Holiday House Manners

The holidays are quickly approaching and this often means a lot of family get-togethers, cooler weather, crowded shopping malls, and 2 months worth of leftover food!

While this can be an exciting time for families, it can also be stressful if you are among the many others with a less than perfectly well-mannered dog at home. If Thanksgiving at your house brings you fears of grandma getting knocked down when walking in the door, excessive barking at the window, the turkey being stolen off the table, and downright chaos in the form of your four-legged companion, then it’s time to start learning some good management techniques and it’s never too late to start teaching your dog some house manners.

Let’s break it down to the top 2 behavioral issues that most people deal with when it comes to having company over.

Jumping on guests:

Dogs naturally jump when excited. It feels good to them, it releases some energy, and they like to get to our faces. There’s nothing innately wrong with this behavior, and often we send our dogs mixed messages about jumping.

If you walk in the door, and your dog gets excited to see you and jumps up on you, what do you do? Do you pet them and say hello right back? Are you glad that they are so happy to see you? It’s in our nature to seek attention from our dog when we return home from work. Often, people enjoy that there is such a happy, wagging, bundle of fur waiting to greet you the second you walk in the door. So then, why is it not okay for them to greet all your guests in the same way? Because it’s rude, it’s chaotic, it can be dangerous, and most of all – it can be embarrassing for most people. It’s important that you start teaching your dog very consistent rules about what is allowed and what isn’t.

The next thing I’m going to recommend is going to be tough for the above group of people, the people who really want to greet their dog as soon as they walk in the house. You need to walk in and ignore your dog until he settles down. Dogs get very excited at the idea of someone walking through the door because most people have rewarded the behavior. Maybe you haven’t rewarded it in such an obvious way as stated above, but pushing your dog away with your hands is also very rewarding. Talking to them is rewarding. Any attention from you is very rewarding and it’s exactly why they are continuing the behavior.

Regarding guests coming over, the best thing you can do for your overly social dog is have your dog on leash. Break out the treats or a favorite toy. Having a second person to answer the door would be ideal. Make your dog sit before greeting and you or your guest can reward them by tossing treats on the floor. An alternative would be to encourage your dog to take the toy in his mouth and hang on to it. Most dogs who have a toy in their mouth can’t figure out the coordination to jump at the same time. The leash will be your friend here. If your dogs jumps, you can remove him and either step on the leash or back him off and make him sit again. Remain consistent and you will see progress. The worst culprit for rewarding jumping can be that visiting dog-loving houseguest so don’t let them convince you that jumping on them is okay “because they love dogs”. This sends very mixed messages to your dog, so be his advocate and show him what is appropriate. Be proactive, rather than reactive.

Finally, don’t feel like your dog has to be part of the greeting party. Keep an eye out for your guests so they don’t have to knock or ring the doorbell (see my Halloween and Dogs article for information on getting your dog used to the doorbell). Give your dog a yummy bone to chew or a food dispensing toy (ie the Bob-A-Lot or Tricky Paw) while you bring the guests in and then when things are a little less chaotic, you can bring your dog out on leash to greet people. Again, follow the above sit for greeting rules to teach your dog that sitting gets him attention and jumping does not.

Of course, if you have a notorious jumper and frequent guests, consider contacting a qualified positive trainer to help you through this. Get a handle on the problem as soon as you can. It’s never too late to work with this issue but the longer your dog practices the behavior, the longer it will take to break the habit.

Stealing food from the table or guests plates:

Think about this. Your dog eats kibble twice a day every day. Maybe once in a while he gets treats for good behavior. Then he smells the turkey, the stuffing, the gravy on the mashed potatoes… yum. That is far better than kibble! So he either goes straight in for the kill and just takes it right off the table or he’s a little more subtle and works his magic on someone in the hopes that they will kindly share their food. Kids are great targets!

I’m going to jump ahead to the best thing you can teach your dog when the food comes out. He needs to go to his place, his bed, his spot. Whatever you choose to call it is fine. When it’s just you and your household family, you can teach him that every time dinner comes out, he needs to lie on his bed by bringing him there and putting him in a stay. If you are consistent with this, he should learn quickly that no matter how many times he tries to inch his way closer, you are going to send him right back there. Consistency is key here! If he could get away with something yesterday, why not try tomorrow? Of course, if your dog doesn’t know stay, you’ll have to start there. You can also teach your dog to go to his place on his own, but that’s another lesson entirely.

