pomeranian and they are best friends.”

“No,” I answered firmly, not bothering to add that my dog doesn’t live with a Great Dane and was showing signs of concern about the giant canine looming just six feet away.

The man took a seat on the other side of the small waiting room, and I did a little counter-conditioning with Sunny while both of us regained our equilibrium. Then I engaged in polite chat with the Dane’s owner, suggesting that lots of little dogs don’t like being approached by big dogs. He nodded, seeming to understand.

A few minutes later a woman walked in with a dog half of Sunny’s size, and the man again let his dog approach. The little dog was even more worried that Sunny had been, crying out, backpedaling on his leash, and trying to hide behind his human. This went on for many long seconds, until the woman finally picked up her dog and took a seat just out of reach of the Dane. Sigh…

Not only do dogs who are routinely allowed to greet other dogs on leash come to expect being allowed to do so, they can become quite frustrated and aroused when their desire to meet and greet is thwarted. There is a whole class of reactive dogs who are known as “frustrated greeters.” These are often the dogs who seem to play happily with other dogs when they are off-leash, but when the leash goes on they appear to turn into Cujo.

Guidelines for Greeting Other Dogs Safely

In order to avoid creating frustrated greeters, or worsening the behavior of the dogs who are already frustrated, my rule for dogs in my classes (and for my own dogs) is, “We don’t greet other dogs on leash. Period.” I see far too many dogs who are routinely allowed to greet other dogs on leash and whose behavior is very problematic. As soon as they see another dog they bark, scrabble, and pull, dragging their human toward the other dog until contact is accomplished, whether the other dog likes it or not.

Hence my solution: Allow dogs to greet and interact only in a safely enclosed area, where leashes can be dropped with a “go play” cue when it’s evident the dogs are compatible. Leashes stay on for the first few minutes of interaction, in case the dogs need to be separated, but are removed as soon as it’s clear that the dogs will play together well.

I do understand that this isn’t always possible. Dog owners who live in cities may find safely enclosed dog-play spaces hard to come by, not to mention compatible playmates accompanied by humans who are willing to arrange play dates. Sometimes, the only social options of urban dogs are on-leash greetings. If you are in the “really have to/want to” category, here are some suggestions to help you avoid future problems:

Teach your dog to approach other dogs on a loose leash.

(See “Loose Leash Walking: Training Your Dog Not to Pull“.) Pulling and straining on leash to reach another dog can send unsettling body language signals to the other dog, making the encounter less likely to be successful. It also increases arousal in your dog, again making the encounter less likely to be successful.

Teach a solid “Walk Away” behavior so you can easily interrupt an encounter that seems to be getting too intense.

Even if the intensity is playful. Pulling a dog away forcibly on leash can add tension that causes an otherwise successful encounter to go south. (See “How to Teach Your Dog to Just ‘Walk Away’“.)

Greet other dogs only occasionally.

Most of the time, your dog’s job when she is on leash is to be with you. Just as you give her permission to go sniff when it’s appropriate to do so, have a cue that gives her permission to greet another dog – and use it sparingly. Far more often than not, you want her to “not-greet.”

Use high-value treats and consistently reinforce your dog for paying attention to you in the presence of other dogs.

If we have our dogs’ attention, we can get them to work with us. If we can keep their attention, we can keep them working with us in the face of distractions. (See “It’s All In Your Dog’s Eyes“.)

Know what type of dog yours is likely to be comfortable with.

Even dogs who do well with other dogs don’t necessarily like to engage with all other dogs. Size, energy level, and play style are just three factors that may determine play-pal predilections. Some dogs have breed or size preferences; a bad experience with a particular type of dog in the past can give your dog a negative association with that type for life.

When you see a dog you would like yours to greet, ask permission from the other owner first, and respect their wishes. If they say no, it’s a no – don’t try to talk them into it. Conversely, be politely firm with your “No” if someone wants to approach yours with a dog you’re not comfortable with. Be your dog’s advocate.

