What to do when the puppy says "no" - command refusal

In the transition into positive training techniques, there have been a lot of questions about how to handle “command refusal”. Traditionally, it was up to the raiser to determine when a dog “knows” a command and “should have” responded; if he didn’t respond in a certain amount of time, he received a collar correction. There have been several problems with this technique; one is that it assumes the dog has been sufficiently trained to generalize commands in nearly every possible environment, and that is just about impossible to do within the time frame of puppy raising. Two is that the dogs often respond to the collar correction more reliably than the command (often because they didn’t hear or process the command in the first place).

To quote Denise Fenzi, “In the [Positive Training] world, all failure to perform goes back to the handler; the dog is not held responsible. In the traditional world, the handler is held responsible initially until they decide the dog knows it. Then the dog is held responsible.” This is an important distinction, as time and time again, I go to evaluate a “stubborn” dog, and what I find is a dog with a poor understanding of expectations, whether it’s because he has not been properly prepared for the environment, or because the training techniques used do not mesh well with his temperament.

Let’s look at a common scenario: we have an 8-month old puppy who has successfully responded to SIT at doors for the past several months, and he suddenly stops responding. You approach the door with the puppy, tell him, “Puppy, SIT”, and he simply stands there. He does not appear stressed, there is no unusual stimuli apparent, and he has a solid history of responding to and appearing to understand the command. What to do?

This is a very common “teenaged puppy” response. There are several options available, and you may have to experiment to figure out what works best for THIS particular puppy.

The first consideration might be, “Did the puppy hear me?” It is a good time to ask for a check-in. Say the puppy’s name and pause. If the puppy looks up at you, now you’ve established attention; try saying “SIT” again. If he responds, he just may not have registered the command the first time. As a handler, it can be easy to say the command pretty fast (so it sounds like “dognameSIT”), and the dog may have tuned it out. Repeating his name and checking for attention sometimes will solve the problem (and many pups will appear to remember where they are just from hearing their name: “Oh right, a door… I’m supposed to sit!”).

If the puppy does NOT check in when he hears his name, do not keep repeating his name or the command. Try one of the following tactics:

At a puppy meeting, you can use the other dogs’ presence to your benefit. When you get a refusal at the door, back away from the door and stand with the puppy a few feet away. Allow another puppy and handler team to approach the door, SIT, and go through. After watching one or two pups proceed through the door, bring the pup up to the door and try again. If he succeeds, great! If not, walk away from the door again and allow another team to proceed. The pup learns that the fastest way to get to where his canine pals are is by following a simple command.

If there are no other dogs or similar tempting distractions available, try giving the dog a light attention cue. This is NOT designed to be a correction, but a light crutch/extra cue. Light tugs upward on the leash, a gently tapping finger on the pup’s head (“hello, are you listening?”), and/or VERY gentle pressure at the base of the tail can give a reminder of what the puppy is supposed to do. The goal is NOT to push the dog into position, nor to give the dog punishment. Think of it as an, “Excuse me, you’re supposed to be sitting” reminder. You don’t want to rely solely on these cues, but they can speed up the process (this can be very beneficial when you have people waiting behind you when you’re out and about).

If the cue doesn’t work, back the puppy away from the door. Allow anyone that is behind you to proceed, then approach the door again. If the dog is under control, it is acceptable to simply ask for attention, then proceed through the door without a SIT. This should only occur if the dog is behaving calmly. You are expanding your Box of Acceptable Behaviors to account for adolescence, as well as the potential that the puppy is having a bad day, is over-stimulated or tired, or is in a novel environment. Plan to go back to the basics with the puppy another day.

Notice that throughout all of this, a treat was not used as an aid or a lure. We do not want the puppy to learn that if he doesn’t listen, treats will appear. You can use a treat as a REWARD once the dog has complied, but do not pull it out to “tempt” the dog into listening. The benefit to compromising or using an extra cue is that it addresses the issue as it is happening; later, you can go back to foundation behaviors and re-teach sitting at the door, but the time to do that is not during the command refusal.

If none of the above methods work and the puppy can’t even stand calmly at the door, it’s time to manage the situation and take the puppy somewhere else to calm down (or end the outing).

Another common refusal is the COME command. It is good practice to not use the command when you don’t have a way to reinforce it; for example, if you have a fenced in yard, and the dog tends to play keep-away when you want him to come in the house, do not use the COME command. You can substitute an additional word (such as “INSIDE”) so as not to dilute the recall.

But even you always have the puppy on leash and and set up properly so that you can enforce the recall, training them for an “off-leash refusal” can be beneficial as well. Put the dog on a longer leash (6 feet +), try this in the house, or if you’re very patient and have lots of time, you can try this in a fenced in yard.

Call the puppy to “COME” while he is engaged with a scent or some other distraction. If he does not respond, walk towards him calmly. If he is on the leash, gather it as you approach but do NOT tug or put tension on the lead. If he is off leash, be prepared that he might dart away; do NOT grab for him or try to “catch” him.

When you get close to the puppy, calmly reach for his collar. If he is resistant or tries to jump away, make a mental note to practice grabbing his collar over several positive training sessions in the future. Then walk after him. Do not hurry or chase him; just follow him calmly and “walk him down”.