When you have a house full of guests and you are trying to coordinate the big meal, being consistent gets a lot more complicated so I would recommend getting your dog used to a tether (a 3 foot line attached to a heavy piece of furniture or a hook in the wall, with a comfy bed to lay on) or his crate with a really tasty bone, stuffed Kong, or treat-dispensing toy. *Use the crate or a separate room if your dog has ANY guarding issues or if there are children who will walk about to pet him while tethered! My fear here is that the 5 year old child will walk up to pet him while he has his bone and he can’t walk away from him, so he will react in order to protect his feast.

Another thing worth mentioning is that it is VERY important that you give your dog frequent breaks from the crowd of people. Even if you have the worlds most social dog, he can very quickly get over-stimulated and either react negatively to someone or get the zoomies within the house. Downtime in a separate room, the crate, or a walk outside will help lower his arousal a bit. Of course, if he’s going to bark if you put him elsewhere, stuffed Kongs are great for this too.

As a final note, if your dog is on the opposite spectrum of sociability and does not enjoy having guests visit, I would recommend that you either skip this turn of having the family at your house or get your dog used to hanging out in a crate or loose in your bedroom. Then seek the help of a qualified professional!

Recommended products mentioned:
StarMark Bob-A-Lot: Amazon.com
Omega Tricky Paw: Amazon.com
Premier’s Manners Minder: Amazon.com
This device was not mentioned above but it’s a remote treat dispensing toy. It can either dispense treats at automatic intervals or you can push the button from another room. It’s more expensive than other mentioned toys but it can be used for many behaviors. It’s one of my favorite tools!
Dog Tie Down: http://www.hssv.org/docs/behavior/dog_tie_down.pdf

For a quick video showing the joy of treat dispensing toys, visit my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/missbehaviornh

Please also see my website MissBehaviorTraining.com for upcoming Holiday House Manners classes!

Dogs and Halloween

With October comes the changing leaves, the cooler weather, and the ghosts and goblins of Halloween. You may not be spooked by Halloween, but this can be an extremely stressful night for your dog which can make it pretty chaotic for you. While some of us are lucky to have a dog who happily anticipates the arrival of kids in costume looking for their treats, the majority of us dog guardians are not quite so lucky! With trick-or-treaters come little people who are excited… ringing doorbells, yelling, running, and looking quite different from what your dogs are used to!

If your dog is only moderately stressed out by this chaos, you still have time to teach him that the ringing of the doorbell can result in good treats for him too! Even if you have the world’s friendliest dog, it’s not usually a good idea to let them greet the trick-or-treaters. You never know which costume is likely to set him off, especially for those of us who were lucky enough to have rescued our dogs but without knowing too much about their past. Remember that your dog is counting on you to keep him safe.

Fergie in a kilt

Between now and Halloween, you can teach your dog that the ringing of the doorbell is a cue to run to his bed or crate for a treat. This is taught just like any other cue. You give your dog the auditory cue, guide them to their bed/crate and then reward them for going there. I would recommend starting with the bed/crate close to the door so that it doesn’t take you 5 minutes to get your dog from the door, where he will naturally run to, to his bed. As you practice, you can begin pausing between ringing the doorbell and leading your dog to his bed. If he makes any movement on his own, with less of your assistance, jackpot-reward him! That is, throw him a party, give him lots of praise and keep the treats coming!

It’s okay if you have to lead him for a while, it just means he doesn’t quite get it yet, or maybe he gets himself too worked up from the sound of the doorbell. If this is the case, you may need to take a step back. Use the bell as an auditory cue that you are about to give your dog a treat. Use high value rewards and keep it simple. As soon as the bell rings, you toss your dog a yummy treat. Practice this 5-10 times per session, take breaks, but practice multiple times a day. When you ring the bell and your dog looks at you, you’ve successfully counter-conditioned his response to the bell! Now you can continue with the above training techniques.

If your dog goes off the deep end at the sound of the bell, then it will probably be a much longer process to change his response and it would probably be in his best interest and yours to either give him something yummy to chew on Halloween while you hang out outside waiting for trick-or-treaters, or consider taking him for a car ride while another member of your household is in charge of the ghosts and goblins.

