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Hello John;
I have been doing a lot of new research on training puppies as I have the opportunity to get a Husky/Malamute puppy. I have home trained my last 3 assistance dogs. My present dog is an absolutely wonderful Husky/Malamute/Labrador. She is aging and it is time to begin training another dog. Do you believe that with proper early training (encouraging what we wish, discouraging what we don't and channelling the prey drive into something useful + socialization and obedience of course, a person could successfully reduce these breed's prey drive - if any, into manageable or low levels? I love a lot of the Malamute temperament - the independence and calm confidence, cuddliness not to mention the size and strength.
E.
Dear E.
I have to say I think your question is moot. Unless the service you're looking at having the dog provide is eating fish and pulling a sled I'd say you're looking at the wrong breed. A Husky or a Malamute are to the service dog world what a Golden Retriever is to the sled dog world. Your current dog is most likely drawing on the Lab genes to perform its duties. I don't know of any true service dog training organization that even considers Huskies or Malamutes.
Yours is a topic I've been giving some thought to lately. It seems if you can sew up a vest and say it's a service dog nobody says anything. I was at a conference this year where a “service” dog spent the weekend rifling through people's bags agitating other dogs, wandering away at every opportunity. This was not an isolated experience. I've seen biting, growling, snapping, running away etc. by “service” dogs. I'm seeing more and more dogs without the temperament or the training of a legitimate service dog being called service dogs by people unqualified to say so, let alone select and train one.
The whole service animal situation is getting out of hand. I'm not sure where and who should be drawing the line but somebody needs to. Generally speaking, we're seeing dogs of questionable temperament, “certified” by ill qualified dog trainers, rather then approved associations, demanding access to places their dog has no business being. No one speaks up, probably out of fear of having the politically correct crowd twisting “I don't want an unqualified animal in my place of business” to “I hate the disabled.” or “I hate animals.”
I don't hate animals or the disabled or disabled animals or disabled people that behave like animals. I do however hate the abandonment of common sense particularly when it jeopardizes the legitimacy of true service animals. A while back I saw a news piece about a woman that insisted proximity to her horse was necessary to maintain her mental equilibrium and she rode it everywhere, even into the grocery store. I'm sure she has legitimate issues but I have issues too. One is I become emotionally fragile when a flatulent horse walks through the aisle I buy my salad ingredients.
A proper service animal's purpose is to contribute to the safety and health of the owner. However not at the expense of the general public. Service dog candidates need to be selected by a specialized professional. “Many are called, few are chosen” applies. Their obedience training must include a minimum standard that isn't so minimum. A service dog should not mean, “I own a dog, I have a need and I've found someone that has trained a few dogs in an unrelated discipline to “certify” my dog. True service dogs are very important and this airy-fairy definition of service or assistance dog is sooner or later going to reflect poorly on legitimate service dogs, service dog trainers and owners.
John Wade |
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Dear John,
We have a problem when we have company over with our Giant Schnauzer. He tends to push at people with his nose and then nips at clothes. He nipped our tenant's friend in the butt when she was walking away from us. Also when we go out for an evening and come home he growls at my husband and is stand offish. We read that is a dominance issue so my husband made a point of being the only one to feed him and show that he is the alpha male. Now he growls when my husband feeds him. What do we do?
Joyce
Dear Joyce,
Dominance, alpha, pack leader, whatever you want to call it isn't found in a food dish. Your dog might just as easily interpret your husband giving him food as viewing him as a subordinate surrendering his food to his superior. His attitude when you've been out for the evening might stem from his seeing you as his “property”. Maybe from your dog's perspective he sees you come traipsing in with what from his perspective is your beta boyfriend after going who knows where and doing who knows what and like with the food is warning him.
If you and your husband want your dog to learn who's the teacher and who's the student build these into your understanding of dog training. 1. A dog is learning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week whether you're teaching or not. 2. Constant supervision turns into consistent behaviour. 3. If the dog can't be caught, the dog can't be taught. 4. When the dog thinks it's stronger, it won't listen any longer. 5. Without a dog's attention, there can't be any retention. 6. When you don't immediately repeat, the lesson's incomplete.
Let's use the nipping as an example. Firstly your dog has to be reminded throughout the day that you and your husband are the ones with the opposable thumbs not just when he does something wrong so have him drag his leash attached to a proper collar and supervise him throughout the day like CBS lawyers supervising David Letterman at the next staff party. With the leash the dog can't get to the guest's butt before you can get to the dog or the food dish or down the stairs or through the door or to the back of the yard.
