Austin Dog Trainer Blog

Sniff It! Why You Should Encourage Your Dog to Use His Nose

Don’t smell the neighbor’s butt.”  “Stop sniffing the ground; we’re walking now.”  “Take your nose out of the fridge.”  As dog owners help their pets learn the rules of human society, we also put limits on how they interact with their environment.  Dogs use their noses much more than we humans do, so give your dog a chance to sniff it!

An easy way to let your dog use his nose is to let him hunt for his dinner or special treats.  Throw some of your dog’s food in the grass.

 

 

 

Or try using an old muffin tin, place dry food in the bottom of the tin and place tennis balls on top of the food.  Let your dog “find” the food under the tennis ball.  These are 2 simple games you can play - but use your imagination and let your dog hunt!

Here are some more great reasons to play sniff it games with your dog.  Hunting for food...

1. burns calories.  If you’re watching your pet’s waistline, try some sniff games!

2. provides mental stimulation.  Bust your pup’s boredom by hiding some treats around the house.

3. builds confidence.  Increase your dog’s interest in engaging with environment by placing cookies in the yard or house for him to find.  

Body Language In Dog-Dog Play

Austin Dog Training clients frequently ask questions about body language. Check out this blog post for a discussion on how the introduction of different toys can impact dog-dog play. There are a few comments on body language that may be informative for those of you who have asked for helpful tips in interpreting body language. You need not be a professional dog trainer to enjoy :)

http://becomeaprofessionaldogtrainer.com/2013/05/video-change-the-dog-toy-change-the-dog-play/

Ziwi Peak Dog Food as Treats

Want a great way to feed tons and tons of treats to your dog without 

making your dog fat? Use Ziwi Peak brand dog food for training treats. 

This super quality dog food is small enough to be perfect for training 

treats, it is a great consistency and smells wonderful to the dog, 

so they think they're getting treats, but in reality you can just

substitute this food for your dog's regular diet. Even a small dog can 

eat hundreds of the tiny bites in a day and never get tired of it or 

overfed. 

http://www.amazon.com/ZiwiPeak-Grain-Dried-Venison-2-2lb/dp/B002AY5BHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358562480&sr=8-1&keywords=ziwipeak

I met with a client of our Austin Dog Training Center today who got it 

after I recommended it in a private dog training session last week and 

the dog and owner are in love with it! 

Cara Shannon, Austin Dog Training

Join Buddy's Chance and Victoria Stilwell at Puppy Mill Awareness Day in Austin!

http://www.pmadtx.com/pmad2012.html

A full day of fun and education for dogs and their people!

Supervise, supervise, supervise!

One thing we can't stress enough at our Austin Dog Training Center is to supervise new puppies and even new adult dogs in the household!

When you adopt a new dog or a puppy, you don't know whether that dog knows the rules of living in a household or not (with a puppy, you can assume they don't!). If your puppy or dog chews on the dining room table leg or picks at the carpet edge to tear it apart, or potties inside without being calmly interupted and redirected to an appropriate behavior, your dog is going to be reinforced for the behavior and will be likely to repeat it again!

If you keep your dog or puppy baby gated into the room you are in, on a leash with you, or in a safe area such as a crate or exercise pen with toys, you can spot the problem behaviors before much reinforcement takes place, interrupt them, and redirect your dog to the right behavior. This puts you in the lead with training rather than being behind the eight ball!

Cara Shannon, Austin Dog Trainer

Get Your Dog to Come When You Call!

At our Austin Dog Training Center, a common complaint is that our client's dog will not come when called.  Follow these tips for getting your dog to come when called successfully. 

