I have a client from a few years ago who is a very nice woman and is now a friend.  She hired me when she got a cocker spaniel/poodle mix from a local pet store.  I refuse to call it a breed,  because it isn’t, it’s a mix.  I have absolutely no issue with mixed breeds as most of mine have been mixes.  What I do have a problem with is people purposely breeding 2 different breeds to make mixes and then selling them for exorbitant amounts of money and calling them “designer” dogs.  Especially when there are so many perfectly great mixes, and purebreds I might add,  sitting in the shelters being euthanized every day.  Sorry for the rant, I’ll get back to my story now.

So although I was disappointed in her choice of dog, and more so the store where she bought the dog, the dog needed training and she needed help doing so.  After we became more friendly we talked about the “pet store” where she got the dog.  I told her the dog came from a puppy mill & she said “noway, they said the dogs are well taken care of  & come from a nice breeder in the Mid-West.  And anyway, isnt’ she a great dog?”  As if that made up for the horrible living conditions the dog’s parents are most likely living in.

After training was finished we remained friends and had coffee a time or two.  A while later one of her other dogs died very suddenly.  In her grief she contacted the “pet store” and told them.  A couple of days later they called to say they had a very nice golden-doodle (their term not mine) that she’d just love. I told her the dog is from a puppy mill. Again she told me the girl swore to her the breeder is a very nice lady who raises her dogs in a clean and happy environment.  I told her to ask if the girl had actually traveled to Missouri, Iowa, or Oklahoma, or wherever the place was to take a look for herself.  Of course the girl had not.  For some reason my client/friend decided to listen to me and chose not to get the dog and went to a rescue instead.

Within a couple of months the “pet store” was closed down for selling dogs from puppy mills  and not informing the clientele.  The case has gone to trial and yipee they have a judgment against them for a whopping $4.8 million!!!  Many of the dogs they sold were sick and some even died.  Many of the people who spent thousands, even $10k on vet bills and their pups still died.  I truly feel for the people and especially the puppies who were innocent in all of this.

In this day and age, with so many news shows, and so many ways to keep up (hello, Internet??) it still amazes me that people are so naive, and I won’t say the other words I’m thinking, as to buy a dog from a pet store, or a even out of a newspaper, the Recycler, or the Pennysaver for that matter.  Any reputable breeder should have a waiting list for their puppies and shouldn’t have to advertise for buyers.  They also want to know where their pups are going to be living and with whom.  They don’t want them shipped across the Country and being sold by a broker to someone they’ll never meet.  A reputable breeder also makes you sign a contract which states that should anything happen at any time during that dog’s life which forces you to not be able to keep their puppy, they will unconditionally take the dog back.  THAT is responsiblity.  If you bring a life into this World you are responsible for it for the rest of it’s life.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now .

http://tinyurl.com/ngw7yu

http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/get_the_facts_on_puppy_mills/

http://stoppuppymills.org/

http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/puppy-mills/

Ok, I’m sure you’re envisioning a program where we trade dog biscuits to dogs in exchange for their AK-47s and the like.  Well that’s not the case here.  Canine disarming is about cutting down the canine teeth of a biting dog so he can’t do (as much) damage.

Now, you may think this is a great solution.  The dog is not as much of a liability, which is always a concern when someone owns a dog that bites.   However, it makes the owner more complacent about the dog’s behavior, allowing him to have access to situations he shouldn’t.  This in actuality has been a big part of the ongoing problem.  And although he may not be able to do damage, it still isn’t nice for the people being forced to endure this dog’s wrath, regardless of his size.

So, this is in regards to a story I read about a small dog that bites.  The problem was supposedly “solved” by having his canine teeth cut down.  Actually, the problem isn’t solved, he just can’t cause any puncture wounds when he does bite, which makes a lawsuit less likely.  So the concern is about money and a lawsuit, not so much the well-being of the dog since his behavior is still there, and it is likely based upon some underlying anxiety which will now not be dealt with.