If the dog's faster which he is, and stronger which he might be you can supervise him all you want but when the need for a chat arises he's capable of shrugging you off. That's where the right collar comes in. I've tried them all and finally just designed one myself that doesn't freak the dog or the owner out and still gets the job done. The idea is to have power steering rather then having to use two hands and heels dug in to get the dog's attention. Just as with any other job the right tools are an asset. Neutralize the strength factor and you'll be amazed how quickly brains replace brawn.
With a leash and a proper collar if you tug the leash to the left or right like you'd tug on my shirt sleeve you might actually get your dog's attention before you try to train him. It's not to correct him, it's to get his attention so you can correct and reward him with your tone and body language.
Finally give him a shot at actually connecting the dots by setting him up to make his mistakes and repeating the lesson at least 3 times each time. In fact make it the flavour of the week. When jumping is the problem I just ask guests and anyone else that might co-operate to try and get the dog to jump but asking guests to wiggle their butts as targets might have a downside. Particularly if your dog has a sense of humour and instead of trying to nip just looks at you incredulously after you say, “Please wiggle your butt, I'm trying to train my dog.”
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca |
Hi John,
We have a ten month old puppy and a seven month old granddaughter; the problem is our dog is very jealous of our granddaughter and shows aggressive behavior in the form of non stop barking, jumping up and trying to nip her. Cedric wants her toys, blankets etc. and most of all he wants our attention. We have had to resort to putting him into his kennel because we are afraid he will hurt her. He has been to puppy school and did not do well there; he is a wonderful little dog and we love him lots but he has bad habits of not coming when called (in fact he runs away from us) we have just about lost him a couple of times; he jumps and nips and can be quite aggressive with us too, he seems to be a very strong willed dog. We will not give him away so we have to find out a way to make it work with our granddaughter and him.
Thanks – Betty
Hi Betty,
Normally I jump on a letter that involves a child aggressive dog like a politician on a pay raise, particularly when the writer says something like “we will not give him away” as I believe in children first, dogs second. I still believe that but this letter reeks not so much of bad dog as bad handling. I'm willing to bet when your dog misbehaves you think you're saying, “No!” but he's hearing “When you have a minute could you check your day timer? Oh. Well alright then, when you have an opening have your people call my people.”
I have what I call a rule of three regarding the consequence part of teaching. If the dog makes the same mistake three times in a row than the consequence from the dog's perspective and that's the only perspective that counts wasn't a consequence and I have to massage it until it is. You need to book an appointment with a trainer that believes that firm and fair go hand in hand and that consequence for ones actions whether two-legged or four-legged is part of life.
Depending what you mean by “quite aggressive with us too”, I'd predict that if he doesn't get an attitude adjustment from someone that loves him he could find himself in the “bone yard” before he's three and not because he's a victim of bad genetics or horrible abuse but because he's a victim of lack of clarity.
You describe him as “strong willed.” You need to be stronger willed. Those two words can be whittled down to one word; parenting. I bet at this point I could turn this dog around so fast you'd think I'd performed an exorcism but in this case the dog doesn't need the training so much as you do and without your learning the hows, the whys and the whens when we parted company it would be long before one of Beelzebub's minions returned to retake possession of your dog, which is why you need to book with a balanced trainer.
My experience has been when you finally say, “No!”, in a manner the dog takes seriously he will reply “Thank God! Mother where have you been?” and maybe, “Please don't tell dad!” Between now and your balanced trainer appointment stick his leash on for him to drag around while supervised and the crate otherwise. When I say supervised I mean like a two year old kid in a room full of cacti. That alone will cut your problems in half before your balanced training appointment; but cut in half isn't enough, still go! My gut feeling is it will be the best money you'll ever spend on this dog.
Regards,
John Wade
www.johnwade.ca |
Hi John,
We are the owners of a 17 month old male Golden Retriever, Snatch. This past June, we decided to take Snatch to a local trainer who uses clicker training. He did well with the basics-sit,stay,crate etc. Things have changed. Sometimes he will listen most of the time, he won't.
He has always been a hyper dog, and has displayed some signs of worrisome behaviours-he nips, chews, jumps, scratches, barks excessively, won't come when called, knocks over the kids, growls and has showed his teeth.
We can't have him around when we have guests over-he is always crated or put in the backyard because he will jump on them and scratch and nip etc. He spends most of the day in the kitchen-gated off from the living room, because when we let him in, he eats everything, steals the kids toys, and we are worried he is going to hurt them.
We are frustrated and stressed and at our wits end.