Ready to Greet

Here is how to proceed when you are ready to do on-leash greetings, and you see a dog who fits the bill and whose owner has agreed to the encounter.

Start out by doing some parallel walking first, so the dogs get a little more information about each other prior to actually engaging – and you get a little more information about the dogs! Watch both dogs’ body language throughout the entire encounter and be prepared to abort if appropriate. (For more information about canine body language, see “Listening to Your Dog’s Body Signals“.)

If their body language tells you they are comfortable walking in proximity to each other, coordinate with the other owner and give the “go play” cue.

As the dogs engage, keep the leashes loose! This is so critically important it bears repeating: Keep the leashes loose! If there’s tension between the dogs as they greet, a tight leash greatly magnifies the tension and can cause what otherwise might have been a very successful greeting to fail. This usually take some fancy footwork on the part of the humans; as the dogs circle, sniff, play bow, and bounce you will need to circle with them and always be prepared to move forward to give extra leash slack as needed.

It’s a good idea to interrupt the encounter if play starts to get rowdy. You simply cannot manage leashes well enough if dogs are getting very excited. If the two look like they both want to be rough-and-tumble run-and-chase play buddies, you really do need to find that elusive “safely enclosed area” so they can play together to their hearts’ content.

The post How to Teach Your Dog to Greet Nicely – or Not Greet at All appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

When You Are the Visitor

If you’re headed for a visit to friends or family and you plan to take your dog along, it’s important that you make sure ahead of time that she will be welcome – both now and in the future. Here’s how:

Ask first!

It might be hard to imagine that any close friends or family members of mine would object to a with-dog visit, but it’s far better not to assume. There could be many valid reasons why your dog(s) might not be welcome, including (but not limited to):

• Lease provisions that prohibit the presence of pets

• Allergies by one or more residents in the home

• A dog in the home who is not dog-friendly

• Dog fears or phobias by one or more residents (human or otherwise) in the home

• Past bad experiences with visiting dogs (yours or others)

If your host-to-be expresses a strong preference to not have your dog visit with you, respect that wish.

Bring a friendly dog.

If you want to take your dog visiting with you, she should be friendly and well socialized. There is no excuse for bringing along an aggressive dog, thereby risking the safety of others as well as that of your own dog. You would feel awful – and would be legally and morally responsible – if your dog bit or mauled someone during your visit. Plus, many dogs who are forced into situations they cannot handle bite defensively and often end up with a “dangerous dog” label and are ultimately euthanized.

Have a clean canine.

A dirty, smelly dog who sheds all over the house is not a great canine ambassador. Make sure your dog is well groomed prior to your visit and be prepared to wipe paws clean before entering the home. If it’s the time of the year when shedding normally happens, or if your dog is a year-round heavy shedder, warn your host in advance, and offer to do fur clean-up duty at the conclusion of your visit before you leave.

Have a pest-free canine.

Fleas and ticks are even worse than a little doggy dirt and hair. Fleas can hop off your dog and infest a house (and other warm-blooded residents) even long after you are gone. Ticks, carriers of several significant zoonotic (transmissible to humans) diseases including Lyme, ehrlichiosis, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, can also drop off your dog and climb onto others – and bite or attach to them.

With today’s very effective flea-control products, there are no excuses for having fleas on your dog. Ticks can hitch a ride on your dog despite tick-preventive products (the products are supposed to kill them within 24 hours before they can transmit disease, but don’t prevent them from climbing aboard), so either avoid tick territory for at least 24 hours prior to visiting others, or do a very thorough check for ticks before you arrive.

Train your dog.

At the very least, your dog should be the graduate of a basic force-free good manners class or equivalent training program, be appropriately friendly and social with other humans and friendly with dogs and any other species that might inhabit your host’s home. Polite greeting behavior is a must. More advanced training is even better!

No house soiling or counter surfing allowed, or chewing on non-chew objects. Even if your dog is allowed on furniture in your own home, when your dog is in someone else’s home, getting on the sofas and other furniture should be by invitation only.

Manage your dog.

