Dogs, their leads and school!

Welcome Chloe and Eddie to the pack - No not new dogs into my pack but a new Pack Leader Chloe and her Jack Russell Eddie!

So Eddie is mis-behaving at school - this may remind some of you of Peter's School Days, so I know I can help you here as Peter did graduate class! So this is not an unusual problem - you are not alone so I am posting some feedback on this subject.

Training school is not a natural environment for dogs...a necessity for a well-trained dog but my point is that their behaviour there can vary greatly from other "normal" responses. In such a school they are usually on a lead and that limits the choices a dog has to act, normally a dog has 4 choices of flight/fight avoid/submit. When in a training environment the choices are limited, thus some choose fight and put up an aggressive display, these are insecure dogs as such they act aggressively dominant over other dogs or they are insecure afraid acting aggressively to keep other dogs away from them!

When they are on a lead as well as decreasing their choices it acts as a tool to transfer our energy - if that is negative energy such as fear of how they may behave or human anxiety then a dog sees this a week energy and takes over as Pack Leader making their choice fight rather than submit! This is when the association takes place - the dog learns that at training school on a lead + other dogs = aggression, so each time they go this learned behaviour is reinforced, so they keep on acting out! But to avoid school is to give-in to the dog - we don't do that as Pack Leaders!

So to change the response change the context - the training school is the environment and does not need to be changed, the lead needs to be on so this cannot change either - What CAN change is the human's energy and the dog's response. Picture how you want the experience to be - keep focused on this while you hold the lead. Keep the lead as loose as you can. Now teach a new response, in this case "submit", every time the dog acts out be confident and firm while calm - correct the display with a vocal "pshhht" which says to a dog "hey I disagree with what you are doing" (or whatever noise you are comfortable making but it should not be a command as such) and if need be follow-through with a pop of the lead - this is a quick tighten and release action. This interrupts the behaviour and gets you access to the dogs mind - then be sure to redirect the dog what you do want e.g. submit is to be in a relaxed physical position. Any interruption needs to be timed so that it stops the behaviour before the dog escalates to a high level response - watch the body language and react BUT at the same time avoid anticipating the dog as else you run the risk of the self-fulfilling prophecy!

Practice Makes Permanent - the new calm behaviour when carried out regularly in the context of the training school in time substitutes the old - so that training school with the lead on + other dogs = calm, the old behaviour gradually becomes extinct. The point here is that dogs cannot have conflicting emotions so cannot be aggressive and relaxed at the same time, so they move on and behave differently.

Tellington Touch is a good way to calm an anxious dog BUT it has a major drawback potentially - in this situation you would be applying touch which would initially reinforce the unwanted behaviour, so I do not recommend it unless a dog is in a calm submissive state first then it is applied to increase relaxation, unlikely in such a situation you describe.

The reason that in other situations with the same dogs your dog may behave well is because the lead is removed and the environment is different - a complete change in context so a completely different response! When a dog is on-lead and near other dogs they cannot use avoid or flight, they can only choose fight or submit - we have to be their Pack Leader and teach them to submit, or we can change the situation by choosing avoid giving the other dog space or flight by turning to walk the other way but these we only choose when a dog is calm submissive - WE always own the choice and make that choice for the dog they then follow our lead! As responsible humans we NEVER choose fight!!!!


IF you try this and it isn't working then you need to look again at the context - what else is going on? Is this really aggression as in a dog's "fight" choice or is it in fact "over-excitement" which is different requiring another approach? How do you enter/leave the school - if it is when the dogs is acting-out and not calm submissive then you are setting the scene. As you see there are so many variables here but I hope I've given you some ideas to start with, please feel comfortable with asking more, I had exactly this problem with my rehab dog Peter!

This is dog psychology....not training but it should help you to handle any such displays in future! I am able to help more just let me know as this would need a more one-to-one approach than here, anyone can contact me directly through my email address see my profile on the here on dog-blog!

What Not To Wear!

An interesting comment was made about how some owners think dogs don't like/or fear colours such as a high visibility coat - it is not the colour it is the way it changes your appearance that causes a different reaction!

