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Tips for Making Your Dog’s Behaviors Reliable

Cattle Dog MixHere are some ideas on how to get your dog to perform anytime, every time!

Loose Training – Practice the behaviors in many different areas, while adding distractions

Discriminative Stimulus – only reward for learned behavior when signal or cue is given

Intermittent Schedule of Reinforcement – use intermittent schedules

Generalized Conditioned Reinforcers – vary the rewards

Food Treats – fade treats ASAP – move the treats off your body – place treats in other places. Place treats on your body and do not give your dog a treat.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog Specialist

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Methods to “Get” your Dog to Perform a Behavior

Australian Terrier, BentleyBefore you can use positive reinforcement to reward your dog (Food treat, Attention, Touch), you’ll need to get the dog to perform some version of the behavior.

There are many methods to get behavior. Here are some dog-friendly methods.

Capture – good for simple behaviors that are naturally offered, like sit.

Just wait until it is occurring and then reinforce the behavior. Capturing requires patience. 

The trainer must be experienced “setting the stage” for the behavior(s) to occur and the trainer must be ready to reinforce the instant the behavior first occurs or miss that opportunity. Some behaviors may never take place. In addition, the dog may become disinterested before s/he succeeds.

Lure – risk for teaching your dog to perform only when food is present

Use food to get the behavior and then reinforce the behavior. Luring creates an additional risk for creating a dog that only works when food is present. The dog may or may not realize what behaviors s/he is performing because s/he is so focused on the food.

Shape – requires patience and perfect timing skills. Break down the target behavior into many small steps, get and reinforce each step until your dog knows that step, then get and reinforce each of the next steps which are progressively closer to the target behavior. Shaping requires patience and is a slow process (compared to bridge-n-target).

Bridge-N-Target – is the most efficient, but requires more skills from the trainer. Bridge and Target is a component of Syn Alia Training System, developed by Kayce Cover. .

Teach your dog to touch (or touch and hold for duration) a target with the applicable body part(s). This provides your dog with a physical location where success will take place. Communicate the correctness of the behavior(s) while in progress. Communicate a signal to indicate success.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog workshops

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Schedules of Reinforcement

German Shepherd Dog, EllieSchedules of reinforcement are consequence sequences or rates for teaching and maintaining behaviors. Different schedules are used at different stages of teaching and maintaining behaviors. There are three schedules of reinforcement.

  • Extinction
  • Continuous
  • Intermittent

Extinction – when a previously available reinforcer is withheld or no longer available

Some trainers suggest extinction to reduce unwanted behaviors like barking and jumping up. Extinction will reduce the long-term frequency and magnitude of a behavior, but will increase the frequency and magnitude of the behavior in the short-term.

For example: suppose your dog barks when you are talking on the phone. You tell her to ‘shhhh’ or pet her and she does for one moment, but resumes barking in a few moments. Remember, any behavior that is repeated is being reinforced. In this example the touch and ‘shhh’ is reinforcing the barking behavior. To use extinction, you would remove the reinforcers and just ignore the barking.

When you remove the reinforcers that were previously available, your dog will increase her short-term barking efforts to get your attention before she discontinues her long-term ‘barking strategy’. This is called an extinction burst. Your dog will bark at a different pitch or bark louder or add jumping and nipping, or any other behaviors that she considers to be magnifications of the barking behavior. The extinction burst signals that the reinforcers have been successfully removed and your dog will soon abandon her ‘barking while you are on the phone’ strategy, but not before she increases her efforts. If you can survive the short-term increase, you will successfully reduce the ‘barking when you are talking on the phone’ strategy.

Trainers often suggest that clients place ‘jumping up’ behavior on extinction. Dogs jump up for our attention, so the idea is to remove the reinforcer of attention. Just ignore the dog. The problem is that the behaviors during the extinction burst may become dangerous. The dog will jump higher, make more bodily contact, nip, grab clothing or whatever else that dog considers to be in the same response class as jumping up. Suppose the person cannot survive the behaviors during the extinction burst, so the person ‘gives in’ and gives the dog attention. Now the dog has learned that in order to get the person’s attention, she must jump hard, jump high, grab clothes and nip! How rude! It is not advisable to place ‘jumping up’ on extinction if your dog is large enough to knock you over!

In addition to the extinction burst, there is another problem with using extinction to reduce unwanted behaviors. Your dog may very well give up on her barking strategy and replace it with something worse, such as destroy your furniture, counter surf, jump on your table, chase your cat, nip at your child, et cetera. It is much more efficient to teach a polite behavior that is incompatible with the unwanted behavior!

Behaviors that are reduced through extinction are subject to spontaneous recovery. They may reappear later but can usually be extinguished more quickly than before.

The schedule of extinction and the resulting extinction burst is a helpful tool for trainers that use shaping. Trainers place a desirable behavior (that has a history of reinforcement) on extinction and the behavior increases in magnitude and frequency. The trainer waits until the magnified version is closer to the target behavior. If the trainer can reinforce the magnified behavior at the correct instant, the behavior will be repeated. It’s tricky and requires excellent planning, timing and patience.