I do want to commend the dog’s owner for a couple of things.  First, it’s nice she was able to find a way to mitigate any injuries the dog could cause, as well as for sticking with the dog instead of euthanizing him, though she admits at one point trying to find another home for him.  Of course there are plenty of homes out there just dying to have a dog that bites! (that would be sarcasm)  And she tried multiple methods to change the dog’s behavior, which may have made it worse. However, a resource that wasn’t mentioned was a visit to an actual behaviorist, not just someone passing themselves off as one.  I am referring to a Veterinary Behaviorist who may have deemed the use of pharmacologic drugs to be in order for this dog.  I am also surprised that the vet who did the “disarming” didn’t suggest that a visit to a Vet Behaviorist might be preferable to mutilating his teeth.

Using multiple different methods to change a dog’s behavior is not a great thing.  When dealing with a behavior issue you can’t expect a change overnight, especially for a problem that has been ongoing for years.  It could take a long time to undo the reinforcement history a dog has.  Meaning, if a dog has been heavily reinforced for months or years doing a particular behavior, any training program needs to go on for months, if not years in order to change that behavior.  We all know how difficult it is to break a bad habit; this is what it’s like for a dog as well.

Any training protocol, as long as it’s not making the problem worse, needs to be worked for quite a while before moving to the next training “fad”.  It sounds to me like the training for this poor dog jumped all over the map.  He’s only 6 years old, yet at least 5 different methods have been used.  Imagine the dog’s confusion and frustration level.  In addition, many of the methods used were designed to suppress his behavior, not retrain him.  She was on the right track with desensitization/counter-conditioning, but if it wasn’t done correctly or done for long enough (remember the reinforcement history thing?) then nothing would change.  Also, if during the DS/CC process he was allowed, even one time, to practice the bad behavior, the training is for naught.  Pepper spray and cans filled with rocks only serve to give the dog more reason to hate strangers coming to visit.  Strangers predict being sprayed with pepper spray and having cans with rocks shaken at him.  At least the electronic shock collar idea was dumped.

Though she mentions they have an invisible fence, she doesn’t say how many, if any, trainers told her that is exacerbating the problem.  When a dog is allowed to see outside where people are walking or moving around, then they bark and the person goes away, which they all do eventually, the dog is rewarded for chasing that person away.  Dogs bark to increase distance; to tell someone “go away, go away”.  Each time that dog was allowed to be in his yard and bark at someone who eventually went away, he was reinforced for chasing that person away.  What is the definition of “to reinforce”?  It means to make stronger, right?  It means that the barking and driving away behavior became so strong that when someone *dared* ignore his warning of “go away” and actually stepped onto his property, he had enough confidence in his previously reinforced behavior to actually bite.

The story was very predictable in the progression of this dog’s problems, from the various training methods applied, to the lack of management, to the outcome.  But what amazed me about it was the end.  How even now, after all this time, the dog is being allowed to practice this bad behavior because he is “safe” and can’t harm anyone.  The mixed messages this dog is getting are astonishing as well as saddening. I truly feel for this dog and the state of confusion he lives in.

http://tiny.cc/cHVrY

My friend Kim also has a few great comments on her blog about this topic, but from another point of view.  Take a look at it as well.

http://aintmisbehavink9.blogspot.com/

Ok, I know this is the Dog Blog, but remember that article I wrote about using positive reinforcement to deal with aggression?  Well, obviously the scenario in it was hypothetical (the part about the snakes).  That’s not to say that it won’t work, because it definitely would.  However, since it was hypothetical I wanted to give you a real story using classical conditioning with a feral cat.

We’ve had a cat for a number of years who is feral.  She spent all her time with our other cats who were not feral.  Because she lived with them it was difficult to train her as we didn’t have room to separate them.  Last year her last friend died.   Since then I thought how miserable she must be all by herself.  In addition, she is getting older, so the possibility of  needing to medicate her at some point was pretty certain.  With that in mind I had to find a way to train this cat who used to hide in her cubbyhole.  She was so fearful that just us walking up the stairs would send her scrambling into her cat house.

