I’m back in the office, refreshed and recharged and ready to go. And curious–what would YOU like to talk about? Canine-related book reviews? Other book reviews? (Have you read Leaving Time? Wow!) Case studies? Research? Training Ideas? Dog-Human relationships? Flowers? Recipes? Novels about dogs that incorporate flowers?
I’m all ears. Be as specific as you can, because that makes it easier for me to know where you’d like our conversations to go. One note: I won’t be posting as often as I have before. The conversations we have in the blog are special to me–illuminating, inspiring, and amusing, often all at the same time. I’ve cherished this forum, and I still do. But I promised Jim that I would take it a bit easier for awhile, and I am planning on honoring that. And I promised the dogs I’d have more time for them too. I feel like many of you are family, so I hope you understand. I’m not going away, just taking it a bit easier in my dotage.
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: It’s been glorious weather, including some good cool days to run dogs at the Nippersink or Swim Sheepdog Trial. Maggie’s runs didn’t get her a lot of points, but I was still pleased with her. Actually, I was thrilled with her first run. We ran out of time and so didn’t get our “drive points,” (you have to complete the entire drive to get any of the 30 possible points, even if you’ve done 95% of it when the time runs out), but she never put a paw wrong and handled an especially difficult ewe who challenged her at the post and took up a lot of time. I knew we were in trouble when “our sheep” were set out–3 sheep stayed close to each other, while one distanced herself from the rest and stood off on her own. Never what a handler wants to see while waiting to send their dog. A dog with more push than Maggie probably could have handled it faster, but Maggie is Maggie–brilliant at flighty sheep but a bit too soft so far on pushy ones. But she faced down the ewe several times and always won, and I was so proud of her.
Our second run was going great, until it wasn’t. Maggie reverted to our biggest problem last year, best translated as: “Go right? No…. I’m sure you meant go left, because that’s where the sheep want to go and I can sense that very well myself and besides that’s what you asked me to do a few hours ago, so I’ll just do an auto correct and fix your mistake for you.” It wasn’t an unreasonable thing for her to do in one sense–the direction of the drive changed on the second run, so Maggie was doing what we needed to do the last time she worked. But of course, then I had to stop her, and redirect her, which gave the sheep time to run back to their buddies 200 yards away, and Maggie had to use up valuable time bringing them back on the course. But then things went well again until we ran out of time. Maggie is cautious when driving and illustrates my favorite saying perfectly: “Our vices are the excesses of our virtues.” Most people spend their time trying to slow their dog down; I am working on the opposite. However, we have another trial in 2 weeks, paws crossed.
What matters most to me is that Maggie and I both improved, we had a great time, saw lots of good friends and watched some brilliant work by savy handlers and clever dogs. Here’s some photos I took of Gordon Watt, one of the best trainers and handlers in the country, doing the “shed” with wonder dog, Storm.
Shedding requires that the dog and handler, working as a team, separate out one sheep from the group and keep it from rejoining the others. (This is a very practical exercise, although it is much harder than it looks. If Maggie and I knew how to shed it would save us lots of time herding the sheep down the hill to the sorting chute when I have to treat one or separate the flock for some reason.)
Here Gordon has positioned himself and Storm in exactly the right places to cause a gap between the sheep. Gordon is calling Storm to come in toward him and then turn and face the last ewe.
Look at how the ewe in the photo below has just put on the brakes, due to the pressure she is feeling from Storm. But that’s not enough for a successful shed. Storm has to hold the ewe away from the others for several seconds until the judge calls “good”.
And here Storm is doing just that. Storm and Gordon make it looks so easy… Sigh, someday!
Here are some more photos from the trial: Thank you Margaret and all the volunteers for putting on an amazing trial, and to John Wentz who judged for five days in a row, about 10-12 hours a day. I have no idea how any can concentrate for that long. My hat is off to him. And congratulations to my friend Donna and her dog Shae, who got 4th out of 48 on her second run. Yay!
Don’t forget to tell me what you’d most like to talk about. I have lots of ideas simmering, but would love to hear from you.
jordi says
because you asked 🙂 More please about city dog strategies for dog on dog reactive dogs. I have 2 dogs. One merely barks, but the other lunges and carries on like a maniac. If I see the dog coming I can get an “out” (sit off the curb in the street) and a “look at me” and the other dog can most times (unless it is also reactive) get past with all being calm. I get this pretty reliably.
However, I do get surprised sometimes by a dog I didn’t see coming, and still can’t just WALK past another dog. I am using high value treats ONLY for these occasions, and I need a next step to get us all walking nicely.
Kat says
I’m fascinated by all things dog and have so much to learn on all fronts so any subject is interesting to me and I’m thrilled this blog exists because I learn so much. That said, my topic would be what I’ve dubbed remedial socialization. What can be done to help a dog that was never socialized during the appropriate developmental periods?
Loved the photos and descriptions of the sheep dog trial. I remember as a kid how hard it was to separate just one from our little flock and how often we wished for a dog to help (The bloodhound and later the Great Pyrenees weren’t much help lol)
I’ll continue to look forward to your blog posts how ever frequent they may be.
LisaW says
I love the discussions that center around dog behavior and training issues. I enjoy the case studies, videos, and learning what others have had to realize and how they have dealt with a myriad of issues. (I wonder what happened to the case study that had the two dogs that got along except infrequently at meal times; I can’t recall the human’s or dogs’ names). We never had a follow up to that. I like it when you throw us a puzzle and ask us to dig deeper.