Continuous – each instance of the behavior is reinforced

Continuous is used for teaching new behaviors or when your dog is extremely distracted. To use a continuous schedule, reinforce the behavior anytime you give the cue and your dog gives you the behavior. You’ll switch to an intermittent schedule as soon as your dog has learned the new behavior well.

Intermittent – the schedule between extinction and continuous, of which there are four sub-categories –  variable ratio is the most useful for family dogs. Intermittent schedule is great for maintaining behaviors because we teach our dogs that reinforcement may not occur each time, but it will occur sometimes.

Behaviors that have been placed on a intermittent schedule are much more difficult to extinguish than behaviors that are continuously reinforced. This principle applies to unwanted behaviors as well. If you sometimes give your pup attention when she jumps up on you and sometimes you ignore her, she will keep jumping up – forever and ever! There are four sub-categories of intermittent schedules.

  • Fixed Ratio – reinforcement occurs after a specific number of desired behaviors
  • Variable Ratio – reinforcement occurs after an average number of desired behaviors
  • Fixed Interval – reinforcement delivered the first time a behavior occurs after a specific amount of time
  • Variable Interval – reinforcement delivered the first time a behavior occurs after an unpredictable amount of time

Schedule Thinning – changing from continuous to intermittent schedules

Methodically changing from a continuous schedule during teaching, to an intermittent for   maintenance is called schedule thinning. Behavior that is reinforced on a continuous schedule will not continue if the reinforcement is removed. For example if you place $1 in the soda vending machine and do not get a soda, you are not likely to keep feeding the machine dollars because you are accustomed to a continuous schedule (you always get a drink when you perform the “money insertion behavior”).

On the other hand, slot machines at the casino deliver an intermittent schedule of reinforcement and people offer the “money inserting behavior” for many trials without any reinforcement. If our dogs learn that the reinforcement comes intermittently, they will continue offering the behavior –even if it is not reinforced every time. A behavior that is placed on an intermittent schedule of reinforcement is resistant to extinction.

Schedule thinning should be done in a deliberate exacting process or the behavior will reduce in magnitude or become extinct. Use Continuous schedule when teaching new behaviors, when your dog is slow to respond or when you are warming up at the beginning of a session. Intermittent schedules should be used after the behavior is well established and you have already added the cue. Let’s suppose you are ready to place a behavior on an Intermittent – variable ratio schedule. The idea is to slowly increase the average number of responses before you deliver reinforcement. For example, first you will reinforce an average of 4 out of 6 responses, then you will reinforce an average of 3 out of 6 responses, then 2 out of 6, et cetera. You may need to thin it more slowly. For example, first you may reinforce 19 of 20 responses, then 17 of 20, etc. Mix it up so that your dog never knows if you will reinforce or not, like a slot machine!

Choose the best performances to reinforce when thinning the schedule. If your dog starts to ignore the command, you should increase the rate of reinforcement.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog Workshops



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iPhone 3Gs Video ** Submissive Dog Behaviors are Not an Indication of Guilt

WilliamWallaceWinkieCommon submissive dog behaviors include lowering of head, tail, body, or rolling over and exposing the underside.

Many people believe they are teaching their dogs by scolding. They place items the dog destroyed into their outstretched hands, fuss at the dogs, and the dogs cower away.

The people support their misbeliefs by the phrase, “She knows what she did because she looked guilty when I held up the item.”

Say, I don’t know what your dog is thinking, nor do you. But I do know this.

Submissive behaviors are not an admission of guilt.  These behaviors are your dog’s way of saying, “Please discontinue your attack, I mean you no harm”.

If you do not believe me, try this. Show your dog an item, any item with no previous relevance to the dog, push it towards your dog and fuss. He or she will react with the same submissive behaviors you see when you are fussing about a naughty event. If the dog knows right and wrong, why did he or she exhibit submissive behaviors when you held an unfamiliar item and fussed?

Teaching by scolding is not very efficient.

It’s like allowing your 3 year old child to run into the street so you can spank him or her. Everyone can agree. That would be ridiculous. Parents of a 3 year old child focus on preventing their 3 year old child from running into the street. They know that one day, the child will be old enough to cross the street without an adult. But now, the kid is too young and “untrained” to be near the street unattended. One day, the parents will teach the child the skills needed to cross the busy street. Until then, the child is closely supervised.

Happy Training!

The dog in the picture is William Wallace Winkie. CLICK HERE to watch a video of Winkie playing outside!

You can adopt this guy from Collierville Animal Services in Collierville TN.

Reactive Dog Seminars

How’s Bentley Memphis TN

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Amateur Shock Collar Use Starts Dog Fight

German Shepherd DogIf you want to control your pet dog’s involuntary aggressive responses via force and intimidation, you are entering a spiral of blackness and doom.

One day, your chosen method or equipment will fail; injuries and sadness will emerge. I’ve seen it many times.

Point being, punishing the growl with a quick burst of energy via an e-collar, leash jerk, Caesar Milan hiss, alpha roll, spank on the butt, or verbal reprimand, does nothing to change underlying, emotional reasons for the growl. In many cases, the aggression increases, because the naughty dog associates other dogs or strangers with the discomfort.