Eventually, he will allow you to take him by the collar; it may feel like a lifetime, but usually it only takes a few minutes for a pup to settle down and stop darting away. If he has been particularly resistant, you might want to give him a treat just for allowing a collar grab. But if it was relatively easy, you do not have to treat at this point. Tell the puppy to “SIT”. Just gently keep a hold of his collar (so that he can't go doodling off) and wait; remind him to "SIT" if he looks up at you.

When he does SIT, call him to “COME” and take a few steps back, gently using the collar or a short leash to guide him. Praise him, then call him to “COME”, again using the collar or leash to guide him, but this time give him a treat reward.

The reason that this works is because you are breaking the command down. The COME command is actually made up of three parts:

1. Stop what you’re doing

2. Come towards me

3. Hand target

When you get a refusal on the COME command, that means you need to work on the first part: stop what you are doing. The SIT command is one of the most basic commands, and one of the first things the puppy learned. Instead of focusing on tugs or pops on the leash when the puppy refuses the command, you are working on reinforcing each part of the command. Have you ever tried to tug an adolescent puppy off of a scent? It is not easy to do, and really, we are not interested in trying to fight with or out-muscle these dogs. By practicing the above technique, whether on or off the leash, you are giving the puppy clear information and structure that makes the command more fun and less confrontational.

*Thanks to South Shore AC Sue Croley and Diamond for posing for these shots.

Loose Leash Walking video bonus

Bonus post: This is the single best loose leash walking video I have ever seen. Created by Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy raising department, this is a very clear, instructional video. We use the marker word "Yes" instead of "Nice", but otherwise this is an excellent demonstration of how we want to be teaching "Let's go".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mvm4vj5s0Y


Major thanks and credit to Guide Dogs for the Blind

Growing up Idunn - Greeting Behaviors

One of the most common training challenges you will face when raising a puppy is teaching appropriate greeting behavior. Socializing the puppy can be a balancing act. People will stop you and want to pet the puppy. Coworkers, friends, and strangers alike will want to interact with the puppy. However, it is your job to make sure that the puppy does not get overwhelmed, behaves appropriately, and also is rewarded for keeping attention on you.

Here is where it often goes awry:

- People tend to greet puppies in a very intense way. They mean well, but even the dog savviest among us (myself included) can lose our minds when we see an adorable puppy. If a puppy is tired, sensitive, or cranky, a cooing and adoring stranger is often the last thing he wants to interact with.

- When a puppy experiences a spike in arousal, it is very difficult for him to think clearly. What causes arousal? Eye contact and a high-pitched voice from a stranger. Add the pressure of trying to enforce a “sit at heel” and you have a recipe for poor greeting behavior (jumping, mouthing, submissive urination, etc).

- Leashes add tension and limit a dog’s options. For one, opposition reflex often comes into play: if the dog is at the end of the leash, they pull harder against it by default (resulting in jumping, lunging, etc). It also removes the option of flight if the puppy is unsure or hesitant about the stranger.

This month’s video with Idunn is a demonstration of body language, as well as strategies to deal with it. Idunn is now full-on teething, and is displaying sensitivity with people. She appears to love people, but she can be a jumper, has had a few episodes of submissive/excitement urination, and she can get overwhelmed by groups of people.


Growing Up Idunn - Greeting behaviors from Southeastern Guide Dogs on Vimeo.

The first two segments of the video show Idunn’s arousal during a high-pitched, energetic greeting from a “stranger” (thanks to my decoy Katie). In this case, Idunn is demonstrating her arousal and internal conflict by lowering her body to the ground, tucking her (wagging) tail, and pinning her ears back. Notice how at 7 seconds in, she runs up to meet Katie, while also compressing her body and shrinking to the ground. She is not unhappy to be with Katie, but she is definitely experiencing conflict. At 10 seconds, she is leaning into her, but I wouldn’t call her “recovered” or “doing fine”. How do I know that? Because she has, over the last several weeks, demonstrated a consistent pattern of behavior (compression, urination, etc) that lets us know she is not doing “fine”. I want her to gain confidence with people, instead of associating them with a feeling of being overwhelmed.

To work on this, I ask Katie to approach again quietly. At 0:19, Idunn presses her ears back and tries to approach Katie, but I call her and ask her to walk with me. Notice how Idunn jumps up on me; she is still experiencing an arousal spike from seeing Katie approach again. I just keep walking and ask Idunn to walk around Katie. At about 0:24, she starts to calm down and walk more purposefully. I tried to give her a treat at 0:27, but she’s still revved up and jumps, so we keep walking.

At 0:33, I reward her for walking nicely. She passed Katie without notice and has calmed down further. That earns a reward because that’s moving towards what I want. After some more walking, we work on sitting in heel position near Katie (but not facing her yet; most puppies are more relaxed when they don’t have eye contact with a “stranger”). I’m not looking for a perfect heel or working on hind end awareness because that’s not the focus of this exercise; I’m looking for a general heel position. The more we do this exercise, the more precise I can ask her to be.

By 1:00, Idunn is able to be near Katie and stay focused in a general heel position. I back up and ask Katie to make herself smaller. Now Katie is closer to Idunn’s eye level, which will be more challenging, but she will also be less looming and intimidating. I get an okay heel response and allow Idunn to greet a much calmer Katie. She still is wagging downward and turning her head to the side at 1:23, but she is MUCH more upright in her posture. The greeting lasts just a couple of seconds, and I call her away for a reward. This keeps the intensity low, makes a positive association to the stranger, and reinforces attention on the handler.