1. Start with baby steps.  Before you take your training outside, practice with your dog in a quiet, low distraction place like in different rooms of your house.  Once your dog is reliably coming to you inside, practice in your backyard, your front yard on a leash, on walks, and on a 10-15 foot long line in your yard or neighborhood. Then, try bringing your dog to a park during a quieter time of the day and practice on a long line there. 
2. Have the right kind of motivation for your dog.  A high value treat like a bit of turkey, dog food roll, or a small piece of turkey hot dog works well.   If your dog is toy obsessed, use a brand new toy with a high pitched squeaker or a favorite tennis ball.  If your dog likes running, call your dog to come and let your dog chase you around the yard. Remember, when you are competing with other dogs, the environment, and other interesting things, a milk bone isn’t going to cut it. When we teach coming when called at our Austin Dog Training Center, we always start out with very high value food for a few weeks and then mix in toys, games, and other reinforcers.
3. Be fun.  Instead of just saying “come” and standing still, make kissy noises or whistle and start running away from your dog.  Show your dog that you are more fun than the environment you are competing with and that you know how to have a good time!
4. Only use the word “come” for positive things like toys, treats, and praise.  If you call your dog to you and then do something unpleasant to your dog (like bathe him or put him in his crate), you are punishing your dog for doing the right thing.After your dog has mastered coming when called, you can ease up on this rule a bit but be very conscious of it during the first few months of training.

If you need more help with getting your dog to come when called, check out our A La Carte Class: Hey You! Coming When Called and Focus.  This two week class meets for 30 minutes two weeks in a row and works on getting your dog to come when called and to have better focus on you.

https://buddyschance.dogbizpro.com/Public/Registration/Index.aspx?tab=classes

 

Tina Zarate, Austin Dog Trainer

Dog Chewing your house apart?

When dealing with chewing problems at our Austin dog training center, the first thing we do is screen the dog for separation anxiety. We want to know if the dog vocalizes, drools, pants, paces, and barks when the owner is gone. If so, how long does the dog do this for? Does the dog chew on things like shoes and book sor is the dog targeting the areas where the owner left from, such as chewing on door frames, window sills, or window blinds? Does the dog urinate or defecate when teh owner is gone?Does the dog injure itself trying to follw the owner? If the dog is chewing on household items and does not display the other signs above, most likely, the behavior is driven by boredom or the dog's inate need to exercise its jaw! Follow these steps to help get your dog's chewing problem under control:

1.      Prevent your dog from making chewing mistakes by finding an appropriate confinement area for your dog and making sure he does not have access to inappropriate chewing items like shoes, phone, etc.  If your dog can't get to your shoes or phone, he does not have the chance to practice a bad chewing habit.  We have our Austin dog training clients either crate train their dog or teach the dog to stay calmly in one room of the house that has been doggy proofed and gated off from the rest of the house. An alternative is to build an outdoor kennel run with shade, a bucket of water, and cool areas to lie on such as garden stone or a cooling bed (never give your dog full run of the yard when left alone outdoors - always build a separate kennel space).

2.      Provide a variety of appropriate chew toys.  Invest in at least 5-10 different types of chew toys and rotate them on a weekly basis .   A few favorites of ours at our Austin dog training center are the Kong, Nylabones, Bully Sticks,  and Busy Buddy bones but ask your veterinarian which chew toys are right for your dog.  

3.       Teach your dog to make good chewing choices by offering rewards/praise when they make the right choice.   This lets your dog know he is doing the right thing.   Remember, dogs repeat behaviors that are reinforced. If your dog chews on things when you're home, try baby gating your dog into the same room with you or keeping your dog on a leash with you around the house for a few weeks. If your dog is in another room chewing on a table leg and you don't redirect it to an appropriate chew toy, there is no way your dog can learn!

 

Tina Zarate, Austin Dog Trainer, Buddy's Chance, LLC

 

Analyzing Dog Bites Rationally and Systematically

By now, we've all seen the footage of the dog bite to news anchor Kyle Dyer and there's been a great deal of analysis by professional trainers on the body language that hinted at the state of the dog, his stress level and discussion of the stacking of triggers that likely led to the dog's bite. One term I've seen thrown around a great deal is "bite inhibition," with some people arguing that this dog did not show bite inhibition and some arguing that he did. I've also heard several people argue that the dog's bite would have, in fact, been worse were it not for the owner holding the dog back.

As an expert in dog bite analysis, I am frequently called upon to analyze dog bites and the circumstances surrounding the bites. I then give an opinion as to the bite threshold issues and the dog's bite inhibition. With this case, I cannot give a full analysis because I don't have the benefit of personal interviews with the dog's owner, the victim, and witnesses to the bite. I also don't have the full details of the injury or the dog's history, including any previous evidence of fear, triggers, or aggressive incidents. I can, however, go through the evidence that has surfaced and help people understand how this analysis is done and what factors should be considered when we take the time to analyze a bite incident calmly and rationally.