You may very well stop your dog from growling with one of many punishment techniques, that I do not deny. (Success via corrections really depends on the underlying causes, but that is a topic for another day.)

But, you just signed a life long commitment to supervise every interaction your dog has with strangers or other dogs. You will constantly have to prove to your dog that you are a superior warrior.  And you have made your task of supervision much more difficult.

If you zap your dog every time he or she growls or gives another animal the “eye”, you will negate your observation skills, because your dog will skip the body posturing and growling (the obvious, observable behaviors that indicate a problem), and go straight to the bite.

If you are using a training collar, e collar, shock collar, or any other special equipment, your dog must always be fitted with the equipment, and you must always be ready to use the equipment.

All you’ve done is remove the warning, the very warning that lets you know something is wrong, the very warning that tells you to take action to avoid an incident.

It’s like placing a black tape mask over a check engine warning lamp on your car’s dashboard. Great, now you don’t see the warning, therefore the problem is resolved?!

I’m not one of those “never ever use a shock collar or leash jerk” kind of people. I realize there are times when corrections are helpful. Shock collars, leash jerks, or verbal reprimands may be useful tools within a behavior modification program designed by a canine behavior counselor.

If your behavior modification plan includes rewards, obedience training, classical conditioning, and changing the dog’s perception, you can change the underlying reason your dog is aggressive.

If your only solution to stop your dog from attacking other dogs or strangers is the use of corrections, truth is, you would benefit from a bit of help. You should contact a canine reactive behavior specialist.

None of this comes to anyone in a dream. I was ignorant until I began my studies about animal learning, behavior, and canine behavior modification. I made all the same “logical” assumptions about controlling dogs via corrections and intimidation. If you are not familiar with basic concepts of instrumental conditioning, you should never use a shock collar to stop your dog from behaving aggressively. Your ignorance will bite you.

Real Life Example:

In my neighborhood there is a large breed dog who has been naughty towards other dogs. (I’ll omit the breed, because it has no relevance to this story). The owner uses a shock collar to punish Naughty Dog’s aggressive behaviors. The owner’s mom was walking Naughty Dog, without the shock collar, and has been doing so for months, with no incidents of aggression. A few days ago, the honeymoon ended. The lady who was walking Naughty Dog was passing another leashed dog on the street. Naughty Dog did not growl or send any signals that he was about to attack. The lady was caught off guard when Naughty Dog suddenly attacked the passing adult male dog. The lady was bitten in the face when she tried to break up the dog fight.

If the owner had not used a shock collar to punish the aggression, the Naughty Dog would have postured or growled, and the lady could have seen what was about to happen. She could have avoided the situation. But Naughty Dog “attacked without warning”, which ironically, perplexed the owner. The owner has no idea that he was directly responsible for Naughty Dog’s lack of warning signals.

P.S. The German Shepherd Dog in the picture, Samantha, is not Naughty Dog! 

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner How’s Bentley Memhis TN

Reactive Dog Specialist

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Part 1: Teach your Dog to Walk on Human, Motorized Treadmill

DuchessWith the popularity of Caesar Milan’s TV show, The Dog Whisperer, occasionally a client will ask me to teach their dogs to walk on a treadmill.

Caesar promotes treadmill workouts as a good way to exercise dogs, and they are!

You can buy a non motorized, or motorized treadmill, made for dogs. Or you could use your human motorized treadmill.

Many of us already have a motorized treadmill, but our treadmills don’t have sides to act as guides to keep the dog facing forward.

How do you get a dog to walk on a motorized, human treadmill that does not have solid sides?

If you are reading this, I’m guessing you’ve already tried to “get” the dog walk on the treadmill via a harness, leash, food treats, cetera.

If your dog is new to the treadmill, like Duchess (pictured in this post), you may need a bit more instructions than, “place your dog on the treadmill and turn it on”.

My client already introduced Duchess to the idle treadmill by tossing a few treats on it. He reported that Duchess was comfortable walking onto the treadmill to eat the food. And she was.

The flaw I noticed was; she would step on the treadmill belt with one, two, three, or all four feet, but she wasn’t necessarily “lined up” and facing the front of the treadmill, as she would if it were powered up and moving. And Duchess was cautious to step up onto the treadmill.

So, I formed a plan.

With the treadmill turned off, I decided I would teach Duchess:

  • to walk along side of the handler, on leash
  • approach the equipment from the end, as a person would do
  • to step onto the belt, and continue to walk very slowly (about the speed of the treadmill will be on slow),
  • walk to the front end of the belt and exit from the end

So it began. I attached a short leash and walked around the room with Duchess at my side. She did well. I praised her for turning with me and we did several laps around the room. Duchess was perfect, until my path made it so that she would have to step onto the treadmill to continue walking at my side. She balked, and the treadmill was not even turned on! Yikes!

So I switched gears and decided to shape the behaviors. Shaping is when you reinforce actions that are closer and closer to the final goal. You teach the dog in small steps, each step is closer to your final goal.