I ask Katie to pet Idunn’s back, which results in a small spike of arousal, but she quickly refocuses on me. We are keeping the arousal spikes low enough that she can learn. She gets rewarded for calm behavior and handler focus in front of me; once I have that, I ask for a heel.

By making this session less than 3 minutes long, I was able to keep up a high rate of reinforcement. Idunn will benefit greatly from VERY frequent set-ups of this kind of exercise, and once she starts to understand the goal behavior, the treat frequency can be decreased greatly.

What is great about set-ups is that if you work on them often enough, you have good behaviors pre-installed when you need them. Let’s say Idunn goes to the mall, and a group of excited children rush up to her. That is a potentially overwhelming, excitable situation for any dog, let alone a puppy. However, if she has a dozen of these types of training set-ups under her belt, it will be much easier to manage. I would call her attention, maybe pivot in a small circle and ask her to focus on me while the children pet her. I want Idunn to think, “Oh, this is just another one of those training exercises that we do.” That is a lot more manageable than trying to train and control a puppy only when you’re set upon by strangers. We all know how hard it is to get someone to not pet the puppy when they jump (“Oh I don’t mind, I have dogs…”). So use decoys and set-ups as much as you can, train the puppy to default to attention to you, keep the pup moving and reward him when he starts to calm down, and don’t ask for perfection too soon. Ask for effort and move towards the final picture that you want.

Growing Up Idunn - Heel Position

We are continuing our video series this month with puppy Idunn as she demonstrates learning the “heel” position. Calling a dog to “heel” entails the dog moving to the handler’s left side (not necessarily ending with a “sit”; more on that later). The key part of the command is NOT the dog’s final position, but rather the dog responding to the command by moving into position, without needing the leash or hands-on adjustments.

In order to learn the “heel” command, most dogs need to learn about hind end awareness. Many pups are unaware of the location of their back feet. So their front end might be in the heel position, but their back feet are stuck out to the side. Ultimately, we want the puppies to have a nice, tucked-in heel position, so they are out of the way and in line with the handler. However, using external positioning, such as with your hands, does not do much to teach dogs to tuck themselves in.

In the video below, I am working with 18 week old Idunn (pronounced “Eden”) for the second time. She is being puppy raised by a coworker, so I will be using her over the next few months as a “demo dog”. This month, the topic of the video is heel position. In particular, the video addresses an extremely common issue, which is that her default position tends to be in front. She wants to look at my face, and also the treat bag (which is on the right hand side). So she tends to swing out to face me.

The training session consisted of three 5-minute sessions, with little breaks in between and a short walk before and after. We worked on “heel”, loose leash walking, and “down/under” in order to keep things interesting. Idunn is food motivated, but wilts a little bit if the training feels too much like a drill or is too repetitive. She is at a sensitive age (teething!), so keeping things short and fun is essential. I will post the entire video of our training session later for those that are interested.

This video is cut to show clips of our progress with “heel”.

Growing Up Idunn - Heel from Southeastern Guide Dogs on Vimeo.

In the first 10 seconds, I am walking in a small area to gauge her position. She tends to be in front of me, so I walk backwards. She walks towards me, then I begin walking forward abruptly; this makes her naturally turn and end up in a rough approximation of heel position, so I reach down with a reward with my left hand. However, I do not release the reward right away. I keep it at nose-level and begin to turn her head out and away from me. At 12 seconds, can you see her back feet scoot in? I mark that with a “YES” and reward.

That “scoot in” motion was the focus of the first step of heel position. This teaches Idunn to become more conscious of what her back feet are doing. In order to get a nice, neat heel position, she will have to learn how to swing in her rear end.

As she chews her treat (a piece of kibble), she moves around to the front again. That’s okay, but now I switch to luring. I show her a treat and lure her into the “horseshoe heel”, taking a small step back with my left foot, then take a step forward so she has enough room to move into position. Her rear end scoots in (notice how the treat lure still has her head turned away from me) and I mark and feed.

Idunn is a jumpy puppy, like the vast majority of pups, so I just ignore any jumps towards the treat or the treat bag. Remember our patience session from last month? She sits very nicely and patiently much of the time throughout this video. I wouldn’t expect her to never jump, especially as I am not her normal handler, but already the frequency is much reduced during the training session.

Notice how she compresses a little at 56 seconds as she follows the treat. She is a little overwhelmed/excited; she is not unhappy, but she is under some pressure. This is normal for this age, and for the general temperament range of our dogs. At 1:09, she compresses but follows with a great butt tuck-in, which gets rewarded. Notice her waggy, happy attitude in general.

In the next part of the clip, I am luring her with an empty hand. It took a few tries for her to be patient enough to wait for the treat to arrive after she realizes the hand is empty, so we add a “sit”. That keeps her still long enough to wait for the treat to arrive. The video shows that success.

At 1:33, I’ve added a treat back into my luring hand to keep her motivation and drive up; you can see that she’s a little hesitant to follow the hand (she doesn’t realize that there is a treat in it this time). I switch back to a treat-less hand, and she is hesitant again. She wants to jump up to the treat bag, but my lack of input makes her realize that jumping is not going to get her what she wants. She finally makes the right choice, and I quickly transfer a treat into my luring hand. Can you see the lightbulb going on over her head?