I’ll miss your weekly missives terribly, and I understand perfectly. I just want to say that until I found you, your books, your treasure trove of wisdom, this blog, these commentators, I was really lost. I was trying to figure out how to reach a dog that seemed frenetically unreachable. All of it was beyond my ken (much of it still is) but we struggled through and then I got a dog that had five-times the issues and is a polar opposite of the first DWI [dog-with-issues], and thanks to you (all), we have somehow managed to build a village where I am the custodian. It’s not perfect but it’s more than I could have dreamed. Phoebe and Olive bow to you (bowing is one of the dozens of tricks they love to do 🙂 Maybe a blog on the ripple effects of teaching tricks? It has been a life-saver for us.
Looking forward to the next phase. Thank you.
LisaW says
I also wanted to add — dotage, smotage 🙂
Kristina Chodorow says
I’d love to hear more stories about interesting clients you’ve had or practical tips about how you’ve trained various techniques. In particular: growing up, my dog instinctually knew how to stalk prey and it was beautiful to watch. I now have a Shih Tzu and… obviously the will is there,
he loves chasing squirrels, but he’s really bad at it. Do you have any advice on teaching a pure-bred couch cushion how to stalk? I feel like it should be pretty self-reinforcing, but I’m not sure how to get him started.
Silke Schrader-Thießen says
Dear Thrisha,
your blog is always a treasure chest full of knowledge, humour and deep understanding and I’m looking forward to any topic coming up !
Having Holly, a 21-month-old assistance dog in training ( trained in cooperation by me and assistance dog trainer Judith) and doing voluntary work for Accociata Assistenzhunde e.V (http://associata-assistenzhunde.de) I would be grateful for any topic linked with assistance dogs. Bonding, non verbal communication and preventing stress ( the two of us together) are aspects I would like to read and learn about more. Your book ‘The education of Will’ has already been an eye-opener, inspiration and encouragement to me. So please take ist easy and enjoy every single moment with family and dogs so that we can share more magic moments reading your blog!
sil newton says
would love to hear your ideas on how to improve recall away from livestock – particularly deer and rabbits with a dog like a high drive retriever that values chase more than it’s owner.
Jackie Mann says
Hi there
Very basic I’m afraid. My Border Collie drives me mad with his barking. I cant answer the phone or talk to anyone or sometimes he just stands in fron of me and barks apparently for no reason. He is well walked and fed and is not bored because he has plenty of attention. He is just so noisy and a simple’no’ does not work.
Help! Please
Jackie
Lainy Young says
First I’d like to say, I loved ‘The Education of Will’. That’s it, I just loved every bit of it!
I have found your books very helpful in working with my one dog, a Catahoula/Aussie mix rescue, who was not properly socialized as a pup and is shy of people outside her yard and frantically barks at visitors. She’s 4and slowly getting better.
My other dog is a Border Collie mix, who I’d absolutely wonderful. He’s a certified therapy dog. His job is visiting the elderly, a class of special needs kids and a second grade class. He’s amazing with them all, and I am so blessed to have both of them.
I’m reading James Sperells, Domestic Dog, some of which I’d a little tough reading, and just received Stanley Corey’s ‘Pawprints of History, How Dogs Think, and Gods, Myths and Black Dogs! I pretty much read anything dog related.
Not much help giving you ideas to write about, if you write it, I’ll read it!
My Catahoula mix is 6days post op from cruciate surgery so it looks like I’ll have time to read!
Victoria Moore says
Thanks for posting. Especially enlightening for a less than novice with a 16 mo old Mandy still more interested in chasing sheep and be I g naughty as John W called out at a lesson last week. He suggested reading A Way of Life and Lessons from a Sheep Dog trainer. Given I’m new at this, having been blessed with Meg for 10 years who already knew how to quietly collect the cows, without any inteference from me, I’m hoping not to make mistakes with my pup, especially since the end goal is to handle cows on a small farm in Md. Kandy knows the basic commands but is still too exuberant and I’m clumsy, slow and dont know enough to implement corrections immediately. We’ve been working with 3-4 sheep at the trainers and John is convinced we need to work with a flock. I would be happy with anything at this point other than getting in the field with the cows who I’m afraid would not put up with Mandy. So, any discussion on starting a young dog AND a novice would be Great! Thanks again for your books and blog which are most helpful.
Madeleine Prince says
I have 2 females that were friends that are now enemies. How can I reintegrate them so they won’t fight? or must I place one in another home?
Brenda Pawloski says
Dear Patricia, right now on our Georgia farm we are concerned with wild predators harming our pets. We have five dogs and a couple of them love to howl or bark back at coyotes at night, but they will come in when we call them. But our beloved indoor/outdoor cat is gone and hours and acres of searching have not turned her up so we have to wonder if a predator got her. We are relatively new to rural life so maybe we are naive to this danger. I would welcome any sharing in/input from your readers.
Marie Gruber says
Dr. Mc Connell,
So glad you had a great hiatus and are back rested and healthy. Love all of your blogs. One of these days I’d like to try herding with my poodles … only one has a great work ethic and obedience skills at the moment to try it. As for ideas … I groom both of my standard poodles because I don’t want them restrained, would love some training tips to help them relax and enjoy the experience. Both hate to have their feet groomed (nails and hair) and one does not like to be brushed. Thank you!!
Marie
lee says
Oh…thank you for the great visuals, both descriptive and pictorial! It’s incredible fun to watch herding trials. Much more fun for me to watch than to participate in; my BCs knowing more than me, though, got me through the few trials we attempted. My female didn’t care to watch the other dogs work, but my male was a very attentive spectator.
I’ve been without a BC for several years now. Saying goodbye to them (after watching their health and happiness decline) still brings such sorrow that I haven’t been able to adopt another.
First topic to consider: Some get offended if those with dogs call themselves parents and equate their furry family members to children. Why is it offensive? Do they think it devalues humans? What harm can it do to humans if an animal is loved as a (human) child?
Second topic. How can we balance cognitive canine research with protecting family dogs from their humans expecting too much of them? Examples include the fMRI studies that concluded (and became headlines) dogs understand language and dogs prefer praise over treats.