My first step was to get her to place one foot onto the treadmill (from the entrance end), then two feet, three, four feet, until she was comfortable stepping onto the treadmill. I spent a few minutes shaping Duchess to step on the treadmill, until she would step up on the treadmill, with all four feet. At the end of the session, Duchess would step on the treadmill, without hesitation. I asked the client to repeat the exercise, in preparation for our next session.

There you have it. You are up to date!

Any good animal training plan is flexible, and constantly adjusted for the animal’s success. I’m not quite sure how I will proceed, or if I adjust my plan. For our next session, I expect that Duchess will very happy to step onto the powered off, treadmill.

Here’s my plan. The treadmill will still be in the off position. I’ll ask her to keep walking, until she reaches the end, where she can step off the treadmill.

Once Duchess is happy with that, I’ll teach her about the motor and the moving belt. Then I’ll ask her to step on it and walk towards the end.

Curious about the outcome. So am I.

I’ll post details about the next session, as soon as I have them.

CLICK HERE Video PART 2.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

Reactive Dog Seminars

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You Should Not Stop a Dog from Jumping Up on Counter

200 lb. Deaf Great Dane, George, & Oreo the Boston TerrierForget about stopping naughty behaviors.:) Instead, spend a little time with your dog and teach him a behavior that is incompatible with jumping up on counters such as to Go-To-Place.

If you focus on stopping behaviors, you are destined to make a full-time hobby out of training. For example- If you focus on stopping a dog from jumping on the counter and succeed, you really haven’t taught the dog what behavior is acceptable, or how he might behave politely and earn a reward.

The dog may abandon the counter jumping behavior only to start scratching the lower section of the cabinet under the countertop, start barking at the counter, or worse!

Go-To-Place is one of my favorite commands.

The “Place” is a very comfortable dog bed strategically placed in the kitchen where you can reinforce Go-To-Place behavior!

CLICK HERE for Go-to-Place instructions.

If you focus on teaching this one behavior, you won’t have to “break him” from jumping up, licking the dishes in the dishwasher, barking, object stealing or any number of behaviors that annoy you!

It’s much more efficient to teach dogs a few basic behaviors that are incompatible with many unwanted behaviors.

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley – Memphis TN

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Dog Training & The ABCs of Instrumental Conditioning

Bimmer1There are three distinct pieces to a voluntary behavior, called the ABCs.
The “B” represents the behavior.
“A” is for Antecedent, which is anything present in the environment before a specific behavior. The A precedes the behavior.
“C” is for Consequence, which is the immediate result of the behavior.

Here’s an example of the ABCs of a voluntary behavior.  A dog jumps up on a counter and gets food.

Dog sees and smells food on counter Dog jumps up Dog gets food.

A                                                                 B                         C

  • The A – food is on counter, dog has access to the counter area, dog is hungry
  • The B is the behavior, which is any response to any stimulus.
  • The C is the immediate consequence of the B.

Suppose you would like to reduce “jump up steal food off counter” behavior.

In order to change a voluntary behavior, we modify either the events / environment before the behavior (antecedent), or we modify the events or environment immediately after the behavior (consequence), or both.

You could modify the antecedents and the behavior would be less likely to occur. For Example: attach a leash or tether, place the dog outside of the area, teach the dog to sit or go to place while you make a sandwich, and so forth. Some of the changes could happen immediately, others require that you train your dog.

Now let’s take a look at a few consequences and how they might influence behavior.

Types of Consequences

If consequences are to have an effect on the preceding behaviors, consequences must occur during or immediately after behaviors. Consequences are grouped into two categories, reinforcers or punishers. For consequences to be considered reinforcers or punishers, their effects on behaviors must occur now and anytime in the future when the animal is presented with similar circumstances.

  • Reinforcers increase behaviors.
  • Punishers decrease behaviors.

Consequences can be added or subtracted.

  • A consequence that is added or begins is called a positive consequence.
  • A consequence that is subtracted or stopped is called a negative consequence.

There are four possible consequences for any given behavior. Two of the consequences will increase (or reinforce) the behavior, and the other two will decrease (or punish) the behavior.

  • Positive Reinforcer – add or begin to increase behavior
  • Positive Punisher – add or begin to decrease behavior
  • Negative Punisher – subtract or remove to decrease behavior
  • Negative Reinforcer – subtract or remove to increase behavior

Dog sees and smells food on counter Dog jumps up Dog gets food. In this example, the behavior of “dog jumps up” is being reinforced (assuming the dog likes the food). A stimulus is added and the consequence increases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a positive reinforcer.

Dog sees and smells food on counter Dog jumps up Dog gets squirted with water. In this example, the behavior of “dog jumps up” is being punished (assuming the dog dislikes being squirted with water). A stimulus begins and the consequence decreases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a positive punisher.

Dog sees and smells food on counter Dog jumps up Human makes food disappear. In this example, the behavior of jumping up is being punished (assuming the dog wants the food). A stimulus is subtracted and the consequence decreases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a negative punisher.

Dog on counter is being squirted with water Dog jumps off counter and onto floor Squirting of water is stopped. In this example, the behavior of “the dog being on the floor” is reinforced (assuming the dog dislikes being squirted with water). A stimulus is stopped and the consequence increases the behavior, therefore the consequence is a negative reinforcer. Negative reinforcers usually include escape and avoidance behavior.