The end of the video shows where we ended the training session. She executes the heel PERFECTLY. She gets a jackpot (several treats in a row) and we end the session.

Remember that this video is a compilation of clips. The training session itself was around 15 minutes long, with lots of breaks for play, praise, and just a chance to chill out and be a dog; we also worked on other commands to keep things interesting. If Idunn checked out or seemed to be distracted, we took a break. By keeping the pressure low, I had a dog who wanted to work (and would actually “ask” to keep working even we were on a break). I kept a high rate of reinforcement, because she is still learning. As she begins to understand what I’m teaching her, she won’t need so many treats. As it was, over the course of the session, I kept increasing my expectations, and she, in turn, worked harder to earn her reward.

Whether the dog sits at heel or not is up to you. For a dog with a lot of drive and oomph, I might use a “sit” just about every time. If it becomes an automatic sit, that is okay. I prefer that over jumping and lunging. For a dog who tends to be nervous or hangs back, I might reinforce standing heel position, or call them to heel and immediately move into loose leash walking, to reinforce drive and motion. It depends on the dog and the skills we are working on.

The ultimate goal with “heel” is to teach the dog to default to the heel position, especially to receive a reward. In guide work, we need the dog to stop at the curb and maintain her alignment at the handler’s left side. This technique is a positive way for puppy raisers to really reinforce the left-side training, and to begin to teach the dog not to swing out to face the handler.

Impulse control around food (video demonstrations included)

Using treats in dog training can be tricky. It always starts well enough: the dog is motivated, quick to learn and respond, and gazes up at you adoringly. But what happens when you start to wean off of the treats? Or when you don’t have treats on you? What do you do when the puppy just wants to stare at the treat bag, or jumps at your hand, or seems to only work for treats, causing you to go through large quantities?

Firstly, consider what you are using as treats and how many the dog is receiving. Motivated dogs may work well for their own kibble. The benefit of this is that it’s easy to measure out their meals and make sure the dog isn’t getting too much to eat; it is also easy to deliver, since the pieces are usually pretty large. For dogs that are on a growth spurt and think they are starving all of the time, kibble may be less distracting than stinky, soft treats. The potential negatives are that it may be a “lower value” reward in terms of motivation, it (usually) takes time for a pup to chew it, and the dog may get full faster. Soft treats are often highly motivating, easy to break into tiny pieces, and quick for the dog to ingest. However, some pups will be highly distracted by the smell, and they may tend to get too wound up; it can also be more difficult to measure out appropriate portions.

I tend to split the difference and use a flavor of kibble that the dog doesn’t normally eat. I have found that some of the small breed, grain-free lines of kibble, especially the “fish and potato” flavored kibble, are considered a treat by most dogs and are perfectly sized (as well as being economical and healthier compared to most treats).

In order to instill good behaviors and patience around food, I like to play a few impulse control games. I show the puppy the treat bag, but then I will put it aside, within view but out of reach. My goal is to teach the puppy to work for me AWAY from the treat bag. I do the same exercise with the bowl, setting up patience at meal time.

1. Put the treat bag on a table. Be sure it’s out of reach (for some dogs, this may mean on top of the refrigerator!). I like to play this game at home and off the leash first. The dog is going to have to make some hard choices, and I want him to make the choice internally, rather than relying on external motivations (like tugs on the leash).
2. Let the puppy see you put the bag on the table. Take a few (3 – 4) kibbles in your hand, back away from the table, and call the puppy; I tend to start with just the dog’s name, rather than using the “come” command, because I expect that the dog might not listen. “Wolfie, pup pup puppy! I’ve got cookies over here!”
3. If Wolfie comes to you, great! Give him the kibbles from your hand one at a time (this is called a “jackpot”), then run over to the treat bag and give him a kibble from it.
4. If Wolfie stares longingly at the treat bag, or tries to put his paws on the table, ignore him. Do not administer a correction, verbal or otherwise. It is best to start this game when the puppy is young, so that you are certain (or at least mostly certain!) that he cannot get onto the table. We are letting the puppy make a choice: his choice is to leave the tantalizing food and come to you, or ignore you and attempt to get at the food. One choice (coming to you) is a sure thing; the other choice is futile. BE PATIENT. Occasionally remind the puppy, “Hey Wolfie, I’m over here and I’m really where the treats come from!” But otherwise ignore him. If he looks at you or heads towards you, praise him excitedly, but make sure he comes all the way to you before you reward him; do not meet him halfway. When he does finally come to you, give him the jackpot, then run with him to the table and give him his reward. Later, it will be fair to correct or interrupt the behavior of trying to put his paws on the table; right now, we want it to extinguish on it's own.
5. Over a couple of sessions, Wolfie should be willing to leave the table to come to you, although he is probably eager to return to where the bag is. Over time, ask for more. Only have one kibble in your hand when you call him and wait a few moments before giving the reward. The next time, ask him to sit and stay while you go get a reward from the bag. The next time, ask him to down and stay while you get the bowl. Ask for multiple commands. The puppy learns to make a CHOICE to work with you, and begins to trust that you will make it worth his while. The motivation does not have to be right in front of his face for him to be willing to listen. This is a challenging thing to ask of a puppy, but once they get it, they progress rapidly.
6. At meal times, you can play this game with the bowl, putting a few kibbles into the bowl at a time, eventually feeding the pup his entire meal.