Barb
Hi Barb,
More often then not when people pay for clicker training they're without realizing it paying someone to teach their dogs to do tricks. Mind you those tricks are called Sit, Down, Stay etc. I call them tricks when end result is a dog won't do it for any longer then it takes to swallow a treat or their owner to turn their back. I call them a job if, using the “Stay” for example you can get a guest in and out the door.
Clicker training is supposed to be based on operant conditioning something attributed to one of the gods of most of the “all positive” dog trainers; B.F. Skinner. This is ironic because Skinner's work very clearly states negative and positive must go hand in hand for learning to occur. Operant conditioning is based on teaching using 4 quadrants; positive reinforcement – something is given to the dog, negative reinforcement – something is taken from the dog, positive punishment – significant consequence applied, negative punishment – reward is taken away.
With very few exceptions most of the “all positive” clicker trainers I've met think they can teach a dog to reliably; Come, Heel, and Stay without two of the quadrants that might actually make the dog think twice about pursuing an undesired course of action. That in a nutshell is one of the reasons why so much clicker training as it commonly exists doesn't work. Trainers can not pick and choose and/or selectively interpret the quadrants to suit a utopic philosophy. It ultimately produces the same sort of results as a speeder deciding she's only going to actually pull over if requested by police in 2 out of the 4 quadrants in her city. Sooner or later she's going to jail and in the dog training sense so does the relationship with a dog.
This form of jail is that the dog owner is unhappy because because like yours the dog is harder to live with not to mention you can't go anywhere with the dog. The dog is unhappy because based on all the yelling and screaming of their owner they can't take their owner anywhere. All parties are locked up in relationship jail. Only because someone thinks the dog's self esteem will be wrecked when consequence for actions are applied. I know some very good clicker trainers but the clicker is just one of many tools in their tool bag. Generally it's tucked underneath the word or act of “No”.
All positive dog Clicker trainers don't raise their children, guide the owners of the dogs they're not training or live any of their life in that way. Only dogs are “special” enough and I don't know why and they're not telling. If I had to be all positive all the time in the raising my sons I wouldn't have two sons, either that or because I'd performed a miracle my name would be up for not saint hood at the Vatican. |
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Hi John, I have a 7 yr. old larger breed that I acquired almost 2 yrs. ago. He's a good dog overall except he's not good around small children. The person I'm moving in with has 2 young children age 2 and 6 and Torch has already nipped the 6 yr. old in the face. He's good around the kids if they don't bother him. He'll go up to them, smell them, walk past them, anything, until they go to him, then he lowers his ears and head and curls up his lip. If I catch him right away then that's as far as it goes. I'm wondering if there's a chance to get him used to kids, or if I should try to find him a new home?
Stella
Hi Stella,
Saying, “He's good around kids if they don't bother him” and then moving him in with two kids is sort of like saying my dog comes unless there are squirrels about and then buying yourself a squirrel farm.
I know a lot of people that through thick or thin one must honour their commitment to the dog. I do believe that we take on a very important trust when we assume responsibility for another living creature. However I do not believe that absolves us of our responsibility for the safety of our friends and neighbours let alone the vulnerability of children.
Even in ideal situations it is naive to believe that educating children about dogs helps significantly. They are vulnerable because despite the diligence of their parents to educate them they simply will never be able to stop being children. Two year old and 6 year olds will behave like 2 year olds and 6 year olds no matter how well educated they are in the ways of a dog. Any parent that has discovered their precious testing the toilet flush's strength by investing increasing sizes of mom's jewellery knows this. “If I catch him right away then that's as far as it goes.” isn't going to cut it.
Obviously, your situation is worse then living with a stable dog. You have no wiggle room. Your dog is already uncomfortable with this new arrangement. Enough so he actually nailed a child in the face. If nothing else, you should hear it as a cry for help from your dog. “Hey, I'm 7. I'm nearing retirement and you want me to spend my remaining years how?”
The flattening of his ears and other posturing indicate this is fear based and whenever I encounter this sort of reaction I can be almost certain the dog was not properly socialized with children or in your case socialized around the way they approach. Essentially to the dog, the kids are humans until they move and in doubt it tries to protect itself.
Some dogs can be brought around to the point where they say, “I'll do it but I don't have to like it.” However, the number of success stories if you want to call that success are dwarfed by the number of dogs killed because the rehab attempts failed and at the expense of a child.
Don't wait that long, have him assessed but prepare yourself that his best bet may be his owner putting his mental well being before her own and then find him as close to a child free zone as possible to live in.
John Wade www.johnwade.ca |
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