Austin Dog Trainer Blog

The Littermate Aggression Issue

As many of you know, I work with littermates and their owners on a frequent basis.  In fact, it has become an issue that is near and dear to my heart.  I've written posts on it before and have received many emails and comments to those posts describing the trouble that others have had with owning littermates.  This morning, I received another comment from a woman who is considering adopting littermates from her local shelter.  The dogs have never been apart and it sounds as if the shelter would like for them to stay together.  I thought I would use this as an opportunity to update you on my views about adopting or purchasing littermates (or even two dogs of similar age). 

There was a time when I would have described the potential effects of adopting littermates as "sad" or possibly harmful.  The words I would use today are "horrifying" and "tragic".  I will use two recent cases of mine to illustrate.

I received a call from a woman who was having some issues with her two one-year old male Briards.  They had been raised together since puppies and were engaging in a great deal of door charging.  Although she did not report it to me at the time, one of the dogs had recently bit a neighbor and broken the skin (it was a Level 3 bite on the bite scale of 1-6).  Overall, she was not having major issues with them yet, but she was frightened by what might happen.  She scheduled an appointment with me for the following Monday morning.  Tragically, the Friday before our consultation, I received a call from her boyfriend.  She had been attacked by the dogs and was in the hospital, where she received over 100 stitches and a two day stay.  /she had been bitten on her calves, thighs, forearms, and upper arms.  There were also wounds to her back and her stomach. After getting the details of the incident from her, I can honestly say, this is one of the rare times that an attack was utterly unprovoked.  These bites qualify at a minimum as a Level 5 bite and are arguably Level 6.

Another recent consult involved two puppies who were not from the same litter. One was 5 1/2 months old and the other was 4 1/2 months old.  They were left out of crates, unsupervised throughout the day.  The older of the two puppies was already resource guarding and attacking the other puppy.  He was biting the other puppy and his owners.  He was inflicting Level 3 bites already.  The younger puppy's development and growth was severely stunted and both were fearful and reactive towards strangers.  The owner was in for some major training to get these two back on track!

Now, these are  admittedly two extreme examples of littermate issues; however, the number of times I have seen issues such as these makes me firmly believe that noone should adopt two dogs that are littermates or the same age puppies.  The risk is too great, the damage too severe, and the puppies themselves would do much better to be homed in two separate homes. I can genuinely say that I believe you will be doing a disservice to the puppies if you bring two of them home instead of one!

Cara Vacchiano, JD, CPDT, CAP1
Buddy's Chance, LLC, Austin Dog Training and Behavior.

Back from another trip to Sequim!

I'm just back from another trip to Sequim, Washington!  While no trip to beautiful Sequim is ever wasted, this trip was a particularly good one!  I spent a week chicken training with world-renowned animal trainer, Bob Bailey.  We spent the week training two chickens to discriminate between different shapes and colors.  One of my chicken, Sweetie, learned only to peck on a triangle shaped target to earn reinforcement.  The other, Chickie, learned only to peck a blue colored target for her reinforcement.  We work on this until our birds will only peck the hot target no matter what order they are in when placed down with other shapes and colors.  If the hot target is picked up and only "wrong answers" are shown, the chicken will wait for at least 20 seconds without offering the wrong answer.  They'll then immediately peck the hot target when it is placed down.

Then, on the last day, using only free-shaping (clicking and treating for successive approximations of our end goal), we teach the chickens to no longer peck their original shape or color, but to peck a new shape or color for reinforcement instead!  This challenges the trainer's skill in timing, setting and recognizing criteria, effective placement of reinforcement, observation, and much more!  It's an extremely effective and fun way to polish and maintain a dog trainer's skill!  I'll post video clips later in the week.  I'm working on the same discrimination exercises with some of our boarding dogs now, too!  They love the mental stimulation and interaction.
Cara Vacchiano, Buddy's Chance, Austin Dog Training and Behavior

Building projects at the training center!