In the following video, puppy Idunn (pronounced like “Eden”) and I play the impulse control game. Idunn is 14 weeks old, and this is my first time working with her. I’m gradually increasing the challenges and rewarding her for stillness. She quickly works through the challenge of being called away from the treat bag, but the bowl work is a little tougher. She tends to shift her weight and responds to every slight movement, so the goal is to wait for her to offer quiet behavior, then reward. We aren’t quite at the point where the food bowl can get all the way to the ground, so I release her when she stops fidgeting as I move the bowl.

Teaching Patience pt 1 from Southeastern Guide Dogs on Vimeo.

Whenever you are introducing a new behavior or working in a new location, it’s a good idea to start with a high rate of reinforcement: give a food reward for correct responses frequently, so the dog stays motivated and doesn’t get distracted. But you want to quickly move to a lower rate of reinforcement as the dog begins to understand what you want. Begin to delay rewards as soon as the dog begins to “guess correctly”.

So for example, if you have a young puppy who is bouncy and easily distracted, you might be working on him lying down at your side. Here are the steps you might follow:

1. “Wolfie, down.” Lure Wolfie into a down with a treat in your hand. Reward. Put the leash under your food so he can’t wander. If he pops up from the down, that’s ok (this isn’t a “stay” yet), but be sure he doesn’t have the full length of the leash to wander off with. Repeat this with the treat in your luring hand if the puppy is not particularly focused.
2. “Wolfie, down.” Lure Wolfie with an empty treat hand; have a treat ready in your other hand. Once he is down, give him the reward. This will start to teach him that even if he doesn’t see a treat, one might still be coming.
3. If Wolfie stays down for 3 seconds, deliver another treat. Now you’ve rewarded him for not popping up right away.
4. If Wolfie pops up within 3 seconds, lure him into a down with an empty treat hand. Stand up and wait for 3 seconds before delivering the treat. If he keeps popping up, re-lure him into a down with an empty treat hand. Have your foot on the leash so he doesn’t have the option of wandering away; shorten the leash if you need to. When he finally is down for 3 seconds, reward him. Then take him on a short walk to give him a brain break (this can be a tough mental exercise for a young, impatient puppy).

This short exercise begins to teach the puppy patience and to wait for treat delivery. The treat is only visible (or smell-able) for one repetition, maybe 2 if the puppy is struggling to concentrate. If I know Wolfie is distracted by other dogs, I would play this game this exact same way at the beginning of the next few meetings, and I would expect that, as each meeting progressed, he would start offering a “down” faster and faster. I would praise that, but begin delaying the treat longer and longer, until we reach the point where he may or may not get a cookie for settling. Just like people who play slot machines (which operate on a variable level of reinforcement), puppies will work harder for the possibility that they might get a treat.

Here is another video with Idunn. Prior to this video, I spent about 3 minutes working on the “down” command, which she wasn’t familiar with. Once she was following a treat lure easily, we had a play session, then started work.

For the first two repetitions, I have a treat in my hand when I’m luring her into a down and she gets the treat right away when she lies down. On the third repetition, my hand is empty, and when she’s down, I transfer a reward from my other hand. Eventually, she doesn’t immediately pop up, so I reward her again just for staying in place. Notice how I handle her confusion; she hesitates and doesn’t understand how to follow my empty hand at one point (around 1:25), so I bend down to be closer to her and give her calm, quiet praise every time she makes an effort. When I transfer the treat in order to reward her, she pops up, so I use the treat to lure her back into a down. After that, she has a breakthrough, holding her “down” while I’m standing, so we take a play break.

In the next segment of the video, she progresses quickly. Since she is holding her position well, I start adding movement. I like to start early with feet shuffling, rocking, and praising, because I don’t want her to associate my movement with a release. Even though this isn’t a formal “stay”, this is the foundation for “stay”; it also teaches her that the treat does not end the behavior. As she progresses, I would start expecting her to work without needing a treat; she would get one occasionally depending on her age and the level of distraction, but she’s learning to enjoy work. Eventually, it will be such a conditioned habit that the work itself will be rewarding.

Teaching Patience pt 2 from Southeastern Guide Dogs on Vimeo.

I never correct a dog who is trying; even though Idunn occasionally jumps or breaks out of position, she is never “wrong”. She is enthusiastic and thinking the entire time. Puppies are naturally impatient and tend to pop up as soon as they receive a treat. We want to teach them that the treat does not end the behavior. By starting early with delayed rewards, and rewarding the dog for choosing to stay settled, pups learn self control around food, and instead of tensely waiting for the treat delivery, learn to hold a position (sit or down) in a calmer manner.

House Manners - Teach What You Want Instead of What You Don't

During an informal poll conducted by yours truly, guide dog trainers were asked for the top skills they wanted puppy raisers to be focused on. Every single trainer mentioned house manners. (The other popular responses were: appropriate greeting behaviors and obedience around distractions... a topic for another time) Behavior in the house is something that we really can’t work on much on-campus, so we rely heavily on raisers to enforce manners at home.