Please enjoy your time with Jim and your furry ones. We appreciate that you’ve given and shared so much of your time and life with us and will be happy to see (read) you whenever you appear. It’s spring and (almost) summer and more time should be spent outside with the pups, sheep, flowers, etc., because winter will be here too soon….
Take good care of yourself and your loved ones,
We love you,
lee
Terry says
I am interested in tips for adding a second dog (puppy) to the family. Dog #1 has great temperament.
Thanks,
Terry
Jean Carr says
I am curious about what research has learned about dog longevity. We have to figure out how to help dogs live longer, don’t you think?
Sarah Parker says
Hi Patricia!
I am the loving handler of a shy dog who unfortunately gets reactive towards strangers in our home (or car/tent while camping/etc.). We are trying to help her learn to be less afraid of strangers in general by lots of counter conditioning in neutral locations (park, sidewalk down the road, etc.). We are also working with a behaviorist who has recommended structuring home visits with compliant guests to do counter conditioning at home, trying to keep our dog under her reactivity threshold. We haven’t seen as much progress as I had hoped in the few months we have been working under this plan.
I have recently read several of your books/booklets and they have really gotten me thinking about the process of counter conditioning and desensitization, and I’m wondering if we are moving too fast. With counter conditioning, how fast can you go and still be effective? If the dog shows signs of stress (during or after) are you going too fast? Or will it help to work in a more stressful environment sometimes to move the program forward?
Specifically, I am thinking about this with respect to my girl and her fear of strangers. Should we keep working in neutral locations until she is happy to meet new people? Or should we combine “easy” sessions like that (which are not THAT easy but are, in general, much less stressful for her) with more “intense” sessions near the home or in the home? Generally we keep her below the threshold of actual reactivity (lunging, snarl/growl/etc) but there are definitely stress signals during intense sessions and increased reactions to strange noises/etc. after them.
Of course, I understand that the dog is the one who determines how fast you can go — but I’m not sure what I’m looking for in her behavior to know whether I’ve made the right choice.
Thank you so much for all of your writing — both your blog and your books. I have learned a lot and enjoyed the process.
Anne says
I was able to go to a Gordon Watt clinic once and I was very impressed with him. I wish I could go back and do another, but it’s not really in the budget right now. But he worked on shedding with me and my Aussie Hank (who was opposite of Maggie). My dog put too much pressure on, and he showed me a “wedge” technique where the handler pushes the sheep at the dog and the dog acts as a wedge to break them apart, then you call the dog in. It was good for dogs that are strong, he said. I wish I could remember more, but I don’t even have that dog any more (lost him to a heart problem at 10, which broke my heart). He also helped me with my driving, and in starting my younger dog fetching in large areas.
Rebecca Rice says
Hello!
First, I will selfishly say that I will miss the more-frequent postings. However, it is important to balance out your e-life and your real life, so I can understand where you are coming from. And it’s never wrong, in my opinion, to spend more time with your dogs and loved ones!
Here’s a suggestion, that might help do both things at the same time. I am very fond of the Socratic method of teaching: posing a question, and asking people to solve it while asking other questions to get people to explore their underlying beliefs and assumptions. I work in a very “grey” area, where there can be several approaches to a situation that involve different trade offs in time, energy, resources, and outcomes, any combination of which could be acceptable depending on what the expected outcome is. Which sounds a lot like dog training. 🙂 So, my thought is doing a case study, giving us something like 2 weeks to propose solutions, question each other’s answers, explain our thought processes, etc., and at the end, you can look through, see what sort of themes have solidified, and give us your opinion as the “master guru”. Is one approach going to resolve the situation faster, but require a trainer with a higher degree of skill and precision in timing? Is a different approach slower, but easier for the average person? Or should the expected outcome be shifted, possibly? (I’d also like to know what happened with the person who adopted the lab dog that refused to sleep through the night. Did they manage to find something that worked?)
I also think a discussion of whether aversives are ever justified would be interesting. I’m thinking of snake avoidance classes in specific, but I have also heard that you sometimes need to use them in herding, in order to protect the sheep from being injured or killed. As the owner of a 9-pound rabbit-sized dog in rattlesnake country, I often wonder about snake classes. If I could be sure that the training would work correctly (sensitize my dog to snakes, and ONLY snakes), I might consider doing it, since causing her a small amount of discomfort for something that could, on balance, save her life, would be worth it. The problem I have is that I keep hearing about dogs that generalized that to other things (snake-shaped things like garden hoses, or crowds of people with dogs, etc.), which is what I don’t want. So, I am torn.
Since much “bad” dog behavior is fear based, I’d also like to learn more about games or techniques that help a dog learn to be more confident. And for any future puppy I have, how to appropriately socialize them. How do you get them out to see various people and situations, especially before they are fully vaccinated? And for those adult dogs that weren’t appropriately socialized, how to do remedial socialization.
I have tried herding with my little 9-pound rat terrier, since their background is as general farm dogs, and some of them do have a knack for it. Mine does not. Really high prey drive (not at all unusual in a terrier!), and loved chasing the sheep, as long as I was in the ring to support her. Even stood up to the young male that was in a corner and stomping at her, if I stood close enough to her. But no instinct to herd them instead of just chase them. But hey, I gave it a shot!
But that gave me another thought: teaching your dog to work outside the “mom bubble”. Pixie will do a lot, as long as she is within a certain distance of me. Getting her to go further out is problematic. It’s not all bad, since it makes off-leash walking easier knowing she is unlikely to get further than about 30 feet away. But for things like agility, Treibball, and lure coursing, she needs to be able to work further away.
Thanks!
Sarah says
I’m the mother of a super-timid and fearful dog. We’re on 2 1/2 years post adoption and still she runs from me and takes months to tolerate new people. Oddly, she is incredibly social.