Dog friendly training focuses on using positive reinforcement and negative punishment to teach our dogs desirable behaviors. Although we will use all four consequences, dog friendly training focuses on using positive reinforcement and negative punishment to teach our dogs desirable behaviors.


Alan J Turner – Dog Training in Memphis Collierville Germantown TN

How’s Bentley Aggressive Dog Seminar

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Submissive & Excitement Urination – Solutions

Corgi

Sometimes dogs seem to leak urine. I’ve noticed that it occurs more often during initial greetings. This can be caused by youth, a developmental problem, a medical condition, a behavioral issue or a combination of factors. It’s always possible that sudden urination is the result of both behavioral and non-behavioral causes.

Contributors such as underdeveloped organs, medications that facilitate poor bladder control, diseases, or failures of organs are examples of non-behavioral causes.

Before you can address involuntary urination from a behavioral point of view, it’s essential to ask your veterinarian to perform a thorough medical check-up to rule out non-behavioral reasons for the urination.

Once you’ve ruled out all non-behavioral causes, determine if the urination is submissive urination, or excitement urination, or both.

Observe your dog’s body language. Carefully notice ear, head, tail position, and overall body language at the instant of urination.

Common submissive behaviors include lowered ears, lowered head and body, and a tucked tail.

If the dog is not walking or running, (the instant urination begins), the urination is most likely to be submissive in nature. If the dog is standing,  sitting or lying, the urination is submissive. If the dog is in the process of sitting or lying, or rolling over, it’s submissive urination.

Take note of your interactions with the dog. If the dog urinates when you bend over or reach towards him or her, it’s submissive urination.

If the dog urinates when you interact via speech, touch or eye contact, it’s more likely to be submissive urination.

If the dog is not sitting or lying, and is not in the process of sitting or lying, AND you are not interacting with the dog, it is more likely to be excitement urination. If he or she eliminates while running to greet you, it is more likely to be excitement urination. If the dog urinates while zooming around the room, it’s excitement urination.

I’ve only met a few dogs that exhibited excitement urination. Most often, submissive urination is the diagnosis. In rare cases, it is a combination of both submissive and excitement urination.


Excitement Urination Solutions

Be sure to have your vet rule out medical causes if you have an older dog that exhibits excitement urination.

To reduce excitement urination, tone down your enthusiasm. Avoid games that involve excessive amounts of glee which encourage your dog to race around the room. More often than not, a pup with excitement urination will grow out of the behavior after he’s been with you a while. Some older dogs may always release urine

when encouraged to dash around the house.

Submissive Urination Solutions

Shy dogs are prone to exhibit submissive urination. Confident dogs are less likely to react with submission when people interact with them. Submissive urination is not a voluntary behavior; it is triggered by “scary” stimuli and is more of a fear response. After the family learns a bit about the causes and changes their behaviors, and the dog matures and gains confidence, it usually subsides. Here are some short term and long term suggestions.


Short Term Solutions

Make your approaches less intimidating. During initial greetings, turn sideways. Avoid bending over to greet the dog. Don’t reach to pat the dog, especially on top of the head. Don’t initially speak to the dog, and don’t make eye contact.

After a few minutes, greet the dog in a calm, non-threatening manner. Touching a dog on the chest or belly so that your arm or hand does not loom over the dog’s head or body is usually perceived as less threatening. Patting a dog’s hips, back or sides, and scratching behind the ears, are less threatening when you are beside and slightly behind the dog as opposed to positioning yourself directly in front.

Never fuss at a dog or console the dog for submissive urination. Act as if it did not happen.

If you expect guests, take your pup outside on a leash for the initial greeting. This won’t solve the problem, but it will make cleanup unnecessary!

If your dog jumps up on guests and then releases urine when the guests reach to pet him or her, your goal is to teach your dog how to greet politely.

If the dog eliminates when released from a crate, place the crate near an outside exit into a fenced area. Before you open the crate, open the outside door. Then open the crate door, and without saying anything, step outside and call the dog or toss a toy outside. If your dog is small and is confined in an airline carrier, pick up the carrier and take it outside before you open the carrier door and walk away.

Teach the dog to perform an alternate, confident behavior that will focus attention on something other than the approach of people. Ask for this alternate behavior when you or others approach. Fetch, chase the ball, or “parade with toy in mouth” are good choices for alternate behaviors.

During this treatment period, always greet the dog with a couple of toys in hand. Place them outside the door in the garage or utility room. During the greeting (before the dog reaches you), toss a ball for him or her to chase/retrieve. This will physically orient the dog away from you and focus his or her attention on a task that is incompatible with submissive greetings.

Instead of using toys, you could toss a few tasty food treats on the floor. Toss them in an area behind or to the side of the dog. This focuses the dog’s attention away from you. Walk back out the door while the dog is eating the treats. Repeat this sequence two times whenever you arrive home. After your second entrance, toss the treats and walk into another room and be seated. Wait for the dog to approach you. You may speak softly to the dog, but do not reach out to touch the dog. Wait a couple of minutes before you start interacting.