If you do continue with the doorbell training, don’t expect that your dog will calmly hang out on his bed or in his open crate while you answer the door and hand out candy. The purpose of this is to help diffuse his anxiety and overall reaction to the doorbell when the time comes. If you think your dog can handle it, I would suggest giving him a stuffed Kong or tasty rawhide to chew while the Trick-or-Treaters come and go. The other option would be to crate him but toss in some yummy goodness on your way to answer the door each time. Again, if you think this would be too much, don’t hesitate to get your dog out of the house for a few hours. As mentioned above, this could be with a car ride, a visit to a friend’s house without trick-or-treaters, a kennel, or you could simply wait outside so people don’t have to ring the bell.

As a final note, remember to keep your Halloween candy in a safe place. A lot of families leave them in kitchen drawers, on the table, or spread out on the floor while going through it. Please remember that while chocolate is delicious to you, it is extremely toxic to your dog!

Body Language in Your Dog

Dogs have many methods of communication, some of which are obvious and well known, such as growling, tail-tucking, and barking. However, as your dog’s guardians, do you know what Fido is trying to tell you when he yawns? Or how about when you are telling him to do something and he seems to be looking everywhere but directly at you? Or lastly, how about when he shakes his whole body off, as if he is wet when he’s not?

The above examples are all methods of communication either to a person, another dog, or even to himself. Many of these signals are known as calming signals. There are many types of calming signals. Some are meant as distance-increasing, a dog’s way of telling the other party that he needs some space. Some are cut-off cues, your dog’s way of needing a time out. Others are just your dog’s way of coping with minor to moderate to severe stress or competition and these signals often come far sooner than the more obvious growl or bite. As a general rule, these calming signals are meant to do just that. They are meant to calm the situation, the other person/dog, or themselves. Depending on the situation and the environment, these signals become your cue as your dog’s guardian to address what might be stressing them out.

Some of the more common and mild calming signals include:
• Yawning
• Lip licking
• Avoiding eye contact
• *Full body shake off (as if they are shaking off water)
• *Sitting
• Drooling
• Mouthy-ness
• Jumping on you

Some of the more moderate signals include:
• Wrinkled brows
• Dilated pupils
• Wide mouth panting – tends to be shallow or forceful and their mouth is opened wider than usual
• Whining – often anxiety or excitement

Some of the more severe and more well-known signals include:
• Whale eye (eyes bulging, with the white of the eyes exposed)
• Tail tucked
• Body trembling/shivering
• Ears plastered back
• Dog appears to stop breathing
• Crouching or low body posture
• Shrinking away from being touched
• Stiffness

It is very important to consider all these signals in context. If you have food in your hand and your dog is licking his lips, he is probably doing so because of the food and not due to stress. However, if you are allowing your child to hug your dog and he is licking his lips, stiffens up, or stops breathing – this means your dog is NOT comfortable with this full body embrace. These are the signals that come before the growl or the bite but often people are unaware of them.

As a less serious example, if every time you try to take a picture of your dog, he turns his head away from the camera, that is avoidance – not a dog that is purposely trying to keep you from getting a good picture. It means he doesn’t like having his picture taken. Still using that example, that is a good time to teach your dog that if he looks at the camera… right after the snap of the picture, he will get a treat or the ball thrown. Very quickly, your dog will probably create a much more positive association with having a camera pointed at him!

The behaviors above that are marked with an asterisk are the cut-off cues. You will often see these when a dog is interacting with another dog. If he needs a break, he may shake off or sit down. Sitting down leans towards a less-than-comfortable interaction, while the shake-off tends to happen when the dogs just need a moment between play. You may also notice that when one dog shakes off, their playmate does as well!

If you notice these signals in your dog, especially repetitively, consider what is happening in the environment and help your dog out. Either remove your dog or remove the threat, and then start teaching him that what makes him uncomfortable can actually be a good thing! Of course, consult a Dog Behavior professional who uses positive training methods if you feel that you need extra help or if your dog is showing signs of the moderate to severe signals.

Dog Trainer Turid Rugaas coined the term “calming signals” and wrote an excellent book on the topic called On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals. If interested in learning more information on this topic, I would highly recommend picking up a copy.

For more information, please contact Laura Chapman, Miss Behavior
(603) 509-3877 http://www.missbehaviortraining.com/

August 30, 2010

Best Staffordshire Bull Terrier video ever!

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