My questions relate to learning.
I’ve trained and worked with many fearful dogs both on the shy and reactive side. However, my girl is unique to me. She is very slow to learn new things and just as slow or unable to generalize what she learns. I try not to ask if it’s because of her treatment in the past but just to keep plugging along.
I’m always trying to find good material to help me with her. We counter condition / desensitize all the time and she’s gotten to the point where we can go for a ride in the car and she has fun but nooooo people…nope, not anywhere except in bed. Everyone who meets her has to come into my house and jump right into my bed where she will tolerate them. I should have a better dating life than I do with that approach. 🙂
I lovely call her my ‘autistic dog’ because she just doesn’t seem to learn new things and generalize them but I have no idea if that’s even a possibility.
Anne Riceman says
I would love it if you would talk about retraining manners at home. In my case, I have two 7 year old cockapoos who I’ve had since they were 7 and 8 weeks old. Fairly recently I’ve discovered that they get up on the dining room table when I’m not around – but just the other day Rufus jumped on to the table when I turned my back for a second.
Not only that, but they’re knocking over trash cans when I’m not around to see if there are treats in the trash!
I should add that Rufus is on a diet and hungry all the time and he is on potassium bromide for seizures which also makes him hungry.
How do I get them to stop jumping up on the DR table and stop stealing food at every opportunity?
Sue says
More on practical dog husbandry themes – the positive way. E.g. how to get your dog to accept teeth brushing.
Your blog a little while ago on nail maintenance has been transformational to me and my greyhound’s nails! It came just at the right time when I realised that she had become reactive to the groomer cutting her nails and we had a problem on our hands… I’ve since learned to grind Tiffany’s nails, which after a very short time she happily accepted. I think I was actually more nervous than she was, for her just switching from cutters at the groomers to grinder on the sofa did the trick. Still working on getting those quicks to recede, but making much progress…
Sebastian's Mom says
I would love to talk about manipulative behavior in dogs.
Last Fall, Chester, my 3 year old lab/pitbull/anyone’s-guess-as-to-what-else-mix came down with a sudden, severe worsening of Separation Anxiety. Suddenly, if he knew I was about to leave the house, he would flat-out refuse to go into his crate – no matter what kind of delicious treats were being offered. Once I did finally manage to get him crated, full-on panic attacks ensued. It was heartbreaking to say the least.
Fortunately, we live in an area where I was able to get him the help that we needed. We were already under the care of a veterinary behaviorist, and I brought in a wonderful CAAB, whose insight gave me the tools I needed to help Chester help himself learn to cope. I am now to the point where I can leave the house once a day without him losing it. I can stay gone as long as I need to (within reason, obviously), as long as I only leave once.
Last week, I pushed it, and tried leaving twice. Chester is now back to the point where he is fighting me about going into his crate. Once he is in his crate, he is fine, it’s just getting him in there that is the challenge.
During my consult with our CAAB, she mentioned that she suspected that he was manipulating me for higher value treats. I am interested in learning more about manipulative behavior in dogs, but am having a difficult time finding credible sources.
Also, while I would eventually like to be able to leave Chester alone unconfined, I have another dog, and Chester has a history of redirected aggression. I don’t quite trust him enough to leave him unsupervised with my other dog.
Lisa says
You’ve never written anything I haven’t found interesting! Thank you.
I’m currently working with a terrific cat shelter attached to an open admission County shelter and in the course of the Feral Cat program, was asked if there is anyway to get a dog or two trained to search out abandoned kittens if a mother cat is trapped. I’ve contacted a couple of people who do Nose Work for dogs, but they seem at a loss to suggest how to train a dog to search for kittens. Any ideas?
Thanks so much for all your writings – so very educational and enjoyable.
Kathryn Butterfield says
I am the owner of a wonderful English Cream Golden Retriever, Gabi…aged 14 months and we have been training together since she was 7.5 weeks old and I think she is fabulous! She has not yet been able to take her Therapy Dog International test but we are allowed to visit at a local nursing home and I hope she will pass her CGC test in the next month. The BIG question with her always, if controlling her desire to” go say hi”…social bug that she is, so the recall could be tricky…runs to me THEN zips over to the pair next to us in line! ha. I aways wonder if I expect too much from her considering her age, yet she has fabulous impulse control with her food bowl etc. People and pups are her kryptonite…youth or???
Karen says
I have two Great Danes. My puppy (16 months) is dog and people reactive. I took him everywhere I could but he never was comfortable. Around a year old he apparently had enough. He lunges and barks at everything. He can see a dog 100 feet away and he reacts.
Rebecca Rice says
@Lisa – the problem I can see with training a dog to find kittens is that there is no way of knowing if they are the “right” kittens. Unless you just tag all the nesting sites, and then wait to see if mom comes home? That might work, but it would be a pretty labor intensive process.
Jean Imholte says
Since I’ve lost two dogs at younger ages than I expected (golden retriever at 9 and jack Russell at 12.5 yrs), I would love to hear you address feeding raw food as an alternative. I always bought expensive brands of dry food, but both dogs ended up not wanting to eat in their last year. I would like to provide my current dog optimal nutrition in hopes of having him have a healthy and long life.
Cindy says
I second the request for how to quiet barking. My 6 year old Aussie has gotten worse and worse on it. He barks more at me than at strangers outside. He gets too excited when I am getting ready to go outside and barks so loud I can’t think. Now my younger Aussie is learning to do the same. The closest I’ve come to stopping it is to begin teaching him “Whisper” to use at night so he doesn’t wake up the neighborhood. Sometimes that works, sometimes not.
Julia says
Hi Trisha,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to adding topics to the wish list!