After a few of these sessions, your dog will begin to associate your arrival with food treats. The involuntary submissive responses to the stimulus of approaching humans will be replaced with the involuntary response of salivation. Your approach will trigger a “Oh goodie, here come the treats!” response.

Long Term Solutions

Your methods of interacting throughout the day shape the relationship with your puppy. Following these guidelines will usually reduce submissive urination due to behavioral causes.

  • Do not scold your pup or use body language which triggers submissive urination.
  • Never scold any dog for any house training mistakes, much less for submissive urination.
  • Do not coddle or tell your submissive dog, “it’s ok”. Just ignore the behavior and try to engage the dog in a confident task.
  • Never reach down and touch any dog that is jumping up to greet you.
  • Careful socialization in safe environments during the critical period of socialization (3-12 weeks) may lower the risk of submissive urination.
  • Meet the dog’s physical, social and emotional needs.
  • Treating other fearful behaviors may reduce the instances of submissive urination.
  • Soften your voice when giving commands.
  • If your primary choice for teaching involves leash jerks, shouting ‘no”, corrections with a training collar, et cetera, discontinue these corrections-based teaching methods.
  • Start a training program based on consistency, a clear communication system and a reward system. In addition to basic obedience commands, teach your dog some tricks / skills / commands that will engage him or her to perform confident actions. I already mentioned fetch, chase the ball and parade with toy; spin and find the “xyz” are other examples of confident behaviors.
  • Touch or target training can increase a dogs’ confidence. Teach your dog to touch your two-finger target for a treat. After confidence builds, introduce “shake” or “high five”.
  • Enrich your dog’s environment.  Scatter feed. Toss kibble on the patio or on the kitchen floor. Encourage your dog to hunt for each piece.
  • Each person in the household should teach and exercise the dog.
  • Review the quality of your dog’s diet.
  • Begin a massage program.

If your dog continues to leak urine, ask your veterinarian for the name of a trainer or visit http://apdt.com and search for a trainer in your area.

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The Great Curtain Battle of 1999

Australian Terrier Puppy, BentleyI’ll be perfectly honest. I made all the same mistakes as anyone who every owned and raised a pup. I’ll never forget one of the many incidents when my newly adopted, turbo terrier, 10-week old pup, Bentley, was unsupervised for only a moment. In less than 10 seconds, he breeched a baby gate and enthusiastically bolted into the off-limits, living room.

He immediately attacked the most valuable ornament in the room, the curtains – the very curtains that my wife had so artfully created over a period of months, the very curtains that were so carefully displayed with cascades of expensive silk, the very delicate curtains that flowed from the ceiling and onto the floor into a calm pool of rich texture and colors.

I looked into the room. Bentley was engaged in battle, an incident that would eventually reach epic status and be referred to as The Great Curtain Battle of 1999.

Bentley had the ranks of the curtains pinned to the floor with his massive five-pound body. His head was raised and he was aggressively tugging the draperies in an all out effort to dismantle the entire arrangement! I could envision the rod swaying with each tug. Giving in to my excitement, the word NO loudly exited my lips.

Bentley stopped for about one second, looked my way, and re-engaged the enemy with increased vigor. Oh no, I thought, he accepted my input, not as a signal to disengage but as a challenge to escalate the fight! I moved closer, repeated my futile attempt with a very loud, low-toned NO. Again Bentley modified his attack. He added a curtain-intimidating, terrifying war growl to his assault!

I was standing over Bentley when I delivered my final protest, a very distinct, sub-woofer version of NO (bigger hammer?). At last, he ceased the assault. Bentley stopped tugging. Bentley lowered his previously-high-tilted tail. . . . .

Bentley lowered his previously-high-tilted head. . . . . .

Bentley lowered his previously-forward-tilted pricked ears. . . . . .

In one smooth, sad, motion, he lowered his whole body and urinated on the curtains under his feet.

Post-Battle Discussion

Ignorance is never shy. Ignorance often demands center-plate billing, garnished and displayed like filets of rainbow trout, with colorful spices on beds of multi-textured, wild rice. The Great Curtain Battle of 1999 represents one of the many instances when my delicious lack of knowledge about animal behavior and learning was presented, highlighted, glorified, and consumed by an animal that did not subscribe to popular, inaccurate, non-scientific, communication techniques.

It was that precise moment when I realized this little guy was sure to place all my ignorance about animal behavior and learning on naked display. This guy was different. Although NO seemed like an effective strategy with my previous dogs, it had failed miserably with Bentley. The urine-soaked silk and the fear that was displayed by his tiny trembling body transmitted my failures quite clearly.

It was obvious that my failure to manage the environment, my lack of preparedness, and my failure to communicate, had taken a toll on my relationship with this young, exuberant pup. . .   . To this day, I am still sorry that I momentarily transformed an exuberant, playful, young, happy, curious, adventurous, pup (a pup with too much freedom and not enough structure) into a fearful, distrusting, unhappy, and confused, urinating pup. . . . . . . (OK, ok,. . . . .  enough with the drama. . .  don’t feel badly for Bentley. . . . . . . . as always, Bentley recovered quite quickly!)

Let’s take a look at exactly what Bentley learned, didn’t learn, and what he might have learned if I handled the incident differently.