Take an example from my pack - One time I put in a hat and scarf and came downstairs, a number of my dogs went into guarding overdrive! Barking at me and some backing...off some coming closer staring - which from a Doberman is the only warning one gets before they carry-out their role of serious guard dog! So very quickly I spoke to them .... nothing changed apart from slightly more inquisitive looks! I took off the hat an scarf and all was back to normal and they came over to me much more relaxed. So the hat and scarf was not something I normally wear or that they had seen me in before. I had changed my appearance yet was too far away for them to pick up my recognisable scent so they only had their eyes to use - dogs use their nose first then ears then last of all eyes. So by getting them to use their senses backwards this was not normal behaviour and their eyes are their weakest of their senses - so they did not recognise me!

It is well know in dog psychology that big winter coats can have the same impact on a dog whose owner comes home with the coat on they can get startled and even run away or worse go into attack!

So as high visibility coats are exactly that - highly visible to dogs as well!! They make you look different to a dog as your outline is how they recognise you via their eyes alone - you look different = you are different in a Dog's mind! Outside where there are so many other smells/sounds to challenge their nose/ears the chances are they may well react with an unusual behaviour towards you...it's not you...it's not the coat...it's the mixture!

So owners - "What not to wear" - remember that when we look different we may recognise ourselves (or not as the case maybe - we humans rely heavily on our eyes first and I for one have walked straight past a work mate at a weekend as they weren't in their suit I didn't recognise them!!) - so too then our dogs may not, for me I take that big winter coat off before I go inside..and the hat/scarf! For sure though a dog will get used to an owner wearing different clothes etc but others they normally greet with a welcome they may not if they look different! Oh you should have seen the Gt Dane that day - he shot off to try and hide behind a small kitchen chair - he truly believed I couldn't see him! And Gt Danes used to be guarding breeds...not anymore well not our Monty..now "hiding breed"... .Oh Yes that would be him!

Remember dogs live in the now - every single moment the context of an event may change that event making it unrecognisable - to a dog it is not completely the same as another time/similar situation - it is new and so they may act differently - more on that soon!!

Ambassador Human...Ambassador Dog!

Hi all, SORRY I have been "absent" but I'm back in the NOW!!!! - Well I have been very busy working and participating in the Dog Whisperer Group which had led to an incredible honour - I have been given recognition by Cesar Millan Inc as an Ambassador of Cesar's Way - The Dog Whisperer(DW). Now this is truly WOW, I join a great group of people also recognised for their ability to follow, understand and promote Cesar's philosophy by effectively communicating his ways - train the owners and rehab the dogs. So I am the UK/Europe Ambassador and this will help me to help you all in becoming the Pack Leader - remember my original goal when in January I set up this blog was to promote responsible dog ownership and this is how I came across Cesar The DW! By explaining...translating communication between humans and dogs I hope to encourage all to learn "how to behave around/with dogs" making this " common knowledge" so it can become "common sense"! Thereby helping to PREVENT accidents, unwanted dogs, unhappy dogs, dogs with problems, breed bans, dogs being unnecessarily being euthanized e.g. for triggered aggression and the list goes on....we do this through gaining a greater understanding of dog behaviour - our relatioships with them and their psychology - I can tell you "what dogs really mean"!! I love helping you all on-line, those in the DW group have really helped me and my pack too, it's like an "extended family"!

Anyway, back to my pack - I have appointed 2 dog Ambassadors!! Sadie and Bob are two balanced "follower" dogs, who if I meet a loose dog out on a walk I send out to greet that dog first. The "power of the pack" from these 2 helps to calm a "stranger dog" before they come near the rest of the pack, actually usually they don't approach the rest of us as these 2 distract them and keep them from approaching by blocking the other dog using their energy - quite incredible to watch! They are Ambassadors because they advocate my ways - to use the dog's option of "avoid", they are super cool dogs! I teach all my dogs to choose "Avoid" when seeing another dog, this is a large pack walk there are 9 of them now on one walk and it is far better to avoid than risk any confrontation and the dog's choosing their own options e.g. "flight" as I would disappear into the distance being dragged behind them at the other end of their leads!! If another dog were to carry on towards us then as Pack Leader I stop the dog from coming close - it is my job to protect my pack, they trust this now and do not react on their own they await my direction - I direct my dogs to choose submit while I take charge and move the other dog back/away from our space...my dogs they follow me!

Oh and for those of you who watch the DW show - hey you should all be doing this by now :-) I have my very own stooge dogs like Daddy, not only Sadie and Bob but Alfie the English Setter, Jack the Chihuahua and Monty the Gt Dane! Max the Dobey thinks he is in retirement now except for chasing those sea birds!

So Happy Pack Leading All - Stay Calm Assertive!