There is one topic that I haven’t been reading much about at all, here or elsewhere, and that is ‘multiple-people-households’. I live with my partner and three dogs (2 technically his, 1 technically mine, but of course they are all ours) and as glad and lucky as I am that he loves dogs as much as I do and is as enthusiastic about dog training as I am, I feel that asking dogs for behaviors can get really tricky sometimes. For example, one of us sends the dogs into the mud-room and the other one releases them. One of us gives a stay cue, the other one reinforces it (by body blocks or sending the dog back). I find it especially tricky when we go for walks together, as I then ask my dog to listen to me and not pay attention to him and he does the same with his dogs while I ignore the two of them. This works well as we are consistent, but situations arise when either my partner or I have to ask all dogs for attention which then seems to be hard/confusing for the dogs to do.
What makes sense to the dogs? What confuses them? I think that is my main concern regarding this topic. I personally prefer to see any cue (that I have given) through to the end myself, but in some situations (like the mud-room scenario) I also have the feeling that it is ok to the dogs when we are not that consistent?!
What is your experience with this issue? Is this an issue at all or am I overthinking it? What are other people’s experiences? Would be great to get some feedback!
I hope you’ll have an amazing summer with your dogs and loved-ones!
Frances says
As others have said, I enjoy all your writing and will miss the regular updates, but I more than understand the need to spend your time with those you love – I am stretched out in a big chair finishing my first coffee, one dog tucked in beside me, cat curled on my lap, second dog curled on my legs, contemplating the sheer joy of being retired with a sunny day ahead to do as I like with!
I would particularly value posts giving your take on dog-focussed reaearch – it can be difficult to evaluate individual studies without wide knowledge and experience of the field. And perhaps updates on the behavioural issues that come up again and again (reactivity, separation anxiety, resource guarding, etc), with links back to previous posts and your other resources would be helpful, and not too onerous to write!
Sarah Marty-Schlipf says
Hi, Trisha. Echoing others here: your blog has been and invaluable resource to me for years, and a pleasure–but I’m glad to hear you’re taking more time for yourself!
I second (third, fourth) the request for a discussion about barking. It seems so basic, but we have never had to deal with it much until recently, when we adopted a third dog. She’s been barking at night, and because she’s young (8ish months), had some troubling experiences in her previous home (including a severe injury), and is still new to us, we’ve let her out, wanting to give her every opportunity to go to the bathroom as needed. So this feels like a catch-22: we’re trying to make sure we’re gentle with her as she settles in, but we’re also (apparently, obviously) reinforcing the nighttime barking. Now she understands barking as a way to get us to come downstairs even if she doesn’t need to pee, so she’s delighted to be let out. We know she can make it through the night by now, but ignoring her doesn’t seem to help; she keeps going and ramps it up.
This is a new situation for us, and we’re not sure what to do. We’re not rookies, but we’re making rookie mistakes, I think. And we’re pretty tired! So I’d definitely welcome a conversation about barking.
Thanks so much,
Sarah M-S
Trisha says
Loving all these ideas for blog topics. Lots of great ideas, I’m writing out a list from your comments and those on Facebook, stayed tuned. Thank you too to those of you who wrote lovely things about this site. True confession: The only part of my work that I found myself doing happily while “off work” was reading your comments. I will admit there are times I’ve felt constrained by needing to write every week and having the photographs to go along with it. (“Oh look, what a beautiful sunset–but oh no! I should get a photo of it for the blog but I don’t have a camera…”). I’m still very much committed to our community, because that’s what it feels like. I just want to write when I feel the urge rather than feeling I must post something every Monday. I suspect there will be a lot more that focus on “Meanwhile back on the farm,” because that’s often the most fun to write. And I can’t tell you how many people have said “I probably shouldn’t say this, (head down and to the side) but I usually just skip to the “Meanwhile back on the farm” part… Anyway, thanks for the ideas, loving them!
Diane M says
Love your farm anecdotes, so go for it!
Barb Stanek says
Congratulations on continuing to trial, Trish! Well done. There are pros and cons of competing, and there is a camp that all competition is wrong. I’m not in that camp. I believe that I sharpen my dog skills when I train my dogs and compete with them. I also think that I strengthen my people skills for working with clients when I experience the ups and downs of training and competing with my dogs. How’s that for a topic?
Courtneyannelinden says
Redirection of one dog onto another, fences walks, etc
So much redirect on people but you’ll see it often on dogs of one house to each other
Rebecca Rice says
Thought of another topic: Setting appropriate expectations for your dog. I have a very fearful dog, and a slightly fearful dog. It has taken me a long time to come to terms with the fact that, no matter how much work I do with the very fearful one, she will never be “normal”. We have gotten to a point where she is good, and seems to be enjoying life as much as is possible for her. But how do you go about determining how much a dog can improve? When do you decided that “this is what it’s going to be” and just accept the situation and manage it? Are there signs that you look for that let you know that the dog has improved as much as she/he can? Or is there always room for improvement?
Jennifer says
Hi Patricia,
Is there any way you can talk about an unpopular subject “Dogs and depression.” ?
I can’t find much good information and my poor GSD girl was given to me after something traumatic happened to her while in service. She was a licensed Autism service dog,
For 2 yrs, since I got her, she has checked out fine by the vet. She bloated 4 months ago and seems a bit worse now emotionally.
She’s a beautiful, soft/sensitive and loving dog.
She won’t play, isn’t into any dog sport I introduce her to, and likes to just go in her crate all day and comes out go for walks and to eat….she eats well now that I gently cook balanced meals for her. Her coat is shiny and she looks so healthy. She goes outside to potty, comes in and goes right back to her crate.
She occasionally comes over to the couch for snuggles and then walks back into her crate … my heart has been breaking for her for a long time. I borrowed money to take her to a homeopathic Vet… she did acupuncture and put her on some Chinese herbs and that didn’t seem to work either. . I can’t afford to take her to a veterinary behaviorist – so I’m always reaching out to find information. Everyone that meets her falls in love with her calm spirit and her gentle way but nobody knows that she struggles and can’t Enjoy life like a dog should .