If your dog is generally social but isn’t yet solid on all her good-manners behaviors, then management is a must. The umbilical cord method is called for here, with you keeping your dog leashed and at your side to prevent any possible social lapses. Crates and portable exercise pens are options for those moments when you want to take a break from your own dog. The leash also allows you to restrain your dog while you inquire whether others want to interact with her, and gives you real-life opportunities to practice her polite greeting behavior. (See “Your Dog’s Behavior: When to Manage, When to Train“.)

If there are children present in your host’s home, you must supervise interactions between your dog and the young humans 100 percent of the time. Even if you are totally confident your dog is good with children, you never know; a child may not know how to be appropriate with your dog and do something that would cause any dog to snap. You must not only supervise, but also be keenly aware of your dog’s body language and intervene if you see any signs that your dog is less than delighted about the attentions of a child. (See “Listening to Your Dog’s Body Language“.)

Potty Before Entering

When humans drive to the home of another human for a visit, they usually want to get out of their cars and go to their friends’ front door as quickly as possible, in a rush to greet their friends – although, sometimes the rush is to ask to use the restroom, especially after a long drive. People often forget that their dogs might also have to use the restroom after a drive, and shortly after they enter their friends’ homes, they are upset and dismayed when their ordinarily housetrained dog pees on their friends’ carpet. Whoops!

If you are going to visit a friend’s house with your dog, before approaching your friends’ front door, walk your dog up and down the sidewalk or in the front yard until she goes potty. Or, if she doesn’t do what you suspect she might have to do, keep her on a leash in your friend’s home and take her outside several times; don’t allow her to be loose or unattended in your friend’s home until you are certain she won’t have an accident. You never know; if your friend has a dog whose own housetraining is not perfect, your dog may detect the scent (perhaps undetectable to your nose) of a past “accident” and conclude that pottying indoors is okay. She’s much less likely to do so if she’s already empty.

Be doubly alert if your dog tends to urine-mark (lift his leg). Under the minor stress of visiting a home where other dogs live, he just might feel compelled to mark indoors, or in an outdoor location (such as on the corner of a nice wicker outdoor sofa or on the back porch rail) where your friend won’t appreciate this.

If you are the resident and your dog is prone to submissive urination or urinating in excitement when people arrive, try to take her outside to go potty as close as possible to the arrival time of your visiting friend. It might also be a good idea to bring her outdoors to greet your friend and his dog, so you don’t have to interrupt your greeting to clean up urine in the house.

When You Are the Host

When you are a dog-owning host, you have a different but similar set of responsibilities to ensure that your guests are comfortable with their canine encounters in your home:

Consider your dog’s needs.

You may have a lovely dog who just doesn’t do well with visitors. It will be challenging to fulfill your role as a host if you are constantly worried about your own dog’s behavior. If she will happily and quietly hang out in a bedroom while your guests are present, put her away so you can enjoy the occasion without stress.

Note: Do not crate or otherwise confine your dog where she will be forced to accept attentions of your visitors. A fearful or unsocialized dog who is crated or tethered might feel trapped and is likely to become even more defensively aggressive if confined where visitors will pass closely by, look at or speak to her, or even worse, poke fingers into a crate or attempt to touch her.

Frozen stuffed Kongs or other long-lasting food toys, with your dog crated if necessary to prevent guarding, can help keep her happy and quiet. If your dog won’t deal well with being isolated in another room, consider asking a friend or family member to take her for the duration of your guests’ visit, or board your dog at a well-researched force-free boarding facility. Note: If you put your dog in another room due to possible aggressive behavior, I strongly recommending padlocking the door to prevent accidental entry into the dog room with potential tragic consequences.

Consider your visitors’ needs.

As lovely as your dog may be, you might, on occasion, have visitors who just don’t appreciate canine attention, hair, or saliva. Perhaps your guest has significant allergies, or is very fearful of dogs.

If you don’t already know how they feel, ask your guests ahead of time if they are comfortable with dogs, and respect their wishes. If they have strong negative feelings, even if your dog is quite friendly, make arrangements as above for your dog to be elsewhere during the visit – either enclosed in another room, at a friend’s house, or boarded.