It sounds like a simple concept, but what does it mean when we say a puppy has “good house manners”? It is easy to make a list of things we DON’T want the puppy to do:

- Don’t take food items off of the counters (“counter surfing”)
- Don’t steal tissues out of the wastebasket
- Don’t beg for food at the table
- Don’t steal the remote control and play a game of keep away with it
- Don’t ingest items (socks, books, towels, dog beds, etc)
- Don’t bolt out the door
- Don’t urinate or defecate in the house

So now we’ve established the “rules”. Except how do you communicate that to a puppy? What that list sounds like to me is a series of “NOs”. Issuing a correction to the puppy to every single one of those transgressions would be exhausting for both you and the puppy (and for what it’s worth, these are not hypothetical situations; golden retriever Kudzu at least attempted every single one of those things, and it’s a rare puppy who won’t have several checks on that list). I could tell a puppy NO to each one of those items, and she might not try it again; however, if she wasn’t given any alternative behavior, she may not actually know what she is being corrected for. For example, if she steals a tissue out of the wastebasket, she may carry it into the living room, settle onto a dog bed, and start shredding it. If I just then notice she is chewing a tissue, and I jump up and say “NO”, then take it out of her mouth, what did she learn? One thing I guarantee that she learned is that if I approach her when she has something in her mouth, I might be taking it away and scolding her. She did not associate my “NO” with the action of taking it out of the trashcan, because that happened three behaviors ago. She might eventually figure out what I mean, but it’s not particularly clear at that moment.

Any time I come up with a DON’T, my goal is to figure out what I would like the dog to do instead. It is much easier to teach behaviors you DO want. So here is my updated list:

- Down/stay on your bed when food is being prepared in the kitchen; alternatively, respect the boundary of the kitchen and go settle elsewhere when food is being prepared
- Choose your toys instead of the wastebasket, which will now be placed in more obvious places during playtime so I can offer immediate feedback
- Down/stay in a predetermined location during human meal times (can be at your feet if you’re practicing for future restaurant visits; can also be on a dog bed)
- Trade stolen items for treats or toys; making it a positive thing for a puppy to trade in “forbidden items” prevents guarding, keep away, and swallowing
- Regularly practice sit/stay at doors; sometimes you get to go through them, sometimes not
- Urinate and defecate outside

By focusing on the DOs instead of the DON’Ts, I now have a training plan starting to take shape. It is much better to be proactive with commands, strategic tie-down and crate placement, and set-ups than to wait for a bad behavior to happen and correct it.

So here is a sample training plan for a dog who steals socks (or who you think will steal socks in the future; that is the number one complaint, tied with tissue stealing).

Supplies needed:

- Treats
- The puppy’s regular toys that are out all of the time (Nylabones, Kongs, etc)
- Special soft toys that only come out for training sessions; I personally keep a Kong Wubba for such occasions
- An assortment of socks
- A short length of leash

Attach the leash to the puppy and allow it to drag. Have treats and the soft toy on a shelf out of the puppy’s reach. Spread out the puppy’s regular toys on the floor, then add some socks. Allow the puppy to make choices. If she picks up a sock, tell her it’s a beautiful sock, then thank her, and calmly take it away; then walk to the treat bag and get her a treat. Did you just teach her to pick up the sock? Isn’t that the behavior you DON’T want? What you taught her was that giving you objects is a good thing, and that you are willing to trade. This prevents swallowing and allows you to easily interrupt the behavior. If I catch a dog chewing on a sock, I would like to easily be able to call the dog to me to give me the sock, rather than having to chase her down and take it.

So back to our training session. The leash is there only to prevent her from playing a game of keep away; do NOT correct her with the leash. Instead, if she plays keep away, pick up the leash and ask her to walk with you. Walk over to the treat bag and give her a treat when she relinquishes the sock.

Bring the puppy back over to the approved toys and see if you can engage her into a play session with one of them instead. Toss a Kong or encourage her to chew on a Nylabone while you hold it. We are giving her an option to get some personal interaction with you by choosing the right toys. If her usual toys don’t have much allure and she is looking at the remaining socks (or staring up where she last saw the treat bag), bring out the special toy and see if you can get her to play with that. The goal is interactive play: wiggle the Wubba so that the little tails race across the ground, hide it behind your back, make it reappear and disappear again. Now there is a soft, vaguely sock-like toy, but it is a lot more fun than a sock that just lays there!

If the puppy is still gazing at the treats, then just do some treat-rewarded obedience with the socks spread out across the floor. After a 10 or 15 minute play/training session, pick the socks up and put them away.

Repeat this type of session frequently. Have socks make a regular appearance in daily playtime/training. This type of controlled exposure will help you identify your puppy’s favorite way to play/interact with you, and also gives you a chance to work on a “trade for a treat” in a low-pressure environment. As the sessions progress, just calmly take the sock away without a food reward and redirect him to a toy.

If you find the puppy with a sock outside of a training session, just react the same way you would in a training session. Don’t make it a big deal, just thank the puppy, tell her to “drop it”, and remove the item. If you have been working with the training sessions, she should give it up with ease. Do not dive for or snatch the item. If she’s looking dodgy, like she might run or swallow the sock, run to the treat jar and ask her for some obedience; then pick up the sock and give her a treat.