I have tried to take her to the lake and play with her in the water she won’t have anything to do with that . She likes to go walking in the woods with Me but comes home and goes right back in back in her crate. She is only 4 and my dream is for her to someday be happy and playful and everything a dog should be. She’s a loner in the house, doesn’t follow me around like all my other shepherds – no shadowing. I lie with her on my lap at night and massage her and I look into her eyes and I swear I sense a sadness. It breaks my heart. Could whatever happened to her have emotionally affected her for life?
I don’t know if you will ever read this, but I had to try.
Thanks.
Ps. I train dogs, I am in the KPA-CTP North course right now, in North Carolina but of course she couldn’t be my working dog, so I take my little rescue with me.
Sincerely
Jennifer
HFR says
I’ve been wanting to read something about, for lack of a better term, “stupid” dogs. Or to be more polite, dogs who are learning disabled. How should training be different for a dog who has a hard time figuring things out or takes longer to learn something new? Should we lower expectations? Or can they learn everything a smarter dog can learn, it just takes more patience and time?
Margo Harris says
I thought I might make a suggestion (and give sympathy) to Jennifer, about her sad GSD.
(And also, my suggestion for something I’d like to learn more about is the importance of SLEEP for dogs, especially newly adopted dogs with issues. One of mine, gone now due to old age, was helped I think by me making sure that she got lots of sleep and rest when she first was here, ie. I covered low windows inside so that she couldn’t react to critters outside, so she could get some rest. I get the impression that a lot of dogs just don’t get enough sleep/rest.)
Back to Jennifer’s sad dog… it touches my heart, because my now quite old dog Echo was like that when she first came to live with me, with one of her puppies Sam (long story). She had been so stressed for the first part of her life, and I felt so sorry that nothing I did seemed to make her sadness and worry go away. It took over a year, but slowly oh so slowly the sadness faded a bit, until one day she started to play a little, and some brightness showed in her eyes. She will never be a totally carefree dog, of course, but she did get to a point where she was/is happy, for her! I’m wondering about a possible approach for Jennifer, which maybe sounds silly or counter-intuitive, but is something I would try I think if I ever have another dog like my Echo. This would be to accept her sadness, and kind of embrace it as who she is right now. I don’t mean I would actively encourage it, but I would just do everything within that context, like if she does enjoy going for walks in the woods with Jennifer, then focus on that and if she wants to go in her crate when she gets home then that’s fine too. My Echo’s previous life will always be with her, I’m pretty sure, but she has her life with us which is important too. Maybe if Jennifer’s dog is at all like Echo, she will very gradually become less sad (maybe a better way to put it than “happy”?) and more secure in her new life. I see with all the dogs I’ve adopted over the years, that it can take a long time for a dog to start to understand that things really CAN get better for them. It’s the same for my old horses, although I find the horses adapt faster than dogs. If all these animals have taught me anything, it’s to be incredibly patient with how long it can take to see improvement in their level of comfort.
Some of this also fits in with what Rebecca was saying about setting appropriate expectations for one’s dogs… that is such an interesting topic.
Trisha says
To Jennifer: Like Margo I was touched by your story about your GSD. I have a similar suggestion to Margo’s–what if you tried, just as an experiment, accepting that she is making the choices she wants to make right now, that make her feel most comfortable? It sounds like she cuddles with you at night and enjoys walking outside, so perhaps she goes into her crate during the day because that’s how she was raised? I don’t in any way want to negate your perceptions, but what if you tried thinking of her not as sad, but as an introvert who likes alone time? You have mentioned how sensitive she is, and that is certainly my experience with GSDs, so I can imagine a bit of a circle when you see her as sad, which makes you sad, and she picks up that you are sad, and then she feels sad… Not at all saying that is what is happening, but I’d try changing my own affect for a few weeks and see if that made any difference. That said, it’s a great topic for a post! So thank you for sharing your story. Give the girl a belly rub for me.
Melinda Jacobson says
Ok I have to apologize for barging into this herd: I am not primarily a dog person. I love dogs, but I am not living in a place where it’s practical for me to keep a dog. I have, however, always had pet rabbits. Recently, I have become convinced that training is actually a very beneficial, perhaps essential component of a rabbit’s life. I’m on a campaign to master rabbit training, as well as pass on the knowledge to others.
One challenge I am having is that I live in a very small space, with two bonded animals living together. It’s difficult to separate my girls from each other, particularly once they figure out that their mate is getting treats! This is the biggest impediment I have to continuing to train.
As a relative novice to animal training, I am uncertain how to handle this. Ideally I’d like to be able to train both of them together, at the same time. I worry, though, that the conditioned reinforcer would get blurred by me clicking and treating one rabbit for a behavior while the other rabbit has not done the requested behavior.
I have been told that some trainers have taught one rabbit in a bonded pair to sit on a platform and wait while the other rabbit gets trained. That would be awesome, but I am unable to get a clear explanation of how such a behavior could be trained.
Anyway, so sorry, again, if this comment seems like a non-sequitur, but you asked what I’d like to talk about, and that was it. Would love to know your thoughts, even if we need to “take this offline”. 🙂
Melinda Hunter says
Just finished “The Education of Will” and loved it!! Didn’t want it to end…Thanks for being so honest and sharing some of your very personal life experiences. Being a survivor of a brutal sexual assault as a young girl I could relate so much to your story and I think hearing other’s stories helps me continue to learn and heal a little at a time. It is an ongoing process…
Also I really feel for Jennifer and her GSD. I rescued a 7 year old female GSD who had very similar issues. Onyx was a sweet, sensitive, gentle girl. Not sure of her background but she was quiet and not interested in play for a very long time. She didn’t like to be approached from behind and her “secure area” was the bedroom right off our main living area. I kept her bed in the doorway so she could be near us but still have her special space. She loved walks and car rides so I took her everywhere and she would always come back to her “safe room”. I lost her last year at 13 and miss her terribly. She was my first female shepherd and I learned so much from her…I tried to just accept her just as she was and give her a home where she could feel safe and secure. My advice would be to enjoy your snuggle time with her and trust that she is appreciative of the love and comfort you bring to her life.