If you’re not willing to accommodate your guests’ needs by restricting your dog’s access, then don’t invite those guests to your home. Perhaps you can meet them at a restaurant for dinner instead.

Exercise your dog well prior to the arrival of guests.

I like to say, “A tired dog is a happy human.” Be sure to leave time during your visitor preparations for a good exercise session with your dog an hour or so before your company arrives. She may still be excited when guests first walk in, but with much of her energy recently expended, she will settle down and relax much more quickly – and so can you.

Orchestrate controlled greetings.

Even those of us who love dogs don’t necessarily enjoy being bowled over by an enthusiastic canine greeter. If you have one of those, you have several options for orchestrating polite greetings at the front door:

• Confine your dog away from the door until your guest is greeted and settled. You can close your dog in another room, crate her, use baby gates to block her access to the front door, or tether her near the door so she can watch the action but not participate until released. If you use baby gates or tethers, you can invite your guest to help with training by giving him treats and asking him to approach your restrained dog and give her a treat when she sits.

• If your dog has learned a default sit for a treat, you can ask your guests to do a “treat and greet.” Keep a waterproof container of non-perishable treats outside your front door, and ask your guest to help himself to several before he enters the house. When he does, coach him to hold the treat near his chest (or whatever body language signals a sit to your dog) and then give your dog a treat when her bottom is securely resting on the floor. Alternatively, you can have him play “Find it!” with your dog by tossing small handfuls of tiny treats on the ground, thereby redirecting your dog’s attention – and her energy – away from himself and toward the floor.

• Here is an alternative for dogs who will default-sit for a toy: Keep a basket of toys outside your front door. Ask your guest to grab a couple of toys on the way in and wait for your dog to sit; as soon as she does, have your guest toss a toy a good distance away. Your dog may run after it and play with it or bring it back to your guest. If she brings it back, he can prompt a sit with the second toy, and then toss that one. The dog will likely drop the first as she runs after the second.

• You can also use high-tech options like the Treat & Train or Pet Tutor. These remote-controlled devices can be used creatively to invite your dog away from the door as your visitors enter.

Train your dog.

Of course, good socialization and training are always your best options. At the very least, your dog should be the graduate of a basic force-free good manners class or equivalent training program, be appropriately friendly and social with other humans (and any other species your guests may be bringing with them). Polite greeting behavior is a must. More advanced training is, of course, even better! A well-trained “go to your place” behavior can be invaluable for helping your guests feel comfortable with your dog’s presence.

Manage your dog.

As described in the “Visitor” section, if your dog isn’t reliably trained and generally well-behaved, or if you just want a break from dog-supervision duties, then management is a must. Leashes, tethers, baby gates, crates, and closed rooms are all viable management options to help keep things under control when guests are in your home. And, even if your dog is allowed on furniture, be courteous and give your guests the option of not sharing the sofa with your dog if they’d prefer not to do so.

If your visitors are bringing children with them, you must supervise interactions between your dog and the young humans 100 percent of the time, even if you are totally confident your dog is good with children. You must not only supervise, but also be keenly aware of your dog’s body language and intervene if you see any signs that your dog is less than delighted about the attentions of a child. Err on the side of caution.

And finally, do not rely on your guests to do the supervising. They don’t know your dog and may not be skilled at reading and understanding her body language signals of stress or discomfort.

Fair Warning

Don’t take your friend’s dog’s training for granted. Perhaps your dog has been trained to never run out of your front door without explicit permission, but a door left open just for a few moments (say, to fetch more groceries from the car) might be the beginning of a tragic lost-dog saga if your friend’s dog lacks this training skill. Your cat or parrot might be safe from your dog, but can lose their lives in a matter of moments if your friend’s dog is more predatory and your unsuspecting pets were in harm’s way.
Though it’s hard to anticipate every potential tragedy that can occur with dogs in new places, alert your friend to the most likely dangers to her dog or to your family members. Let her know if your yard is not securely fenced, for example, or where your chicken or rabbit pen is located.