Remember, every behavior that is reinforced will be repeated. All the maneuvers of the battle (before the last few seconds when I unkindly crushed Bentley’s enthusiasm) were reinforced, because the immediate consequences of each step were appealing to Bentley. Each step he performed served to achieve his immediate goal. Yes, Bentley learned some valuable lessons, but unfortunately none of them were on my list of concepts and behaviors I wanted to teach.

Bentley learned:

  • it is a great strategy to be persistent when breaking through barriers
  • exciting new items and fun games are on the other sides of barriers
  • charging and battling the curtain were exciting and fun behaviors
  • his assumptions that I would partner with him in battle were incorrect
  • the curtain was a fierce and formidable opponent
  • my approach might be followed by a scary attack

Curtain battles raged for the next few months – apparently no form of punishment was an effective repellant for ‘must-topple-or-pee-on-curtain’ behaviors – and apparently my preventative tactics were flawed

  • the curtain became a permanent magnet for inside elimination because we couldn’t properly clean the silk fabric embedded with numerous dangling chords and beads
  • the curtain was finally retired after numerous battles and soiling had displaced its beauty

Bentley did not learn:

  • about respecting baby gates (quite the opposite!)
  • about ‘staying out’ of the living room (quite the opposite!)
  • about ‘not-battling’ the curtain (most definitely the opposite!)
  • that NO was a signal for him to stop

Was it a Timing Issue?

Maybe the timing of the NO was my major failure?

If I had delivered a protest during his first attempt to break through the baby gate, perhaps he would have learned that breeching barriers in my presence was an unsafe strategy? Hmmm…. not really on my list of target concepts or behaviors I’d like to teach. Can’t baby gates be used as barriers when people are absent? I wanted him to respect barriers in my absence, not only when I was present.

If I had delivered a protest the instant he was bolting into the living room, perhaps Bentley would have learned that bolting into living room was a dangerous strategy? Hmmm . . .  again, not really on my list of target concepts and behaviors I’d like to teach. I don’t want him to be afraid of traveling into the living room.

If I had delivered a protest the instant he grabbed the curtain, perhaps he would have learned that battling the curtain might cause me to attack him? That’s assuming he would have associated the NO with his behavior of grabbing the curtain, an unlikely assumption at best. He would be more likely to associate my approach and my presence with the NO. After all, my approach would be the most obvious event that immediately preceded the NO! Hmmm…. Not quite the relationship I intend to establish. I don’t want my dog to be afraid of my approach!

NO not effective?

It appears that NO was not an effective strategy, but a miserable failure for teaching Bentley anything useful during the Great Curtain Battle. So, what should I have done and how can I use NO effectively in the future?

I should have:

  • Managed the environment by preventing the battle altogether
  • Taken advantage of the initial Interrupt, the one-second pause after the first NO, to Redirect Bentley to perform another, more desirable, replacement behavior and then delivered Praise for complying with my Redirect.

NO can be an effective Interrupter or ‘First Step’ for teaching polite behaviors. Interrupt RedirectPraise is the most efficient context for NO.

The Truths of NO:

  • NO can be an effective interrupter in some situations.

  • More confident pups might translate our lower voice tones or louder volume of voice when we deliver NO as a playful challenge. It’s nothing more than a welcome invitation for confident pups to escalate their activities!

  • Less confident or shy pups become frightened when we bark out stern NOs. They might freeze, flee or urinate in fear. Personally I would never knowingly trade my enthusiastic, happy, curious, mischievous turbo terrier for a fearful, frozen, fleeing, or urinating pup!

  • Compliance with NO is dependent upon the pups’ personalities and the situations at hand. It depends on the volume and the tone of the word NO. It depends on the levels of cooperation we have previously developed with the pups.

  • Compliance with NO also depends on how motivated the pups are to complete their current undesirable activities. For example, NO might work well when your pup is snooping in your closet, a closet that he has investigated many times before. The same pup may ignore the NO if he just breeched a baby gate and is exploring a forbidden room. Those craft projects spread out on the floor are so stimulating and desirable that he doesn’t even seem to hear the word NO!

  • NO is an Interrupter. Used alone, NO is an incomplete sentence. NO is only one third of a valuable teaching sequence, InterruptRedirectPraise.

  • After delivering NO, we should immediately take advantage of the NO Interrupt and complete our sentence. The best teachers enthusiastically engage and Redirect their pups and dogs to perform an alternate, acceptable behavior.

  • The instant our animals start to comply with our Redirect request, we should deliver Praise, some sort of reward, thus increasing the replacement behavior via positive reinforcement.

  • To use this sequence, we should identify, teach and practice the Redirect behavior in many situations before we use it in real-time. We should take our dogs through each grade of performance! For instance, we should practice sit in mildly distracting situations before we practice sit when guests come into our homes or when kids are running.

Manage the Environment

On the day of the Great Curtain Battle of 1999, Bentley the 10 week-old puppy had lived with me for about six days. By day two, I realized this turbo puppy was likely to ‘explore-himself’ into trouble anytime he was unsupervised for a few seconds. Recognizing that it was only a matter of time before he conquered the gate, I should have attached a tether, a sort of umbilical cord. To use this prevention tool, get an 8-10 foot line and attach one end to your pup and the other end to your belt. A tether is a management tool, not a teaching tool.