Rebecca Rice says
To Jennifer: Just some thoughts (and also, this may make a good blog idea). And this is going to echo what Margo and Trisha have said, but also try and provide you some more ideas.
First off, I get where you are coming from. My Katie when I first got her was extremely fearful, sound phobic, neophobic, with generalized anxiety disorder. To this day she spends a lot of her time quietly lying on her bed in her “safe spot” in my bedroom, or out on one of the beds in the other room where I am. Which is my first question: does your dog have crates (for now) in the rooms where you spend a lot of your time? In other words, if she feels better in a crate, can she be there and still in the same room as you? My second question is that you mentioned “your other shepherds”. Are those dogs that you have now? Just wondering if she is not wanting to snuggle with you, or if she doesn’t want to have to work her way through other more extroverted dogs to get to you.
And now, the third thing, which also might make a good blog post, and which Trisha touched upon, and that’s reframing the way that you think about the situation. I often wonder about whether the words we use influences our beliefs and actions, and therefore causes or perpetuates issues. You describe your dog as “sad”, while Trisha suggests thinking of her as “introverted”. How much of an impact would that difference make, and, more importantly, how do you do it? Here’s what I did with Katie. Every night before bed, I would sit by her and pet and tell her one thing that she did that day that made me proud of how brave and bold she was. Granted, this takes work, especially at first. And “bold and brave” is a sliding scale. At first I was telling her that about things that most dog owners take for granted. “You lifted your head and looked at me when I walked into the room.” “You walked from the bedroom to the office all on your own!” “You walked all the way down the hallway!” They were incredibly small, tiny steps. But the idea was to notice and acknowledge them, so that I could see the tiny small improvements that she was making, and not just focus on the “oh my god, this dog is scared of EVERYTHING” that can seem so overwhelming. And the phrasing is important. It needs to be positive: “you walked into the living room”, not “you didn’t hide in the bedroom”. I wonder if you did that with your dog, looking for times that she seems happy, whether you would notice that she is more happy than you think she is? Especially if she is just a quieter, more laid back dog than you are used to. And if you start looking for times that she is happy, and acknowledge them, then you may not think of her as sad, and then that circle that Trisha described may become less. Just something to think about, and it’s something that can’t harm anything if you try it.
But I would like to see a blog about whether the words that people use “trap” them into perceiving their dog a certain way, and what can be done about it. If you say your dog is “fearful”, “aggressive’, “reactive”, does it subconsciously influence you to concentrate on those traits and behaviors, and ignore the times that they are not? Which could influence the dog to act that way, because that’s the times that they get the most interaction? On the other hand, if you do have a fearful/etc. dog, you do need to acknowledge that in order to treat it. So how do you balance the two? This is also partly inspired by an article I recently read by Stanley Coren where a group of volunteers were asked to evaluate the behavior of a dog in a video and assess its emotional state, which they did. But the real thing being tested was whether the dog’s name influenced what they thought. Some were given instructions that read “Watch he video, and tell us what you think Ripper is feeling and doing” (paraphrased, of course, since I can’t find the article now), where other people had the dog with names like Lucky, Killer, Savage, Chance, Happy, etc. And the result is that dogs with “happy” names had their behavior rated as friendlier than those with “violent” names.
I hope that something in here is helpful!
LisaW says
Rebecca, what great ideas and advice. I felt myself calming down just reading your post. Love that you can provide such clear examples. I believe the stories we tell ourselves and the words we choose have tremendous influence on all our perceptions and responses. It’s one of my main arguments when someone starts whining about everyone being so “PC” (if only), words do matter, languages matters, and affects us all. It’s how we build or wear away at relationships — of all types. Dogs pick up on what we are saying and how we are saying it. It’s why Trisha often counsels people to sing what you are mad about to the tune of Happy Birthday.
I used to sing to Olive to help her relax and to let her know that she is being the best Olive she can be (a modified version of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling”). I had to let go of what I thought would work and simply spend more time aiming for nothing. No responses, no worry, no demands, no expectations (yikes). Then we could begin to build our work together.
Not being a familiar traveler to the zen side of things, I try really hard to apply a buddist axiom to how I approach my worried dogs: “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Louise says
I have a dog that seems to live to hunt. Given a chance to be off-leash he will always go hunting and ignore voice commands to stop or come. We use a Garmin Astro collar to be able to find him. He is worse now at 5 years old than when he was younger. He loves to run and I enjoy watching that, but I am rarely willing to allow him off-leash any more. Is there a way to retrain the hunting instinct?
Mary V Hopkins says
Husband and I adopted a three yr old beagle, a darling frightened previously abused fellow. That was three months ago and I did not know about you/your books until yesterday. Is it too late to read Love Has No Age Limits? We have a sweet 12 yr beagle who is helping him learn that there can be love and comfort in life, but despite his progress (which is remarkable I think), he still is so frightened. Thank you so much.
Trisha says
Mary re new beagle” Absolutely not too late to read Love Has No Age Limits! Also might consider The Cautious Canine… good luck!
Beth says
I’m late to the party but here’s my request: I see lots written, here and elsewhere, about dog-reactive dogs. Most or all of the write-ups are about dogs that are fearful of other dogs, unsure of other dogs, perhaps a bit territorial with other dogs.