Keep in mind that a portable exercise pen is a terrific management tool that can be deployed to prevent lots of disasters. If your friend’s dog is a door-darter, you can set up a pen in an “air-lock” arrangement, so she can’t escape if the door is left open by accident, or so someone who is not savvy about the door-darter’s techniques can’t accidentally let her escape. You can also use an exercise pen to create a larger safe zone for your bird’s cage or your elderly cat’s food bowls and litter box.

We, the Dog Lovers

It really is incumbent on those of us who love dogs to make sure that others have good experiences with our canine companions, whether they are guests in our homes, or we are guests in theirs. Regardless of the circumstances, and regardless of your dog’s training and socialization, wherever you are you must always be on the alert for signs that your dog is stressed and needs a break, or that others are uncomfortable with her presence and you need to give them a break. Without that, our dogs will continue to find themselves less welcome and less appreciated by the rest of the world.

In contrast, though, every good canine ambassador will help open doors for dogs in the world, rather than closing them.

Author Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT‑KA, is WDJ’s Training Editor. She and her husband Paul live in Fairplay, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center. Miller is also the author of many books on positive training. Her newest is Beware of the Dog: Positive Solutions for Aggressive Behavior in Dogs.

The post Houseguest Etiquette for Dogs appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

Here are some general suggestions on how to introduce dogs to each other:

1. Exercise the dogs before initiating introductions. Happily tired dogs are more likely to interact well than those who are bursting with energy.

2. Have tools within easy reach in case you need to interupt an aggressive interaction (for more on breaking up dog fights, see “How to Safely Break Up a Dog Fight“.

3. Be sure to remove toys and other high value chew objects from the introduction area to minimize potential for guarding incidents.

4. Use extra caution when introducing a puppy to adult dogs to avoid physical injury or psychological trauma to your pup. While many adult dogs recognize the importance of being gentle with baby dogs, some do not. Some will play too roughly, and some will be actively aggressive. A bad experience with an overly exuberant playmate or an aggressive dog can have a significant negative influence on a pup’s future social behavior.

5. Be careful, too, when introducing a new dog to senior members of your pack, especially if the new dog is an adolescent or a puppy. Protect your senior dog from being physically damaged—bumped, bruised, body-slammed, or knocked over by a rambunctious pup. Keep your pup on leash in the presence of Granny or use a baby gate to keep them separated until he learns to modulate his behavior around your fragile, sometimes grumpy senior. Your geriatric dogs shouldn’t have to defend themselves from the overwhelming attention of fractious youngsters.

6. Consider size. Jean Donaldson, director of the San Francisco SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers, recommends no more than a 25-pound difference in size between dogs in a household or play group. More than that, she warns, and you risk predatory drift, where the larger dog suddenly perceives a small running dog as a prey object, such as a bunny or squirrel, and shifts from play to food-acquisition mode, sometimes with tragic results. Know that if you choose to introduce a new dog to a situation where there is a large size disparity, you may be taking additional risks with your dogs’ safety during introductions and thereafter.

7. Be sure to reinforce both/all dogs for calm, appropriate behavior in each other’s presence. Your reinforcers should be calming: treats, massage, and verbal praise are good choices; tug and fetch are not. You can use tethers, if necessary, to create calm, and follow Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas’ suggestions to have dogs approach each other in a curving line rather than directly, allowing them to sniff the ground and do other displacement and appeasement behaviors such as looking away, as they choose.

Note: Turid Rugaas coined the term “calming signals” for many of the social behaviors dogs display when interacting with each other and with us. You can learn more about her work through her book, On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals, and her “Calming Signals” DVD.

Pat Miller, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, is Whole Dog Journal’s Training Editor. Miller lives in Hagerstown, Maryland, site of her Peaceable Paws training center. Pat is also the author of The Power of Positive Dog Training and Positive Perspectives: Love Your Dog, Train Your Dog.