Teaching any dog, but especially a retriever, to not pick “your” items up takes time. It generally cannot be fixed in just a session or two. Approaching it with a perspective of understanding and acknowledging their instincts creates a less confrontational relationship. Puppies explore the world with their mouths more than anything else, so structured games like the one outlined above gradually teach the puppy to channel it appropriately. It also is much less work than having to be hyper-vigilant and ready to say “NO, DROP IT” 200 times a day.

When you have concerns with house manners, think of a way to set the puppy up for success instead of either correcting as it’s happening, or setting her up to fail. For housebreaking problems, such as busying inside 5 minutes after having been outside, bring the puppy inside and keep her on leash, play with her for a few minutes, then take her right back outside again. For begging, put the puppy on a tie-down (with a cozy dog bed) in view of the table; occasionally walk over and give her a piece of kibble when she is down and settled (if she gets up, put her back into a down before giving the treat). When she gets into the habit of settling on her bed whenever you are eating, wean off of the kibble. For rushing or barking at the door, practice sit/stays not only when you are taking the puppy out, but also randomly throughout the day: sit, stay, door opens, door closes, leash comes off and pup is still in the house.

The more we can establish manners in the home, the better chance of success the puppy has. Be as proactive as you can when problems arise, and do be prepared to manage the situation if necessary; my bathroom trashcan is positioned so that it is hard for a puppy to reach. My kitchen trashcan has a lid. My counters are extra spotless and laundry is put away quickly when a puppy is around. And I also make it a point to teach the puppy what I DO want, so that she learns the rules as clearly as possible.

What is a High-Stress Environment for a puppy? Part 2

Last month, we discussed the basics of skill building and managing your outings based on the puppy’s needs. This month, I want to talk about interpreting stress responses and helping the pup to cope, as well as general expectations and timelines. 

Stress does not mean “scared”

Sometimes it is easy to misread a dog’s response if they aren’t tucking their tail or hiding. Dogs that appear “happy” can still be under stress, simply from an overload of information or adrenaline, or because they are overwhelmed but aren’t showing it in “traditional” ways. This is just as concerning as a dog who is hiding or shivering. What you really want to look for is a change from the dog’s normal state of being.

Let’s look at some examples. 

A golden retriever at 10 months old gets ambushed by a group of children. She wags her tail downward rapidly, grabs the children’s sleeves, and frantically licks their faces. When the handler walks her away, she is walking faster than she was before the encounter.

A 6 month old Labrador meets a maltese. He drops to the ground, then lunges, causing the maltese to snarl. The Lab play-bows and barks, while hopping side to side, keeping about 2 body lengths between him and the small dog. When the handler walks him away, he starts sniffing and picking up sticks and acorns.

A 4 month old Goldador arrives at a meeting and the AC comes up to greet her. She pins her ears back, squints her eyes, and squats, dribbling a little urine. When the AC turns away, the Goldador leaps onto the AC’s back.

All of these dogs are exhibiting arousal. They are having a physiological response to stress or stimuli. All of these responses are out of the dogs’ normal states of being. They can add up! 

The golden may seem “fine” with children, although is “behaving badly”. The handler may teach her to control herself but if the dog has frequent meetings with children that cause that kind of arousal, she may associate children with a feeling of being overwhelmed and want to avoid them in the future. 

The Labrador may have seemed like he wanted to play, but he was actually in emotional conflict. “Play bows”, when a dog lowers his front end and puts his rear into the air, can have many uses and meanings. It generally is meant to signify, “I am not a threat”, which is why it is so useful for play: if play gets very rowdy, socially intelligent dogs will frequently stop play and bow, even subtly, seemingly to keep play from escalating too far. However, in the case of the Labrador and the Maltese, the Maltese was giving clear “back off” signals. The initial dropping to the ground shows that the Lab is not socially confident around dogs, even though it was followed up by a forward lunge. His “play bow” while the dog was growling, along with his bouncing around, demonstrates a dog who is partly frightened of the tiny dog’s rage and also unsure of what the next move is. His displacement behavior after the encounter of eating sticks and acorns is a direct result of the stress he was just under. It is important for this dog to have positive interactions with other dogs to help build his confidence. (An aside: as silly as it sounds, the little dog’s feelings absolutely are not funny and should be respected; I don’t like seeing any dog in distress, and I always tell people to imagine that it’s a Mastiff-sized dog growling.) 

The Goldador is exhibiting what is often termed “submissive urination” or “excitement urination”, which are actually two different things. “Excitement urination” would be a dog that is leaping wildly or starting play and happens to dribble; this seems to be more common in males who are coming into puberty. “Submissive urination” is usually present at an earlier age and is paired with a still body, a squatting posture, folded back ears, or even a squinty-eyed “smile”. Like the Labrador in the last answer, it is a social confidence issue, but this time with people. The Goldador’s wild leap when the AC turned her back (and thus became less threatening) also supports the confidence issue. She is in conflict and wants to greet, but finds face-to-face greetings intimidating.

These are things to be conscious of, not only for the sake of making sure the pup has a positive interaction and being able to redirect the puppy’s behavior ahead of time, but also to make sure that the puppy gets some time off from these bursts of arousal. Even if the puppy seems “happy”, the raising experience can quickly become unpleasant if the pup associates outings with frequent or constant states of arousal. Give the pup frequent “time off”, move away from stimuli when you start to notice a reaction, and set the pup up to have lower-level exposures to the stimuli so you can train a calm, appropriate response.

Square on their feet?