But I never see much written about dogs who are “dog-reactive” because they have high prey drive and see other dogs as prey. These dogs are out there, and their owners are often oblivious until Fido silently breaks loose and runs someone down.
They behave differently than other dog-reactive dogs because they go quiet and still. They don’t bark, or posture. The tail may do the slow wag. The eyes go hard. The head goes up. They go silent and still (because you don’t warn your prey when you are coming). They look excited and not terribly different from a dog who is keen to play.
We see these dogs leashed with unaware owners barely paying attention. We have been charged by this type of dog when they get loose. And there is little write up about it. Proper way to handle the dog if you have one. How to recognize it. Proper way to respond if your dog is at the receiving end of the piercing stare (generally I try to break the line of sight by getting between my dog and the other dog). Just general awareness of the issue would be greatly appreciated.
Ron Bevacqua says
I would love to get your thoughts on the lastest research on if dogs in the wild should be called packs vs. groups?
muttzrule says
Good for you, glad you’re taking some well earned time for yourself and your family. I’m still kinda new here, and already this blog is what I look forward to most in my inbox each week. I may go through a bit of withdrawal between posts, but I can always catch up on the archives, most of which are new to me anyway, when I need my”fix” ☺ Please keep posting the beautiful photos of the dogs, sheep, flowers, etc.
My heart goes out to Jennifer and her sweet shepherd, who, depressed or not, has just the right loving, compassionate mom she needs. The comments on reframing our thoughts about a situation make a lot of sense. Often dogs as well as people tend to live up to (or down to) our expectations and how we express them. One of my dogs is Velcro Dog, very cuddly, sensitive, and easily thrown off course by scary loud noises or changes in our routine. The other is Zen Dog, unflappable, yet needs more time by herself than any other dog I’ve known. I’ve had to learn to let each one be who they are, and that sometimes my attitudes and behaviors need to be examined before I start trying to change theirs.
On the lighter side, a topic that came up at work the other day might be fun. The question came up, does anyone have a favorite song they sing to their dogs. Most of us did, a few even danced with their dogs too.
Lisa says
I realize this is ridiculously late- but I would be interested in hearing about older animals (perhaps as compared to human animals) and their social place. If they last past their fertility are they still valued by their herd/pack… ? Has anyone studied this?
Trish says
Hi, I need help with my Carolina Dog, Diego, who developed severe separation anxiety from a all day long construction/flood trauma in my apartment when I was at work. Diego is a rescue, but I had him for almost 7 years and he never had separation anxiety until the trauma occurred. I have followed your program from your book “I’ll Be Home Soon” for the last three months and have made great progress, taking baby step after baby step. I had worked up to being able to leave him at home for 2 hours and then tried 3 hours and had a set back, he ripped the carpet at the front door again. It appears now, that he is anxious again about me leaving for even little bits of time, so of course I have let him relax and laid off the program for a couple days with just every once in a while going in and out of the door.
My question is, I am I back at square one? Ugh! I take him to a home environment doggy day care everyday when I go to work and it is getting very expensive. A month ago with the consult of my Vet, we started Diego on puppy Prozac, to aid in his counter conditioning program. We have had to adjust the dosage, because 40mg impeded his appetite too much, and I think when we switched it to 20mg, that amount was not enough to keep the edge off and may have contributed to Diego’s set back, but then who really knows, one day he is as calm as a cucumber and next he was not. We started him on 30mg yesterday to see if that is the sweet spot for Diego. This has been going on for over a year now and I have done all the aids that go along with counter conditioning and the desensitizing programs, Adaptil, music, thunder shirt , good food, plenty of exercise and play time with other dogs etc…. Diego truly panics and at my old apartment ripped the walls, door and floor by the door to shreds. Just needed some support as I have worked so hard and feel deflated with the set back as I have been at this for a long time. Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated!
Trish and Diego
Deb says
I will piggyback on what Jordi asked about a next step in counter conditioning. I have been giving my dog high value treats when she sees other dogs on walks and it allows us to get past them on the other side of the street. She gives me auto watches all the time now when she sees a dog. But if we get surprised and a dog is close before we see it, I have to squish the cheese wrapper to get her attention and at a certain distance that doesn’t work and she drops into a sphinx position and refuses to move. If I give her a gentle tug it triggers the lunging and snarling. I have to ask the other owner to please cross the street and give her space. Will I ever be able to pass a trigger dog on the same side of the street at the curb? Been counter conditioning for a year and a half, she is 5 years old.
Also is it wrong that I still allow her to greet the dogs she befriended when she was young? She has about 10 dogs friends, but there are dogs that she never liked and dogs she has never met and I don’t trust her to meet new ones anymore. Thanks for asking. 🙂
Abby says
Greetings!!
I just found your blog this afternoon and have been non-stop obsessed. Here’s our story..
A year and a half ago my boyfriend, Tylor, and I adopted the most wonderfully amazing (what we found out to be) Australian Kelpie named Roland. He is not only beautiful but smart as a tack and bursting with energy! My boyfriend and I had always been around dogs (we both worked as dog daycare attendants for a while) but have never personally owned one. While we may have bitten off more than we can chew being newbies and jumping into the training deep-end we are doing everything we can to learn how to communicate with Roland. In searching for “how to” manuals or “tips & tricks” for training I find that most of the time they are geared for new puppies. Roland was already 2 years old when we got him and while I still see him as my puppy his behavior and habits has already reach a conditioned response before I even got my paws on him. We are now having to go back and re-condition many of his go-tos like dog-dog excitement lunging, fence guarding, and toy possessiveness at dog parks (most of the topics I was able to find in your blogs YAY!). However I have to admit we don’t have the resources for a trainer and unless its on the internet we are kind of working blind. I guess what I am saying in a really round-about way is can we get more sessions of how to “Teach an old dog new tricks”??
Much Thanks!