The post Tips on Introducing a New Dog appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

I adopted my first Australian Kelpie in the mid-1980s. This is a breed I cheerfully describe as “Border Collies on uppers” – and I quickly realized that my ball-crazy Keli was going to drive me crazy if I didn’t teach her an “off switch” cue.

I used her favorite toy – a tennis ball – to teach her that “All done!” meant there was absolutely no point in continuing to ask me to throw the ball. This then translated easily to other situations where I needed to tell her that we were done with whatever activity we had been engaged in – whether it was play, training, or casual interactions.

Here’s how you can install an “off switch” in your own dog:

1. Start with a long play session – long enough that it’s reasonable to expect that your dog will be able to end the game and relax.

With Keli, sometimes tossing the ball in the yard for a while was enough; sometimes it took climbing to the top of a steep hill and tossing the ball down the hill for her to fetch – over and over and over again.

The goal is to have him more or less ready to quit on his own – at least when you start teaching “All done!”

2. Give your “All done!” cue, and put the toy somewhere your dog can no longer see it – in a cupboard or in a backpack – and ignore any of your dog’s efforts to re-engage with the toy.

3. Notify any other humans in the vicinity to also ignore your dog’s attempts to get them to play.

NOTE: Training humans to ignore your dog’s attempts to get them to play fetch might be the hardest part of this! You have to be very assertive with them! Alternatively, you can just leash your dog and move away from the most insistent dog lovers.

4. Watch your dog, so you notice and can reinforce him for any appropriate behavior that is not attention-seeking. If your dog stops staring at you and, instead, retreats to his bed, go to him and praise and pet him calmly (assuming he likes petting).

5. Make sure to give your dog plenty of opportunities to engage in ball-chasing and other favorite activities daily. You don’t want your dog to feel deprived after you tell him that you are done for the moment, but confident that he will have another opportunity later.

6. Generalize your “All done!” cue by using it in other training situations and recreational activities, so that your dog will realize that the cue means the end of whatever he is doing when he hears it. For example, you can use the cue when you’ve allowed your dog-who-loves-to-lick to kiss your face several times and then you’ve had enough.

Herding dog trainers commonly use “That’ll do” as a “off switch” cue – and the expression was popularized by the movie “Babe.” (Remember? It’s when the talented swine was told: “That’ll do, Pig!”)

You can, of course, use whatever cue you want. But stick with it! Trust me, you will find it well worth the time and effort it takes to teach your persistent dog that enough is enough when you say it is.

The post Install an Off-Switch on Playtime appeared first on Whole Dog Journal.

This process involves either classical conditioning (giving a puppy a positive association with something she doesn’t already have an opinion of), or classical counter-conditioning (giving a dog a new association with something she already has a negative opinion of). Either way, the process is similar, but it may go slower if you are working to change an existing opinion rather than simply installing one where none previously exists.

1. Sit next to your sitting dog, with a handful of tasty treats in the hand farthest from your dog. (Assuming your dog is on your left side, have treats in your right hand. If you prefer the other side, just flip the following directions.)

2. Touch the top of your dog’s shoulders (the withers) briefly with your left hand. While your hand is touching her, immediately deliver a high-value treat to her mouth with your right hand. Remove both hands at the same time.

3. Repeat the brief touch-then-feed process until you see your dog brighten happily and turn to look for the arrival of the treat when you touch her. (Note: If you can’t get her happy at this step, don’t go any further. You have three choices now: a) Seek the help of a positive reinforcement-based trainer to help you with the process; b) Resign yourself to hugging other humans instead of your dog; c) Look to adopt a second dog into your family who clearly loves being hugged.)

4. Gradually increase the length of time you touch her. As you increase the length of touch, feed, pause, then feed again. Feed multiple times as the length of touch-time increase.

5. Now touch your dog on her far shoulder, just the other side of the withers, and immediately feed. This will start to move your arm over her back as is you are beginning to hug her.

6. Repeat this touch as you did with the withers touch, gradually increasing length of time and multiple feedings as she looks happy about the process.

7. Slowly increase the approximations of your touch toward an actual hug, making sure you get a consistent positive response at each step before proceeding further.

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