It seems each building project at our Austin dog training center takes about 5 more trips to Home Depot then I think they will!  We're busy building our luxury dog boarding suites for our Austin boarding dogs so they have room to stretch their legs and board in style.  So far, we've made 3 trips to Home Depot and I'm headed back for more.  The suites are looking good though!  They're about 6.5 x 5 feet big - much bigger than you'd find at a regular dog kennel.  Cushy digs for our spoiled dogs!  I'll try to do a 360 degree video when we're done building them - I'll have to see how talented I can get with the camera;-) 

Back to building!

Cara, Austin dog trainer

How far would you travel for board and train for your dog?

I was going through some of the forms today for our Austin Dog Board and Train programs and it occurred to me that people come from some very long distances for our dog board and train services.  Although most of our board and train clients live right here in Austin, many come from Kyle, San Marcos, and Dallas.  I have a client who is currently looking for board and train services for her elderly mother's dog in Missouri so she and I were discussing the pros and cons of doing a board and train program for dogs on a distance basis.  There are several things to consider when deciding whether to do a long-distance board and train program for your dog.  First, will you be able to go to the trainer's location and work with them at least once or twice to help your dog transfer the learned behaviors to you?  My clients are all able to do this with me even though they live several hours away.  Are there any quality dog trainers where you live that offer similar services?  If so, what can the long distance trainer offer that they cannot?  Will the trainer provide telephone support free of charge to you after your dog goes home to help with the transition to your home?  Last, is the board and train program a highly specialized one that you cannot find elsewhere?  For example, perhaps it is a dog board and train program that addresses aggression or that trains your dog to be a hunting dog.  This may make travel more reasonable.

Whether you decide to do a long distance dog board and train program or one that is close to you, remember to ask a lot of questions about the type of training provided, the care your dog will receive, the private training that you will receive, and the level of generalizing and proofing of the behaviors that you can expect from the program!

Cara, Austin Dog Trainer

What are the most important things to teach your new puppy?

Most puppy owners are eager to work on things like sit and stay.  I want the  focus to be on socializing that puppy (teaching the puppy about sights, smells, sounds, people, and other dogs), teaching the puppy not to jump up or nip at your heels, and teaching the puppy to pay attention to you when you say its name.  If I had a puppy, my puppy would:

1 - Never see the inside of a food bowl:  All food would come either from me for sitting, looking at me when I say its name, or coming when called.  Any food I wasn't using for training would go into interactive feeding toys for my puppy to figure out.

2 - Go with me to a new place every single day:  No matter how tired I was, my puppy would go to the vet's office to say hello, a Home Depot to see sights and sounds, a children's playground, or a shopping center every single day for the first few months of its life.  I want a puppy that is not afraid of new experiences.

3 - Get fed for sitting from as many people as I could possibly find.

4 - Be crate trained and trained to stay alone comfortably.

Sure, there are other things I would teach and we would do a lot of training, but these are the things I'd focus on for the first couple of months of that puppy's life! 

Cara, Austin Dog Trainer

Smart Dog Blog!

One of my fellow board members on the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers has this excellent blog on dog training: http://smartdog.typepad.com/  Check it out!

Cara Vacchiano, CPDT, Austin Dog Training and Behavior

Teach your dog to beg!

My dog begs for food at the table- what should I do?

Begging can be an extremely annoying habit, but it is actually quite fixable!  ll you need to do is decide HOW you want your dog to beg and then train that begging behavior.  For example, let's say my dog begs by standing with its head in my lap drooling on me.  I can simply decide that I'd like my dog to beg for food by laying on a bed across the room instead.  First, teach your dog to lay on the bed and then begin reinforcing your dog with food as long as he lays there quietly when you eat.  At first, you'll need to reinforce your dog with a piece of food throughout your meal - the reinforcement may need to be every few seconds at first.  Over time, your dog can learn to lay on its bed for a single reinforcer at the end of the meal.  Eventually, your dog will even learn to go to its bed without being told to whenever you sit down to eat because it knows this is the chance to earn some goodies! 