Management Tools

Management tools are short-term, preventative measures. Think of them like diapers on a baby. We all know that babies will eliminate anytime, anywhere. We all know that it’s impossible to teach a 3-month old baby about potty training. We all know that the day will come when it is time to teach the child potty skills. So, until the time is right for teaching, we use a temporary management tool. We use diapers.

The same applies to our pups. It’s impossible to teach them everything they need to know in one or two days, or one or two months! We all know that pups and dogs will get into the trash, jump up on counters, urinate in homes, steal our clothes, tug the curtains, chew the furniture, jump up on guests, bolt out doors and gates, run into the streets, dig in the gardens, et cetera.

With all this ‘knowing’ going on, it’s amazing that 90% of most complaints about unruly canine behaviors would be non-existent if the people used short-term, preventative, management tools, like leashes, tethers, secured baby gates, and crates. None of these short-term tools teach our dogs, but, like diapers, they can serve a very useful purpose during periods when teaching cannot take place.

It’s tough to teach pups how to behave nicely when they are happily engaged and practicing unruly behaviors. If you haven’t yet taught your pup how to behave around guests and your dog is soon-to-be exposed to visitors, use the diapers! Attach a leash to prevent your dog from practicing mug-the-guests behaviors!

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Goals of Off Leash Obedience or Guard Dog Performances by the Family Dog

p_480_320_1E6B3BD9-8F00-48B9-BC22-54B4AE73B475.jpegOkay, so you want your puppy to stay in the yard, when off leash. You want your puppy to ignore that sandwich your toddler is dangling at her nose level.

You want your puppy to sit calmly while you vacuum. You want your dog to protect and guard your home and family.

You want your puppy to grow into a combination of Lassie, a Guide Dog for the Blind, or a canine Police Officer.

Good for You!
Lofty goals are great, for without them man would not have accomplished space travel or the Internet!

But, before your puppy can get a PhD in pet performance, she must learn basic obedience commands. She should graduate from Kindergarten, attend Grade School, pass Middle School, excel at High School level behaviors, and then attend College and Graduate School. And, your puppy will need an expert teacher.

You get the idea. All these goals may be within your reach. But, you’ll never know unless you learn a bit about communication, motivation, and how dogs learn. You’ll never know unless you form a training plan, apply your knowledge during every interaction with your canine companion, and you practice every single day, with increasingly higher levels of distractions.

You will be your dog’s Kindergarten mom, Grade School principle, Middle School counseler, High School mentor, and College Professor.

You, my newly appointed animal training intern, are on a steep learning curve. You, my enthusiastic new puppy owner, have much to learn, and much to do, if you want to reach those goals.

Don’t fret.

Dog training is not quantum physics! Anyone can learn how to succeed. Here are your first steps.

Meet your dog’s physical, social and emotional needs.

Kindly prevent your puppy from practicing unwanted behaviors.

Establish a meaningful method to communicate. Condition a reward marker.

Enact the Rewards Awareness Program.

Establish a Reward System.

This dogand site is filled with instructions and tips about raising and training a dog.

Look around and begin your adventure!

Happy Training!

Alan J Turner
How’s Bentley – Memphis
21st Century Canine Relationship Specialist

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Dogs and Puppies are Opportunists!

Boston TerrierDogs and puppies are opportunists.

Dogs follow one rule – “What’s in it for me – right now?” Dogs have no concept of right or wrong, good or bad. I do not believe dogs are concerned about yesterday or tomorrow. I believe dogs are interested in the present and how they can get what they want at this instant in time.

Dogs do what they do because their behaviors are instrumental in getting what they desire– period.

Animals perform voluntary behaviors that are instrumental in achieving their immediate goals.

Voluntary behaviors that achieve immediate goals are repeated.

Voluntary behaviors that fail to achieve immediate goals are discontinued.

Therefore, if your dog is constantly barking at you, the dog must have a history of getting what he or she wants by barking at people. Your ultimate goal is to teach your puppy dog a polite way to ask for whatever. The first step now is to prevent your pup from refining rude behaviors.

When your dog barks at you, walk away. This will teach the dog that barking makes you go away, quite the opposite of what he or she desires. Return in a few moments and then give your dog a couple of simple commands, such as Go-To-Place, Sit or Lie Down. Mark the instant your puppy succeeds and then give that rascal some version of FAT.

The idea is to teach your puppy or dog that barking is not the method to get your attention, but Go-To-Place or Lie Down will get your attention!

NOTES: Notice the word, “voluntary” in the post. Behaviors that involve fearful, compulsive, reactive, or aggressive responses are not necessarily voluntary and cannot be modified using the same rules as voluntary behaviors.

There are many different underlying causes for barking, with just as many (or more) solutions to reduce barking. Some solutions are better for some situations and other methods work best in other situations. For example, if your dog is barking at the dog next door, walking away would be useless.


Happy Training!

Alan J Turner – How’s Bentley Memphis TN
21st Century Canine Relationship Specialist