There is a very quick observation you can learn to make as a handler to tell if the puppy is feeling composed or if he is aroused. Dogs that are in control and relaxed are square on their feet and appear “balanced”. Dogs that are not are often leaning one way or another, have a paw raised, or have their weight unevenly distributed. (Hint: this is also a good way to tell if you tend to tighten the leash; the dog should not appear to be leaning forward all of the time)

Here are some examples of square, balanced footing versus unbalanced footing. Please note that these are just snapshots of behavior; I do not know what happened before or after the photos were taken. Also, please disregard the outdated equipment in some of the older shots.

 

Even at a young age, you can see square footing. Instead of leaping for the cookies, being poised to spring, or expressing uncertainty at the person standing in front of them, these pups have all of their paw pads square on the ground.

Observe the front legs and feet of this sitting pup. She is off balance on her first bus ride. She has leaned her weight off of her front feet and onto her haunches. While a dog's physical structure has to be taken into account as well, this dog is also showing concern in the tense facial muscles, flattened ears, and tongue-in-the-mouth panting.

Here is the same dog sitting again. See the difference in her front legs? She still sits back on her haunches a little, which is probably her structure. But this is much closer to her normal baseline; her paw pads are square to the ground and she has a very relaxed expression as well.

By contrast, here is a pup who wants something very badly. He is pushing off of his back feet, but also notice his front toes. Dogs who walk on their tip toes are experiencing arousal (this can be seen even if there isn't something they desire in front of them).

Compare this puppy's stance with the baby puppies above, as well as the dog that wants the ball. Her rear feet are behind her, but so are her back feet and her tail is low. She may be leaning forward to sniff the mascot, but she is unsure. The pup that wants the ball is ready for launch and is making himself bigger; this pup is ready for a possible quick retreat and is making herself smaller.

  

Here is a side view of a similar reaction. She is sniffing the taxidermied owl but still has a lean, a low tail, and is ready to retreat if necessary. Her stance is unbalanced on her initial exploration; even though she is sniffing the owl, she is not yet comfortable.

Continuing in "adventures in taxidermy", here is a sibling of the above dog having a  different reaction to taxidermy. She is investigating but her very square stance and mid-level tail indicate she is comfortable with the wolf (who, in this case, also to have a nice, square stance; some dogs react to taxidermy in aggressive stances but not to "passive" taxidermy - fun fact). If she were on her tip toes and her tail were held high, she would also be experiencing arousal in the other direction, but she is balanced and calm.

 

Here is a dog in conflict. She is very fixated on something (the ball I would guess), but check out her front and back legs. She is pulled away from it slightly in the front, but the pull away in her back legs is pronounced. Sometimes we see this in a dog who is afraid they will get in trouble for pursuing the ball, but the reason isn't really important; this is still a dog who is experiencing arousal and internal conflict. I would guess that any added tension on the leash would make her spring for the ball, but that it would take a little bit of time for her to come up with the courage on her own, without outside input.

 Finally, here is a more subtle one. This dog is lying down, but is leaned away from something. He is over on one hip, but his front end is not relaxed; there is tension in his left front leg as he pushes himself slightly away from something. It is at a low level at the time of the picture taking, but if you have a dog that tends to get distracted and fixated frequently, this is a good time to calmly redirect while the arousal is at a low level.

Checking balance, weight distribution, and foot placement is a simple way to check in with the puppy and decide if he’s feeling comfortable or not. Despite the variety of signals pups throw at us, this one seems pretty consistent. If you have trouble identifying this while the pup is next to you, have someone take pictures or even film you! I have someone film all of my obedience competitions with my personal dogs, as well as some training sessions, because it is a lot easier to see the areas that need work from a third-person perspective.

Thanks to Tampa AC Jan Williams for taking the photos and allowing me to use them for educational purposes.

Suggested general timeline

So in conclusion, as usual, the progress you make with the puppy you’re raising should be very dependent on how the pup is feeling. As you can see above, even dogs from the same genetic pool can express different reactions to the same stimuli. 

Keeping that in mind, here is a GENERAL suggested timeline of outings and things to work on with the puppy in order to build gradually and keep stress to a minimum. Obedience expectations should be re-tooled every time you go somewhere new, and work on achieving some success before moving on. As always, your mileage may vary and be sure to adjust as necessary.

10 weeks to 16 weeks:

• House manners
• Small neighborhood walks
• Office/work environment
• Quiet outdoor café
• Light traffic
• Short car rides

16 weeks to 6 months:

• Automatic doors
• Parking lots
• Drug store
• Grocery store at a quiet time of day
• Light to moderate traffic: allow pup to watch from a distance frequently
• Quiet restaurant

6 months to 10 months:

• Large store on a quiet day (Walmart, mall)
• Food court
• Louder restaurant
• Farmer’s market
• Small downtown area

10 months to 12 months:

• Crowds
• Revisit all areas: manners have probably declined with puberty
• Mall IF puppy can behave
• Louder traffic/downtown areas
• Warehouse stores

12 months and up:

• Puppy should be able to accompany you to most places within reason
• Some things may never be a good idea for most puppies: big malls at holiday time, rock concerts, NFL games, massive state fairs, etc.
• Don’t forget the NEVERS: theme parks, fireworks displays, zoos, riding escalators or moving sidewalks, revolving doors, dog parks.