The first thing I always look at when analyzing a dog bite are the dog's bite threshold issues. The dog's bite threshold refers to the factor or combination of factors that would cause a dog to use its mouth to bite. This helps us understand whether the dog is likely to bite again in the future. For
example, in this case, there were several factors that likely led to the dog's final decision to use its mouth to bite.

• The dog had been through a traumatic experience only a day or so
  before this;
• It was brought to a very strange place with bright lights, new
  people, weird machines that move around and "stare" at him with a
  hard eye (the cameras);
• And an owner who likely was nervous and stressed out, causing him
  to behave differently and probably even smell differently to his dog.

That is an awful lot to handle but it is also a lot of trigger stacking! The good news about this situation is that, assuming (and this is a big assumption I'm only making for argument's sake here) that this dog has not demonstrated any kind of fear, anxiety, aggression, or reactivity to people or situations that did not involve this many convoluted factors in the past, we can safely assume that this combination of factors will not happen again in this dog's life!

Now, something we need to consider is whether ALL of these factors were needed to lead this dog to bite or whether this dog would have bitten with only two or three of these triggers in place. Although we cannot know this for sure, taking a good history with the dog would certainly help us make an educated guess. Another thing to consider is that this dog did not bite immediately. It was managing to cope with the lights, its nervous owner, the cameras, new location, and new people for quite some time and it was only when the final trigger was "stacked" on (when Kyle leaned in for a kiss) that he bit. One thing to carefully scrutinize in this dog's history is whether he has been in the position of having strangers bring their faces down to his for a kiss in the past and, if so, what was the result. In other words, was it this one thing alone that would be enough to trigger him or was that simply the last trigger on the stack?

The next thing we look at with bite threshold is how likely the dog is to be put into the same threshold situation again, or a situation that is close enough to the trigger situation, during its lifetime. Here, it is extremely unlikely that this dog will be put into the same scenario with this number of stacked triggers again. I would think his owner would be motivated enough to ensure that this "perfect storm" never happens again.

The question to ask is whether the dog might be put into a situation where a stranger might lean into his face for a kiss again. If this situation is likely to happen, much depends on the owner's willingness to go through training with his dog. We know that this owner let his dog off leash at least one time in a public place, leading to the dog's rescue from the water that started this whole thing. Does the owner have a habit of this? Does the dog slip out the door and run loose? Are there children in the home and, if so, how old are they? These are all factors to be considered in this case.

The owner will need to learn to teach his dog that having people enter his space is okay. He will need to learn to carefully manage his dog's space and defend his dog against intrusions that the dog can't handle, now that he knows this is an issue. He will need to learn to read his dog's body language and manage him appropriately. He will need to be forever vigilant against allowing this type of situation to take place again – on top of training in case management fails.

After considering the bite threshold issues, I turn to the bite inhibition analysis. Bite inhibition is often misunderstood and confused with threshold. While threshold looks at the dog's decision to bite, bite inhibition looks at how the dog bites after the decision to bite has been made. In bite inhibition analysis the question is, once the dog decides to use its mouth, does the dog control the strength or intensity of its bite. To answer this question, I look at the injury inflicted, the style of the bite, and a number of mitigating and aggravating factors. For a quick reference chart to my dog bite hierarchies for analyzing dog bites to humans and to other dogs, visit Raising Canine's website.

Without being able to interview the victim, witnesses, and treating physicians, it is not possible to do a complete analysis of this bite; but I can tell you a bit about the factors we look at and what this bite likely was. The first thing I look at is the style of the dog's bite. Was it:

• A bite and release where the dog bites with its front teeth but
  quickly retreats;
• A bite with pressure where the dog bites down typically more towards
  the back of its mouth rather than just the front teeth but without holding the
  pressure;
• A bite with pressure that is held; or
• A bite with pressure where the dog shakes its head.

In this case, the dog bit quickly with a bite and release. This style would place it as a Level One or Two on my dog bite hierarchy that runs from Level Zero to Level Seven for bites to humans. This style of bite is typically a warning bite and it is frequently motivated by fear. This style of bite does not indicate a dog that intends to do a lot of damage or harm.