The first step was to find something she liked.  She didn’t want food when I was around so that was out.  Cat treats, like Greenies, were unpredictable.  Sometimes she’d take them, sometimes not.  What I found though, is that she likes to be brushed! I found a soft bristle brush that I could use on her tail as she ran past.  Pretty soon she started to run slower past me so I could brush her more.  The next step was to only brush her as she walked towards me, but not away from me.  Pretty soon she was coming over to sniff my shoes as I sat there and brushed her.  Then she was rubbing her face into the brush and staying near me for minutes at a time.

To get to touch her I would brush her once, then run my hand down her back & immediatley brush her again.  Sometime during this process she began to purr.  She had never purred before, and here she was purring up a storm while I brushed her from face to tail.  It was a good thing I started all of this, becasue while this was going on she became hyperthyroid and now needs to be medicated daily.  In the past when she needed medication I had to squirt it on her fur & hope she licked enough off to do the job.  Now it is imperative she receive all her medication because it can affect her kidneys as well.

The process to give her the medication goes like this.  She likes routine so I go into her room where her cat stuff is.  She runs into the bathroom and lays down.  I walk up to her, open her mouth and squirt the medication in.  Then I brush her at least until she purrs.  Then she goes back into her room.  She likes this routine and now, even though she isn’t running from me because she is scared, she still runs into the bathroom to be medicated.

Then, last month the doctor said it would be great if I could start giving her sub-cutaneous fluids, meaning I would have to stick a needle under her skin.  Yikes!!!  I’d done it with the other cats, but if you had asked me 6 months ago if she could get to that point I would have bet money against it.  Then I figured if the San Diego Zoo can teach a diabetic monkey to place his arm into a tube for a blood test every day, I can teach a house cat to like having a needle stuck in her!  The process went like this:

She’d run into the bathroom for her thyroid medication, I’d close the door so she couldn’t leave.  I’d administer the drug then brush her until she purred.  Then, while sitting on the floor with her I’d grab a small area of skin as I would if I was putting a needle in.  Before she could react I’d brush her & let go of the skin.  Repeat numerous times as long as she didn’t attempt to run.  We’d always stop before it got to that point.  After a few repetitions she could return to her room.

The last step was to actually put the needle in & give fluids while I brush her.  At this point she is not sitting in my lap as the other cats did.  She is lying on the floor in front of me while I brush her & stick her with a needle.  Twice a day she is allowing me to do this, and she purrs the entire time.  She knows what is coming yet she still goes into the bathroom, lies on the floor, and waits for me to put fluids into her.

A vet recently told me her cat runs from her when she tries to give him fluids.  I thought how sad that is when it is so easy to make it nice and less stressful for everyone involved.  The key is to find something the cat likes a lot and do that during or after whatever the perceived nasty thing is.  Your cat, dog, ferret, whatever, will be better off for it and it won’t be a struggle for you.

I’d be interested to hear how others have used classical conditiong to get their animals to like things they didn’t like to do.  You may have to think about it because you might have done it without a process in mind, but I bet you can come up with something.

The following is an article I wrote for “The Chronicle of the Dog” last year.  It’s about a young, large breed dog who was playing very roughly, and turning aggressive,  with another dog in the household.  This is how we fixed it.  As an update, the two are playing great together and the larger, younger dog won’t even be outside without a toy in his mouth now.

At 9 weeks old, Ricky, a Shiloh Shepherd, came to live with two older German Shepherds.  The oldest being a 12 year old male, the other a 6 year old female, both altered.  When Ricky arrived, Fred, the male was very clear that there would be no playing between them.  However, the female, Lucy, was not so clear.  She was so happy to have a puppy to play with that she let Ricky wrestle & grab her all he wanted.  The owner didn’t see the wrestling as a problem and continued allowing the playing/wrestling because the breeder said that is what they do, all her dogs do it.