Alternatively, you could reinforce your dog for staying behind a certain line (such as a doorway threshold) while you eat.  Or, pay your dog for laying at your feet.  Just pick some nice way of begging and reinforce that new behavior heavily!

Cara, Buddy's Chance, Austin Dog Training

Dolphin bubbles!

Ever seen a dolphin play with bubble rings?  Dolphins can make bubble rings in the water - check out this video of dolphins playing with their bubble rings! 

Cara, Austin Dog Training and Behavior

If doorways aren't the answer to leadership, what is?

So, if going through the door isn't the way to gain leadership over my dog, what is?  Should I eat first?  Do Alpha Rolls?  Maybe I should never let him stand above me when I'm laying on the floor. 

To be honest, I don't think there is any ONE thing you can do that makes your dog respect you or see you as a leader for them.  In general, I believe in requiring politeness and manners around the house and not allowing dogs to get things in life by being pushy or barking.  And, don't forget, not every dog is walking around trying to figure out how to take over the world or even just your house!  We probably think about leadership a lot more than most dogs do because it's been drilled into our heads in the popular media that we need to establish dominance over our dogs.  That said, there are some things that can contribute to a well-run house:

1. Hand feed your dog or puppy throughout the day.  Rather than putting food in a bowl and letting your dog scarf it down, hand feed your dog its meals throughout the day as reinforcers for looking at you when you say its name, coming when called, sitting politely instead of jumping up, or performing a trick like shake or roll over.  Remember, control the assets (food) and you'll control the behavior!
2. Never respond to demand barking or jumping up.  If your dog or puppy is jumping on you or barking at you to get something it wants, leave the room!  Rude manners make me leave!
3. Require pleases and thank yous!  Okay, this one isn't quite accurate because I rarely require a thank you from my dog.  I always require a please, though!  Dogs can say please for things they want (there are those all important assets again!) by sitting, doing a roll over, performing a down stay, or touching a target on cue.  Any trained behavior can serve as a "please" to earn an asset (going outside in the yard, coming up on your lap for petting, having a toy thrown, getting you to put a food bowl down).

Remember, you're the one with the opposable thumbs and big brain!  Use those to your advantage. 

Cara, Buddy's Chance, LLC Austin Dog Training, Dog Behavior, and Dog Daycare

Do I need to go through the door before my dog?

People often tell me that they're making their dog wait to go through the door after they've walked through.  Their intention is to establish themselves as leader with their dog.   Personally, I believe you can do just fine as the leader of your group even if you let your dog out the door ahead of you.  Both of my dogs frequently go out the door ahead of me and neither one has any issues with leadership.  The key is to control your dogs at the door.  My dogs have a wait at the door and a DOOR cue that tells them when to go through the door.  That way, if I want them to let me go first, I can have them wait and if I want them to go through the door ahead of me, I can say DOOR and they understand to move through the doorway. 

The DOOR cue is very easy to teach - start saying DOOR just before your dog moves through the door.  After several days, your dog will begin to pair that cue with the action of moving through the door. 

Your next step is to teach the Wait at the doors.  This one is really just as easy to teach, if you practice it.  Ask your dog for a Sit and, after they've sat, begin to open the door.  If their bottom comes off of the floor at all, close the door and wait for them to sit again (it may take several minutes for them to sit again - just wait).  When they've sat again, open the door again.  If they let you open the door without getting up from their sit, tell them DOOR and let them go through the door.  If they get up from their sit before you give the DOOR cue, close the door and wait for the Sit again.  Repeat the opening and shutting of the door over and over until they realize they have to keep their bottom on the floor to make the door open!

For an excellent demonstration of how to teach this and several other useful "politeness and manners" behaviors to your dog, check out Dr. Patricia McConnell's video, Feeling Outnumbered.

Cara, Buddy's Chance, LLC Austin Dog Training, Behavior, and Dog Daycare