As a side note here, I have seen some commentary arguing that the dog's bite in the Kyle Dyer case would have been worse had the owner not been holding the dog back by the collar. I don't agree with that analysis. The dog did not clamp down with pressure, shake its head, or hold the bite. The dog also did not bite more than once. This is a powerful, strong, fast dog. I don't believe for a minute that the owner's hand on its collar stopped that bite or stopped his forward momentum. The hand on the collar may have inhibited the dog somewhat in continuing the bite, but the level of bite that the dog chose to use initially was not controlled by the owner's hand - I believe this was the dog's doing.

After looking at the style of bite, I look at the level of injury involved. What level of bruising was there? Were there scratches, lacerations, puncture wounds, tearing, or a partial or complete avulsion of the skin? For each of the injuries, did less than 15%, 15-30%, 30-50%, or more than 50% of the dog's canine teeth enter the person's body?

For the bite to Kyle Dyer, we know that there was a partial avulsion of the skin (this means that part of her skin was torn but it was not completely removed from her body) but that is really as much as we know. I would estimate that at least 30-50% of the dog's canine tooth entered her body but I can't really make that estimate well without talking to witnesses and looking at the injuries and dog's teeth. I am fairly comfortable with that estimate based on experience though, and if anything I think it may have been less than 30% not more. This would place the bite at a Level Three in terms of the injuries involved.

On my scale, where the style of bite indicates a different level of bite than the injuries, the injury usually trumps the style (the exception is where the style involves shaking of the dog's head but that is not the case here). So, in this case, I would estimate that this is a Level Three bite. One important thing to note here is that this does indicate that the dog has bite inhibition! It may not be as much inhibition as we would like, but to say that this dog does not have inhibition is wrong. If he did not have inhibition, this bite would have been much worse. Believe me I've seen what happens with a bite to the face with worse inhibition than this and it is not fun or pretty! This may not seem inhibited at first glance, but it was.

In fact, the last factor that I would look at would be any mitigating and aggravating factors and I would argue that the fact that this bite caught Kyle in the lip is a mitigating factor. Now don’t get me wrong, many dogs may have snapped at the air to warn Kyle or brushed her lip but not done a lot of damage, so this dog certainly could have exercise more bite inhibition than he did but I think we need to consider the additional damage that was done because of the site of the bite. I believe that the same style and strength of bite applied to her cheek or another body part like her thigh would not have resulted in the same level of injury. I truly believe the damage was so severe because the bite caught Kyle in the lip, which is an extremely sensitive area that can tear easily.

I may not be popular for this, but I would argue that this dog DID exercise bite inhibition. It is not the perfect level of bite that we would want, but it is not fair to say that he has no bite inhibition. The most important factors for animal control officers to consider in determining the fate of this dog are what threshold issues may exist in this dog's day-to-day life and whether the owner is committed to the management and training necessary to keep this dog from being triggered in the future. There are so many lessons to be learned here and so many people paying a high price for those lessons. Let's hope those lessons can spread far and wide and make a difference for other people and dogs in the future.

Cara Shannon, Dog Bite Expert and Behavior Consultant

There are so many horrible things about this story. The dog was set up for failure, the news woman didn't recognize the signs she was seeing or understand the pressure she was applying to the dog, and the dog will very sadly be mistaken for a "pit bull" adding further to the myth that pit bulls bite more frequently than other dogs. Sadly, I would not be surprised if this dog was put to sleep as a result of this, particularly because his rabies vaccination is reportedly out of date. I can only hope that the news woman will make the best of this and try to educate others on signs of stress and appropriate interactions with dogs. I hope she is healing well and is not too scarred by this event emotionally.

http://wagandtrain.blogspot.com/2012/02/perfect-storm.html

Did you know that January is National Train Your Dog Month?

Training your dog or puppy is crucial to having a happy, rewarding relationship with your best pooch pal! If you just got a puppy or dog over the holidays, start that relationship off right by having a private dog trainer come to your home or by joining a group dog training class. Even if you've had your dog for awhile, its never too late to start training with your dog. You can take a Teenage Terrors class is your dog has issues like jumping up or digging in the yard. If your dog has no problem behaviors, try something fun like a dog sport or nosework! Whatever you choose to do, just get out there and train your dog!

 

Cara Shannon, Austin Dog Trainer