Forward 9 months…Ricky is now larger than both of his housemates.  He still shows Fred quite a bit of respect, but his relationship with Lucy has changed.  He loves to play, and he plays rough.  So rough in fact, that she is becoming afraid of him.  Unfortunately, Lucy tires more quickly than does Ricky.  And when she’d stop playing, his frustration would build to the point where he was attacking her.  At first the client was able to break it up with a verbal correction, but he began to ignore that after a few weeks.

Of course in trying to help the client and her dogs I asked that she prevent them from playing.  I didn’t want him to practice the behavior, especially since he was now ignoring the owner and going after Lucy pretty hard.  Lucy was becoming very nervous in the house now as well as outside where the attacks would happen.  Her entire demeanor was changing.  To my dismay, although the owner was very compliant in every other way, she did not make it a habit to keep them apart.  Her reason being, that they really enjoyed playing together, and he only attacked Lucy about 50% of the time.  The problem was, she couldn’t tell when he was going to attack her, or even when the playing was getting too rough and she should stop it before it got to “that point”.

Because Ricky would never display the behavior during our appointments I asked if she could video a play session.  Not only was it useful to see with my own eyes what was going on, but by being able to pause the tape & show the client the body language the dogs were showing, the client was more able to control & stop situations before they escalated.  After that, she said the tape really helped her to see what is going on, that it isn’t all one big blur any more.

From the tape it was obvious that Lucy was showing stress signals at the very beginning of play.   She wanted to interact with Ricky, but was apprehensive.   What we needed to do was help Lucy feel that it wasn’t just her defending herself against Ricky.  At the same time, Ricky needed to understand that if he picked a fight with Lucy, he was taking on a person as well.  Also, we needed to give them a way to interact together that didn’t include him putting his mouth around her neck and yanking her to the ground.

With this in mind, we taught Lucy the cue “close”, which means “come stand by me”.  Separately we taught Ricky “go away”, which is self explanatory.  We also taught him that the word “toy” means to pick up a toy.

The protocol went as follows:

The owner would walk outside with the dogs & immediately tell Ricky “toy”, while keeping Lucy with her.  As soon as Ricky picked up a toy she would release Lucy to play.  If Ricky dropped the toy she would tell Lucy “close”, which stopped all play.  If he tried to follow Lucy over to the owner she would tell him to “go away” & “get the toy”.

Ricky had been rehearsing the behavior for a few months when you count the time it started at a mild level.  I told the client not to get discouraged, and that it could take him a few weeks or more to understand that dropping the toy meant the play stopped, and the way to get Lucy back was to pick up the toy.  By telling her it would take longer than I thought it would, it helped the client be patient with the process.

Amazingly, two days later the client called me to say that he had it.  He would pick up a toy and toss it around in an obvious solicitation of play to Lucy.  It would take her a while sometimes to trust him enough to interact with him, but you could see that she really wanted to.  They would then run through the bushes, her chasing him.  Sometimes he would emerge from the bushes without the toy, in which case the owner would say “close”.  Ricky would then begin looking for a toy, any toy, all on his own and the game would start again.  If he couldn’t find a toy and Lucy wasn’t close to the client then he would default to an attack.

Getting the client to understand that just because he has two good days, it doesn’t mean Ricky has overcome his bad habit.  This is what drew the process out longer than it should have taken.

It has been a few months now and the progress report is excellent.  The past three weeks have been attack free.  They are playing very nicely together. Lucy is calmer than she’s ever been, even before Ricky came along.  I’ve told the client that the play still needs to be supervised and the exercises will need to be continued for at least twice as long as he practiced the bad behavior.  Hopefully things will continue on this track and this form of play will become a lifetime habit for Ricky.